Bakgrund: Personal inom hälso- och sjukvården ska “beakta ett barns behov av information, råd och stöd” när ett barns förälder eller annan vuxen i barnets närhet lider av eller drabbas av sjukdom, skada, beroende eller vid dödsfall. Barn i familjer där minst en förälder har ett missbruk eller beroende löper större risk att utsättas för fysiskt och psykiskt våld. Barn som växer upp under sådana förhållanden löper även en ökad risk att själva utveckla beroendeproblematik. Information och stöd kan vara avgörande för deras framtida hälsa. Syfte: Att undersöka vilken kunskap och vilka erfarenheter sjuksköterskor verksamma inom beroendepsykiatrin har av att uppmärksamma om det finns barn i patientens närhet som är i behov av information och stöd, samt vilka hindrande respektive främjande faktorer som finns för att kunna tillgodose detta behov. Metod: Sex sjuksköterskor deltog i individuella intervjuer. Intervjuerna analyserades med manifest innehållsanalys. Resultat: Samtliga respondenter uppgav att de alltid tillfrågar sina patienter om det finns barn i deras närhet. De främjande faktorer som har framkommit är att det hos sjuksköterskorna fanns en vilja till förbättring och utveckling i verksamheten samt att barnen uppmärksammas. De hindrande faktorerna beskrivs vara miljön inom beroendepsykiatrin, sjuksköterskornas utbildningsläge, olika rädslor samt viss tidsbrist. Slutsats: Om en strukturerad handlingsplan för att stödja och informera barnen fanns att tillgå skulle detta tillsammans med det engagemang som redan finns hos sjuksköterskorna kunna leda till ett förbättrat stöd till de barn som lever tillsammans med en vuxen med missbruksproblematik. / Background: Staff within the Swedish health care should “consider a child’s need of information, advice and support when the child’s parent or other adult in the child’s vicinity suffers from illness, injury, addiction or death”. Children in families where one parent suffers from substance addiction or abuse are at greater risk of being exposed to physical and psychological violence. Children who grow up under those circumstances are also at greater risk of developing addiction problems. Information and support may be vital for their future quality of life. Aim: To examine the knowledge and experiences nurses working in the field of addicition psychiatry have regarding inquiring about whether there are children close to their patient who are in need of information, support, and also what impeding and promoting factors they experience in regards to providing that information and support to the child. Methods: Six nurses participated in individual interviews. The interview results was analyzed using a manifest content analysis. Results: All of the nurses said that they always ask their patients if they have children among them. The promoting factors are their will to improve and development of the business and that they pay attention to the children. The impeding factors are described as the environment within the psychiatry, the nurses education, different fears and a lack of time. Conclusions: If a structured plan to support and inform the children were available, together with the commitment the nurses have expressed, could lead to an improved support for children living with an adult with substance abuse problems.

Bakgrund: Varje år dör omkring 90 000 personer i Sverige och de flesta har behov av palliativ vård. Den enskilde individen skall i största möjliga mån få avgöra om denne vill dö hemma eller inom den slutna vården. Historiskt sett har den palliativa vården behandlat personer med cancersjukdom men har med tiden utvecklats till att behandla flera typer av sjukdomstillstånd. Syfte: Syftet med föreliggande studie var att beskriva hur vuxna patienter upplever den palliativa vården i hemmet, samt att studera de valda artiklarnas datainsamlingsmetod. Metod: Föreliggande studie har en deskriptiv design. Studiens resultat baseras på elva vetenskapliga artiklar, tio med kvalitativ ansats och en med mixad ansats. Samtliga artiklar granskades av båda författarna och färgmarkerades beroende på innehåll. Artiklarna identifierades genom databaserna Cinahl och Pubmed. Huvudresultat: Den palliativa vården i hemmet upplevdes till stor del som positiv av patienterna. Det värderades högt att ha sina närstående nära och att få vistas i sin trygga hemmiljö den sista tiden i livet. Det framkom även att de palliativa patienterna var oroliga över att vara en börda för sina närstående. Genom att ha sjukvårdare i hemmet samt stöd från närstående gavs möjlighet att utföra vardagliga aktiviteter på egen hand, som visade sig generera livskvalitet. Värdighet hos de palliativa patienterna beskrevs genom begreppen integritet, välbefinnande och självbestämmande. God kommunikation och kontinuitet upplevdes som viktiga faktorer för de patienterna. Slutsats: Palliativa patienter som vårdats hemma såg i hög grad positivt på den vård de erhållit. De upplevde att samarbete mellan sjukvården och deras närstående är en förutsättning för trygg vård i hemmet. Hälso- och sjukvård bör prioritera dessa patienters önskan om att få vårdas och dö hemma eftersom detta genererar livskvalitet. Föreliggande studies resultat ger en tydlig indikation på utvecklingsområden inom palliativ vård. / Background: Every year, about 90 000 people in Sweden die and most of them are in need of palliative care. The individual should as far as possible be able to decide if he or she wants to die at home or in hospice care. Historically, palliative care was meant to treat people with cancer but has gradually evolved to treat several types of disorders. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe how adults perceive palliative care in their home, as well as to study the selected articles data collection method. Method: The present study has a descriptive design. The study results are based on eleven scientific articles, ten with qualitative approach, and one with a mixed approach. All articles were reviewed by both authors and color marked depending on the content. The articles were identified through databases CINAHL and Pubmed. Main Results: The palliative care at home was perceived largely as positive among patients. It was highly valued having their relatives close and to reside in their familiar home environment at the end of life. It also emerged that the palliative patients were concerned about being a burden to their families. By having paramedics in their home as well as support from relatives they were given the opportunity to be able to handle everyday activities on their own, which turned out to generate quality of life. Dignity of the palliative patients was described by the concepts of integrity, well-being and self-determination. Good communication and continuity was seen as important factors for the patients. Conclusion: Palliative patients who received care at home looked largely positive about the care they received. They felt that the cooperation between health care and their families was essential for safe care in their home. These patients' desire to be cared for and die at home should be a priority as it will lead to increased quality of life. Results of this study gives a clear indication of development areas in palliative care.

Notre thèse s’intéresse à la restructuration du service social d’une plate-forme téléphonique de santé – Santé Info. Au moment de l’étude le service social de ce centre de contact venait de faire l’objet d’une importante réorganisation, qui s’est concrétisée par la création d’une équipe de télé-opérateurs spécialisés. Dans ce contexte de changement organisationnel, notre travail vise à comprendre les incidences du développement de l’activité sur les pratiques situées des acteurs et saisir comment celles-ci nourrissent ce développement en retour. Nos réflexions autour de cette question sont inspirées par les théories de l’activité ainsi que les courants de la cognition et de l’action située. Nous nous appuyons sur la notion de perspective professionnelle et proposons la notion de saillance afin de rendre compte du développement de l’activité en pratique. Nous avons conduit une enquête ethnographique de près de deux ans au sein de cette organisation. Le dispositif méthodologique que nous avons mis en œuvre privilégie l’observation in situ des pratiques. La stratégie observationnelle choisie était celle du suivi, celui i) des acteurs, ii) des affaires c’est-à-dire des demandes traitées par plusieurs intervenants et iii) des situations de communication collective (formations, réunions d’équipe). Nous avons par ailleurs mobilisé la méthode de l’autoconfrontation à partir d’enregistrements audiovisuels. Nos résultats mettent en évidence deux axes de développement contradictoires de l’organisation, à savoir, d’une part, une tendance à l’intégration aux services des mutuelles fondatrices et une tendance à l’autonomisation de Santé Info en tant que prestataire de service externe. D’autre part, la restructuration du service social peut être appréhendée comme actualisant une contradiction sous-jacente au système d’activité, celle entre travail d’information (informer) et conseil (conseiller). Nous analysons les pratiques de prise et de construction de configurations d’indices informationnels des professionnels que nous qualifions de saillances. Nos analyses mettent en évidence que connaître son travail revient à connaître le travail des autres c’est-à-dire à anticiper leurs contraintes, leurs éventuelles difficultés, à reconnaître et tenir compte des impératifs auxquels ils doivent faire face (temporels et de production). La restructuration du service social de Santé Info au travers de la création d’une équipe spécialisée de téléconseillers – le pôle social - contribue à transformer ces pratiques. Par ailleurs, les nouvelles exigences que cette restructuration fait peser sur les professionnels participent de la redéfinition des enjeux de leurs actions en situation. En d’autres termes connaître le travail d’autrui est une ressource pour le collectif mais aussi pour le sujet. Les contributions de ce travail de thèse se situe à trois niveaux : théorique, méthodologique et disciplinaire. L’apport théorique réside dans la recherche d’une articulation entre une analyse orientée par les théories de l’activité et les approches situées de la cognition et de l’action. Ces questions nourrissent des enjeux méthodologiques pour notre travail, qui constituent le second apport de notre recherche. Il s’agit également de construire un dispositif d’observation et de collecte systématique de données dans un environnement professionnel exigeant où le travail est, à la fois, intellectuel et relationnel, la coopération latente et différée, et qui s’étayent sur une infrastructure sociotechnique complexe. Du point de vue de la psychologie du travail, notre étude ouvre à une réflexion autour des compétences collectives et du bien-être au travail. / Our research deals with the organizational change within Health Info, the inbound call center for a number of mutual health insurance companies. Health Info provides users with health information and referral for the purpose of helping them to make better choices in healthcare and to reduce their expenses. In order to improve the service delivered to the clients of the mutual insurance companies, call operators’ activity was redesigned. Some of the most experienced call center agents formed a new team (referred as the « social team »), which had the responsibility to process the information requests of users in need of financial support, different kind of allowances, within outbound calls. In this context, the goals of this doctoral thesis is to understand this organizational change as a development, that of Health Info’ collective activity but also that of the local individual practices. We build upon three approaches to the study of context - activity theory, situated action and situated cognition. Our research is based on a two years ethnographic study. We have used various data collection techniques. Those included ethnographic observation, video recordings of naturally occurring situations as well as interviews with staff members. We systematically attended and video recorded the regular staff meeting of the « social team ». We also shadowed staff members and followed specific « client cases » as first identified by call operators, then processed by the members of the « social team » and eventually transferred for further analysis to the social worker. Our results highlight several contradictions underlying Health Info’ current development. On one hand, Health Info is an additional service designed to fit within the those already existing of the mutual insurance companies. But it is also an autonomous service provider whose clients are the mutual companies. On the other hand, the « social team » reveals another contradiction between different work perspectives, namely that of informing users and helping them or providing them with support. Furthermore, our study underlines the practical dimensions of Health Info’ restructuring. The analysis of situated practices shows that works perspectives are grounded on salient configurations which are both emergent in situ and collectively elaborated cultural resources. The contributions of this doctoral thesis are to address some of the a) methodological and b) conceptual challenges arising from the use of activity theory as a theoretical framework in empirical studies, c) triggers off some interesting considerations on collective competencies and on well-being in the workplace.

The purpose of this study was to explain and describe the perspectives of student nurses at a private nursing education institution (NEI) in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, on the use of information technology (IT) in nursing education. A quantitative, non-experimental descriptive research design was selected to determine the respondents’ perspectives on IT and identify challenges that they encountered. The target population included all student nurses registered at the private NEI for the Bridging Programme for Enrolled Nurses leading to registration as a General Nurse (R683) and the Advanced Diploma in Medical and Surgical Nursing Science with specialization in either Critical Care, Trauma and Emergency, or Perioperative Nursing (R212). The researcher developed and used a structured self-administered questionnaire for data collection. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study highlighted that the respondents acknowledged the importance and benefits of IT in nursing education and the profession, but encountered challenges in using IT. The study found that the respondents owned at least one IT device, used IT frequently for study and work purposes, reported IT competence, and had positive attitudes to IT. The researcher made recommendations to improve the use of IT in nursing education and for further study. / Health Studies / M.A. (Nursing Science)

The need to incorporate interprofessional education (IPE) as part of any healthcare profession curricula is growing in an approach to prepare a collaborative practice-ready workforce. Pharmacy students should be equipped with the necessary competencies and skills needed for them to practise interprofessionally, commensurate with the expanding and evolving role of the pharmacist. Thus, the Qatar University College of Pharmacy has decided to incorporate IPE initiatives formally into the pharmacy curriculum in collaboration with other healthcare institutions in Qatar to meet the accreditation standards set by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) and fulfil the recommendations set in the World Health Organization (WHO) framework. To implement effective IPE strategies, it is important to consider the prior attitudes and expectations of various stakeholders in the process -- particularly students, faculty, and practising pharmacists. The overall aim of this PhD research is to explore the pharmacy perspectives of IPE and collaborative practice from a Middle Eastern context. The research started with a comprehensive systematic review of the literature focusing on the perspectives of pharmacy students, pharmacy faculty, and practising pharmacists on IPE and collaborative practice. Five themes have been identified from the systematic review: inconsistency in reporting IPE research, professional image of the pharmacist, lack of longitudinal follow-up, lack of IPE research on faculty, and lack of mixed method studies. This was followed by three sequential explanatory mixed method designs, to explore the perception of faculty, students, and practising pharmacists, individually. This was undertaken to gain an in depth understanding of the strengths and challenges of each group that can affect the implementation and perspectives toward IPE and collaborative practice. Two data collection methods were used: quantitative surveys and qualitative focus groups. Quantitative data were imported into SPSS® version 22 and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data from the focus groups were analysed using thematic analysis. For the quantitative surveys, the overall response rate was 117 out of 334 (35%) for pharmacy faculty in the Middle East, 102/132 (77%) for pharmacy students in Qatar and 178/285 (63%) for practising pharmacists in Qatar. This was followed by seven focus groups with a total of 51 participants. Findings, from both the survey and focus groups, support that students, faculty and practising pharmacists are ready to engage in IPE and collaborative practice. The findings further identified positive attitudes that reinforce the need to incorporate IPE into healthcare curricula. They perceive anticipated benefits to them as professionals and to the patients. However, a large number of challenges have been highlighted, including the existence of a hierarchical culture, pharmacists’ role and image, a weak sense of professional identity among pharmacists, their marginalised contribution, resistance from the healthcare teams to the evolving role of the pharmacists, and the heterogeneous background of healthcare professionals. Promisingly, the education and healthcare system in Qatar is undergoing significant changes with some positive influences noted within education and practice settings. This is the first study investigating pharmacy perspectives of IPE in Qatar, the Middle East, and worldwide. The findings from this research generated a body of knowledge regarding the pharmacy perspectives of IPE and provided a better understanding of what shapes this perspective from a Middle Eastern context. The research presents a new model based on collective input, efforts, and readiness in five key stages: academic institution, faculty, student, practice, and environment. The model moves beyond focusing on the individual stages separately and expands to consider the complexity of linking and aligning the stages together. Coordinated efforts, between the stages, focused on a more comprehensive and holistic implementation, is essential for successful implementation of IPE and collaborative practice.

A tese investiga controle gerencial como prática social e organizacional a partir de três paradigmas de pesquisa. Foi realizada etnografia em empresa brasileira, utilizando-se de shadowing, teoria fundamentada, entrevistas, observação, análise retórica, de documentos e visuais. No paradigma neofuncionalista, desenvolve teoria fundamentada construcionista para entender como controles sociotécnicos interagem com socioideológicos. Apesar de possuir tecnologias sociotécnicas, tais como \"custeio baseado em atividades\", \"balanced scorecard\", \"orçamento empresarial\", \"planejamento\", elas não são utilizadas como previsto na literatura gerencialista. Ao invés disso, formas sutis de controles socioideológicos, como retórica, políticas de recrutamento, controles sociais, liderança carismática, combinadas com tecnologia de controle híbrida desenvolvida pela empresa, fazem com que funcionários avaliem, implicitamente, custos e viabilidade econômica de suas ações. Essa tecnologia foi apresentada, inicialmente, como ferramenta de inovação, mas no estudo revelou-se como um controle totalizante, mais rígido do que os existentes na literatura. O papel gerencial da contabilidade é fornecido pela demonstração de resultados societária sintética para análise da participação nos lucros. Desse modo, controles socioideológicos substituem contabilidade gerencial. Desenvolveram-se três categorias conceituais para explicação dos achados: equifinalidade de custos e gestão econômica, tecnologia de controle híbrida e estruturas de consciência econômica. Os paradigmas remanescentes estudam a tecnologia híbrida. No interpretativista, a teoria da prática de Schatzki, investiga como funcionários realizam as práticas, identificando-se aprendizado, arranjos, memórias, regras e direcionamento para a ação. No crítico, o paradigma pós-estruturalista analisa política, história, instituições, poder e conflito, com a teoria pós-estruturalista do discurso de Laclau e Mouffe, baseada em psicanálise lacaniana, linguística, ideologia, estruturalismo, desconstrução, genealogia e teoria crítica. Através da lógica da explicação crítica de Glynos e Howarth, desenvolvem-se três grupos de lógicas. Nas lógicas políticas, identifica-se como a empresa converteu um canal de comunicação na década de 1980, em tecnologia de controle nos anos 2000. Desenvolve-se o conceito de instituições políticas de controle, para relatar o cenário político, macroeconômico, institucional e regulatório do Brasil entre 1980 a 2010. Identificou-se sua relação com controle gerencial e como gestores utilizaram discursos universais como \"qualidade\" e \"inovação\", em ações para legitimar a tecnologia híbrida, tornando-os significantes vazios. Nas lógicas sociais, emergiram as lógicas da coletividade, produtividade criativa, controle descentrado, competição e econômica. Nas lógicas fantasmáticas, as fantasias do consumo, fetiche dos prêmios, modismos gerenciais, do herói, família, cuidados e atenção pelos superiores explicam o porquê da tecnologia ser bem-sucedida. Ao final, realiza-se intertextualidade entre paradigmas. O trabalho acrescenta à literatura internacional lacunas de abordagens institucionais e da prática, como a teorização do sujeito e o relacionamento entre universal e particular, introduzindo novas tipologias e questionando a capacidade destas abordagens de explicar processo. Além disso, adiciona conceitos à literatura e contesta pesquisas anteriores sobre o tema. Contribui com a pesquisa no Brasil, discutindo paradigmas alternativos ao positivismo e funcionalismo, permitindo o desenvolvimento de linhas de pesquisa. Os conceitos e categorias gerados possibilitam generalização teórica a partir da noção de \"semelhanças de família\" de Wittgeinstein. Desenvolvem-se três tipologias para pesquisas. O estudo demonstra a necessidade da academia se engajar em debate crítico sobre modismos gerenciais, teoria da contabilidade gerencial, gerencialismo dos livros-textos e aspectos humanos e sociais da contabilidade. / The thesis investigates management control as social and organizational practice from three paradigms of research. Ethnography in a Brazilian company was carried out by using shadowing, grounded theory, interviews, observation, rhetoric analysis, documents and visual analysis. In the neo-functionalist paradigm develops grounded theory on constructionist in order to understand how socio-technical controls interact with socio-ideological. Despite having socio-technical technologies, such as \"activity-based costing\", \"balanced scorecard\", \"budget\", \"strategic planning\", which are not used as provided in managerial literature. Instead, subtle forms of socio-ideological controls, like rhetoric, recruiting policies, social controls, charismatic leadership, aligned with technology of hybrid control developed by company, enables employees to evaluate implicitly costs and economic feasibility of their actions. This technology was first introduced as an innovation tool; nevertheless, no study has revealed as a totalizing control, more rigid than the ones existing in literature. The management role of accounting is given by corporate statements results summarized for the analysis of participation over profits. Thus, socio-ideological controls replace management accounting. Three conceptual categories were developed to explain the research findings: equifinality of costs and economic management, hybrid control technology and structures of economic consciousness. The remaining paradigms study the hybrid technology. In the interpretivist paradigm, the theory of Schatzki´s practice investigates how employees perform the practices, by identifying the learning, arrangements, memories, rules and guidance for action. In the critical, the post-structuralist paradigm analysis political, historical, institutions, power and conflict with the post-structuralist discourse theory of Laclau and Mouffe, based on Lacan´s psychoanalysis, linguistics, structuralism, deconstruction, genealogy and critical theory. Three groups of logics were developed through the logic of Glynos and Howarth critical explanation. In the political logics, it is possible to identify how a company converted a channel of communication in the 1980s into technology of control in the 2000s. The concept of political institutions of control is being developed, as to relate to political, macroeconomics, institutional and regulatory Brazilian scenario between 1980 to 2010. Its relation with management control was identified and, as managers, used universal discourses such as \"quality\" and \"innovation\", in actions to legitimate the hybrid technology, turning them significantly without meaning. In social logics, the logics of collectivity, creative productivity, decentralized control, competition and economic came up. In the fantasmatic logics, consume fantasy, awards fetishes, management fashions, of the hero, family, care and attention by the superiors explain the reason why technology is well-succeed. Summarizing, intertextuality among paradigms is accomplished. The thesis also adds to international literature gaps of institutional and practice approaches, such as theorization of the subject and the relationship between universal and particular, introducing new typologies and questioning the capacity of those process explanation approaches. Besides that, it adds up the concepts to literature and challenges previous studies on the subject. It contributes with the research in Brazil, discussing alternative paradigms to positivism and functionalism, allowing the development of research lines. The concepts and categories generated enable theoretical generalization from the notion of \"family resemblances\" of Wittgeinstein. Three typologies for researches are developed. The study illustrates the need of the academia to engage in a critical debate about management fashions, theory of management accounting, the managerialism of textbooks as well as social and human aspects of the accounting.

‘Child trafficking’ as a phenomenon requiring a policy and practice response has, in recent years gathered considerable pace. ‘Child trafficking’ is a crosscutting social issue, relevant to policy areas of child protection, child migration, criminal justice, immigration, social policy and human rights. This thesis explores children’s own accounts and lived experiences of ‘child trafficking’, addressing a notable gap in hearing from children directly. The thesis critically engages with the social construction of the ‘trafficked child’ examining how contemporary concepts of childhood shape and inform ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice. How ‘child trafficking’ policy has been constructed politically is examined, in shaping how ‘child trafficking’ is defined in practice. The implications for children experiencing trafficking of a system built on current assumptions about childhood and ‘child trafficking’ are considered. The study explores how children’s experiences of their childhood and ‘child trafficking’ challenge many assumptions underpinning policy and practice. The findings reveal a disjuncture between immigration-driven and prosecution focused ‘child trafficking’ practice and children requiring a welfare and individualised response to their needs. Children needed practitioners to listen to them, believe them and take action upon child protection concerns. A conclusion is drawn that the way in which ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice in England is presently constructed, and experienced, appears not to reflect the lived ‘realties’ of young people in this study. A new approach to ‘child trafficking’ policy and practice is recommended underpinned by a conceptual shift in how we perceive childhood and adolescence. Intended audiences of this study include policy-makers and front-line practitioners including social workers, the police, immigration officers and other services. This qualitative study contributes in developing methods with a hard to access population addressing a difficult subject area, promoting children and young people’s participation in research.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T16:57:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miguel Fortunato Athias.pdf: 794868 bytes, checksum: ebf4781265627c95e23dfa2c076ef5e6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-10-27 / Fundação Instituto para o Desenvolvimento da Amazônia / The aim of this paper is to discuss opportunities and prospects for training teachers of mathematics in the distance education mode. It builds on the experiences of two institutions of higher education, one with extensive experience in distance education, and the other developing a pilot project to be implemented later on a larger scale. It discusses the methods of distance learning that were held in the world and still are, they fit the courses surveyed could be included, the definitions of distance education that have been built over the time and what is the definition provided by law in Brazil; it debates also the tasks that teachers can take in this area and analyzes the curriculum of each course. This is a qualitative research, with characteristics presented by Lüdke and Andre (1986), which uses document analysis and interviews that were conducted with coordinators and teachers from different disciplines and the analysis of the interviews are based on the lessons of Bardin (2010). The theoretical foundations were sought especially in the work of Otto Peters, Maria Luiza Belloni, Garcia Gouvêa, Regina Silveira Barros Leal and Marcelo de Carvalho Borba. The results show that it is possible to conduct a good quality course in Mathematics in distance education, that teachers have been successfully overcoming the problems encountered in developing their courses to distance with the use of audio visual technology and resources, but there is still great difficulties on the part of teachers and students at this new opportunity, especially in terms of understanding of the peculiarities of distance education and the real role of teachers and students in this initial training / O objetivo do presente trabalho é o de discutir possibilidades e perspectivas de formar professores de Matemática na modalidade de educação a distância. Toma por base experiências de duas instituições de nível superior, uma delas com larga experiência em educação a distância e, a outra desenvolvendo um projeto piloto a ser implantado posteriormente em maior escala. Discute as modalidades de ensino a distância que foram e são realizadas no mundo, e em qual delas estão inseridos os cursos pesquisados; as definições de educação a distância que foram construídas ao longo do tempo e qual a definição fornecida por lei pelo Brasil; debate também funções que os professores podem assumir nesta modalidade; bem como analisa os currículos de cada curso. Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, com características apresentadas por Lüdke e André (1986), que utiliza análise de documentos e entrevistas que foram realizadas com coordenadores e professores de diferentes disciplinas e as análises das entrevistas tomam por base os ensinamentos de Bardin (2010). Os fundamentos teóricos foram buscados especialmente nos trabalhos de Otto Peters, Maria Luiza Belloni, Garcia Gouvêa, Regina Barros Leal Silveira e Marcelo de Carvalho Borba. Os resultados apontam no sentido de que é possível realizar um curso de Licenciatura em Matemática a Distância de qualidade, que os professores estão conseguindo superar os problemas encontrados para desenvolver suas disciplinas a distância com a utilização de tecnologias e recursos áudios visuais; porém ainda há grandes dificuldades por parte de professores e alunos diante dessa nova possibilidade, especialmente em termos de entender as peculiaridades da educação a distância e o real papel de professores e alunos nesta modalidade de formação inicial

Many studies evidence the importance of metacognition in successful learning. Metacognitive skills improve the academic outcomes of learners. Additionally, metacognitive skills build lifelong learning skills, which are transferable to employment and other contexts. As such, developing metacognition in students is of great value to universities as society as a whole. This study explores the perceptions of lecturers and student teachers in a College of Education at a University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) regarding the presence and promotion of metacognitive skills at the University in which the study took place. The study spanned three departments in the College, namely Kindergarten, Special Education, and Art Education. The study employs an interpretive research approach and case study methodology to gather this rich understanding of lecturers’ and students’ perceptions. Data were collected from twelve lecturers and twelve undergraduate students through a combination of lecture room observations, semi-structured interviews, and group interviews. The most significant finding emerging from this study is the lack of lecturer participants’ knowledge regarding metacognition generally. My study found that skills such as planning, monitoring, and evaluating skills were sometimes present in their teaching, but were not used to engage students in thinking metacognitively or developing their own metacognitive abilities. I found that metacognition was not present consistently or intentionally in lecture rooms. The findings further exposed some obstacles which could inhibit the promotion of metacognition in higher education in KSA. For example, traditional methods of rote learning were shown to discourage metacognitive thinking. Large student numbers and lecturers’ lack of time could prohibit lecturers from investing in teaching metacognitive skills to their students. Students’ apathy towards anything other than memorising facts to pass examinations and acquire grades could also demotivate them to learn valuable skills like metacognition without comprehensive changes to educational norms. The study identified multiple ways in which metacognition could be promoted in higher education in KSA. For example, diversifying teaching practices to include more active learning methods such as discussion and questioning would be more effective than the current prevalent method of lecturing and learning by memorising. Lecturers could role-model metacognitive skills to their students by incorporating metacognition into their own practice, and thus incorporate it into existing courses. Students could be motivated to develop metacognitive skills by discovering the benefits to them of metacognition on both their academic success and their future careers. The study’s findings supported the importance of including metacognition in higher education and advocating it to students as a valuable skill. Thus, there is a need to establish mechanisms or frameworks for integrating metacognition into higher education in KSA, and communities of practice which support the development of metacognitive skills among lecturers and student teachers who will be the teachers of tomorrow. I therefore offer a model with recommendations for practical uptake to expedite this, and support it with this study's evidence.

Informed by, and seeking to contribute to, discussions about appropriate methodology (e.g. Holliday, 1994), my study as reported in this thesis was concerned with appropriacy of paradigms in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). It explored practitioner perspectives in Thai higher education (HE) in this era when English has become 'the' main international language for intercultural communication (IC). This linkage between English as an international language (EIL) and IC is evident in the strategy of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) - of which Thailand was a founding member in 1967 - for greater economic, cultural and socio-political integration among its members. For practitioners like me, this regional strategic move in conjunction with Thai policies and curricular documentation raises questions about the appropriacy of the established practices of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Thailand. My multi-method qualitative case study addressed such questions by exploring the perspectives of three Thai-national teachers of English working in a Thai public university regarding the purposes of, and assumptions underpinning, their teaching of English. As informed by an understanding of their perspectives, I then considered the possible influences which might have shaped these perspectives. The study identified the teachers' main purposes to be short-term, instrumental ones - i.e. for academic study and examination preparation purposes. As such, they tended not to attach much value to the teaching of the cultural dimension (i.e. the target culture of native English speakers [NESs], the students' home cultures and other cultures) or intercultural dimension (i.e. knowledge, skills and mindset needed for engaging people from differing cultural backgrounds). These purposes were underpinned by assumptions they held about the NES linguistic norms as testable norms in TEFL and Teaching English for Academic Purposes (TEAP). The teachers seemed unfamiliar with alternative paradigms - such as Teaching English as an International Language (TEIL) - that might align top-level policy statements and actual classroom practices. This unfamiliarity suggests the inadequacy of the teachers' educational and professional development experiences. The influences from their institution such as exams-oriented and English-medium academic agendas also had repercussions for the teachers' perspectives. Stepping back from the teachers' perspectives, my study suggested discourse inconsistencies across Thai HE regarding paradigms and purposes of TESOL. This situation is unhelpful vis-à-vis the ASEAN foregrounding of EIL for IC, and the consequent need, through TESOL, to prepare Thai students to engage in IC with people within and beyond ASEAN. My study has implications for a direction of change for TESOL in the Thai HE and possibly for similar contexts elsewhere. It offers some suggestions about teacher education that can be supportive of reorienting TESOL towards appropriate and purposeful paradigms.