The new democratic government of Malawi introduced free primary education (FPE) in the 1994/95 academic year. This major policy intervention included the removal of tuition and other school fees, and children were no longer required to wear a uniform to attend school. The main objectives ofFPE were to increase access to primary education and to eliminate inequalities in participation through reducing the direct costs, and to improve retention rates and thus reduce illiteracy. FPE is the most significant educational policy ever introduced in Malawi. Its development invited a detailed study of how participation has changed, what mechanisms were employed to improve retention and promotion, and what strategies were used to meet the need for additional human and physical resources. There are four main concerns which shaped this study: 1) The genesis of the policy- how was the policy initiated and for what reasons? 2) The policy itself- i.e. what did the policy consist of and what did the ministry of education do? 3) What happened after the introduction of FPE and how did enrolment, access and retention change over time? 4) Why did things happen the way they did and what are the reasons which help explain the effect of implementing FPE? Data were collected through grounded case studies of ten schools undertaken in different parts of Malawi. The literature indicates that judgements on the effectiveness of policy implementation require insights that can only be obtained from case study work at the local level. Those involved in the development of policy were interviewed and national level data were also analysed. Systems theory was used to examine the relationships between system components, between the system and its environment and between one system and another, and the major concepts of this theory of interdependence, integration and cohesion were used to analyse and interpret the findings of this thesis. At the macro level, the study also drew on functionalist theory. In order to examine how educational institutions perceive, manipulate and act within the structural constraints within which they find themselves, the socio-politico-cultural frameworks within which, and through which these institutions have shaped schooling under FPE were elaborated. The analysis has shown that the immediate goal of ensuring universal access to primary education has been largely achieved. Most children in Malawi have set foot inside a school of some kind. But when the implementation of FPE policy was examined within the Jomtien aspirations which included improving educational quality, ensuring greater equity in the distribution of educational resources, and improving retention and attendance, the thesis concludes that Malawi lacks the administrative and fiscal capacity to deliver primary education of minimum quality to all. This deficiency leads to system fragmentation and low cohesion in the implementation process which partly explains the limitations of FPE policy identified. The study established that schooling problems might have worsened since the introduction of FPE and that despite increased efforts towards girls education, gender disparities still remain one of the main problems. Further, the rhetorical association of schooling with economic opportunity is questionable, at least for those where the demand for schooling is weak and the benefits not apparent. A simulation modelling costs also indicates that achieving EFA is financially unsustainable in the short and medium term. The findings provide pointers about what needs to be done or strengthened in order to ensure a more effective implementation of an ambitious and worthwhile educational policy reform in Malawi, as well as the lessons that can be learned for the implementation of similar reforms.

Education today is in process; it is changing and developing toward a more efficient and effective way of accomplishing an adjusted and an informed citizenry in .Ane rica. Dogma of the past yields slowly to the new. Tradition, apathy and inertia on the part of patrons and educators alike coupled with higher costs of better methods form a discouragingly slow team at times. In the field of education as with McCormick's reaper, it is not enough to have a better method or a more efficient tool. The consumer must be sold on the idea. He must be educated to the new, and as the child learns by participating, so the parent must participate to understand the problems of the modern school.

This case study takes an in-depth look at what type of students transition from elementary to middle school 21st Century Community Learning Center programs. Using binary logistic regressions, I identify key characteristics that predict whether or not a student will continue to attend the program after they transition to a new school and then discuss how to improve the attendance of after-school programs. Moreover, this case study also identifies how different school program environments serve different types of students in two cohorts starting in fifth grade. Middle school context moderates the effects of other variables that are predictive of participation in after-school programs during middle school. Thus, I demonstrate how understanding who makes successful transitions in the after-school program can help improve the sustainability and effectiveness of these programs.

Family and school are the two major socialization agents for young people with important implications for their social, psychological and cognitive development. This thesis aimed to investigate the extent to which family conditions in terms of parental attachment and support (PAS) and school conditions in terms of participation and teacher support were associated with adolescents’ psychosomatic health. The thesis also explored whether school participation and support (SPS) could compensate for the potentially negative health implications of experiencing poor relational support at home. Association patterns according to gender and grade were also investigated. Data were derived from a classroom survey of all ninth and eleventh-grade students carried out in Stockholm 2006 (n=9,560). Results from linear regression analyses showed that both PAS and SPS were negatively associated with psychosomatic complaints. Gender and grade differences were also noted in respect to PAS and SPS as well as in the interaction between them. The study failed to find a compensatory function of school characteristics for less advantaged students, but modifying effects were nevertheless found. Students with a combination of high PAS and low SPS had worse health than expected, thus indicating that poor condition in school modifies the positive health effect of PAS in a negative way.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-25T12:22:01Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AldeciLuizDeOliveira.pdf: 389343 bytes, checksum: 4911dbc4db4006d739d03e6ff58770a4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-09-14 / The present work comprehends The Democratic Speech at the School. It reconstitutes the implantation of PRODASEC / Urban in Campina Grande - PB (1981-1983), a program financed by the World Bank, in the 80s. At that time, there was a miracle in Brazil and increase of urban movements. As soon as the conflicts appear because of the crisis, showed as an absolute crisis and turned in to a threat to the stability of the model of the market internationalization, during the military government. The safe transition of the military government for the civil government justified the external mediation, of the MB, in programs destined to the social stabilization. PRODASEC / Urban was one of those programs with the objective to measure, through education the association of the urban social movements and to provide them financial autonomy, by the generation of income. We followed the implantation of that Program, as a technician, as a coordinator and director of the School. It was identified problems in the management of the Program and the school and especially how to maintain the school, after the end of the Program, brought fidgets and stimulate us to do this research. As an investigation problem, we choose the relationship between education democracy and social democracy or, more precisely, the (re) signification of the democratic speech in the school institution. Is there relation between the speech at school and the democratic procedures in the society? It was defined as objectives: analyze the (re) signification of the democratic procedures in the society, in the education and in the speech at school; analyze relations of power and ways of participation in the organizations of the work and in the curriculum. Our theoretical support was according to the studies of Castoriadis (2007) and Tocqueville (s/d), about democracy and the dimension of the study was according to the study developed by Giddens (1991) that constitute the capitalism as main institution of the bourgeois society. According to the methodology, this research was a study of case, in the historical time of the institution. The empirical research was developed at the State School, that remained from the PRODASEC/Urban. The subjects of the investigation were the teachers of the first phase of the basic education and the technicians. It was used semi-structured interviews and to get more information it was used the observation and the analysis of documents. The data were organized by categories - organization of the work and management of the school and organization of the curriculum - submitted to the content analysis, (BARDIN, 2006). With the results, it was observed that: the authoritarian procedures in the social and education management were transferred to the school institution; hierarchical power relationships; the administration work and the execution one are far from; absence in the educational work objective; lack of knowledge of the school dynamics and the participation of teachers in the school works. It was verified that, if we exclude the contingency of the results, the school is going to be limited to reproduce an unequal structures of power and if the possibilities of application of democratic procedures were take off it not possible to form critical citizens able to query the society and their institutions. / A presente dissertação contextualiza O Discurso Democrático no Espaço Escolar. Reconstitui a implantação do PRODASEC /Urbano em Campina Grande PB (1981-1983), um programa financiado pelo Banco Mundial, na década de oitenta. Naquela conjuntura, vivia-se no Brasil a crise do milagre e o crescente aumento de movimentos urbanos. À medida que a crise gerava conflitos, esses conflitos se revelavam como crise de hegemonia e se transformavam em ameaça à estabilidade do modelo de internacionalização do mercado, implantado sob a segurança dos militares. A transição segura do governo militar para o governo civil justificou a ingerência externa, sobretudo, do BM, em programas destinados à estabilização social. O PRODASEC /Urbano foi um desses programas e tinha como objetivo dimensionar, através da educação, o associativismo dos movimentos sociais urbanos e prover autonomia financeira à população periférica, pela geração de renda. Acompanhamos a implantação daquele Programa, inicialmente como técnica, posteriormente, como coordenadora e diretora da Escola criada por meio dele. A constatação de problemas na gerência do Programa e da escola, sobretudo, a manutenção da escola, após o encerramento do Programa, gerou inquietações e nos impulsionou à realização desta pesquisa. Como problema de investigação, elegemos a relação entre democracia educacional e democracia social ou, mais precisamente, a (re) significação do discurso democrático na instituição escolar. Há relação entre a prática discursiva escolar e os procedimentos democráticos vigentes na sociedade? Definimos como objetivos: analisar a (re) significação dos procedimentos democráticos vigentes na sociedade, na educação e na prática discursiva escolar; analisar relações de poder e formas de participação vigentes nas organizações do trabalho e do currículo. Assumimos, como abordagem teórica, os estudos de Castoriadis (2007) e de Tocqueville (s/d), sobre democracia e dimensionamos o estudo pela abordagem desenvolvida por Giddens (1991), que configura o capitalismo como instituição-feixe da sociedade burguesa. Para o trato metodológico, caracterizamos a pesquisa como estudo de caso, situando-o no tempo histórico da instituição. A pesquisa empírica aconteceu numa Escola da Rede Estadual de Ensino, remanescente do PRODASEC/Urbano. Os sujeitos da investigação foram as professoras da 1.ª fase do Ensino Fundamental e o pessoal técnico. Utilizamos entrevistas semi-estruturadas e, para o aprofundamento, recorremos à observação livre e à análise documental. Os dados foram sistematizados através das categorias - organização do trabalho e gestão escolar e organização do currículo - submetidos à análise de conteúdo, segundo Bardin (2006). Entre outros resultados, destacamos: a transferência de procedimentos autoritários vigentes na gestão social e educacional para a instituição escolar; relações hierárquicas de poder; distanciamento entre o trabalho de administração e o de execução; ausência de finalidade no trabalho educativo; falta de conhecimento da dinâmica escolar e de envolvimento das professoras nos trabalhos realizados. Constatamos que, se excluirmos a contingência dos resultados, limitaremos a escola à reprodução das estruturas desiguais de poder e tiramos dela as possibilidades de aplicação de procedimentos democráticos e de investirmos na formação de cidadãos críticos, com capacidade de questionar a sociedade e as instituições que a realizam.

Šiame darbe nagrinėjamas Vilniaus ikimokyklinių įstaigų dalyvavimas tarptautiniuose projektuose- jų patirtis bei problemos. Analizuojami ikimokyklinėms įstaigoms skirtų tarptautinių projektų tikslai, uždaviniai, paskirtis ir pan. Analizuojama vilniaus ikimokyklinių įstaigų vadovų nuomonė apie galimybę dalyvauti tarptautiniuose projektuose. / In research I concentrated to Vilnius city pre-school institutions participation in to the internationals projects. That is why I analyze in this research do they need such international projects and what kind of benefit is from them.Participating in projects activity get many of positive objects – teachers get new experience, they more trusted in own strength. And the main thing is that these international projects likes to children in education institution.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-04-07Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:52:52Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 abe_pb_me_mar.pdf: 1091660 bytes, checksum: 63cf0317e8dcdb377606b1427ca9fae7 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A análise do nível de participação escolar é fundamental para avaliar qualitativamente a inclusão de crianças com Necessidades Educacionais Especiais (NEE) em classe regular de ensino. Para essa avaliação é preciso dirigir a atenção para a funcionalidade do aluno perante as demandas ambientais específicas, tendo-se como recurso para a coleta de informações um instrumento de medida padronizado. Nessa direção, o presente estudo investigou a participação escolar de alunos com registro de matrícula constando NEE, por meio da aplicação da School Function Assessment (SFA) tendo como objetivos: a identificação dos níveis de auxílio oferecidos a essas crianças e o levantamento da opinião dos professores sobre a importância do referido instrumento. Participaram deste estudo oito professoras de nove crianças com NEE matriculadas em classe regular do primeiro ciclo do ensino fundamental de escolas municipais. Os resultados indicaram que a participação dos alunos é próxima das expectativas de desempenho para as demais crianças da série nos ambientes de classe regular, pátio de recreio, transporte, banheiro, deslocamento e hora do lanche. As áreas de maior dificuldade foram: participação em classe regular e participação no pátio durante o recreio e intervalo. Nota-se a existência de altos níveis de assistência de terceiros, durante a execução de tarefas, havendo pouca ou nenhuma adaptação. Segundo a opinião das professoras, o instrumento (SFA) deixou mais claro o entendimento quanto ao desempenho e à participação do aluno na escola, mas, não agregou imediato valor para o trabalho cotidiano em sala de aula. Esses dados sugerem que o diagnóstico descritivo da funcionalidade é algo a ser destacado nos registros escolares, uma vez que as necessidades educacionais especiais devem ser identificadas na interação do sujeito com o seu ambiente... / The analysis of the level of participation in school is essential to understand the quality of inclusion of children with special needs in the general education classrooms. For this evaluation it is important to focus attention on the student functionality before the demands of the environment, using as a resource for collecting information it is used a standardized criterion-referenced assessment. This work investigated the performance of students identified in school records as having special needs, the instrument used for this task was the School Function Assessment (SFA) which has as its objectives the identification of levels of aid offered to the children and the understanding of the views of teachers about the importance of that instrument. A group of eight teachers participated in this work evaluating nine students with special needs enrolled on the basic education in regular public schools. The results indicated that the participation performance of those students is close to what is expected from a typical student in each one of the school environments: regular classrooms, playground/recess, transportation, bathroom/toileting, transitions, meal time/snack time. The environments presenting greatest difficulty were: participation in the regular classroom and participation in the playground/recess. It was noticed the presence of high levels of assistance by other people during the tasks having little or none adaptation. In the view of the teacher, the instrument (SFA) brings a clearer understanding about the performance and participation of students in the school, but it does not bring immediate added value to the daily work in the classroom. This data suggests that the descriptive diagnostic of the functionality is something to be carefully posted on the school records as the special needs must be identified by the relationship of the student with the school environment... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

For many years, educators, psychologists and parents have expressed concern about the apparent deterioration of pupil motivation and performance after children move to secondary school. This study used a longitudinal design to examine the transfer process from the perspective of a group of 393 children (195 boys, 198 girls) as they moved from 19 primary schools to four secondary schools in Fife. Children’s self-perceptions of school commitment, school belonging, school participation, self-esteem and global wellbeing were evaluated four times over a 13 month period, twice before transfer in the final year of primary school and twice after transfer in the first year of secondary school. Information was also collected about family and home life, emotions, lifestyle and school on each occasion. The data was analysed using multilevel modelling in order to examine how each of the five outcome variables changed over the time of the study, and how they related to a series of independent variables. It was anticipated that changes in these outcomes may have occurred immediately after the move to secondary school, perhaps followed by an improvement six months later after they had adapted to changes and settled in to their new schools. The results showed that, contrary to expectations, all outcomes except school participation recorded an improvement at wave 3, immediately after the transfer to secondary school. However, there was some evidence that after an initial ‘honeymoon period’, children perceived certain aspects of school in a less positive light and by wave 4 there was a decline in all outcomes except for the perception of self-esteem, which continued to improve. Since wave 4 was only a few months after transition, a significant change in children’s views is seen quite quickly after transfer. It is not clear whether this represents a return to a more realistic level or if this signals the beginning of a more prolonged negative attitude towards school and education in general. The general conclusion is that the process of transfer to secondary schools is well managed, but it might be helpful for induction programmes to prepare children for the changes in teaching and learning methods that might be encountered, and perhaps other types of programme might be beneficial during the first year.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-10T10:53:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GEOVANA SOFFA REZIO.pdf: 1249846 bytes, checksum: 39e4c2fb2e20951a3f1b5bd8306d9423 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-04 / Cerebral palsy (CP) is a clinical condition that generates high prevalence of problems in functional activities and the control of voluntary movements the children. The present study aimed to describe the level of functional independence, mobility thick and school participation of children with CP; to analyze the association between the level of functional independence and motor skills of children with CP; to analyze the association between the level of functional independence and school participation children with CP; to analyze the association between motor skills and school participation of children with CP. The sample comprised 31 children aged 1 to 11 years who attend regularly Association of Clinical Pestalozzi Goiânia and CORAE, their parents and / or guardians and teachers. In the evaluation we used the the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) instruments, Sheet neurological assessment, socioeconomic assessment, Pediatric Evalution of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) and School Function Assessement (SFA). This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the UFG and developed by signing the Term of Informed Consent of participants. The characterization data of the sample were analyzed using descriptive statistics. We conducted Pearson correlation test to check the correlation coefficient between functional independence, motor function and school participation. In all analyzes was the significance level of 5%. The results showed that children who have a higher level of functional independence and improved performance in motor function receive less assistance and adaptations in their school activities. In turn, children more dependent on functionality and gross motor skills have more difficulties in social relationships and school adjustment. These results may be useful for the functional characterization of this clinical group; adaptations of the school environment, the choice of direction for reviews; better targeting of assistance provided; and planning of clinical interventions. / A paralisia cerebral (PC) é uma condição clínica que gera alta prevalência de problemas nas atividades funcionais e no controle dos movimentos voluntários das crianças. O presente estudo teve por objetivos descrever o nível de independência funcional, motricidade grossa e participação escolar de crianças com PC; analisar a associação entre o nível de independência funcional e a motricidade de crianças com PC; analisar a associação entre o nível de independência funcional e a participação escolar de crianças com PC; analisar a associação entre a motricidade e a participação escolar de crianças com PC. A amostra foi composta por 31 crianças com idade entre um e 11 anos que frequentam regularmente o Setor Clínico da Associação Pestalozzi de Goiânia e do CORAE, seus respectivos pais e/ou responsável e professores. Na avaliação utilizou-se os instrumentos Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), Ficha de avaliação neurológica, Avaliação socioeconômica, Pediatric Evalution of Disability Inventory (PEDI), Gross Motor Function Measure (GMFM) e School Function Assessement (SFA). Este estudo foi aprovado pelo Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da UFG e desenvolvido mediante o consentimento dos participantes. Os dados de caracterização da amostra e da participação escolar foram analisados através de estatística descritiva. Foi realizado teste de Correlação de Pearson para verificar o coeficiente de correlação entre independência funcional, função motora e participação escolar. Em todas as análises realizadas foi adotado o nível de significância de 5%. Os resultados mostraram que as crianças que apresentam um maior nível de independência funcional e um melhor desempenho na função motora recebem menos adaptações e assistência nas suas atividades escolares. Por sua vez, crianças mais dependentes na funcionalidade e na motricidade grossa apresentam mais dificuldades nas relações sociais e adaptação escolar. Esses resultados podem ser úteis para a caracterização funcional deste grupo clínico; as adaptações do meio escolar; o direcionamento para escolha de avaliações; melhor direcionamento das assistências fornecidas; e planejamento das intervenções clínicas.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-21T20:31:30Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Aldimara Catarina.pdf: 2713782 bytes, checksum: 99dc28ba3af43cc3da210004dcf9cc06 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-04 / This paper presents a kind of studies about the students’ councils which actuate inside the state schools from Ponta Grossa, located in the suburb areas. The aim of this research was to analyse these students’ coucils’ limits and possibilities, as they are collegiate instances which represent the schools, for the emancipation process of the communities they are in. The question that has led this research is: How can a students’ council contribute for the emancipation process in this current capitalist society? The object of the research is composed by six students’ councils which actuate in High Schools located in the suburbs and the specific goals which have led all the reflections are: a) Contextualizing the students’ movements which preceded the students’ councils; b) Identifying the goals, being explicit or not, which direct the activities and projects developed by the students’ councils; c) Making the conceptions explicit, the ones that lead the organization of the school performing inside students’ councils from the investigated reality. For the data collection, some semi-structured interviews were used, all answered by students who are the students’ councils’ presidents, selected for the research. Papers like councils’ proceedings and Handbooks and Primers written by SEED-PR and “Instituto Sou da Paz” were also analyzed. The interviews were transcripted, analyzed and classified, considering: the autonomy of the students, who actuate along the councils, the projects which are developed by these councils, the electoral process, the policy emancipation and the human emancipation. As theorist support, the Historical and Dialectical Materialism was used, counting on some authors contribution like: Poermer (1979), Gramsci (1978, 2004), Mandel (1979), Marx (2001, 2010), Tonet (2005, 2010), Sanfelice (1986, 2008), that helped on the dialogues establishment with all the theorist referential and also for the comprehension on how the students movements have configured themselves up to the current structure of the students’ councils. The results from this research show that the policy orientation expressed on the Handbooks and the Primers written by SEED-PR and by “Instituto Sou da Paz” reflects on the projects and activities developed by the councils. It was also possible to note that the manager team gives limits to the students’ participation along the councils, contributing, this way, to inhibit a committed students’ performing when looking for liberating goals. Therefore, this research gives the conclusion the students’ councils which were studied don’t contribute for the emancipation process and that the practice for the policy emancipation is presented in a weak way. / de ensino da cidade de Ponta Grossa, situadas em regiões de periferias. O objetivo da pesquisa foi analisar os limites e as possibilidades desses grêmios estudantis, enquanto instância colegiada de representação discente, para o processo de emancipação nas comunidades em que se inerem. A questão que norteou a pesquisa foi: Em que medida o grêmio estudantil pode contribuir para o processo de emancipação na atual sociedade capitalista? O objeto da pesquisa é composto por seis grêmios estudantis que atuam em escolas de Ensino Médio nas periferias e os objetivos específicos que nortearam as reflexões foram: a) Contextualizar os movimentos estudantis brasileiros que antecederam os grêmios estudantis; b) Identificar os objetivos, explícitos ou não, que orientam as atividades e projetos desenvolvidos pelos grêmios estudantis; c) Explicitar as concepções que norteiam a organização da atuação discente em grêmios estudantis das realidades pesquisadas. Para a coleta de dados foram utilizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com os alunos que presidem os grêmios estudantis selecionados para a pesquisa, também foram analisados documentos como as atas dos grêmios e os Manuais e cartilhas de autoria da SEED-PR e do Instituto Sou da Paz. As entrevistas foram transcritas, analisadas e categorizadas, considerando: a autonomia dos alunos que atuam junto aos grêmios, os projetos desenvolvidos pelas agremiações, o processo eleitoral, a emancipação política e a emancipação humana. Como aporte teórico foi utilizado o Materialismo Histórico e Dialético, com a contribuição de autores como: Poermer (1979), Gramsci (1978, 2001), Mandel (1979), Marx (2001, 2010), Tonet (2005, 2010), Sanfelice (1986, 2008), os quais auxiliaram tanto para o estabelecimento do diálogo com o referencial teórico como para o entendimento de como se configurou o movimento estudantil até se chegar a estrutura atual dos grêmios estudantis. Os resultados da pesquisa evidenciam que os direcionamentos políticos expressos nos Manuais e cartilhas de produção da SEED, PR e do Instituto Sou da Paz, se refletem nos projetos e atividades desenvolvidas pelas agremiações. Também foi possível perceber que a equipe gestora limita e cerceia a participação dos alunos junto aos grêmios estudantis, contribuindo, dessa forma para inibir uma atuação estudantil comprometida por objetivos emancipadores. A pesquisa concluiu portanto, que os grêmios estudantis pesquisados não contribuem para o processo de emancipação e que o exercício da emancipação política é apresentado de forma fragilizada.