Constructing leadership in child care : epistemological beliefs and transformational leadership

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Australia are currently a focus of social and economic policy. However, early childhood leadership in Australia is yet to develop a clear identity that will enable the field to develop to its full potential. In this paper we investigate a unique theoretical framework for constructing leadership identity, based on transformational leadership and epistemological beliefs. Using semistructured interviews, 15 childcare directors from a large metropolitan area in Australia were asked to describe their beliefs about knowing in the context of their leadership practices. The findings showed that leaders (n = 5) who espoused predominantly evaluativist beliefs about knowing were more likely to describe transformational leadership behaviours in the context of childcare leadership. A number of leaders held mixed beliefs (n = 9) about knowing and described their leadership practice in ways that reflected both transactional and transformational leadership styles. Finally, one leader described predominantly objectivist epistemological beliefs and transactional beliefs about leadership. These preliminary findings show that there seems to be a relationship between core epistemological beliefs and beliefs about leadership practices and offers a new way to characterise leadership in ECEC in Australia.

Mikä on ihme ja mitä ihmeistä voidaan tietää? : Keskustelu ihmeistä uusimmassa englanninkielisessä uskonnonfilosofiassa

What is a miracle and what can we know about miracles? A discussion of miracles in anglophone philosophy of religion literature since the late 1960s. The aim of this study is to systematically describe and philosophically examine the anglophone discussion on the subject of miracles since the latter half of the 1960s. The study focuses on two salient questions: firstly, what I will term the conceptual-ontological question of the extent to which we can understand miracles and, secondly, the epistemological question of what we can know about miracles. My main purpose in this study is to examine the various viewpoints that have been submitted in relation to these questions, how they have been argued and on what presuppositions these arguments have been based. In conducting the study, the most salient dimension of the various discussions was found to relate to epistemological questions. In this regard, there was a notable confrontation between those scholars who accept miracles and those who are sceptical of them. On the conceptual-ontological side I recognised several different ways of expressing the concept of miracle . I systematised the discussion by demonstrating the philosophical boundaries between these various opinions. The first and main boundary was related to ontological knowledge. On one side of this boundary I placed the views which were based on realism and objectivism. The proponents of this view assumed that miraculousness is a real property of a miraculous event regardless of how we can perceive it. On the other side I put the views which tried to define miraculousness in terms of subjectivity, contextuality and epistemicity. Another essential boundary which shed light on the conceptual-ontological discussion was drawn in relation to two main views of nature. The realistic-particularistic view regards nature as a certain part of reality. The adherents of this presupposition postulate a supernatural sphere alongside nature. Alternatively, the nominalist-universalist view understands nature without this kind of division. Nature is understood as the entire and infinite universe; the whole of reality. Other, less important boundaries which shed light on the conceptual-ontological discussion were noted in relation to views regarding the laws of nature, for example. I recognised that the most important differences between the epistemological approaches were in the different views of justification, rationality, truth and science. The epistemological discussion was divided into two sides, distinguished by their differing assumptions in relation to the need for evidence. Adherents of the first (and noticeably smaller) group did not see any epistemological need to reach a universal and common opinion about miracles. I discovered that these kinds of views, which I called non-objectivist, had subjectivist and so-called collectivist views of justification and a contextualist view of rationality. The second (and larger) group was mainly interested in discerning the grounds upon which to establish an objective and conclusive common view in relation to the epistemology of miracles. I called this kind of discussion an objectivist discussion and this kind of approach an evidentialist approach. Most of the evidentialists tried to defend miracles and the others attempted to offer evidence against miracles. Amongst both sides, there were many different variations according to emphasis and assumption over how they saw the possibilities to prove their own view. The common characteristic in all forms of evidentialism was a commitment to an objectivist notion of rationality and a universalistic notion of justification. Most evidentialists put their confidence in science in one way or another. Only a couple of philosophers represented the most moderate version of evidentialism; they tried to remove themselves from the apparent controversy and contextualised the different opinions in order to make some critical comments on them. I called this kind of approach a contextualising form of evidentialism. In the final part of the epistemological chapter, I examined the discussion about the evidential value of miracles, but nothing substantially new was discovered concerning the epistemological views of the authors.

Sensemaking in the Third Space - Essays on French-Finnish Bicultural Experiences in Organizations and Their Narratives (summary section only)

Research on cross-cultural and intercultural aspects in organizations has been traditionally conducted from an objectivist, functionalist perspective, with culture treated as an independent variable, and often the key explanatory factor. In order to do justice to the ontological relativity of the phenomena studied, more subjectivist research on intercultural interactions, and especially on their relationships with the dynamics of cultural identity construction, is needed. The present research seeks to address this gap by focusing on bicultural interactions in organizations, as they are experienced by the involved individuals. It is argued that such bicultural situations see the emergence of a space of hybridity, which is here called a ‘third space’, and which can be understood as providing ‘occasions for sensemaking’: it is this individual sensemaking that is of particular interest in the empirical narrative study. A first overall aim of the study is to reach an understanding of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations; an understanding not only of the potential for learning and emancipatory sensemaking, but also of the possibility of conflict and alienatory ordering (this is mainly addressed in the theoretical essays 1 and 2). Further, a second overall aim of the study is to analyze the reflexive identity construction of four young French expatriates involved in such bicultural interactions in organizations in Finland, in order to examine the extent to which their expatriation experiences have allowed for an emancipatory opportunity in their cases (in essays 3 and 4). The primary theoretical contribution in this study lies in its new articulation of the dynamics of bicultural interactions in organizations. The ways in which the empirical material is analyzed bring about methodological contributions: since the expatriates’ accounts are bound to be some kind of construction, the analysis is made from angles that point to how the self-narratives construct reality. There are two such angles here: a ‘performative’ one and a ‘spatial’ one. The most important empirical contributions lie in the analysis of, on the one hand, the alternative uses that the young expatriates made of the notion of ‘national culture’ in their self-narratives, and, on the other hand, their ‘narrative practices of the third space’: their politics of escape or stabilization, their exploration of space or search for place, their emancipation from their origin or return to home as only horizon.

Publicar ou perecer: uma análise críticonormativa das características e dos efeitos dos modelos cientométrico e bibliométrico adotados no Brasil

A presente Tese de Doutorado analisa as características e os efeitos da cientometria e bibliometria adotadas no Brasil. Primeiramente, a fim de contextualizar o tema, faço uma revisão de literatura acerca do processo de mercantilização da educação. Meu objetivo é mostrar a inclinação empresarial das políticas públicas educacionais, especialmente aquelas voltadas para a pós-graduação. Além disso, seleciono e analiso alguns conceitos que ajudam a compreender o presente tema, bem como sustento a inadequação da lógica de economia de mercado como forma de gerir a Academia e a ciência. Na segunda parte da Tese, focalizo os critérios adotados para avaliar a hierarquizar Programas de Pós-Graduação e diferenciar pesquisadores. A tese a ser defendida é que o modelo CAPES de avaliação da pós-graduação está baseado numa norma produtividade de cunho periodicocrático que cria uma forte pressão por publicação de artigos em periódicos acadêmico-científicos, uma vez que eles os produtos privilegiados no modelo de mensuração objetivista em vigor. Produzir/publicar artigos torna-se, portanto, a performance acadêmico-científica por excelência. Isso enseja a criação de um mercado acadêmico-científico e de um mercado de publicações, o que cria um contexto propício para a ocorrência de más condutas acadêmico-científicas

The Poetics of the Limit : Ethics and Politics in Modern and Contemporary American Poetry

Woods, Timothy, The Poetics of the Limit (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003) RAE2008

Meta-Theoretical Paradigms Underpinning Risk in Child Welfare: Towards a Position of Methodological Pragmatism

The aim of this paper is to explore the ‘natural attitude’ underpinning risk practices in child welfare. This refers to various taken-for-granted approaches to risk that social workers and other human service professionals draw upon in their everyday practice. The approach proceeds by identifying and critically examining three key, meta-theoretical paradigms on risk which typically shape the natural attitude. They are labelled ‘objectivist’, ‘subjectivist’ and ‘critical’. The ontological, epistemological, axiological and methodological premises supporting each paradigm, and how they shape risk practices, are then reviewed leading to a composite, meta-theoretical position on risk termed ‘methodological pragmatism’. This position draws on the strengths of each paradigm and is formulated into ten propositions which consider how risk should be approached in child welfare. Within this corpus of thought salient themes are endorsed such as the need for method triangulation, an examination of ‘deep causality’, and the promotion of emancipatory perspectives. By critically reflecting on meta-theory, the paper contributes to the development of substantive theories of risk assessment and management in child welfare.

Teaching an Old Robot New Tricks: Learning Novel Tasks via Interaction with People and Things

As AI has begun to reach out beyond its symbolic, objectivist roots into the embodied, experientialist realm, many projects are exploring different aspects of creating machines which interact with and respond to the world as humans do. Techniques for visual processing, object recognition, emotional response, gesture production and recognition, etc., are necessary components of a complete humanoid robot. However, most projects invariably concentrate on developing a few of these individual components, neglecting the issue of how all of these pieces would eventually fit together. The focus of the work in this dissertation is on creating a framework into which such specific competencies can be embedded, in a way that they can interact with each other and build layers of new functionality. To be of any practical value, such a framework must satisfy the real-world constraints of functioning in real-time with noisy sensors and actuators. The humanoid robot Cog provides an unapologetically adequate platform from which to take on such a challenge. This work makes three contributions to embodied AI. First, it offers a general-purpose architecture for developing behavior-based systems distributed over networks of PC's. Second, it provides a motor-control system that simulates several biological features which impact the development of motor behavior. Third, it develops a framework for a system which enables a robot to learn new behaviors via interacting with itself and the outside world. A few basic functional modules are built into this framework, enough to demonstrate the robot learning some very simple behaviors taught by a human trainer. A primary motivation for this project is the notion that it is practically impossible to build an "intelligent" machine unless it is designed partly to build itself. This work is a proof-of-concept of such an approach to integrating multiple perceptual and motor systems into a complete learning agent.

A new argument from interpersonal variation to subjectivism about color: a response to Gómez-Torrente

I describe a new, comparative, version of the argument from interpersonal variation to subjectivism about color. The comparative version undermines a recent objectivist response to standard versions of that argument (Gómez-Torrente 2014).

Modelagem organizacional da Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (Cnen): da crítica à esperança

This research had the objective to verify if the current organization design of the Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN) facilitates or makes it difficult the reach of the organization performance. In order to make the analysis, the used ways had been bibliographic, documental and field researches. The bibliographical survey allowed to conclude that it has a necessity of searching a balance between the objectivist and subjectivist approaches of the theory of the organization design. The documental survey supplied elements that they make possible to understand the main phases of the development of the CNEN in elapsing of the time and that they explain the current organization design. Finally, the research of field, carried through with the main managers of the institution, made possible the data-collecting that contributed to ratify the initial assumption of the research of that the current organization design of the CNEN makes it difficult the performance of the organization.

A Teoria do fortuito externo: um novo estudo

Apresentação histórica dos conceitos de caso fortuito e força maior. Avanço doutrinário em relação aos sistemas de responsabilidade civil. Responsabilidade civil subjetiva e responsabilidade civil objetiva. Perda de importância do elemento subjetivo culpa. Teorias explicativas das situações de caso fortuito e de força maior. Objetivista e subjetivista. Posição adotada pelo legislador. Equiparação dos efeitos de caso fortuito e de força maior. Evolução do estudo do direito consumerista. Fortuito interno. Evolução. Fortuito externo. Rompimento do nexo de causalidade. Externidade. Principais características.

A Corrupção burocrática inibe o empreendedorismo? uma análise empírica dos estados brasileiros

This work aims to investigate the relationship between the entrepreneurship and the incidence of bureaucratic corruption in the states of Brazil and Federal District. The main hypothesis of this study is that the opening of a business in Brazilian states is negatively affected by the incidence of corruption. The theoretical reference is divided into Entrepreneurship and bureaucratic corruption, with an emphasis on materialistic perspective (objectivist) of entrepreneurship and the effects of bureaucratic corruption on entrepreneurial activity. By the regression method with panel data, we estimated the models with pooled data and fixed and random effects. To measure corruption, I used the General Index of Corruption for the Brazilian states (BOLL, 2010), and to represent entrepreneurship, firm entry per capita by state. Tests (Chow, Hausman and Breusch-Pagan) indicate that the random effects model is more appropriate, and the preliminary results indicate a positive impact of bureaucratic corruption on entrepreneurial activity, contradicting the hypothesis expected and found in previous articles to Brazil, and corroborating the proposition of Dreher and Gassebner (2011) that, in countries with high regulation, bureaucratic corruption can be grease in the wheels of entrepreneurship

Uma avaliação política da política de avaliação da educação superior brasileira

We had as the problem of analysis in this research: what are the assumptions, principles and general content that based the Sistema Nacional de Avaliação da Educação Superior (SINAES). We started from the hypothesis that the general content of SINAES is essentially based on the assumptions and principles of a control/regulatory perspective of evaluation and a summative epistemology, objectivist and quantitativist, constituted by members who prioritize testing and classification of courses and institutions based on market values. The overall goal was to make a political evaluation of SINAES and the specific objectives were: a) apply the concepts of politics evaluation and meta-evaluation, b) identify the role of international organizations in education reform in the 1990s and its impact on superior education in Brazil c) redeem the concept of evaluation, especially in the field of studies in education; and d) investigate the evaluation policies of Brazilian superior education leading to SINAES. As for the technical procedures for collecting and analyzing data, the research was made with bibliography and documents, considering that it was developed by bibliographic sources and official publications. It was developed by crossing sources: texts or documents remitted to others; it was also concentrated: on the role of international organizations in educational and State reforms (in the 1990s); on the policies of evaluation of the Brazilian superior education (1980s and 1990s); on the proposal of the Comissão Especial de Avaliação (CEA); on the Law No. 10.861/2004; on the documents of CONAES; on the Decree No. 5.773/2006, and the MEC Regulatory Ordinances No. 4/2008 and No. 12/2008. It did not stop in the so called purely technical aspects, but in the ideological field itself. The research found that international organizations, notably the World Bank, played a political, intellectual and financial role determinant to the field of education, a fact that reflects in the legal framework. It was also found that the politics of evaluation of the superior education is historically marked by conflict, represented by two distinct perspectives of different natures and emphases. On one hand, the focus is on control / regulation, favoring efficiency, productivity and competitiveness benchmarking and prioritizing the punctual performance and measurement. On the other, it seeks to transform academic perspective in primarily formative / emancipatory, in order to support more institutional improvement. It was concluded that the CEA presented a conception evaluation predominantly formative and emancipatory, which emphasized the idea of system, centered around the institution and repudiated the rankings practices. In the post-formulation period, however, some of its principles were fragmenting and, gradually, the institution was giving way to the courses and the Exame Nacional de Desempenho de Estudantes (ENADE) grew in prominence. With the creation of the Conceito Preliminar de Cursos superiores (CPC) and of the Índice Geral de Cursos da Instituição de Educação Superior (IGC), it was redemeed the practice of evaluation as measurement and control, under the principles of efficiency and productivity. So, SINAES that seemed like a progressive evaluation method has assumed a setting that close resembles the Exame Nacional de Cursos (ENC-Provão). Nevertheless, the survival of institutional formative evaluation, in the superior education evaluation policies, still an issue in dispute

Pressupostos epistemológicos dos modelos de clínica psquiátrica da atualidade: uma abordagem pragmática

Pós-graduação em Filosofia - FFC

Concepção da avaliação da educação superior nas constituições e demais normas do período de 1961 a 2007

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Conceptual and normative issues of memory enhancement

Our growing understanding of human mind and cognition and the development of neurotechnology has triggered debate around cognitive enhancement in neuroethics. The dissertation examines the normative issues of memory enhancement, and focuses on two issues: (1) the distinction between memory treatment and enhancement; and (2) how the issue of authenticity concerns memory interventions, including memory treatments and enhancements. rnThe first part consists of a conceptual analysis of the concepts required for normative considerations. First, the representational nature and the function of memory are discussed. Memory is regarded as a special form of self-representation resulting from a constructive processes. Next, the concepts of selfhood, personhood, and identity are examined and a conceptual tool—the autobiographical self-model (ASM)—is introduced. An ASM is a collection of mental representations of the system’s relations with its past and potential future states. Third, the debate between objectivist and constructivist views of health are considered. I argue for a phenomenological account of health, which is based on the primacy of illness and negative utilitarianism.rnThe second part presents a synthesis of the relevant normative issues based on the conceptual tools developed. I argue that memory enhancement can be distinguished from memory treatment using a demarcation regarding the existence of memory-related suffering. That is, memory enhancements are, under standard circumstances and without any unwilling suffering or potential suffering resulting from the alteration of memory functions, interventions that aim to manipulate memory function based on the self-interests of the individual. I then consider the issue of authenticity, namely whether memory intervention or enhancement endangers “one’s true self”. By analyzing two conceptions of authenticity—authenticity as self-discovery and authenticity as self-creation, I propose that authenticity should be understood in terms of the satisfaction of the functional constraints of an ASM—synchronic coherence, diachronic coherence, and global veridicality. This framework provides clearer criteria for considering the relevant concerns and allows us to examine the moral values of authenticity. rn