Feeling existentially touched - A phenomenological notion of the well-being of elderly living in special housing accommodation from the perspective of care professionals

This article presents a phenomenological analysis of interview material, in which 12 care professionals in elderly care reflect on the elderly's well-being within the frame of special housing accommodation. The perspective of the care professionals is of special interest. The findings show that the well-being is characterized as the elderly's feelings of being existentially touched. The well-being is an existential experience of being acknowledged as a human being and is an approach that classifies the elderly's needs as those of having, loving, and being. The meaning of the phenomenon is elucidated by the constituents: (1) to feel the freedom of choice, (2) to feel pleasure, and (3) to feel closeness to someone or something. The findings contribute new understanding of well-being in the elderly care by its existential dimension of the well-being as "just being'' and of doing things in order to experience meaningfulness. Accordingly, the well-being of the elderly as it is seen from the perspective of the care professionals involves both carers' subjectivity and intersubjectivity between the care professional and the elderly. An implication for promoting elderly's well-being is to develop awareness of these existential dimensions.

Les facteurs affectant les taux de réussite des cours d’anglais et de sciences humaines des étudiants dans les programmes de formation technique

A large percentage of Vanier College's technology students do not attain their College degrees within the scheduled three years of their program. A closer investigation of the problem revealed that in many of these cases these students had completed all of their program professional courses but they had not completed all of the required English and/or Humanities courses. Fortunately, most of these students do extend their stay at the college for the one or more semesters required for graduation, although some choose to go on into the workforce without returning to complete the missing English and/or Humanities and without their College Degrees. The purpose of this research was to discover if there was any significant measure of association between a student's family linguistic background, family cultural background, high school average, and/or College English Placement Test results and his or her likelihood of succeeding in his or her English and/or Humanities courses within the scheduled three years of the program. Because of both demographic differences between 'hard' and 'soft' technologies, including student population, more specifically gender ratios and student average ages in specific programs; and program differences, including program writing requirements and types of practical skill activities required; in order to have a more uniform sample, the research was limited to the hard technologies where students work hands-on with hardware and/or computers and tend to have overall low research and writing requirements. Based on a review of current literature and observations made in one of the hard technology programs at Vanier College, eight research questions were developed. These questions were designed to examine different aspects of success in the English and Humanities courses such as failure and completion rates and the number of courses remaining after the end of the fifth semester and as well examine how the students assessed their ability to communicate in English. The eight research questions were broken down into a total of 54 hypotheses. The high number of hypotheses was required to address a total of seven independent variables: primary home language, high school language of instruction, student's place of birth (Canada, Not-Canada), student's parents' place of birth (Both-born-in-Canada, Not-both-born-in-Canada), high school averages and English placement level (as a result of the College English Entry Test); and eleven dependent variables: number of English completed, number of English failed, whether all English were completed by the end of the 5th semester (yes, no), number of Humanities courses completed, number of Humanities courses failed, whether all the Humanities courses were completed by the end of the 5th semester (yes, no), the total number of English and Humanities courses left, and the students' assessments of their ability to speak, read and write in English. The data required to address the hypotheses were collected from two sources, from the students themselves and from the College. Fifth and sixth semester students from Building Engineering Systems, Computer and Digital Systems, Computer Science and Industrial Electronics Technology Programs were surveyed to collect personal information including family cultural and linguistic history and current language usages, high school language of instruction, perceived fluency in speaking, reading and writing in English and perceived difficulty in completing English and Humanities courses. The College was able to provide current academic information on each of the students, including copies of college program planners and transcripts, and high school transcripts for students who attended a high school in Quebec. Quantitative analyses were done on the data using the SPSS statistical analysis program. Of the fifty-four hypotheses analysed, in fourteen cases the results supported the research hypotheses, in the forty other cases the null hypotheses had to be accepted. One of the findings was that there was a strong significant association between a student's primary home language and place of birth and his or her perception of his or her ability to communicate in English (speak, read, and write) signifying that both students whose primary home language was not English and students who were not born in Canada, considered themselves, on average, to be weaker in these skills than did students whose primary home language was English. Although this finding was noteworthy, the two most significant findings were the association found between a student's English entry placement level and the number of English courses failed and the association between the parents' place of birth and the student's likelihood of succeeding in both his or her English and Humanities courses. According to the research results, the mean number of English courses failed, on average, by students placed in the lowest entry level of College English was significantly different from the number of English courses failed by students placed in any of the other entry level English courses. In this sample students who were placed in the lowest entry level of College English failed, on average, at least three times as many English courses as those placed in any of the other English entry level courses. These results are significant enough that they will be brought to the attention of the appropriate College administration. The results of this research also appeared to indicate that the most significant determining factor in a student's likelihood of completing his or her English and Humanities courses is his or her parents' place of birth (both-born-in-Canada or not-both-born-in-Canada). Students who had at least one parent who was not born in Canada, would, on average, fail a significantly higher number of English courses, be significantly more likely to still have at least one English course left to complete by the end of the 5th semester, fail a significantly higher number of Humanities courses, be significantly more likely to still have at least one Humanities course to complete by the end of the 5th semester and have significantly more combined English and Humanities courses to complete at the end of their 5th semester than students with both parents born in Canada. This strong association between students' parents' place of birth and their likelihood of succeeding in their English and Humanities courses within the three years of their program appears to indicate that acculturation may be a more significant factor than either language or high school averages, for which no significant association was found for any of the English and Humanities related dependent variables. Although the sample size for this research was only 60 students and more research needs to be conducted in this area, to see if these results are supported with other groups within the College, these results are still significant. If the College can identify, at admission, the students who will be more likely to have difficulty in completing their English and Humanities courses, the College will now have the opportunity to intercede during or before the first semester, and offer these students the support they require in order to increase their chances of success in their education, whether it be classes or courses designed to meet their specific needs, special mentoring, tutoring or other forms of support. With the necessary support, the identified students will have a greater opportunity of successfully completing their programs within the scheduled three years, while at the same time the College will have improved its capacity to meeting the needs of its students.

Entrepreneurship: a long way to go

Entrepreneurship education has emerged as one popular research domain in academic fields given its aim at enhancing and developing certain entrepreneurial qualities of undergraduates that change their state of behavior, even their entrepreneurial inclination and finally may result in the formation of new businesses as well as new job opportunities. This study attempts to investigate the Colombian student´s entrepreneurial qualities and the influence of entrepreneurial education during their studies.

Relatório da prática de ensino supervisionada no âmbito do mestrado de Artes Visuais no 3º ciclo do Ensino Básico e no Ensino Secundário realizada na Escola Básica Integrada André de Resende e na escola Secundária Gabriel Pereira

Neste relatório irão ser expostos os trabalhos realizados com as turmas do 7º ano, na Escola E.B.I. André de Resende e 12º ano, na Escola Secundária Gabriel Pereira. Ainda será mencionada a participação numa actividade extracurricular, no âmbito das Necessidades Educativas Especiais. Nesta área foi também realizada uma exposição com os trabalhos dos alunos da Escola E.B. I. André de Resende, juntamente com escolas pertencentes a outros agrupamentos da região. O estágio mencionado previu proporcionar uma vivência entre alunos, professores e os restantes funcionários da escola. Não obstante, também o contacto exterior e a ligação interdisciplinar. Seguindo as orientações curriculares do Ministério da Educação, em cada caso especifico foram planificadas aulas adequadas ao ensinamento dos conteúdos determinados. ABSTRACT: ln this report will be exposed the works performed together with the 7th grade classes of Escola E.B.I. André de Resende and with the 12th grade of Escola Secundária Gabriel Pereira. Also, it will be mentioned the participation in an extracurricular activity in the scope of Special Educational Needs. ln this area was also performed an exhibit of the works of the students from Escola E.B.I. André de Resende, along with schools belonging to other inter-school groupings of the region. The mentioned traineeship predicted the enabling of a relationship between students, teachers and school community, as well as contact with the exterior and an interdisciplinary connection. According to the curricular orientations of Ministério da Educação, for each specific case were planned classes adequate to teach the determined subjects.

Intervenção e avaliação inclusivas: estudo de caracterização do desenvolvimento do potencial em jovens com necessidades específicas

Este estudo centra-se na intervenção e avaliação inclusivas com o objectivo de caracterizar o desenvolvimento do potencial de alunos, com necessidades educativas específicas que desenvolvem projectos inovadores. A fundamentação teórica apoia-se no modelo inclusivo de Ainscow (1998) que propõe uma avaliação ajustada à diversidade dos alunos, reorganização das escolas para responder adequadamente a todos, e nos modelos sobre potencial humano de Gardner (2000) e Sternberg (1985) focalizados na multiplicidade da inteligência. No estudo empírico de carácter qualitativo com metodologia de estudo de caso de 4 jovens da APPACDM - Évora, utilizaram-se como instrumentos de recolha de informação: entrevista; análise documental; portefólios; observação/avaliação de competências. Os resultados demonstraram que a avaliação inclusiva centrada nas potencialidades facilita a caracterização da funcionalidade de cada um na diversidade dos domínios do desenvolvimento. Os portefólios fomentaram uma avaliação follow-up, destacando-se a autoavaliação, o registo das mudanças do aluno, o feedback contínuo aos professores, aluno e fann1ia. ABSTRACT: This study focuses on the inclusive assessment and intervention in order to characterize the development potential of students with special educational needs who develop innovative projects. The theoretical framework relies on Ainscow's inclusive model (1998) which proposes an assessment tailored to student’s diversity, school’s reorganization to respond appropriately to everyone, and in models of human potential of Gardner (2000) and Sternberg (1985) focused at the multiplicity of intelligence. ln the empirical study of the qualitative methodology with a case study of 4 youths of APPACDM - Évora, were used, as instruments for collecting information: interviews, documental analysis, portfolios, observation and evaluation skills. The results showed that inclusive assessment focused at the potentialities facilitates the characterization of the functionality of each one in the diversity of fields development. Portfolios fostered a follow-up evaluation, especially the self-assessment, registration of students changes and continuous feedback to teachers, students and families.

Estudo comparativo de professores de ensino regular e educação especial em escolas públicas portuguesas: stresse, bem estar, suporte social e burnout

Sendo a docência umas das profissões onde existem elevados níveis de stresse e burnout, este estudo objetivou comparar estes níveis em professores de ensino regular que trabalham com alunos com Necessidades Educativas Especiais e professores de educação especial. Estudou-se também o bem-estar psicológico manifestado por este grupo, bem como a percepção do suporte social, o qual tem um efeito direto positivo sobre o burnout. Os resultados revelam que, relativamente ao stresse, no grupo de ensino regular são os homens que manifestam um nível mais elevado, enquanto que no grupo de educação especial, são as mulheres. Foram identificadas também diferenças no bem-estar e percepção do suporte social, tendo estes resultados sido obtidos para os docentes de educação especial, homens e mulheres, respetivamente. No que concerne ao burnout, foram observadas diferenças em função do género e habilitações literárias, tendo estas sido verificadas no grupo de professoras de ensino regular que possuem o bacharelato e professores que possuem mestrado e doutoramento. No grupo de educação especial, as diferenças foram obtidas nas professoras com doutoramento e nos homens que possuem a licenciatura; Comparative study of regular education teachers and special education in Portuguese public schools: stress, welfare, social support and burnout Abstract: Being a teaching professions where there are high levels of stress and burnout, this study aimed to compare these levels in regular education teachers who work with students with special educational needs and special education teachers. It is also studied the psychological well-being manifested by this group, as well as the perception of social support, which has a positive direct effect on burnout. The results show that for the stress in the regular education group are men who express a higher level, while the special education group, are women. They were also identified differences in well-being and perceived social support, and these results have been obtained for special education teachers, men and women, respectively. Regarding the burnout, differences were observed in gender and qualifications, and these were verified on the regular education teachers group who have a bachelor's degree and teachers who hold master's and doctorate. In the special education group, the differences were obtained in teachers with doctoral and men who have a degree.

Analysis of Needs and Resources

The initial aim of the CareMan project was to develop a joint degree programme that combined and utilised the strengths of the five collaborating universities that were already involved in delivering social and health care management education. Because the project was to be implemented in collaboration between education- al institutions, the collaboration had to be based on a detailed understanding of the national and institutional specifics of each of the individual academic enti- ties. During this process it was recognised that, due to a number of regulation issues, achieving the original aim would not be possible; ultimately, following a series of analytical works, which are presented below, it was decided that a set of three master’s level modules should be developed. One of the reasons was that the Finnish law on master’s degrees at universities of applied sciences (UAS) stated that the requirement for entry to a UAS master’s programme was a bachelor degree from a UAS or equivalent, plus a minimum of three years of work experience in an appropriate field. The three years’ work experience is also required from international students. In practice this meant that the participating Finnish UASs, Lahti and HAMK, could not award a diploma for foreign students without this work experience. The other European universities do not have the work experience requirement, although some take it as a bonus for admission (FHS UK). There were also other differences in law (e.g., requirements for mini - mum standards in Social Work education at FHS UK) that could not have been overcome during the period of project realisation. Consequently, the outcome was the development of only three common educational modules, each for 10 ECTS, which were developed, delivered and assessed during the lifetime of the project. The intention was that these would be integrated into the current masters’ level provision in each of the universities

EXPRESSIVE ARTS – EMBODYING INCLUSIVE TEACHERS

The Declaration of Salamanca proposes a deep reformulation of educational praxis which has as a main goal to create an environment where all students can enjoy learning, improve and grow in confidence, in a perspective of Inclusive Education. In this sense, it is necessary that teachers acquire scientific and educational skills but, also, development of personal and interpersonal competences that are crucial for a flexible and adequate professional praxis. The concept of competences integrates knowledge, skills, personal values and attitudes that are acquired through work experience and learning by doing. On other side, experiential work is lived through a body in movement. Acknowledging these ideas and considering active methods and expressive arts as valorous contributions to the positive model of inclusive education in this paper, the authors propose the training in Expressive Arts to promote Inclusion but mainly to develop personal and interpersonal competences of teachers to the Inclusion

RELATIONSHIPS IN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOMS

Climate in the classroom is one of the determining factors in the development of practices in Inclusive Education. Many factors contribute to the climate in the classroom. However, there are predominance on affective-relational factors, with impact on action, norms and values, social interactions and learning processes. In this paper, the authors reflect on four studies which aim to identify and evaluate the relationship between several agents in the teaching–learning process (regular teachers, special education teachers and peer students) and the students with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Disability and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The studies were held in Primary Portuguese schools. The results are presented and discussed in their similarities and differences. The discussion shows that relationships between teachers and children with Special Education Needs (SEN) differ from those between teachers and typical children, but also according to different SEN. In general, there are not significant differences between regular teachers and special education teachers

BRINGING STREET ART TO SCHOOL: OPEN TO INCLUDE

Inclusive Education values differences by reducing barriers to learning and promoting active participation and positive interactions between all members of school community. Nowadays, school faces numerous children/adolescents who for several reasons have developed challenging behaviours and high risk of dropping out school. They come often from socio-cultural-economic minority groups and have sometimes a repeated course of academic failure. Art has had the ability to bring together the interests of all, even of the most unsuitable. In this paper, the authors present an intervention through street art/graffiti done in a secondary school, with a ninth grade class covered by PIEF Programme. The project aimed to understand if the integration of graffiti art in educational process had impact on challenging behaviour. The study, with a qualitative methodology, shows contributions of artistic experience as an asset to educational development of students with challenging behaviours contributing to a better school and inclusion.

Propuesta curricular de habilidades adaptativas para la estimulación temprana de niños y niñas de 0 a 3 años de edad, con discapacidad cognitiva

Abstract. The study developed builds a curriculum proposal based on adaptive skills for early stimulation of children from 0 to 3 years with cognitive disabilities as a final requirement for graduation from the Masters in Education with Emphasis on Development The proposal intends to improve the coherence, relevance and effectiveness of special education offered to students with special educational needs, specifically with cognitive impairment conditions, from early stimulation with a population of 0 to 3 years. The main objective of the study rises from the working context of the study: the individual needs of special education teachers and their students.