Projeto Fénix : inovação na organização pedagógica no 1º ciclo : estudo de caso

A dissertação que aqui se apresenta resulta de um trabalho de investigação junto de um Agrupamento de Escolas que adotou, a partir do ano letivo 2011/2012, como medida de promoção de sucesso educativo, o Projeto Fénix. Teoricamente, este estudo pretendeu analisar a escola enquanto organização social em que a comunidade escolar e social são partes interessadas na inovação e na mudança; esclarecer o conceito de projeto nos quadros dos novos regimes de autonomia e de gestão das escolas; compreender a importância e o papel dos projetos educacionais como fatores promotores de mudança e inovação pedagógica nas organizações escolares. Assim, adotando uma metodologia de trabalho de caráter qualitativo, descritivo e interpretativo procurou-se, através de um estudo de caso, analisar as medidas organizacionais que a escola assumiu para dar um apoio mais personalizado aos alunos que evidenciavam dificuldades de aprendizagem, nomeadamente, na disciplina de português; de que forma se procedeu à sua implementação na prática diária e o impacto do projeto nos professores e alunos; e, ao mesmo tempo analisar a relevância e o sentido da avaliação no decorrer e no término de um projeto, como importante processo de apoio à transformação, à melhoria, à transparência, no desenvolvimento de projetos educativos. A concretização destes objetivos só foi possível graças à colaboração da direção do agrupamento que autorizou a consulta de vários documentos essenciais e de todos os outros intervenientes no processo (alunos, professores, diretora, coordenadores e encarregados de educação), que prontamente se disponibilizaram para responderem às entrevistas. Sucintamente pode dizer-se que o estudo permitiu perceber que a implementação do Projeto Fénix, no geral, foi bem aceite por toda a comunidade educativa, mesmo tratando-se de um desafio ambicioso que exigiu determinação, rigor e trabalho de equipa, no qual alunos, professores e pais se comprometeram a melhorar o sucesso educativo. Apesar dos entraves que surgiram em consequência das políticas economicistas e de contenção, do quadro político atual, e da falta de recursos humanos (bolsa de professores de apoio), a nova organização pedagógica fundamentada pelo Projeto Fénix conseguiu melhorar o clima de aprendizagem, recuperar os alunos com mais dificuldades de aprendizagem e aprimorar as excelências.

A educação ambiental no ensino básico: aplicação prática à área envolvente da Reserva Natural do Sapal de Castro Marim e Vila Real de Santo Antònio

Dissertação de mest. em Gestão e Conservação da Natureza, Faculdade de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente, Univ. do Algarve, 2006

Do saber ao sabor : estudo da relação entre saberes tácitos e explícitos expressos nas competências laborais de cozinheiros em situação de trabalho

Tese (doutorado)—Universidade de Brasília, Faculdade de Educação, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, 2016.

Student’s Perceptions of the Community Impact of Social Education Degree Internship

Evaluating the impact of an intervention is a very important stage in social educators’ practice, since it allows them to improve the quality of socio-educational projects. The aim of this study is to rethink the internship of the social education degree through students’ perceptions about the impact of their projects in the community. This is a qualitative and exploratory study using documental analysis of 50 internship final reports of a social education degree from a Portuguese polytechnic higher education institution and whose emerging categorical content analysis was performed with NVivo software. The analysis revealed four distinct indicators linked to the project (accomplished objectives, evaluation of activities, sustainability and innovation), the target group (participation, motivation and benefits), the institution (satisfaction of collaborators, improved dynamic, routines and space enhancements), and the students (relational, reflexive and planning skills; satisfaction). It also revealed instruments, feedback, observation, document analysis and case reports as means of verification. The use of indicators related to the project’s objectives, the changes perceived from the benefits in the target-group and in the institution, and the interveners’ level of satisfaction should be noted as positive. Given the inconsistency in the use of formal assessment instruments, the results show the need to strengthen students’ mobilisation of project assessment skills in order to improve the quality of undergraduate education.

La educación y la libertad al servicio del desarrollo: una lectura de la política educativa colombiana a la luz de Paulo Freire

La educación y el desarrollo han sido conceptos aliados desde hace más de 50 años. Esta monografía retoma a autores como Paulo Freire, Manfred Max-Neef, Amartya Sen y Martha Nussbaum para analizar cómo el desarrollo determina la forma como se estructuran los proyectos educativos en el contexto colombiano. Las consideraciones de teóricos de la economía y educadores se complementan alrededor de la idea que estructura este trabajo: la búsqueda del desarrollo orienta el sentido de la educación en proyectos como el del Plan Nacional de Lectura y Escritura y determina el concepto de libertad en el proyecto educativo de instituciones como el Colegio Rural Quiba Alta en Bogotá. Explicar por qué el desarrollo tiene un papel protagónico en este contexto es solo una parte del proceso, aquí también se quiere mostrar cómo el ideal de libertad y una visión particular de la educación se ven limitadas ante la búsqueda del crecimiento económico.

An evaluation framework for educational reform projects for teacher quality improvements in developing countries : a case study of Egyptian education reform

The role of the evaluation for Official Development Assistance (ODA) enterprises including educational development has become critical after increasing “aid fatigue” experienced by the international community in the 1990s. To date, however, monitoring and evaluating outcomes of the projects has been limited to the project life. Consequently these have been mainly through the international aid agencies. Furthermore, the monitoring and evaluation led by international aid agencies have paid little attention to aspects of the sustainability of technical cooperation in educational development. To sustain the impact of technical cooperation, the reinforcement of evaluation has drawn increasing attention in light of the emerging modalities in international development. Therefore this research was inspired to investigate alternative evaluation frameworks for an educational reform project for teacher quality improvement that may increase possibilities for long term sustainability. Importantly, the new modalities in international development and educational issues provide new options. In addition, the research reviewed theoretical and practical issues surrounding evaluation in general, and highlighted the evaluation of education reform projects. The research reported explored via case studies, the evaluation processes employed by the Egyptian education reform projects implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The case studies used three data sources (archival and relevant documents, a survey questionnaire and interviews) to illuminate the contextually-embedded evaluation processes. The research found that process evaluation is a potential alternative method since it is likely to be locally institutionalised, which may yield long-term sustainability of the projects.

Fostering digital participation in regional and rural Australia

The deployment of high speed broadband around Australia offers opportunities to extend digital participation among and between regional and rural communities. Full realisation of these opportunities requires a greater understanding about community members’ current digital participation and development needs, to underpin innovative community-driven initiatives. This paper outlines the Fostering Digital Participation Project’s initial undertakings to determine current digital participation and the future digital aspirations of a number of regional and rural communities.

Planning humanitarian projects with educational focus in Guinea rural areas

Dissertação apresentada à Universidade Fernando Pessoa como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Acção Humanitária, Cooperação e Desenvolvimento

Fostering English-taught higher education programs in a Spanish university: the "TechEnglish" innovative project

In recent years, coinciding with adjustments to the Bologna process, many European universities have attempted to improve their international profile by increasing course offerings in English. According to the Institute of International Education (IIE), Spain has notably increased its English-taught higher education programs, ranking fifth in the list of European countries by number of English-taught Master's programs in 2013. This article presents the goals and preliminary results of an on-going innovative education project (TechEnglish) that aims to promote course offerings in English at the Technical University of Madrid (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, UPM). The UPM is the oldest and largest of all Technical Universities in Spain. It offers graduate and postgraduate programs that cover all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. Currently, the UPM has no specific bilingual/multilingual program to promote teaching in English, although there is an Educational Model Whitepaper (with a focus on undergraduate degrees) that promotes the development of activities like an International Semester or a unique shared curriculum. The TechEnglish project is an attempt to foster courses taught in English at 7 UPM Technical Schools, including students and 80 faculty members. Four tasks were identified: (1) to design a university wide framework to increase course offerings, (2) to identify administrative difficulties, (3) to increase visibility of courses offered, and (4) to disseminate the results of the project. First, to design a program we analyzed existing programs at other Spanish universities, and other projects and efforts already under way at the UPM. A total of 13 plans were analyzed and classified according to their relation with students (learning), professors (teaching), administration, course offerings, other actors/institutions within the university (e.g., language departments), funds and projects, dissemination activities, mobility plans and quality control. Second, to begin to identify administrative and organizational difficulties in the implementation of teaching in English, we first estimated the current and potential course offerings at the undergraduate level at the UPM using a survey (student, teacher and administrative demand, level of English and willingness to work in English). Third, to make the course offerings more attractive for both Spanish and international students we examined the way the most prestigious universities in Spain and in Europe try to improve the visibility of their academic offerings in English. Finally, to disseminate the results of the project we created a web page and a workspace on the Moodle education platform and prepared conferences and workshops within the UPM. Preliminary results show that increasing course offerings in English is an important step to promote the internationalization of the University. The main difficulties identified at the UPM were related to how to acknowledge/certify the departments, teachers or students involved in English courses, how students should register for the courses, how departments should split and schedule the courses (Spanish and English), and the lack of qualified personnel. A concerted effort could be made to increase the visibility of English-taught programs offered on-line.

Nonregulatory guidance to assist state educational agencies in administering federal financial assistance to local educational agencies for projects designed to meet the special education needs of educationally deprived children under Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981.

On cover: Chapter 1 nonregulatory guidance.

WEEA, Women's educational equity act : projects /

May 1979.

Practice briefing : Is BOT the best financing model to procure infrastructure projects? A case study of the Hong Kong-Shuhai-Macau Bridge

Abstract: Purpose – Several major infrastructure projects in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) have been delivered by the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model since the 1960s. Although the benefits of using BOT have been reported abundantly in the contemporary literature, some BOT projects were less successful than the others. This paper aims to find out why this is so and to explore whether BOT is the best financing model to procure major infrastructure projects. Design/methodology/approach – The benefits of BOT will first be reviewed. Some completed BOT projects in Hong Kong will be examined to ascertain how far the perceived benefits of BOT have been materialized in these projects. A highly profiled project, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, which has long been promoted by the governments of the People's Republic of China, Macau Special Administrative Region and the HKSAR that BOT is the preferred financing model, but suddenly reverted back to the traditional financing model to be funded primarily by the three governments with public money instead, will be studied to explore the true value of the BOT financial model. Findings – Six main reasons for this radical change are derived from the analysis: shorter take-off time for the project; difference in legal systems causing difficulties in drafting BOT agreements; more government control on tolls; private sector uninterested due to unattractive economic package; avoid allegation of collusion between business and the governments; and a comfortable financial reserve possessed by the host governments. Originality/value – The findings from this paper are believed to provide a better understanding to the real benefits of BOT and the governments' main decision criteria in delivering major infrastructure projects.

A QUT experience in combining sustainability research with educational activities and professional practice

The paper discusses the development and delivery of a university subject on sustainable construction, using related research projects as case studies and learning materials. It exposed students from a variety of disciplines to real life scenarios, to group around project cases, and learn to work with one another in solving sustainable development problems. The problem based learning approach directly responds to the new trends of learning by practising which, in the area of sustainability education, is particularly appropriate because of the need for multidisciplinary approach to complex issues, and the impetus for research and development to provide timely input for education in this growing discipline with a relatively short history. Collaboration of students from cross-disciplines, the engagement of industry and practitioners, the concept of using project cases and student design competition, and the tangible improvement of students’ comprehension of the sustainability phenomenon as a whole, have been the highlights of this Australian experience.

A model for integrating clinical care and basic science research, and pitfalls of performing complex research projects for addressing a clinical challenge

The collaboration of clinicians with basic science researchers is crucial for addressing clinically relevant research questions. In order to initiate such mutually beneficial relationships, we propose a model where early career clinicians spend a designated time embedded in established basic science research groups, in order to pursue a postgraduate qualification. During this time, clinicians become integral members of the research team, fostering long term relationships and opening up opportunities for continuing collaboration. However, for these collaborations to be successful there are pitfalls to be avoided. Limited time and funding can lead to attempts to answer clinical challenges with highly complex research projects characterised by a large number of "clinical" factors being introduced in the hope that the research outcomes will be more clinically relevant. As a result, the complexity of such studies and variability of its outcomes may lead to difficulties in drawing scientifically justified and clinically useful conclusions. Consequently, we stress that it is the basic science researcher and the clinician's obligation to be mindful of the limitations and challenges of such multi-factorial research projects. A systematic step-by-step approach to address clinical research questions with limited, but highly targeted and well defined research projects provides the solid foundation which may lead to the development of a longer term research program for addressing more challenging clinical problems. Ultimately, we believe that it is such models, encouraging the vital collaboration between clinicians and researchers for the work on targeted, well defined research projects, which will result in answers to the important clinical challenges of today.