Alexandre Ventura and Candido Gomes
This piece of research provides an overview on supplementary education in Brazil based on the available literature.
Abstract
Purpose
This piece of research provides an overview on supplementary education in Brazil based on the available literature.
Methodology/approach
Literature review.
Findings
In a country plenty of social and educational contrasts, student failure and high repetition rates in basic education are the main factors of supplementary education flourishing. Additional factors are the quick expansion of access at all levels of schooling and the ascension of a new lower middle class that can afford to pay for supplementary tutoring. Tutors at their homes and in small offices are still one of the most common means for students who want to overcome their difficulties and improve their knowledge and skills. However, franchising outlets have grown since the 1980s and in particular the 1986 with the winds of globalization. Their most important branches are foreign languages and preparatory courses, especially for college entrance and public servant selection examinations. This branch of business has been financially very attractive for entrepreneurs. Official data on family budget show that families spend each year a significant amount of resources, impacting the sophistication and complexity of the supplementary education market. In sum, supplementary education is a result of quality deficiencies and inequity. At the same time, it increases the lack of equity between students from different human capital backgrounds.
Research limitations (if applicable)
Main limitation is that research on supplementary education in Brazil is still recent and scarce. On the other hand, till now, no public policy has paid attention to this phenomenon.
Practical implications
Public policy, research, and evaluation fields must consider the phenomenon of supplementary education in Brazil as an important variable contributing to inequity and to academic performance. This chapter calls attention to the need of increasing research on this issue.
Social implications
As it is more valued and easily available to relatively more privileged social groups, supplementary education in Brazil contributes to increasing education inequity.
Originality/value
This chapter contributes to improving knowledge on supplementary education in Brazil, and its causes and implications. This portrait of the Brazilian scenario can also be instrumental for comparative education purposes at regional and global levels.
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Alexandre Ventura and Jorge Adelino Costa
Analyzes the development of the external evaluation models of schools in Portugal. Gives special emphasis to the current situation and role of inspection with a constant…
Abstract
Analyzes the development of the external evaluation models of schools in Portugal. Gives special emphasis to the current situation and role of inspection with a constant retrospective view of the administration of the educational system. Reveals that the Portuguese education system has been changing, with more autonomy being placed on schools which places importance on the evaluation process. Concludes that the evaluation process should be developed as a way of controlling the educational system.
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Petros Pashiardis, Jorge Adelino Costa, Antonio Neto Mendes and Alexandre Ventura
This research, based on a case study carried out in a Portuguese public school, was undertaken with the main purpose of investigating the perceptions of secondary school teachers…
Abstract
Purpose
This research, based on a case study carried out in a Portuguese public school, was undertaken with the main purpose of investigating the perceptions of secondary school teachers regarding their principal and his leadership style.
Design/methodology/approach
Teachers received a questionnaire which included 57 items, grouped under the following nine areas: school climate, school leadership and management, curriculum development, personnel management, administration and fiscal management, student management, professional development and in‐service, relations with parents and the community, problem solving and decision making. After the questionnaires were collected, the semi‐structured interview process began with the principal. The areas that were discussed were identical to those of the questionnaire in order to be able to make certain comparisons and draw some conclusions about possible discrepancies between what the teachers perceived and what the principal thought of himself. In the case presented in this study, the researchers spent a total of about two hours with this particular principal interviewing him and shadowing him on various aspects covered by the questionnaire. The results are based on the interview with this one principal and the school's teachers’ responses to the questionnaire.
Findings
The underlying (and guiding) assumption for this project was that the effectiveness of a leader is (to a great extent) dependent on how others view him/her as a leader. From the overall results in this particular study, it seems that there is an overall agreement between the teachers and the principal regarding the principal's view of himself and the teachers’ perceptions of him. Generally, the results indicate that the existence of a high level of collegiality in the management of Portuguese schools seems to be an important feature when explaining the large degree of agreement found between the views of the teachers and of the principal on his leadership style. Even though the results cannot be generalized from this small sample, there is the belief that in Portuguese public schools there is a certain sense of “consensual management” style, which is closer to the main interests of the teachers, rather than closer to the interests of other participants in school life.
Originality/value
The study paper sheds light on the perceptions of secondary school teachers regarding their principal and his leadership style. This kind of research has been, until now, clearly marked by its paucity in Portugal.
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Ewa Bulzacka, Jeanne Vilain, Franck Schürhoff, Alexandre Méary, Marion Leboyer and Andrei Szöke
Subjective measurements of cognition have seldom been used in schizophrenia. This is mainly due to the assumption that such measurements lack sensitivity in a disorder…
Abstract
Subjective measurements of cognition have seldom been used in schizophrenia. This is mainly due to the assumption that such measurements lack sensitivity in a disorder characterized by poor insight. We investigated the capacity of BRIEF-A (Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function - Adult Version: a self-administered, ecological questionnaire) to identify executive deficits in adults with schizophrenia. The global score and each domain-specific score was significantly lower in patients than in healthy controls. BRIEF-A could be a useful complement to objective measurements, providing a subjective assessment of everyday consequences of executive dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia.
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Carlo Gabriel Porto Bellini, Prashant Palvia, Valter Moreno, Tim Jacks and Alexandre Graeml
The purpose of this paper is to discuss two important behaviors related to job mobility in the IT profession, namely, changing jobs to move to another organization (turnover) and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss two important behaviors related to job mobility in the IT profession, namely, changing jobs to move to another organization (turnover) and changing the profession entirely (turnaway), during a national crisis. Based on the theoretical foundation of the push–pull–mooring perspective, a research model is developed that includes professional self-efficacy (PSE), job insecurity (JI) and job satisfaction (JS) as important antecedents.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a positivist approach and a survey method, the authors analyzed data from IT professionals from different economic segments in Brazil. Data collection occurred in two distinctive moments of the largest crisis in modern Brazilian history – a pre-awareness moment (first half of year 2015) and a crisis-conscious moment (first half of year 2016).
Findings
The findings reveal that PSE negatively influences JI and positively influences JS, JI positively influences turnaway intention, and JS negatively influences both turnover intention and turnaway intention. The effect of the national crisis was observed in that it further accentuated the intention of IT professionals to leave the profession. Another effect was related to age, as older professionals are less willing to turn over but more willing to turn away.
Research limitations/implications
Besides developing a parsimonious model to study both the intention to leave the organization and the intention to leave the profession, the study sheds light on how IT professionals react to economic crises and how the reaction varies by age.
Practical implications
The study puts to question the common belief that IT professionals are secure in the job market due to high demand for their skills and investments made by organizations to keep them on the job. Employers must pay attention to JI and turnover/turnaway intentions.
Originality/value
This study is among the few to study JI and aspects of the theory of human migration in IT. It is also possibly the first to discuss the effects of a national crisis on the mobility patterns of IT professionals.
Details
Keywords
Cuban retrenchment.
Details
DOI: 10.1108/OXAN-DB223821
ISSN: 2633-304X
Keywords
Geographic
Topical
Carlos Francisco Simões Gomes, Helder Gomes Costa and Alexandre P. de Barros
The purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid modelling that combines concepts and techniques for scenario building together with a Multi-criteria Decision Aid (MCDA…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a hybrid modelling that combines concepts and techniques for scenario building together with a Multi-criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) outranking approach. The paper presents a case to illustrate the proposed methodology.
Design/methodology/approach
The research method is a qualitative and quantitative mixture and it is presented as a study case. Bibliographic research is used to construct the theoretical framework. There are a number of studies that develop a sensibility analysis in MCDA modelling; however, none of them explore the robustness of the MCDA solution with use of scenarios variation.
Findings
The methodology allows the criteria that must be taken into account, according to the decision makers’ values and preferences. It is interesting to note that, depending on the scenario, different weights were applied for each criterion, and the performances of alternatives under each criterion has changed as well.
Practical implications
This need arises in decision problems that are susceptible to the influence of scenario variation.
Originality/value
This proposal was applied to a real case that has taken into account six alternatives, with a prospective analysis of three scenarios, evaluated by four criteria. The authors use prospective scenarios to choose the criterion weights and alternatives evaluation.