Magister Curationis - MCur / In 2011, a structured electronic system for the staffing of agency nurses was implemented in the Western Cape as part of the Nursing Information Management System (NIMS). This electronic system was developed to ensure a fair tendering process for the procurement of agency staff, providing information on agency expenditure, maximum wage rates and adherence to principles and rules of supply chain management. Although technology is used more and more in healthcare services within the Western Cape, some professional nurses could lack the skills needed to implement the electronic system appropriately. A descriptive and quantitative design was followed to determine the competence levels of professional nurses in utilising the electronic staffing system for agency nurses in public hospitals in the Metropole, Western Cape. The aim of the study was to develop guidelines for nurse managers according to which they can train professional nurses in hospitals to utilise the electronic system for staffing of agency nurses. Assumptions were adapted from the theoretical framework of Benner (1984) on different levels of competencies and used as theoretical departure of the study. The accessible population for this study was all the professional nurses in hospitals within the Metropole of the Western Cape Government Health registered as users on the database, called the Nursing Information Management System (NIMS) (N=278). This population served as the total inclusive sample for the study. The method of data collection was a self-administered structured questionnaire. The data was analysed by using the SPSS Version 24 software program and descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted.

This research uses a mixed methods approach to explore the both the preparation for and perceptions of graduate consultant writing center work. A review of literature shows a gap in both the knowledge surrounding graduate writing consultant education and the long-term outcomes or transfer of writing center training and work to post-graduate careers. The survey instruments in this study draw from two established studies, the Peer Writing Tutor Alumni Research Project and the National Census of Writing, while a request for curricular artifacts draws on case study research conducted by Jackson et al. Findings indicate that graduate consultants are being prepared for their work in writing centers, but that directors are not intentionally including discussions of how that work may transfer into academic careers, particularly those in writing center leadership. Despite this, current and alumni graduate consults report both immediate and long-term transfer of writing center experiences, skills, and knowledge into their occupations. The transfer of learning is perceived as being most profound for those who have remained in the academy as either professors or administrators. This research has implications for graduate students, directors, and institutions, and I conclude with an analysis of how directors can be more intentional in their work with graduate consultants in order to better prepare a new generation of writing center administrators who are aware of the academic, political, and scholarly opportunities that are possible through writing center careers.

This thesis offers a materialist account of dramatic genre. It shows how English revenge tragedies were mediated by the social circumstances of their early modern dramatic production, and how in turn such circumstances found expression in dramatic form. Its method draws on Marxist critical theory, but the work also makes extensive use of traditions in English social history and more conventional literary criticism. Influenced by Walter Benjamin’s early work, 'Urprung des deutschen Trauerspiels', in which ‘origin’ (Ursprung) is distinguished from ‘genesis’ (Entstehung), the dissertation offers an account of the genre’s dialectical relationship with the social realities and legal circumscriptions accompanying theatrical performance at the time revenge plays became popular. Focusing on the characterization of avenging protagonists, the dissertation suggests how the ambivalent disposition of such figures to narrative and scene drew on historical problems of social and occupational identity in early modern England. The first chapter dwells on the ambiguities of the avenger’s marginalisation in Thomas Kyd’s seminal revenge play, The Spanish Tragedy. This chapter realizes the problem of revenge as one relating to the household, and in turn connects this to the image of the early professional theatre as a disorderly house. Building on this analysis of the historical grounds of Hieronimo’s disenfranchisement and revenge, the second chapter explores the resources of characterization provided for such avengers by the dramatic tradition of the Vice which, by the 1570s and 1580s, had become associated with the professional actor. The third chapter examines how the idiom of the ruin in the two tragedies of John Webster might invite a Benjaminian analysis of the revenge play as a vulnerable allegory of production. This chapter looks to link revenge plays’ representations of death to contingencies of performance. The final two chapters are connected by an interest in the relationship between characterization and forms of historical risk. Chapter 4 explores the duel at Hamlet’s climax from a variety of perspectives, arguing that its debased nature as a ritual of valour interacted in highly sophisticated ways with the problems of intentionality and invention associated with earlier revenge plays as well as with performance itself. The final chapter builds on the arguments of Chapter 4 while recalling many of the arguments made earlier in the thesis. Demonstrating the dialectical interaction of the actor-as-servant and the servant-intriguer, this fifth chapter situates the study of such characterization within the historiographical controversies surrounding the early-modern wage labourer. This dissertation aims (i) to provide innovative criticism of English revenge tragedy, insisting upon the genre’s dialectical foundation in processes of dramatic production; (ii) to outline a viable, dialectically materialist genre criticism; (iii) to show how changes in socio-economic dependencies produced specific dramaturgical effects, particularly as these related to the process of characterization.

Calls for more effective and modern teaching practices, higher research outputs, leaner administrative processes, greater community engagement, and more student-centred approaches to the business of higher education have intensified the challenges of working in a university. These challenges have added considerable complexity to the roles of academic staff, many of whom are facing increasing demands for which they are ill equipped to deal in terms of their formal education. To succeed in the highly competitive and changing environment that is higher education today, universities need to ensure that the requisite capabilities are developed in their academic staff. The key question underpinning this study is: how can the provision of professional development for academic staff be optimised to enhance university performance? The focus of the research is on identifying the ways in which higher education institutions provide formal offerings of professional development to academic staff, how they are organised to do this, who is entrusted with the task, and what are the strengths and limitations of the approaches taken. The research is informed by literature concerning higher education management, academic development, and strategic human resource management. Taking a critical realist ontological perspective, case studies of professional development provision in two Irish universities are presented. Findings reveal that while effective professional development is an espoused priority it is not a managed priority. While there is some evidence of good practice, the fragmented organisational structures in place for delivery of professional development reveal an absence of coordination and gaps in provision. The connection between professional development and organisational performance is loose. Recommendations are made on how the provision of professional development for academics can be managed to enhance university performance. A framework for designing performance-led professional development activities that aligns organisational and individual goals is proposed. An organisational structure that takes a more conscious approach to the management of the full range of professional development provision is put forward.

The research study provided a cultural description and interpretation of how Teachers Network Learning Circle’s participants related, worked and learned with each other, and how they developed and changed within a predominantly symmetrical or consensual power relationship. The participants, consisting of six Singapore primary teachers at grade 4, were engaged in group discussions that were spread over a period of one year to complete an action research project which is integrated in day-to-day work. Teachers Network Learning Circle, a formal professional development platform, employs distinctive tools for dialogue and inquiry based on the principles of voluntary participation, reflection, change and trust. The fundamental reason for choosing this site is its potential to empower and emancipate teachers evident from not only the principles and practices it espouses, but also its vision and mission that is consistent with its motto “For Teachers, By Teachers”. The literature on education change and reforms has point towards teacher empowerment for successful education change. In this regard, investing in teacher professional development and professionalism is important. The literature also point towards embracing a sociological perspective evident in the notions of community and socio-cultural theory, and bringing to bear emotions, values and identity in teacher learning – and thus investing in the ‘whole person’ (Day, 1997). As power underlies all social relations and activities including teachers’ learning, the research study took into consideration the perspectives of critical theory of Habermas, Brookfield and Mezirow. The findings of the study found that symmetrical power relation contributed to teacher development and change. First, it had contributed to a collegial collaborative relationship that took into account of emotions, moral, identity development and group solidarity. Second, it had contributed to the consciousness, critique and co-construction of professional knowledge. Third, it had empowered participants insofar as it built participants’ capacities to act successfully within an existing system and structures of power. The symmetrical power relation was undergirded by rules and principles of democratic participation as outlined by Habermas’ discourse ethics. The findings also revealed the importance of support given by the school principal and Teachers Network personnel in protecting democratic spaces, or Habermas’ concept of the lifeworld, from the system imperatives of power and money.

Dans cette recherche, il s'agit d'étudier la situation socioprofessionnelle de diplômés Bac + 5 de filières techniques à la recherche de première insertion à la sortie de l'université, principalement de connaître les stratégies qu'ils se donnent pour trouver le premier emploi à la sortie de l'université. Cette étude consistera à connaître les réelles difficultés d'insertion professionnelle de ces diplômés dans les six à douze mois qui suivent leur sortie de l'université et aussi de mettre en évidence les stratégies qu'ils se donnent pour trouver leur premier emploi. / In this research, it is to study the socio-occupations license graduates technical fields in search of the first insertion at the exit of the university, mainly know the strategies they give themselves to find the first job out of collège. This study is to know the real difficulties employability of graduates within six to twelve months after their leaving university and also to highlight the integration strategies they give themselves to find their first employment.

The arts have the power to expand cognitive potential through the development of higher order thinking skills, the use of the imagination, forms of self-expression and pathways to self-knowledge. When teachers are educated to integrate the arts in their classrooms, the result is transformation of the learning environment. In this qualitative case study I examined teacher experience in the Higher Order Thinking (HOT) Schools Arts Integration (AI) Professional Development (PD) program. While my research was informed primarily from the perspectives of arts specialist teachers, classroom teachers, and teaching artists, it also includes the voices of other stakeholders in the HOT educational community including administrators, HOT program directors, and parents. I obtained data through questionnaires, interviews, and observations in which I documented teacher experience during various forms of HOT AI PD and their implementation in the classroom. Teachers reported professional growth and described how HOT AI PD had transformed their teaching practice. This was accomplished through experiential and ongoing PD that teachers found inspiring and relevant to their teaching. The various forms of PD included a weeklong residential summer institute with professional teaching artists and various presenters, weekend mini-institutes to reinforce the summer institute content and to share best practices, administrator PD, and various one-day events on different topics. The HOT Schools program is a supportive network providing help and guidance throughout the school year. Emergent themes were related to teacher benefits, student benefits, PD strategies, and how the HOT program builds community. Teachers expressed satisfaction with hands-on PD strategies focused on student-centered learning, with emphasis on process rather than product, encouraging deep learning through the arts. Participants’ narratives highlighted the effectiveness of PD strategies utilizing teachers as instructors for their peers, and collaborative residencies with professional teaching artists in the schools. Teachers enjoyed enhanced collegiality resulting from collaborative work when creating arts-integrated curricula, and arts specialists teachers appreciated the respect they received from classroom teachers who recognized the value of the arts as modes of inquiry. Teachers demonstrated enthusiasm for the program and expressed how they had experienced professional renewal and satisfaction in their teaching as a result of their participation in HOT AI PD.

Este estudo objetivou analisar de que modo a vivência em uma das maiores empresas mundiais de auditoria (Big Four) influenciou na construção das trajetórias de carreira dos contadores que lá tiveram experiência como auditor ou consultor. Para a realização desta pesquisa qualitativa contou-se com a participação de catorze contadores que trabalham ou trabalharam nestas organizações. A coleta de dados ocorreu por meio de entrevista semiestruturada. A apresentação dos resultados foi organizada em 20 categorias iniciais, que deram origem a 7 intermediárias e 3 categorias finais de análise. Elas dizem respeito às expectativas e idealizações no início da carreira, à experiência vivenciada na Big e às mudanças de perspectivas pessoais e profissionais impactando nas decisões de carreira dos entrevistados. Esta dissertação possibilitou perceber, pela visão dos contadores entrevistados, que a experiência nestas empresas gera influências significativas, que poderiam ser considerados legados, tanto profissionais como pessoais para os indivíduos, devido ao dinamismo, definido por eles como diferenciado, a que essas pessoas ficaram sujeitas. Além disso, verificou-se que para quem decide sair dessas instituições, há uma alta empregabilidade no mercado de trabalho e, para os que decidem permanecer, há a possibilidade de se tornar sócio, dependendo das suas escolhas e direcionamentos das trajetórias de carreira, que são baseadas nos gostos e preferências pessoais, mas também influenciada pelo meio social no qual essas pessoas estão inseridas. Mostrou-se forte, nesta pesquisa, a influência da família para o direcionamento das escolhas e da constituição das trajetórias profissionais. Revelaram-se experiências nas Bigs enquanto carreiras organizacionais, hierarquizadas, em um ambiente com altas demandas de trabalho e priorização da carreira em detrimento à vida pessoal; entretanto, ao longo do tempo as mudanças de vida que ocorreram, demandaram, em determinado momento, um maior equilíbrio entre vida pessoal e profissional, que foi o maior direcionador das escolhas das novas trajetórias. O dilema das auditoras e o interesse pela docência, que a maioria dos entrevistados demonstrou, também são resultados desta pesquisa. / This study analyzed how the experience in one of the largest audit firms (Big Four) influenced the construction of the Accountant career trajectories while auditor or consultant. For the realization of this qualitative research was counted with the participation of fourteen accountants who work or have worked in these organizations. The data were collected through semi-structured interview. The presentation of the results was organized in 20 initial categories, which gave rise to 7 intermediate and final 3 categories of analysis. They relate to expectations and idealizations early in his career, to the experience of the Big and changes of personal and professional perspectives impacting on the respondents career decisions. This work made it possible to realize, by the interviewees counters that the experience these companies generate significant influences, which could be considered legacy, both professional and personal to individuals, due to the dynamics defined by them as differentiated, that these people were subject. Moreover, it was found that for those who decide to leave these institutions, there is a high employability in the labor market and for those who decide to stay, there is the possibility of becoming a partner, depending on your choices and directions of career paths that they are based on personal tastes and preferences, but also influenced by the social environment in which these people are located. Proved to be strong in this research, the family influence on the direction of the choices and the establishment of professional trajectories. They have proven experience in the Bigs as organizational, hierarchical careers in an environment with high job demands and prioritizing career over personal life; however, over time the life changes that occurred, demanded at any given time, a better balance between personal and professional life, which was the biggest driver of the choices of new paths. The dilemma of auditing and interest in teaching, most of them show, are also results of this research.

A qualificação profissional de pessoas com deficiência é um tema que vem recebendo maior atenção na pesquisa acadêmica, graças ao surgimento de programas educacionais dedicados à formação profissional destes sujeitos. A formação docente para a área é um fator que merece atenção por apresentar fragilidades que se percebe diante das dificuldades enfrentadas pelos docentes na área no cotidiano escolar. Desta forma, instigou-nos investigar como se constituem os saberes docentes na qualificação profissional de pessoas com deficiência. A origem da proposta situou-se na atuação da pesquisadora como docente em um curso de formação continuada sobre tecnologia assistiva para professores da educação profissional atuantes com alunos com deficiência. Para atender aos objetivos primeiramente foi realizado um estudo teórico organizado da seguinte forma: o capítulo inicial aborda a questão da deficiência e do estigma social, buscando meios para superação desta situação discriminatória; em seguida, o segundo, referiu à qualificação profissional no Brasil, contextualizando historicamente a legislação sobre o tema, buscando informações sobre iniciativas de formação profissional e a contratação de pessoas com deficiência; por fim, o terceiro capítulo constituiu um estado da arte sobre os saberes docentes na educação profissional, através de um levantamento das obras publicadas nos últimos anos. Conceitos como aprendizagem mediada, tecnologia assistiva, compensação social e conhecimento-na-ação foram importantes para a análise dos fenômenos observados. pesquisa de cunho qualitativo, utilizou a metodologia do estudo de caso para investigar junto aos docentes quais saberes se constituem no exercício da prática profissional junto a alunos com deficiência nos cursos de qualificação profissional. Entrevistas e análise de documentos foram realizadas visando atingir os objetivos propostos. A metodologia de análise utilizada foi a análise textual discursiva. Os resultados mostram a importância da constituição dos saberes experienciais e profissionais para a docência na educação profissional para pessoas com deficiência, e apontam para a existência de uma nova categoria de saberes docentes, que não foi considerada previamente pelos teóricos estudados. / The professional qualification of persons with disabilities is a topic that has been receiving increased attention in academic research, thanks to the emergence of educational programs dedicated to vocational training of these individuals. The education of teachers for this area is a factor that requires attention, since it has fragilities that is perceived on the difficulties faced by teachers in the area in the school routine. Thus, instigates us to investigate how constitutes the teachers knowledge in the professional qualification of persons with disabilities. The origin of the proposal is in the actions of the researcher as a teacher in a continuing education course about assistive technology for teachers of vocational education, actants with students with disabilities. To meet the objectives, it was first performed a theoretical study, organized as follows: the first chapter addresses the disability issue and social stigma, seeking ways to overcome this discriminatory situation; then the second, refers to the professional qualification in Brazil, historically contextualizing the legislation on the subject, searching for information on vocational training initiatives and the hiring of persons with disabilities; finally, the third chapter is a state of the art on the teaching knowledge in vocational education, through an inventory of works published in recent years. Concepts as mediated learning, assistive technology, social compensation, knowledge-in-action were important for the analysis of the observed phenomena. The qualitative study, used the case study methodology to investigate with the teachers knowledges which are constituted in the exercise of professional practice with students with disabilities in vocational training courses. Interviews and document analysis were performed to reach the proposed objectives. The analysis methodology used was the discursive textual analysis. The results show the importance of the constitution of experiential and professional knowledge for teaching in vocational education for people with disabilities, and point to the existence of a new category of teaching knowledge, which was not considered previously studied by theorists.

O presente estudo analisou as competências gerais da educação profissional para a área da saúde apontadas na Resolução CEB n° 4/1999, e buscou referências teóricas para a construção de competências específicas na formação de profissionais de enfermagem de nível médio, tomando como eixo de análise as quatro dimensões propostas por Paulo Amarante e o conceito de competência humana de Neise Deluiz, que apontam para o caráter multidimensional do processo do cuidado no campo da saúde. Para isso, realizamos uma pesquisa de natureza qualitativa, utilizando como recurso metodológico, a análise documental. Na dimensão epistemológica, foi considerado o processo saúde-doença em sua complexidade, como competência profissional, que aponta para o desafio de rupturas com o modelo biológico. A dimensão técnico-assistencial assinala para a busca de competências como produção de atos terapêuticos nos serviços de saúde orientados para o cuidado integral na organização do processo de trabalho, que considere o acolhimento dialogado, o trabalho em equipe, a responsabilidade, autonomia e a ética como formas de transformar espaços de cura, para uma rede de produção de subjetividades e sociabilidade. As dimensões jurídico-política e sociocultural, destacam a importância dos direitos humanos e sociais e a necessidade da mudança cultural como forma de romper com a visão tradicional marcada por preconceitos, pela discriminação, pela não aceitação da diferença. A cidadania, como possibilidade de experiência participativa na comunidade, foi a competência considerada como relevante para que os profissionais de enfermagem possam ser agentes capazes de transformar a realidade na busca da emancipação social. Consideramos no final deste estudo, que a construção de competências específicas para a formação de profissionais de enfermagem de nível médio depende da compreensão de que a educação e a saúde são práticas sociais, cabendo às instituições de ensino profissionalizante estimular a construção de conhecimentos, de comportamentos e atitudes que comprometam professores e alunos na realização de projetos coletivos, que são a concreta possibilidade de mudança e transformação para a busca de uma sociedade mais justa e equânime. / This study analyzed the general competence of professional education for the health areas appointed in the Resolution CEB n°4/1999, and searched theoretical references to build specific competences in the formation of medium level nursing professional. The four dimensions proposed by Paulo Amarante and the concept of human competence from Neise Deluiz, pointing to the multi-dimensional character of the care process in the health field were used as the axle of analysis. A qualitative research was performed using as methodological resource, the documental analysis. The complexity of the health-illness process was considered for the epistemological dimension, as professional competence, pointing to the challenge of rupture with the biological model. The technical-assistance dimension highlights the search for competences like the production of therapeutical acts in the health services aiming the full care in the organization of the work process. This should consider welcoming along dialogue, team work, responsibility, self government and ethics as ways of transforming these healing spaces, for a production net of subjectivities and sociability. The law-politics and socio-cultural dimensions highlight the importance of social and human rights and the need for a cultural change as a mean of breaking up with the traditional view marked by prejudice, discrimination and non acceptance of difference. Citizenship, as a possibility of experiencing social participation in the community, was the competence considered relevant so that nursing professionals can be capable agents to transform the reality in the pursuit of social emancipation. It was considered at the end of this study, that the building of specific competences for the formation of medium level nursing professionals depends on the understanding that education and health are social practices. The professional institutions should be in charge of stimulating the construction of knowledge, behaviors and attitudes which compromises teachers and students to produce collective projects, which are the concrete possibility of change and transformation in pursuit of a more righteous and equal society.