REICE. Ibero-American Journal on Quality, Effectiveness and Change in Education

Chat GPT for a Just, Democratic and Transformative Education System

Mauro-Rafael Jarquín-Ramírez — 2025-06-27

School discrimination lacks consensus in the scientific field, where significant distortions between quantitative and qualitative approaches are evident. These differences arise, in part, from a weak conceptualization of the notion of school discrimination, which is often separated from the idea of inequality. This article seeks to strengthen this conceptualization by closely integrating the foundations of the sociology of education with the contributions of educational law, an aspect that is frequently neglected. In this sense, school discrimination is defined through five dimensions: violations of the moral integrity and dignity of students; restrictions on access to certain educational resources; the existence of discriminatory school organizations; disciplinary regimes; and school careers hindered by discriminatory practices. This conceptualization finds empirical support within the framework of qualitative research on the descendants of North African immigrants in France, who constitute the population studied in this article.

School Leadership Retention: Designing a Bioecological Model for Leadership Retention

Sergio Galdames — 2025-06-27

Previous research has highlighted the fundamental contribution of leadership in school improvement. Principals are key in mobilizing school transformation processes, fostering teacher capacities and motivations, and setting optimal organizational conditions to support teaching and learning. Previous studies have pointed out the importance of principal retention for the success of school improvement processes. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the area of talent management by proposing a model that could help explain and reduce principal attrition. Using the integrative literature review strategy, we have explored the last two decades (2001-2021) of publications on management retention. A total of 28 articles were analysed in depth, identifying 23 central variables that could explain the management decision to stay or withdraw from school. We organize these variables in a bioecological model, including individual, interpersonal, organizational, community, and political dimensions. The results are an invitation to public policymakers, educational administrators and educational leaders to generate strategies to strengthen the retention of principals and directors. We conclude by presenting limitations and directions for future research.

Transversal Skills for University Students Entering the Workforce

Pilar Martínez-Clares — 2025-06-27

This research focus on the analysis of the soft skill mismatch that occurs between its development during the university training and the relevance that students give to this type of competences for entering the workforce. Based on quantitative research with a survey as a methodology type, 1,610 final year undergraduated from five universities in three countries (Spain, Italy and USA) have participated. They have completed the Questionnaire About Career Guidance and Entering the Workforce (COIL, in Spanish). The main results show levels of relevance given to these skills higher than the work developed during their university training. The competences related to the initiative of the students (innovation, leadership, or entrepreneurship) show a higher skill deficit, while teamwork or responsibility and perseverance are the competences where the difference between development and relevance are scarcer. These results also show statistical differences when the competencies are analyzed according to the university, the gender of the students, or whether they have carried out extracurricular internships. In conclusion, the debate on the aims and objectives of training in transversal skills in higher education must be amplified as well as the role that career guidance should play to accompany the process of entering future graduates.

Autonomy Support: Validation of the Learning Climate Questionnaire Among University Students

Cristina Cedillo-Quizhpe — 2025-06-27

The learning climate is a proximal social context that provides contact between individuals and, as a result, has the potential to foster or frustrate basic psychological needs. This study aims to analyse the validity and reliability of the Learning Climate Questionnaire in a sample of university students from Cuenca, Ecuador. A pilot study with 175 participants was conducted, followed by a study with 403 participants from different fields of knowledge, selected by a probabilistic method. The data analysis employed both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. To test the models, the DWLS estimator was considered, given that the items are ordinal variables along with ?², RMSEA, SRMR, CFI, and TLI. The one-factor model showed better adjustment, which confirms the unidimensional structure. The results demonstrate that the questionnaire is a valid measure, with adequate properties for students to evaluate teaching autonomy support in the university context.

Coeducation and Future Teacher Training: A Scoping Review (2013-2023)

Mercedes Rodríguez-López — 2025-06-27

Gender equality is still a priority and a goal to be achieved. European policies and legislation urge us to keep working on it, being these a reference in the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda. The education system and its teachers are key players in the development of coeducational practices. For this reason, we wanted to know what is being done in the field of teacher training at all educational levels to improve coeducational interventions and practices. The research design is a scoping review, supported by the PRISMA statement in the period 2013-2023. After the filtering process, 34 papers were identified. The analysis indicates, among other aspects, that coeducational practices are still insufficient; students can differentiate between theory and what is politically correct, but their behaviours seem to go in the opposite direction; there is an urgent need for training in coeducation for teachers; and that "gender blindness" continues to be identified, which maintains the need to keep working in this line of intervention to make reality visible before taking action. Also necessary are training and intervention actions in active methodologies.

Early School Leaving in Secondary Education. Risk Factors Identified by Students

Patricia Olmos Rueda — 2025-06-27

Early school leaving (ESL) is a complex phenomenon that needs to be understood in its multidimensionality, multifactoriality and from the perspective of its protagonists. Using a questionnaire that analyses the risk factors for ESL in relation to the school, social relationships, family circumstances and personal circumstances, this study explores the perceptions of 874 young people from 10 secondary schools of high complexity on the risk factors that have the greatest impact on their decision-making process about their future. The group of young people interviewed identified low motivation to learn, low self-esteem, the socio-economic position of the family, difficult relationships in the work and educational context, and lack of quality guidance and personalised support as the main risk factors. These are also the factors that show significant differences in their perception by young people under 18, girls, nationals and those in compulsory secondary education. These results show that risk factors are not isolated. Their analysis, from the point of view of the protagonists, helps to identify protective and success factors, allowing a more adapted and realistic response to their needs.

An Teacher Feedback in Reciprocal Peer Observation

Begoña De la Iglesia Mayol — 2025-06-27

This study examines feedback between teachers in reciprocal observation practices, aiming to identify the characteristics that determine the quality of their dialogue and how it may contribute to the improvement of their professional practice. A total of 400 teachers participated, from which 217 audio files were selected. The specific objectives of the study are: 1) To characterize the feedback sessions and 2) To identify the variables that predict the production of high-quality feedback. The results indicate that most teacher pairs exchange high-quality dialogic feedback, which is moderated by the level of interaction and the prevalence of verbal actions that promote knowledge construction. It is recommended to foster practices such as proposal elaboration, negotiation, and reflection on practice in order to facilitate more proactive feedback, linked to an action plan that enhances collaboration and teacher professional development.