A noção de competência na política pública de educação de jovens e adultos da rede municipal de Betim: avanço e ou retrocesso na formação humana

O objetivo central desta pesquisa é investigar qual concepção formativa está incorporada na noção de competência que passou a ser disseminada, através das reformas educacionais, e se esta significa avanço ou retrocesso no processo de formação humana. Procurou-se compreender o contexto das mudanças sócio-econômicas e políticas que motivaram a elaboração e implementação das reformas educacionais uma vez que estas se apresentam como justificativas para a adoção da noção de competências. Buscou-se identificar qual ou quais concepções teórico-filosóficas e sócio-pedagógicas fundamentam a noção de competência e a qual interesse vincula-se. Procurou-se perceber o alcance e os limites da política pública de Educação de Jovens e Adultos desenvolvida na Rede Municipal de Betim, que implementou um Currículo por Competência. Para realizar esse objetivo fizemos uma leitura crítica da bibliografia que trata do tema e dos documentos oficiais que apresentam a proposta municipal. Pela análise desenvolvida concluímos que num contexto de crise estrutural do capitalismo a noção de competência torna-se adequada aos interesses de reprodução do capital, pois se ancora em teorias psicológicas que possuem uma concepção individualista e a-histórica do ser e concebem que a aquisição do conhecimento ocorre no sentido de sua adaptação ao meio. Constatamos que na experiência municipal o Currículo por Competências visava substituir os conhecimentos socialmente acumulados. Assim, acreditamos que uma educação que secundariza o conhecimento científico da realidade social leva a que o processo educativo escolar fique no limite do senso comum e significa um retrocesso. Percebemos ainda que a política pública municipal depara-se com vários dilemas e desafios postos a esta modalidade educacional em sua trajetória nacional e que não conseguiu ultrapassar os limites impostos pela reforma educacional. Entre estas a pouca consistência teórica em sustentar o que seja a EJA e qual concepção pedagógica a adotar; a descontinuidade político-administrativa em sua condução; a falta de financiamento e o desenvolvimento de parcerias, entre outras, o que traz sérias conseqüências ao processo formativo tanto dos educadores como dos educandos.

Práticas de leitura e escrita na educação de jovens e adultos: como formar leitores e escritores?

No processo escolar de formação de leitores e escritores há um movimento ativo do sujeito com o texto, sendo o professor interlocutor e mediador desse processo. A presente pesquisa pôde verificar como a legitimação do conhecimento de mundo de sujeitos jovens e adultos com pouca ou nenhuma escolarização, em sala de aula, possibilitou o autorreconhecimento da condição de cada um como leitores e escritores. Para chegar a esse achado, investiguei práticas de leitura e escrita em uma classe de educação de jovens e adultos (EJA), buscando relacioná-las aos usos cotidianos da leitura e da escrita na vida dos sujeitos dessa classe. Busquei auxílio em contribuições teóricas de autores do campo da EJA, e de outros, cujos estudos são referência na área da leitura e da escrita e da formação de leitores e escritores, do mesmo modo que fui auxiliada na compreensão de como me valer de procedimentos metodológicos, para melhor capturar as revelações da prática pedagógica, durante o período de observação empreendido na classe. A abordagem teórico-metodológica adotada, de natureza qualitativa, contou com observações sistemáticas e instrumentos como o diário de campo, entrevistas semiestruturadas e uma ficha perfil dos sujeitos da pesquisa. Dispondo desses diversos recursos, pude perceber o processo de formação de leitores e escritores em uma turma já alfabetizada do Programa de Educação de Jovens e Adultos (PEJA) do município do Rio de Janeiro. Como reflexão final de meu estudo, arrisco afirmar que as práticas pedagógicas de leitura e escrita propostas pela professora na turma investigada rompiam com a lógica abissal (como nomeada por SANTOS, 2009), uma vez que as atividades levavam em conta a realidade e os conhecimentos dos sujeitos, não se restringindo a saberes escolares, considerados pela lógica hegemônica de hierarquia de mundo, como os únicos válidos. Outras questões, entretanto, nessas práticas de leitura e escrita puderam ser questionadas, como o fato de as atividades serem individuais, em maioria, apesar dos debates permanentes realizados no coletivo. Também o diálogo prioritariamente se dava entre professora e alunos, e não entre pares, o que restringia a horizontalidade da interlocução entre sujeitos. Por fim, reflexiono quanto à lógica escolar de organização do Programa, em que os avanços na aprendizagem têm sequência serial, o que põe em cheque concepções de continuum na EJA e, em última instância, do direito a aprender por toda a vida.

‘Making Older People Equal: Reforming the Law on Access to Education and Other Services’

Age-based discrimination in the supply of goods and services (including educational services) has only very recently been outlawed in the United Kingdom by the Equality Act 2010, the relevant sections of which have not yet been brought into force. This paper critically considers the Act and its implications, as well as the current proposal for an EU Directive on Goods and Services.The greatest immediate potential of the Equality Act lies in the general prohibition against age discrimination and the scope of the exceptions to it. The paper argues that exceptions permitting service providers to discriminate against older people (i.e. negative exceptions) should be very specifically set out in the reforming legislation.There should be no general defence to a claim of age discrimination based around the concept of ‘reasonableness’, which would not be consistently interpreted by courts and tribunals in a way that steers clear of traditional ageist assumptions and stereotyping.The paper argues that service providers should be permitted to discriminate in favour of older people (i.e. make positive exceptions) if the reason for doing do so satisfi es legislative criteria which are designed, amongst other things, to meet the particular needs of older persons or to promote social inclusion. Under this proposal, preferential treatment such as age-related concessionary fees for adult education courses and programmes would be lawful.

Teaching and learning technologies in Higher Education: Applied behaviour analysis and autism.

Professionals on both international and national levels who work with children with autism are expressing the need for graduate-level training in applied behaviour analysis. The implementation of effective instruction in higher education for professionals working with children with autism and their families is a complex undertaking: the learner needs to acquire an understanding of the principles and procedures of applied behaviour analysis and also adapt this knowledge to the learning prerequisites of individuals with autism. In this paper we outline some current thinking about adult education and blended learning technologies and then describe and illustrate with examples emerging possibilities of multimedia technology in the development of teaching materials. We conclude that synergies between graduate-level curriculum requirements, knowledge of adult learning, and communication technology are necessary to establish comprehensive learning environments for professionals who specialize in autism intervention.

Profiles of ageing in the South of Portugal: education and cognitive functioning in elderly persons living in institutionalized and community contexts

The region of the Algarve shows huge differences between the coastline where population in the urban areas grows, and the inland rural areas, in some cases very isolated, which frequently have high ageing indexes. This general scenario, with an elderly population with very different economic and social conditions, frames the ongoing PhD research designed as a cross-sectional study of an intentional sample of elderly persons. The basic theoretical framework departs from the perspective of developmental psychology of life-span and the model of selection, optimisation and compensation for optimal ageing (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Freund & Baltes, 2002). The present study is a first step in the analysis of empirical data collected in the PhD sample (N=156; age range 65 to 97 years; M = 80.4 years; SD = 7.2 years). Its purpose is to assess the cognitive functioning of participants, screening for cognitive impairment and examine the relations between the cognitive status of the subjects and a number of selected variables including educational level, age, physical activity and living contexts of the subjects. We accessed the cognitive status of the participants with the Portuguese version of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) finding a 10.3% prevalence of positive cases with cognitive impairment. The results also show significant relationships between the cognitive status accessed by the MMSE and educational level, professional qualification, age, living arrangement and activity level of the participants. The relationship verified between educational level and cognitive status of the participants was the largest correlation found in the study with the variability in educational level accounting for 44.8% of the variability in MMSE score. This results points in the same direction of several lines of research that corroborate the strong intercorrelation between education and cognitive functioning in old age.

Wanted--readers in South Carolina. Report of the Committee on promotion of reading of the South Carolina Teachers Association

This publication is a report generated by the South Carolina Teachers Association on the state of South Carolinians' reading habits, including reasons why reading levels are low and suggestions on how to improve the availability of reading materials, education, and motivation to read.

O tempo, um grande escultor

Mestrado em Educação e Intervenção Social - Desenvolvimento Comunitário e Educação de Adultos

Self-directed learning, stress and the adult learner /

The purpose of this correlational study was to investigate the relationship between the degree of self-directed learning readiness and stress for level one nursing students and level two nursing students. One hundred female nursing students participated in the study who were attending an Ontario Community College. Data were collected from the main nursing campus and the satellite nursing campus using the random sample method. Instruments used were said to be valid and reliable for testing self-directed learning readiness and stress respectively. Data were analyzed using frequency response to each item, means and standard deviation, and the Pearson product correlation between selfdirected learning readiness and stress. The results of the study show that there is a difference in the relationship between the degree of self-directed learning readiness and stress between the level one nursing students and the level two nursing students. Such results will be of particular interest to nursing instructors and administrators when planning for delivery of programs to such students.

Learning English as an adult: a narrative of women's improvised and empowered lives /

This thesis is a narrative inquiry of learning English as an adult. It stories the journey of 7 women, including me, and unravels lived experiences that serve as learning models. Learning English as an adult presents challenges and results in lifelong implications both in personal and professional life. Every learner's experience is imique and, when reflected upon, each experience is a valuable source of knowledge for constructing meanings and forging new identities. The stories are testimony to the participants' lives: interrupted yet improvised, silenced yet roused, dependent yet independent, intimidated yet courageous, vulnerable yet empowered. The personal experiences elucidate the passion, the inner voices, the dreams, and the rewards that compel persistence in learning a new language and releaming new social roles. The stories provide encouragement and hope to other women who are learning or will learn English in their adult years, and the lived experiences will offer insights for English language teachers. This thesis employs the phenomenology methodology of research with heuristic (discovery) and hermeneutical (interpretative) approaches using the reflective-responsivereflexive writing and interviewing methods for data gathering and unravelling. The narrative inquiry approach reaffirms that storytelling is an important tool in conducting research and constructing new knowledge. This thesis narrates a new story about sharing experiences, interconnecting, and continuing to learn.

Learning and healing: a wellness pedagogy for Aboriginal teacher education /

During the last 30 years Aboriginal peoples in Canada have made steady progress in reclaiming the responsibility for the education of their young people, especially in primary and secondary school. In comparison the education and or training of adult populations has not kept pace and many socioeconomic and sociocultural indicators demonstrate a ' , continued confinement of those populations to the margins of the dominant society of Canada. It is the adults, the mothers and the fathers, the grandmothers and grandfathers, the aunties and uncles that are the first teachers of the next generation and the nature of these relationships replicates the culture of unwellness in each subsequent generation through those teachers. There are few examples in the Aboriginal adult education literatures that give voice to the educational experience of the Learner. This study addresses that gap by exploring the perspectives embedded in the stories of a Circle of Learners who are, or were enrolled in the Bachelor of Education in Aboriginal Adult Education program at Brock University. That Circle of 1 participants included 9 women and 1 man, 6 of whom were from various i Anishinabek nations while 4 represented the Hotinonshd:ni nations in southern Ontario. They are an eclectic group, representing many professions, age groups, spiritual traditions, and backgrounds. This then is their story, the story of the heaming and Healing pedagogy and an expanded vision of Aboriginal education and research at Brock University.

Wellspring: an intrinsic case study of community-based education for adults living with cancer /

This paper presents education research as vital to addressing the issues faced by adults living with cancer. This qualitative study looked at philosophies of practice for cancer patient education. It was about understanding how values and beliefs shape the way program planners and managers operationalize their knowledge of adult education and how this has significant impact on meeting the needs of those touched by cancer. Improved technology has extended life expectancy, so that Canadians living with cancer, or even dying with cancer now spend less time in direct medical care. The notion of cancer as simply a medical concern is outdated. This study found that informational and support needs of adults living with cancer are often unmet, ignored or unknown. This research investigated a community-based education initiative that is inviting, accessible, and promotes a sense of hope. More specifically, this case study uncovered factors contributing to the success of Wellspring, a grass-roots cancer patient support centre which has been recognized nationally for its ability to effectively meet the diverse non-medical supportive care needs of as many cancer patients and caregivers as possible. Therefore, Wellspring was selected as a case study. Educating people to take charge of their own lives and supporting them in making informed decisions about their lifestyle choices made Wellspring part of a social action movement that focused on improving social attitudes toward people living with cancer. Results of this descriptive inquiry and philosophical inquiry evolved into data that was used to devise an organic model of community-based education that encompasses Adler's (1993) four dimensions of philosophy within a socio-cultural context.

Dialogue journal writing: a tool for critical reflection in the adult ESL learner

This study attempted to determine whether or not dialogue journal writing encouraged critical reflection in the adult ESL (English as a Second Language) learner. According to research in adult education and anecdotal evidence, the process ofdialogue journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the adult learner. However, little research has been conducted to examine whether or not journal writing can facilitate critical reflection in the second language learner. As a result, ten low-intermediate level adult ESL students from Brock University's Intensive English Language Programme participated in a dialogue journal writing programme in their writing class. The participants wrote journal entries over a 10-week period, and were interviewed once throughout the process to determine their perceptions ofthe journal writing experience. They also were observed by the researcher throughout the journal writing sessions to establish whether any behaviours or intrusions might affect the participants' writing processes. After the content ofthe journals and the interviews, and the observations made by the researcher were analysed, it was confirmed that, for these participants, dialogue journal writing did not necessarily encourage critical reflection. Moreover, the participants' perceptions ofjournal writing were that it helped them to practise the syntax, vocabulary, and rhetorical patterns ofEnglish; nevertheless, it did not foster critical reflection or thinking.

For whom the cruiser rolls: a retrospective analysis of factors relating to recidivism in a sample of graduates from a court-ordered alcohol education and awareness program

This study investigated, retrospectively, whether recidivism in a sample of court-ordered'graduates of an alcohol education and awareness program could be predicted. This alcohol education program was based on adult education principles and was philosophically akin to the thoughts of Drs. Jack Mezirow, Stephen Brookfield, and Patricia Cranton. Data on the sample of 214 Halton IDEA (Impaired Driver Education and Awareness) graduates were entered into a spread sheet. Descriptive statistics were generated. Each of the 214 program graduates had taken several tests during the course of the IDEA program. These tests measured knowledge, attitude about impaired driving, and degree of alcohol involvement. Test scores were analyzed to determine whether those IDEA graduates who recidivated differed in any measurable way from those who had no further criminal convictions after a period of at least three years. Their criminal records were obtained from the Canadian Police Information Centre (CPIC). Those program graduates who reoffended were compared to the vast majority who did not reoffend. Results of the study indicated that there was no way to determine who would recidivate from the data that were collected. Further studies could use a qualitative model. Follow-up interviews could be used to determine what impact, if any, attendance at the IDEA program had on the life of the graduates.

Instructor support for self-directed learning in higher education

This study addressed the problem of instructor support for self-directed learning, specifically, learner-directed program planning, within a classroom setting in higher education. A combination of survey, interview, document analysis, and observation was used to assess and evaluate the attitudes and practices of a sample of full-time faculty at an Ontario university. Eighty-seven percent of the study sample reported instructional beliefs, values, and expectations that were not supportive of self-directed learning, especially in terms of student participation in program planning. Planning was seen as the responsibility of the instructor. Instructors were least open to student participation in the planning of the evaluation of learning. However, there was considerable stated support for other of the basic principles of adult education. The remaining 13% of the study sample reported instructional beliefs, values, and expectations that were fully supportive of self-directed learning. Instructional practices were analyzed in relation to the instructors' stated beliefs. Although practices reflected, in many instances, instructors' statements of support, there were some significant discrepancies between apparent support for the concept of self-directed learning and actual classroom practice. Both beliefs and practice were compared to a research model of self-directed learning. Most instructors did not have a concept of self-directed learning as comprehensive as that described in the research model. Instructor support for self-directed learning was profoundly influenced by the university setting. It was concluded that more strenuous attempts to research, enhance, and promote instructional and institutional support for self-directed learning in higher education are warranted.

Sentence combining and thinking : a study of adult ESL learners

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Brock University, 2003.