Dr. Juana M. Sancho-Gil
Dr. Juana M. Sancho-Gil is Full Professor of Educational Technologies at the University of Barcelona. Dr. Sancho-Gil has a longstanding and steady experience in promoting research policy at institutional level, advising research programs and projects, and assessing and managing research projects. At the moment she is coordinating the European project DIYLab-Do It Yourself in Education: Expanding Digital Competence to Foster Student Agency and Collaborative Learning. Dr. Sancho-Gil won the national educational research award, first in 1987 and again in 2003.
In this interview, which is part of the Lead the Change Series of the American Educational Research Association Educational Change Special Interest Group, Leithwood shares thoughts on the field of educational change, and provides details of her current work in Spain:
In the context of Spain, where a ruling party has approved and is implementing a regressive educational law, I take part in what is called the Foro de Sevilla. In 2012, the Spanish Minister of Education promoted a new educational law (Ley orgánica de mejora de la calidad educative–LOMCE). Because it was a majority government, the proposal was developed in an authoritarian manner and was highly confronted by diverse political parties, and civic and public entities. A group of university professors, teachers, union members, and representatives of parent associations, concerned about the clear educational and democratic recoil of the proposed law, met in Seville and wrote a manifesto. Since then, we have been discussing the different challenges to be met by education, involving more and more groups in the discussion and engaging in the development of proposals.
This Lead the Change interview appears as part of a series that features experts from around the globe, highlights promising research and practice, and offers expert insight on small- and large-scale educational change. Recently Lead the Change has also published interviews with Diane Ravitch, and the contributors to Leading Educational Change: Global Issues, Challenges, and Lessons on Whole-System Reform (Teachers College Press, 2013) edited by Helen Janc Malone, have participated in a series of blogs from Education Week.
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