Search

A internacionalização tornou-se prioridade estratégica para muitas universidades ao redor do mundo. É comumente considerada uma forma de ampliar a qualidade da Educação Superior, através de parcerias estratégicas, pesquisas colaborativas e iniciativas de ensino, bem como na troca e produção de conhecimento. Em geral, a Internacionalização da Educação Superior se concentra na mobilidade de pessoal e estudantes, de modo a melhorar suas perspectivas internacionais e capacidades interculturais. No entanto, este artigo argumenta que, se as universidades querem ser verdadeiramente “internacionais”, elas devem começar “em casa”. Para tanto, faz-se necessário realizar uma revisão das atuais práticas de Internacionalização, envolvendo educadores, estudantes, desenvolvimento de pessoal, unidades de serviço profissional, e aqueles em posições de liderança, ajudando as instituições de Educação Superior a se orientarem em direção a valores básicos e abordagem ética para Internacionalização

Internationalization at Home (IaH) has become a strategic priority in higher education research, policy and practice, although there is still a lack of conceptual clarity around its meaning and practical applications and implications. This paper aims to shed empirical insight into how this concept is understood by higher education staff. It follows a multiple-case study design to explore bottom-up understandings of IaH by 18 staff in two universities in Brazil and the UK. Findings yielded by a thematic analysis of two focus group sessions forefront three dimensions when enacting an IaH agenda: (1) the institutional or organizational side of internationalization, (2) teaching and learning aspects, and (3) personal experiences of the social actors involved in internationalization processes. Within these dimensions, four baseline features should be considered for a bottom-up understanding of IaH: institutional strategizing, international curricula, student integration, and inclusivity of IaH. Implications for future research highlight the importance of furthering empirically grounded definitions of IaH via a bottom-up and top-down development of the concept that clarifies the epistemology of equity it represents. Implications for practice point to the urge of attending to staff perceptions whilst exploring macro-, meso- and micro-contextual conditions and needs.

Well-being is a significant concept in research, policy and practice in education, but consensus about what it is is challenging. In addition, the well-being of children under eight is under-researched. Using online surveys, this paper looks at the perspectives of 155 parent/carers and 285 practitioners in England on young children's well-being. In many areas, there were high levels of agreement: the importance of fun and laughter, feeling good about oneself, feeling listened to, good family relationships, time and space to play and opportunities to express thoughts and feelings. Parents/carers emphasized 'love' whilst practitioners emphasized listening to children. Practitioners also strongly emphasized the importance of their relationships with children and parents/carers. The paper concludes that, whilst the perspectives of parents/carers and practitioners are valuable, a full understanding of young children's well-being needs to include their voices as well as those of adults.

Friendship matters for young children's development, learning and experience of wellbeing. This paper emphasises the significance of young children's friendships for their wellbeing, especially in the context of early years settings. Findings are presented from two online questionnaires developed for the project, in which 155 parents/carers and 285 practitioners in England expressed their perceptions of what matters for young children's wellbeing. Data shows some ambivalence in the views of both parents/carers and practitioners about the importance of friendship in this context. Both groups gave low prioritisation to 'the company of friends' for children's wellbeing. As friendships are of central importance to young children themselves, this could suggests that adults and children may have different priorities, which raises questions about the extent to which young children's friendships are seen as important by adults. The paper concludes by proposing the need for practitioners in particular, but also parents, to consider their roles and priorities for children's lives within schools and nurseries, including how they might sensitively support and facilitate children's friendships in play, activities, transition and everyday life.

This paper presents a methodology developed by members of the Research Centre for Learning and Teaching (RCfLAT) to collaborate with university teaching colleagues to produce theoretically- and pedagogically-based case studies of innovations in teaching and learning. The Equal Acclaim for Teaching Excellence (EquATE) project investigates whether case studies of teaching innovation, facilitated by a research team and made public through a community of inquiry, can take educational research beyond simple descriptions, foster criticality, and facilitate participants' engagement with theory. The project supports participants as they plan and conduct their case studies and provides a community of inquiry in which findings are shared and discussed in relation to micro (classroom and discipline) contexts and macro (university-wide and higher education) agendas. This enables the project team to make comparisons across the case studies and to explore participants' epistemic beliefs and views of learning. The project team collected data from the case studies, project tasks, and discussion groups that were thematically analyzed using inductive and deductive lenses. The data suggests that participation in the project can promote greater reflectivity, defamiliarize habitual practices, and promote openness to new theoretical and pedagogical perspectives.

The significance of practitioners' emotions in nursery interactions is evident in vivid accounts from widely different socio-cultural contexts. Work Discussion (WD) is a model of professional reflection distinctive in its attention to emotion in work interactions. Psychoanalytic conceptions, particularly the notion of the defended subject, underpin WD. Enabling participants in WD to discuss subjective work experience in an open way is thus subtle and sensitive. Research has not addressed how the impact of different models of professional reflection may be evaluated. Can WD, with its explicit attention to the emotions evoked at work, strengthen practitioners' engagement with children and families? This paper critically discusses the complex methodological issues in evaluating the impact of WD on nursery practitioners, children and parents in the nursery. The challenge is to combine the intense subjectivity of WD with an evaluation that is rigorous and objective. Later papers will illustrate data analysis and report findings.

Internationalization is a key contemporary debate within Higher Education (HE). Many universities worldwide proclaim their "international" status, citing quantitative indicators, particularly international student and staff recruitment and outbound student mobility data to illustrate this. In this paper, we focus on the non-mobile majority of the academic community. We foreground internationalization at home (IaH) and the underlying social, academic and intercultural learning benefits of an internationalized university experience. We explore how IaH is understood and operationalized in two universities in the United Kingdom and Portugal via a multiple case study. Qualitative data from 12 stakeholder interviews are analysed, generating five themes about operational understandings and practices of IaH. Findings identify relevant explanatory factors that may assist other institutions to understand, enact and communicate about IaH. We highlight the need for further empirical research to provide insights into how this key dimension of internationalization is being operationalized across other European HE institutions.

This paper brings together two areas of considerable interest to researchers, practitioners and policy makers: young children's developing self-regulation and metacognition, and the impact of adult (practitioner) presence or absence on their behaviour and learning. One hundred and twenty-eight observations of 29 children aged 4-5 years in a reception class were analysed using a behavioural coding scheme. While the data show that adult presence and absence were both supportive, children were often significantly more likely to show evidence of self-regulation and metacognition when adults were absent. When present, adults were a focus for the children's attention, and children appeared to cede some responsibility to them, more frequently looking to adults to set goals, allocate roles, check and correct progress and resolve disputes. At the same time, adults played a crucial role in supporting children's procedural knowledge when they were present. Children were keen to display their knowledge to these significant people and often chose to direct their comments to adults. It is suggested that the question of how adults can supportively become involved in young children's activity deserves closer attention, particularly in the context of the development and display of young children's self-regulation and metacognition.

Debate about the balance between child- and adult-initiated activities in early childhood settings is long standing. This article reports a study of 29 children aged 4-5 years in a London state school, on the influences of child- and adult-initiated activities on children's self-regulation and metacognition. Whilst both contexts were supportive, children were significantly more likely to demonstrate self-regulation and metacognition in child-initiated activity. Children's apparent perceptions of adult roles were crucial: in adult-initiated activities children appeared to cede control to adults. At the same time, adults played an important role for children, who were keen to display their knowledge to these significant people. Adults were particularly supportive of children's procedural knowledge. Practical implications include the importance of adult provision of and engagement in child-initiated activity, to afford them opportunities to observe and support children's self-regulation and metacognition and to maximise opportunities for children's autonomy and control.

Recent years have seen considerable growth of evidence that young children possess metacognitive and self-regulatory skills, alongside a view that some research tools, including observation and video-stimulated interviews, may provide better opportunities to see them. This paper examines possible differences in the evidence these two tools may afford. Data from 29 children aged 4-5 years in a London Reception class were analysed using a behavioural coding scheme. Overall, children were significantly more likely to display self-regulation and metacognition in post hoc interviews about an activity rather than during the activity. This was particularly so for metacognitive knowledge. Children were more likely to show regulatory aspects such as planning and monitoring during an activity, whilst evaluation was more evident in later discussion. Observations and video-stimulated interviews are suggested as valuable tools when combined with one another, offering complementary insights, and helping make children's learning more visible to both themselves and to adults.

This article provides a brief review of the main phases and findings of the Froebel Research Fellowship project, which has been funded by the Froebel Trust (previously the Incorporated Froebel Educational Institute) since 2002. The project is investigating the extent to which Froebelian ideals, such as the notion that children's knowledge should grow from within rather than from outside the child, might be met within the demands of contemporary early childhood education and care. We have completed five main phases of the project, and a sixth is currently under way. In Phases 1-3 (2002-5), we investigated the attitudes and practices of practitioners in relation to the development of children's personal, social and cognitive skills in the curriculum using interviews, observations and questionnaires. In Phases 4a-c (2005-2008), our focus narrowed to the study of children's creative thinking and to the effects of social relationships upon it: children's, parents' and practitioners' views were investigated in Phases 4a, 4b and 4c, respectively. Phase 5 (2009-2011) retained our emphasis on the differences between children's, parents' and practitioners' views, but focussed primarily on the distinction between play and learning at "home" and at "school." Our shift in focus from the "cognitive" aspects of creativity in Phases 1-3 to its "social" dimension in Phases 4 and 5 has now moved towards "emotional" and "motivational" issues in Phase 6 (2012-2015), in which we are investigating children's well-being.

Increased international recognition of the value of supporting creative thinking suggests the value of development of approaches to its identification in children. Development of an observation-led framework, the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking (ACCT) framework, is described, and a case made for the validity of inferring creative thinking in young children from observations of their behaviour in meaningful, everyday contexts. The paper identifies particular aspects of behaviour which may be related to creative thinking, and a copy of the framework shows its organisation into three major behavioural categories of exploration, involvement and enjoyment, and persistence, further subdivided into a total of 10 items. Operational definitions and examples, along with an extract from an analysed observation, illustrate its use. It is suggested that, as well as being a useful research tool, the ACCT framework has the potential to support professional development, with the coded observations providing a contextually-rich, focussed picture of what children do and say about their experiences, affording individual and shared reflection, discussion and analysis. In an English context, this may be particularly relevant with the advent of a revised Early Years Foundation Stage profile in 2012.

This retrospective qualitative study investigated the experiences of 12 international students in a postgraduate counselling programme at a higher education (HE) institution in the UK. Results from an earlier empirical study on these students (Pattison, "Counselling and Psychotherapy Research" 3: 107-113, 2003) were mapped against concepts derived from a content analysis of Turner and Robson's (2008) work on the internationalization of HE institutions. The focus is on what can be learned from the perceptions of participants when reframed and reviewed through an internationalization lens. The paper suggests ways in which British universities can enhance the development of academic and intercultural competencies and support the international counselling student to receive an internationalized HE experience.

This paper looks at young children's creative thinking as inferred through observations of their activities. A total of 52 episodes of child-initiated and adult-initiated activities in 3- to 4-year-olds in an English Children's Centre were analysed using the Analysing Children's Creative Thinking (ACCT) Framework. Results showed that activities such as gardening and construction were as valuable for supporting creative thinking as ones traditionally associated with creativity, for example, music and painting. Outdoor play of all kinds and socio-dramatic play were particularly effective contexts. All adults played a significant role in facilitating children's initial engagement in activities, and at supporting their speculative thinking and use of prior knowledge. Teachers were often more successful than other adults in supporting the acquisition of new knowledge. Child-initiated activities featured the highest levels of involvement, and were associated with trying out and analysing ideas, flexibility and originality, imagining and hypothesising. This was particularly evident in group or pair play. Children were also more persistent in child-initiated activities. Evidence of risk-taking behaviour was low, although more apparent in child-initiated activities than adult-initiated activities, or activities in which adults were present. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

This article considers ethical questions and practical challenges arising from the production of video data with young children, and suggests that such considerations are reciprocal and that video data should be seen as constructed collaboratively by all participants. Video data can be a valuable means of eliciting children's perspectives, but it raises particular issues of consent and confidentiality. Opportunities for young children to use video cameras are helpful in supporting informed consent and active participation, whilst the visual nature of video renders anonymity and confidentiality more difficult, and anonymisation of images may impact upon data quality. Video, like all research data, is influenced by the actions and biases of participants, and young children's experiences as consumers of television will influence their reading of, and responses to, video data. An advantage of video is that it can provide participants with feedback about their participation. Challenges remain with regard to ownership.

This conceptual paper explores the notion of higher education (HE) internationalization and its potential to lead to transformational institutional change. Internationalization is generally regarded as a process that involves increasing the range of international activities within universities and between universities and other educational institutions and the numbers of international students and academic staff. Much of the literature on "internationalization" focuses on incoming international students and the challenges for teaching and learning associated with the increasing diversity of the student population. Forward thinking institutions are responding by attempting to make the curriculum (both formal and informal) more relevant and engaging for international students and by considering "internationalization at home" to prepare all students for life and work in a global economy. Other studies explore the opportunities arising from international research collaboration, for knowledge-transfer and societal impact. Talk about internationalization has become firmly embedded. While the managerial implications of an internationalization agenda for HE institutions have been articulated elsewhere, there has been relatively little research that investigates the transitions for individuals and communities that are essential to transformative internationalization. This paper attempts to characterize what an "internationalized" institution might look like, and what support might be required to achieve the personal and professional transitions within its communities that are necessary to achieve the transformative agenda.

This paper looks at ways in which a group of children aged three-four years exhibited evidence of self-regulation and metacognition. Videotaped episodes of children's activities and audiotaped dialogues between children and practitioners about the activities were analysed using an observational framework. The data here show children of three and four displaying extensive evidence of metacognitive and self-regulatory behaviour, with similar mean levels of frequency across both activities and dialogues. However, whilst the majority of evidence from the activities was of metacognitive regulation and skilfulness, that from the dialogues showed more evidence of metacognitive knowledge. It is also suggested that different social contexts may influence children's opportunities to develop and display self-regulation. The use of video data and opportunities for young children to reflect on their activities are suggested as valuable tools for research and pedagogical purposes, and as an effective means of eliciting young children's perspectives on their lives. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

This article reports the third phase of the Froebel Research Fellowship Project: "The Voice of the Child: ownership and autonomy in early learning". Building on the first and second phases of this study, this phase examined early years practitioners' experiences of supporting young children's thinking in relation to the personal ownership and autonomy they felt in their practice. Thirteen early years practitioners (1 male, 12 female) working in private, voluntary and local authority nursery schools and reception classes in England took part in the informal one-to-one semi-structured interview study. Themes such as (1) dealing with constraints, (2) the importance of flexibility based on shared understandings amongst the team of practitioners and (3) interpersonal relationships emerged as central to practitioners' views about concepts of ownership and autonomy, and the ways in which practitioners endeavour to exercise agency in directing the course of their practice in extending children's thinking. (Contains 1 table and 2 notes.)

Background: There is an emerging corpus of work on the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on education in sub-Saharan Africa. This mainly employs demographic models to make projections of student enrolments and teacher requirements. However, there is a paucity of research in basic schools to examine the experiences of AIDS-affected teachers and students. Purpose: This study explored staff and student perceptions of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the education of affected children in high-prevalence districts of the Copperbelt province of Zambia. The impact of the epidemic on student enrolment, attendance and completion rates, and on the quality of the learning experience, was investigated. Programme description and sample: The Ministry of Education assisted with the selection of districts in the Copperbelt Province with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS (34% to 39%). Four government schools with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates and two community schools in impoverished communities were selected. Design and methods: Statistical data from each school were made available. Six focus groups were held with District Education Board Personnel, NUT officials and the Copperbelt Special Education Standards Officer. Six interviews were held with school management teams. A total of 72 teachers and 64 students responded to questionnaires; 36 students also took part in four focus groups, each involving gender balanced groups of six to eight students from grades 4-8. Results: The study provides information on the impact of the epidemic on basic education that has not previously been documented in Zambia and may assist the strategic planning and management of basic schools. A positive outcome of this study was that students, teachers and other professionals freely discussed issues concerning HIV/AIDS and its impact on education in a context where such issues are usually met with silence or denial. Conclusions: The challenge for the Zambian Ministry of Education and the international community is not only to provide the right to basic education, but also to strengthen schools as inclusive and supportive communities. For students, this might focus on provision of alternative and more flexible opportunities for participation and learning, access to health and life skills education and appropriate counselling and support. For teachers, professional development opportunities to support the management of large classes and curriculum development--e.g. in the areas of life skills and vocational skills--are implicated. (Contains 2 tables.)

The global spread of HIV and AIDS has presented a major threat to development, affecting the health of the poor and many aspects of social and economic development. The greatest impact of the epidemic has been felt in sub-Saharan Africa, and Zambia ranks among the worst hit countries. The Free Basic Education Policy in Zambia upholds the right of all children to a universal basic education. This study explored staff and student perceptions of the impact of the epidemic on access to, and the quality of, basic education for AIDS-affected children, orphans and other vulnerable children (OVCs) in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, where the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate ranges from 34 to 40%, and life expectancy has dropped to 33 years. Data were collected from education personnel in six districts of the Copperbelt with the highest prevalence of HIV and AIDS and from staff and students in six schools. The data indicated a range of factors that adversely affect the access to, and quality of, education for AIDS-affected children and OVCs. Factors related to attendance and school completion; teachers and teaching; quality of learning; strategic planning, policy and school development are discussed. A positive outcome of this study was that students, teachers and other professionals freely discussed issues concerning the impact of the HIV and AIDS epidemic on education in a context where such issues are commonly met with silence or denial. The data enhance our understanding of the current crisis in education and the challenges ahead for targeted development of more proactive and inclusive educational policies and practices in Zambia. (Contains 2 tables.)

This paper explores some of the practical tensions associated with higher education internationalization through the introduction of an institutional case study. The case highlights the interplay between policy-makers and academics around the emergence of an "internationalization" agenda in a British university. It aims to illustrate aspects of the debate within the literature which discuss the gap between competitive and cooperative international motivations and to explore the impact of commercial internationalization upon the academic community. The key conclusions are that: cooperative and competitive impulses to internationalization respond to different ideological positions; linking a commercial revenue-generating approach with internationalist rhetoric may frustrate the development of an international orientation in an institution; and increasing academic disengagement with the commercial agenda possesses the potential to obstruct management intention. (Contains 1 figure.)

This paper reports on a study that took place in a faculty of humanities and social sciences at a UK university. The institution had recently undergone a radical restructure and the vision for the future presented by the new senior management team highlighted internationalization as one of four major areas for growth. The internationalization agenda was largely focused on increasing recruitment, but provided an opportunity to engage the academic community in a discourse about what internationalization meant for them and the challenges and opportunities it presented. Emerging themes relate to experiences and understandings of internationalization, with implications for learning and teaching, and student induction and support. The value of discourse about pedagogical development and practical innovations and the sharing of best practice are suggested as means to achieve conceptual change and a broader vision of internationalization. (Contains 1 table.)

The English "Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage" refers to the importance of supporting the development of young children's thinking, a teaching role that Kite suggests should be seen as the major focus for education. This paper draws on data from the Froebel Research Fellowship Project, "Ownership and Autonomy in Early Learning", on the extent to which a sample of 80 early childhood professionals feel prepared for this aspect of their work. A significant number of participants, particularly of those with qualified teacher status, could not remember learning about children's thinking during their initial training. Participants valued continuing professional development (CPD) that was practical, that provided opportunities to visit other settings, that involved participation in research and that made use of teams and mentors. They also drew distinctions between what might be most valuable on the basis of practitioners' experience or level of qualification. We conclude that future training should make more explicit reference to "thinking", that engagement in CPD forms part of a benign cycle that may predispose participants to see CPD as valuable, and that it is most valued when participants see its particular relevance to them. It is suggested that future CPD will need to take greater account of the different needs and experiences of early childhood professionals, and of their senses of personal and professional identity. (Contains 4 tables.)