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Liberty has always been the connecting value across centuries, ever since the struggle between liberty and authority was noticed, paving thus the way for discus- sion and quarrels on what liberty meant. Despite its abstract features, natural liberty and liberty under the law had differentiated implications that shackled societies and triggered ideological debate. Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century defined li- berty as the absence of obstacles for the fulfillment of desires. As such, total indivi- dual liberty would lead to a condition of war. To avoid the destruction of individuals, it was crucial to transfer man's rights into a Sovereign in the form of a social contract. John Locke would later claim that a civil society ensured the preservation of rights. Liberty under the law meant protection against the tyranny of the political rulers. The Enlightenment movement, an intellectual and political reaction to religious bigo- try (Hamilton, 1992), praised, first and foremost, individual liberty, reason, and auto- nomy. The Enlightenment, cosmopolitan and rationally-driven, put aside the idea of custom and tradition, starting anew against the slumbers of Middle-Age superstition. Autonomy and individual liberty motivated the liberal theory to sustain its principles in important documents such as Magna Carta (1215), Bill of Rights (1689), Virginia Bill of Rights (1776) and Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789). Setting the context for the discussion of (political) liberty considering the Enlighten- ment movement and the liberal tradition in Britain, this paper focuses more specifi- cally on the interpretation that Isaiah Berlin, a 20th century British liberal, made on the Enlightenment and how it influenced the purposes and outcomes of the French Revolution under the banner of abstract and, alas, contending values like liberty and equality. By delving into Berlin's conception of liberty, we aim therefore to unveil some misconceptions about the use and appropriation of the word liberty over time. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

John Stuart Mill, a supporter of state provision of popular and secular education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development, accounting also for the future progress of mankind. Unlike other utilitarian thinkers, like Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill believed that the state, in specific circumstances, should supervise education, therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in popular and general education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies, and of the terms defining compulsory attendance. In this context, this paper intends to explore Mill's position on education and progress in line with his approach to liberalism and to the problems of his time. We will argue that his concept of liberal education transcended formal instruction in schools. Instead, it should continuously strive for the moral and mental well-being of humankind. By largely delving into periodicals and other writings produced during the Victorian era, we shall describe the changes popular education suffered under the sway of political reform and utilitarianism, bearing witness to the spirit of the age and to Mill's approach to education.

John Stuart Mill, a supporter of state provision of popular and secular education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development, accounting also for the future progress of mankind. Unlike other utilitarian thinkers, like Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill believed that the state, in specific circumstances, should supervise education, therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in popular and general education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies, and of the terms defining compulsory attendance. In this context, this paper intends to explore Mill's position on education and progress in line with his approach to liberalism and to the problems of his time. We will argue that his concept of liberal education transcended formal instruction in schools. Instead, it should continuously strive for the moral and mental well-being of humankind. By largely delving into periodicals and other writings produced during the Victorian era, we shall describe the changes popular education suffered under the sway of political reform and utilitarianism, bearing witness to the spirit of the age and to Mill's approach to education. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Language and politics are two inextricable concepts for George Orwell, who, writing during and after the 2nd Word War context in Britain, criticised the vagueness, the excessive use of phraseology and the powerful influence of metaphors in political language. According to the author: "In our own time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible (.). Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question- begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." (Orwell, 2000, p. 356). In a decaying time when the general political atmosphere was therefore negative, the language was also unscrupulous as it suffered from the schizophrenia, vagueness, metaphorical style and lies that defined politics in post-war Britain (Orwell, 2000, pp. 348-9). An opponent of inkhorn terms, Orwell loathed the use of the hundreds of foreign words and phrases current in English and believed that the English language, or as he highlights, "Saxon words", would cover the needs of political writers instead of Latin or Greek or/and other loans. In this article, we intend to analyse Orwell's 1946 essay "Politics and the English language", focusing on the English political context of that period, as well as to scrutinise Orwell's idea of language concreteness by delving into metaphorical phraseology and the inkhorn controversy. We will also emphasize Orwell's contemporary relevance. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In 19th century Britain the questions of representation, parliamentary reform and democracy were more categorically discussed. The Great Reform Act of 1832 epitomised hope for many people who felt left out of the suffrage, as it would reform the British electoral system but in fact it didn't match expected outcomes. In this article we explore and assess the direct and unintended effects of the 1867 Reform Act, also known as the Second Reform Act, analysing the relation between representation and democracy as the possession of the vote and of political power were not necessarily the same thing. We also scrutinise the construction of a political discourse sustained by several playwrights, such as historians and political writers, to meet political, economic and social needs, highlighting opposing views regarding suffrage and the disbelief in democracy focusing particularly on Thomas Carlyle and his 1867 pamphlet: Shooting Niagara - And after? and some of the supporters of the extension of the franchise, namely J. S. Mill, Gladstone and Disraeli. In order to support these aims, we will also bring to light how some nineteenth century periodicals cast the debate on suffrage, namely The Illustrated London News (ILN), The Times, Fun and Punch. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The Reformation in England placed religion and faith at the centre of the English national feeling. The idea of a nation elected and blessed by God sustained the propa- gandistic discourse set in motion by Henry VIII and his closest allies, Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Thomas Cromwell, Henry's vicegerent and chief mi- nister, in an attempt to wipe papist influence in England. The printing press became paramount in the dissemination of this national discourse which introduced a set of measures, namely the dissolution and pillaging of monasteries and the imposition of a Bible in the native tongue in every church. Indeed, the translation of the Bible by Miles Coverdale, based on Tyndale's original, represents one of the most noteworthy moments of the Reformation. The purpose of this paper is thus twofold. First, we intend to reflect on how cultural history was closely intertwined with religious his- tory during Henry VIII's reign, as both religion and politics contributed to the English national unity. Not only did the construction of the idea of a nation follow nationalist and erastian criteria, but it was also still largely dependent on the tenets of both Lu- theran and Catholic beliefs, originating a clash of opinions and positions between the king, Cranmer and Cromwell. Therefore, we will analyse the Acts passed in 1534 and The Bishops' Book (1537). Secondly, we will highlight the importance of the English language and Englishness through vernacular translations and how they helped to coin a language of devotion in English. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Money-getting, mechanical progress and human happiness lay at the basis of a utilitarian conception of education in Industrial Britain. "The Benthamic or utilitarian propagandism of that time" (Mill, 1981, p. 105) accounted for the happiness of people at the greatest number possible, even if it implied a mechanical and inadequate instruction. Popular education in the first half of the nineteenth century was not only scarce in quantity, but it was also deficient in quality. John Stuart Mill, the paladin for the provision of state education at a national scale in Victorian England, believed education was a means to foster human mind development as well as it accounted for the future progress of mankind. Mill, a utilitarian and empiricist philosopher and political liberal thinker, unlike Bentham and his father James Mill, believed the state should control education therefore guaranteeing its quality and not only quantity. The reforms in education throughout the nineteenth century accompanied the discussion of what should be included in the curriculum of school or university studies. In fact, many liberal Victorian political thinkers regarded the dissemination of thorough scientific education a sine qua non condition of industrial and human progress. Therefore, education took a rather scientific outlook as Darwinian ideas throve through the educational setting of Britain. Actually, Mill's concept of education encompassed both the science and the literary studies. Within this context, the purpose of the paper is thus three-fold. First, we intend to validate that Mill's utilitarian conception of education was different from that of Bentham's. Even if Mill recognised the necessity to the mental well-being of mankind, his humanistic stance led him to believe "human nature was not a machine to be built after a model."(Mill, 1997, p. 87) Concurrent with the first aim, we will also describe the changes the national curriculum suffered under the influence of a more scientific outlook, and, lastly, we will put forth Mill's position on this matter. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Language and politics are two inextricable concepts for George Orwell, who, writing during and after 2nd Word War Britain, criticizes the vagueness and the excessive use of phraseology and ambiguity in political language. According to the author: "In our own time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible (…). Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness." (Orwell, 2000: 356). In a decaying time where the general political atmosphere was therefore bad, the language was also unscrupulous as it suffered from the schizophrenia, vagueness, metaphorical style and lies that defined politics in post-war Britain. An opponent of inkhorn terms, Orwell loathed the use of the hundreds of foreign words and phrases current in English and believed that the English language, or as he highlights, "Saxon words", would cover the needs of political writers instead of Latin or Greek or/and other loans. In this paper, we shall analyse Orwell's 1946 essay "Politics and the English language" from both linguistic and cultural insights, focusing on the English political status quo at the time, as well as highlighting Orwell's idea of language concreteness. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

In 19th century Britain, the century of reform par excellence, the questions of representation, parliamentary reform and democracy were more categorically discussed. The Great Reform Act of 1832 epitomised hope for many people who felt left out of the suffrage, as it would reform the British electoral system but in fact it undermined the expectations since the vote was based on property and on the payment of a rent. The growing political power of a more dominant middle class and the constant pressure of liberals made parliamentary franchise a need and a reality. For this reason, the 1867 Representation of the People Act, also known as the Second Reform Act, removed anomalies in the system the 1832 Reform Act had not addressed, and extended the vote. Within this framework, the purpose of this paper is thus twofold. On the one hand, we will assess the direct and unintended effects of the 1867 Act, exploring the relation between representation and democracy as the possession of the vote and of political power were not necessarily the same thing. On the other hand, we intend to analyse the construction of a political discourse sustained by several playwrights, such as historians and political writers, to meet political, economic, social and cultural needs. With this in mind, we will highlight opposing views regarding suffrage and the disbelief in democracy focusing particularly on Thomas Carlyle and his 1867 Pamphlet: Shooting Niagara - And after?, and some of the supporters of popular democracy and in favour of the extension of the franchise, namely J.S. Mill, W.E. Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. In order to support these objectives, we will also bring to light some 19th century periodicals, such as The Illustrated London News, The Sunday Times, The Times and Punch, scrutinising how they cast the debate on suffrage. ; FCT

Dating back from the French revolution, citizenship means a status that confers entitlements and benefits as well as obligations towards the state. Being a citizen is the legal state requirement to become part of the nation. National identity means inclusiveness and identifying oneself with a collective whole. Nonetheless, one can argue that concept has somehow transformed itself in its basic core. What is now the status of citizenship, in a world of gradually more deterritorialised politics? How is citizenship being reconfigured under contemporary conditions? Is postnational cosmopolitan solidarity, so proclaimed nowadays, really possible to attain? As a consequence of the world's latest terrorist attacks, both in London and in Madrid, European governments are instigating a more controlled defence of the national territory. Therefore, new immigration laws are created within this new social and political context. This paper's main purpose is to reflect on the politics of membership in Britain and the steps immigrants and ethnic minorities have to take in their journey to citizenship. Special emphasis will thus be put on the law and system of control which governs immigration and asylum in the UK. We will also make reference to the politics of membership carried on in other European countries, such as Portugal, Spain and France, in order to try to understand and compare the theory and practice of citizenship in different European countries.

Based on the assumption that everyone should have the opportunity to live the British dream, Michael Howard's 2005 Conservative Manifesto outlines a sense of nationhood, admiring excellence and encouraging ambition, whatever the background or colour of people's skin. Would this be possible? Can't we perceive in it a utopian desire to create a monoculture society? Would the same chances be given to everyone? Nonetheless, one of the main projects of the Conservative party is to set a limit on immigration in Britain. This paper's main purpose is to reflect upon the causes and consequences of immigration in Britain and what the government intends to do to integrate multicultural and multiethnic societies in the mainstream culture. Special focus will be put on a specific community in Britain: the Pakistanis. The central concern of this paper is basically to highlight similarities and differences in the concept and exercise of citizenship in Britain. ; Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Higher education lecturers are currently overwhelmed with the idea of changing from the old paradigm, in which teaching and learning happened through a teacher-centred perspective, to a student centred approach, currently a more widely accepted new teaching standpoint, which lecturers are eager to transform into a vivid and motivating experience, by exploring various alternatives. The pressure to do so while resorting to several technological tools is enormous. The use of technological tools available to every student, namely smartphones, social networks, new platforms and other devices do not suffice anymore. Teachers and lecturers seek to go beyond the obvious tools and search for a way to combine these technologies and the new pedagogical approach in order to provide a more profound meaning to the teaching and learning process. AduLeT – Advanced Use of Learning Technologies in higher education – is a European project involving seven different institutions, which aims at improving the teaching quality of lecturers by enhancing their skills concerning the use of technologies in an advanced way, through a Community of Practice (CoP) where methods and tools are intertwined, thus envisaging a common outcome: sharing ready-made solutions which have been tested in a higher education context to solve an educational problem. The aims of this contribution are as follows: 1. to describe the project in the given context; 2. to explain the different stages and methodology towards the design of the CoP; 3. to provide insight about the CoP itself; 4. To clarify how higher education teachers can use the CoP in their daily educational routine. The CoP is made available through a platform, currently correcting some functionalities in the evaluating stage with potential end users, which consists of an application developed with an author programming tool that allows getting flexible, visual, easy and logic navigation and interaction. The platform has been developed to provide users with a valuable experience to facilitate lecturers' understanding and usability. Our experience shows that a CoP could facilitate the adaptation process and allow a faster and more effective transferability of teaching innovations among different countries as well as among lecturers and universities at an international level. Currently the CoP already contains methods from different fields of knowledge and a variety of tools which can allow a lecturer to choose from, in order to include them in their lectures and seminars as to obtain a better interaction from the student's side and also to create a more motivated approach on a daily basis. ; AduLeT has been funded with the support of the European Commission and co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The European Commission favours the implementation and use of digital content and specially Open Educational Resources (OER) made accessible in higher education. Most of the lecturers have neither the skills nor the time to supply the teaching materials as digital content or OER. Therefore, Advanced Use of Learning Technologies in Higher Education (AduLeT) is a project that has been set up within the European Union Erasmus+programme support, involving seven partners working together from November 2016 to August 2019. This project will provide lecturers with a community to share user experiences that integrate selected teaching methods with technologies and learning objects to solve an educational problem. AduLeT project brings in a Community of Practice (CoP) for lecturers with suitable teaching methods for technology enhanced learning (TEL). One specific requirement is the visualization of a set of category of tools matching with methods, like a matrix of methods and tools that can easily help teachers choosing from them. The lecturer can also find guidelines in the CoP for the effective use of TEL tools according to themethodology he/she plans to use in the learning process.The CoP will also make it possible to get in touch with other lecturers and to share experiences about teaching with TEL tools. In this contribution we will present the main requisites and functionalities implemented to provide the CoP, based on two workshops with the lecturers of the partner countries. We believe that this project could be an excellent support to the teacher, because it will present good practices for the use of appropriate educational technologies, properly conformed with teaching methods applicable to the resolution of problems, difficulties and requisites of common teaching. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Education has undergone many changes and adaptations due to the uncanny times we live in caused by the pandemic that spread to the world in the first months of 2020. Speaking and writing about the effects of Covid-19 in all areas of life has become a common practice if one thinks of the numerous reports and news put forth by the media about the impact of the virus on people, on the economy, on work and school. No one knows for sure the consequences of Coronavirus. We can only focus and reflect on its short-term effects. Apart from realising that Covid-19 has taken its toll on people, it has forced us to readjust our lives in an unforeseeable way. Working and studying from home became a common practice of life put on hold. Lockdowns, enforced differently by the governments, have tried to bring the pandemic under control to drop transmission rates. In addition, they have dictated (the temporary) course of education and business. Online classes, online meetings, via Zoom or the Microsoft platform Teams, for instance, have given way to a virtual environment to which schools and universities had to adhere. To avoid letting ourselves to be under the sway of Covid-19, we have to carry on with our so-called normal lives, under all accepted constraints, and try to deal with this new situation the best we can. That means that one has to continue teaching, learning and doing research in the search for knowledge, new challenges to unravel less explored fields, and, ultimately, to find a balance between life and work. Starting this preface with the mention of the pandemic was neither innocent nor purposeless. As teachers and researchers, we felt we had to convey a message to all the people involved in the field of education and research. We must resolutely not fear the virus and fight it by doing what we know best. Despite the need to abide by safety rules, we have to continue working. Regarding education, we can already draw some conclusions about the effects of the pandemic throughout these last ten months. Schools and universities have made all the efforts to overcome the constraints caused by Covid-19, facilitating the work of teachers/lecturers, educators, and researchers by fostering collaborative work and technology-enhanced learning. If, on the one hand, many complained about a myriad of negative aspects, namely the reduction of class interaction, technological devices and network problems, on the other, some bravely embraced the idea of going online, despite all the obstacles they would encounter. Overall, everyone adapted and continued working, upholding their beliefs in democratic education. Conferences have also been postponed, cancelled, or transferred to an online context. The Erasmus Week, which was to be held at the IPB in May this year, was regretfully cancelled. Teaching Crossroads was not put off by the virus. It hasn't stopped the publication process since May last year. As such, we are pleased to have this year's edition ready, comprising some of the works presented during the 15th and 16th IPB Erasmus Weeks. Finally, we would like to thank the authors who kindly sent us their works to be published, undergoing a thorough review process. Consequently, our last word of appraisal goes to the reviewers who helped us to keep the quality level we aim to maintain. We do hope that both students and teachers enjoy reading the texts published in this number, in the sense they find common teaching intersections that will benefit them throughout the teaching-learning process. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB) has been organising its Erasmus Week since 2004. It is held yearly in May, normally during the second week of May. The Erasmus week's main purposes are three-fold. First, the IPB aims at enforcing closer, more dynamic and more efficient institutional relations amongst the European Higher Education Institutions. Lectures are then organised and introduced in both undergraduate and master classes in accordance with the area of interest. Meetings with directors of the 5 IPB schools and Erasmus coordinators are also scheduled. The second and third goals, which naturally derive from the first, are to facilitate familiarity with the IPB campus, its schools and with the cities of Bragança and Mirandela, where the IPB schools are settled, and with the surrounding area, namely the Montesinho Natural Park and the Alto Douro Wine Region (UNESCO World Heritage). This information can be found on the IPB International Relations Office website. Overall, all these three goals lie behind what is considered an umbrella goal which is to promote the IPB in its numerous valences and strengthen the mobility ties with the different European Higher Institutions which have established cooperation agreements with the IPB. This has revealed fruitful and far-reaching as more than 20 partner countries visit us every year. If one takes into account the two last editions' numbers, Poland is the country with a higher percentage of participants (37.1% and 29%), followed by Spain (11.4% and 15.9%), France, Romania and Czech Republic1. Regarding the lectures delivered during this week, teachers show a high level of satisfaction and find it rather rewarding according to the evaluation results obtained every year. One of the most visible results of these lectures is the publication of Teaching Crossroads. It started being published aiming ultimately at the dissemination of the research work that was presented at the IPB. We then extended it to all activities related to Teachers Erasmus+ mobility and international projects. The idea was not only to disseminate studies from other European researchers but also to give to the IPB teaching staff the opportunity to publish their research work and what they presented during their mobility. So far, the adhesion to this project has been rather steady and compliant with the publication's main goal. In hindsight, this project, which started in 2011, continues to persevere in its academic path, making thus available to students and teachers the most valuable research studies and relevant data in regard to a myriad of study areas which underlie the spirit of Higher Education, multifaceted, multilayered and plural. In Higher Education we hope never to be at a crossroads, but we dare to constantly thrive when faced with obstacles and embrace the challenges of knowledge. All areas of study are important and meaningful and must be continually promoted. This has been the leading motto of Teaching Crossroads since its very beginning. This would have never been possible without the valuable help of regular contributors to whom we are very grateful, from the authors, the reviewers, the designer to the IPB Image Services. A thanking note must also go to the IPB which has embraced this project by agreeing to publish it. As a result of the close cooperation work with the researchers who submitted their proposals to blind review, we selected five texts from diverse areas but nonetheless complementary. As such, this year, areas of study vary from comparative literature, education, social education and sociology, finance to business and entrepreneurship. A brief summary of each is presented next. María Antonia Mezquita Fernández, whose research has been focusing on the modern subject of ecocriticism bearing in mind the new approach to the close relationship between environmental issues and literature, a concern that always permeated literature, discusses the ecocritical identity in the light of literary figures and their poetical messages regarding nature. By highlighting and comparing two British poets, William Wordsworth and Dylan Thomas, and a Spanish poet, Claudio Rodríguez, the author introduces an ecocritical stance to the analysis of the poems under discussion. Sharing the common ground of nature, the poems are worth reading due to the powerful messages they convey, not only bearing in mind the period when they were written but because the topics explored resonate with the environmental defenders' main principles. What the author brings to the fore of discussion is a thought-provocative, challenging and relevant essay which found in literature its main driving force to call the attention to the importance of the defence of nature in a time where environmental issues, such as global warming and the melting of glaciers, are at the centre of the world's political agenda, despite the constant scepticism that still persists to endure. Beata Sufa & Anna Szkolak-Stępień delve into the idea of creativity fostered within the teaching context, by both teachers and students. In their article entitled "Creative Teacher-Creative Pupil – a Study Report", the authors argue that, having in mind all the technological advances and (advanced) use of learning technology, the new conditions of school and learning context require new challenges to the way the teaching-learning process is dealt with. The teacher's creative attitude will thus become paramount for children's development of creativity which will help them to improve communication skills. Kazimiera Król studies the phenomenon of begging in Poland, analyzing the spatial and social framework of such reality which results from many factors and underlies consequences to the places chosen for begging and to the beggars themselves. The author puts forth an empirical study bearing in mind the age, gender, civil status and nationality of mendicants, presenting thus in-depth data which allow her to reach interesting and relevant conclusions regarding the whole phenomenon of begging in nowadays Poland. Eliza Komierzyńska-Orlińska sheds some light on a common unknown part of the financial system to the majority of people, which is the security of the banking system. When one deposits or withdraws money one is never aware of (or simply does not care about) how our money is held safe or how the banks protect their assets. The article "Security of the Banking System in Poland. Fundamental Assumptions" deals precisely with security issues within the Polish banking system highlighting the crucial role of the central bank in the whole process of surveillance and regulation. Legal issues are therefore discussed. By using simple and straightforward language, the author is able to reach a non-specialist audience who will become more informed about this issue in a rather clear way. Erik Kubička focuses on organizational culture explaining how well-succeeded, renowned, top companies in the technology sector foster effectiveness in the work environment. In this regard, the author describes several technological companies, such as Google, Apple and IBM, just to name a few. Innovation, informal leadership, less red tape and closer contact with the workers are features that are common to all these companies which represent the key to their success. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion