Confucius, constructivism and the impact of continuing professional development on teachers of English in China

In this article we explore issues around the sustainability and appropriateness of professional development for secondary teachers of English in China offered by overseas providers from the perspective of teachers who completed courses at the University of Reading between 2003 and 2010. We start by offering an overview of English teaching in China. We then describe the collection and analysis of interviews and focus groups discussions involving former participants, their teaching colleagues and senior management, as well as classroom observation. Evidence is presented for changes in teachers’ philosophies of education directly attributable to participation in the courses; for improved teacher competencies (linguistic, cultural and pedagogical) in the classroom; and for the ways in which returnees are undertaking new roles and responsibilities which exploit their new understandings. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for both providers and sponsors of CPD for English language teachers. We conclude that the recognition of English as an essential element in the modernisation of China, together with the growing awareness of the weaknesses of traditional approaches to the teaching of the language, has opened up new spaces for dialogue concerning pedagogy and professional practice. It is clearly important, however, that new approaches to the teaching of English are presented in a way which allows teachers to decide which elements should be incorporated into their teaching and how.

Towards the "cult of the equity"? Insurance companies and the interwar capital market

This article examines the ways in which insurance companies modified their investment policies during the interwar years, arguing that this period marked the start of the transition from ‘traditional’ to ‘modern’ investment practice. Economic and financial conditions raised considerable doubts regarding the suitability of traditional insurance investments, while competitive conditions forced insurance offices to seek higher-yielding assets. These pressures led to a considerable increase in the proportion of new investment devoted to corporate securities, including ordinary shares. Meanwhile new insurance investment philosophies began to be advocated, which accorded both legitimacy and importance to the role of ordinary shares in insurance portfolios.

The myths of modern primitivism

RE/Search Publications’ Modern Primitives (Vale and Juno 1989) changed countless lives, bringing what had been a localized and niche set of body modification practices, aesthetics and philosophies out of San Francisco to a global audience, dominating scholarly and popular discourse around body modification subculture for more than a decade afterwards. The voice of Fakir Musafar dominates the book. This article argues that modern primitives as Musafar defines them never really existed (and never could have existed) in the terms he suggests, and goes on to address an important sub-strand within Modern Primitives almost entirely ignored by critics and commentators, who have read the book as generally representative of the body modification culture as a whole. With specific reference to contributors such as infamous tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy who do not frame their practice in ‘primitive’ terms, the article concludes with a study of an alternative account presented by Vale and Juno’s book: body modification as artistic practice.

Working through the layers: curriculum implementation in language education

This chapter presents findings on English Language instruction at the lower primary level in the context of policies for curricular innovation at national, school and classroom levels. The focus is on policies which connect national and school levels, and on how they might be interpreted when implemented in multiple schools within Singapore’s educational system. Referring to case studies in two schools and to individual lesson observations in 10 schools, we found much agreement with national policies in terms of curriculum (i.e. lesson content and activity selection),leading to great uniformity in the lessons taught by different teachers in different schools. In addition, we found that schools had an important mediating influence on implementation of national policies. However, adoptions and adaptations of policy innovations at the classroom level were somewhat superficial as they were more related to changes in educational facilities and procedures than in philosophies.

Innovation and change in English teaching in the western provinces of China: the impact of overseas training

In this article we explore issues around the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) for secondary teachers of English offered by an overseas provider through the lens of participants from the Western provinces of China who completed courses at a UK university between 2003 and 2012. We start by offering an overview of English teaching in China. We then report two complementary studies of the same programme. The first aimed for breadth of understanding and involved the collection and analysis of interviews and focus groups discussions with former participants, their teaching colleagues and senior management, as well as classroom observation. The second aimed for depth and drew on data collected from a cohort of 38 teachers on one of the courses, using pre- and post-course surveys; focus group discussions at the end of the course with the whole cohort; and interviews with five of the participants both before they left the UK and again six months later. Evidence is presented for changes in teachers’ philosophies of education directly attributable to participation in the courses; for improved teacher competencies (linguistic, cultural and pedagogical) in the classroom; and for the ways in which returnees are undertaking new roles and responsibilities that exploit their new understandings. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings for both providers and sponsors of CPD for English language teachers.

Perfectionist Philosophy as a (an Untaken) Way of Life

I am honored to respond to Paul Guyer’s elaboration on the role of examples of perfectionism in Cavell’s and Kant’s philosophies. Guyer’s appeal to Kant’s notion of freedom opens the way for suggestive readings of Cavell’s work on moral perfectionism but also, as I will show, for controversy. There are salient aspects of both Kant’s and Cavell’s philosophy that are crucial to understanding perfectionism and, let me call it, perfectionist education, that I wish to emphasize in response to Guyer. In responding to Guyer’s text, I shall do three things. First, I shall explain why I think it is misleading to speak of Cavell’s view that moral perfectionism is involved in a struggle to make oneself intelligible to oneself and others in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions for moral perfection. Rather, I will suggest that the constant work on oneself that is at the core of Cavell’s moral perfectionism is a constant work for intelligibility. Second, I shall recall a feature of Cavell’s perfectionism that Guyer does not explicitly speak of: the idea that perfectionism is a theme, “outlook or dimension of thought embodied and developed in a set of texts.” Or, as Cavell goes on to say, “there is a place in mind where good books are in conversation. … [W]hat they often talk about … is how they can be, or sound, so much better than the people that compose them.” This involves what I would call a perfectionist conception of the history of philosophy and the kinds of texts we take to belong to such history. Third, I shall sketch out how the struggle for intelligibility and a perfectionist view of engagement with texts and philosophy can lead to a view of philosophy as a form of education in itself. In concluding these three “criticisms,” I reach a position that I think is quite close to Guyer’s, but with a slightly shifted emphasis on what it means to read Kant and Cavell from a perfectionist point of view.

The Purely Reflected Self

Belief in the concept of the self causes suffering. Unfortunately, although conceptual constructions like this may help to define our goal—the casting off of the belief in the self—this is a much more difficult thing to actualize and attain in daily practice. Our building blocks can form a neat tower, and we can climb to the top and gaze at the horizon, but they will topple, leaving us once again over our heads in the hedgerow. Buddha describes his teachings as a raft to ford the river of suffering in order to reach the far off bank of enlightenment: as one does not take the raft after crossing the river, so we must not lean on his teachings to make our way through life. So I intend here to abandon the raft for other accounts of existence written by other thinkers, and in this my purpose is twofold: First, in reading other interpretations we can gain new tools with which to study the architecture of the concept of the self, and second, in studying the history of the concept of self as it progresses through history we can better understand the non-inherentness of this problematic construct. I intend to examine the philosophies of self in the Chinese and European traditions, and their subsequent deconstructive traditions in order to achieve this goal.

Qualidade em Ambiente de Burocracia: O caso da Justiça Federal do Estado do Amazonas

The necessity to be efficient and effective has long shifted from the private to the public sector. New philosophies have appeared with the aim to supply better performance in both private and public organisms. One of those theories is Quality. It stresses that people who are part of an organisation must realise that they are customers and suppliers within a workflow. The aim of this study was to identify to what extent quality theory can be found in bureaucratic management. The hypothesis was that, despite of the Federal Justice in Amazonas State ─ JF-AM ─ being a bureaucratic organisation, quality parameters are present in the tasks conduction and practice execution. This study was descriptive and explicative. It was a case with bibliographical and field research. As for the means, this research was limited due to both a reduced bibliographical archive pertaining to the comparison between bureaucratic and quality theories, and the uncertainty about the veracity from the questionnaires answers to be answered by members of the sample organisation, the JF-AM. Another limitation factor was the fact that the sample organisation is under the federal judiciary power which excluded views from a State and municipal orbit and from other areas of public power, such as the legislative and the executive. Therefore it seems interesting to gather from this locus another view of quality, mainly as reforms to the judiciary system are in question, which lent a special meaning to this research. The final conclusion was that quality parameters were found in the bureaucratic sample organisation.

Qualidade em ambiente de burocracia: o caso da Justiça Federal do Estado do Amazonas

The necessity to be efficient and effective has long shifted from the private to the public sector. New philosophies have appeared with the aim to supply better performance in both private and public organisms. One of those theories is Quality. It stresses that people who are part of an organisation must realise that they are customers and suppliers within a workflow. The aim of this study was to identify to what extent quality theory can be found in bureaucratic management. The hypothesis was that, despite of the Federal Justice in Amazonas State ─ JF-AM ─ being a bureaucratic organisation, quality parameters are present in the tasks conduction and practice execution. This study was descriptive and explicative. It was a case with bibliographical and field research. As for the means, this research was limited due to both a reduced bibliographical archive pertaining to the comparison between bureaucratic and quality theories, and the uncertainty about the veracity from the questionnaires answers to be answered by members of the sample organisation, the JF-AM. Another limitation factor was the fact that the sample organisation is under the federal judiciary power which excluded views from a State and municipal orbit and from other areas of public power, such as the legislative and the executive. Therefore it seems interesting to gather from this locus another view of quality, mainly as reforms to the judiciary system are in question, which lent a special meaning to this research. The final conclusion was that quality parameters were found in the bureaucratic sample organisation.

Limites e possibilidades da gestão sob o enfoque holístico

O tema Gestão sob o enfoque holístico surgiu a partir de uma leitura da revista HSM Management de setembro-outubro/2000. O artigo abordava o novo paradigma de gerenciar funcionários, que privilegia a busca do bem-estar, onde muitas empresas estão sendo obrigadas a revisar suas políticas de recursos humanos para enfocar as três dimensões de um indivíduo - corpo, mente e espírito. Segundo a reportagem, pesquisas da PricewaterhouseCoopers, Universum e outras organizações constataram que o equilíbrio trabalho/vida não é apenas uma demanda dos atuais empregados, mas também uma das principais prioridades dos formandos em universidades do mundo todo. A intensa luta para atrair funcionários de alto gabarito colocará a empresa com abordagem mais holística um degrau acima de suas concorrentes. Para as empresas, atender as verdadeiras necessidades individuais de seus funcionários é um novo paradigma na maneira de gerenciar seus negócios. O que mudou é a percepção de que o ser humano é fator primordial de competitividade e deixou de ser insumo. O ser humano passou a ser tendencialmente o centro, o foco das relações. Ainda que este conceito aparente estar longe da realidade organizacional brasileira, em função da distância entre o discurso e a prática de um modelo de gestão que considere o funcionário como um ser integral, já temos exemplos de empresas que estão adotando este princípio. A necessidade do equilíbrio entre os aspectos físico, mental, emocional e espiritual para ser feliz, tem levado as pessoas a superarem o medo do desconhecido e caminhar com detenninação em direção ao autodesenvolvimento. Este estudo analisou a utilização da gestão sob o enfoque holístico em duas diferentes empresas. Os resultados evidenciaram que a abordagem holística não está no âmbito da utopia, antes trata-se de um desafio para os gestores das organizações que, para um sucesso na adoção desta prática, precisam, mais do que implantá-la, adotá-la como filosofia de vida, incorporando-a a seus valores e visão de mundo. A prática cotidiana do modelo de gestão holística a partir do corpo diretivo é que vai possibilitar a verdadeira transformação da cultura organizacional tradicional para uma cultura organizacional holística, cuja conseqüência é o reflexo positivo nos resultados econômico-financeiros. C onstatamos, por outro lado, as limitações na utilização desse modelo de gestão tanto por parte dos funcionários quanto por parte dos altos executivos. Quanto aos funcionários, nem todos estão preparados para assumir novas responsabilidades ou preparados para o seu desenvolvimento pessoal, através do auto conhecimento. As crenças adquiridas no período educacional, tanto no lar quanto na escola, bem como suas recentes experiências profissionais podem inibir a descoberta de novas possibilidades, até que se sintam compelidos a lidar com os novos conhecimentos por necessidade de empregabilidade. Quanto aos executivos, por se tratar de um modelo de gestão relativamente novo, sem comprovação científica aliado à dificuldade de encontrar instrumentos de medição objetivos e ao elevado nível de exigência quanto a resultados crescentes no curto prazo, acabam priorizando a administração por objetivos, por se sentirem mais confortáveis quanto à certeza de obtenção de resultados econômico-financeiros no curto prazo. Esquecem-se, no entanto, dos efeitos desastrosos no clima organizacional, que vão comprometer os resultados de médio e longo prazos, seja pela possibilidade de elevado turnover como pela desmotivação generalizada, onde os funcionários só trabalham sob pressão. Por sua vez, cientes da importância do ser humano no novo cenário de elevada competitividade, não são poucos os empresários que já estão começando a trabalhar seus valores intrinsecos com a ajuda de terapeutas, filósofos, psicólogos, estimulando primeiro o auto conhecimento pessoal, para que possam futuramente empreender essa nova maneira de ver o mundo em suas respectivas empresas.

Ensino: o elo mais fraco da cadeia científica

Nesta Dissertações discutimos - com base na epistemologia de Bachelard - os problemas mais gerais que cercam atualmente o ensino das ciências físicas (química e física) no segundo grau. Tivemos por meta examinar o papel cumprido pelas diversas correntes filosóficas que, a partir da modernidade, influenciaram amplamente a cultura científica, destacando as consequências mais significativas para o ensino da Química e da física. Para melhor compreender esses reflexos, fizemos também uma pesquisa de campo junto aos professores de química e física Que lecionam no município do Rio de Janeiro. A partir daí foi possível evidenciar a situação de fragilidade do ensino secundário de tais ciências e propor alternativas para a modificação desse Quadro tão negativo.

Proposta de um modelo de apoio a processos de consultoria para a melhoria de operações de pequenas empresas

Com o substancial avanço da competitividade, crescem os interesses pela discussão de mecanismos potencializadores de implantação de novas tecnologias de gestão das operações das empresas, percebidas como um lastro de sustentação das organizações, necessário num mundo globalizado, no qual o poder de influência dos consumidores tem ganhado inegável relevância. Entretanto, a realidade tem revelado dificuldades de inclusão dessas abordagens em algumas empresas brasileiras, sobretudo naquelas de menor porte. Uma das barreiras são, indiscutivelmente, as limitações de recursos, aliadas às poucas alternativas de crédito de baixo custo disponibilizadas no mercado nacional para este segmento de empresas. Diante deste cenário, consultores independentes têm o enorme desafio de internalizar nestas organizações modelos de gestão mais coerentes com a dinâmica da economia atual, tendo como obstáculos adicionais as resistências culturais naturais à incorporação de algumas filosofias de administração modernas como o Lean e a Teoria das Restrições, questionadoras de conceitos tradicionais e detentoras de visões singulares, mas igualmente potencializadoras de resultados efetivos, a um baixo custo. Este trabalho objetivou, por um lado avaliar o contexto no qual os pequenos negócios estão inseridos, e, por outro, propor um modelo de apoio para consultoria voltado para este segmento de empresas, no qual os consultores assumem preponderantemente papeis de educador e coach, de maneira a elevar as chances não somente da implantação de técnicas mais modernas de gestão de operação, mas também de sua incorporação definitiva nestas organizações.

Teacher education in Portugal: analysing changes using ATEE-RDC19 scenario methodology

This paper presents an overview of the development of teacher education in Portugal since the Revolution of 25 April 1974, which brought the country to democracy. Making use of the scenario model created by the ATEE-RDC19, it is an attempt to make clearer the hidden philosophies underlying the changes that are undertaken and show how teacher education has evolved from a romantic and idealistic social vision towards an ideology dictated by economic and selfish interests.

O PAPEL DO CETICISMO NA FILOSOFIA DO JOVEM HEGEL

Ce travail veut montrer que le scepticisme n‟est pas q‟un des principaux défis pour la philosophie moderne jusqu‟a la déflagration da la Reforme Protestante, la redecouverte et la traduction des textes de Sexte Empirique. La reception de ce scepticisme n‟est q‟un des principaux facteurs qui determinent le noveau fondament da la philosophie moderne avec base dans la subjectivité. Dans ce contexte d‟un nouveau fondament de la philosophie sous la base de la subjectivité, Hegel aborde le problème du scepticisme. La pensé developpé par Hegel dans période de Jena (1801-1807), principalement dans l‟écrit de la Differance parmi les philosophies de Fichte e Schelling, et dans les articles du Journal Critic de Philosophie, Relation du scepticisme avec la philosophie et Foi et Savoir, part du dialogue avec la philosophie d‟idealisme allemand, qui est le point plus haut du subjectivisme dans la philosophie developpé à partir du retour du scepticisme. Hegel essaye à travès l‟interpretation et la superation du scepticisme, établir une nouvelle base pour la philosophie. Alors, le scepticisme, dans cette période de la philosophie d‟Hegel, a la function d‟être la negativité propre à la authentique philosophie qui anéante le point de vue des les philosophies de la subjectivité. Cette manière comme Hegel intégre la scepticisme à sa philosophie, a son point plus haut dans la Phénoménologie de l Esprit. La figure du scepticisme parfait présenté dans l‟introduction de la Phénoménologie de l Esprit a la function de faire le passage du point de vue des philosophies de la subjectivité au point de vue espéculatif da la raison

Marxismo e filosofia: algumas considerações sobre os textos políticos Merleau-Pontyanos do pós-guerra

A tentativa merleau-pontyana de aproximação do marxismo, empreendida nos idos do pós-guerra, é perpassada por constante ambigüidade. Não obstante o propósito do filósofo de se filiar à teoria de Marx, suas análises políticas revelam-se distantes de suas intenções. Concebendo a história como uma aventura que escapa a qualquer esquema racional, Merleau-Ponty questiona, desde seus primeiros escritos, a dialética marxista entre lógica e contingência na história. A tensão interna que dilacera os textos do autor nos anos 40, anunciando (e preparando) a recusa da teoria da revolução estampada mais tarde nas Aventuras da Dialética, permite indagar se esse desfecho dos anos 50 não teria sido, ao invés de um corte no interior da obra, o resultado necessário dessa tentativa problemática de aproximação do marxismo a partir de categorias que lhe são estranhas (próprias às filosofias da existência e à fenomenologia).