Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-06-09Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:28:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 costa_vv_me_mar.pdf: 484368 bytes, checksum: 9d6d545161c25b3356124e7223476708 (MD5) / O presente estudo tem como propósito contribuir para a compreensão e o possível aprimoramento do trabalho pedagógico desenvolvido pelo Supervisor Escolar, diante do novo paradigma de organização presente no processo educativo intitulado Gestão Democrática do ensino público. A reflexão acerca de suas reais atribuições poderá contribuir para uma re-significação de sua identidade, visto que sua ação atualmente encontra-se permeada por questionamentos e conflitos. Dentre os elementos que confluem para que a atual situação se mantenha, como um processo em curso, destaca-se a sobrevivência das concepções de Supervisão que vigoraram no período administrativo anterior à década de 1980. Outro interveniente encontra-se ligado à implementação da Gestão Democrática que na prática administrativa e pedagógica transcorre com diversos tipos de dificuldades limitativas. Os participantes desta pesquisa, constituíram-se de Pedagogos responsáveis pela coordenação pedagógica, atuantes em colégios da rede estadual de ensino de Londrina. Esses profissionais, organizam o trabalho pedagógico da escola, com intuito de atender turmas do ensino fundamental e médio, diurno e noturno, além de procurar atender os demais membros que compõem a comunidade escolar. A investigação foi realizada de acordo com o paradigma qualitativo, sendo que a metodologia utilizada teve como referência a observação participante, por ser considerada a melhor opção para focalizar os objetivos desta pesquisa. Os resultados da investigação apontaram para uma nova visão das práticas do Pedagogo Supervisor no espaço escolar, a partir de uma intervenção conceituada na ação coletiva. / The present study has as purpose to contribute for the understanding and improvement of the pedagogic work developed by the School Supervisor, in the face of the new educational paradigm entitled Democratic Administration of the public teaching. The discussion about your obligations will contribute to appear a new identity. Among the elements that converge to stagnate the current situation stands the survival of the conceptions of Supervision previous to the eighty's decade. Besides, other important factor is linked to the implantation of the Democratic Administration that, in practice, elapses limitedly. The participants of this research had been constituted of Educators responsible by the pedagogic coordination of Londrina's schools. The investigation was accomplished in agreement with the qualitative paradigm. The used methodology had as reference the participant observation, wich is considered the best option to find the results stipulated by the research objectives. The results of the investigation appeared for a new vision of Educator Supervisor's practices in the school space, starting from an intervention based in the collective action.

Submitted by Aelson Maciera (aelsoncm@terra.com.br) on 2017-10-25T18:32:53Z No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJRB.pdf: 1648065 bytes, checksum: f29007935403a1d863209fb72ff4c384 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (bco.producao.intelectual@gmail.com) on 2018-01-30T19:13:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJRB.pdf: 1648065 bytes, checksum: f29007935403a1d863209fb72ff4c384 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (bco.producao.intelectual@gmail.com) on 2018-01-30T19:13:43Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJRB.pdf: 1648065 bytes, checksum: f29007935403a1d863209fb72ff4c384 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-30T19:16:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissJRB.pdf: 1648065 bytes, checksum: f29007935403a1d863209fb72ff4c384 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-06 / Não recebi financiamento / In this work the object is the discourses articulated by members of the CACS-FUNDEB (Council for Social Monitoring and Control) of cities in the interior of the State of São Paulo during the years 2015 and 2016. The aim of this research was to analyze the discursive relationship within CACS-FUNDEB in order to understand the process of subjectivation, the counselor's perception of himself and how practices are articulated with knowledge and power in the constitution of subjects. In bringing CACS-FUNDEB to the center of this research, it was based on the idea that finance is a dimension of democratic management, but that it could not be limited to surveillance and monitoring the application of resources because of the ideal surrounding creation from education fund. The study points in the direction that the collegiate is inserted in the conception of democratic management as important space of social participation, but that still needs to conquer its autonomy and effectiveness. In the relation the subject produces knowledge and powers that can affirm the scheme of domination, legitimizing such practice, but also can resist. The theoreticalmethodological procedure is based on bibliographical research and discussion of the speeches permeated by the French Discourse Analysis, with a theoretical foundation in Michel Foucault that brings a study about the parresía allowing to understand the importance of truth as a form of resistance. Against this backdrop, the CACS-FUNDEB is inserted as a space for practicability, exercising the freedom to speak the truth as a form of resistance, as an instrument of institutional and financial decentralization, attributing to society and the state a posture from a responsible management perspective. There is an intimate relationship with the notion of the care of the public welfare because the individual is part of this "common" that demands a change of individual behavior, to live righteously, to speak frankly and to act according to this discourse. / Este trabalho tem como objeto os discursos enunciados por membros do Conselho de Acompanhamento e Controle Social do Fundeb de cidades do interior do Estado de SP durante os anos 2015 e 2016. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi analisar a relação discursiva presente no interior do CACS-FUNDEB a fim de compreender o processo de subjetivação, a percepção que o conselheiro tem de si e como as práticas se articulam com o saber e o poder na constituição de sujeitos. Ao trazer para o centro dessa pesquisa o CACS-FUNDEB, apoiou-se na ideia de que o financeiro é uma dimensão da gestão democrática, que não poderia se limita à fiscalização e acompanhamento da aplicação dos recursos em razão do ideal que cerca a criação do Fundo. O estudo aponta na direção de que o colegiado está inserido na concepção de gestão democrática como importante espaço de participação social que ainda precisa conquistar sua autonomia e efetividade. Na relação o sujeito produz saberes e poderes que podem afirmar o esquema de dominação, legitimando tal prática, como também pode resistir. O procedimento teórico-metodológico é baseado em pesquisa bibliográfica e discussão dos enunciados permeados pela Análise de Discurso francesa, com fundamento teórico em Michel Foucault que traz estudo acerca da parresía possibilitando compreender a importância de dizer a verdade como forma de resistência. Nesse cenário se insere o CACSFUNDEB, como espaço de possibilidade de práticas, do exercício da liberdade de dizer-averdade como forma de resistência, como instrumento de descentralização institucional e financeira, atribuindo à sociedade e ao Estado uma postura em vista de um gerenciamento responsável. Há uma íntima relação com a noção do cuidado do bem comum porque o indivíduo é parte desse “comum” que exige mudança do comportamento individual, viver com retidão, ter uma fala franca e agir conforme esse discurso.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-02-25Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:52:08Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 bezerra_ec_me_ara_fcl.pdf: 1295357 bytes, checksum: 764391bc36923c1121269cbabd444c09 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo central analisar e descrever o Projeto de Formação Continuada chamado Encontro Pedagógico dos Municípios, destinado para professores do ensino fundamental do Amapá. Outro propósito foi identificar qual o impacto do Projeto na percepção dos professores participantes e dos técnicos que elaboraram e ministraram os cursos. Este Projeto, elaborado e implementado pela Secretaria de Educação do Amapá no ano de 1997, foi a primeira política pública de grande porte realizada pelo Governo estadual na área educacional, após a criação do Estado do Amapá em 1988. Foi realizado um estudo da trajetória desse Projeto, compreendendo sua concepção teórica, implementação e, principalmente, alguns dos resultados obtidos. A metodologia da pesquisa consistiu na coleta e análise de documentos e na realização de 12 entrevistas com os sujeitos da pesquisa e mais dois funcionários da Secretaria de Educação realizadas no ano de 2003. Os depoimentos obtidos deixam claro que o Encontro Pedagógico teve um grande impacto na realidade educacional dos municípios, apresentando mais resultados positivos do que negativos, tanto para os professores da região central quanto para os ministrantes e os coordenadores das ações. Os professores declararam que o Projeto iniciou um processo de reflexão que provocou importantes mudanças nas suas práticas pedagógicas. Os técnicos coordenadores e ministrantes consideram o Projeto como um grande evento e afirma ram, ainda, que houve um grande salto na educação do Amapá, sendo plantada uma semente de mudança em direção à gestão democrática das escolas. Outros pontos positivos identificados foram a integração e troca de experiência entre professores de escolas diferentes e o aprendizado de metodologias de ensino, que propiciaram um melhor desempenho dos professores na sua prática pedagógica.... / The present work aimed to describe and analyze the Project of Continuing Education called Pedagogic Meeting of Communities that was designed for primary school's teachers of Amapá State, in Brasil. Another purpose of this study was to evaluate the Project's impact from the point of view of the teachers and educators that planned the Project and taught the courses. The Education Division of Amapá State put the Project into practice in 1997. It was the first major educational policy implemented by the Government after the establishment of Amapá as a State in 1988. In this study, it was made a review of the Project's trajectory including its theoretical basics, implementation and, mainly, a number of Project's results. The methodology consisted of acquiring and analyzing official papers and interviewing eight teachers, two coordinators, two instructors and two secretary's employees of the Education Division. The interviews were carried out in 2003. The analyses of the interviews lead to the conclusion that the Project had a major importance to the improvement of the educational system of the communities. In general, the Project achieved very interesting results, although the inquired group mentioned a few problems. According to the teachers, the Project started a reflexive process that resulted in important transformations in their pedagogical methods. The coordinators and instructors of the Project considered it as a major event and they also stated that the Project greatly improved Education in Amapá. The educators considered that the Project planted a transformation seed toward a democratic management of the schools. Others positive aspects mentioned by the speakers were the meetings between teachers of different schools having different pedagogic experiences, along with the opportunity of learning new schooling methodologies. As a negative aspect they mentioned errors ...(Complete abstract, click electronic address below).

Nesta pesquisa procuramos avaliar a repercussão do Projeto e se os princípios da gestão democrática estão de fato sendo colocado em prática e identificar como os gestores que concluíram a especialização em Gestão Pública, através Programa de Capacitação a Distância para Gestores Escolares (PROGESTÃO), no Rio de Janeiro, estão fazendo uso de conceitos trabalhados em curso, tais como o processo de democratização e de socialização e a gestão democrática. Utilizando entrevistas estruturadas foram analisados os discursos produzidos pelos entrevistados: diretores, coordenador e tutor com o objetivo de avaliar a repercussão do Progestão e se os princípios da gestão democrática estão de fato sendo postos em prática. Abordamos a questão da gestão democrática no atual contexto educacional e os fundamentos conceituais e políticos para a formação de gestores escolares Progestão. Consideramos que os processos de formação de gestores precisam ser consolidados para que enfim a atitude democrática possa ser adotada no trabalho realizado no interior da escola. Acreditamos também que outros estudos que versem sobre os assuntos tratados nesta dissertação sejam realizados, pois existem os conflitos (nem sempre admitidos) entre o conservadorismo administrativo com cunho empresarial e a gestão democrática entre os gestores. / This research sought to identify how managers who have completed specialization in Public Management through Distance Training Program for School Managers (PROGESTÃO) in Rio de Janeiro, are using the concepts worked in the pipeline, such as the process of democratization and socialization and democratic management. Using structured interviews were analyzed speeches made by respondents: directors, coordinator and tutor in order to assess the repercussions of PROGESTÃO and if the principles of democratic management are actually being implemented. We address the issue of democratic management in the current educational context and the conceptual and policy for the training of school managers PROGESTÃO. We consider that the processes of training managers need to be consolidated so that finally the democratic attitude can be adopted in the work done within the school. We also believe that other studies that deal with the issues addressed in this thesis must be performed, as there are conflicts (that are not always admitted) between administrative conservatism with corporate nature and a democratic management among managers.

O presente artigo tem por objetivo examinar se – como aponta parte da literatura - há alguma similaridade entre situação econômica e valores democráticos, isto é, se a variação ou estabilização se manifestam da mesma maneira nas duas dimensões. A importância deste trabalho reside no fato de que durante a segunda metade do século XX aconteceram a segunda e terceira ondas democráticas, fazendo com que o número de regimes que se definem como democracias aumentasse significativamente: nesse sentido, no final deste mesmo século e início do século seguinte, muitos países sofreram o impacto de crises econômicas e de queda da satisfação com os regimes democráticos e da confiança em suas instituições. Desse modo, para observar de que maneira a opinião pública se comporta diante das flutuações de índices econômicos, são verificados os casos do Brasil, Uruguai, Espanha e Finlândia, propondo-se uma análise de dados econômicos do Banco Mundial – no que diz respeito ao desemprego, inflação, PIB per capita, PIB crescimento anual, Índice de GINI - e do PNUD - sobreÍndice de Desenvolvimento Humano (IDH) - em comparação com indicadores de atitudes democráticas, como satisfação e confiança nas instituições públicas, do Latino e Eurobarômetro nos últimos vinte anos, para tentar descobrir se há, de fato, similaridade de comportamento entre as duas dimensões nestes países. / This article aims to examine whether - as points of the literature - there is a relationship between economic status and democratic values, in other words, if the variation or stabilization manifest the same way in two dimensions. The importance of this work lies in the fact that during the second half of the twentieth century happened the second and third democratic wave, causing the number of schemes that call themselves democracies increased significantly: in this sense, at the end of this same century and beginning of the next century, many countries suffered the impact of economic crises and loss of satisfaction with democratic regimes and trust in their institutions. Thus, to observe how the public opinion behaves in the face of economic indices fluctuations, are verified the cases of Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and Finland, proposing a World Bank economic data analysis - with regard to unemployment, inflation, GDP per capita, GDP annual growth, GINI index and of the UNDP data about Human Development Index (HDI) - compared with democratic attitudes indicators such as satisfaction and trust in public institutions, of Latinobarómetro and Eurobarometer in the last twenty years to find out if there is, indeed, the relationship between the two dimensions in these countries.

Esta pesquisa procurou entender como as crianças de uma escola particular com princípios democráticos na cidade de São Paulo constroem suas interações de gênero, tanto nos momentos livres como nos períodos de estudo. O trabalho parte da hipótese de que um espaço pedagógico libertário pode criar possibilidades de construção de um caminho promissor na busca por relações sociais infantis que não siga padrões binários sexuais rígidos, que são predominantes na sociedade e na maioria das escolas contemporâneas. Considerando a autonomia e o respeito à individualidade das crianças como princípios básicos destas pedagogias com princípios progressistas, buscamos observar quais eram as concepções de feminilidade e masculinidade no ambiente escolar pesquisado, e também, em que momentos os pertencimentos de gênero foram flexíveis nas escolhas individuais e coletivas, se causavam distanciamentos ou aproximações, conflitos ou parcerias, assim como se serviam de delimitadores de espaço e de tempo. Por meio das abordagens dos Estudos Sociais da Infância e dos Estudos sobre as Relações de Gênero, essa pesquisa de campo foi realizada no primeiro semestre de 2014, com 21 alunos e alunas entre 6 e 21 anos. Apesar da pouca permeabilidade nas relações simbólicas e práticas de gênero entre estes estudantes, os resultados apontam para um ambiente aberto a novas construções e ressignificações devido a permanente transitoriedade de pesquisadores e estagiários, assim como de alunos, alunas, educadores e educadoras. A abertura às novas aprendizagens e a novas formas de se pensar, assim como a abertura do espaço educacional para a comunidade, proporciona debates e reflexões, o que são fatores que podem motivar uma nova forma de lidar com o conhecimento e, consequentemente, a desconstruir concepções que causam desigualdades sociais. / This research investigates how children from a private school with democratic principles in São Paulo build their gender interactions, both in spare moments as during periods of study. I start with the hypothesis that a libertarian pedagogical space would be a promising place in the search for children\'s social relationships that do not follow rigid gender binary patterns prevalent in society and in most schools. Considering autonomy and respect for the individuality of children as basic principles of these pedagogies with progressive principles, it was observed which were the femininity and masculinity concepts in this environment, and at what times were gender affiliations flexible in individual and collective choices, if it caused detachment or approximation, conflicts or partnerships, as well as served as space and time delimiters. Through the approaches of Childhood Social Studies and Studies on Gender Relations, this field research took place during the first half of 2014, with 21 boys and girls between 6 and 21 years. Despite the low permeability in symbolic relations and gender practices among these students with whom I spent time with, I can say I found an open environment for new constructions and new meanings because of the transience of researchers and trainees, as well as students and educators. The openness to new learning and new ways of thinking, as well as the opening of the educational space for the community, providing debate and reflection, are factors that can motivate a new way to deal with knowledge and, consequently, deconstruct preconceptions that cause social inequalities.

O presente trabalho busca compreender o processo de consolidação da Escola Projeto Âncora, que declara se concretizar por meio de princípios democráticos. O objetivo é verificar se esta Escola pode ser classificada dentro do movimento das chamadas escolas democráticas. Para tanto, esta dissertação apresenta um breve percurso histórico sobre um movimento de renovação do ensino - a Escola Nova -, e as tendências pedagógicas progressistas, com ênfase às propostas democráticas. O estudo inclui as questões de autonomia escolar, territorialização das políticas educacionais e a temática da gestão escolar democrática. São abordados os princípios das escolas ditas democráticas, de modo a que sirvam de base para verificar se a práxis da escola estudada se fundamenta a partir de tais princípios. O corpo teórico se constitui das formulações de Paulo Freire e Vygotsky, abrindo espaço para que a Pedagogia e a Psicologia atuem juntas, no sentido de colaborar para a compreensão do processo de desenvolvimento e humanização do homem. Ambos entendem a educação como prática social e política, o que propõe fértil embasamento para o entendimento do fenômeno da democracia. Trata-se de uma pesquisa participante, de abordagem qualitativa. O trabalho de campo se constitui da análise documental e da observação participante. A observação em campo direciona-se ao modo como as relações são estabelecidas no contexto da participação democrática. As situações são descritas com vistas a compreender os processos e acontecimentos do cotidiano escolar, com o propósito de compreender a experiência prática da referida Escola. Os dados coletados mostram que a Escola em questão não se classifica - ela própria - dentro do movimento das escolas democráticas. Sua proposta é trabalhar de acordo com princípios democráticos, sobretudo promovendo o exercício da participação democrática como algo intimamente ligado à formação da consciência, para a vivência da democracia, incentivando a responsabilidade social. Seu propósito não é vivenciar a democracia em um espaço fechado - no interior de um prédio escolar -, e sim sair dos muros da entidade, ocupando os espaços da comunidade. Assim, vislumbra se consolidar enquanto Cidade Educadora, criando Comunidades de Aprendizagem. Esta finalidade tem vistas à promoção de condições que viabilizem a cidadania, a conscientização política, a socialização de informações, de espaço para discussões, gerando uma nova forma de pensar, uma nova cultura, o que faz das intenções educacionais desta Escola, o próprio processo de humanização, que considera não apenas a história existente, mas também uma história possível de ser construída. / The current paper intends to understand the consolidation process of Projeto Âncora School that states to accomplish its objectives based on democratic principles. It aims to verify whether this School can be classified along with the socalled democratic schools movement. Therefore, this dissertation introduces a short historical presentation about a movement of learning renewal the New Schools (a.k.a. Free Schools) -, and the progressive pedagogical trends, focusing on the democratic proposals. The study includes matters such as scholar autonomy, educational politics territorralization and the democratic school management subject. The socalled democratic schools principles are addressed in order to verify whether the studied school praxis is based on such principles. The theoretical body is placed by Paulo Freire and Vygotsky statements, giving room to Pedagogy and Psychology working together, as for the comprehension of the man development and humanization process. Both of them understand education as social and political practice, which proposes fertile basis for the understanding of the democracy phenomenon. It is a participative research, with a qualitative approach. The field work is based on the documental analysis and participative observation. The field observation focuses on how the relationships are established on the democratic participation context. Situations are described aiming to comprehend the scholar routine processes and happenings, intending to understand the practical experience of this School. Collected data show that the School does not classify itself as a democratic school, especially promoting the democratic participation practice as something closely related to the conscience formation for the democracy experience, motivating for the social responsibility. It does not aim to experience democracy inside a closed room, or in a scholar building, but to get out of the corporation, reaching the community spaces. In this manner, it conjectures to consolidate as a City that Educates, building Learning Communities. This objective intends to promote conditions that give room to citizenship, political awareness, information socialization, room for discussions, generating a new way of thinking, a new culture, which makes of this School educational intents the humanization process by itself, one that not only considers the existing history, but also a history that can be built.

M.A. (Public Management and Governance) / This study focused on perceptions of the role of teacher unions within the basic education system in secondary schools in Soweto, a township in the south of Johannesburg, South Africa. The main aim of the study was to determine whether the role that teacher unions play contributes negatively to the state of education in secondary schools in Soweto. To make this determination, the study focused on two secondary schools in Soweto. The study discussed the key purpose of teacher unions in education, and provides the legislated guidelines as well as perceptions of stakeholders in education in secondary schools in Soweto with regard to the extent of the influence of South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) in two secondary schools in Soweto. As the biggest teacher union in the country with a large following of educators in secondary schools in Soweto, SADTU has significant power which can be directed to either enhance teaching and learning or inhibit teaching and learning in secondary schools in Soweto. If existing accountability processes are not implemented to ensure that teacher unions carry out their mandate in compliance with legislation, the state of education in secondary schools in Soweto may be at risk. The study utilized a qualitative research design, to analyze data gathered from existing literary knowledge on the subject, while qualitative interviews were conducted with respondents to establish their perceptions on the positive or negative contributions of SADTU in secondary schools in Soweto. The findings were that SADTU is perceived to be inhibiting the culture of teaching and learning in some secondary schools in Soweto. However, the study established that SADTU cannot be isolated as the only cause for a poor culture of teaching and learning in secondary schools in Soweto. The cumulative effect of the curriculum changes; lack of training of educators; pressure placed on the teaching and learning through strikes and dissent; and intimidation of some SADTU members are factors that have contributed negatively to the culture of teaching and learning in secondary schools in Soweto.

Why do some (non)violent civil resistances in nondemocracies achieve democracy while others do not? In order to answer this question, this project examined factors that result in different outcomes and the mechanisms critical to democratization. In particular, I paid close attention to whether autocracies failing after successful (non)violent civil resistance adopted transitional justice (TJ) mechanisms such as trials, truth commissions, and amnesty, and how civil society worked in each course of democratization. I explored the conditions of democratic consolidation (e.g., economic development, democratic neighbors, and political institution) and among them, focused on the civil culture that led citizens to participate positively and actively in politics with belief and trust. I found that in the course of democratization, implementing TJ policies is necessary in order to build inter-group trust and encourage citizens to participate critically in political reform. Because TJ mechanisms are designed to make past wrongdoers accountable and reconcile conflicting sides, these approaches can strengthen civic culture and promote reconciliation by restoring the rule of law and rebuilding victims’ dignity. In addition, I argued that a robust civil society (CS) plays a vital role in sustaining democracy, not only by encouraging TJ adoption, but also by playing roles such as supporter, mobilizer, enforcer, monitor, and so on. In this context, I suggested that (non)violent civil resistance can contribute to building a robust CS. Particularly, nonviolent and large resistance with diverse participants can increase the capacity, legitimacy, and representativeness of a CS so that it can play its role(s) properly. Statistical analysis with large-n data supported these arguments. Despite the controversy in the literature, adoption of TJ policies turned out to be a positively significant factor for achieving democratic consolidation; and, the robustness of CS, which can be developed through (non)violent civil resistance, was significant as well, particularly at the early phase of the democratization process. The application to the 2011 Arab Uprising cases (Tunisia and Egypt) that focused on TJ adoption and the role of CS revealed consistent conclusions as well. Although there are several limitations to this study, I attempted to reveal the importance of the linkages among steps to democratization and increase understanding of the “process” rather than simply the “cause” or “result.” In addition, the findings can be implemented in policies for proliferating democracy by supporting/encouraging democratization from the ground up (i.e., below), CS growth, and TJ adoption after transition.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Masters: Public Management, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / Constant change through global competition, technological advances and socio-economic improvement, permeates the contemporary environment in the world including certain African countries. Oil refineries are in constant progress with regards to modernisation and development. Many oil refineries all over the world are operating according to the expected scope of oil products to be produced and supplied, in line with the objectives of meeting domestic and international demand. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has one oil refinery only named Congolese Company of Oil Refining Industries (SOCIR), which has become less productive, uncompetitive, inefficient and unable to achieve its socio-economic roles or goals of supplying the country with oil products and of contributing to national socio-economic development. This study aimed to explore the socio-economic role of the petroleum refining industry in the DRC, through the case study of the SOCIR. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the factors affecting the socio-economic development in the DRC; identify the challenges experienced by SOCIR in the macro-environment; and explore the socio-economic effects the upgrading of SOCIR could have on the socio-economic situation in the DRC. In order to achieve these objectives, the study was undertaken as a quantitative survey combined with qualitative in-depth interviews to provide better understanding of the information obtained from the survey. The quantitative study was conducted on administrative personnel, academics, students, and public and private participants involved in the oil and gas industry in the DRC. Hundred participants were selected for the quantitative survey and five in-depth interviews were conducted to discuss the findings and results obtained through the quantitative study. The macro-environment variables of the PESTIE model were used to accomplish the aim and objectives of this study. The result of this study revealed that most factors affecting the socio-economic development of the DRC are related to the PESTIE instabilities, lack of economic diversity and constant national and regional ethnic or armed conflicts that are fuelled by multiple interests linked to natural mineral resources. The ageing of SOCIR infrastructure, the lack of financial capital and the lack of investments for human capital development were identified as the main challenges experienced by SOCIR. Furthermore, it was highlighted that if SOCIR upgraded with new efficient processing technology, it could increase its capacity of production, contribute on reducing the effects of total dependency on imports of all needs for petroleum products and prevent the country from exporting the total oil output, contribute on supplying the country with sufficient quality and quantity of clean oil products, and promote the oil and gas industry development and integration. The results of this study also indicated that SOCIR development could play a key role leading to economic diversity and growth with direct, indirect and induced impacts of massive job creation and contribute on reducing unemployment, poverty and inequality of many Congolese which are living under the poverty datum line. The study revealed that the outcome of the oil and gas industry integrated and developed through SOCIR modernisation strategy could steer the socio-economic change and transformation in the country. It is recommended to the government of DRC to constantly review, monitor and implement policies and regulations that could promote the oil and gas industry development in the country. The results of the study should also influence policy-makers and decision-makers on formulating innovative and creative policies, setting programmes, methods and interventions, which will enable the development of the oil and gas industry. / M