Got Skills?

Health professional education is designed to help learners gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed for practice. There has been extensive reform in health professional curriculums to emphasize the teaching, development, and assessment of clinical skills. As medical education continues to evolve due to changes in healthcare, and with the ever-increasing growth of technology, it is important to ensure that health professional students are ready to practice successfully. Many curriculums have incorporated clinical skills laboratories to provide learners a safe and protected environment to practice those skills necessary for their profession. Thus, students must acquire, maintain, and enhance their clinical skills techniques as they progress in their education and be properly assessed before they approach real patients. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic required educational transition to a remote platform, providing both challenges and opportunities for health education. This chapter reviews how remote skills-based courses can teach and assess clinical skills effectively.

A Avaliação do Rendimento Acadêmico de Estudantes em Modalidade de Ensino Remoto Durante a Pandemia de COVID-19 em Manaus

ResumoEm decorrência da crise sanitária global provocada pela Pandemia de COVID-19, os sistemas dos vários níveis do ensino tiveram que se adaptar rapidamente e de modo precário, substituindo-se a modalidade presencial pela remota, por meio de ferramentas digitais. O presente estudo tem como objetivo analisar a relação entre a qualidade da ambiência vivenciada pelos estudantes em condições de isolamento doméstico e seu rendimento acadêmico no ensino remoto, aferidas por autoavaliação. Tomaram-se como sujeitos da pesquisa estudantes de graduação e Pós-graduação, em uma amostra de conveniência de 62 indivíduos maiores de 18 anos, de ambos os gêneros, na cidade de Manaus, Amazonas. Para coleta dos dados foi utilizado um formulário eletrônico compartilhado por aplicativo de mensagem. Os dados foram analisados por método gráfico e de regressão linear simples e múltipla. As componentes da avaliação da ambiência com piores desempenhos foram o compartilhamento do ambiente de estudo e dos equipamentos, o nível de ruído, a interrupção do sinal de internet e o trabalho simultâneo. O rendimento escolar foi considerado satisfatório na avaliação dos estudantes entrevistados, exceto no quesito interatividade. Resultados indicam que a qualidade ambiência interfere positivamente no aproveitamento, porém essa relação é influenciada pelo nível do curso e pelo gênero, vez que essa relação foi significativa somente para o nível de graduação e para estudantes do gênero masculino. Os desafios provocados pela transição educacional abrupta têm implicações negativas no desempenho e motivação dos estudantes. Palavras-chave: Ensino. Ambiência. Aproveitamento dos Estudantes. Abstract As a result of the global health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the systems of the various levels of education had to adapt quickly and in a precarious way, replacing the face-to-face modality with the remote one, through digital tools. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the quality of the environment experienced by students in conditions of domestic isolation and their academic performance in remote education, measured by self-assessment. Undergraduate and graduate students were taken as research subjects, in a convenience sample of 62 individuals over 18 years of age, of both genders, in the city of Manaus, Amazonas. For data collection, an electronic form shared by a message application was used. Data were analyzed by graphical method and simple and multiple linear regression. The ambience evaluation components with the worst performances were the sharing of the study environment and equipment, the noise level, the internet signal interruption and the simultaneous work. School performance was considered satisfactory in the evaluation of the interviewed students, except for the item interactivity. Results indicate that ambience quality positively affects achievement, but this relationship is influenced by the level of the course and by gender, since this relationship was significant only for the undergraduate level and for male students. The challenges brought about by the abrupt educational transition have negative implications for the students’ performance and motivation. Keywords: Teaching. Ambience. Students' Performance.

Educational Transition Amid COVID-19 Outbreak in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities for Medical Education

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in numerous alterations in today’s world. These include the temporary closure of educational institutions as part of recommended measures by the World Health Organization (WHO) to mitigate its spread, thus causing over one million students to stay at home globally. Generally, education has witnessed a transition from traditional face-to-face learning to virtual and online learning. This unexpected shift has presented a series of challenges especially within the African region where before now the educational sector is known to be deficient in funding and infrastructure. The cardinal position of medical education in providing healthcare workers can be enhanced and advanced by subduing these challenges and maximizing the available opportunities for its immediate and future needs. The aim of this paper is to highlight the steps Africa needs to take to improve medical education and invent methods for quality teaching and learning in medical education.

I Really Want to Learn New Things! Children's Perspectives on Educational Transition

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the process of educational transition is perceived by a group of children attending Preschool and Primary School, considering their expectations, fears, and experiences. Methodologically, this exploratory research was based on the collection of information through a conversational interview to 16 children in kindergarten and a questionnaire survey, with open and closed questions, to 35 children in basic education who attend a Portuguese School, in the Azores Archipelago. The data collected were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results obtained corroborate what is referenced in the specialty bibliography, showing that children, in general, manifest positive and encouraging feelings towards the transition process between preschool and primary education, even though, simultaneously, they may feel some fear or discomfort towards the unknown. These results should be considered in the light of the pedagogical intervention that Preschool educators and Primary School teachers should develop to build a coherent and continuous process. Received: 19 June 2021 / Accepted: 19 August 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

Educational Approximations Between Preschool and Primary School: The Perspective of Kindergarten and Primary School Teachers

This article aims to understand how a group of preschool and primary school teachers view the process of educational transition between these two educational contexts, considering the consequences that these moments have on the children's school career and on their own personal and social experience, and that teachers play a key role as links between both. Methodologically, this research is based on the collection of information through a questionnaire survey, with open and closed questions, filled in by 20 preschool educators and 20 primary school teachers from the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Portugal. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The results obtained allow us to conclude that there are specific differences in the way preschool teachers and primary school teachers look at educational transition, although both consider it as an important aspect of the children's educational path, highlighting the need for a closer relationship between both in the construction of a process that is intended to be continuous and smooth. Received: 8 April 2021 / Accepted: 5 June 2021 / Published: 8 July 2021

Aiming too high or scoring too low? Heterogeneous ethnic gaps in upper secondary enrollment and outcomes beyond the transition in France

The children of immigrants tend to make more ambitious enrolment choices than native students after controlling for their lower social status and prior academic achievement. Few studies have explored heterogeneity in these ethnic choice effects by both social origin and previous achievement simultaneously, so it is unclear whether results are driven by specific immigrant-native comparisons. Moreover, most research does not investigate outcomes after the educational transition, so the long-term consequences of these educational choices remain unclear. Using French panel data from the 1995 and 2007 rounds of the Panel d'Élèves du Second Degré and focusing on the children of immigrants from Africa and Turkey, I investigate immigrant-native gaps in the decision to enrol in academic upper secondary education and in outcomes after the transition. I find evidence of positive ethnic choice effects. However, I also find that they were substantial only when comparing the most disadvantaged immigrant-origin and native students (low-performing and lower class students). After the transition, immigrant-origin students were more likely to be retained, less likely to further transition to the most prestigious track and less likely to complete a track leading to tertiary education. Analyses using counterfactual reweighting suggest that large portions of these gaps were explained by positive ethnic choice effects and by the long-term impacts of immigrant-native gaps in prior academic achievement. My findings indicate that ethnic choice effects are prevalent among academically fragile students and that policy should aim to close early gaps in academic achievement to limit their persistent effects over time.

De la Cuna a la Escuela. El Turbulento Devenir Durante la Primera Transición Educativa de Alumnado Autista

To promote inclusive education, attention must be paid to exclusionary processes. Students considered within the autism spectrum are, without a doubt, at greater risk of exclusion than others. This paper will show partial results of a project that has asked what are the barriers and supports that families with sons or daughters with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face in their first educational transition. Using a qualitative, phenomenological-interpretive methodology and a cross-sectional design, the life stories of 6 students with ASD (out of a total sample of 22) have been analyzed in depth, with special attention to the processes of social participation. The thematic analyzes carried out show some "lights" and many "shadows" in this first transition and with it what can be learned to move towards a more inclusive and quality educational system that benefits all students.

On the Margins, Getting By, Persevering, or Flying High? The Intersection of Wellbeing, Attainment, and Transitions in a Scottish Longitudinal Study

This paper draws on a Scottish longitudinal study. It focuses on the variability of a sample of focal children's wellbeing and attainment trajectories on the journey through education from the age of 3 to school leaving at 16–18 years old in one Scottish Council area, in order to respond to the question What aspects of the intersection of wellbeing, attainment, and school transitions help to explain school leaving outcomes? The relationships between wellbeing and attainment either side of primary and secondary school start are explored and the ways these may link to transition experiences and educational outcomes at school leaving are raised. A new interpretation of Bronfenbrenner's “mature” bioecological system model which considers person, processes and educational contexts over time frames the methodology, methods and findings of a data rich exploratory-interpretive longitudinal study and discusses their relationship to current dilemmas surrounding educational outcomes in Scotland at the present time. The role of wellbeing and attainment measures as proxies for school success is considered and found to be too narrow a concept in the form experienced by the focal group of study participants. While wellbeing needs to be much more clearly defined and fostered, concepts of attainment predicated only on maths and literacy (and on some measures, science) are found to be insufficient in that they may discriminate against too many. Attention to the opportunities offered and risks inherent in periods of educational transition allow identification of, and reflection upon the qualities of a good educational transition from both early childhood education to school start, and subsequently in the move to secondary education. It is found that a “good transition” though it exists, is not available to all children: consequently more equitable approaches are advocated, and alternatives for practical and policy action are proposed. Study of educational transitions dates back fifty years: is it not time for systems themselves to change?

TRAINING PECULIARITIES OF PHILOLOGY STUDENTS IN DIGITAL EDUCATION ENVIRONMENT

This article considers the issue regarding the educational transition from informatization to digitalization, the formation process of future philologists’ professional competence, namely from the partial and substantive use of information and communicational teaching technologies to the sustained and systematic usage of digital technologies. The digitalization of educational process will lead to the globalization, internationalization and informatization of competitive specialists’ ongoing level-based training system, also the process for academic condition requires the renovation of educational programs. Currently, new approaches for strengthening of teaching methods and techniques are acquiring particular significance in the formation and development of professional competence among philologists. The task which ensures the quality of digital education is being maintained, moreover the means are outlined regarding educational research for the preparation of bachelor students in Russian Language and Literature, such as educational content of digital resources, the regional aspect, the pedagogical conditions for the transition and transfer to the global network of university education.

Enhancing self-efficacy through life skills workshops

University attrition rates are often higher for students from groups under-represented in Higher Education (HE), for example those who have experienced social and educational disadvantage. Points of educational transition have been identified as key risk factors for progression and retention, and interventions to increase self-efficacy may act protectively to reduce higher attrition rates.This study presents an evaluation of an intervention implemented at one UK medical school, which aimed to enhance participants' self-efficacy and sense of belonging. Participants completed Schwarzer's General Self-Efficacy Scale and written evaluations. Qualitative data were examined inductively using thematic analysis. Average self-efficacy scores showed a statistically significant improvement six months after the intervention. Key themes including ‘it's not just me’ and ‘learning from the experiences of others’ were identified from the qualitative data and explored within a framework of self-efficacy.The intervention appeared to have a positive impact on self-efficacy through two key sources. Firstly, creating positive “physiological and emotional states’ enabled participants to engage in constructive discussions of personal difficulties they faced, such as imposter syndrome. Secondly, ‘vicarious experiences’, hearing how others had coped during difficult situations, improved participants' beliefs in their ability to cope with future challenges and imagine being successful. These factors may be key in supporting transitions for under-represented university students engaged with a range of disciplines.