CONSELHO DE CLASSE E SÉRIE PARTICIPATIVO: DIFÍCIL APRENDIZAGEM PARA UMA PRÁTICA DEMOCRÁTICA

A presente pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa, está direcionada à análise das políticas educacionais ligadas à democratização da gestão escolar e demais processos escolares ligados à avaliação. Nesse contexto, é evidenciado o Conselho de Classe e Série, pois esse vem se concretizando como um dos espaços que favorecem a participação de pais e alunos, tornando-se fator determinante para a qualidade da democratização da gestão escolar e do ensino-aprendizagem. A pesquisa desenvolveu-se em três momentos: (1) análise da documentação escolar; (2) estudo de caso em duas instituições escolares da Rede Pública de São Paulo e (3) entrevistas com pais, alunos, professores e gestores que serviram de parâmetros para saber como estão realizadas as reuniões de Conselho de Classe e Série. Os objetivos da pesquisa foram voltados para verificar como vem sendo estruturada a participação da comunidade na construção da gestão democrática da escola, principalmente nas práticas do Conselho de Classe e Série.(AU)

The impact of supply chain performance measurement systems on dynamic behaviour in supply chains

The amplification of demand variation up a supply chain widely termed ‘the Bullwhip Effect’ is disruptive, costly and something that supply chain management generally seeks to minimise. Originally attributed to poor system design; deficiencies in policies, organisation structure and delays in material and information flow all lead to sub-optimal reorder point calculation. It has since been attributed to exogenous random factors such as: uncertainties in demand, supply and distribution lead time but these causes are not exclusive as academic and operational studies since have shown that orders and/or inventories can exhibit significant variability even if customer demand and lead time are deterministic. This increase in the range of possible causes of dynamic behaviour indicates that our understanding of the phenomenon is far from complete. One possible, yet previously unexplored, factor that may influence dynamic behaviour in supply chains is the application and operation of supply chain performance measures. Organisations monitoring and responding to their adopted key performance metrics will make operational changes and this action may influence the level of dynamics within the supply chain, possibly degrading the performance of the very system they were intended to measure. In order to explore this a plausible abstraction of the operational responses to the Supply Chain Council’s SCOR® (Supply Chain Operations Reference) model was incorporated into a classic Beer Game distribution representation, using the dynamic discrete event simulation software Simul8. During the simulation the five SCOR Supply Chain Performance Attributes: Reliability, Responsiveness, Flexibility, Cost and Utilisation were continuously monitored and compared to established targets. Operational adjustments to the; reorder point, transportation modes and production capacity (where appropriate) for three independent supply chain roles were made and the degree of dynamic behaviour in the Supply Chain measured, using the ratio of the standard deviation of upstream demand relative to the standard deviation of the downstream demand. Factors employed to build the detailed model include: variable retail demand, order transmission, transportation delays, production delays, capacity constraints demand multipliers and demand averaging periods. Five dimensions of supply chain performance were monitored independently in three autonomous supply chain roles and operational settings adjusted accordingly. Uniqueness of this research stems from the application of the five SCOR performance attributes with modelled operational responses in a dynamic discrete event simulation model. This project makes its primary contribution to knowledge by measuring the impact, on supply chain dynamics, of applying a representative performance measurement system.

Registered social landlords: private enterprise (f)or public good?

Millions of homes previously owned by councils have been transferred to the ownership of registered social landlords. Many of these are run as private companies under the principles first set out in the Combined Code of Corporate Governance. This articled considers whether it is appropriate to apply both the principles of the Code and regulation from the Housing Corporation as forms of control over such companies, and whether extensive government regulation negates the requirement for a board comprising independent directors expected to make strategic decisions while overseeing the executive. Conflict is created when trying to run these companies with a unitary board structure adhering to Combined Code principles while considering the wider interests of the community. It is questioned whether it is inefficient to try to meet these two objectives simultaneously and whether this system produces the best results for the community, the lenders and the end users.

The missing ingredient:inter-municipal cooperation and central-local relations in the UK

The thrust of the argument presented in this chapter is that inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) in the United Kingdom reflects local government's constitutional position and its exposure to the exigencies of Westminster (elected central government) and Whitehall (centre of the professional civil service that services central government). For the most part councils are without general powers of competence and are restricted in what they can do by Parliament. This suggests that the capacity for locally driven IMC is restricted and operates principally within a framework constructed by central government's policy objectives and legislation and the political expediencies of the governing political party. In practice, however, recent examples of IMC demonstrate that the practices are more complex than this initial analysis suggests. Central government may exert top-down pressures and impose hierarchical directives, but there are important countervailing forces. Constitutional changes in Scotland and Wales have shifted the locus of central- local relations away from Westminster and Whitehall. In England, the seeding of English government regional offices in 1994 has evolved into an important structural arrangement that encourages councils to work together. Within the local government community there is now widespread acknowledgement that to achieve the ambitious targets set by central government, councils are, by necessity, bound to cooperate and work with other agencies. In recent years, the fragmentation of public service delivery has affected the scope of IMC. Elected local government in the UK is now only one piece of a complex jigsaw of agencies that provides services to the public; whether it is with non-elected bodies, such as health authorities, public protection authorities (police and fire), voluntary nonprofit organisations or for-profit bodies, councils are expected to cooperate widely with agencies in their localities. Indeed, for projects such as regeneration and community renewal, councils may act as the coordinating agency but the success of such projects is measured by collaboration and partnership working (Davies 2002). To place these developments in context, IMC is an example of how, in spite of the fragmentation of traditional forms of government, councils work with other public service agencies and other councils through the medium of interagency partnerships, collaboration between organisations and a mixed economy of service providers. Such an analysis suggests that, following changes to the system of local government, contemporary forms of IMC are less dependent on vertical arrangements (top-down direction from central government) as they are replaced by horizontal modes (expansion of networks and partnership arrangements). Evidence suggests, however that central government continues to steer local authorities through the agency of inspectorates and regulatory bodies, and through policy initiatives, such as local strategic partnerships and local area agreements (Kelly 2006), thus questioning whether, in the case of UK local government, the shift from hierarchy to network and market solutions is less differentiated and transformation less complete than some literature suggests. Vertical or horizontal pressures may promote IMC, yet similar drivers may deter collaboration between local authorities. An example of negative vertical pressure was central government's change of the systems of local taxation during the 1980s. The new taxation regime replaced a tax on property with a tax on individual residency. Although the community charge lasted only a few years, it was a highpoint of the then Conservative government policy that encouraged councils to compete with each other on the basis of the level of local taxation. In practice, however, the complexity of local government funding in the UK rendered worthless any meaningful ambition of councils competing with each other, especially as central government granting to local authorities is predicated (however imperfectly) on at least notional equalisation between those areas with lower tax yields and the more prosperous locations. Horizontal pressures comprise factors such as planning decisions. Over the last quarter century, councils have competed on the granting of permission to out-of-town retail and leisure complexes, now recognised as detrimental to neighbouring authorities because economic forces prevail and local, independent shops are unable to compete with multiple companies. These examples illustrate tensions at the core of the UK polity of whether IMC is feasible when competition between local authorities heightened by local differences reduces opportunities for collaboration. An alternative perspective on IMC is to explore whether specific purposes or functions promote or restrict it. Whether in the principle areas of local government responsibilities relating to social welfare, development and maintenance of the local infrastructure or environmental matters, there are examples of IMC. But opportunities have diminished considerably as councils lost responsibility for services provision as a result of privatisation and transfer of powers to new government agencies or to central government. Over the last twenty years councils have lost their role in the provision of further-or higher-education, public transport and water/sewage. Councils have commissioning power but only a limited presence in providing housing needs, social care and waste management. In other words, as a result of central government policy, there are, in practice, currently far fewer opportunities for councils to cooperate. Since 1997, the New Labour government has promoted IMC through vertical drivers and the development; the operation of these policy initiatives is discussed following the framework of the editors. Current examples of IMC are notable for being driven by higher tiers of government, working with subordinate authorities in principal-agent relations. Collaboration between local authorities and intra-interand cross-sectoral partnerships are initiated by central government. In other words, IMC is shaped by hierarchical drivers from higher levels of government but, in practice, is locally varied and determined less by formula than by necessity and function. © 2007 Springer.

Central regulation of English local authorities:an example of meta-governance?

This paper discusses how the UK government has reconfigured its regulation of English local authorities by moving from direct oversight to using an indirect independent agency as a vehicle of meta-governance. This theme is discussed through two strands: first, by examining how several factors eroded central government's capacity to directly regulate councils. The second strand examines the strategies used by the Audit Commission, an independent agency, to assert its authority over councils and how its hegemony is sustained by facilitating and participating in horizontal and vertical networks across government, specialist policy and stakeholders' communities. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 2006.

The curious absence of inter-municipal co-operation in England

In Europe local authorities often work with their neighbouring municipalities, whether to address a specific task or goal or through the course of regular policy making and implementation. In England, however, inter-municipal co-operation (IMC) is less common. Councils may work with service providers from the private and non-profit sectors but less often with neighbouring local authorities. Why this is the case may be explained by a number of historical and policy factors that often encourage councils to compete, rather than to work collaboratively with each other. The present government has encouraged councils to work in partnership with other organizations but there are few examples of increased horizontal cooperation between local authorities. Instead the prevailing model remains fixed on vertical co-working predicated on a principal-agent relationship between higher and lower tiers of government.

Audit committees in Scottish local authorities 1998-2005

During the last 15 years corporate governance has become increasingly prominent in the public sector. The Audit Commission's 1993 report on probity in local government recommended the establishment of audit committees. However, progress on this was slow, as demonstrated by a survey of Scottish local authorities by the authors in 1998. Recent major changes in government in Scotland at both a local and national level have prompted councils to improve the accountability, openness and integrity of their operations. One major aspect of this exercise was the formation of scrutiny committees to provide objective scrutiny of the process and audit committees were the most common vehicle for this. This article explores recent developments in Scottish local government and their impact on audit committees. The article also reports the results of a 2005 survey of Scottish local authorities and compares these with the 1998 survey. This indicates a significant growth in the number of audit committees in Scottish councils and although the level of their perceived effectiveness is patchy, they are a more important feature of local government than they were in 1998.

Executive pay, tournaments and corporate performance in UK firms

Recent initiatives for modernising local government have ignored the potential contribution of parish and town councils. This article critically examines English parish and town councils in the context of the current debate about the need for government to be more responsive to community needs. It considers measures to enhance the capacity of these grassroots councils by recalibrating the responsibilities and resources between tiers of local government. It concludes by setting out possible reforms to facilitate the contribution of these local councils to the modernising agenda as both representatives of the community and potential providers of local services.

Evaluating cost efficiency in central administrative services in UK universities

This paper describes an attempt to evaluate cost efficiency in UK university central administration. The funding councils of higher education institutions have progressively evolved elaborate systems for measuring university performance in teaching quality and research. Indeed, funding of universities is linked to their performance in research. The allocation of resources between academic and administrative activities, on the other hand, has so far not been subject to scrutiny. Yet, expenditure on administration is typically some 30% of that allocated to academic activities. This paper sets up a data envelopment analysis (DEA) framework to identify practices leading to cost-efficient central administrative services in UK universities. The problems in defining the unit of assessment and the relationship between the inputs and the outputs are clearly demonstrated. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reforming the social housing waiting game

The UK’s social housing stock is a precious resource that needs to be allocated as fairly and transparently as possible, says Ed Turner, who highlights inadequacies in the current approach and argues for two major changes to the way social housing is allocated and the support councils give those in housing needed.

Regional representations in the EU:between diplomacy and interest mediation

What are regional representations in the European Union? What do they hope to achieve? Since the mid-1980s, sub-state actors in the EU such as county councils, Länder, Autonomous Communities, local, municipal and city authorities have been opening representative offices in Brussels – mini 'embassies' for their territories. Although on the surface these representations might look the same, in practice they operate according to very different dynamics. Whilst some rival national governments for a stake in EU policy development, others have more modest ambitions. This book offers a comprehensive assessment of the burgeoning phenomenon of regional representation in the EU. Considering evidence from old member states as well as those which joined the EU more recently, it looks at where strategies and aims differ, positioning various 'types' of representation closer to the work of embassies or to that carried out by lobbying groups. The author also considers how regional representations contribute to our understanding of multi-level governance in the EU.

The integration of knowledge within science, technology and industry : enzymes a case study

Enzyme technology is widely regarded as an exciting new technology possessing great opportunities for commercial interests and is one of a small group of key technologies singled out by the Science Research Councils during the 1960's as worthy of special support. In this thesis I outline the basic characteristics of this technology analysing the nature of the Government's policy towards it. The approach I have chosen requires an in depth analysis of the innovation process for enzymes which forms the basis for a model. This model is then used to focus on aspects of the UK science policy towards innovation in enzyme technology, assessing its impacts, and appraising the usefulness of this approach for future policy initiatives.

(Can) modern local government (be) in touch with the people?

The recent White Paper, 'Modern Local Government: In Touch with the People' summarised Labour's project to modernise local government and to renew local democracy. Through the mediating concepts of accountability, responsiveness and representation, it is argued that the modernisation project will renew local authorities' political authority and legitimacy. However, a critical review of the White Paper and other Government's publications which discuss the modernisation of local government suggests that there are discrepancies between the claims to improve democratic local government and the role of councils in the provision of nationally decided andffunded welfare services.

Identifying capacity building cluster impact in the West Midlands

specific themes in Energy, Health Technologies and Finance via KTP (6), CASE (18), Placement (6) and Voucher (3) projects across the themes. Through the analysis of responses to an assessment questionnaire, reports from and interviews with a number of researchers, academics and industry sponsors engaged in KTP, CASE, and Placement projects we attempt to identify, analyse and assess the impact of these research projects. We adopt the Research Councils UK (RCUK) definition of research impact as 'the demonstrable contribution that excellent research makes to society and the economy'. In addition to identifying academic impact, we identify evidence of social and economic impact, for example, that it has been taken up and used by policy makers, and practitioners and has led to improvements in services or business. Helpful and un-helpful factors, identified during the execution of the research projects, are also considered.

A simulation of an ERP implementation with informal processes

This paper presents a discrete event simulation study to examine tenancy service performance in a shopping centre. The study aims to provide an understanding of how informal management mechanisms could enhance existing ERP systems. The research shows the potential benefits of combining the traditional strengths of ERP in providing better performance in terms of efficiency with the ability to react with flexibility to customer's requests. © 2012 SIMULATION COUNCILS, INC.