Curriculum theory, curriculum policy and the problem of ill-disciplined thinking

This paper examines the implications of policy fracture and arms length governance within the decision making processes currently shaping curriculum design within the English education system. In particular it argues that an unresolved ‘ideological fracture’ at government level has been passed down to school leaders whose response to the dilemma is distorted by the target-driven agenda of arms length agencies. Drawing upon the findings of a large scale on-line survey of history teaching in English secondary schools, this paper illustrates the problems that occur when policy making is divorced from curriculum theory, and in particular from any consideration of the nature of knowledge. Drawing on the social realist theory of knowledge elaborated by Young (2008), we argue that the rapid spread of alternative curricular arrangements, implemented in the absence of an understanding of curriculum theory, undermines the value of disciplined thinking to the detriment of many young people, particularly those in areas of social and economic deprivation.

The financial effects of uniform and mixed corporate social performance

Firms typically present a mixed picture of corporate social performance (CSP), with positive and negative indicators exhibited by the same firm. Thus, stakeholders’ judgements of corporate social responsibility (CSR) typically evaluate positives in the context of negatives, and vice versa. Building on social judgement theory, we present two alternative accounts of how stakeholders respond to such complexity, which provide differing implications for the financial effects of CSP: reciprocal dampening and rewarding uniformity. Echoing notable findings on strategic consistency, our US panel study finds that firms that exhibit uniformly positive or uniformly negative indicators in particular dimensions of CSP outperform firms that exhibit a mixed picture of positives and negatives, which supports the notion that stakeholders’ judgements of CSR reward uniformity.

Escolha social e valores irredutíveis: uma aproximação da economia política e a ideologia

No presente paper, nós provamos que qualquer função da escolha social satisfaz o princípio da independência das alternativas irrelevantes (IIA) de Arrow se o comportamento individual é menu-dependente. Portanto, o 'Teorema da Possibilidade Geral' de Arrow não é válido quando as preferências individuais são determinadas por valores irredutíveis. Nesse contexto, qualquer instrumento de agregação que satisfaça os princípios não-ditatoriais e paretianos de unanimidade (maioria simples, por exemplo) também faz IIA. Esse poderia ser um resultado importante para a teoria da escolha social, enquanto um comportamento individual determinado por valores irredutíveis (interesse próprio, ideologia, Ética e normas sociais, por exemplo) podendo validar democracia representativa. A importância relativa de tais valores e da possibilidade de reversão da preferência determina a dinâmica da escolha social, de acordo com os princípios democráticos.

Locus de controle e comparação social na atribuição de causalidade por crianças

o presente estudo constituiu-se na primeira tentativa de aproximação das teorias de comparação social de Festinger (1954) e de aprendizagem social de Rotter (1966), também, o primeiro estudo conhecido no Brasil investigando locus de controle e comparação social com crianças. O objetivo do trabalho foi testar as hipóteses de que: (a) o locus de controle dos sujeitos, a oportunidade de comparaçao social e o resultado de desempenho (sucesso e fracasso) afetam a atribuição de causalidade ao desempenho de uma tarefa; e (b) sujeitos de locus de controle interno, quer tenham sido bem ou mal sucedidos na tarefa experimental, têm expectativas futuras mais semelhantes a seu próprio desempenho do que ao desempenho do grupo, enquanto que sujeitos de locus de controle externo, quer tenham sido bem ou mal sucedidos na tarefa experimental, têm expectativas mais semelhantes ao desempenho do grupo de pares do que ao seu próprio desempenho. As conclusões deste estudo foram: (a) a atribuição de causalidade, de acordo com a formulação de Rotter (1966), aplica-se também a brasileiros, especialmente a crianças brasileiras; (b) no desempenho bem-sucedido internos e externos não se diferenciam na assunção do crédito pessoal pelo sucesso; (c) a comparação social funciona para internos como ratificadora na situação de sucesso e modificadora na situação de fracasso do locus de controle do sujeito, e o inverso se , dá com os externos; (d) é válida a aproximação entre os construtos de locus de controle e comparação social; e (e) na previsão de resultados futuros, o papel da comparação social é de ratificacão do locus de controle.

A representação social de Republica no Exército brasileiro

A presente dissertação de mestrado versa sobre o significado de República no militar do Exército Brasileiro. Tal significado é buscado nas manifestações publicadas, no interior da corporação, nos dias 15 de novembro dos cem anos deste regime vigente no país. Delimita-se qual o objeto da Psicologia Social, e, para fundamentação da escolha do quadro de referência teórico, apresenta-se uma crítica aos modelos fundados no Positivismo e no Materialismo Histórico, para então se optar pela História das Mentalidades e pela Teoria das Representações Sociais. Utiliza-se as "Ordens do Dia" como material. Importa ressaltar que apresentam-se tais documentos num capitulo e não em anexos, para enfatizar que eles são a base desta dissertação. São considerados, não coadjuvantes, mas figuras centrais neste cenário. Faz-se uma análise destas "Ordens do Dia", privilegiando-se as ideias de ordem, progresso, segurança e desenvolvimento. Posteriormente é feita uma sobreposição das ideologias dentro do Exército que dominaram as conjunturas na estrutura republicana, com a representação social de República no Exército Brasileiro. Tal sobreposição corrobora o papel ativo da Representação Social.

A Theory of voter experimentation in repeated elections

Nesse artigo, eu desenvolvo e analiso um modelo de dois perí odos em que dois polí ticos competem pela preferência de um eleitor representativo, que sabe quão benevolente é um dos polí ticos mas é imperfeitamente informado sobre quão benevolente é o segundo polí tico. O polí tico conhecido é interpretado como um incumbente de longo prazo, ao passo que o polí tico desconhecido é interpretado como um desa fiante menos conhecido. É estabelecido que o mecanismo de provisão de incentivos inerente às elei cões - que surge através da possibilidade de não reeleger um incumbente - e considerações acerca de aquisi cão de informa cão por parte do eleitor se combinam de modo a determinar que em qualquer equilí brio desse jogo o eleitor escolhe o polí tico desconhecido no per íodo inicial do modelo - uma a cão à qual me refi ro como experimenta cão -, fornecendo assim uma racionaliza cão para a não reelei cão de incumbentes longevos. Especifi camente, eu mostro que a decisão do eleitor quanto a quem eleger no per odo inicial se reduz à compara cão entre os benefí cios informacionais de escolher o polí tico desconhecido e as perdas econômicas de fazê-lo. Os primeiros, que capturam as considera cões relacionadas à aquisi cão de informa cão, são mostrados serem sempre positivos, ao passo que as últimas, que capturam o incentivo à boa performance, são sempre não-negativas, implicando que é sempre ótimo para o eleitor escolher o polí tico desconhecido no per íodo inicial.

Praxiologia, representação social de menopausa e práticas educativas de enfermeiras na estratégia saúde da família

This research, whose theme is related to climacteric, aims to know the social representation of menopause developed by the nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa PB, as well as identifying its structure and verifying the way it interferes with the assistance and educational practices to the climacterial user. In the theoretical level, it is based on a model that articulates the social representations theory, the central nucleus complementary theory and the central concepts of Pierre Bourdieu s praxiology: habitus, cultural capital, social field and symbolic power. A hundred and forty-seven female nurses who work for Estratégia Saúde da Família (Family Health Strategy) in João Pessoa (PB) took part in this research, and the data collection period was from February 2008 to March 2009. As to the methods and techniques, we used the method to determine the central nucleus based on the free association of words, a questionnaire to identify certain regularities that constitute the nurses habitus, and the semi-structured interview to explore opinions and attitudes when facing assistance situations and educational practices and to collect other relevant information. The data analysis was developed, when referring to the free associations, with the help of the EVOC software, which is a group of articulated programs which carry out the statistical analysis of the evocations and the identification of the possible elements of both the central nucleus and the peripheral system of the social representation. As to the questionnaire, we used the descriptive statistical analysis and the analysis of correlation between the variables. The interviews were submitted to a categorical analysis of the content. The EVOC result indicated that the cognition hormone was the only element of the central nucleus of the social representation of menopause. Due to its symbolic value and structuring power, this central nucleus ensures the strict and, at the same time, flexible character of the representational content. The analysis of the social advancement, of some fundamental features of the group habitus, as well as the analysis of its insertion in the health field and of the attitudinal opinions and dispositions concerning the assistance given to the climacterial user, and the analysis of the pedagogical dimension of this assistance, all these analyses lead to the conclusion that the nurses who took part in this research share a social representation of the menopause resulting from the association of different technical and scientific knowledge. These derive from the biomedical pattern as well as from hegemonic values which disqualify old age and overvalue youth, from pedagogical conceptions arising from patterns that are presently regarded as authoritative and old-fashioned and from cultural references (responsible for the semantic variations concerning the central nucleus) which are specific to the subgroups the nurses belong to. This research enables the creation of opportunities for discussion between active nurses working for Estratégia Saúde da Família, and the nurses who are teachers at institutions of higher education, aiming at linking theory to practice, so that they can find ways of thinking about the climacteric and working, in a more comprehensive way, with users who are experiencing this stage of life

Campo educacional e representação social da formação docente :o olhar dos agentes

Teaching formation has been the target of many changes, having been forged according to numerous formats and models through different times and spaces, composing thus, different codes and curricular proposals for different levels of qualification. We've tried in this work to pinpoint the main discussions which take place in the area of the teaching formation, based in the views of modern writers. We ve also tried, through the Social Representations Theory, to reveal and learn how the agents directly involved in this process realize and react, that is, the teachers who cope with the beginning stages of the Fundamental Teaching in the public school system in Natal/RN, taking into account that, in many cases, such formation demands the rethinking of the very formation policies. We've also adopted the concepts of field and educational field introduced by the praxiology of Pierre Bourdieu. It s been considered a fundamental theoretical reference which enables the understanding of social phenomena, both in macro and micro viewpoints. Thus, we do not neglect the whole, and particularly, the nuances of each context or specific situation. In the methodological track we ve used for data gathering the Free Word Association Test, and the Semi-Structured Interview, and also secondary sources for the characterization of the research spectre. Data treatment and analysis were performed with the help of the following software: SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences and EVOC; and the method of Content Category Analysis. The combination of the concepts and techniques mentioned above was necessary to cope with the qualitative and quantitative aspects, in our attempt to offer a wider range of contributions and outcome validations, which have shown, among other less explicit elements, the existence of a social representation of the teaching formation such as: knowledge theoretical and practical; a necessity imposed by the symbolical conflicts of the social field; capacitation and compromisse. We acknowledge the relevance of the thoughts discussed here, though aware that this is just one of the possible approaches to the theme

A representação social de disciplinas didático-pedagógicas no contexto da formação inicial docente: um entremear de saberes

We seek, through this study, to analyze about social representation that the students of licentiate degree course of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Norte - IFRN - have about didactic-pedagogical subjects. We utilize the Social Representations Theory (MOSCOVICI, 2009; 2012; JODELET, 2001) as a theoretical and methodological contribution and as aim, we identify this social representation and understand how it is influenced by the formation of these undergraduates. So we developed the research under the seven undergraduate classroom courses offered by IFRN, namely: Biology, Spanish, Physics, Geography, Computer Science, Mathematics and Chemistry, covering units located both in the capital and in the countryside. While methodological approach we used the Procedure of Multiple Classification (PMC) - (ROAZZI, 1995), whose realization requires a set of words achieved through of Free Technique of Words Association - FTWA - (ABRIC, 1998). For this realization we have a total of one hundred twenty (120) participants, with thirty (30) in FTWA and other stage in the realization of free classification and directed that correspond to the MPR. Achieved the empirical data, we use the analysis of content (BARDIN, 2011; FRANCO, 2007) and multidimensional (ROAZZI, 1995) for the course of his interpretation. Finally, we identify the social representation of didactic and pedagogical subjects centered around the idea that it is through these subjects that can achieve the profile of "good professional" as one who gathers knowledge and attributes required for the full development of teaching involving capabilities it and characteristics that mark the sense of professionalism. Furthermore, we found that the anchoring social representation on the understanding that these disciplines "teach the teacher to be" in the image and its objectification of the "good teacher", ie, one that reaches through the training process and experiences, qualities that make it unique and able to carry full professional. Still see that the actions of the teacher trainer affects the way students perceive, assume and engage in the study of teaching and pedagogical subjects and it reflects significantly the social representation then created

A representação social de educação tecnológica de docentes da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional e Tecnológica: CEFETs do Rio Grande do Norte

The aim of this study was to investigate the social representation of technological education teachers at the Federal Technological Education Network. The survey was conducted from 2007 to 2010, and the respondents were 275 teachers, 135 of the Federal Center for Technological Education (CEFET in portuguese) in the state of Amazonas, in Manaus unit headquarters; 140 of the CEFET in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, a unit based in Natal. We adopt the concept of technological education as the top level of professional education, that is to say, the undergraduate programs of short duration called technological courses. The Federal Technological Education Network gathers hundreds of related institutions, coordinated and supervised by the Office of Vocational and Technological Education of the Ministry of Education. Although many of these institutions offer courses in technology education, no research addressing this subject from the perspective of Social Representations Theory (SRT) was found in the literature. We seek to unravel the social representation of technological education of the teachers by adopting the procedural approach of SRT. This is a qualitative approach, focusing on significant aspects of the representative activity and the formation mechanisms of the representation. Therefore, we search the socio-genesis of the representation in the articulations between discourses, social institutions and practices. We initiated the research through applying critical reading and an analytical perspective on the historical and regulatory documents of technological education in Brazil, from the early twentieth century to the present day. We adopt the Procedure for Multiple Classifications (PMC) from the Free Words Association Technique (FWAT) to access the elements of representational content. For the analysis of the data obtained with FWAT and selection of major words / phrases pertinent to the semantic field of education technology, we used Hamlet II software. For the data analysis of PMC and Free Classification (FC) we used the SPSS ® (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 17.0 and used the method of multidimensional scaling - Multidimensional scaling - (MDS). The output from the central MDS takes the form of a set of scatterplots - "perceptual maps" - of which the points are the elements of the representational content. For the FC data analysis we used the Scalogram Multidimensional Analysis (SMA) - which makes use of the original data in its raw form and allows categorical data to be interpreted in the map as measures of (di)similarity. In order to help with the understanding of the settings of the perceptual maps of FC, we used the Content Analysis of the discourse fragments of the teachers interviewed. The results confirm our initial hypothesis regarding the presence of a single plot among the socio-cognitive study subjects, which is the basis for a social representation of technological education in line with the historic assumption of the dichotomy between mental and manual labor. In spite of the three merging representational elements of the representational content, the perceptual maps compiled from the MSA statistics corroborates the dichotomy, with the exception of the map relating to the subgroup of teachers belonging to the humanities

Social representations of law, justice and injustice: A study with Argentinean and Brazilian adolescents

This study aims to analyze the main social representations of law, justice and injustice preseneted by Argentinean and Brazilian youngsters. The Brazilian group consisted of 621 polled of three different regions-Floriano/PI, Erechim/RS, and Marilia/SP. From Argentina, 200 youngsters of Avellanedacity (Buenos Aires metropolitan region) participated. All the samples were proportionally divided according to the kind of school (public or private) and the school year attented (8(th) grade and 11(th) grade, considering the equivalent grade in Argentina). The data collection technique consisted of semi directed questionnaire composed by the free evocation of words technique. The procedure used to evaluate the results was the Analysis Correspondence Method (ANACOR). The results demonstrate important variations related to the youngster' nationality and they were discussed so that the preseneted representations were contextualized.

Daspu e a redefinição da representação social da prostituta nos meios de comunicação de massa do Brasil

Pós-graduação em Comunicação - FAAC

Fundamentos da teoria histórico-cultural para a competência em informação no contexto escolar

Pós-graduação em Ciência da Informação - FFC