The project outlined in this thesis examines the ways in which headteachers position themselves as professionals following the shift from communism to neo-liberal markets and the decentralisation of the public education system in post-communist Romania. Following this shift, Romanian headteachers faced new accountability frameworks and witnessed a reconceptualisation of their professional responsibilities. The methodology adopted is policy scholarship because, by looking at decentralisation through a historical-cultural lens, i.e. Romania’s recent history of communism and transition to a more democratic state, it best addresses the three key-research questions. The methods used are official policy documents and interviews with different stakeholders located at three different levels in the Romanian education system. These were: secondary heads and county school inspectors. Four key national policy-makers were also interviewed. In the thesis, the Romanian situation is presented (as captured) in the period 2009-2011. The decentralisation of Romanian education is dichotomous. It is a hybrid between neo-liberalism and communist throwbacks that I call politicised decentralisation. On the one hand, decentralisation and quasi-markets are being introduced into public education at the recommendation of international donors (the World Bank, the European Union). On the other hand, the endurance of communist practices makes it difficult for professionals to adapt to new professional responsibilities and accountability frameworks. A new conceptual framework emerged from the international literature, national policy documents and empirical study and was used to explore the findings. This examines the components, levels and dimensions of decentralisation in education in Romania. The key-findings show the complexities of decentralisation in headteachers’ professional activity. Importantly, the politicisation of the education system is the biggest challenge faced by the interviewees. For example, in 2012 alone there have been three different cabinets and seven ministers of education in the last five years. This has resulted in instability in post at all three levels, not least because with each change in minister both county school inspectors and headteachers are usually replaced. The findings show that new accountability frameworks emerged and impacted upon headteachers’ relationships with different stakeholders such as inspectors, local authorities, as well as parents and students as consumers of education. This thesis is important in showing how policy implementation and enactment differs depending on the socio-economic, political and cultural context. The conceptual framework developed in the thesis and the findings have relatability for educationalists, policy-makers, practitioners and researchers, both nationally and internationally, especially since the existing empirical base predominantly refers to liberal democracies.

Bibliographic note KULESZA, Izabela A. PATH DEPENDENCE IN AMERICAN PUBLIC EDUCATION . Mater thesis. Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Sociological Studies. Supervisor Prof. PhDr. Arnošt Veselý, Ph.D. Abstract This thesis is concerned with the study of public education in the United States as a path-dependent phenomenon. By reviewing the historical background of the institution of education, several key sequences emerge that are foundational principles. They are: a decentralized system, secular education, universal access, decreasing the achievement gap and global competition. Testing these sequences against school choice theories shows the foundational principles behind traditional public schooling in America are being challenged. The institutional reproduction of this pathway is likely to be interrupted in the utilitarian, functional, power and legitimation explanations of path dependence theory. Keywords public education, school choice, path dependence theory Range of thesis: 66

The object of this study is a program of government that has, as its immediate objective, the modification and regulation of consumer conduct deemed pertinent to climate change. Drawing from the analytical grid and conceptual tools of governmentality, this study has organized and analyzed an archive of documents related to the One-Tonne Challenge, a ‘public education’ program implemented by the Government of Canada from 2003 to 2006. There are numerous forms of conduct targeted by this program, involving many of the mundane and routine practices of everyday life. Despite their heterogeneity, the targeted forms of conduct can all be measured and evaluated according to the greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory, an ecological technology of government that has had its application extended to the ‘personal’ level. As consumers increasingly engage in practices that are energy efficient, a ‘low intensity GHG emission lifestyle’ will emerge as a new societal norm, which is declared to be the ‘ultimate strategic objective’ of the program. The analysis indentifies and describes two rationalities of government articulated within the archive of the program. Liberal principles and assumptions regarding the market economy are ascendant in practice; they delimit the range of governmental techniques that can be put into operation by the state. Nevertheless, the objectives and technologies of this program belong to an ecological rationality of government. It problematizes the liberal emphasis on ‘voluntary action’ and advances state planning of the market economy through price formation as a necessary governmental technique with which to manipulate the demand for energy and ensure that consumers become energy-efficient. The conclusion interprets and diagnoses the main dangers that could arise from the radical transformation of the market economy that would be brought about by an ecological political reason.

A situação aparentemente caótica da rede pública de educação paulista, leva o governo responsável a adotar políticas públicas de educação com caráter neoliberal e seguindo receituários impostos pela globalização econômica. Exemplo disso é a imposição da Nova Proposta Curricular do Estado de São Paulo. Ela foi implantada em 2008 e passou a ser Currículo Oficial em 2010, determinando uma sequência de conteúdos e uma forma de trabalho para todas as unidades escolares, a fim de levá-las a trabalhar como uma rede, padronizando a forma de pensar dos alunos e o trabalho dos professores, limitando a autonomia dos mesmos. Atrelada a esta imposição de um currículo único, está a centralização das decisões e a meritocracia. Apesar de as políticas públicas terem sido elaboradas com o objetivo de melhorar a qualidade de ensino, não é isso que acontece, pois acabam fortalecendo os desestímulos dos alunos e dos professores, impedindo uma possível melhora. Dentro desse contexto, o professor possui um papel essencial, pois seu trabalho em sala de aula, diretamente com o aluno, pode ser o passo inicial para uma transformação cotidiana da realidade. Ao utilizar a educação como um elemento que leve ao entendimento do aluno sobre sua situação na sociedade, este poderá compreender o processo em que está envolvido e tomar conhecimento para questioná-la e até sugerir e lutar por mudanças. O professor não é capaz de promover uma revolução, modificando toda a estrutura da educação pública, mas ao realizar seu trabalho de forma consciente e politizada é capaz de, junto ao aluno, ainda acreditar na possibilidade de uma mudança na direção de uma sociedade mais justa. / The situation apparently chaotic of paulistas public education network, leads the responsible govern to adopt public politics of education with neoliberal character and following recipes that are imposed by economic globalization. An example is the imposition of São Paulos New Curriculum Proposal. Its was implanted in 2008 and turned official curriculum in 2010, which determine a sequence of contents and standardizes the form of work to all school units with a purpose of leads each unit to work as a net, standardizing the way of student think and the teachers work so limiting their autonomy. Hitched to this imposition of a unique curriculum there is a centralization of decision and the meritocracy. Despite the fact that public policies were prepared with the purpose of improve the education quality that is not what happens, since increase the discouragement of students and teachers preventing a possible improvement. Inside this context the teacher has a special role since his work in the classroom directly in contact with the student can be the first step for an everyday transformation of the reality. Using the education as an element to help students to understand about his situation inside the society and then the student can understand the process which he is involved, acquire knowledge to question and even suggest and fight for changes. The teacher cannot to promote a revolution changing all public education structure, but realizing his work conscious and politicized, he can, united to students, believe in a possible change in direction to a fairer society.

Thesis advisor: Richard A. McGowan / This paper examines the discrepancies in the finance of public education across the United States in order to determine how particular funding schemes affect the quality and efficiency of education. Local governments have been the principal provider of funds for education in the past, but debate over equitable schooling for all students has led to several changes in the structure of education finance. In order to construct an encompassing measure of educational quality, a model based on Morgan and Morgan (2006) is used to assign each state a quality rating. Regression analysis helps establish the effect of various monetary variables on educational quality. There are clear patterns in the data which suggest that both the total amount of funds provided and the proportion of funds provided by each level of the government influence the quality of education. In addition, personal income and the percent of the population living below the poverty line prove to be key determinants of educational quality. It is my hope that this paper contributes to the work on the finance of public education and the work that aims to improve the quality of education in the United States. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Economics. / Discipline: College Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics Honors Program.

O trabalho apresenta memórias, a partir de entrevistas que contam o processo de formação política de cinco mulheres com mais de 60 anos, que participam do movimento popular na Zona Leste do município de São Paulo, desde a década de 1970. São lideranças comunitárias que participaram na Igreja Católica, em pequenas comunidades designadas CEBs - Comunidades Eclesiais de Base. As memórias das mulheres são transcritas quase que literalmente, numa tentativa de apresentar ao leitor os nexos criados por elas entre educação e movimento popular, vida privada e atuação pública, sonhos e utopia, educadores e educação. Discute-se o lugar ocupado pelos movimentos populares e a Igreja Católica no processo de democratização do Brasil nas décadas de 1970 e 80. Em seguida, os fundamentos teóricos que permitem fazer da memória uma fonte histórica e uma forma de resistência, no sentido positivo da palavra, são apresentados. Num terceiro momento narra-se a história de cada uma das cinco mulheres, com o mínimo possível de interferências, com destaque para algumas lembranças que explicitam detalhes e \"nós\" dos processos formativos e de resistência apresentados. Conclui-se que o processo de decisões, contatos com pessoas, lugares, situações e sentimentos fazem desta participação nos movimentos populares espaço privilegiado de educação para uma vida alternativa àquela oferecida pela sociedade capitalista às mulheres migrantes e pobres, que chegam na periferia paulistana em meados do século XX. / Work presents memories, from interviews that they more than count to the formation process politics of five women with 60 years, that participate of the popular movement in the Zone East of the city of São Paulo, since the decade of 1970. They are communitarian leaderships that had participated in the Church Catholic, in small appointed communities CEBs - Communities Eclesiais of Base. The memories of the women are transcribing almost that literally, in an attempt to present to the reader the nexuses created by them enter education and public movement, private life and public performance, dreams and utopia, educators and education. The busy place for the public movements and the Church is argued Catholic in the process of democratization of Brazil in the decades of 1970 and 80. After that, the theoretical beddings that allow to make of the memory a historical source and a resistance form, in the positive direction of the word, are presented. At one third moment history of each one of the five women is told to it, with the possible minimum of interferences, prominence for some souvenirs that expliciting details and \"us\" of presented the formative processes and of resistance. One concludes that the process of decisions, contacts with people, places, situations and feelings makes of this participation in the public movements privileged space of education for an alternative life to that one offered by the capitalist society that migrates and poor women, who arrive in the paulistana periphery in middle of century XX.

This thesis is a critique and proposed reform of the decision-making process under the European Patent Convention 1973, Article 53(a) as it relates to morality. It postulates that the manner in which the morality bar is currently managed is inappropriate as it relies on patent officials to make the initial decision as to whether the patent application is morally permissible or not. In a pluralistic world, morality is understood differently by a wide variety of people but this is not currently being acknowledged within the patent system. Whilst there is an option to bring opposition proceedings to challenge patent grants, this onus is considerable on the challenger and any debate is then played out by a very small sector of highly specialised experts, often with very differing views on morality. This thesis seeks to broaden the decision-making process to reflect society's pluralism. Officials, it will be argued, should instead of trying to decide what constitutes morality in a realm of such importance for humanity as a whole, administer a system which facilitates public participation and a vote. This will be based on existing models of widespread public deliberation and participation, albeit not ones that currently operate in (or near) the patent world. At present, criticisms in the legal literature tend to suggest more deliberation in the patent field and more participation is recommended in science literature but the logistics are unexplored and will be brought together in this work, making an original contribution to knowledge. In order to achieve its aim, the thesis employs a pluralistic methodology which includes doctrinal, socio-legal and interdisciplinary facets which will enable the construction of a model for reform of the patent system in the domain of morality. This will come from outside of traditional legal mechanisms such as legislative, judicial or patent office reform solutions, as a far-reaching paradigm is envisaged. The claim to originality lies in the extraction of principles from deliberative and participatory models of democracy and their application to the decision-making process in morally controversial biotechnological patents.

A Geografia Escolar, sob Parâmetros Curriculares Nacionais (PCNs) (1998) do Ensino Fundamental e Médio, pauta-se em um modelo neoliberal de ensino e propõe uma prática pedagógica para a adequação dos jovens brasileiros no atual mercado de trabalho, no qual poucos terão chance de acesso. É o instrumento da ideologia neoliberal sob o discurso fatalista que a finalidade da educação no mundo atual, em face do desemprego, é apenas o treino técnico-científico do educando e não a sua formação. Portanto, o ensino de Geografia nas escolas públicas, pautado no movimento de (re)produção do espaço geográfico, e de suas contradições no plano da vida cotidiana, contribuem para uma formação crítica dos alunos brasileiros é a negação desse modelo educacional. No presente trabalho, práticas pedagógicas intituladas de oficinas de geocidadania em turmas do Ensino de Jovens e Adultos (EJA) em uma escola pública estadual na cidade de Salvador (BA), pautadas no atual momento de (re)produção do espaço urbano da capital baiana dentro do processo de (re)valorização da orla marítima, tiveram como objetivo propor uma metodologia alternativa de ensino de Geografia para uma formação efetivamente cidadã desse público e para a luta do direito à cidade (LEFEBVRE, 2008). A nossa práxis, partindo de um estudo do lugar da escola e dos bairros dos nossos alunos e sua paisagem (como categorias de análise da Geografia), buscou romper com os discursos hegemônicos e segregadores dos espaços excluídos socialmente e materialmente da capital soteropolitana. O resultado desse trabalho é um manifesto a favor da Geografia Escolar, sob perspectiva crítica, e sua potencialidade para a formação cidadã. / Elementary and High School Geography, under the National Curriculum Parameters (PCNs) (1998), is guided in a neoliberal model of teaching and proposes a pedagogical practice to the adequacy of young Brazilians in the current labor market in which few of them will have access. It is the instrument of neoliberal ideology under the fatalistic speech that claims that the purpose of education in today\'s world, in the face of unemployment, it is only the technical and scientific training of the student and not his education. Therefore, the teaching of Geography in public schools, based on the movement of (re) production of geographical space, and its contradictions in terms of everyday life, contributes to a critical education of Brazilian students and it is the denial of this educational model. In this study, pedagogical practices named geo citizenship workshops in groups of Youth and Adult Education in a public school in the city of Salvador (BA), based on the current moment of (re) production of urban space of Salvador within the process of (re) valorization of the seafront, aimed at proposing an alternative methodology of Geography teaching to a truly citizen education of this public and to the fight for the right to the city (LEFEBVRE, 2008). Our research, since the study of the school location and our students neighborhoods and their landscape (such as Geography analytical categories), aimed at breaking with the hegemonic and segregating discourses of the socially and materially excluded spaces in Salvador. The result of this study is a manifesto in favor of School Geography under critical perspective, and its potential for citizenship education.

O trabalho apresenta memórias, a partir de entrevistas que contam o processo de formação política de cinco mulheres com mais de 60 anos, que participam do movimento popular na Zona Leste do município de São Paulo, desde a década de 1970. São lideranças comunitárias que participaram na Igreja Católica, em pequenas comunidades designadas CEBs - Comunidades Eclesiais de Base. As memórias das mulheres são transcritas quase que literalmente, numa tentativa de apresentar ao leitor os nexos criados por elas entre educação e movimento popular, vida privada e atuação pública, sonhos e utopia, educadores e educação. Discute-se o lugar ocupado pelos movimentos populares e a Igreja Católica no processo de democratização do Brasil nas décadas de 1970 e 80. Em seguida, os fundamentos teóricos que permitem fazer da memória uma fonte histórica e uma forma de resistência, no sentido positivo da palavra, são apresentados. Num terceiro momento narra-se a história de cada uma das cinco mulheres, com o mínimo possível de interferências, com destaque para algumas lembranças que explicitam detalhes e \"nós\" dos processos formativos e de resistência apresentados. Conclui-se que o processo de decisões, contatos com pessoas, lugares, situações e sentimentos fazem desta participação nos movimentos populares espaço privilegiado de educação para uma vida alternativa àquela oferecida pela sociedade capitalista às mulheres migrantes e pobres, que chegam na periferia paulistana em meados do século XX. / Work presents memories, from interviews that they more than count to the formation process politics of five women with 60 years, that participate of the popular movement in the Zone East of the city of São Paulo, since the decade of 1970. They are communitarian leaderships that had participated in the Church Catholic, in small appointed communities CEBs - Communities Eclesiais of Base. The memories of the women are transcribing almost that literally, in an attempt to present to the reader the nexuses created by them enter education and public movement, private life and public performance, dreams and utopia, educators and education. The busy place for the public movements and the Church is argued Catholic in the process of democratization of Brazil in the decades of 1970 and 80. After that, the theoretical beddings that allow to make of the memory a historical source and a resistance form, in the positive direction of the word, are presented. At one third moment history of each one of the five women is told to it, with the possible minimum of interferences, prominence for some souvenirs that expliciting details and \"us\" of presented the formative processes and of resistance. One concludes that the process of decisions, contacts with people, places, situations and feelings makes of this participation in the public movements privileged space of education for an alternative life to that one offered by the capitalist society that migrates and poor women, who arrive in the paulistana periphery in middle of century XX.

Esta pesquisa discute como adolescentes do III Ciclo do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola pública de periferia estão vivenciando a leitura e a escrita na tela do computador. Os estudantes sujeitos da pesquisa são moradores da Vila Dique, em Porto Alegre (RS), onde grande parte das famílias sobrevive com a renda obtida na coleta e reciclagem de lixo seco. Submetidos a uma situação em que o texto no papel perde, num certo sentido, seu valor simbólico, já que o suporte adquire valor de mercadoria, a leitura e escrita na tela do computador recuperariam esse sentido, constituindo-se como uma nova prática de letramento, oportunizando a inclusão dos/das adolescentes na cultura escrita. A investigação, de caráter qualitativo, valeu-se de procedimentos como o diário de campo, a observação participante, a análise de textos produzidos digitalmente no laboratório de informática da escola, além de entrevistas semi-estruturadas. / This research discusses the way adolescents from the 7th and 8th grades of a public school in the periphery areas are experiencing reading and writing on the computer screen. The subject students of the research live in Vila Dique, Porto Alegre (RS), where most families’ incomes are earned from garbage recycling. It can be stated that the paper-text, in a way, has become meaningless, given the fact that this resource carries a commercial value. Reading and writing on the computer screen has rescued a meaningful source to promote literacy, thus providing these adolescents with the opportunity to take part of the written culture. The qualitative investigation was based on a field diary, an participative observation, an analysis of the digital texts produced in the computer lab of the school, and semi-structured interviews.