Democratisation of educational systems through participatory approaches in US schools and universities

Introduction. This article examines the modern educational approach in the field of liberal arts and practical finance, democratisation of the decision-making system in educational institutions through the active engagement of students on the example of US schools and universities. This approach is based on initiative, or participatory budgeting, i.e. students are involved in the process of allocation of budgetary funds of schools and universities. Such participatory practice has educational and administrative objectives, as it serves to improve the quality management in educational institutions through the involvement of students in major decisions. Taking into account the fact that students are the key beneficiaries of the education system, their opinions lead to increased efficiency in educational institutions.Aim. On the basis of real cases, the current research is aimed to identify and describe participatory techniques that can integrate the teaching of theoretical knowledge in the field of civil society with the formation of practical skills in this area.Methodology and research methods. Desk research method of analysing primary and secondary sources (websites of educational institutions, academic publications, and articles in the media) and the field sociological method of expert interviews were used. Expert interviews with representatives of schools and universities, teachers, officers from educational institutions, consultants from the Participatory Budgeting Project, the leading consulting organisation in North America were conducted.Results. The results of the study reveal several participatory techniques for students’ engagement in the allocation of budgetary funds of schools and universities that are applied in New York and Arizona. The identified and described technologies of participation contribute to the formation of students’ knowledge of socio-economic disciplines, practical finance and civics, project management skills, as well as an increase in civic engagement.Scientific novelty. The present study expands the ideas about how to improve the process of teaching social and economic disciplines at schools and universities, practical finance and project management. The method of improving the efficiency of educational institutions through democratic practices is identified.Practical significance. In the future, the proposed approach can be applied in Russian educational institutions.

ALTERNATIVES FOR PARTICIPATORY LANDSCAPE PLANNING IN MANGROVE AREAS

The main objective of this work is to determine the landscape planning alternatives of the populations that have a direct relationship with the mangrove ecosystems (Bunche community). The theoretical foundation is the Geo-ecology of landscapes (GEL). The phases that were fulfilled are: i) characterization of the physical and natural landscape; ii) characterization of the socio-cultural landscape by participatory techniques, and secondary information. The participatory techniques were: Workshops, Social mapping and semi- structured interviews. iii) Integrate the information collected from the landscapes: physical, natural, social and cultural; in order to determine the most appropriate and sustainable management alternatives in the community. Social perception was the main information to raise the conclusive alternatives. The population of Bunche has unfavorable socio-economic figures, highlighting that almost the entire population lives in poverty due to unsatisfied basic needs. The constant threat and destruction of mangroves (mostly blame shrimp) is the main perception of the population; as well as his manifest desire to reverse this situation. The initial characterization resulted in 10 landscapes, where the social and natural component interact. The climate present in the population is mainly rain, with two ecosystems: Forests of the equatorial Chocó and the mangroves of the equatorial Chocó. The sustainable planning of the territory must start from: sustainable tourism and agroecology. It is also possible to implement mangrove recovery processes with the support of the community

Conceptualisations of wellbeing and quality of life: A systematic review of participatory studies

There is a growing movement across the world to make better use of wellbeing measures to guide policy. This stems from the realisation that reliance on economic indicators, such as income, GDP, and unemployment, may not be adequately capturing the aspects of life that people value. But how should we be measuring wellbeing or quality of life? A mounting body of research over the past two decades has highlighted the value of participatory wellbeing frameworks, which are created by consulting with the target population and asking the question “What does wellbeing mean for you?”. However, up to now there is very little consolidated understanding of the work conducted in this space. This systematic review seeks to fill this gap, identifying 130 participatory wellbeing studies which span every region of the world and all life stages. The review identifies a wide range of theories, methods, and participatory techniques that have been utilised to develop participatory wellbeing frameworks which can be replicated for similar studies going forward. By thematically analysing understandings of wellbeing into 30 overarching areas, the findings show that communities and population groups throughout the world have wide-ranging and diverse conceptualisations of wellbeing. In sum, we highlight that while there are some similarities in what wellbeing means to people from different population groups, nuances exist within every group. Given this diverse understanding of wellbeing throughout the world, it is vital that research, policy and development initiatives take this into account. Doing so will help support policy and programs to address the aspects of life that are important to individuals, and subsequently improve the lives of people throughout the world in a more meaningful way.

Increasing youth awareness of local culture through active learning

This study aims to determine the influence of practice-based active learning on students' interest and response in learning local culture in drama classes. The research was conducted at public universities in Indonesia using two active learning strategies. Qualitative methods using participatory techniques, interviews, and observations were carried out in collecting data for this study. The sample of this research is fifty drama class students. The analysis of data was done after the drama classes ended, which was marked by the process of assessing student learning outcomes through stage performances. This study showed a statistically significant increase in students' interest and response to learning local culture through collaborative learning methods and role-play in drama classroom learning. This study recommends adopting an active learning strategy in teaching local cultural materials to students. Further research is recommended on designing different active learning strategies with other variables and in different locations. Keywords: Scriptwriting; classroom drama teaching; teaching local culture; active learning.

Smart as (un)democratic? The making of a smart city imaginary in Kolkata, India

‘Smart’ imaginaries have been enthusiastically embraced by urban planners and policymakers around the world. Indians are no exception. Between 2015–2018, following national government guidelines to use participatory and inclusive processes, many cities developed proposals for a smart city challenge. Successful proposals received financial and technical support from the national government. We examine the making of the smart city proposal submitted by New Town Kolkata (NTK). We ask how (un)democratic was the making of the proposal, along three aspects: distributive, participatory, and responsive. Based on an analysis of documents and interviews with policymakers and citizens, we find that NTK’s smart city imaginary largely failed to be distributive. It rarely accounted for the specific needs of poorer and vulnerable citizens. City officials invested considerable effort in using participatory techniques, but citizen participation was tightly controlled through top-down design and practice of the techniques. The latter often facilitated one-way flow of information from the city administration to the citizens. The proposal was responsive to some citizens’ voices, but only those belonging to the more affluent classes. A messy diversity of citizens’ voices was thus closed down, as the city officials filtered and cherry-picked citizens’ voices that were well-aligned with the official technocratic vision of ‘global’ smart urbanism. The paper shows how democracy can be put in the service of technocracy, within a rhetoric of citizen participation and social inclusion that embodies smart urbanism.

SAYURAN ORGANIK LAHAN KERING UNTUK PARIWISATA DI DOMPU

This science and technology application was carried out to educate partner farmers (1) “Mada Kabuntu Farmer Group" and (2) "Sinar Rinjani Farmer Group" to increase the production of organic vegetables in dry land. To achieved this goal, training activities and plot demonstration have been carried out. The training method used was the adult education method with participatory techniques. The training participants were members of the farmers group "Mada Kabuntu" and "Sinar Rinjani". Training activities include pre-test, delivery and explanation of modules (with LCD and props), discussion and question and answer. Plot demonstrations and organic vegetable cultivation practices were carried out on farmers' land. Farmers were participatively involved jointly from planning, implementing and evaluating of harvest yield. The activity results showed that the farmers participating in this program were very responsive to the development of organic vegetables on dry land. The participating farmers were actively working together to carried out all phases of activities from training, demonstration plots from planting, plant maintenance and harvesting. The results of these activities indicated that there has been a technology transfer process for developing organic vegetables in the dry land Dompu district.

Las Palmas Beach Zoning Process of Esmeraldas Cantón, Esmeraldas Province, Ecuador, Corresponding to the Period 2017-2019

Through the Integrated Coastal Management tool, the Municipality of Esmeraldas, with technical support from both the Ministry of the Environment and Water - MAAE, and the Coastal Marine Project - International Conservation, MINTUR and FLOPEC, implemented the Las Palmas beach zoning process, of the Canton and Province of Esmeraldas. This beach is located in the urban perimeter of the city and in the area adjacent to the Manglares Estuario Río Esmeraldas Wildlife Refuge, an area highly intervened because it is the main distraction site for the population, in order to implement the process that allows the organization of recreational and conservation activities that ensure the arrival and nesting of sea turtles, migratory species that are in a vulnerable state according to the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the strengthening tourism development. For this purpose, criteria such as the area of greatest nesting, presence of anthropic threats, conflicts of use, lack of regulations, identification of key actors, characteristics of the beach, carrying capacity, and permitted and prohibited activities were specified. The analysis of each one of them for the determination of the zoning was generated through the gathering of technical information in the field, analysis of existing information, implementation of participatory techniques (meetings, workshops, inter-institutional evaluations and participatory processes with key actors), in addition to the photographic record through a drone, on the uses that are generated in each of them. It is concluded that the zoning of the beach is a management strategy, for the ordering of the activities carried out there, aimed at the conservation of migratory species and tourism development, through the participation of key actors and the definition of technical, socioeconomic and governance criteria.

TEARING THE SPACE APART. RESPONSIBLE PARTICIPATION OR SELF-SERVING PARTICIPATION

Participation in spatial planning has specific origins rooted in the ideology that in the past was responsible for inhuman actions and large-scale social manipulations. This article is an account on participation, written in the context of over twenty years of experience in actively introducing participatory techniques into various planning procedures. The original assumptions about making spatial planning a matter of importance to local communities had to collide with the reality determined both by the authorities and by individual and collective interests. The attempt to reorient the paradigm of social participation is aimed at preserving many of its positive features.

Сadiz Museum and its Communication Strategy

During lockdown 2020, museums reacted by attempting to digitally offer everything that had previously been done in the museum space. The testing of tools and resources, as well as new forms of communication and participatory techniques, leads us to a hybrid museum where virtuality is combined with physical presence. The new reality has intensified the current discussions about the museum as a socio-cultural institution, a new definition of the concept of a museum, about the relationship between entertainment and educational forms of interpretation of heritage. Along with an overview of key research trends and methodological approaches in the field of heritage, the article presents the results of the analysis of social networks of the Museum of Cadiz, based on a methodological approach to planning and evaluating integrated communications - the PESO model, which separates the channels of information dissemination into paid, earned, social and owned. The Cadiz Museum was not chosen as an object of research by chance, since even before the pandemic, its digital communications stood out strongly against the background of other Spanish museums of different levels. It is possible that they managed to achieve this due to the fact that they made their pages on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter not only the showcase of the museum, but also the very entrance to the museum. Social networks for the Museum of Cadiz are the only channel with which he can independently work. The official pages of the Museum of Cadiz, during the pandemic, were analyzed for the period from March 12 (the announcement of the closure of museums) to August 31, using the Russian automated service for analytics of brand communities in social networks, JagaJam. The data is compared with the same period in 2019 (except for Twitter, for which there is no data).