Teacher’s Conceptions of Caring and Protective Teaching Elements in Rwamwanja Refugee Settlement Schools

The purpose of this study is to find out what conceptions Rwamwanja refugee settlement teachers have about caring teaching methods. The study was conducted by analysing the data gathered from semi-structured interviews. Twelve teachers were interviewed in four different refugee settlement schools. The main theory of this study is based on ethics of care research by Nel Noddings. In addition, the framework was developed by combining the theories of resilience and psychosocial support which are often employed in research concerning emergency contexts. This study uses qualitative content analysis to describe the conceptions of caring teachers have and protective teaching elements they employ. The results of this study show that many of the key elements of caring and protective teaching were present in teacher’s answers. For example, in their answers, the majority of the teachers pointed out the significance of using soft discipline. However, many teaching elements considered ideal in emergency contexts were missing. These missing methods include routines and flexibility which are considered essential for vulnerable children. The teachers’ levels of conceptual thinking varied remarkably depending on their language skills. The communication was limited to very basic and concrete language in some of the interviews due to lack of mutual understanding. This also raised a question about the level of understanding between refugee pupils and teachers since there is no strong common language between them. The results of this research call for further studies about the effect of caring teaching elements in growth of resilience in refugee children. Keywords: The ethics of care, resilience, psychosocial support, education in emergencies, refugees, education, protection.

Elaboração e aplicação de um Programa de Treino de Técnica de Pontas para os alunos do 3º ano de Dança, da Academia de Dança do Vale do Sousa, com vista à preparação de Variações de Repertório Clássico

Relatório Final de Estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Dança, com vista à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ensino de Dança.

Työntekijäinnovaatioiden johtaminen osuuskaupassa

Innovatiivisuutta tarvitaan kaikilla elämän aloilla. Työntekijäinnovaatioiden on todettu olevan yksi tekijä saavuttaa kilpailuetua. Työntekijöillä on läheinen kontakti materiaaleihin, markkinoihin, asiakkaisiin ja käyttäjiin, joten heillä on ajankohtaista, kokemusperäistä tietoa ja taitoa yrityksen kehittämiseen. Tämän tutkielman tarkoituksena on osallistua innovatiivisesta organisaatiokulttuurista käytyyn tieteelliseen keskusteluun tuomalla innovaatiot osuustoiminnan yhteyteen. Tutkimus on toteutettu laadullisena tapaustutkimuksena. Aineistonkeruumenetelmänä on käytetty teemahaastattelua. Tutkimuksen empiirinen aineisto on kerätty kuudessa parihaastattelussa kohdeorganisaatiossa marraskuussa 2015. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että osuustoiminnan ydinideat periaatteineen ja arvoineen tukevat innovatiivisen organisaatiokulttuurin luomista asiakasomisteisessa osuuskunnassa. Innovatiivisen organisaatiokulttuurin tekijät puolestaan tukevat yrityksessä työntekijäinnovaatioita. Kun osuuskunnan sidosryhmien, kuten henkilöstön, tietoisuus osuustoiminnan ydinideoista tarkentuu, kehittämisen tarkoituksenmukaisuus ja mielekkyys lisääntyvät.

Saúde hunana e ambiental: estudo com trabalhadores agricultores da ilha dos marinheiros

Este estudo apresenta uma relação entre o trabalho agrícola familiar e a saúde humana e ambiental em um cenário insular com características rurais, tendo-se como objetivo geral, analisar a sustentabilidade da relação socioambiental do trabalho de agricultores moradores da Ilha dos Marinheiros. Os objetivos específicos foram: Caracterizar a sustentabilidade do trabalho agrícola familiar na Ilha dos Marinheiros; Identificar como os trabalhadores agricultores da Ilha dos Marinheiros significam a sua saúde e atuam para mantê-la; Compreender como os trabalhadores agricultores identificam os impactos positivos e negativos do trabalho agrícola familiar desencadeados no ambiente e a conservação da saúde ambiental. Trata-se de uma pesquisa exploratória, descritiva, transversal com desenho de método misto com estruturação [QUAL + quan]. Foi realizada na Ilha dos Marinheiros, Rio Grande, Brasil, com 129 trabalhadores agricultores entre março a outubro de 2013, utilizando-se entrevista com aplicação individual de um questionário semiestruturado, gravado, previamente elaborado e testado. Também foram utilizados dados secundários referentes à constituição geográfica, cultural e econômica da Ilha. A organização dos dados qualitativos ocorreu a partir da transcrição dos dados oriundos das entrevistas no Microsoft Word, seguido da Análise de Conteúdo por temas com auxílio do Software Nvivo10. Para ambos os processos de análise utilizou-se o apoio teórico na racionalidade cultural de Enrique Leff. A organização dos dados quantitativos se fez pela codificação dos dados e digitação no software Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, 21.0, seguido da análise estatística descritiva e Teste Qui-quadrado de Pearson, com o p-valor <0,05 como significância estatística. Foram asseguradas as exigências éticas e científicas preconizadas nas pesquisas com seres humanos, mediante Resolução 466/2012 e aprovação do macroprojeto pelo Comitê de Ética da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande sob parecer 026/2013. Teve-se 78 trabalhadores agricultores do sexo masculino com idade média de (55,33±14,27), e 51 do sexo feminino, com idade média de (54,68±11,08). Predominou a descendência portuguesa 106 (84,8%), a maioria 100 (77,52%) com ensino fundamental incompleto, média de 2,53 integrantes no domicílio e renda familiar média de (1.648,39±947,72) para uma média de 2,58 dependentes desta. Os participantes atuavam em média há 40,56 anos, por (8,51± 3,10) horas diárias de trabalho em suas propriedades com média de 12,49 hectares. A atividade que mais exerciam e que eram mais auxiliados foi colher os produtos agrícolas, predominando o sexo masculino nesta função. O desenvolvimento do trabalho era conduzido mais pelos homens e de forma diária 83 (64,34%), seguido dos filhos 33 (25,58%) também diariamente 24 (18,60%). Quanto à saúde humana, esta foi concebida como boa, regular e ruim, com ações que convergem à continuidade do exercício laboral e adesão aos serviços de saúde mínima anualmente. Já os impactos positivos do trabalho no ambiente incidiram na conservação do trabalho como uma riqueza, o que exige atenção quanto ao uso dos agrotóxicos frente aos impactos negativos desencadeados ao ambiente em uma perspectiva sustentável à vida humana e não humana. O estudo fornece subsídios 6 contributivos à prática argumentativa do Enfermeiro à saúde ocupacional na agricultura familiar sob uma perspectiva sustentável ao ambiente.

Conceções sobre avaliação formativa de professores do 2.ºCEB: um estudo comparativo

Relatório de estágio apresentado à Escola Superior de Educação de Lisboa para obtenção de grau de mestre em Ensino do 1.º e do 2.º Ciclo do Ensino Básico

CREATING ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENS: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL AND QUALITATIVE EXAMINATION OF SUPERVSIOR- AND PEER-BASED INTERVENTIONS

Research suggests that supervisors and peers can help employees make sense of what is important or expected from them at work and, thereby, shape their behaviors. In this dissertation, I examine how employees’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB), such as helping and voice, are differentially affected by these two sources of influence over time. In particular, I compare the relative and joint effectiveness of two field interventions to enhance OCB: (a) a role clarification intervention in which supervisors are trained to set expectations for OCB for their employees and encourage them to engage in OCB and (b) a norm establishment intervention in which peers are trained to set expectations for each other and encourage each other to perform OCB. I utilize a mixed methods approach involving a quasi-field experiment to test for changes in OCB and qualitative data to explore the theoretical mechanisms over the course of three months in a large food processing plant. I find that role clarification interventions alone have immediate positive effects on OCB, whereas norm establishment interventions alone take a longer period of time to increase OCB. In addition, in the condition where both interventions were combined, norm establishment interventions weaken the effects of role clarification earlier on; however, at later stages in time, this pattern reverses as norm establishment enhances the effects of role clarification on OCB. Through these findings, I highlight how (a) organizations seeking quick increases in citizenship might be better off focusing on supervisors as sources of influence; (b) organizations need to persist with peer-focused interventions to see positive gains; and (c) despite initial hurdles with peer-focused interventions, over time, they can lead to the highest increases in OCB when combined with supervisor-focused interventions.

The experience of teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities

Undoubtedly, statistics has become one of the most important subjects in the modern world, where its applications are ubiquitous. The importance of statistics is not limited to statisticians, but also impacts upon non-statisticians who have to use statistics within their own disciplines. Several studies have indicated that most of the academic departments around the world have realized the importance of statistics to non-specialist students. Therefore, the number of students enrolled in statistics courses has vastly increased, coming from a variety of disciplines. Consequently, research within the scope of statistics education has been able to develop throughout the last few years. One important issue is how statistics is best taught to, and learned by, non-specialist students. This issue is controlled by several factors that affect the learning and teaching of statistics to non-specialist students, such as the use of technology, the role of the English language (especially for those whose first language is not English), the effectiveness of statistics teachers and their approach towards teaching statistics courses, students’ motivation to learn statistics and the relevance of statistics courses to the main subjects of non-specialist students. Several studies, focused on aspects of learning and teaching statistics, have been conducted in different countries around the world, particularly in Western countries. Conversely, the situation in Arab countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, is different; here, there is very little research in this scope, and what there is does not meet the needs of those countries towards the development of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students. This research was instituted in order to develop the field of statistics education. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to generate new insights into this subject by investigating how statistics courses are currently taught to non-specialist students in Saudi universities. Hence, this study will contribute towards filling the knowledge gap that exists in Saudi Arabia. This study used multiple data collection approaches, including questionnaire surveys from 1053 non-specialist students who had completed at least one statistics course in different colleges of the universities in Saudi Arabia. These surveys were followed up with qualitative data collected via semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers of statistics from colleges within all six universities where statistics is taught to non-specialist students in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. The data from questionnaires included several types, so different techniques were used in analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the demographic characteristics of the participants. The chi-square test was used to determine associations between variables. Based on the main issues that are raised from literature review, the questions (items scales) were grouped and five key groups of questions were obtained which are: 1) Effectiveness of Teachers; 2) English Language; 3) Relevance of Course; 4) Student Engagement; 5) Using Technology. Exploratory data analysis was used to explore these issues in more detail. Furthermore, with the existence of clustering in the data (students within departments within colleges, within universities), multilevel generalized linear models for dichotomous analysis have been used to clarify the effects of clustering at those levels. Factor analysis was conducted confirming the dimension reduction of variables (items scales). The data from teachers’ interviews were analysed on an individual basis. The responses were assigned to one of the eight themes that emerged from within the data: 1) the lack of students’ motivation to learn statistics; 2) students' participation; 3) students’ assessment; 4) the effective use of technology; 5) the level of previous mathematical and statistical skills of non-specialist students; 6) the English language ability of non-specialist students; 7) the need for extra time for teaching and learning statistics; and 8) the role of administrators. All the data from students and teachers indicated that the situation of learning and teaching statistics to non-specialist students in Saudi universities needs to be improved in order to meet the needs of those students. The findings of this study suggested a weakness in the use of statistical software applications in these courses. This study showed that there is lack of application of technology such as statistical software programs in these courses, which would allow non-specialist students to consolidate their knowledge. The results also indicated that English language is considered one of the main challenges in learning and teaching statistics, particularly in institutions where English is not used as the main language. Moreover, the weakness of mathematical skills of students is considered another major challenge. Additionally, the results indicated that there was a need to tailor statistics courses to the needs of non-specialist students based on their main subjects. The findings indicate that statistics teachers need to choose appropriate methods when teaching statistics courses.

Os visitantes do parque Biológico de Gaia

Nascido em 1983, o Parque Biológico de Gaia (PBG) é das primeiras instituições de Educação Ambiental (EA) criadas em Portugal que se tem dedicado a desenvolver atividades de EA de forma articulada com as escolas ou alargadas a públicos diversificados que visitam o parque de forma autónoma. O PBG tem restaurado espaços naturais e humanizados – como as antigas quintas – promovendo a conservação da paisagem e contribuindo para assegurar o equilíbrio ecológico ao mesmo tempo que desenvolve um plano educativo constante para sensibilizar a população para os problemas ambientais e estimular comportamentos mais sustentáveis. Foi nesta instituição que realizamos o nosso estágio curricular do mestrado em Educação Ambiental da Escola Superior de Educação do Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, entre 5 de fevereiro e 18 de maio de 2016. O presente Relatório apresenta o trabalho desenvolvido, com particular destaque para os resultados da investigação sobre as práticas de Educação Ambiental concretizadas pela instituição. As técnicas utilizadas na recolha de dados foram a observação, a análise documental e o inquérito por questionário. Consideraram-se os Relatórios de Contas desde 2010 e analisou-se um questionário de satisfação aplicado pelo PBG, referente aos anos de 2012 a 2015; além disso, criou-se um questionário para conhecer as perceções dos visitantes sobre as práticas de Educação Ambiental, que foi aplicado durante visitas livres ao PBG efetuado no período de estágio. Os dados foram tratados numa perspetiva estatística descritiva, tendo os dados qualitativos sido previamente sujeitos a análise de conteúdo. Recorreu-se à utilização do software Microsoft Excel. Os resultados mostram uma opinião francamente positiva sobre o PBG por parte dos visitantes, que os quais valorizam a qualidade ambiental do Parque, as atividades para crianças e reconhecem que ganharam interesse pelo Ambiente após o contacto com o PBG. Um bom indicador dessa apreciação é que uma larga maioria de visitantes pensa voltar e aconselha a visita. Outro dado interessante obtido foi que várias respostas referem o contacto com o PBG enquanto crianças e jovens. Do ponto de vista pessoal, o estágio foi um desafio importante, permitiu-nos confrontar os conhecimentos teóricos com a realidade e adquirir uma experiência profissional relevante.

Uso de plantas medicinales según la cosmovisión en andina,por parte de los hombre y mujeres de sabiduría, en la parroquia El Valle, Cuenca, 2015

Antecedentes: la medicina andina se aplica desde hace muchos siglos en nuestro territorio, ha sido heredada de generación a generación en las comunidades indígenas; este conocimiento ancestral es menospreciado ya sea por desconocimiento o por falta de interés; y no es suficientemente estudiado en el sistema de la medicina occidental. Objetivo: conocer el uso de plantas medicinales en la comunidad de El Valle por parte de hombres y mujeres de sabiduría ancestral, según la cosmovisión andina. Materiales y métodos: el presente es un estudio cualitativo de orden narrativo, para determinar el uso de las plantas medicinales aplicadas en la parroquia de El Valle, cantón Cuenca, mediante el análisis de entrevistas a hombres y mujeres de sabiduría ancestral, con cuestionarios previamente realizados; luego se procesaron y analizaron en el software para datos cualitativos Atlas ti, y finalmente se construye una memoria en relatos y diagramas. Resultados: las plantas medicinales más utilizadas son el altamiso, la ruda, agua de sauco, la zarzaparrilla, el eucalipto; se utilizan como infusión, en maceración y baños. Las enfermedades que tratan son occidentales y tradicionales, dentro de las primeras están estrés, diarrea y patologías del aparato respiratorias, las patologías tradicionales son, el mal de ojo, mal de aire y el espanto

Avaliação dos principais programas de boas práticas agropecuárias implantados no Brasil para promover a sustentabilidade da cadeia leiteira

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Agronomia e Medicina Veterinária, 2016.

Análise do Programa Melhor em Casa : um olhar sobre a atenção domiciliar no âmbito do Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS)

Mestrado (dissertação)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde Coletiva, 2016.

Apprendre à être un Leader dans un Programme de Leadership: Perceptions, Éxpérience Préalable en Leadership et Sexe de l’Étudiant

The purpose of this study was to examine whether leadership can be learned through the Community Recreation and Leadership Training (CRLT) program and how effective the program is in terms of changing the perceptions and abilities of the students. The intentions of the researcher were to discover crucial learning moments as perceived by students and to gain insights that could lead to future improvements to enhance and enrich learning in a leadership program. To continue to be a viable program and to keep step with the demands of the recreation/leisure industry and society's wide-ranging needs, this study may help to inform the program's 'action plan' for continued success. This study employed a mixed method approach to determine how college students develop effective leadership ability in a three-year Community Recreation and Leadership Training (CRLT) college career program. First, a number of statistical tests were carried out to examine the four research questions used to guide the study. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data collected. The first research question asked how perceptions of leadership change as a result of being in a three-year leadership program. This study, using the Student Leadership Practice Inventory (SLPI), compared the five SLPI leadership dimensions by year. The SLPI was administered to all the first, second, and third year CRLT students ( N = 84). A one-way analysis of variance in participants' scores was conducted. No significant differences were revealed in any of the five dimensions of the SLPI among the first, second, and third year students at p < .05. However, two dimensions (model and encourage) approached significance and may hint at a possible influence the program is having on its students as they progress into the third year. The second research question asked whether perceptions of leadership vary by gender. Comparing the mean scores between the males and females on the five dimensions of the SLPI, no significant differences were found. The third research question asked whether prior leadership experience results in better academic performance for CRLT students in their 1st term. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted to evaluate the relationship between prior leadership experience and mean scores on academic performance. No significant correlations were found between grades and low, medium, or high levels of prior leadership experience F(2,79) = 2.67, p = .08. A correlation coefficient was also computed to determine whether there was a relationship between the Recreation Leadership I course grade and prior leadership experience. The correlation coefficient (.02) was statistically significant, r(80) = .24, p < .05. However, further studies with a larger sample size would be necessary to help determine this. The fourth question asked whether there was a correlation between students' first semester grades and their scores on the Student Leadership Practice Inventory (SLPI). Bivariate correlations (Pearson) were computed for the five SLPI dimensions with academic performance. None of the correlations using the five SLPI indicators was significant. Qualitative data was examined to discover what factors and experiences help students to assert a more effective leadership role. The study relied on content analysis of personal statements, and focus groups. Student perceptions of an effective leader, students' perceptions of their own abilities, and the strengths of the program were explored. A content analysis of the 'Personal Statements' was carried out to determine how students defined leadership prior to their having had any formal teaching in a college program. The result of the analysis of personal statements provided eight leadership categories used as an initial baseline for the study. Six focus groups (totaling N = 30) were conducted. Students responded to four key questions: how they define leadership. What is the single most effective quality of a leader? What leadership skills did they feel they had gained? How had the program helped them obtain their skills? Students credited the CRLT program with helping them develop a variety of leadership skills. Students revealed that they had gained skills such as confidence, knowledge and understanding of people's needs, and becoming more self-directed. They attributed their skill development to such things as good course design, intensive outdoor education and fieldwork courses, "hands on" learning approaches, group work, skill practice, the support they received from teachers, and encouragement they were given by their peers. A common finding among genders was defining an effective leader as someone who is "confident". However, the definition of the most important quality of a leader varied by gender. While males showed a tendency to prefer a leader being "confident," females preferred a leader being a "teacher".

Governance and effectiveness in regional planning: an analysis of North American, European, and Australasian practice

Over the past several years, there has been resurgent interest in regional planning in North America, Europe and Australasia. Spurred by issues such as metropolitan growth, transportation infrastructure, environmental management and economic development, many states and metropolitan regions are undertaking new planning initiatives. These regional efforts have also raised significant question about governance structures, accountability and measures of effectiveness.n this paper, the authors conducted an international review of ten case studies from the United States, Canada, England, Belgium, New Zealand and Australia to explore several critical questions. Using qualitative data template, the research team reviewed plans, documents, web sites and published literature to address three questions. First, what are the governance arrangements for delivering regional planning? Second, what are the mechanisms linking regional plans with state plans (when relevant) and local plans? Third, what means and mechanisms do these regional plans use to evaluate and measure effectiveness? The case study analysis revealed several common themes. First, there is an increasing focus on goverance at the regional level, which is being driven by a range of trends, including regional spatial development initiatives in Europe, regional transportation issues in the US, and the growth of metropolitan regions generally. However, there is considerable variation in how regional governance arrangements are being played out. Similarly, there is a range of processes being used at the regional level to guide planning that range from broad ranging (thick) processes to narrow and limited (thin) approaches. Finally, evaluation and monitoring of regional planning efforts are compiling data on inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. Although there is increased attention being paid to indicators and monitoring, most of it falls into outcome evaluations such as Agenda 21 or sustainability reporting. Based on our review we suggest there is a need for increased attention on input, process and output indicators and clearer linkages of these indicators in monitoring and evaluation frameworks. The focus on outcome indicators, such as sustainability indicators, creates feedback systems that are too long-term and remote for effective monitoring and feedback. Although we found some examples of where these kinds of monitoring frameworks are linked into a system of governance, there is a need for clearer conceptual development for both theory and practice.

Exploring non-cancer pain conditions in a community sample : critiquing a current conceptual model of the acute to chronic pain transition and examining predictors of chronicity

This program of research examines the experience of chronic pain in a community sample. While, it is clear that like patient samples, chronic pain in non-patient samples is also associated with psychological distress and physical disability, the experience of pain across the total spectrum of pain conditions (including acute and episodic pain conditions) and during the early course of chronic pain is less clear. Information about these aspects of the pain experience is important because effective early intervention for chronic pain relies on identification of people who are likely to progress to chronicity post-injury. A conceptual model of the transition from acute to chronic pain was proposed by Gatchel (1991a). In brief, Gatchel’s model describes three stages that individuals who have a serious pain experience move through, each with worsening psychological dysfunction and physical disability. The aims of this program of research were to describe the experience of pain in a community sample in order to obtain pain-specific data on the problem of pain in Queensland, and to explore the usefulness of Gatchel’s Model in a non-clinical sample. Additionally, five risk factors and six protective factors were proposed as possible extensions to Gatchel’s Model. To address these aims, a prospective longitudinal mixed-method research design was used. Quantitative data was collected in Phase 1 via a comprehensive postal questionnaire. Phase 2 consisted of a follow-up questionnaire 3 months post-baseline. Phase 3 consisted of semi-structured interviews with a subset of the original sample 12 months post follow-up, which used qualitative data to provide a further in-depth examination of the experience and process of chronic pain from respondents’ point of view. The results indicate chronic pain is associated with high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. However, the levels of disability reported by this Queensland sample were generally lower than those reported by clinical samples and consistent with disability data reported in a New South Wales population-based study. With regard to the second aim of this program of research, while some elements of the pain experience of this sample were consistent with that described by Gatchel’s Model, overall the model was not a good fit with the experience of this non-clinical sample. The findings indicate that passive coping strategies (minimising activity), catastrophising, self efficacy, optimism, social support, active strategies (use of distraction) and the belief that emotions affect pain may be important to consider in understanding the processes that underlie the transition to and continuation of chronic pain.

Supporting fathers in the transition to parenthood

Knowledge of the experience of parenthood is usually from a woman’s perspective. The resulting outcome is that knowledge about the experience of fatherhood has been limited. Fathers are starting to change this situation by sharing their experience as is evidenced by the overall response of 267 fathers to this study. This paper focuses on the exploration of 22 men’s feelings and beliefs about fatherhood; and their expectations and views about parenting. The paper will also investigate how fathers’ antenatal expectations matched the reality of early family life including emotional well-being, attitudes to parenting, adjustment to family life and sources of support. The quantitative and qualitative data of the 22 fathers who responded to both the antenatal and postnatal questionnaires used within this paper are drawn from a larger Queensland survey of women and men during the antenatal and postnatal period.