¿Yo informal? ¿Vos informal? Identidades y percepciones en torno al trabajo informal. Notas a partir de un estudio de caso en la ciudad de La Plata

Miles de trabajadores en Argentina se encuentran en puestos de baja productividad y sin poder acceder a los beneficios de la seguridad social, siendo estos algunos de los indicadores más importantes para considerarlos uno de los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad. Se estima que en la última década en nuestro país los trabajadores informales representaron entre el 35y el 45de los trabajadores ocupados. Pero la informalización del mercado de trabajo argentino no es un fenómeno aislado, ya que se estima que en América Latina, hacia 1999, el 46.4de los ocupados urbanos desempeñaba actividades informales. Muchas han sido las discusiones académicas que se han suscitado en torno a la conceptualización de estas actividades laborales, pero pocas veces se ha recurrido a ver qué piensan y qué dicen los propios trabajadores. Sus trayectorias laborales, sus identidades sociales, y la vivencia del día a día, les permite percibir de una forma particular sus actividades cotidianas. Y esto es que intentaremos presentar a través de estas notas. Esta ponencia se propone, por tanto, comprender la percepción que estos trabajadores tienen de su propia actividad laboral, es decir, recuperaremos la voz de los denominados "trabajadores informales" analizando su autodenominación, su identidad social, su reconocimiento y opinión respecto al término "informal". Para ello se recurrirá a datos primarios de carácter cuantitativos y cualitativos, relevados a partir de la técnica de encuestas, y de entrevistas en profundidad, respectivamente. El trabajo de campo ha tenido como unidad de observación a trabajadores feriantes de la ciudad de La Plata

Reflexão acerca da capacitação de professores para a inclusão escolar

O direito de acesso de estudantes com necessidades educacionais especiais à educaçao no ensino regular público é um item previsto na Constituiçao Federal. No entanto, a inclusao de crianças com necessidades educativas especiais com apoio especializado que ofereça suporte aos professores atuantes no ensino regular, ainda se mostra como um grande desafio. Com base nisso, elaboramos este relato de experiências vivenciadas no âmbito das açoes do Subprojeto Interdisciplinar ?Organizaçao do Trabalho Pedagógico da Educaçao Física e da Pedagogia nos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental? ? UFSM. Objetivamos relatar os desafios enfrentados pelos alunos em formaçao para a docência de Educaçao Física para planejarem e desenvolverem situaçoes de ensino e de aprendizagem para alunos com necessidades educativas especiais, nas aulas regulares. Pode-se perceber que a falta de conhecimentos profissionais inicia-se na formaçao inicial. Poucos sao os espaços e conteúdos do curso de formaçao de professores destinados a garantir conhecimentos mínimos necessários para a atuaçao com crianças com necessidades especiais. Por conseguinte, esta situaçao prossegue durante a carreira profissional docente necessitando de cursos de especializaçao e capacitaçao, a qual deve ser tarefa nao apenas do educador, como também de toda equipe escolar, permitindo uma reflexao contínua da prática pedagógica a fim de ressignificá-la

Aportes para la conformación de la cultura de la investigación : Interacción informal entre la Biblioteca y la Comunidad Académica de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación

Entre las tradiciones de las Bibliotecas Departamentales de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación de la UNLP existía una interacción informal y fluida con los alumnos y docentes de cada carrera que en algunos casos incluyó la formación de grupos de trabajo para la solución de situaciones específicas: mudanzas y traslados de material, procesos de reorganización temática, indización de revistas, entre otras tantas. Estas situaciones se vivían como una parte importante de la formación académica que favorecía la adquisición de técnicas y hábitos de investigación, generando una actitud crítica y permitiendo el conocimiento del material disponible. A partir del proceso de integración de las bibliotecas departamentales, esta tradición perdió continuidad y generó un alejamiento de la comunidad académica que las frecuentaba. Sin embargo, una parte de la misma, durante este proceso, comenzó a utilizar algunos de los nuevos servicios, especialmente el acceso a la estantería abierta, el préstamo interbibliotecario y los recursos electrónicos, construyendo una relación distinta con la Biblioteca. Actualmente existen grupos de alumnos de distintas carreras para quienes la Biblioteca dejó de ser únicamente un lugar donde ir a buscar la bibliografía, para transformarse nuevamente en un espacio de estudio compartido y de generación de nuevos saberes. En esta ponencia se reseñan distintas experiencias realizadas en conjunto con algunos de estos grupos y se trazan las líneas generales de una serie de propuestas que promuevan y fomenten esta interacción

¿Yo informal? ¿Vos informal? Identidades y percepciones en torno al trabajo informal. Notas a partir de un estudio de caso en la ciudad de La Plata

Miles de trabajadores en Argentina se encuentran en puestos de baja productividad y sin poder acceder a los beneficios de la seguridad social, siendo estos algunos de los indicadores más importantes para considerarlos uno de los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad. Se estima que en la última década en nuestro país los trabajadores informales representaron entre el 35y el 45de los trabajadores ocupados. Pero la informalización del mercado de trabajo argentino no es un fenómeno aislado, ya que se estima que en América Latina, hacia 1999, el 46.4de los ocupados urbanos desempeñaba actividades informales. Muchas han sido las discusiones académicas que se han suscitado en torno a la conceptualización de estas actividades laborales, pero pocas veces se ha recurrido a ver qué piensan y qué dicen los propios trabajadores. Sus trayectorias laborales, sus identidades sociales, y la vivencia del día a día, les permite percibir de una forma particular sus actividades cotidianas. Y esto es que intentaremos presentar a través de estas notas. Esta ponencia se propone, por tanto, comprender la percepción que estos trabajadores tienen de su propia actividad laboral, es decir, recuperaremos la voz de los denominados "trabajadores informales" analizando su autodenominación, su identidad social, su reconocimiento y opinión respecto al término "informal". Para ello se recurrirá a datos primarios de carácter cuantitativos y cualitativos, relevados a partir de la técnica de encuestas, y de entrevistas en profundidad, respectivamente. El trabajo de campo ha tenido como unidad de observación a trabajadores feriantes de la ciudad de La Plata

What do we expect from an ombudsman? Narratives of everyday engagement with the informal justice system in Germany and the UK

This paper looks at expectations people have of informal justice mechanisms through a rich empirical dataset of 2775 recent ombudsman users in Germany and the United Kingdom. In a cross-cultural comparison the ombudsman, as a model of justice is explored. Not much is known about people’s expectations towards the ombudsman model; this paper starts to fill the gap. Four roles became apparent as cross-cultural narratives in the dataset; people who interact with ombudsmen expect them to be interpreters, advocates, allies and instruments. The identified roles are largely common to both countries, but in some aspects they show national specificities. These national specificities are seen mainly in the use of language; in Germany it is more legalistic in comparison to the UK. I argue that this might be related to what has been described as the general legal culture of each country and the institutional set-up.

An overview of top-down vs. bottom-up models for informal settlement upgrading in South Africa

The paper explores informal settlement upgrading approaches in South Africa and presents a review of top-down vs. bottom-up models, using experience and lessons learned from the Durban metropolitan area. Reflections on past upgrading efforts suggest that top-down policies in South Africa have not been successful to date. By contrast, participatory techniques, such as planning activism, can be used to enhance community empowerment and a sense of local ownership. This paper reveals that although the notion of ‘bottom-up’, participatory methods for community improvement is often discussed in international development discourses, the tools, processes and new knowledge needed to ensure a successful upgrade are under-utilised. Participation and collaboration can mean various things for informal housing upgrading and often the involvement of local communities is limited to providing feedback in already agreed development decisions from local authorities and construction companies. The paper concludes by suggesting directions for ‘co-producing’ knowledge with communities through participatory, action-research methods and integrating these insights into upgrading mechanisms and policies for housing and infrastructure provision. The cumulative impacts emerging from these approaches could aggregate into local, regional, and national environmental, social and economic benefits able to successfully transform urban areas and ensure self-reliance for local populations.

Community-led upgrading for self-reliance in informal settlements in South Africa: a review

Around the world, informal and low-income settlements (so-called “slums”) have been a major issue in city management and environmental sustainability in developing countries. Overall, African cities have an agenda for slum management and response. For example, the South African government introduced the Upgrade of Informal Settlements Program (UISP), as a comprehensive plan for upgrading slum settlements. Nevertheless, upgrading informal settlements from the bottom-up is key to inform broad protocols and strategies for sustainable communities and `adaptive cities´. Community-scale schemes can drive sustainability from the bottom-up and offer opportunities to share lessons learnt at the local level. Key success factors in their roll-out are: systems thinking; empowered local authorities that support decentralised solutions and multidisciplinary collaboration between the involved actors, including the affected local population. This research lies under the umbrella of sustainable bottom-up urban regeneration. As part of a larger project of collaboration between UK and SA research institutions, this paper presents an overview of in-situ participatory upgrade as an incremental strategy for upgrading informal settlements in the context of sustainable and resilient city. The motivation for this research is rooted in identifying the underpinning barriers and enabling drivers for up-scaling community-led, participatory upgrading approaches in informal settlements in the metropolitan area. This review paper seeks to provide some preliminary guidelines and recommendations for an integrated collaborative environmental and construction management framework to enhance community self-reliance. A theoretical approach based on the review of previous studies was combined with a pilot study conducted in Durban (South Africa) to investigate the feasibility of community-led upgrading processes.

Formal and informal translation and interpretation for immigrants and asylum seekers

As of 2011 there were over 50,000 migrants, who speak a language other than English or Irish at home, residing in Northern Ireland. Many of these individuals do not possess adequate levels of English language proficiency in order to access services. Research funded by the Northern Ireland Inclusion and Diversity Service was conducted to determine the home-school connections of culturally and linguistically diverse families in Northern Ireland. It revealed that there are a wide variety of ways that translation and interpretation services are offered for families not fluent in English within the school settings. Drawing upon the findings from the research in Northern Ireland, this presentation provides an overview of the types of translation and interpretation taking place in Northern Ireland; the advantages and disadvantages of each; and recommendations for agencies utilizing both formal and informal translation and interpretation. The presentation also includes references to work in this area in other contexts, as well as specific guidelines for agencies using both formal and informal translation and interpretation. These guidelines help ensure that the translations are conducted in a professional manner for all agencies providing services.

Informal strategies of power in the local planning system

Existing studies that question the role of planning as a state institution, whose interests it serves together with those disputing the merits of collaborative planning are all essentially concerned with the broader issue of power in society. Although there have been various attempts to highlight the distorting effects of power, the research emphasis to date has been focused on the operation of power within the formal structures that constitute the planning system. As a result, relatively little attention has been attributed to the informal strategies or tactics that can be utilised by powerful actors to further their own interests. This article seeks to address this gap by identifying the informal strategies used by the holders of power to bypass the formal structures of the planning system and highlight how these procedures are to a large extent systematic and (almost) institutionalised in a shadow planning system. The methodology consists of a series of semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 urban planners working across four planning authorities within the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland. Empirical findings are offered that highlight the importance of economic power in the emergence of what essentially constitutes a shadow planning system. More broadly, the findings suggest that much more cognisance of the structural relations that govern how power is distributed in society is required and that ‘light touch’ approaches that focus exclusively on participation and deliberation need to be replaced with more radical solutions that look towards the redistribution of economic power between stakeholders.

Informal caregiving and mental ill health – differential relationships by workload, gender, age and area-remoteness in a UK region

Informal caregiving can be a demanding role which has been shown to impact on physical, psychological and social wellbeing. Methodological weaknesses including small sample sizes and subjective measures of mental health have led to inconclusive evidence about the relationship between informal caregiving and mental health. This paper reports on a study carried out in a UK region which investigated the relationship between informal caregiving and mental ill health. The analysis was conducted by linking three datasets, the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study, the Northern Ireland Enhanced Prescribing Database and the Proximity to Service Index from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Our analysis used both a subjective measure of mental ill health, i.e. a question asked in the 2011 Census, and an objective measure, whether the respondents had been prescribed antidepressants by a General Practitioner between 2010 and 2012. We applied binary logistic multilevel modelling to these two responses to test whether, and for what sub-groups of the population, informal caregiving was related to mental ill health. The results showed that informal caregiving per se was not related to mental ill health although there was a strong relationship between the intensity of the caregiving role and mental ill health. Females under 50, who provided over 19 hours of care, were not employed or worked part-time and who provided care in both 2001 and 2011 were at a statistically significantly elevated risk of mental ill health. Caregivers in remote areas with limited access to shops and services were also at a significantly increased risk as evidenced by prescription rates for antidepressants. With community care policies aimed at supporting people to remain at home, the paper highlights the need for further research in order to target resources appropriately.

Reflexão acerca da capacitação de professores para a inclusão escolar

O direito de acesso de estudantes com necessidades educacionais especiais à educaçao no ensino regular público é um item previsto na Constituiçao Federal. No entanto, a inclusao de crianças com necessidades educativas especiais com apoio especializado que ofereça suporte aos professores atuantes no ensino regular, ainda se mostra como um grande desafio. Com base nisso, elaboramos este relato de experiências vivenciadas no âmbito das açoes do Subprojeto Interdisciplinar ?Organizaçao do Trabalho Pedagógico da Educaçao Física e da Pedagogia nos Anos Iniciais do Ensino Fundamental? ? UFSM. Objetivamos relatar os desafios enfrentados pelos alunos em formaçao para a docência de Educaçao Física para planejarem e desenvolverem situaçoes de ensino e de aprendizagem para alunos com necessidades educativas especiais, nas aulas regulares. Pode-se perceber que a falta de conhecimentos profissionais inicia-se na formaçao inicial. Poucos sao os espaços e conteúdos do curso de formaçao de professores destinados a garantir conhecimentos mínimos necessários para a atuaçao com crianças com necessidades especiais. Por conseguinte, esta situaçao prossegue durante a carreira profissional docente necessitando de cursos de especializaçao e capacitaçao, a qual deve ser tarefa nao apenas do educador, como também de toda equipe escolar, permitindo uma reflexao contínua da prática pedagógica a fim de ressignificá-la