This thesis sets out to explore why records of achievement (RoA) became part of national education policy in the English education system, whether it is just one more education initiative, like so many others, which only had a relevance and significance at a particular time and within a certain context, or whether it might have a longer-term structural significance within the national education system. The thesis focuses particularly on the significance and role of the first nationally recognised and designed record of achievement - the National Record of Achievement (NRA) - which was introduced in 1991 and has been redesigned as a result of the Dearing Review of 16-19 Qualifications (Dearing 1996).1 The thesis argues that there are three major inter-related factors which determine the role that RoA has played or might play within the English education and training system - firstly, and most importantly, the context within which it is developed; secondly, the content or features of the record itself (particularly the change from locally developed and determined records to the National Record of Achievement); and thirdly, the balance in emphasis between the use of the process of recording of achievement and the use of the RoA document itself. These three factors form the basis of a theoretical framework which is developed in Chapter 1 and is then used throughout the thesis to analyse the role of RoA (and specifically the NRA) in the past and in the future. The thesis uses this theoretical framework, as well as a detailed case study, to identify and describe the role that RoA has played in its three major phases of development: Phase 1 (1969-1991) - RoA as a widespread but locally determined education initiative, largely brought in to meet the needs of lower achievers; Phase 2 (1991-1996) - NRA as a national policy instrument for use with all learners to record achievement; Phase 3 (a potential future phase) - NRA as a tool for supporting lifelong learning. The thesis concludes by arguing that it is in the type of role described in Phase 3 that the NRA will become more than just another education policy initiative and will take on a longer-term structural significance within the English education and training system. Dearing, Sir Ron (1996) Review of Qualifications for 16-19 Year Olds, London: DfEE.

The purpose of the thesis is to examine the social control and reproduction functions of what is known as nonformal education in the State of Mexico (Mexico). As such it is concerned with analysing what Bernstein calls the coding characteristics of the educational process and how this process is experienced by the participants and can reinforce their 'social positioning' in their society. To place the study in its context there is an initial consideration of the conditions in which nonformal education emerged in Latin America, followed by a critical assessment of its functions; new perspectives for the analysis of this form of education are examined. To set the analysis in its regional context a description of the development of nonformal education at both national and regional levels is provided. Then the definition, aims, and purposes of community education programmes are analyzed. A theoretical and conceptual framework is constructed to analyze the social control and reproduction functions of education; here emphasis is placed on Bernstein's sociolinguistic theory of cultural transmission. This is followed by a sociological appraisal of community education's underlying or invisible features. In the light of the above the methodological chapter presents the concepts and techniques which allowed us to examine the educational process and participants' viewpoint. A qualitative analysis was employed in order to account for the participants' perspective. It was supported by non-structured interviews and participant observation. Empirical work was carried out in four community education programmes in the State of Mexico. Three areas were considered during the field research: a) the educational process (curriculum, pedagogy and evaluation); b) teachers and students' motives for taking part in courses; c) the meanings assigned by participants to the courses as a result of their participation in and experience of the educational process. Data is discussed in terms of the basic concepts of the thesis: social positioning, control and reproduction. The main conclusion refers to the social control and reproduction functions of community education programmes resulting from participants overall exposure to educational institutions and practices. This, it is argued, is achieved through three basic processes: 1) the social positioning of participants which arises as a result of their identification with the educational coding; 2) the lowering of participants' expectations as a consequence of the marginal and marginalising characteristics of the educational process they undergo; 3) the very fact that the courses response to the motivations and satisfy the interests of the participants.

At a time when women are being encouraged to return to education because of changing demographic trends, this study explores the experiences of a group of women who are students on a variety of courses in further and adult education. Much research has already been conducted on women students in higher education and the 'problems' they encounter in taking on the student role, much less is known about the not so prestigious post sixteen sector. The study is grounded in a feminist perspective and utilises a qualitative methodology. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted during one academic year and adopted a life history format. The women were given the opportunity to tell their own stories in their own way and the importance of utilising this approach in reaching the 'private' accounts is highlighted. The first five chapters of the thesis are therefore concerned with presenting the background to the study; locating it within the literature; identifying the characteristics of a feminist perspective and the utilisation of in-depth interviews as the method of research. The following three chapters are concerned with a presentation of the data and emphasise the crucial importance of women's lives in the private sphere in the shaping of the return to study experience. Many of the problems they experience when they take on the student role are associated with fitting it in with the wife and mother roles. In addition a number of the women were studying at an institution which gave very little recognition to the needs of mature students. Two chapters are concerned with identifying the key aspects of the women's experiences and deconstruct the concepts of 'support' and 'fitting in' derived from the data. Based upon this, the ways in which the women negotiated the intersection between the public and private spheres is explored. In accordance with the underlying assumption of the thesis, that it should not just describe but prescribe action in the promotion of 'equal opportunities', the implications for policy and practice in women's education are outlined.

Public school districts nationwide are subject to increased performance expectations as financial resources have decreased and school budgets are stretched to their limits. Less financial support from the state government means that localities must fill the gaps in their respective budgets to avoid reductions in or elimination of public school programs, services, and personnel. Insufficient funding for public education concerns many stakeholders. Virginia is one of many states in which localities have established public school foundations as a means to obtain private funds to support a variety of purposes in their public school divisions. Research was conducted ten years ago regarding the characteristics of education foundations supporting Virginia's public school divisions. The purposes of this study were to determine whether or not there was an increase in the number of public school foundations in Virginia during the past decade and to identify the foundations' longevity, purposes, governance, staffing, finances, revenue sources, and fund utilization of public school foundations that support of local school divisions. The study used a descriptive mixed-methodology design in which both quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The mixed methods study gathered data sequentially in two phases. The first phase identified the existing public school foundations in Virginia, and the second phase collected state, local, district, and foundation data to describe the growth, purposes, governance, staffing, finances, revenue sources, and fund utilization of the public school foundations supporting K-12 public school divisions in Virginia. More than two-thirds of Virginia's public school divisions were found to be supported by public school foundations, which is a 42% increase from the findings of a similar study conducted one decade ago. Not surprisingly, the common purpose of these public school foundations are to partner with the community to support students through additional financial and social resources that support, enrich, or enhance their educational opportunities. The results of this research provide public school districts, foundations, and other interested parties with information on the operations of Virginia's public school foundations, which may aid in the establishment of new foundations or provide data and insights to improve or alter current foundation activities. / Ed. D.

This research was designed to explore the factors which influence national adult continuing education (ACE) policy-making and people's demands of national ACE policies in England and Wales. To achieve the purpose, relevant literature was reviewed and empirical data were analysed. Empirical data were collected through two-stage visits, interviews, and a questionnaire survey. People directly or indirectly involved in ACE were sampled as subjects at two stages. In total, there were 158 valid responses including the interviews and questionnaire surveys. The instruments used to collect empirical data were developed by the researcher, linked to the findings of the literature review, visits, and interviews. Methods applied to analyse the collected data included quantitative and qualitative approaches. The major findings were as follows: 1. Policy-making in the DFE basically had characteristics of a pluralist process. 2. Learner, Economic and Political factors were more influential on the DFE's ACE policy-making. 3. The Learner and Economic factors were the principal influential determinants and they had interactive impacts upon the DFE's ACE policy-making. 4. National ACE policies directly helpful for adult participation in learning were thought important by a comparatively large proportion of the sample. 5. There was a gap between people's demanded ACE policies and the DFE's ACE policies. Comparatively, people's demanded ACE policies were more learner-oriented. 6. Systems theory could provide a systematic and comprehensive analysis exploring influential factors and policy-making in the DFE but was insufficient for discussing the micro process inside. 7. The debate on the ideas of learner-oriented and market-oriented ACE is still ongoing. Even in the recent Green Paper, we can see the coexistance of different policy focuses. According to the above findings, the researcher made suggestions to the DfEE, professional organisations, and researchers who will study similar topics.

A presente dissertação de mestrado, vinculada à Pós-graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Linha de Pesquisa Educação Especial e processos Inclusivos, tematiza a produção de conhecimento e o acolhimento da alteridade em educação especial pelas vias da estética. Trata-se de um estudo teórico, onde os conceitos dialogam com uma experiência formativa, através da análise das produções de uma professora-cursista, entre os anos de 2011 e 2014. O tecido argumentativo tem os fios Schiller. Outro operador importante são as formulações conceituais da pesquisadora Nadja Hermann ao aproximar a hermenêutica filosófica gadameriana da educação. Bakhtin ofereceu os instrumentos necessários a análise da forma enunciativa das narrativas e como determinam seu conteúdo. No entretecimento destes fios, os sentidos por ora propostos permitem distinguir nos escritos da professora Joana, dois gêneros enunciativos: o primeiro, instrutivo, extenso e descritivo. O segundo, de natureza poética, errante e capaz de estranhamento e acolhimento, possibilitando instaurar o diálogo. Esta análise, espera-se, estende à educação especial a possibilidade de questionar pressupostos naturalizados na prática pedagógica. / This dissertation for a Master's Degree, linked to the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Line of Research of Special Education and Inclusive Processes, studies the production of knowledge and acceptance of otherness in special education by way of aesthetics. This is a theoretical study, in which concepts dialogue with a formative experience, by analyzing the productions of a teacher-intraining, during 2011 to 2014. This argumentative material is based on Schiller. Another important element is the conceptual formulations of Nadja Hermann, the researcher, when bringing Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics to education. Bakhtin offered the necessary tools to analyze the expository form of narratives and how they determine their contents. In the interweaving of these elements, the meanings proposed for now allow us to distinguish two enunciative genres in the writings of Professor Joana: the first, the instructional, extensive and descriptive. The second genre, of a poetic nature, wandering and capable of estrangement and acceptance, making it possible to start a dialogue. It is expected that this analysis will extend the chance to question assumptions naturalized in pedagogical practice to special education.

A presente dissertação de mestrado, vinculada à Pós-graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Linha de Pesquisa Educação Especial e processos Inclusivos, tematiza a produção de conhecimento e o acolhimento da alteridade em educação especial pelas vias da estética. Trata-se de um estudo teórico, onde os conceitos dialogam com uma experiência formativa, através da análise das produções de uma professora-cursista, entre os anos de 2011 e 2014. O tecido argumentativo tem os fios Schiller. Outro operador importante são as formulações conceituais da pesquisadora Nadja Hermann ao aproximar a hermenêutica filosófica gadameriana da educação. Bakhtin ofereceu os instrumentos necessários a análise da forma enunciativa das narrativas e como determinam seu conteúdo. No entretecimento destes fios, os sentidos por ora propostos permitem distinguir nos escritos da professora Joana, dois gêneros enunciativos: o primeiro, instrutivo, extenso e descritivo. O segundo, de natureza poética, errante e capaz de estranhamento e acolhimento, possibilitando instaurar o diálogo. Esta análise, espera-se, estende à educação especial a possibilidade de questionar pressupostos naturalizados na prática pedagógica. / This dissertation for a Master's Degree, linked to the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Line of Research of Special Education and Inclusive Processes, studies the production of knowledge and acceptance of otherness in special education by way of aesthetics. This is a theoretical study, in which concepts dialogue with a formative experience, by analyzing the productions of a teacher-intraining, during 2011 to 2014. This argumentative material is based on Schiller. Another important element is the conceptual formulations of Nadja Hermann, the researcher, when bringing Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics to education. Bakhtin offered the necessary tools to analyze the expository form of narratives and how they determine their contents. In the interweaving of these elements, the meanings proposed for now allow us to distinguish two enunciative genres in the writings of Professor Joana: the first, the instructional, extensive and descriptive. The second genre, of a poetic nature, wandering and capable of estrangement and acceptance, making it possible to start a dialogue. It is expected that this analysis will extend the chance to question assumptions naturalized in pedagogical practice to special education.

A presente dissertação de mestrado, vinculada à Pós-graduação em Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Linha de Pesquisa Educação Especial e processos Inclusivos, tematiza a produção de conhecimento e o acolhimento da alteridade em educação especial pelas vias da estética. Trata-se de um estudo teórico, onde os conceitos dialogam com uma experiência formativa, através da análise das produções de uma professora-cursista, entre os anos de 2011 e 2014. O tecido argumentativo tem os fios Schiller. Outro operador importante são as formulações conceituais da pesquisadora Nadja Hermann ao aproximar a hermenêutica filosófica gadameriana da educação. Bakhtin ofereceu os instrumentos necessários a análise da forma enunciativa das narrativas e como determinam seu conteúdo. No entretecimento destes fios, os sentidos por ora propostos permitem distinguir nos escritos da professora Joana, dois gêneros enunciativos: o primeiro, instrutivo, extenso e descritivo. O segundo, de natureza poética, errante e capaz de estranhamento e acolhimento, possibilitando instaurar o diálogo. Esta análise, espera-se, estende à educação especial a possibilidade de questionar pressupostos naturalizados na prática pedagógica. / This dissertation for a Master's Degree, linked to the Graduate Program in Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Line of Research of Special Education and Inclusive Processes, studies the production of knowledge and acceptance of otherness in special education by way of aesthetics. This is a theoretical study, in which concepts dialogue with a formative experience, by analyzing the productions of a teacher-intraining, during 2011 to 2014. This argumentative material is based on Schiller. Another important element is the conceptual formulations of Nadja Hermann, the researcher, when bringing Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics to education. Bakhtin offered the necessary tools to analyze the expository form of narratives and how they determine their contents. In the interweaving of these elements, the meanings proposed for now allow us to distinguish two enunciative genres in the writings of Professor Joana: the first, the instructional, extensive and descriptive. The second genre, of a poetic nature, wandering and capable of estrangement and acceptance, making it possible to start a dialogue. It is expected that this analysis will extend the chance to question assumptions naturalized in pedagogical practice to special education.

A presente dissertação inscreve-se no campo das conexões entre psicanálise e educação e tem como objetivo analisar o declínio contemporâneo da transmissão na formação. Para tanto, buscamos na psicanálise e também na filosofia uma rede de conceitos capaz de circunscrever o fato de que a subjetividade de um recém-chegado ao mundo é necessariamente fecundada pelos mais velhos, pelos que já se encontravam antes no mundo, e o que demanda a transmissão não apenas de conteúdos mas de marcas inconscientes que testemunham a divisão psíquica do adulto e, portanto, a impossibilidade desse adulto tudo dizer à criança. E é em vista dessa impossibilidade do adulto tudo (se) dizer, que então se torna possível transmitir inconscientemente ao infans (que não fala) a impossibilidade de tão só ouvir (ou tudo ouvir, e o que, no limite, seria exatamente o mesmo que não ouvir absolutamente nada), ensejando assim ao pequeno que, uma vez tomado por esse conflito psíquico humanizante, chegue um dia se pronunciar como um sujeito (um sujeito portanto cindido), isto é, como alguém que tanto deseja falar quanto ouvir porque sabe que não está à altura de dar a última palavra (aquela que tanto o emudeceria cabalmente quanto a seus ouvintes). Mas, ao contrário do que supõe a pedagogia hodierna, não é porque não podemos (felizmente!) tudo dizer às crianças que não devemos nada lhes dizer, esperando assim que elas falem por si mesmas e tal como se a presença do adulto nada tivesse a ver com isso, ou como se essa fala nova não fosse função da transferência da criança aos velhos. A (psico)pedagogia contemporânea pretende que a criança seja estimulada a falar naturalmente e quando for chegada a justa hora, a hora própria do amadurecimento das capacidades interiores. Mas se fosse assim, por que então falaríamos a elas fora de hora, isto é, antes da hora, e às vezes apenas para fazer hora até que elas eventualmente respondam? E por que depois continuamos então lhes falando, e ela a nós? Por sermos naturalmente tagarelas? Ou por que isso cavouca em nós a nossa conflitante divisão psíquica que nos foi inseminada simbolicamente por alguém primordial, alguém que não se calou de todo muito embora não pudesse estar de todo certo acerca do teor mesmo de sua fala (e que, assim, acabou transmitindo um lugar para um outro se filiar e depois (se) falar como um outro)? Eis que o declínio da transmissão na formação na contemporaneidade deriva assim da psicologização generalizada da pedagogia e da educação, e graças ao que as prerrogativas simbólicas de formação e transmissão não apenas por parte dos adultos em âmbito familiar como também por parte do dispositivo escolar e, portanto, dos professores em vista de seus alunos - deram lugar a postulados que acabaram substituindo a formação cultural pelo desenvolvimento natural, e o que tanto conduziu à descaracterização da escola quanto à pauperização e à banalização do currículo escolar, criando mediante isso mais obstáculos para o estabelecimento da diferença simbólica entre as gerações. / This work belongs to the field of possible connections between psychoanalysis and education and its purpose is to analyze the contemporary decline of the transmission in the education. We searched a net of concepts inside psychoanalysis and also philosophy in order to circumscribe the fact that the subjectivity of a new comer into the world is necessarily impregnated by the older ones, those who were already in the world. Besides, the transmission also requires not only knowledge but unconscious marks that testify the psychic division of the adult and, therefore, the impossibility of this adult to say everything to the child. This same impossibility of the adult to say everything is what makes possible for him to unconsciously transmit to the infans (the one that doesnt speak) the impossibility of just listening (or listen to everything, which is the same of not listening anything at all), allowing the little one to get to speak as subject, once he is affected by this psychic humanizing conflict. That means that he is necessarily going to be a split subject, someone who desire to speak and also to hear because he knows that he is not able to say the last word (the one that would make him and his listeners speechless at all). However, differently from what the contemporary pedagogy believes, not being able to say everything to the children does not mean that we shouldnt say anything at all, does not mean that we should wait for them to speak for themselves as if the presence of the adult had nothing to do with it, as if this new speech was not the consequence of the childs transference toward the older ones. The contemporary (psycho)pedagogy intend to stimulate the child to speak naturally and at the exact time, the time of the development of the inner capacities. But if it worked like that, why we would speak to the children before this exact time, and sometimes only to spare or even to gain time waiting until they eventually answer? And why do we keep talking to them and vice-versa? Just because we enjoy talking a lot? Or because this drive causes our conflictive psychic division which was impregnated in us by a primordial adult, someone that didnt stayed quiet (and by that accomplished the transmission of a place from where another being can be part of a heritage and can be able to speak as any other)? The decline of the transmission in the contemporary education comes from the fact that, nowadays, psychology rules in the field of pedagogy and education. Also, it is a consequence of the fact that either in family education as at school, cultural formation gave place to natural development. This substitution lead to the descharacterization of school and also the reduction of the curriculum, what creates more obstacles to the establishment of the symbolic difference between generation.

A presente dissertação inscreve-se no campo das conexões entre psicanálise e educação e tem como objetivo analisar o declínio contemporâneo da transmissão na formação. Para tanto, buscamos na psicanálise e também na filosofia uma rede de conceitos capaz de circunscrever o fato de que a subjetividade de um recém-chegado ao mundo é necessariamente fecundada pelos mais velhos, pelos que já se encontravam antes no mundo, e o que demanda a transmissão não apenas de conteúdos mas de marcas inconscientes que testemunham a divisão psíquica do adulto e, portanto, a impossibilidade desse adulto tudo dizer à criança. E é em vista dessa impossibilidade do adulto tudo (se) dizer, que então se torna possível transmitir inconscientemente ao infans (que não fala) a impossibilidade de tão só ouvir (ou tudo ouvir, e o que, no limite, seria exatamente o mesmo que não ouvir absolutamente nada), ensejando assim ao pequeno que, uma vez tomado por esse conflito psíquico humanizante, chegue um dia se pronunciar como um sujeito (um sujeito portanto cindido), isto é, como alguém que tanto deseja falar quanto ouvir porque sabe que não está à altura de dar a última palavra (aquela que tanto o emudeceria cabalmente quanto a seus ouvintes). Mas, ao contrário do que supõe a pedagogia hodierna, não é porque não podemos (felizmente!) tudo dizer às crianças que não devemos nada lhes dizer, esperando assim que elas falem por si mesmas e tal como se a presença do adulto nada tivesse a ver com isso, ou como se essa fala nova não fosse função da transferência da criança aos velhos. A (psico)pedagogia contemporânea pretende que a criança seja estimulada a falar naturalmente e quando for chegada a justa hora, a hora própria do amadurecimento das capacidades interiores. Mas se fosse assim, por que então falaríamos a elas fora de hora, isto é, antes da hora, e às vezes apenas para fazer hora até que elas eventualmente respondam? E por que depois continuamos então lhes falando, e ela a nós? Por sermos naturalmente tagarelas? Ou por que isso cavouca em nós a nossa conflitante divisão psíquica que nos foi inseminada simbolicamente por alguém primordial, alguém que não se calou de todo muito embora não pudesse estar de todo certo acerca do teor mesmo de sua fala (e que, assim, acabou transmitindo um lugar para um outro se filiar e depois (se) falar como um outro)? Eis que o declínio da transmissão na formação na contemporaneidade deriva assim da psicologização generalizada da pedagogia e da educação, e graças ao que as prerrogativas simbólicas de formação e transmissão não apenas por parte dos adultos em âmbito familiar como também por parte do dispositivo escolar e, portanto, dos professores em vista de seus alunos - deram lugar a postulados que acabaram substituindo a formação cultural pelo desenvolvimento natural, e o que tanto conduziu à descaracterização da escola quanto à pauperização e à banalização do currículo escolar, criando mediante isso mais obstáculos para o estabelecimento da diferença simbólica entre as gerações. / This work belongs to the field of possible connections between psychoanalysis and education and its purpose is to analyze the contemporary decline of the transmission in the education. We searched a net of concepts inside psychoanalysis and also philosophy in order to circumscribe the fact that the subjectivity of a new comer into the world is necessarily impregnated by the older ones, those who were already in the world. Besides, the transmission also requires not only knowledge but unconscious marks that testify the psychic division of the adult and, therefore, the impossibility of this adult to say everything to the child. This same impossibility of the adult to say everything is what makes possible for him to unconsciously transmit to the infans (the one that doesnt speak) the impossibility of just listening (or listen to everything, which is the same of not listening anything at all), allowing the little one to get to speak as subject, once he is affected by this psychic humanizing conflict. That means that he is necessarily going to be a split subject, someone who desire to speak and also to hear because he knows that he is not able to say the last word (the one that would make him and his listeners speechless at all). However, differently from what the contemporary pedagogy believes, not being able to say everything to the children does not mean that we shouldnt say anything at all, does not mean that we should wait for them to speak for themselves as if the presence of the adult had nothing to do with it, as if this new speech was not the consequence of the childs transference toward the older ones. The contemporary (psycho)pedagogy intend to stimulate the child to speak naturally and at the exact time, the time of the development of the inner capacities. But if it worked like that, why we would speak to the children before this exact time, and sometimes only to spare or even to gain time waiting until they eventually answer? And why do we keep talking to them and vice-versa? Just because we enjoy talking a lot? Or because this drive causes our conflictive psychic division which was impregnated in us by a primordial adult, someone that didnt stayed quiet (and by that accomplished the transmission of a place from where another being can be part of a heritage and can be able to speak as any other)? The decline of the transmission in the contemporary education comes from the fact that, nowadays, psychology rules in the field of pedagogy and education. Also, it is a consequence of the fact that either in family education as at school, cultural formation gave place to natural development. This substitution lead to the descharacterization of school and also the reduction of the curriculum, what creates more obstacles to the establishment of the symbolic difference between generation.