The noncognitive features of pupils’ experience of school are important: they can affect academic attainment; they have an independent influence on outcomes in later life; and to the extent that they are related to pupils’ wellbeing they have intrinsic importance. I present four empirical papers on the emotional health, friendships, and behaviour of pupils in English secondary schools. The first two empirical papers present the results of a large pragmatic controlled trial of an intervention intended to promote pupils’ resilience and mental health. I estimate the intervention impact on symptoms of poor mental health, behaviour, absence from school, academic attainment, and popularity. I find small and short-lived impacts on depressive symptoms, absence, and popularity, and a small but more lasting impact on academic attainment. I find no impact on anxiety scores or behaviour. The third paper examines behaviour incidents at school. Poor behaviour is a major challenge to the effectiveness of schooling, and the data I have represents a substantial improvement over previous attempts to measure pupil behaviour. I find that demographic characteristics are strong predictors of the number of incidents per pupil, but they do not explain much of the overall variance in incidents. Incident rates per lesson vary strongly by context within the school, suggesting that schools could influence behaviour by modifying the environment. However, a pupil’s rank in terms of behaviour is remarkably persistent over different contexts and through time, suggesting that the tendency to misbehave is a stable noncognitive trait. The fourth paper looks in detail at the impact of time of day and day of the week on behaviour. I find that the strong and persistent day-of-the-week and time-of-day patterns I observe are not due to selective reporting or misreporting, and are not due to endogenous timetabling. Since schedule adjustment could be almost costless, it could be highly cost effective even if the impact on behaviour were much smaller than estimated in my observational data.

Research pertaining to homophobic name-calling has largely focused on prevalence rates and the negative long-term effects on Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual (LGB) populations without considering the intention behind the use of the language, leading to an assumption the language used in these incidents is intentionally homophobic. This small-scale exploratory study focused on gathering the cross age and gender perspectives of male and female young people in years 7 (age 11-12) and 10 (age 14-15) from one secondary school, to illuminate whether they perceive name-calling, involving the word ‘gay’ to be bullying, harmful and intentionally homophobic. The study adopted a qualitative approach to research methodology to gain a richer understanding of young people’s perspectives, where single–sex focus groups were used to collect qualitative data, which were analysed through thematic analysis. Key findings from the study suggest there is agreement over age and between genders that using the word ‘gay’ is not intentionally homophobic or harmful. The study also highlights that the intent of the language is complex and dependent upon a number of factors including: the relationship between the user and receiver; whether they are friends or not and how the words are said. The language can be used as a form of joking, social bonding, expressing opinions and perceived as a common discourse amongst young people where there is no associated implication to sexuality. Further implications for anti-bullying and Educational Psychology practice are discussed, with a focus on developing an understanding of the use and intent of name-calling in schools at systemic and socio-cultural levels.

This dissertation developed in the course of MS, Policy and management education line, Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Uberlandia, seeks to describe and to analyze the state and educational policies developed during the two terms of Aecio Neves government. Analyzing in a special way the high school, the research seeks to understand the assumptions of the reform implemented: Used State models, the objectives and functions of school and education, the purposes of management and its instruments. Based on a reading literature, creating prospects for debate at national and state government. It makes an analysis of official documents and describes the empirical reality of schools, from descriptions of research and experience of the author as a school teacher. The search develops as a final mechanism qualitative research which hears the workers involved in the ongoing reform, from visits to three schools in the state in Uberaba (MG). Analysis focuses on curriculum reform as a process full of different views inside school. It is described in the text of the situation and conditions of the state as a laboratory of experiences and the neoliberal programs, seeking to adapt education to reality mining is underway in several countries and school systems. Emphasizes the perspective the reform as a perspective to fill the curriculum guidelines established in high school in Brazil and its objectives. Analyzed subjectively, among the professionals, approaches and disputes that are formed around the projects implemented, and its immediate consequences in some schools surveyed, showing the different perspectives on the experiences of those involved. / Esta dissertação desenvolvida no curso de Mestrado, Linha de Políticas e Gestão em Educação, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, busca descrever e analisar o Estado e as políticas educacionais desenvolvidas durante as duas gestões do Governo Aécio Neves. Analisando de forma especial o Ensino Médio, a pesquisa busca compreender os pressupostos da reforma implantada: os modelos de Estado utilizados; os objetivos e funções de escola e da Educação; as finalidades de gestão e seus instrumentos. Parte uma leitura bibliográfica dos temas analisados, criando perspectivas de debate em âmbito nacional e no Governo estadual. Faz uma análise de documentos oficiais e descreve a realidade empírica das escolas, a partir de descrição de pesquisas e da vivência do pesquisador como professor da rede. Desenvolve como mecanismo final uma pesquisa qualitativa que ouve os sujeitos da reforma em curso, a partir de visita a três escolas da Rede Estadual em Uberaba (MG). Privilegia na análise a reforma curricular, como processo rico em revelações das intenções das visões de mundo dos atores escolares. Descrevem-se no texto a situação e as condições da Rede Estadual como laboratório de experiências e programas de inspiração neoliberal, buscando adequar a Educação mineira à realidade em curso em vários países e em diferentes redes de ensino. Enfatiza a reforma como perspectiva de atender as diretrizes curriculares implantadas no Ensino Médio brasileiro e seus objetivos propostos. Analisa de forma subjetiva, entre os atores, as aproximações e disputas que se formam em torno dos projetos implantados, além de suas consequências imediatas em algumas escolas pesquisadas, mostrando as diferentes perspectivas dos sujeitos sobre as experiências desenvolvidas na Rede Estadual. / Mestre em Educação

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-18T18:53:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Elione Maria Nogueira Diogenes.pdf: 1577314 bytes, checksum: bb7e0ef4fed0bef2b233fd01cfa26f1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-26 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Research into practice with a focus on educational policy "New School: Education is now for life" in two dimensions: political assessment of the policy and implementation process in the State of Ceará, in the period 1996 to 2006. / Pesquisa concretizada com foco na política educacional "Novo Ensino Médio: Educação agora é para a vida" em duas dimensões: avaliação política da política e do processo de implementação no Estado do Ceará, no período compreendido entre 1996 a 2006.