A relação entre desempenho e a forma legal das instituições de microcrédito

This work test the relationship of performance and legal form of microfinance institutions (MFI), in our work MFI can be banks, non-governmental organizations (NGO), cooperatives, non-banks financial institutions (NBFI) or rural banks. We use linear regression model, panel data and variables dummy for the legal forms. Our samples are 243 MFI from all continents, except North America, in the period from 2007 to 2012. We found that bigger MFI generates higher profit, higher returns and higher self-sufficiency rates, so the growing can be a way for consolidation of MFI. For smaller MFI a way can be assimilation or merging with other MFI. Cooperatives, non-bank financial institutions and rural banks can serve more customers, causing greater impact on society, and get higher returns. This suggests the most appropriate legal form for microfinance market can be cooperatives, non-banks financial institutions or rural banks balancing social orientation and profit orientation.

A política nacional de educação ambiental: limites e desafios para a sua efetivação na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

The Environmental Education is a plural and diversified knowledge field, composed by a group of social agents of specific State, government and civil society sectors, with different world views and theoretical matrices that exercised and influenced its genealogy and constitutive dynamic. The Environmental Education – while specific knowledge field – has been produced, systematized and diffused in Brazil in the last decades by official State organisms, through public policies, as well as by social movements of popular education, and constitutes a large and historical movement about the environmental question, that was worldwide projected in the 1960 decade (the environmentalist movement). Concerning the creation of public policies and specific programs to the Environmental Education, in the scope of the governmental initiative, the approval of the National Policy of Environmental Education, by means of the Law n. 9.795/99 – together with its regulatory decree, the Decree nº 4.281 – represents the consolidation of a inclusion process of the environmental dimension in the educational field. These normative acts, beyond charging the public power with the incumbency to define public policies that incorporate the environmental dimension and to promote the Environmental Education in all education levels, also charge the educational institution with the duty of promoting this component in an integrated and articulated way with the educational programs that such institutions develop. In this context, it is aimed to identify and analyze under the light of the dialectical and historical materialism, the practices and concepts developed under the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), with regard to its institutional policy on Environmental Education, relating it to establishing the Pnea. The analysis by means specific legislation on the subject and institutional documents UFRN. The research showed that, in general, the National Environmental Education Policy has limits to its effectiveness given the absence of specific funding for this purpose and the little government involvement in that the Brazilian State assumes, by through effective policies, the material conditions of financing actions with respect to this field of education. The fragmented and disjointed way the analyzed actions are developed constitutes a limit to the challenge for the UFRN implement, consistently and objectively, an Environmental Education policy, which can be monitored and evaluated as an effective public policy, both landmarks major goal of own Pnea as the demands of development whose agenda a critical environmental perspective.

Inclusão de estudantes com deficiência no Instituto Federal da Paraíba a partir da ação TEC NEP

The current research developed in the Federal Institute of Paraíba – IFPB, João Pessoa Câmpus, aimed at analyzing the inclusion of students with disabilities in undergraduate courses based on the TEC NEP Action. It departs from the discussion about professional and special education in an inclusive perspective, focusing on people with disabilities, in the social context of these two modalities of education, considering the world scenario and the current Brazilian educational policy. It discusses the TEC NEP Action within the national and local context through the analysis of the official documents with the objective of getting familiarized and evaluating the process of educational inclusion in the IFPB João Pessoa Câmpus. The theoretical reference used contributed to the analysis of the policy which focused on inclusion in federal undergraduate institutions for professional education. The methodology used presents a qualitative analysis, having as subject of the research students with disabilities from undergraduate courses in the IFPB João Pessoa Câmpus who are supported by NAPNE. The results based on the analyzed data show that volunteer students from this research evaluate their process of inclusion in the appointed institution as positive, in spite of challenges specially the ones related to architectural barriers. It is concluded that the foundation of the House for Supporting People with Special Education Needs – (NAPNE) through the TEC NEP Action had crucial importance in the basis for the discussion about inclusion in the institution, widening the vision towards the demands of students with disabilities in order to facilitate access, permanence and academic success of these students.

O nascimento de uma política pública: das articulações à formulação do PRONERA

This work aims at reconstructing the formulation process of PRONERA (National Program of Education in Agrarian Reform). A public policy that had its first ideas conceived within social movements and afterwards, made possible by diligences of then government. Therefore, the Program was rendered in a partnership among State, social movement, public institutions, and non-governmental organizations. As a goal, we intend to grasp both what motivated the choice for this proposal as a strategy to face educational problems in rural areas and how the actors, entities involved in this enterprise and the social-political context have influenced its formulation and entry in the governmental agenda as Public Policy. Thus, we reconstruct the history and education policy of and in rural areas. Besides, we seek to understand the context of PRONERA's conception, the factors that have influenced its creation and the actors' performances in the process. It is assumed that under the 1988 Constitution, civil society was provided with legal conditions for the active participation in political process and, consequently, in the public policy-making. We conclude, then, that PRONERA was the result of the crossing of three different flows (problems, solutions and policies) advocated by the Kingdon model. As a result, this analytical repertoire was useful to explain PRONERA’s entry in the government agenda, helping to understand how the chances of this social demand increased with an action from the politic community. It allowed its way in the government agenda as well as its becoming a public policy.

Validação do instrumento dos indicadores observáveis da qualidade do cuidado em instituições de longa permanência para idosos

The Nursing Homes are an important alternative care in the world, but Brazil still has no valid instrument to monitor the quality these institutions. In the United States, the Observable Indicators of Nursing Home Care Quality Instrument (OIQ) is used to assess the quality of Nursing Home care using 30 indicators of structure (2 dimensions) and process (5 dimensions) related to quality person-centered care. The present study aimed at cross-culturally adapting the OIQ in order to evaluate the quality of Nursing Home care in Brazil. Conceptual and item equivalence were determined to assess the relevance and viability of OIQ in the Brazilian context, using the Content Validity Index (CVI) and a group of specialists composed of 10 participants directly involved in the object of study. Next, operational, idiomatic and semantic equivalence were carried out concurrently. This consisted of 5 phases: (1) two translations and (2) their respective back translations; (3) formal appraisal of referential and general meaning; (4) review by a second group of specialists; (5) application of the pretest at three Nursing Homes by different social entities: health professionals, sanitary surveillance regulators and potential consumers. Measurement equivalence was evaluated by the Cronbach’s alpha test to verify the internal consistency of the instrument. To measure inter-evaluator agreement, the General Agreement Index (ICG) and Kappa coefficient were used. Timely compliance and 95% Confidence Interval of indicators, dimensions and total construct were estimated. The CVI obtained high results for both relevance (95.3%) and viability (94.3%) in the Brazilian context. With respect to referential meaning, similarity was observed, ranging between 90-100% for the first back translation and 70-100% for the second. In relation to general meaning, version 1 was better, classified as “unchanged” in 80% of the items, whereas in version 2 it was only 47%. In the pretest, the OIQ was easy to understand and apply. The following outcomes were obtained: a high Cronbach’s alpha (0.93), satisfactory ICG (75%) and substantial agreement between the pairs of evaluators (health professionals, regulators from the Superintendency of Sanitary Surveillance –SUVISA-, and potential consumers), according to the Kappa coefficient (0.65). It´s possible take the operational equivalence held since it preserved the original layout in the Brazilian version from the maintenance in application mode, response options, number of items, statements and scores. The performance of nursing homes obtained approximate average scores of 87, a variation 55-111 considering a range from 30 to 150 points. The worst outcomes were related to process indicators with a mean of 2.8 per item, while structure was 3.75 on a scale of 1 to 5. The lowest score was obtained for the care dimension (mean 2). The OIQ version was deemed to be a valid and reliable instrument in the Brazilian context. It is recommended that health professionals, regulators and potential consumers adopt it to access and monitor the quality of Nursing Home care and demonstrating opportunities for improvement.

Construção e avaliação de uma unidade de ensino potencialmente significativa para o conteúdo de termoquímica

Nos dias atuais, oferecer uma educação para o exercício da cidadania é função primordial das políticas públicas educacionais, conforme estabelece a constituição brasileira e a legislação de ensino. Essa função vem sendo defendida por muitos professores no Ensino Médio, atribuindo-se a disciplina de Química o papel de proporcionar um ensino crítico, participativo, reflexivo e humano. Segundo os documentos oficiais brasileiros para o Ensino de Química, o estudo do conceito de energia deve favorecer o desenvolvimento de competências para que o aluno compreenda a produção e o seu uso em diferentes fenômenos e possam interpretá-los de acordo com modelos explicativos, além de saber avaliar e julgar os benefícios e riscos da produção e do uso de diferentes formas de energia nos sistemas naturais construídos pelo homem, articulando com outras áreas de conhecimento na procura de promover a interdisciplinaridade. As unidades de ensino potencialmente significativas (UEPS), tomam como base um conjunto de teorias de aprendizagem que tem o intuito de promover um ensino com base na aprendizagem significativa e podem ajudar os estudantes nas diferentes relações que um conceito pode ter. Neste sentido, o estudo do conceito da energia a partir do trabalho com UEPS, pode ser uma importante proposta que favorece um ensino de Química na perspectiva construtivista. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é construir e avaliar uma proposta didática para o conteúdo de termoquímica na perspectiva das unidades de ensino potencialmente significativas de Moreira com alunos do Ensino Médio de uma escola pública do Município de Campina Grande-PB. Inicialmente a UEPS foi avaliada por 22 professores em formação inicial de duas instituições públicas de ensino superior. Em seguida, ela foi aplicada para 15 alunos do 2° ano da Escola Estadual de Ensino Médio Prof. Raul Córdula, localizada na cidade de Campina Grande-PB. A coleta dos dados para os professores em formação inicial teve como base um instrumento de validação de elaboração de unidades didáticas baseada na Engenharia Didática proposta por Artigue (1996 apud Guimarães e Giordan, 2011). Já para os alunos do ensino médio, os dados foram coletados no decorrer da UEPS e a avaliação final sobre a proposta didática ocorreu através de um questionário tomando como base a escala de Likert e o uso de mapas conceituais. Para a descrição dos dados, foram utilizados os pressupostos da análise de conteúdo de Bardin. Como produto educacional foi elaborado a Unidade de Ensino Potencialmente Significativa e um DVD contendo orientações de como trabalhar com a proposta. Os resultados deste trabalho apontam uma avaliação positiva quanto à proposta de ensino elaborada para a Educação Básica, onde se observa através do instrumento de validação aplicado, que a maioria das respostas atribuídas pelos professores, ficou entre os itens suficiente e mais que suficiente. Em relação aos momentos de aprendizagem dos alunos do Ensino Médio durante a aplicação da UEPS, foi possível observar que a proposta gerou motivação no processo de ensino e aprendizagem dos conceitos da termoquímica, como também se percebe que os mapas conceituais apresentados pelos alunos apresentaram mais proposições conceituais em uma segunda tentativa de elaboração, logo a proposta de ensino foi aprovada por mais de 90 % dos estudantes do nível médio. Portanto fica evidente que a proposta didática contribuiu no processo de ensino aprendizagem, despertando interesse e motivação nos estudantes pelo conteúdo de Termoquímica.

A atuação dos núcleos de apoio às pessoas com necessidades educacionais especiais no IFRN

The aim of this study was to evaluate the reality of the Service Centers for People with Special Educational Needs (NAPNEs) implanted at Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN) through a Professional Education Program in Technology for People with Special Educational Needs (TEC NEP Program). To reach the proposal we opted for an exploratory research with a qualitative approach characterized as a field of study. Data were obtained from questionnaires answered by thirteen (13) NAPNEs coordinators of different IFRN campuses and examined using content analysis. The survey results show that the creation of the TEC NEP program was an important step for inclusion policies in IFRN. However, difficulties were also identified by participants as coordinators: lack of physical infrastructure, human and material resources and financial matters, among others, as barriers to implementation and performance of NAPNEs. Keywords: TEC NEP Program, Professional Education, Inclusion, People with disabilities.

Gestão Educacional Democrática: avaliação e práticas

A obra, intitulada “Gestão Educacional Democrática: avaliação e práticas”, organizada pelas professoras Luciane Terra dos Santos Garcia e Alessandra Cardoso de Freitas, reuniu textos que investigam vários aspectos das políticas educacionais relacionadas diretamente com o título do livro, integrando três eixos temáticos: o primeiro focado na gestão educacional democrática; o segundo, na avaliação institucional, nos sistemas e nas escolas; e o terceiro enfatiza a gestão e as práticas de intervenção. Trata-se de um esforço das Linhas de Pesquisa Política e Práxis de Educação do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, que vem contribuindo por meio das suas publicações para a sistematização do conhecimento na área das políticas educacionais. Os textos, na sua maioria, resultam de pesquisas realizadas por professores e alunos do Programa de Pós-Graduação dessa instituição, como também conta com a participação de pesquisadores da temática de outras instituições nacionais.

Análise estratégica das Instituições de Ensino Superior privadas da cidade do Natal

Private Higher Education Institutions are embedded in a market where competitiveness is a key factor. To remain competitive, HEIs needs to have proactive and innovative strategies, especially to understand their main customers, students, with regard to their expectations about the quality of HEI. This study is to evaluate the overall private institutions of higher education in the city of Natal / RN, as the strategies adopted to remain on the market , based on the perceived quality of students. For conduct this research, it has developed two private institutions in the city of Natal, through the application using exploratory research to guide the survey for data collection with questionnaire to apply the overview with students, being directed to senior students courses in Bussiness, Accounting and Law. This research tool addresses aspects relevant to map the dimensions: (1) teaching, perspectives related to methods and teaching tools; ( 2 ) teachers, specifies the quality attributes related to teachers; (3 ) Infrastructure, describes the environment of the HEI; ( 4 ) services , evaluates the quality processes that attach to the HEI; and ( 5 ) intangible relates aspects with student satisfaction. The results were analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques using the Statistical Package Tool for Social Sciences (SPSS). The first stage of results characterizes the descriptive analysis of the overall sample and by HEI and course, plus a build univariate analysis of the HEI and also bivariate analysis shows that correlation of the factors through Spearman correlation coefficient. The results were used to compose a matrix of importance versus performance that compare with the contents of the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC). Finally, these comparisons allowed identification of the most important factors for the quality of the HEI and the level of performance from institutions in the development of each attributes of quality dimensions.

iSalud: uma arquitetura para publicação e distribuição de sistemas de informação para o SUS

The Brazil Telehealth Networks Program was established by the Ministry of Health in 2007. Its main objective is to support professionals in Primary Health Care (PHC) by offering educational qualification, resulting in more favorable conditions to fixate the professional in remote areas. The formulation and management of telehealth services are performed by scientific and technical centers that are operated by public institutions of higher education and responsible for providing tools and services in the context of the regions where they are. However, one of the problems generated by this decentralization is the development of various tools with different types of language, architecture and without any regulation and integration of information with the Ministry of Health. Aiming to solve the above problem, we propose the specification, implementation and validation of an architectural model in the development and distribution of the Unified Health System software tools. This proposed architecture enables tools developed in telehealth center to be shared among the other centers, thereby preventing the unnecessary use of resources.

Núcleos de acessibilidade e o atendimento a alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais nas universidades federais do nordeste brasileiro

In the current context of policies for inclusiveness in the Brazilian higher education, the accessibility centers are responsible for the organization of actions toward the fulfillment of the legal requirements regarding accessibility and the elimination of barriers that interfere with the participation and learning of persons with special learning needs (SLN), providing conditions for the full inclusion of these students in the activities of learning, research and community outreach in this learning level. This research had the goal to analyse the work developed by the accessibility centers in the federal universities in the northeastern region of Brazil towards the care of students with SLN. It is a descriptive work, with quantitative and qualitative approaches. Twelve federal universities participated through their accessibility center’s coordinators. The data - gathered by means of an electronic survey filled out in 2014 - was organized and analyzed through descriptive statistics and content analysis; their discussion was made around four topics: organization of accessibility centers for the care of students with SLN, kinds and numbers of students with SLN cared for, actions developed, and suggestions for the improvement of the accessibility centers. It was found that in the sphere of the researched universities, the accessibility centers have been taking actions involving many parts of the academic community towards the improvement of the conditions and permanence of students with SLN. However, in some institutional realities, these action need to be expanded and/or consolidated. The coordinators suggest further actions towards the betterment of these centers, regarding expansion of financial and human resources, professional qualification, awareness of the academic community, institutionalization and the formation of a collaborative network among the accessibility centers. Thus, although there are still challenges to overcome, the presence of the accessibility centers is shown to advance the realization of policies for the inclusion of students with SLN in the post-secondary education, towards the democratization of learning starting from the universal right to education.

Núcleos de acessibilidade e o atendimento a alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais nas universidades federais do nordeste brasileiro

In the current context of policies for inclusiveness in the Brazilian higher education, the accessibility centers are responsible for the organization of actions toward the fulfillment of the legal requirements regarding accessibility and the elimination of barriers that interfere with the participation and learning of persons with special learning needs (SLN), providing conditions for the full inclusion of these students in the activities of learning, research and community outreach in this learning level. This research had the goal to analyse the work developed by the accessibility centers in the federal universities in the northeastern region of Brazil towards the care of students with SLN. It is a descriptive work, with quantitative and qualitative approaches. Twelve federal universities participated through their accessibility center’s coordinators. The data - gathered by means of an electronic survey filled out in 2014 - was organized and analyzed through descriptive statistics and content analysis; their discussion was made around four topics: organization of accessibility centers for the care of students with SLN, kinds and numbers of students with SLN cared for, actions developed, and suggestions for the improvement of the accessibility centers. It was found that in the sphere of the researched universities, the accessibility centers have been taking actions involving many parts of the academic community towards the improvement of the conditions and permanence of students with SLN. However, in some institutional realities, these action need to be expanded and/or consolidated. The coordinators suggest further actions towards the betterment of these centers, regarding expansion of financial and human resources, professional qualification, awareness of the academic community, institutionalization and the formation of a collaborative network among the accessibility centers. Thus, although there are still challenges to overcome, the presence of the accessibility centers is shown to advance the realization of policies for the inclusion of students with SLN in the post-secondary education, towards the democratization of learning starting from the universal right to education.

Gestão e mapeamento de processos nas instituições públicas: um estudo de caso na Diretoria de Administração de Pessoal da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

The new management models have led to the reorganization of institutions today. Much is made in improving the delivery of public services entities, and they have sought to adopt these new initiatives in order to improve the quality of the product or service offered to users. The modernization of the management model at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) strengthened by the accession of the institution to GesPública Program, which focuses on the management modernization leading institutions to seek ways to fit to meet the demands proposed the Program. Therefore, the Department of Personnel Administration (DAP) has structured its processes and procedures using the mapping tool processes. This research starts from the question: what were the results obtained with the implementation of the management and process mapping of PAD? It is proposed as a general objective to analyze the management and the mapping of that Board processes, identifying the possible benefits in improving the quality of the services provided to users. The specific objectives to achieve results, are pointed out: describe how you carried out the implementation of the management and process mapping in DAP and how it is working at the moment; examine the line in the relationship between the actions developed by the DAP and modern theories of this theme; identify the evolution of the sector with the measures adopted and the results obtained with the implementation of the mapping tool. In the theoretical framework, it was approached a brief history of the evolution of public administration in Brazil, GesPública program and its importance for process management in public institutions as well as the Management and Process Mapping. The context of the study was the DAP, and participants were managers of the institution in the survey. Data collection was done through the study of the institution's documents, bibliography analysis available on the topic, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with professionals of the institution involved with the object of study, since its inception until July 2015, when it was finished the search. As a result, were listed: the motivation, importance, benefits and innovations that management and the mapping of processes brought to the institution, point out what has been improved in the service users and the tools used. We also analyze the main problems identified during the implementation of the mapping. As a suggestion, it was analyzed how these procedures can, if possible, be extended to other sectors of UFRN.

Gestão e mapeamento de processos nas instituições públicas: um estudo de caso na Diretoria de Administração de Pessoal da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

The new management models have led to the reorganization of institutions today. Much is made in improving the delivery of public services entities, and they have sought to adopt these new initiatives in order to improve the quality of the product or service offered to users. The modernization of the management model at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN) strengthened by the accession of the institution to GesPública Program, which focuses on the management modernization leading institutions to seek ways to fit to meet the demands proposed the Program. Therefore, the Department of Personnel Administration (DAP) has structured its processes and procedures using the mapping tool processes. This research starts from the question: what were the results obtained with the implementation of the management and process mapping of PAD? It is proposed as a general objective to analyze the management and the mapping of that Board processes, identifying the possible benefits in improving the quality of the services provided to users. The specific objectives to achieve results, are pointed out: describe how you carried out the implementation of the management and process mapping in DAP and how it is working at the moment; examine the line in the relationship between the actions developed by the DAP and modern theories of this theme; identify the evolution of the sector with the measures adopted and the results obtained with the implementation of the mapping tool. In the theoretical framework, it was approached a brief history of the evolution of public administration in Brazil, GesPública program and its importance for process management in public institutions as well as the Management and Process Mapping. The context of the study was the DAP, and participants were managers of the institution in the survey. Data collection was done through the study of the institution's documents, bibliography analysis available on the topic, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with professionals of the institution involved with the object of study, since its inception until July 2015, when it was finished the search. As a result, were listed: the motivation, importance, benefits and innovations that management and the mapping of processes brought to the institution, point out what has been improved in the service users and the tools used. We also analyze the main problems identified during the implementation of the mapping. As a suggestion, it was analyzed how these procedures can, if possible, be extended to other sectors of UFRN.

A hora da alfabetização: atores, ideias e instituições na construção do PAIC-CE

The objective of this thesis is to understand how a certain social condition becomes relevant enough to be regarded as an issue worthy of government action and how certain proposed initiatives prevail while others are discarded. More specifically, the goal is to discuss public policy for education and check whether the analytical models employed are significant enough to explain how the literacy issue became part of the policy agenda of the government of the State of Ceará in Brazil, and how the Literacy Program at the Right Age (PAIC) developed over time. From the empirical perspective about public policy for education in Brazil, this is a relevant case when one takes into account that, historically, the literacy policies are focused on teenagers and adults, implying a lack of specific initiatives towards children at the proper age of learning to read and write. In order to understand what drove this issue to the top of the state government agenda, this thesis is primarily based on the literature about public policy analysis, with focus on the agenda setting process and development of proposals. A hybrid approach is used, combining analytical tools from Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Model (1995), the Advocacy Coalition Framework by Sabatier and Jenkins Smith (1993) and the historical new institutionalism lens. The research method is qualitative and based on the single case study method. The data set was assembled from institutional PAIC-related documents, tachygraphy notes from sessions at Ceará’s State House of Representatives, press clippings, academic studies and interviews with key participants from several organizations. The conclusion of this thesis is that, given the complexity of the case in point, the combination of the three analytical methods is adequate and necessary to understanding the multiple drivers for this issue to have entered Ceará’s state government agenda and the design of the PAIC itself. Particularly relevant are the ideas and the policy entrepreneurs, the processes of problem recognition for the composition of a wide coalition and for the specification of alternatives, and the path dependence of the education policy in Ceará. This study adds, as a result, to a better understanding of the stages that make up the agenda setting in public policy, in particular in the field of education.