Time and professional work in public sector organisations: an examination of four occupational groups in education and medicine

The aim of this thesis is to examine the experience of time of four professional occupational groups working in public sector organisations and the factors affecting this experience. The literature on time and work is examined to delineate the key parameters of research in this area. A broad organisation behaviour approach to the experience of time and work is developed in which individual, occupational, organisational and socio-political factors are inter-related. The experience of secondary school teachers, further education lecturers, general medical practitioners and hosoital consultants is then examined. Multiple methods of data collection are used: open-ended interviews, a questionnaire survey and the analysis of key documents relating to the institutional settings in which the four groups work. The research aims to develop our knowledge of working time by considering the dimensions of the experience of time at work, the contexts in wlhich this experience is generated and the constraints these contexts give rIse to. By developing our understanding of time as a key feature of work experience we also extend our knowledge of organisation behaviour in general. In conclusion a model of the factors relating the experience of time to the negotiation of time at work is presented.

"Ignorance was bliss, now I'm ignorant and that is far more difficult":transdisciplinary learning and reflexivity in responsible management education

Purpose – The collapse of world economic systems brought the interconnectedness between business and global events sharply into focus. As Starkey points out: “leading business schools need to overcome their fascination with a particular form of finance and economics […] to broaden their intellectual horizons […] (and to) look at the lessons of history and other disciplines”. The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence from three years of research on the Aston MBA suggesting that an emphasis on developing capabilities within a far broader, connected and reflexive business curriculum is what business students and practitioners now recognise as an essential way forward for responsible management education. Design/methodology/approach – This research paper examines the reflective accounts of 300 MBA students undertaking a transdisciplinary Business Ethics, Responsibility and Sustainability core module. Findings – As Klein argues, transdisciplinarity is simultaneously an attitude and a form of action. The student reflections provide powerful discourses of individual learning and report a range of outcomes from finding “the vocabulary or the confidence” to raise issues to acting as “change agents” in the workplace. Originality/value – As responsibility and sustainability requires learners, researchers and educators to engage with real world complexity, uncertainty and risk, conventional disciplinary study, especially within business, often proves inadequate and partial. This paper demonstrates that creative and exploratory frames need to be developed to facilitate the development of more connected knowledge – informed by multiple stakeholders, able to contribute heterogeneous skills, perspectives and expertise.

O lugar da hispanoamérica no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de espanhol como língua estrangeira no ensino secundário português

Tendo em conta um enfoque comunicativo experiencial (Fernández- Corbacho, 2014) e uma pedagogia crítica emancipatória (Jiménez Raya, Lamb & Vieira, 2007), enriquecida por enfoques multissensoriais (Arslan, 2009), é nossa intenção, com este projeto, contribuir para a implementação de práticas que espelhem as variedades linguísticas e culturais da Hispanoamérica (Liceras, 1995; Beave, 2000) na aula de espanhol como língua estrangeira no ensino secundário português. Neste estudo, através duma perspetiva metodológica de índole qualitativa, pretendemos, como ponto de partida, analisar: a) as representações de alunos portugueses sobre o lugar da Hispanoamérica no processo de ensino-aprendizagem de espanhol como língua estrangeira (Altmann & Vences, 2004; Pérez, 2003), através de inquéritos por questionário; e, ainda, b) as abordagens das variedades linguísticas e culturais do espanhol, que surgem nos manuais utilizados no ensino secundário português. Por outro lado, através de um estudo de caso (Benson, Chik, Gao, Huang & Wang, 2009), procurámos evidenciar uma mostra de possíveis boas práticas didático-pedagógicas e materiais, com vista a um trabalho sistemático e próativo com as variedades linguísticas e culturais do espanhol, baseado numa (hiper)pedagogia crítica e encarando a língua enquanto objeto manipulável e potenciador de cidadãos verdadeiramente conscientes do mundo. Para tal, criámos materiais físicos e digitais, que foram posteriormente implementados com alunos do 11º ano de escolaridade, no nível de iniciação de espanhol, num agrupamento de escolas da região de Aveiro. Os resultados mostram que práticas e materiais desta natureza poderão favorecer aprendizagens comunicativas experienciais, quanto à criação de futuros cidadãos críticos e ativos, fomentando o desenvolvimento das suas competências comunicativa plurilingue e pluricultural e duma consciência cultural crítica (Byram, Gribkova & Starkey, 2002) dos alunos, no contexto de ensino-aprendizagem do ensino secundário.

Pedagogías lúdicas para la paz: una mirada a las percepciones de violencia en niñas y niños de Ciudad Bolívar

En esta investigación indagué sobre la influencia del entorno en las concepciones sociales que se forma el sujeto (en este caso los niños) frente a distintas realidades y situaciones de su cotidianidad, los elementos que están presentes en sus formas de interacción más cotidianas, y hasta dónde herramientas como la educación con enfoque lúdico y social pueden o no modificar prácticas y percepciones en el individuo. Para ello, la investigación se centra en tres conceptos claves: violencia, educación, y paz. Y hacia el final del trabajo se planta una propuesta de currículo para una educación para la paz basada en la formación de la persona social, desde el enfoque de la paz negativa.