RCAAP Repository

Educational supervision is considered by many authors and lawmakers, as an asset and an essential contribution to the growth and (re)qualification of school organizations, as well as to the continuous improvement of the educational service it provides. Therefore, it should be understood as an educational tool at the service of teachers throughout their career (lifelong training), along with the school organization, promoting within a reflective thinking and a dialoguing approach, among all educational stakeholders towards a learning school. By performing their purposes, they should apply the standard(s), the setting(s) and the supervision style(s) they realize as filling the needs and uniqueness of each teacher/school organization, always within an environment of action-thought that upholds learning and the improvement of the educational action of all the interlocutors. Every supervising action (including teachers’ performance assessment (ADD) should be applied within processes where supervision and appraisal go "side by side", making synergies and complement, in favour of development and improvement of the educational service that the organization provides (to the students and to all of its professionals). The presented data proves that supervision should be designed as an instrument of lifelong training, that enhances innovation, teachers autonomy and professional growth, based on learning that, despite having an individual side (self-thinking, self-assessment, self-training ...), should be focused in a context of collective sharing of know-hows, of practices, of life-experiences, thus evolving the promotion of a thinking school which holds equally thinking teachers. Teacher’s assessment must also be considered as another learning, improvement and professional growth process, where educational monitoring appears as a tool in service of that same improvement and professional growth.

The analysis of the regulatory evolution of the pedagogical management of schools puts in evidence continuities and ruptures in organizational morphology and helps to understand their legal and formal similarities, especially if we consider that despite the rhetoric of autonomic Portuguese schools, its direction remains centralized in the ministry education and central services. However, the analysis of the internal regulations shows that schools are not just reproductive organs of the laws but they recreate some structures and implement specific organization features, in the process of incorporation of the core standards. This article identifies different intermediate-level structures of administrative and pedagogical management of school contemplated in legislative terms over forty years of democracy and incorporated in its internal regulations, marking a route full of continuities but with some evolution determined by the requirements of school masses. Finally, it focuses on the work that teachers develop within the intermediate-level management structures and discusses the teaching collaboration and the role of school leaders.

This report is the result of an action research which took place at a schooling centre with the focus on the lack of discipline, one of the concerns amongst school staff. We focused our attention on student behaviour in the school playground, particularly on rainy days. The indiscipline includes attitudes and behaviors which are considered inadequate and unacceptable considering the moment, the context or expectations. To decrease and/or prevent this phenomenon, the causes must be considered and the preventive programs established. It is also needed the participation of all the educative agents, including the students. We made the diagnosis as a way of reflecting about the problem making an analysis of the natural data collected as well as interviews and questionnaires with teaching and non-teaching staff, so that we were able to perform a triangulation of data. A project was developed and implemented that would occupy the students’ spare time in a healthy way thereby promoting values, attitudes and ultimately minimizing and preventing disciplinary problems. We looked forward to joint discussions / brainstorming and sharing ideas in the search for better solutions. The results were positive with a decrease in indiscipline and an improvement in the schooling environment. The involvement of the school community and the different partners was a determining factor. Far from being a "recipe" with alternatives that will solve the problem, the main objective of the project was, first of all, to promote reflection and analysis of the theme by those involved in the educational process and to initiate a process of changing attitudes inside the school.

The functions required of the teacher, in the current social and professional context, require personal skills, which cannot only be reduced to the accumulation of knowledge. Teaching is considered a high-pressure job, very demanding with burnout being a very common syndrome. Teachers of students with special educational needs are at an even higher psychological burden and are also more prone to stress and burnout. So it is our goal to assess stress levels and burnout in special education teachers and verify to what extent the sociodemographic and psychosocial variables have a significant effect on these levels. This is a quantitative study, cross-sectional and descriptive-correlational. The sample consists of 90 teachers of special education in the country's central region. The data collection instrument aggregates questions of sociodemographic, professional, and health characterization, as well as two scales: one for assessment of stress levels and burnout (CPB-R) and one for evaluating self-efficacy (SES). The statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 19. The sample is mostly female, married, with a degree and an average age of 46 years. Stress is present in a high number of teachers, who feel the lack of recognition and professional achievement. Similarly, the evaluation of supervision, of the organizational conditions, emotional exhaustion, the total burnout, and the depersonalization, although referred have lower levels. Self-perception is low to moderate for most, with a positive emphasis on effectively to adversity. Stress and burnout is higher in older teachers, divorced, teaching the 3rd cycle, with a weekly schedule of 22/25 hours and with low efficacy perception. The evidence showed that stress and burnout of teachers is differentiated and multidimensional, however it is present in a very significant number of special education teachers.

Information and Communication Technologies have been used with students with cerebral palsy in order to develop their communication and learning processes. In this sense, this study was conducted in order to verify how Information and Communication Technologies can be a contribution to the promotion of communication and learning of students with cerebral palsy. With a mixed methodology (quantitative and qualitative), forty-six teachers were submitted to a questionnaire and two students with cerebral palsy were observed using Information and Communication Technologies. It was concluded, in general, that the majority of surveyed teachers use Information and Communication Technologies very often in their daily activity; they agree that technologies contribute to learning as well as that they potentiate the development of communication and facilitate the inclusion of students with Cerebral Palsy. The two observed students seemed to be more motivated when performing activities on the computer, showing greater autonomy in the tasks. Communication technologies also assumed an important role in the development of psychomotor skills.

The article aims to explain the philosophy, pedagogy and practice of implementing a change project and organizational development through a case study of an industrial manufacture, integrated at that time (1988/90) in the structure of the sub-holding Portucel Packaging (which integrates the EUROPAC universe since 2000). A real situation was revisited, which occurred during a period when Portugal was given the first steps in order to change the paradigm of total quality management in a country faced with the recent integration in an extremely aggressive competitive space (EEC). The objective was to test in the field the principles of an alternative management to the designated traditional management, riddled principles inspired by Taylorism / Fayolism theory (Lopes, 2012), sponsoring of an idea of programed change and conducted under the orientation of the hierarchical integration. On the one hand the exercise of revisiting was justified by the absence of empirical cases in teaching management sciences in general, and strategic management of human resources in particular and, on the other hand, because entrepreneurs and Portuguese managers mental framework was still trapped to theoretical constructs and practices inspired by the rule of autocratic leadership and bureaucratic-mechanical structure traditional. The work combines three overlapping reads: what happened on the field, the theoretical instruments and tools of research / action available, as well as the reflections that can be made today about the same matters from an updated review. It is clear that deep change is possible, that this can be done while working with people endowed with weak educational background and has an extraordinarily favorable cost-benefit.

Research on authentic leadership and its impact on employees' psychological capital and creativity is almost non-existent In the health sector. To reduce this gap, this paper aims to identify to what extent the perception of authentic leadership and psychological capital influence the creativity of professionals in a large Portuguese hospital. Data were collected on the key concepts of authentic leadership, psychological capital and creativity. via a three-part questionnaire focusing respectively on positive authentic leadership, psychological capital, and demographic and functional data, which was administered to a sample of 61 middle managers in the various hospital services. 22 departments and 183 randomly-selected other employees. Fatorial analysis and structural equation modelling were used to process the results. The results confirmed two of the three hypotheses considered in the study, indicating that while a strong relationship existed both between authentic leadership and psychological capital, and between the latter and creativity, authentic leadership did not directly explain creativity. Our conclusion is that, in organizations providing health services, authentic leadership and psychological capital are phenomena that are interrelated in that they influence professionals' creativity.

This article intersects three concepts: migration, cooperation and development. The authors describe contemporary Portuguese migration and the direct and indirect influence that cooperation has on these migrations. They attempt to show that the strategy of cooperation has not gone through migration (only indirectly and by means of a post-colonial era) forgetting the countries of origin of non-Lusophone immigration. On the other hand, Portuguese emigration is not taken into account in the cooperation strategy. Good examples arise, however, from cooperation between Portuguese institutions and countries of origin of migrants to Portugal. The authors realize that research is needed that allows assessing the impact of policies of cooperation in education (e.g. the brain drain) and health (to stay in the country for evacuated patients and their family members after the period of convalescence). On the interrelations between the Portuguese cooperation strategy and migrations, the authors conclude, that there is much potential impact yet to be activated

There is a social composition, both work and the gender, and are concepts that in another context can take on other meanings. Work and family over the years have not only taken separate roles but also segregated by gender. In this article reference is made to gender perspectives in reconciling the professional domain and the family domain, emphasizing the role of women. Investigations in this area are not consensual as to the findings, because if some demonstrate that women experience more pressure and stress by participating in the two areas, familiar and professional, and thus perceive greater conflict than men, other studies indicate an absence of gender differences, whatever the direction. So we can consider that the conflict between work and family is not just a problem of male or female spheres, but also of the current structures of work and family that hinder the reconciliation of professional and family responsibilities for both genders.

Background: Sleep is precious and indispensable to a good balance. The aging process causes disturbances which reflect both the quantity and quality of sleep, being that these changes are aggravated in hospital situations. Objectives: To evaluate sleep disorders of adults / hospitalized elderly patients and analyze the relationship with sociodemographic variables, clinical and chronic fatigue. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and correlational study, of the quantitative type. For this purpose, a questionnaire was applied to 60 users, hospitalized, that included sociodemographic variables, a Chronic Fatigue Scale and the Sleep Quality Index of Pittsburgh (PSQI). Results: The sample is mostly made up of male users, married, 75 years old and illiterate. They have performed their rehabilitation program daily between 16-30 minutes and only a few times do they feel ready to finish. The majority (55.00%) feel more active at afternoon, they sleep on average 6.8 hours, wake up often and sooner than intended. Chronic fatigue is present in the vast majority of respondents, with these feeling that they need to sleep more than what they normally sleep. Conclusions: The majority of participants (96.70%) present sleep disorders during hospitalization, with this being associated to users with higher rates of chronic fatigue, of an older age, women and widows

We currently live in a society with a predominant appeal to the use of vision. Vision is an extremely decisive factor in relation to objects, with space and naturally with others. In his absence or before a large disturbance, a negative affectation in the visual ability of a person, that you can not improve, even with optical correction and use of conventional means, we have a visual impairment (VI). Knowing that the VI is a problem that limits the lives of people, of course that it can affect his/her quality of life (QOL). Quality of life is a concept that has been the target of interest within various areas of knowledge, and its definition varies according to the same, thus there is no single and generalizable definition. However, it can be said that QOL is a multidimensional and hierarchical concept that includes subjective and objective measures. This concept has played a very important role in health care, social services, families and of course in Education / Special Education as well as to the development of national and international policies for people with disabilities and the evaluation of the personal outcomes.

In today's society, work and family are the structural universe of the vast majority of actors in a society. Social changes, including the constant strengthening of family and work requirements, are undoubtedly a result of the conciliation of these two spheres. The knowledge of the various influencing factors, as well as the effects, is fundamental regarding the conciliation of work and family

Background: Low back pain is common in nurses working in hospitals. The causes for this pain are various and can have its origins in individual, psychosocial and professional/organizational factors. Objective: To identify the prevalence and the causes of low back pain in nurses working in hospitals and relate the self-reported symptoms with clinical evaluation in order to contribute to the prevention. Method: This study is cross-sectional, descriptive-correlative and quantitative. Initially a questionnaire was applied on low back pain (adaptation of the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) to 135 nurses at a hospital in Lisbon. Later was performed a clinical evaluation of 48 of these nurses. Results: The results show a high prevalence of low back pain (60.7%) in the sample nurses, this being associated with some sociodemographic, organizational and professional variables. Stand out from the age group (p=0.016), height (p=0.035), shift work (p=0.044) and length of service (p=0.005). Also “the positioning/mobilization of patient in bed” (p=0.026), “get the patient out of bed without mechanical assistance” (p=0.004), “standing” (65.9%), “tilting” (86.6%) and rotating (76.8%) the trunk” and “handling charges” (85.4%) proved related to the presence of low back pain. Concerning to clinical evaluation, 89.6% of nurses involved (n=48) reported suffering from low back pain with moderate intensity (n=38), and the symptoms remained since the response to the questionnaire. Conclusions: With this study, we come to the conclusion that low back pain is particularly relevant in the nursing profession. Low back pain of nurses working in hospitals is non-specific and has mechanical characteristics. Risk factors related to the activity, present in the tasks performed, are the most important to the existence of low back pain. It is recommended to work on interventions that are based on the evaluation of prognostic factors for chronicity in order to avoid the unfavorable evolution of low back pain and to prevent the appearance of new cases.

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The aim of this text is to think about the present context, value and place of the Catholic state-financed schools. Nowadays, Catholic Schools face three difficulties: the uncertainty over public funding to these schools by the State; the recognition of the parents’ right to choose a school for their children and the affirmation of a specific educative project based on a Christian vision of reality.

This paper reports to a whole civilizational journey anchored in the teacher’s development. Following this study, the various contexts and educational currents that partly assume continuity in thought and action today were portrayed in a diachronic perspective. However, the relentless pursuit of the development of social life highlighted the figure of the teacher as the main agent to whom different and numerous roles are assigned, progressively more demanding and complex, due to the evolution of society. From the revered status of the transmitter of knowledge, he occupies nowadays a multi-faceted position that requires him an attitude of continual questioning and self-reflection of his praxis, in order to respond most effectively to the fundamental aspect, which is the success of students’ learning. In this context, the objective is to give an overview of what pedagogy has been throughout history, particularly in the eastern, classical and Christian antiquity; during the middle, modern and Enlightenment ages and, finally, the contemporary age.

The Specific Learning disorder with impairment in Reading is characterized by a reading pattern in which we can see, essentially from the first stages of learning, a great difficulty in identifying written words. Being the reading and written skills crucial for learning and for the school success, it is imperative that the diagnosis is done on due time so that the proper educational strategies can be provided. Applied in a systematic and permanent way, they will enable learning and the development of reading and writing skills in students with this disorder. We are aware that parents and Special Education teachers should act as a team and start a planned co-work which will allow the development of strategies that will help the development of autonomy and the sense of responsibility of students with Specific Learning disorder with impairment in Reading. The literature revision that was done points to the importance of regular specialized intervention, with suitable educational measures and the cooperation of parents/guardians.

Introduction: A plan for adult life, developed and designed for a specific individual must necessarily provide the youngster/pupil with Special Educational Needs (SEN) of a core fundamental skills to the practice of his/her everyday life, in order to foresee his/her full social inclusion. Objective: Analyze the teachers’ perception, of an area limited to Agrupamento de Escolas regarding the development of the transition plan for adult life (TAL) of pupils with SEN. Methodology: It's a quantitative, transversal and descriptive research. The instrument used for data collection, adds three sections: Section A is intended to make a characterization of the participants; section B objectifies the teachers’ knowledge and beliefs, focusing on their practices regarding the process of TAL; and section C seeks to identify the opinions of teachers and the options for change regarding the development of the transition of the SEN pupils. The sample consisted of 48 teachers .Results: The sample is made up of mostly females, the average age is 41.52 years, all with degrees, including 25% with specialized training in the field of special education. TA is perceived as a continuous process throughout the pupil's school career, primarily intended for those who have a Specific Individual Curriculum (SIC), seeking to ensure, as a priority, the development of personal, social and working skills .The Individual Educational Plan (IEP) and Individual Transition Plan (ITP) are considered the main guiding documents. The most relevant difficulties in the operationalization that stand out are the job offer, the lack of companies to receive pupils, the scarce human resources and insufficient partnerships. Conclusion: The perceptions presented reveal a local society that is not at all inclusive. A significant number of barriers to the development and operationalization of transition processes in the Agrupamento de Escolas call into question the proper development of valid knowledge and experiences that will allow, when the SEN pupils leave school, to meet the demands placed on them by society

The purpose of this paper is to understand the obstacles to e-commerce in Portugal compared to other European countries. In order to understand the variation of the e-commerce practices in Portugal, a model was proposed. In this model four constructs were used as explanatory variables: Perceived Risks; Perceived Ease of Use; Perceived Usefulness; and Online Experience. This model was tested in a sample of 101 respondents which allowed finding a positive correlation between the E-commerce Practices and the Perceived Ease of Use, the Perceived Usefulness, and the Online Experience constructs

Organizations have suffered changes in recent years and the way how individuals are viewed has passed from a vision of labor or worker to a collaborative approach. Inside the organization, all individuals naturally communicate with each other, making it impossible not to communicate. The simple presence of an individual already transmits a message to himself or to others. Even when individuals don´t say anything, they transmit that they have no intention to communicate, and this action is already a form of communication. Regarding the definition of communication, we oppose a mechanistic view, which is essentially defined as an individual who sends a message through a channel to another individual (model of Jakobson, 1969), to an orchestra model, in which communication is defined as a creation of interpersonal relations, which are established in social contexts (Goffman, 2002, Watzlawick, 2011). Because of all the changes which have occurred in organizations, the way how employees function inside organizations has suffered modifications, and the way how their motivation areis viewed for the organization success has gained emphasis. In turn, recent studies relate the role of organizational communication on organizational success, which is also related to employee’s motivation. There are several motivational theories, which fall essentially into three large groups: content, process and outcome. Concluding, the organization is formed by individuals who communicate with each other and create relationships. These relationships are essential to motivation, because you can hardly be motivated if you do not feel good in your workplace. The main objective of this work is the presentation of the results from a critical review of literature on the study of a relationship between the internal communication of organizations and motivation of collaborators.