Por ser o cooperativismo um modelo de organização que promove desenvolvimento econômico e social, estudos de soluções que levem ao aumento de seu desempenho e a redução de seus problemas são cada vez mais importantes. Estas passam não só por melhorias na gestão e finanças das cooperativas, mas principalmente pelo incentivo à educação e a participação dos cooperados. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi observar a relação entre educação cooperativista, participação e satisfação dos sócios de uma cooperativa de forma a contribuir para a elaboração de propostas e medidas que promovam o aumento do desempenho da cooperativa. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo exploratório no qual foi desenvolvido um questionário próprio e lançou-se mão de um estudo de caso, escolhendo uma cooperativa do ramo agropecuário como objeto de análise. Os resultados apontam que apenas a escolaridade não garante a educação cooperativa, a qual, por sua vez, está relacionada com a participação de forma positiva. Também se constatou que a maior participação não está relacionada com a menor satisfação, como se esperava, e sim com o maior poder econômico. Tudo isso reforça a idéia de que se deve investir em ações específicas para a educação cooperativista como forma de aumentar a participação de todos, bem como o desempenho da cooperativa. Apesar de suas limitações, a pesquisa é ponto de partida para outros estudos nesta área além de contribuir para a construção de um modelo de análise. / Because cooperatives are a model of organization that promotes economic and social development, studies of solutions that increase its performance and reduce its problems are very important. Those solutions involve not only improvement in managing and financing areas, but mostly the participation and the cooperative education. Thus, the objective of this work was to observe the relation between cooperative education, participation, and satisfaction of the members of a cooperative, as a way to contribute for the creation of proposals and plans that improve the performance of the cooperatives. To achieve this aim, it was done an exploratory study, using a questionnaire in a case study of an agricultural cooperative. The results show that high level of formal education does not implies high level of cooperative education, which is related with participation in a positive way. It also turned out that the higher participation is not connected with lower satisfaction, as imagined, but with higher economic power. All this reinforce the idea that is necessary investments in cooperative education to improve participation and cooperative performance. Despite its limits, the research is a start to others in the same area and contributes to the development of an analysis model.

Relatively little is known in existing research about how cooperative education (co-op) students experience mentoring. The parameters within which co-op students are employed are different from those of full-time professionals. Co-op students are temporary employees, and they are typically younger and have less professional experience than full-time employees. Co-op students also may complete each of their three work terms at a different company site. These unique characteristics of co-op students and co-op employment could prevent the direct application of known mentoring practices to the co-op setting. Further research on the intricacies of mentoring as it is experienced by co-op students could yield a set of mentoring best practices to be used by co-op employers and university co-op administrators. The purpose of this study was to compare organizational commitment, mentoring satisfaction, and mentoring function levels of co-op students according to mentoring type (formal and informal) and work term number. Participants were undergraduate engineering students at a large public land-grant university in the Southeast United States. The research design was causal-comparative; an online survey composed of existing instruments was used to capture student perceptions of mentoring experiences during recently completed work terms. Mentoring activity was found to be high, with 92.8% of students reporting involvement in a mentoring relationship. Students who were mentored showed higher organizational commitment than students who were not mentored. Students who reported higher levels of organizational commitment also reported an intention to stay with the company after graduation if offered a full-time position, but student satisfaction with mentoring did not share a relationship with intention to stay. Students were also equally satisfied with their mentors regardless of mentoring type (formal or informal). Student perceptions of psychosocial support increased as the number of work terms completed increased, and students in formally arranged mentoring relationships reported higher levels of psychosocial support than students in informal mentoring relationships. The type of mentoring was not related to any differences in mentoring outcomes. The researcher concluded that companies that want to convert co-op students into full-time employees should ensure that these students receive positive mentoring experiences during their co-op work terms.

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The central problem of this study was to identify and compare the basic beliefs of teacher-coordinators, local supervisors, state supervisors, and teacher educators of business and office education in Virginia regarding the coordination of high school cooperative office education programs. A secondary problem was to determine if there was a relationship between specific biographical variables (years of coordination experience, years of employment experience, and previous course work in cooperative education) and the basic beliefs expressed by the business and office education personnel and if there was a relationship between school location (urban, suburban, middle-sized, and rural or smaller community) and the basic beliefs expressed by the teacher-coordinators in the study. / Ed. D.

The purposes of this study were ( a) to provide documented accounts of cooperative education students' experiences when interacting with diverse groups and (b) to obtain cooperative education students' and work-site supervisors' perceptions of the knowledge and attitudes needed by cooperative education students to interact effectively with diverse groups. The outcomes of the study provided information related to the multicultural theory of knowledge being positional and relating to the knower's values and experiences. Focus groups (group interviews) that were designed to uncover participants' points of view and perceptions were used to collect the data. Four groups of six cooperative education students and two groups of six cooperative education work-site supervisors participated in the study. Relevant topics, issues, and concepts relating to cultural and ethnic diversity derived from a review of the literature were summarized and incorporated in the discussion guides used with the student and work-site supervisor groups. All participants completed demographic data sheets. Each session was tape recorded, and the researcher took field notes. The tapes of each group were transcribed. Transcripts were analyzed using ethnographic summaries and content analysis. Also field notes and data sheets were compiled. Recurring themes were identified and marked under the categories of: school experiences; work experiences; personal experiences; school, home and personal experiences combined; student perceptions of knowledge and attitudes needed; and work-site supervisor perceptions of knowledge and attitudes needed. Five major themes that evolved from the study were: understanding, self-esteem, acceptance, principles, and interactions. Self-esteem was the dominant theme for all three questions followed by acceptance, interactions, understanding, and principles. The study revealed that productive interaction with diverse groups took place more often when students felt good about themselves. Giving value to themselves allowed them to also give value to others. Their self-confidence was reflected in their appearance, lifestyle, behavior, professional accomplishments, and relationships. Study results also revealed that effective interaction with diverse groups was often inhibited by students’ preconceived perceptions derived from a lack of knowledge. Information about culturally and ethnically diverse groups' beliefs, customs, languages, family backgrounds, ethnicities, communication styles, and/or perspectives were crucial to clarifying such perceptions. Both work-site supervisors and cooperative education students responded that communication was also essential to effective interaction. Structured group settings that allow for student socialization with diverse groups were recommended. / Ph. D.

This study concerns the contributions of Major Albert Sobey and his educational leadership during the development of the engineering cooperative education program that became the foundation for the General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. This study also examines Albert Sobey's contributions to the emergence of industrial cooperative education in America over the past seventy years.

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Thesis (Ed.D.) -- Teachers College, Columbia University, 1991. / Typescript; issued also on microfilm. Sponsor: William Yakowicz. Dissertation Committee: Jack D. Mezirow. Includes bibliographical references: (leaves 169-191).

The main purpose of the study is to describe the developmental story of one of the larger university cooperative education programs in the United States to provide the evidence of outcomes and to utilize selected elements of the program in other colleges and universities. The study utilizes historical methodology with a descriptive approach to investigate and analyze the program's establishment, its development of staffing, organization, students, employers, funding, and its evaluation by using primary and secondary sources, annual reports, federal grant request proposals, evaluation reports, and the on-campus newspaper. The information for this study was also gathered through personal interviews with previous and present staff members of the program. The study shows that the program was established in the dean of students' office, but in order to get more support from the faculty, the program was moved to the academic affairs office. As a result of the academic support by the faculty, the program expanded. The findings show that the federal grant, Title VIII, contributed significantly to the initiation and growth of the program. The investigator observes that the director's leadership and the staff members' commitment to the program were two of the most important factors in the continued growth of the program. Strong commitment by the chief executive officer of the institution has also been a strong factor in the continuous growth of the program. The study indicates that close affiliation with professional organizations has benefited the program by influencing the development of quality and effective, diverse employers. The results show that the cooperative program significantly aided the students, institutions, and employers annually by placing approximately 1,200 students in their major-related working places.