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- The development of mass education in southern european countries: from singularity to convergence?Publication . Dias, MarianaThis paper aims to interrogate the specificity of the development of mass schooling in southern European countries, based upon the Portuguese “case", that is quite singular within the European context. In fact, basic education become compulsory in Portugal in the middle of XIX century but most Portuguese citizens remained illiterate until the middle of XX century and the levels of schooling in all educational subsystem remained quite bellow the European average, until the transition to XXI century (Candelas, 2007). Nowadays the situation is rather different and current research shows the educational landscape is increasingly close to European benchmarks: levels of preschool attendance, rate of low achievers in reading and math, early school leaving, percentage of graduates in math and science, development of lifelong learning and higher education (Dias, 2013, 2014). Educational policies and political agenda are also strongly influenced by European guidelines and discourse (Alves, 2010). However; these changes did not prevent the country of continuing to have very weak levels of social mobility and equity in education. In order to analyze the complexity of Portuguese situation this study took into consideration different sources of data: Portuguese legislation, European guidelines in the field of education and training; national and international educational statistics; evolution of Portuguese position in PISA. The data shows that both internal and external factors are accountable for the rapid development of the Portuguese Education in the last decades and that the changes were both of a quantitative and qualitative nature. Higher education became central to youth life changes but is not, yet, a real challenge to the very traditional patterns of social mobility that have been a persistent feature of Portuguese society.
- Empowering vulnerable students for school success? an exploratory approach to philanthropic intervention projects in portuguese state schoolsPublication . Dias, Mariana; Pappámikail, LiaThe perspective that School needs the support of professionals, besides teachers, to reduce and repair pupils’ inequalities and vulnerabilities is on the base of a significant part of educational policies of the last decades. If it is true that the majority of these initiatives are lead by public agents, it also true that the civil society is growingly «called» to give it’s contribute. An example of this movement of growing importance awarded by companies to social and civic responsibilities is EPIS (Entrepreneurs for Social Inclusion, created in 2006). Sometime later a “National Network of Mediators for School Success” is launched by this Association as an effective alternative to other school failure combat models. The " Network..." presents itself as a highly innovative methodology with high(er) efficiency rates and good results: its goal is to create “new good students”, which means students who were at risk of failing the school year and that at the end of the year are in conditions to pass. It is made up of field professionals (social workers, teachers, and psychologists), and organized in local teams. They are placed at schools where the project is being implemented, sometimes with concurring initiatives, as the «Network» is sometimes offered to the school, as a result of the partnership with the Ministry of Education, and in other cases, as the sole project, as it’s the result of a request, in partnership with local authorities and other Local Development Associations. It aims to 'reach' the families of students at risk of failure and, together with them, perform continuous guidance work in order to develop personal and social skills that enables them to tackle their difficulties in school autonomously, in terms of study method, motivation and expectations towards the future (Vieira and Dionísio 2012; Melo 2012). This methodology has two main components: a signaling system of young people under risk of academic underachievement and school withdrawal, focused on four categories: individual, family, school and territory; and a portfolio of specific intervention methodologies available to the field professionals. All the work is supervised and supported by a platform where all the information is gathered and that sorts out the range of techniques the professionals should use in each individual case. In this paper we aim to discuss, presenting results drawn from an exploratory study, on the one hand, the «innovative» role of the private sector in promoting social responsibility actions in Portuguese public schools with high levels of failure by contrast with the ones carried out by public educational agents (Garriga and Melé 2013). We will do so by analyzing the official rhetoric of the «Network…», contrasting it with the perspective of the actors who actually implement the «Network…» methodology. On the other hand, We will also address the perspectives involved agents have Integrated in a wider research project "Local Strategies for the Improvement of schools in disadvantaged areas: public and private programs of intervention" several qualitative techniques were employed: document analysis, 18 semi-structured interviews in three distinct regions to directors of schools where the "Network ..." is implemented, to mediators and stakeholders. Informational materials available on the project website were also analyzed.
- Políticas de intervenção prioritária em Portugal: novas políticas, novas práticas?Publication . Dias, Mariana; Tomás, Catarina; Gama, Ana; Lopes, RuiEm Portugal, no final da década de 90 do século XX, começaram a ser desenvolvidas estratégias de discriminação positiva visando garantir o cumprimento da escolaridade obrigatória e a luta contra a exclusão escolar e social, designadamente nas periferias das grandes cidades. É neste contexto que surgem as escolas e os Territórios Educativos de Intervenção Prioritária (TEIP) pelo Despacho nº147-B/ME/96, de 1 de Agosto de 1996. Este programa, inicialmente inspirado nas zonas de intervenção prioritárias francesas, visava a intervenção de vários parceiros locais (professores, alunos, pessoal não docente, associações de pais, autarquias locais, associações culturais e associações recreativas) na elaboração do Projeto Educativo. Com o XVII Governo Constitucional o programa foi redefinido passando a incluir novas vertentes: necessidade de existência de um projeto educativo próprio; consultadoria externa; avaliação periódica de resultados em diferentes domínios (taxas de insucesso e abandono escolar, assiduidade, comportamento, participação, inovações organizacionais, parcerias educativas estabelecidas no âmbito do Programa, etc.). Foi também alargado a todo o território nacional, envolvendo atualmente cento e cinco agrupamentos escolares. Com esta apresentação visamos analisar se as novas políticas e diretrizes, no domínio da educação prioritária, contribuíram para a emergência de novas estratégias pedagógicas, organizacionais e de envolvimento comunitário. Os elementos em que basearemos a nossa análise serão os seguintes: (i) relatório nacional do programa TEIP (2010-2011); (ii) relatórios do programa de avaliação externa das escolas; (iii) entrevistas realizadas aos atores locais, designadamente a coordenadores e consultores dos projetos TEIP. As conclusões da nossa comunicação centrar-se-ão no papel dos atores locais no desenvolvimento do Programa TEIP e no impacto deste programa na melhoria dos resultados académicos, na diminuição da indisciplina e violência escolar e na construção de percursos de vida que contrariem as tendências para a exclusão escolar e social.