STUDENT’ S ENGAGEMENT IN SCHOOL: A LITERATURE REVIEW

Students’ Engagement in School has been the focus of debate concerning academic success and school dropout, and pointed out as a mean to address the problems affecting our schools and their students, not only for having value in itself, but also for being an important mediator between several academic variables. This paper reviews the research and literature on this concept and its relations with personal and contextual variables, as well as with academic performance, with the aim of summarizing the main relationships found. Literature presents a significant number of studies which sustain that personal variables, such as self-efficacy and self-concept, as well as contextual - peers, school, family- are related with school engagement. The adoption of mastery goals, for instance, has a positive impact on school, as they are related with the use of cognitive and self-regulatory strategies by students. Positive relationships with peers, teachers support and the quality of family relations are associated with higher levels of engagement and academic performance, while negative experiences, such as bullying, are related with educational difficulties. Following this, we reflect about the relevance of studying engagement in school, in the context of widespread financial crisis, and emphasize the need to rethink educational institutions considering the paradigmatic changes that currently occur.

Prática de ensino supervisionada em educação pré-escolar e ensino do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico. Cidadania na infância: contributos para uma educação na e para a cidadania

O presente relatório da Prática de Ensino Supervisionada em Educação Pré-escolar e Ensino do 1.º ciclo do Ensino Básico pretende dar a conhecer os aspetos inerentes à dimensão investigativa que desenvolvi na instituição Núcleo de Educação Infantil Colônia Z-11, no Brasil, na cidade de Florianópolis, no ano letivo de 2015; e na instituição Escola Básica dos Canaviais, em Portugal, na cidade de Évora, no ano letivo de 2015/2016. Este relatório incide na temática Cidadania na Infância. Tive como propósito legitimar a criança como sujeito social (a criança cidadã) e contribuir para uma educação que vise a cidadania como direito na infância. Foi deste modo que me propus compreender como poderia contribuir nos espaços institucionais para uma educação na cidadania, vivida no presente, e uma educação para a cidadania, projetada para uma integração do cidadão também no futuro. Considerei que as instituições educativas devem criar uma relação com o dia-a-dia da criança nas diversas áreas, disciplinares e não disciplinares. Numa perspetiva de cidadania participativa, valorizando as instituições educativas como espaços de aquisição e de desenvolvimento de atitudes e competências do cidadão. A dimensão investigativa que desenvolvi no contexto de pré-escolar pretendeu acentuar a consciência de uma identidade cultural, coletiva e individual, valorizando os saberes que as crianças trazem do meio sociocultural de origem. A dimensão investigativa que desenvolvi no contexto de 1.ºciclo pretendeu promover espaços de diálogo, coconstrutivos para as aprendizagens do e entre o grupo. Através de uma análise reflexiva dos instrumentos de recolha de dados tentei dar resposta às questões que orientaram a investigação-ação que realizei, sendo estas: [O que é que a cidadania pode significar nos contextos educativos?]; [Como se promove a cidadania nas instituições escolares?] e [Como criar ambientes que permitam a participação cívica de todos?]; Report of the Supervised Teaching Practice to achieve the Master’s Degree in Pre-school Education and Teaching of the Primary School Abstract: The present report of Supervised Teaching Practice in Preschool Education and in Primary School aims to present the aspects inherent to the research dimension that I developed at the Núcleo de Educação Infantil Colônia Z-11, in Brazil, in the City of Florianopolis, in the academic year of 2015; And at the institution Escola Básica dos Canaviais, in Portugal, in the city of Évora, in the academic year of 2015/2016. The report focuses on the theme of Citizenship in childhood. I had the purpose to legitimize the child as a social subject (the child citizen) and contribute to an education that aims at citizenship as a right in childhood. It was in this way that I set out to understand how I could contribute in the institutional spaces for an education in citizenship, lived in the present, and an education for citizenship, projected for an integration of the citizen in the future. I considered that educational institutions should create a relationship with the child's daily life in the various areas, disciplinary and non-disciplinary. In a perspective of participatory citizenship, valuing educational institutions as spaces for acquisition and development of citizens' attitudes and skills. The research dimension that I developed in the pre-school context sought to accentuate the awareness of a collective, individual and cultural identity, valuing the knowledge that children bring from the socio-cultural environment where the child was born and lives. The investigative dimension that I developed in the context of the Primary School was intended to promote spaces for dialogue, coconstructives to the learnings of and between the group. Through a reflexive analysis of the instruments of data collection I tried to answer the questions that guide the action research that I realized, being these: [What can citizenship mean in the school contexts?]; [How citizenship could be promoted in the school institutions?] And [How to create environments which allow the civics participation of all?].

MOTIVATION AND SATISFACTION IN CONTEXT OF JOB TRAINING IN TOURIST ORGANIZATIONS

This research aims to determine the dimensions of motivation and satisfaction, acquired, through the perception in context of job training, by future technicians (students) in the hospitality and tourism industry, particularly by technical courses in the hotel and restaurant sector. The methodology comprises three distinct stages. First were recovered instruments (questionnaires), already validated by other authors of motivation and satisfaction, which had the intention to replicate studies conducted in other scientific knowledge fields, such as tourism. Those instruments were recovered from the reviewed literature conducted about other themes. On second place the measuring instruments were submitted to a pre-test, or rather, were subject of a pioneer study, in order to verify other assumptions such as semantic errors or see if there was the possibility of some prepared questions to be consider invalidated by poor formulation or interpretation. Finally, were applied in three educational institutions who agreed to cooperate on the research, with the reservation that the interviewed needed a mandatory pre-requirement that consisted in conducting a minimum training in work context (TWC). Then, proceed the statistical analysis to support all the empirical part. The results show that, in general, motivation and satisfaction were present during the period of training in work context. To some people it meant a very important period of personal and professional life, concerning the interactions, emotions and involvement with touristic organizations but also the personal and social relationships.