Os contratos de autonomia na gestão dos agrupamentos de escola em Portugal: uma análise a partir da perceção dos atores

No final da década de 70 a reforma da Administração Pública surge como preocupação dos governos. No início dos anos 80 a adoção da doutrina da Nova Gestão Publica, foi um dos acontecimentos mais marcantes para a administração pública dos países da Organização para a Cooperação e Desenvolvimento Economico. A reforma na Administração Pública em Portugal iniciou-se após a rutura política e social de 1974. No início de 1986 Portugal entra para Comunidade Económica Europeia, o que representou uma maior abertura económica e um aumento na confiança interna da população, observando-se um avanço em termos de concretização de muitos direito sociais, entre outros, na educação. A modernização da administração pública na componente referente à área da educação, iniciou-se no final do ano de 1986, através da Lei de Base do Sistema Educativo, dando origem à descentralização dos serviços, introduzindo-se o conceito de autonomia. Os contratos de autonomia no meio escolar, são processos de administração que não influenciam os seus intervenientes, na realização das atividades pedagógicas, administrativas e gestionárias. Este estudo demonstra a opinião dos vários grupos que compõem um estabelecimento de ensino público Português. Na opinião da amostra deste estudo, os contratos de autonomia não são portadores de benefícios ou prejuízos para os estabelecimentos escolares, seja a nível pedagógico, a nível dos recursos humanos ou a nível administrativo e financeiro; Abstract: Contracts of autonomy in the management of grouping of schools in Portugal: An analysis based on the perception of the actors. At the end of the 70 the reform of public administration arises as a concern of governments. In the early 80s the adoption of the doctrine of the New Public Management, was one of the most important events for the public administration of the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development countries. The reform in Public Administration in Portugal began after the political and social rupture of 1974. In the beginning of 1986 Portugal joins the European Economic Community, which represented a greater economic openness and an increase in internal confidence of the population, shown by a progress in terms of implementation of many social rights, among others, in education. The modernization of public administration in the field of education began at the end of 1986 through the Basic Law of Education, leading to the decentralization of services, introducing therefore the concept of autonomy. Autonomy contracts in schools are management processes that do not influence their stakeholders in achieving the educational, administrative and management activities. This study shows the opinion of the various groups that form an establishment of Portuguese public education. According to the sample, the autonomy contracts don’t bring benefits or losses to schools, as far as educational practices and human resources are concerned, as well as on a financial and administrative level.

Educational in a global environment: non-formal examples of learning practices at the international office

23rd SPACE AGM and Conference from 9 to 12 May 2012 Conference theme: The Role of Professional Higher Education: Responsibility and Reflection Venue: Mikkeli University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, Finland

Daily smoking as a marker of weight control practices among female adolescents

Purpose: There is evidence indicating that adolescent females smoke as a way to control weight. The aim of our research is to assess whether daily smoking is a marker for weight control practices among adolescent females. Methods: Data were drawn from the 2002 Swiss Multicenter Adolescent Survey on Health (SMASH02) data base, a survey including 7,548 [3,838 females] in-school adolescents aged 16-20 years in Switzerland. Among females self-reporting BMI (N _ 3,761), two groups were drawn: daily smokers (DS, N _ 1,273) included all those smoking at least 1 cigarette/day and never smokers (NS, N _ 1,888) included all those having never smoked. Former (N _ 177) and occasional (N _ 423) smokers were not included. Groups were compared on weight control practices (being on a diet, self-induced vomiting, use of doctor-prescribed or over-the-counter appetite suppressors) controlling for possible confounding variables (age, BMI, feeling fat, body image, use of other substances, depression, sport practice, academic track and perceived advanced puberty). Analyses were performed with STATA 9. Bivariate analyses are presented as point-prevalence and multivariate analysis (using logistic regression) are presented as adjusted odds ratio (AOR) and [95% confidence interval]. Results: In the bivariate analysis, DS females were significantly more likely (p _ 0.001) than NS to be on a diet (DS: 33.2%, NS: 22.2%), to self-induce vomiting (DS: 9.0%, NS: 3.3%), and to use doctor prescribed (DS: 2.3%, NS: 0.9%) or over-the-counter (DS: 3.2%, NS: 1.2%) appetite suppressors. In the multivariate analysis, DS females were more likely than NS to be on a diet (AOR: 1.40 [1.17/1.68]), to self-induce vomiting (AOR: 2.07 [1.45/2.97]), and to use doctor-prescribed appetite suppressors (AOR: 1.99 [1.00/ 3.96]). Conclusions: Weight control practices are more frequent among female daily smokers than among never smokers. This finding seems to confirm cigarette smoking as a way to control weight among adolescent females. Health professionals should inquire adolescent female smokers about weight control practices, and this association must be kept in mind when discussing tobacco cessation options with adolescent females. Sources of Support: The SMASH02 survey was funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health and the participating cantons.

Social justice in education : how the function of selection in educational institutions predicts support for (non)egalitarian assessment practices

Educational institutions are considered a keystone for the establishment of a meritocratic society. They supposedly serve two functions: an educational function that promotes learning for all, and a selection function that sorts individuals into different programs, and ultimately social positions, based on individual merit. We study how the function of selection relates to support for assessment practices known to harm vs. benefit lower status students, through the perceived justice principles underlying these practices. We study two assessment practices: normative assessment-focused on ranking and social comparison, known to hinder the success of lower status students-and formative assessment-focused on learning and improvement, known to benefit lower status students. Normative assessment is usually perceived as relying on an equity principle, with rewards being allocated based on merit and should thus appear as positively associated with the function of selection. Formative assessment is usually perceived as relying on corrective justice that aims to ensure equality of outcomes by considering students' needs, which makes it less suitable for the function of selection. A questionnaire measuring these constructs was administered to university students. Results showed that believing that education is intended to select the best students positively predicts support for normative assessment, through increased perception of its reliance on equity, and negatively predicts support for formative assessment, through reduced perception of its ability to establish corrective justice. This study suggests that the belief in the function of selection as inherent to educational institutions can contribute to the reproduction of social inequalities by preventing change from assessment practices known to disadvantage lowerstatus student, namely normative assessment, to more favorable practices, namely formative assessment, and by promoting matching beliefs in justice principles.

Role of family eating practices on daily nutrient intakes, dietary patterns and measures of body composition in peri-adolescents

Although family eating practices (FEPs) playa role in the formation of eating practices in children, there is a lack of evidence regarding the role of FEPs on obesity (DB) risk. The purpose of this thesis was to assess the role of child, mother 'and father eating practices (CEPs; MEPS; FaEPs) on nutrient intakes, dietary patterns and body composition. Data were collected on approximately 2,400 peri-adolescents (s250 with complete covariate data). Dietary patterns were assessed using scores that reflected how closely participants followed DASH and Health Canada (HC) recommendations. In girls, poor CEPs, MEPs and FaEPs were associated with increased BMI and risk of overweight and poor dietary patterns according to DASH, and DASH and HC, respectively. In boys, poor CEPs and FaEPs were associated with increased monounsaturated and trans fat, and Vitamin C intakes, respectively. These findings suggest FEPs are associated with DB risk, particularly in girls.

Effective practices for children with autism : educational and behavioral support interventions that work.

Este manual reúne múltiples perspectivas contemporáneas sobre la eficacia de la intervención en el área de la educación del autismo y de apoyo a la conducta. Presenta una valoración crítica de las normas de la práctica actual, haciendo hincapié en los procedimientos de apoyo empírico y en las aplicaciones de la investigación a la práctica. Es un marco esencial para evaluar los procedimientos educativos y de tratamiento, seleccionando aquellos que son más eficaces, y evaluando los resultados.

Educational reforms, cultural clashes and classroom practices

This article presents an ongoing study of educational policy enactment in Singapore lower primary English classrooms. It explores how teachers react to and interpret educational reforms in their classroom practices against a backdrop ofvtraditional cultural values. Using a prescribed coding scheme, the article presents the instructional organisational patterns and participation structures of the lessons.Through a systematic analysis of the enacted curricula, the paper examines classroom practices as well as teaching and learning activities in Primary 1 (7–8 years) and Primary 2 (8–9 years) English lessons in Singapore. The results suggest that there are cultural clashes between major educational reforms which emphasise independent/critical thinking and ‘Asian values’ which promote respect for authority and conformity.

Statistical detection of spurious variations in daily raingauge data caused by changes in observation practices, as applied to records from various parts of the world

In the instrumental records of daily precipitation, we often encounter one or more periods in which values below some threshold were not registered. Such periods, besides lacking small values, also have a large number of dry days. Their cumulative distribution function is shifted to the right in relation to that for other portions of the record having more reliable observations. Such problems are examined in this work, based mostly on the two-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov (KS) test, where the portion of the series with more number of dry days is compared with the portion with less number of dry days. Another relatively common problem in daily rainfall data is the prevalence of integers either throughout the period of record or in some part of it, likely resulting from truncation during data compilation prior to archiving or by coarse rounding of daily readings by observers. This problem is identified by simple calculation of the proportion of integers in the series, taking the expected proportion as 10%. The above two procedures were applied to the daily rainfall data sets from the European Climate Assessment (ECA), Southeast Asian Climate Assessment (SACA), and Brazilian Water Resources Agency (BRA). Taking the statistic D of the KS test >0.15 and the corresponding p-value <0.001 as the condition to classify a given series as suspicious, the proportions of the ECA, SACA, and BRA series falling into this category are, respectively, 34.5%, 54.3%, and 62.5%. With relation to coarse rounding problem, the proportions of series exceeding twice the 10% reference level are 3%, 60%, and 43% for the ECA, SACA, and BRA data sets, respectively. A simple way to visualize the two problems addressed here is by plotting the time series of daily rainfall for a limited range, for instance, 0–10 mm day−1.

Educational Television Broadcasting in Germany: Prevailing Practices, Existing Challenges and Adoptable Policies

Television is widely used for educational purposes but has still not achieved its fullest potential neither in developed nor in developing countries. This worldwide under performance invite experts and academics to join hands to search causes and provide suggestions to make television a better and popular learning tool. Guided by this philosophy, the present paper analyzes the educational television broadcasting in Germany from different perspectives. The focus of analysis includes measures and practices adopted by German institutions/broadcasters to promote educational television. Besides dealing with these issues, the paper discusses existing challenges and suggests best adoptable educational television broadcasting polices from Germany to promote educational television in global perspectives.

Influence apart from Adoption: How Interaction between Programming and Scientific Practices Shapes Modes of Inquiry in Four Oceanography Teams

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

The relationship between educational placement, instructional practices, and achievement gains of Black students with specific learning disabilities in secondary urban school settings

Black students, in general, are underserved academically (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Townsend, 2002) and overrepresented in special education (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Black students with disabilities are further overrepresented in more restrictive educational environments (Skiba, Poloni-Staudinger, Gallini, Simmons & Feggins-Azziz, 2006). Although the National Longitudinal Transition Study 2 (NLTS2) revealed that the academic performance of students with learning disabilities is positively related to the percentage of courses taken in the general education setting (Newman, 2006), the research specifically on placement of Black students with disabilities, particularly at the secondary level, as it relates to academic achievement is lacking. While previous studies have sought to determine which placement is better for students with disabilities, no study was found that specifically examined the impact of placement specific to Black students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) in urban settings (Fore, III, Hagan-Burke, Burke, Boon & Smith, 2008; Rea, McLaughlin & Walther-Thomas, 2002). This study examined educational placement, instructional best practices, and achievement gains of Black students with SLD in urban secondary settings using an ex post facto research design. Achievement, placement, and demographic data were collected and analyzed on approximately 314 Black eighth grade students with SLD. The Teacher Instructional Practices Survey was developed and used to collect and analyze data from the teachers of 78 of these students as it relates to instructional best practices. Results indicate no significant difference in reading but a significant difference in math gains of students served in inclusive settings as compared to resource settings with a small effect size. Also, no significant relationship was found between achievement gains and the reported use of instructional best practices. However, there was a relationship between educational placement and the use of instructional best practices. The results implied that there is a need for training with both general and special education teachers on instructional best practices for SWD and that there should be certain IEP team considerations when making placement decisions for this population of students with disabilities. It is recommended that future research in this area include classroom observations and factors other than test scores to measure growth in achievement.

What do school principals do? Leadership practices in Spain drawn from PISA and TALIS international studies

Principals play a key role in schools. Their actions affect the efficacy of schools and indirectly on the students’ academic performance. Numerous studies describe the different activities that principals perform in their daily practice, grouping them in dimensions, not existing unanimity neither around the practices carried out nor the dimensions. In Spain, the new educational law, LOMCE, emphasizes the importance of looking into what international research says regarding the field of education to support the need for change and justify the ones that are being made, and develops an extended list of competences of the principal. This study is a synthesis of a narrative research with the following analysis unit: the results of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) and TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Study) international reports, and the data provided on school leadership and their practices, from which conclusions are inferred, comparing them with the competences stated in the LOMCE. The comparative analysis of the leadership practices presented depicts a still uneven and heterogeneous scenario, not existing agreement neither for the setting of boundaries for the leadership dimensions, nor for the number of practices that constitute them. Such a scenario points towards the need for further empirical research, in order to accurately obtain a homogeneous catalogue of the actions carried out by principal, that may open the door to the development of the role of principal, and to the improvement of effectiveness and performance of schools, as it is suggested internationally, and it is an objective of the new educational law.

Discussion about the validity of virtual practices in subjects in the radioccomunication area. Results of the educational experience

[EN]Nowadays we are living a virtual learning boom. Mainly, it is due to two facts: first, easy spreading of the knowledge and second, virtual learning is cheaper than classic instrumentation laboratories. This cost is even bigger in radiocommunication and high frequency area. In fact, time and time again there are more universities that give up offering the realization of laboratory practice. In the present report we propose a discussion about the increase of virtual practices when contact with instrumentation and circuits is basic. The experience of seven lecturers of the Communications Engineering Group (GIC) will be exposed.