Community School of São Miguel de Machede: A decade of Learning

the Community School of São Miguel de Machede exists since 1998. A model of Community Education has been developed in this decade of existence, which not being confined to the frequent profiles of the most common approaches in Adult Education, has been the result of a process of symbiosis between a practice that normally precedes the conceptualization and a thought which has always expressed the concern of interpreting and enrich that practice. Setting on a model of learning based on the PADéCA – Program of Helping the Development of the Capacity to Learn, proposed by Berbaum (1988), the Community School of São Miguel de Machede has been developing several activities centred on a fundamental concern: to create easy and qualified accesses, in this community (council of Evora), so that the respective members can learn to exercise their principal rights of citizenship, in the territory where they live and in a circumstance of equality of opportunities in relation to the remaining fellow countrymen. Being a project with a decade of life, it is now possible to speak of a history full of stories and learning experiences, which occurred as a result of a rich interaction between the initial thoughts and impulses of the theoretical approaches and a reality full of unexpectedness, mutability and humanity resulting from the complexity that a living community presents, with a history and a present, but not always with clear and positive idea about the respective future.

Enea Silvio Piccolomini: in search of Europe

The Italian humanist Enea Silvio Piccolomini wrote abundantly about Europe and is often viewed as a pioneer of European thought. Works previous to the treatise De Europa leave no doubt that the author pondered the subject long since. The treatise De Europa, however, has the advantage of dealing with Europe from multiple dimensions. Though the work can provide matter to make the case for an identity of Europe, Piccolomini portrays a block full of tensions and conflicts, where national languages and national identities begin to emerge. It is the historical circumstance of a Turkish threat to Europe that makes the appeal to a European identity more compelling. Still the case for European identity in Piccolomini is hardly more than an emotional response to the historical moment.

(Des)encontros com a realidade: a trajectória profissional dos licenciados em ensino básico : 1º ciclo formados pelas instituições de ensino superior público do Alentejo entre os anos de 2001 e 2003

A problemática que constitui o ponto de partida do presente estudo evidencia a importância de se conhecer e compreender a forma como se processa a inserção profissional dos recém-diplomados em Ensino Básico - 1º Ciclo. De entre distintas ópticas possíveis, considerou-se importante assumir, como elemento estratégico deste processo, e na linha do pensamento de M. Alves (2001), o entendimento de que o processo de inserção profissional assume um carácter dinâmico, que envolve três actores fundamentais: os diplomados, os empregadores e os estabelecimentos de ensino superior. É tendo como base de trabalho esta perspectiva (conceito de inserção profissional articulado com o paradigma da aprendizagem ao longo da vida) que se edifica o presente estudo, estruturando-se em quatro partes. A primeira delas visa, embora não de forma exclusiva, a explanação dos principais referenciais teóricos relativos à temática em questão; a segunda parte explicita as opções metodológicas adoptadas; a terceira debruça-se sobre a análise e interpretação dos resultados e a quarta remete para algumas conclusões que emergiram de todo o processo de investigação empreendido. Procurando desenvolver-se uma investigação descritiva assente numa metodologia integrada e complementar com abordagens qualitativas e quantitativas, a recolha de dados incide num questionário e numa entrevista, tendo-se sempre em consideração os objectivos subjacentes ao estudo e optando-se, para tal, como sujeitos, pelos licenciados em Ensino Básico - 1.° Ciclo que realizaram a sua formação nas instituições formadoras do Alentejo (Escolas Superiores de Beja e Portalegre e Universidade de Évora), no período compreendido entre 2001 e 2003. As trajectórias profissionais destes licenciados ficam marcadas por sentimentos de ilusão, incerteza e indignação, mas também por um forte sentimento de frustração. Não foi pacífico, para muitos deles, aceitar que a realização do curso não lhes conferiu o acesso ao emprego esperado. A sua maioria encontrava-se integrada em sectores profissionais que não estavam directamente relacionados com o curso ou, então, permaneciam desempregados. A esperança de virem a exercer a profissão docente parecia ser cada vez mais ténue. /***Abstract - The problem that constitutes the start of the present study emphasizes the importance of knowing and understanding the way it proceeds the professional insertion of the new graduates of the Ensino Básico — V Ciclo (primary school).Between several visions, it has been important, as a strategic element of this process and following the line of M. Alves (2001), the understanding that the professional insertion assumes a dynamic character, that envolves three fundamental elements: the graduates, the employers and. the universities. This study, structured in four parts, is based in the concept that links profession insertion with life long learning. The purpose of the first part is to expose, not in an exclusive way, the several theories connected with the theme in question the second part explains the methodology used; the third consists of the analysis and interpretation of the results and the fourth and. last one, exposes some conclusions that carne out of the investigation process. It has been tried in this study to develop a descriptive investigation, based on an integrated and complementary methodology that includes a qualitative and quantitative analysis. Therefore, the gathering of data is based on a questionnaire and an interview. Always considering the underlying objectives of the study, we have chosen, as subjects, the graduates in Ensino Básico - 1º Ciclo that performed their formation in the institutes of Alentejo (Escola Superior de Educação de Beja, Escola Superior de Educação de Portalegre e Universidade de Évora), in the period between 2001 and. 2003. The professional trajectory of these graduates is full of uncertainty, indignation and also full of strong feelings of frustration. It was not easy for many of them to accept that the course they have completed doesn't open the doors for the job they've dreamed of and expected. The majority was integrated in professional areas not directly connected with their course or then remained unemployed. The hope of becoming teachers was turning more and more tenuous.