Revista Con-Sciencias Sociales

Presentation

Comité Editorial — 2025-06-30

We are pleased to present a new edition of the journal Con-Sciencias Sociales. In this issue, we share with the academic community and the general public six articles that focus on education, child labor, and the dialogue of knowledge in soil management within the Andean communities of Cochabamba. The first four contributions in this issue fall under the scientific research section, while the last two are included in the essay section.

Regional study on reading comprehension and logical-mathematical reasoning in primary and secondary school students in the metropolitan axis of Cochabamba in the 2023 management

Oscar Velasco — 2025-06-30

This study forms part of a comprehensive evaluation of educational quality, focusing specifically on understanding the status of fundamental competencies achieved by students in reading comprehension and mathematical logical reasoning. The assessment encompassed 3rd and 6th grade primary students and 4th and 6th grade secondary students from educational institutions in the municipalities of Cochabamba's central axis during the 2023 academic year. This research addresses the critical gap in official information regarding these basic competencies, which fall under the school's educational mandate. This research employed a mixed-methods approach within an interpretive framework. The quantitative component enabled a systematic assessment of students' capacity development levels, while the qualitative component explored teachers' perceptions regarding students' performance in these competencies and identified potential influencing factors. The results indicated that students from both educational levels and across all evaluated grades performed within the "developing" range, which is classified as "failed" according to the Ministry of Education's assessment scale. Most concerning was the finding that deductive inferential comprehension and critical thinking levels were the least developed areas among students. Similarly, in mathematical logical reasoning, students from both educational levels and across all grades scored within the "developing" range, equivalent to "failed" according to official assessment standards. The most significant deficiency identified was in the application of learning to problem-solving situations.

Aynuqas System: Yarvicoya rodeo and Jach’apampa cases of the Ayllus of Tapacarí, Cochabamba – Bolivia

Zenón Mamani Fili — 2025-06-30

This article presents the results of a knowledge dialogue that addresses problems in the management of reconfigured soils based on the aynuqa system in the communities of Yarvicoya Rodeo and Jach'apampa within the ayllus of Tapacarí, Cochabamba, Bolivia. The methodology employed was Participatory Revalorizing Research using dialogue circles, semi-structured interviews, and participant observation techniques. The most relevant findings reveal that in the first community, there is an intensification in the use of insecticides to combat pests, prevent losses, and obtain high yields in Waych'a potato production for commercial purposes. In this productive process, soils have begun to be commodified and disconnected from spiritual and social life, being reduced merely to a material component as a source of wealth. In the second community, soils also face the proliferation of the Andean weevil (Premnotrypes spp.); however, farmers still avoid applying agrochemicals because production is destined for self-consumption. The study concludes that in both communities, there is an evident absence of agroecological policies that contribute to integral soil management and transdisciplinary studies that would enable the classification of cultivable soils according to their mineral content to diversify food production with sovereignty and sustainability.

The situation of child labor in Bolivia (2014-2023): Between theoretical-normative dissonance and the failures of public policies

Josias Moreira — 2025-06-30

This article analyzes the normative-social discussion regarding child labor in Bolivia from 2014 to 2023, focusing on the tension between the abolitionist approach promoted by international organizations and the critical approach advocated by movements such as the National Union of Working Children and Adolescents of Bolivia (UNATSBO). Through a qualitative methodology with a critical-hermeneutic approach, the research draws on documentary and bibliographic analysis comprising 50 academic, technical, normative sources, press reports, and statistics that enabled the systematization of the main contributions on this topic. Sources were selected based on their theoretical, political, and institutional relevance. This methodological strategy allowed for the reconstruction of the conflict between normative frameworks and state practices, identifying structural limitations in public policy implementation as well as institutional omissions in the information system (SINNA-MID). The main findings indicate a dissonance between international abolitionist discourse and local conditions, evidencing an absence of effective protection for Working Children and Adolescents (NNATs). The study concludes that the Bolivian state has failed to construct a protection system with a human rights approach, necessitating a rethinking of its role and recognition of NNATs as active political subjects.

Social work and the movement of working children: power-sensitive learning from social movements

Cornelia Brockmann Huber — 2025-06-30

This article explores the ruptures, tensions, conflicts, and opportunities existing between the field of social work and the social movement of working children, adolescents, and youth (NNATS). The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the contribution of the NNATS movement to childhood education, social pedagogy, and social work. Following critical childhood research and participatory action research approaches, ethnographic interviews were conducted and evaluated using a modified form of qualitative content analysis to describe the action strategies of the NNATS movement in the Global South. The main finding reveals that the experiences and knowledge generated within NNATS movements in the South redefine the understanding of childhoods in asymmetric and unjust social contexts, position themselves.

Children's rights as counter-rights. How children of the Global South are constituted as subjects with rights of their own

Manfred Liebel — 2025-06-30

The article presents the legal and philosophical concept of counter-rights and shows why socially disadvantaged children of the Global South, in particular, depend on them and to what extent they go beyond the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Taking the movements of working children and adolescents as an example, it explains how these rights arise from the experiences and practice of children. After presenting the fundamental aspects of counter-rights, it discusses some of the challenges they entail and explains how they can be overcome.

Social work as lived utopia. The theoretical and professional meaning of utopian thinking for social work.

Cosimo Mangione — 2025-06-30

This article aims to analyse the importance of utopian thinking in Social Work, drawing on a review of philosophical and socio-pedagogical literature. Starting from the thesis that the origins of Social Work in the global North are closely linked to a utopian project of social transformation oriented towards social justice and human dignity, the article addresses the current loss of the transformative power of Social Work. The reasons for this can be found in a misunderstood project of professionalisation, in which calculating reason and economic benchmarks have displaced a politics of liberation. The author argues that the perspective of utopian thought, and in particular the work of Ernst Bloch, could provide essential impulses for refocusing on an idea of social work that emphasises the category of possibility and novelty. Throughout the study, it became clear that, in the current historical situation, marked by transition, utopian thinking can reinforce the role of social work in limiting the potential for exclusion associated with such processes.