Stability and change in prosocial and antisocial behavior across the transition to school : Teacher and peer perspectives

Research Findings: The transition to school is a major developmental milestone, and behavior tendencies already evident at the point of school entry can impact upon a child's subsequent social and academic adjustment. The current study aimed to investigate stability and change in the social behavior of girls and boys across the transition from day care to 1st grade. Teacher ratings and peer nominations for prosocial and antisocial behavior were obtained for 248 children belonging to 2 cohorts: school transitioning (n = 118) and day care remaining (n = 130). Data were gathered again from all children 1 year later, following the older group's entry into school. Teacher ratings of prosocial and antisocial behavior significantly predicted teacher ratings of the same behavior at Time 2 for both cohorts. Peer reports of antisocial behavior also showed significant stability, whereas stability of peer-reported prosocial behavior varied as a function of behavior type. Practice or Policy: The results contribute to understanding of trends in early childhood social behavior that potentially influence long-term developmental trajectories. Identification of some behaviors as more stable in early childhood than others, regardless of school entry, provides useful information for both the type and timing of early interventions. © 2010 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Getting stuck in together : improving work integrated learning from an Australian institution and faculty perspective

According to a recent report Australian higher education is not in crisis. However, we could be doing it better. The report Mapping Australian Higher Education (Norton, 2012) highlights comparative weaknesses such as levels f student engagement; interactions between students and academic staff; and academic staff preferences for research over teaching. The report points out that despite these concerns most graduates continue to get good, well-paid jobs, student satisfaction is improving, and levels of public confidence in Australian higher education are high. It also stresses that ‘the promise of higher education is that it provides adaptable cognitive skills, not that it always provides the job specific skills graduates will need in their future employment’ (Norton, 2012, p.58). This is worth keeping in mind as we contribute to the significant growth in curriculum initiatives aimed at preparing graduates for the world of work. Work Integrated Learning (WIL) is not a new concept but there is increased pressure on higher education globally to address graduate employability skills. The sector is under pressure in an increasingly competitive environment to demonstrate the relevance of courses, accountability and effective use of public funds (Peach & Gamble, 2011). In the Australian context this also means responding to the skills shortage in areas such as engineering, health, construction and business (DEEWR, 2010). This paper provides a brief overview of collaborative efforts over several years to improve the activity of WIL at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). These efforts have resulted in changes to curriculum, pedagogy, systems and processes, and the initiation of local, regional, national, and international networks. The willingness of students, staff, and industry partners to ‘get stuck in’ and try new approaches in these different contexts can be understood as a form of boundary spanning. That is, the development of the capability to mediate between different forms of expertise and the demands of different contexts in order to nurture student learning and improve the outcomes of higher education through WIL (Peach, Cates, Ilg, Jones, Lechleiter, 2011).

Essential elements for recruitment and retention : Generation Y

Purpose: Generation Y (Gen Y) is the newest and largest generation entering the workforce. Gen Y may differ from previous generations in work-related characteristics which may have recruitment and retention repercussions. Currently, limited theoretically-based research exists regarding Gen Y’s work expectations and goals in relation to undergraduate students and graduates. Design/methodology/approach: This study conducted a theoretically-based investigation of the work expectations and goals of student- and working-Gen Y individuals based within a framework incorporating both expectancy-value and goal setting theories. N = 398 provided useable data via an on-line survey. Findings: Overall, some support was found for predictions with career goals loading on a separate component to daily work expectations and significant differences between student- and working- Gen Y on career goals. No significant differences were found, however, between the two groups in daily work expectations. Research limitations/implications: Future research may benefit from adopting a theoretical framework which assesses both daily work expectations and career goals when examining the factors which motivate Gen Y’s decisions to join and remain at a particular organisation. Practical implications: At a practical level, based on the findings, some examples are provided of the means by which organisations may draw upon daily work expectations and career goals of importance to Gen Y and, in doing so, influence the likelihood that a Gen Y individual will join and remain at their particular organisation. Originality/value: This research has demonstrated the utility of adopting a sound theoretical framework in furthering understanding about the motivations which influence organisations’ ability to recruit and retain Gen Y, among both student Gen Y as well as those Gen Y individuals who are already working.

Critical attributes of public-private partnerships : a case study in vocational education

The term ‘partnership’ is increasingly used by governments, industry, community organisations and schools in supporting their daily businesses. Similar to the terms ‘ICT’ and ‘learning’, ‘partnerships’ are now ubiquitous in policy discourse. Yet, the term remains ill-defined and ambiguous. This study reviews and reflects on a government led industry-school partnership initiative in the state of Queensland, Australia, to understand how the term is used in this initiative. Given the frequent use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) language, PPP was used as a framework to review this initiative. The methodology of this qualitative case study involved consultations with stakeholders and an analysis of Gateway schools documents, policy documents, and literature. The review suggests that despite the use of terminology akin to PPP projects in Gateway school and policy documents, the implicit suggestion that this initiative is a public-private partnership is untenable. The majority of principles shaping a PPP have not been considered to a significant extent in the Gateway project. Although the review recognises the legitimate and sincere purpose of the Gateway schools initiative, the adoption of a PPP framework during the design, monitoring, or evaluation stages could have strengthened the initiative in terms of outcomes, benefits, and sustainability.

Not all dimensions of work self-efficacy are equal : understanding the role of tertiary work placements in the development of the elements of work self-efficacy

This paper examines the relationship between a final year tertiary work placement for criminology students at Griffith University in Brisbane and the development of their work self-efficacy. Using a work self-efficacy instrument developed by Professor Joe Raelin at Northeastern University in Boston, a pilot phase in 2006 and a larger study in 2007 investigated the students’ responses across seven self-efficacy factors of learning, problem-solving, teamwork, sensitivity, politics, pressure, and role expectations. Both studies utilised a pre- and post-test and comparisons between these indicated that they believed their abilities to participate constructively in their professional work contexts significantly improved as a result of their placement experience except in the areas of learning, teamwork and sensitivity. This finding will allow us to continue to refine the processes of work placements in order to ensure the integrity of this method for student learning.

Getting there, being there, staying and belonging: a case study of two indigenous Australian children’s transition to school

Indigenous Australians are among the most unhealthy populations in the world and yet they reside in a country where the non-Indigenous population enjoys high standards of well-being. Education has been identified as the key mechanism for closing this equity gap. At school commencement many Indigenous children are already at risk of disengagement. This four-year longitudinal study of two Indigenous boys from a socially marginalised community examined key factors affecting transitional trajectories into school. While child characteristics affected level of achievement the critical factors in sustaining positive educational engagement were social support, school practices, inclusion of family and positive expectation.

The sleeping elephant in the room: Practices and policies regarding sleep-rest time in ECEC

The National Quality Framework (NQF) for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Australia identifies the need for services to make provision for each child’s sleep, rest and relaxation within a national early year’s policy framework that also requires that opportunities for learning and physical health are optimised, and that the agency of each child and their family is respected. Against this background, the scheduling of a standard sleep-time in ECEC centres remains a common practice, even in rooms catering for older children for whom daytime sleep may no longer be necessary. This article draws upon existing scholarship to explore the issues and tensions associated with sleep-rest, in the context of Australian curriculum and quality standards documents. We review accounts from educators, parents and children and contemporary views regarding high quality practice in ECEC, with an aim of supporting critical reflection on practice and continuous quality improvement in ECEC.

Kilpailukykyvaltion koululainsäädännön rakentuminen : Suomen eduskunta ja 1990-luvun koulutuspoliittinen käänne

Finnish education policy, educational legislation and the entire education system changed significantly during the 1990s as part of a general restructuring of public administration. There has been a clear divergence from the former tradition of a system of regulation, founded on detailed legislation and the principle of equality. The new governance, which is based more on individual choice, efficiency and evaluation, emphasizes that the development of a high standard of education is a necessity in the light of global competition. This study explores the legislative process regarding education policy in the Finnish Parliament during the 1990s, and highlights in particular how the international discourse on education policies was restructured in the context of Finnish legislation. The research material consists of all the public parliamentary documents relating to education, including government proposals, minutes from the discussions in the chamber and archive material (final protocols, reports and statements) for the Committee for Education and Culture. The discourse on the process of drafting and passing education legislation is modelled on three interrelated policy technologies (market, management and performance), which are understood here as mechanisms connecting general political ideas to normative legislation. The changes in the regulation of education were part of a general public administration reform instigated during the mid 1980s. The research results will prove that during the left-right coalition cabinet of PM Harri Holkeri, new policy technologies affected the parliamentary discourse on education policy. This was particularly influenced by a change in the preconditions for the management of education that was created as a result of the numerous demands to deregulate and delegate decision-making authority to the local and school levels while rendering the whole education system more effective. At the turn of the decade, market-type mechanisms were more indirectly manifested in the forms of individuality and freedom of choice, which were reflected, for example, in proposals to “lower the hurdles” by separating general from vocational secondary education with a view to encouraging students to select courses from other educational establishments, in addition to relaxing the requirements for establishing private schools and abolishing a hundred-year-old strict national catchment-area system. Later, in the course of the 1990s, after the subjects, players, and methods of evaluation had been more precisely defined, evaluation based on performance would result in the active measurement of the attainment of set objectives. In the spring of 1991, from the outset of PM Esko Aho's right-centre coalition cabinet, the education budget suffered cutbacks as a result of a global recession and this influenced the legislative work of, and discourses in, parliament. Representatives of the parties in power regarded the recession solely as an external factor that was remote from the political arena. In their view, the education system should rise to the challenge by ensuring the efficient and innovative use of the resources available and by developing new forms of indicators for evaluating results. Representatives of the opposition opposed the cabinet’s standpoint as a result of the recession, criticized the measures taken by pointing out the harmful effect of constantly cutting the budget and argued that the government had made political capital out of the recession by using it as an opportunity to give more room to market, management and performance technologies within the Finnish education system. Criticism of the new education policy became even stronger during PM Paavo Lipponen's first “rainbow” coalition cabinet with critical views being expressed not only from the opposition but also from representatives within the government. Representatives from the left demanded legislative restrictions and the instigation of measures to relieve the presumed negative effects of market, management and performance in the name of educational equality. The new management by results steering method within the university sector and the introduction of commercial education services in compulsory education were fiercely criticized. The argument over “setting outer limits” including, for example, the demands for more detailed legislation and earmarked state subsidies was characteristic of Parliament’s legislative discourse in the latter part of the 1990s. Keywords: education policy, education legislation, Parliament of Finland

Trabalho técnico-administrativo em uma instituição federal de ensino superior: análise do trabalho e das condições de saúde

O presente estudo tem por tema central a análise do trabalho dos técnico-administrativos em educação, ocupantes do cargo de assistente em administração na Universidade Federal do Maranhão (UFMA), bem como os impactos dessa atividade na saúde e nos modos de ser desses profissionais. O referencial teórico-metodológico para o desenvolvimento desse estudo assenta-se nos princípios do materialismo histórico-dialético, implicando o entendimento do sujeito como ser social e histórico, que intervém na realidade na qual está inserido e sofre as determinações dessa mesma realidade. Esse paradigma busca ultrapassar a aparência do fenômeno, entendendo as mediações que o determinam. Conceitos da abordagem da psicodinâmica do trabalho também são priorizados e articulados na fundamentação teórica. No contexto organizacional em questão, a partir da análise de cinquenta questionários e de vinte e uma entrevistas semiestruturadas identificou-se um número significativo de técnicos com potenciais subutilizados, normalmente colocados à margem dos processos de decisão, funcionando como mero apoio às atividades acadêmicas, vivenciando, por conseguinte, sentimentos de invisibilidade e desprestígio. O modelo de organização burocrático a que estão submetidos gera frustração ao impor a execução de atividades predominantemente rotineiras, prescritas, atreladas a normas, que quase sempre os impedem de lançar mão de alternativas para a realização de um atendimento ao público mais ágil e eficaz. Observa que esse cenário cria um terreno fértil para o surgimento de estratégias defensivas, de sofrimento patogênico e, possivelmente, de menor engajamento e mobilização. Questiona as análises superficiais que não identificam a complexidade desse emaranhado de sentimentos e comportamentos suscitados, provavelmente, pelas dificuldades que permeiam o cotidiano laboral do assistente em administração. Aponta a necessidade de se desconstruir a ideia de que toda acomodação é fruto de malandragem e má fé dos servidores, inferindo que o imobilismo e a apatia podem ser sinais de sofrimento psíquico ou até mesmo de um processo de adoecimento, fruto de uma dinâmica organizacional que reserva um lugar de anonimato ao profissional. Alerta sobre a importância da criação de espaços laborais para os assistentes em administração que favoreçam: valorização, participação e negociação, viabilizando-se, então, uma oportunidade para a atividade laboral ser um fim em si mesma, constituindo-se em uma atividade significativa para o sujeito, para a universidade e para a sociedade. Conclui que o trabalho, assim considerado, pode assumir sentidos de crescimento, utilidade, coerência e realização, emprestando, talvez, significado para todo o sofrimento experimentado diante do enfrentamento das adversidades tão presentes no mundo do trabalho.

Ensaios em finanças públicas municipais

Esta tese busca discutir problemas relacionados às finanças públicas municipais no país. Um aprimoramento de nosso federalismo fiscal, com maior descentralização de recursos e implementação de regras de transferências federativas com maiores incentivos pró-eficiência – aumentando os incentivos pró-obtenção de melhores resultados sociais por parte das unidades subfederadas – pode se revelar instrumento importante na melhoria de nossas condições sociais. Para isto, dividiu-se esta tese em quatro partes distintas. No primeiro capítulo, discutem-se os impactos das receitas petrolíferas sobre as finanças públicas municipais. As mudanças legais ocorridas no país na década de noventa do último século - relativas ao setor petrolífero - levaram a crescente (e concentrada) transferência de recursos do setor para os estados e municípios brasileiros. A forte sensação que estes estariam sendo desperdiçados de alguma forma vem suscitando discussões sobre a necessidade de se reformular sua distribuição. As recentes descobertas de megacampos petrolíferos no pré-sal do litoral brasileiro somente intensificaram este processo. Buscou-se identificar os efeitos destas transferências sobre as variáveis fiscais municipais no país. Detectou-se que não ocorreu substituição tributária, ou seja, estes recursos não diminuíram o esforço arrecadatório dos municípios. Em compensação, tanto os recursos cuja distribuição é bem mais concentrada (referentes aos royalties excedentes) quanto aqueles mais bem-distribuídos (referentes aos royalties originais) levaram as prefeituras a aumentar seus gastos correntes (piorando sua composição do ponto de vista social) e diminuir seus investimentos. O contrário parece ocorrer com os recursos cuja distribuição se dá de forma intermediária (os royalties referentes às participações especiais). No segundo capítulo, discute-se o impacto das receitas petrolíferas sobre a proficiência dos alunos até a quarta série primária das escolas públicas municipais. As receitas petrolíferas – agregadas ou não – não se mostraram estatisticamente significativas na explicação do desempenho observado pelos alunos da quarta série primária das escolas municipais em português ou matemática. Este resultado, entretanto, deve ser olhado com cautela, uma vez que não é trivial identificar como (e o tempo necessário) estes efeitos seriam gerados. Entretanto, diferentes fontes de receitas municipais impactariam de forma diferenciada as proficiências observadas nos testes de português e matemática, explicitando a necessidade de se entender melhor estas diferenças para se desenhar mecanismo mais eficiente de repasse de recursos constitucionais aos municípios. No terceiro capítulo, estudam-se os impactos das emancipações municipais ocorridas na década de 90 sobre o bem-estar das populações locais. Devido à Constituição Federal de 1988, o número de municípios no Brasil multiplicou-se fortemente na década de 90 do último século. Mais de mil municípios foram criados em todo o país, fazendo seu número ultrapassar a casa dos 5.500. Este processo tem sido interpretado de forma bastante negativa. Baseado em evidências anedóticas, se pressupõe que os atores políticos locais o utilizaram para se apropriar de maior parcela dos recursos transferidos de outros níveis governamentais. Entretanto, nenhum esforço mais sistemático foi realizado buscando calcular, de maneira efetiva, os resultados sociais líquidos deste processo. É isto que se busca fazer aqui, utilizando dados sobre os municípios mineiros - cujo número passa de 723 em 1991 para 853 em 2000. Foram detectados impactos positivos relacionados a diversas variáveis educacionais e de saúde. Ao mesmo tempo, o contrário ocorreu com os indicadores de pobreza e indigência. Este resultado mostra que o movimento observado de emancipação municipal talvez tenha sido bastante benéfico, sinalizando para a existência de mercados políticos eficientes nestas localidades, o que indicaria a necessidade de se manter uma maior autonomia local relativa a processos de emancipação de distritos. Por fim, no quarto capítulo, analisam-se os impactos de lei (implementada em Minas Gerais) que buscou aumentar os incentivos pró-eficiência das prefeituras municipais a partir das transferências federativas. Buscando melhorar as condições de vida dos municípios mineiros, o governo estadual mineiro instituiu, em 1995, a lei 12.040, conhecida como Lei Robin Hood. Esta permitia que 25% dos recursos de ICMS a serem distribuídos aos municípios mineiros se dessem sobre resultados observáveis em diversas áreas tais como saúde, educação, conservação ecológica, entre outras. Ou seja, esta instituía, em relação a estas transferências, um contrato de alto poder com os municípios relacionados às políticas públicas implementadas. O estudo destas transferências (relativas à educação e saúde) mostrou resultados dúbios. Resultados positivos relativos à educação e à saúde parecem ocorrer em todo o estado, mas os incentivos dados poderiam ser bem maiores - faz-se necessário um refinamento das regras da partilha destas transferências. Dada a relativa escassez deste tipo de contrato em transferências federativas, seja no Brasil, seja no restante do mundo, este resultado aponta a necessidade de utilização de instrumentos de maior poder nas relações federativas, buscando incrementar as condições de vida locais.

Three essays on education from the perspective of the economics of public setor

This work consists of three essays organized into chapters that seek to answer questions at first sight unrelated, but with one common denominator, which is the scarcity of public resources devoted to education, overall, especially in lower education. . The first chapter deals with the scarcity of resources devoted to education in a context of population aging. Two hypotheses were tested for Brazilian municipalities on the relationship between the aging of the population and educational expenditure. The first, already proven in the literature, is that there is an intergenerational conflict for resources and the increase of the share of elderly in the population reduces the educational expenditure. The second, proposed here for the first time, is that there should be reduction of competition for resources if there is a relationship of co-residence between young and old. The results indicated that an increase in the share of elderly reduces the educational expenditure per youth. But the results also illustrate that an increase in the share of elderly co-residing with youth (family arrangement more common in Latin American countries) raises the educational expenditure, which reflects a reduction of competition for resources between generations. The second chapter assesses the allocative efficiency of investments in Higher Education. Using the difference between first-year and last-year students’ scores from Enade aggregated by HEI as a product in the Stochastic Production Function, is possible to contribute with a new element in the literature aimed at estimating the production function of education. The results show that characteristics of institutions are the variables that best explain the performance of students, and that public institutions are more inefficient than the private ones. Finally, the third chapter presents evidence that the allocation of public resources in early childhood education is important for a better future school performance. In this chapter was calculated the effects of early childhood education on literacy scores of children attending the 2nd grade of elementary school. The results using OLS and propensity score matching show that students who started school at the ages to 5, 4, and 3 years had literacy scores between 12.22 and 19.54 points higher than the scores of those who began school at the ages 6 years or late. The results also suggest that the returns in terms of literacy scores diminish in relation to the number of years of early childhood education.

Treinamento e desenvolvimento de pessoas e a nova gestão pública : o caso do projeto Formação de tecnólogos em gestão pública do governo do Rio Grande do Norte

This thesis aims to identify how civil servants perceive changes made inthe carrying out of their work after their taking part in the Course forTechnicians in Public Management of the Government of Rio Grande do NorteState. As for the methodological procedures, an exploratory-descriptivequantitative research has been carried out through structured questionnaires appliedto 118 civil servants from the first groups of the Course for Technicians, thusshowing a margin of error of 4.18% to 95% of confidence, according to theprocedures of finite sampling. The table processing and analysis rested uponthe Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS and was carried outthrough univariate, bivariate and multivariate techniques with emphasis on thetechnique called Factor Analysis. It was possible to identify that the level ofsatisfaction of the students was high and there was a clear perception by themthat the course assisted to changes in their work. Through Factor Analysis itwas verified that the factors that may be related to changes in the work of thecivil servants are "Contribution to Society", "Efficiency andEfficacy in the Work Environment", "Applicability of Contents"and "Capacitating for Leadership". The conclusion of the studyindicates that the factors obtained are directly related to the basis of thenew public management by means of guidance toward efficiency and efficacy in aperspective of leadership, the contents of the course being thus made into newattitudes toward work which end up yielding better results for society

Ambiente institucional e desempenho diferenciado na agropecuária norte-rio-grandense: quais as relações?

This thesis aims to identify how civil servants perceive changes made inthe carrying out of their work after their taking part in the Course forTechnicians in Public Management of the Government of Rio Grande do NorteState. As for the methodological procedures, an exploratory-descriptivequantitative research has been carried out through structured questionnaires appliedto 118 civil servants from the first groups of the Course for Technicians, thusshowing a margin of error of 4.18% to 95% of confidence, according to theprocedures of finite sampling. The table processing and analysis rested uponthe Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS and was carried outthrough univariate, bivariate and multivariate techniques with emphasis on thetechnique called Factor Analysis. It was possible to identify that the level ofsatisfaction of the students was high and there was a clear perception by themthat the course assisted to changes in their work. Through Factor Analysis itwas verified that the factors that may be related to changes in the work of thecivil servants are "Contribution to Society", "Efficiency andEfficacy in the Work Environment", "Applicability of Contents"and "Capacitating for Leadership". The conclusion of the studyindicates that the factors obtained are directly related to the basis of thenew public management by means of guidance toward efficiency and efficacy in aperspective of leadership, the contents of the course being thus made into newattitudes toward work which end up yielding better results for society

Um estudo sobre a saúde do professor a partir da perspectiva da sociologia sensível de Michel Maffesoli

Pós-graduação em Educação Escolar - FCLAR

Falas que vêm das salas e falas que vêem as salas: o que dizem os professores de ciências e matemática sobre a psicologia da educação na formação docente

No presente estudo, assumimos a pesquisa narrativa - de inspiração qualitativa - como bússola para as análises e interpretações por nós conduzidas. Situamo-nos, neste estudo, na projeção da importância do formato de pesquisa em termos autobiográficos de professores de Ciências e Matemáticas, em cursos de educação continuada ao nível de pós-graduação. Investigamos junto aos sujeitos que aspectos da Psicologia da Educação, em sua formação docente inicial, foram considerados importantes por tais professores pela atribuição efetiva de valor, sentido e significados docentes - para pensarem a sua prática docente atual. Destacamos das manifestações de oito professores de curso Lato Sensu Especialização em Educação Matemática e oito professores de curso Stricto Sensu Mestrado em Educação de Ciências e Matemáticas obtidas por meio de entrevista coletiva semiestruturada com o primeiro grupo e questionários com o segundo grupo, certo conteúdo teórico-metodológico, evidenciado em termos narrativos, como se disse, com função para a prática docente pessoal, tendo como parâmetro a idéia de formação de professores reflexivos ao considerarem a Psicologia, especialmente, como proposição de formação para a prática reflexiva. As análises por nós procedidas revelam termos auto-refletidos e reflexivos sobremaneira de conteúdos teórico-metodológicos com função para a prática docente sendo satisfatórios e conteúdos teórico-conceituais sem função para a prática docente dito insuficientes por parte dos professores investigados, justamente porque demandam questões referentes à sua interação com alunos-adolescentes e em razão desse público ser numeroso e emergente nas turmas usuais de ensino fundamental e médio, bem como na educação de jovens e adultos. Um tipo de formação pelo auto-conhecimento para o heteroconhecimento, teorização de sua prática docente e estudo de práticas docentes reflexiva ou teorias psicológicas específicas que levem-nos a pensarem a sua prática e refletirem sobre prática docente reflexiva são postos como proposições e princípios de formação. Em termos investigativos, percorrer a formação inicial pelas experiências de vida, é desejar encontrar como forma e postura de formação, reflexão e sensibilização um vir-a-ser significativo quando professores utilizam suas vivências e experiências como aprendizado reflexivo para a prática docente, não somente pela tentativa de reconstruir a autoimagem pessoal, mas de possibilitar percepção de si e do outro em aprendizagem.