« IMAGINONS ! Des visions radicalement nouvelles de l’école de demain ... et comment les réaliser ».

Depuis une cinquantaine d’années, conscients de la nécessité de préparer notre société aux défis de demain, les spécialistes de l’éducation s’efforcent de trouver des alternatives aux modèles d’apprentissage traditionnels et à leurs environnements physiques. Au-delà de la théorie, ces initiatives nécessitent aussi des moyens.

Vienne accueillera du 20 au 22 septembre 2010 une conférence internationale baptisée « IMAGINONS ! Des visions radicalement nouvelles de l’école de demain ... et comment les réaliser ». Cette conférence est organisée conjointement par l’OCDE/CELE, le ministère autrichien de l’Éducation, des Arts et de la Culture et l’Université Technologique de Vienne, avec la participation du Centre de l’OCDE pour la Recherche et l’Innovation dans l’Enseignement (CERI). La conférence permettra de déterminer en quoi les solutions de conception et les stratégies de financement et d’approvisionnement innovantes proposées à ce jour peuvent améliorer la pertinence des politiques et des pratiques éducatives face aux défis actuels et à venir. Les débats seront alimentés par une réflexion sur les grandes tendances du secteur éducatif et les scénarios pour l’avenir.

Les groupes de discussion réuniront un certain nombre d’intervenants de renom, parmi lesquels des visionnaires, des réformateurs, des décideurs politiques, des architectes et des urbanistes. La conférence proposera également des ateliers destinés à favoriser l’émergence d’idées nouvelles, une visite guidée de quelques établissements scolaires viennois et une exposition d’affiches intitulée « Visages de l’école de demain ».

Mais Aqui.

Todos os analfabetos que entendem que os males do ensino português (quiçá universal) se devem às ciências da educação têm aqui uma oportunidade de aprender alguma coisa sobre os desafios do que é hoje ensinar e aprender. Duvido, no entanto, que queiram.

Paradigmas de gestão

(retirado de Tumbula, 2010)

Pai, repara no que faço

Uma das últimas crónicas de Miguel Santos Guerra e a centralidade da atenção.

Quien tenga hijos o hijas de corta edad sabrá con cuánta insistencia se dirigen a los padres y a las madres, diciendo ante cualquiera de sus nuevas o ya conocidas habilidades:
- Papá, mamá, mira lo que hago.
Quien esté en un aula con niños y niñas, sabe con qué persistente asiduidad se dirigen al maestro o a la maestra para mostrarle la obra que con tanto empeño han concluido:
- Seño, mira mi dibujo…
Lo mismo digo respecto al comportamiento que quieren ofrecer como muestra de su esfuerzo, de su aplicación o de su obediencia:
- Mamá, ¿has visto lo bien que me he portado?

Y es que los niños y las niñas tienen necesidad del reconocimiento de los adultos. Necesitan el respaldo de quien tiene la autoridad de decir lo que está bien y lo que está mal y el elogio por el esfuerzo realizado o el reproche por lo que han hecho. Ellos se miran en el espejo de nuestros ojos y en la sonrisa o el reproche que merece lo que han conseguido. Sin esa retroalimentación, sin ese eco de atención su esfuerzo les parece baldío.

Hace unos días, mi hija Carla, cinco años, se echó a llorar desesperadamente porque yo no le había prestado atención mientras se tiraba de cabeza en la piscina. Ella quería que su papá fuese testigo de los avances que estaba realizando. Sin ese reconocimiento, sin esa mirada, sin esa presencia, el éxito no se producía. Cuando le pregunté por qué lloraba, me lo explicó de forma clara y terminante:

- Porque tú no me mirabas, porque tú no me mirabas…

Los niños y las niñas necesitan de nuestra presencia, de nuestra valoración, de nuestra aprobación. Necesitan que alguien que les quiere, los mire y reconozca sus avances, sus esfuerzos, sus intentos de mejora. Porque quieren superarse constantemente.

Nos distraen de esa mirada atenta y de esa atención amorosa muchas ocupaciones, muchas preocupaciones, muchos intereses, muchas personas a primera vista más importantes que esos pequeños, a veces minúsculos progresos.

Parece que las cosas de los niños y de las niñas son siempre cosas sin importancia. A nuestros ojos de adultos lo que ellos hacen puede ser irrelevante, pero para ellos es toda su vida, es todo lo que tienen, todo lo que son. No hay nada más importante que ese reconocimiento, que esa felicitación, que esa sonrisa. “La sonrisa es una línea curva que lo endereza todo”, dice Phillis Diller.

Esa actitud amorosa del adulto es sumamente importante para los niños y las niñas. Esa postura atenta a las pequeñas cosas, a los diminutos avances es lo que necesitan para crecer. ¿Por qué estorban tanto los niños a ciertos adultos?

Texto Integral

50 variáveis de uma boa escola

5 KEY FEATURES OF SCHOOL CLIMATE
• The school is a safe and happy place
• There are places for pupils to go and constructive things
to do outside class time
• Pupils and staff behave in a relaxed and orderly way
• Pupils, staff and parents feel that their contribution to
the school is valued
• The school is welcoming to visitors and newcomers.

5 KEY FEATURES OF RELATIONSHIPS
• There is a shared sense of teamwork among all staff
• Older pupils help younger ones
• Bullying is not tolerated
• Parents and governors feel welcomed and valued in the
school
• People address one another in ways which confirm their
value as individuals

5 KEY FEATURES OF CLASSROOM CLIMATE
• The classroom is a satisfying place to be for pupils and
teachers
• There is order, purpose and a relaxed atmosphere in
classrooms
• Pupils feel confident in approaching teachers for help
• Pupils work co-operatively and individually as
appropriate
• No child is excluded from the possibility of success

5 KEY FEATURES OF SUPPORT FOR LEARNING
• Pupils see themselves as independent learners
• Teachers believe that all pupils can learn and gain
success
• The main focus of school activity is to make learning
more effective
• Learning in and out of school is seen as a coherent
whole
• Pupils are involved in reviewing progress, recording
achievements and target setting

5 KEY FEATURES OF SUPPORT FOR TEACHING
• Support for learning and teaching are at the heart of
school policies and development planning
• Teachers receive effective support from management
• The size of classes ensures that all teachers can teach
effectively
• Teachers share successes and problems with one another
• Parents are seen as partners in pupils’ learning

5 KEY FEATURES OF USE OF TIME AND RESOURCES
• Organisation of classes is conducive to all pupils learning
effectively
• Deployment of resources is the result of a shared
negotiated approach
• Time for teachers to plan, assess and develop
professionally is well used
• Resources are available to pupils within and outside the
school day
• The school is a community resource

5 KEY FEATURES OF ORGANISATION AND
COMMUNICATION
• School decision-making is an open participatory process
• The views of all within the school are listened to
• Pupils have forums for discussing their concerns and
problems
• Parents and governors are well informed about school
policies and practice
• The community has a strong positive view of the school

5 KEY FEATURES OF EQUITY
• Pupils have faith in the school’s policy on equal
opportunities
• Cultural, moral, intellectual and social diversity is seen as
adding value to school life and learning
• All staff believe they have a part to play in promoting an
equal opportunity culture
• The planning and organisation of the curriculum takes
account of the needs of all pupils
• All pupils have opportunities to take responsibility in the
classroom, school and in extra-curricular activities

5 KEY FEATURES OF RECOGNITION OF ACHIEVEMENT
• There is a climate of achievement in the school
• All pupils have an equal chance of having their
achievements recognised
• Awards rather than punishment is the prevailing
approach throughout the school
• There is consensus in the school about what constitutes
‘success’
• Staff achievements are recognised and rewarded

5 KEY FEATURES OF HOME-SCHOOL LINKS
• Parents play an active part in their children’s learning
• Parents are confident that problems will be dealt with
and feedback given
• The school provides for the social, cultural and linguistic
backgrounds of pupils
• Parent-teacher meetings are useful and productive
• Pupil progress is monitored and shared with parents on
a regular basis

SCHOOLS SPEAK FOR
THEMSELVES
John MacBeath
Brian Boyd
Jim Rand
Steve Bell

http://www.teachers.org.uk/files/active/0/schools.pdf, 26 de Agosto de 2010

Desenvolver a Melhoria dos Processos e Resultados Educativos - A Ruptura que é preciso fazer

Já na década dos 70, quando começam os estudos sobre a implementação da mudança planificada, manifesta-se que “a política educativa não pode prescrever o que realmente importa” (policy cannot mandate what matters). Como conclui uma das protagonistas (McLaughlin, 1990:12) dos estudos sobre implementação:

“Para a política é sumamente difícil mudar a prática educativa, especialmente através dos distintos níveis do governo. Em lugar de uma suposta relação directa entre política e prática, a natureza, o grau e o ritmo com que se produz a mudança na escola é consequência de factores locais que escapam ao controlo dos responsáveis políticos da administração educativa”.

Nos anos 70, quando se analisa a concretização de projectos inovadores externos, aparecerá amplamente documentado o fracasso (Fullan e Pomfret, 1977), por estes terem ignorado a sua implementação ou desenvolvimento junto dos factores culturais e institucionais. As inovações adoptadas têm-se ficado ao nível da superfície, têm mudado a linguagem e algumas estruturas, mas não têm conseguido alterar a prática do ensino. Constata-se que o modo como é percebida a mudança por aqueles que a vão desenvolver, condicionará o que realmente possa acontecer na prática. Importará, por isso, o denominado “significado (meaning) da mudança”, como intitulou Michael Fullan o seu livro de 1982. Por sua vez, os factores contextuais afectam igualmente o possível uso da inovação.

O que tem de mudar não se pode prescrever, porque as mudanças na prática dependem do que pensam os professores. Esta dimensão pessoal da inovação significa que, em último extremo, a mudança se dirime no que os sujeitos sejam capazes de pensar e fazer com ela. Por isso não é possível pensar e promover de modo gerencialista a melhoria escolar. Desde esta abordagem, tratar-se-á de fazer uma fenomenologia da mudança educativa, investigando o significado que, numa situação organizativa e com uma política curricular determinadas, tem um dado curriculum para os participantes (professores e alunos), compreendendo os significados atribuídos às acções realizadas, as adaptações que têm feito da inovação e como tem sido “vivido” pelos agentes. O tema central da investigação será compreender os processos de reconstrução, redefinição e filtragem que uma inovação sofre até ser posta em prática, num processo de “adaptação mútua” e mediação entre duas culturas.

Antonio Bolívar
UM OLHAR ACTUAL SOBRE A MUDANÇA EDUCATIVA: ONDE SITUAR OS ESFORÇOS DE MELHORIA ?
in Leite, Carlinda e Lopes, Amélia (org.)(2007). Escola, Currículo e Formação de Identidades. Porto:ASA

Ser Professor: Conhecimento, cultura profissional, tacto pedagógico, trabalho em equipa, compromisso social

Para finalizarmos, o senhor poderia sintetizar qual deve ser a função do professor na educação contemporânea? A que requisitos deve atender, como deve ser sua formação?

Sabemos todos que é impossível definir o "bom professor", a não ser através dessas listas intermináveis de "competências", cuja simples enumeração se torna insuportável. Mas é possível, talvez, esboçar alguns apontamentos simples, sobre o trabalho docente nas sociedades contemporâneas.

O conhecimento. Aligeiro as palavras do filósofo francês Alain: Dizem-me que, para instruir, é necessário conhecer aqueles que se instruem. Talvez. Mas bem mais importante é, sem dúvida, conhecer bem aquilo que se ensina. Alain tinha razão. O trabalho do professor consiste na construção de práticas docentes que conduzam os alunos à aprendizagem.

A cultura profissional. Ser professor é compreender os sentidos da instituição escolar, integrar-se numa profissão, aprender com os colegas mais experientes. É na escola e no diálogo com os outros professores que se aprende a profissão.

O tato pedagógico. Quantos livros se gastaram para tentar apreender esse conceito tão difícil de definir? Nele cabe essa capacidade de relação e de comunicação sem a qual não se cumpre o ato de educar. E também essa serenidade de quem é capaz de se dar ao respeito, conquistando os alunos para o trabalho escolar. No ensino, as dimensões profissionais cruzam-se sempre, inevitavelmente, com as dimensões pessoais.

O trabalho em equipe. Os novos modos de profissionalidade docente implicam um reforço das dimensões coletivas e colaborativas, do trabalho em equipe, da intervenção conjunta nos projetos educativos de escola.

O compromisso social. Podemos chamar-lhe diferentes nomes, mas todos convergem no sentido dos princípios, dos valores, da inclusão social, da diversidade cultural. Educar é conseguir que a criança ultrapasse as fronteiras que, tantas vezes, lhe foram traçadas como destino pelo nascimento, pela família ou pela sociedade. Hoje, a rea­lidade da escola obriga-nos a ir além da escola. Comunicar com o público, intervir na sociedade, faz parte do ethos profissional docente.

Entrevista de António Nóvoa
Revista Educação. Aqui

Antonio Novoa - Professores - Imagens do futuro presente

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Antonio Novoa - novo livro

View more documents from mzylb.

É preciso promover novos modos de organização da profissão

A segunda medida que proponho aponta para a necessidade de promover novos modos de organização da profissão. Grande parte dos discursos torna-se irrealizável se a profissão continuar marcada por fortes tradições individualistas ou por rígidas regulações externas, designadamente burocráticas, que se têm acentuado nos últimos anos.
Quanto mais se fala da autonomia dos professores mais a sua acção surge controlada, por instâncias diversas, conduzindo a uma diminuição das suas margens de liberdade e de independência. O aumento exponencial de dispositivos burocráticos no exercício da profissão não deve ser vista como uma mera questão técnica ou administrativa, mas antes como a emergência de novas formas de governo e de controlo da profissão.
A colegialidade, a partilha e as culturas colaborativas não se impõem por via administrativa ou por decisão superior. Mas o exemplo de outras profissões, como os médicos, os engenheiros ou os arquitectos, pode inspirar os professores. A forma como construíram parcerias entre o mundo profissional e o mundo universitário, como criaram processos de integração dos mais jovens, como concederam uma grande centralidade aos profissionais mais prestigiados ou como se predispuseram a prestar contas públicas do seu trabalho são exemplos para os quais vale a pena olhar com atenção.
Não é possível preencher o fosso entre os discursos e as práticas se não houver um campo profissional autónomo, suficientemente rico e aberto. Hoje, num tempo tão carregado de referências ao trabalho cooperativo dos professores, é surpreendente a fragilidade dos movimentos pedagógicos que desempenharam ao longo das décadas um papel central na inovação educacional. Estes movimentos, tantas vezes baseados em redes informais e associativas, são espaços insubstituíveis na aprendizagem docente e no desenvolvimento profissional.
Pat Hutchings e Mary Taylor Huber (2008) têm razão quando referem a importância de reforçar as comunidades de prática, isto é, um espaço conceptual construído por grupos de educadores comprometidos com a pesquisa e a inovação, no qual se discutem ideias sobre o ensino e aprendizagem e se elaboram perspectivas comuns sobre os desafios da formação pessoal, profissional e cívica dos alunos.

António Nóvoa (2009) Professores - Imagens do futuro presente
Lisboa:Educa

António Nóvoa e a formação de professores

Num texto recente, apresentei cinco teses sobre a formação de professores que respondem à sua pergunta. É impossível desenvolvê-las, mas posso enunciá-las. A formação de professores deve: a) assumir uma forte componente prática, centrada na aprendizagem dos alunos e no estudo de casos concretos; b) passar para ‘dentro’ da profissão, isto é, basear-se na aquisição de uma cultura profissional, concedendo aos professores mais experientes um papel central na formação dos mais jovens; c) dedicar uma atenção especial às dimensões pessoais, trabalhando a capacidade de relação e de comunicação que define o tato pedagógico; d) valorizar o trabalho em equipe e o exercício coletivo da profissão; e) estar marcada por um princípio de responsabilidade social, favorecendo a comunicação pública e a participação dos professores no espaço público da educação. [Entrevista de António Nóvoa, Doutor em Educação e reitor da Universidade de Lisboa, a revista Educação, nº 154]

Fonte

Organizational change, training and development, and 'motivation'

Conventional organizational change, which typically encompasses training and development, and 'motivation', mostly fails.

Why?

Are the people stupid? Can they not see the need for change? Do they not realise that if the organization cannot make these changes then we will become uncompetitive. We will lose market share. There will be job cuts. We will eventually go out of business. Can they not see it?

Actually probably not. Or more precisely, your people look at things in a different way.

Bosses and organizations still tend to think that people whom are managed and employed and paid to do a job should do what they're told to do. We are conditioned from an early age to believe that the way to teach and train, and to motivate people towards changing what they do, is to tell them, or persuade them. From our experiences at school we are conditioned to believe that skills, knowledge, and expectations are imposed on or 'put into' people by teachers, and later, by managers and bosses in the workplace.

But just because the boss says so, doesn't make it so. People today have a different perspective. And when you think about it, they're bound to.

Imposing new skills and change on people doesn't work because:

It assumes that people's personal aims and wishes and needs are completely aligned with those of the organization, or that there is no need for such alignment, and
It assumes that people want, and can assimilate into their lives, given all their other priorities, the type of development or change that the organization deems appropriate for them.
Instead, organizations, managers, bosses and business owners would do better to think first about exploring ways to align the aims of the business with the needs - total life needs - of their people. Most people who go to work are under no illusion that their main purpose is to do what their manager says, so that the organization can at the end of the year pay outrageously high rewards to greedy directors, and a big fat dividend to the shareholders. We (the workers) work so that other more gifted or fortunate or aggressive people can profit because of our efforts.

And god help you if you are running a management buyout company, intent on floating or selling out in the next two-to-five years, making the MBO equity-holders millionaires, and leaving the employees, on whose backs these scandalous gains have been made, up the creek without a paddle, at the mercy of the new owners.

How on earth do you expect decent hardworking people to align with those aims?

It's time for a radical re-think, before we all disappear up our own backsides...

fact one:

People will never align with bad aims. Executive greed, exploitation, environmental damage, inequality, betrayal, false promises are transparent for all decent folk to see:

"Oh you want me to do this training, and adjust to your changes, so I can make more money for you and the parasites who feed off this corporation? Sorry, no can do. I've got my own life to lead thanks very much.."

And that's if you are lucky. Most staff will simply nod and smile demurely as if in servile acceptance. If they still wore caps they'd doff them.

And then nothing happens. Of course nothing happens. The people can't be bothered.

"... if the directors are too arrogant and stupid to understand why, then why should we tell them?.."

Re-assess and re-align your organization's aims, beliefs, integrity - all of it - with your people's. Then they might begin to be interested in helping with new skills and change, etc.

fact two:

People can't just drop everything and 'change', or learn new skills, just because you say so. Even if they want to change and learn new skills, they have a whole range of issues that keep them fully occupied for most of their waking hours - which were dumped on them by the organization in the first place.

"So you want me to attend this training course, so you can earn more (etc, etc), and when I come back from two days away in some rotten hotel my personal pile of meaningless jobs will just have magically disappeared will it? And when I come to try to implement these new skills and make all these new things happen, everyone will be completely in step will they? Pull the other one.. Again, no can do.."

The reason why consulting with people is rather a good idea is that it saves you from yourself and your own wrong assumptions. Consulting with people does not mean that you hand over the organization to them - they wouldn't want the corporation if you paid them anyway. No, consulting with people gives you and them a chance to understand the implications and feasibility of what you think needs doing. And aside from this, consulting with people, and helping them to see things from both sides generally throws up some very good ideas for doing things better than you could have dreamt of by yourself. It helps you to see from both sides too.

fact three:

Organizations commonly say they don't have time to re-assess and re-align their aims and values, etc., or don't have time to consult with people properly, because the organization is on the edge of a crisis.

Well who's fault is that? Organizations get into crisis because they ignore facts one and two. Ignoring these facts again will only deepen the crisis.

Crisis is no excuse for compromising integrity. Crisis is the best reason to re-align your aims and consult with people. Crisis is wake-up and change the organization and its purpose - not change the people. When an organization is in crisis, the people are almost always okay - it'll be the organizational purpose and aims that stink.

So, whatever way you look at organizational change, you are kidding yourself if you think you can come up with a plan for change and then simply tell or persuade your people to implement it.

Instead, start by looking at your organization's aims and values and purposes. What does your organization actually seek to do? Whom does your organization benefit? And whom does it exploit? Who are the winners, and who are the losers? Does your organization have real integrity? Are you proud of the consequences and implications of what your organization does? Will you be remembered for the good that you did - in the widest possible sense of doing good - while you were in charge and in your position of responsibility?

And what do your people say to themselves about the way you are managing change?

Ask them.

Fonte

Tempo de Revisões - A aprendizagem experencial

Here follow the principles of experiential learning on greater detail, especially as they relate to organised activities, events and games, etc.

1 - learner is central
The learner is central to the process throughout, the facilitator provides the learner with a service. The principle that the success of the experiential approach to learning depends on the learners is fundamental. Therefore the facilitator must understand that learners can only make best use of their opportunities if they are ready, willing and able to become personally involved in the learning process: learners have to be prepared to actively develop their understanding, critique and evaluate the messages in their context and then work hard to apply appropriate learning.

2 - facilitation must be light and subtle
Principle 2 Individuals can and do learn without facilitation. Learners learn experientially by reflecting on their experiences, developing personal insights and understandings through involvement in intellectual, emotional and physical activity. This can be (and often is) done by an individual without any external help. A facilitator is not a prerequisite. Experiential learning involves people in working things through for themselves and developing their own understanding, so facilitators should always be seeking ways to enable this to happen. Although effective facilitation can add tremendous value, facilitators should remember that inappropriate facilitation can hinder, rather than help learning; they should not instruct, proffer knowledge, proscribe or offer personal wisdom.

3 - find/create experiential learning opportunities
A facilitator should help create learning opportunities and enable others to recognise and make good use of these opportunities. The facilitator can provide help during each element of the learning cycle by creating an appropriate learning environment, providing an activity that will initiate the learning process, creating an atmosphere and framework conducive to constructively critical review, (guiding thinking and challenging to developing understanding) ensuring that any conceptual thinking is progressed to meaningful conclusions and opportunities for improvement identified. Facilitation is a complex and skilled process.

4 - reactions to experiences vary so don't pre-judge
You cannot predict the learning an individual will take from an activity. Because individuals are personally involved in experiential learning individuals can take very different messages from a single event. An obvious example is one where a person fails to listen to another. If they are to learn, both individuals need to understand their part in their failure to communicate, but the causes could be numerous and therefore each persons learning very different. So for example, behaviours seen in an individual who isn't heard could be; doesn't express ideas clearly, doesn't check the 'listener has understood', speaks when the other person isn't ready to listen, doesn't help the listener understand the significance of the information, fails to develop the idea, backs down when challenged, etc. Similarly example reasons why a 'listener' doesn't listen could be; doesn't see the issue as being important, had prejudged the issue, is distracted by personal thoughts, doesn't respect the other person (and or their views). Therefore one event can provide the individuals involved with quite different or even diametrically opposed learning.

5 - single events can enable several different learning effects
There is potential for the learning to be at several levels. In the example used in note 4 above I gave behaviours for not being heard, but reasons for not listening. Typically addressing and developing behavioural change is less challenging than addressing the reasons. Taking the example from above, it can be seen that there is a hierarchy of challenge that the facilitator can encourage the learner to address: realising the need (e.g. I won't be listened to if the other person is speaking) developing the skill (e.g. speaking clearly and concisely) developing the confidence or self esteem (e.g. believing that I and my views are of value) challenging personal attitudes (e.g. questioning personal drivers and belief systems).

6 - build confidence before addressing attitudes and behaviour
Developing basic skills in a supportive environment is relatively simple, changing day to day behaviour is another matter. After having read this note it might be tempting to go straight to the fundamentals and target attitudes first. (If you have a positive attitude and personal confidence it is easier to implement personal change.) However remembering that the learner has to want to learn, it is far safer to build the learners confidence through success with skill development and behavioural change in simple or superficial areas first. When some progress has been made you can consider raising and tackling more fundamental issues like personal confidence and attitudes to others. It's worth being aware however, that a knock on effect of individuals beginning to use new skills and realise their benefits can be a growth in self esteem and personal confidence.

7 - the activity must be real and engaging - not based on artificial impact
A learning activity is a means to an end, not an end in itself. The purpose of an experiential learning activity is to create an opportunity for valuable and memorable personal leaning. The ideal activity will engage, stimulate and challenge with individuals becoming absorbed in the task as themselves. It will not involve role play in a conventional artificial sense. All activities must be designed, managed and facilitated carefully so that the activity has impact, but it isn't so memorable that these 'activity memories' override the impact and memory of the learning. If this happens the lasting memory may be an aspect of the activity, not the learning that was realised.

8 - ensure activities allow adequate and meaningful reviews
An effective activity provides the opportunities for learning with as few distractions as possible. It can be great fun to run 'big activities' (although some people hate them) and there is no doubt that 'ropes' courses (as 'outward bound' activities are referred to in some parts of the world) and outdoor team challenges can generate real learning opportunities, but take care. Besides the risk of big events overpowering their intended lessons, the duration of these activities often means that many learning opportunities are lost; valuable incidents can get forgotten or overlooked or submerged in the complexity of the task. Although less memorable in themselves, running several short activities (10-30 minutes) each followed by its own review will often have far greater long term impact that one big activity.

9 - carefully reviews of activities are crucial
The learning review is a vital stage of every activity. It should be planned as part of the design, not left to chance. Reviews can take many forms but all must engage the learners. The ideal review will involve the learner in personal thought, challenge and discussion before coming to some form of conclusion. It is often useful if a period of individual reflection, guided by open-ended or tick-box questionnaires, is followed by a facilitated discussion. If it is to be of real benefit, the review must be an honest critique of what happened and the contributions of each individual. Real issues should not be swept under the carpet, but equally criticism must be constructive.

10 - accentuate the positives
Concentrate learning and reviews on the positives more than the negatives. It is all too easy to focus on the negatives but this can seriously undermine confidence in the whole idea of learning and development if the negatives are over-emphasised, especially for people who are not especially robust. It's obvious that if something goes wrong, or just doesn't go as well as we hoped, there will be benefit in review and change. It can, however, be equally beneficial to review what's gone well. It's not only motivating to recognise and focus on success, but finding out what caused the success and seeking ways to make greater or wider use of it can reap tangible rewards.

11 - use stimulating questions in reviews, especially for groups discussions
A review discussion is an opportunity for learners, helped by the facilitator, to develop their own understanding and draw their own conclusions. The role of the facilitator is to enable others to learn by drawing out the issues and developing the learning that is relevant to the individuals. The facilitator should ask questions that will stimulate thought about relevant issues and enable the group to use answers given to develop further thought and learning.

12 - resist temptation to give answers - ask questions only
Don't tell people what they should learn. An observer is in a privileged position, often seeing aspects that are not obvious to others. If you observe a point that isn't raised during a review it is legitimate to raise it, but only through questioning. If, despite questioning, individuals don't relate to the point, there is no benefit in pursuing as any 'learning' will not be theirs. A better option is for you to run another activity designed to focus more attention on this specific point. Whatever happens, don't be tempted to provide a 'professional analysis' as this approach takes the ownership of the learning away from the individual.

13 - have faith in people's ability to learn for themselves
Believe in the learners: they can and will make experiential learning opportunities work for them. To be an effective facilitator of experiential learning you have to believe, really believe, in others. You have to believe that they have the potential to make progress and be committed to the fact that your role is to provide opportunities for others to learn and progress.

14 - it's about them not you
Forget your ego. Your success is individuals capitalising on their personal learning. As an effective facilitator you have to be satisfied with the knowledge that you offer and develop opportunities for others to learn, many of which will go unused or undervalued. You have to accept that you are not offering 'tangible and technical' contributions and therefore will not be able to look back and say 'I taught this person x or y'. If you're lucky however, every now and again in the years to come you will hear of some far-reaching consequences that will go way beyond what you might have hoped or imagined.

15 - getting started
Perhaps not surprisingly the best way to start is to experience facilitating - actually have a go at it: experience the process. Find a group of people who are happy to be 'guinea pigs' and just try a simple activity that is tried and tested. Think about the activities you've experienced yourself in the past. Talk to other people. Ask the potential delegates if they have ideas and preferences or recommendations.

You might also want to look at the various experiential learning activities developed by Martin Thompson himself, linked from Martin's biography below.

© Experiential Learning Activities - Concept and Principles, Martin Thompson and MTA, 2008.

Kolb's experiential learning theory (learning styles) model

Kolb's learning theory sets out four distinct learning styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage learning cycle. (which might also be interpreted as a 'training cycle'). In this respect Kolb's model is particularly elegant, since it offers both a way to understand individual people's different learning styles, and also an explanation of a cycle of experiential learning that applies to us all.

Kolb includes this 'cycle of learning' as a central principle his experiential learning theory, typically expressed as four-stage cycle of learning, in which 'immediate or concrete experiences' provide a basis for 'observations and reflections'. These 'observations and reflections' are assimilated and distilled into 'abstract concepts' producing new implications for action which can be 'actively tested' in turn creating new experiences.

Kolb says that ideally (and by inference not always) this process represents a learning cycle or spiral where the learner 'touches all the bases', ie., a cycle of experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting. Immediate or concrete experiences lead to observations and reflections. These reflections are then assimilated (absorbed and translated) into abstract concepts with implications for action, which the person can actively test and experiment with, which in turn enable the creation of new experiences.

Kolb's model therefore works on two levels - a four-stage cycle:

1.Concrete Experience - (CE)
2.Reflective Observation - (RO)
3.Abstract Conceptualization - (AC)
4.Active Experimentation - (AE)

and a four-type definition of learning styles, (each representing the combination of two preferred styles, rather like a two-by-two matrix of the four-stage cycle styles, as illustrated below), for which Kolb used the terms:

1.Diverging (CE/RO)
2.Assimilating (AC/RO)
3.Converging (AC/AE)
4.Accommodating (CE/AE)

Ler mais.

Caos, gestão, valores

Organisational Values as "Attractors of Chaos”:
An Emerging Cultural Change to Manage Organisational Complexity
Dolan S.L1., Garcia S2., Diegoli S3., Auerbach A4.,

De uma GPD e GPO para uma GPV

A crise em que ainda vivemos mergulhados e o modelo de governação que nos (des)comanda são tributários de uma filosofia marcada pela Gestão por Directivas (ou Gestão/Direcção por Instrução) e pela mais recente (?) Gestão por Objectivos (ou Direcção por Objectivos). Reúnem-se cada vez mais evidências da falência destes modelos de direcção e gestão. Como alternativa, defende-se a Gestão por Valores (GpV). Garcia e Dolan, os autores de referência desta visão. Aqui.

A Direcção por Valores (DpT)

Nesta linha, GARCÍA (2001a, p. 12) refere como enfoque metodológico da DpV
um “modelo triaxial”6 de análise que agrupa os valores em três dimensões, que
desejavelmente devem estar o mais equilibradas possível: o eixo de valores “práxicos”
(ligados à prática) ou de controlo; o eixo de valores “poiéticos”7 (emocionais e criativos)
e o eixo dos valores “éticos”, eixo central em torno do qual giram os outros
dois. O modelo triaxial da Direcção por Valores visa a criação de empresas “eutópicas”
8: “chegou, pois, o momento de que o grito utópico de que ‘outro mundo é
possível’ incorpore o realismo eutópico de que ‘outra empresa é possível” (GARCÍA,
2003, p. 1). As empresas “eutópicas” têm uma tripla responsabilidade: equilíbrio
económico, ético e emocional. Naturalmente que a “alma” deste modelo assenta
sobretudo nos eixos dos valores éticos e “poiéticos”, pois “os valores práxicos convencionais,
que dominam o mundo da empresa, estão a perder o seu poder hegemónico
para dar sentido à acção” (GARCIA, 2001a, p. 3). Como que resumindo e
justificando todo o sentido deste modelo, assim escreve o autor:
O homo tecnoeconomicus alcançou o seu tecto evolutivo de máxima
eficiência, de felicidade e de sentido para a acção. Há que
explorar e aplicar novos modos de pensar e fazer as coisas nas
empresas mais evoluídas; quer dizer, mais éticas e mais ‘poiéticas’,
que questionem e ampliem o modelo dominante de ‘progresso’ e
de ‘criação de valor’ propugnado pelo pragmatismo das nações no
poder mundial (Estados Unidos, Alemanha, Japão […]) e suas
seguidoras. Chegou a hora da ética empresarial, de libertar o potencial
criativo das pessoas e de pensar em novas formas de lide-
rança e de empreendedorismo baseadas numa consciência moral
pós convencional. […] A perdurabilidade e desenvolvimento do
sistema capitalista passam pela sua humanização: passa por entender
e aplicar o valor do respeito à pessoa e ao seu meio ambiente.
[…] A turbulência e incerteza do ambiente socio-económico
actual deve enfrentar-se construindo uma ‘alma’ organizativa que
dê sentido humano à acção (GARCIA, 2001a, p. 4).

João Trigo e Jorge Costa
fonte
http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ensaio/v16n61/v16n61a05.pdf

Cada vez mais necessária. Para escapar às derivas tecnocráticas do comando e controlo.

NIASSA

Finalmente lido e apreciado. E com uma certa saudade de futuro.

Cabeças no Ar - O Cheiro dos Livros

Todo-o-Mundo

Uma ficção sobre a morte e a solidão.

Meio Sol Amarelo

Lembram-se do Biafra, o país que "nunca" existiu? Todo um tempo armadilhado. Toda uma memória viva. Toda uma tragédia. Toda uma teia de amores, tráficos, traficâncias, corrupção e poder. Todo um infindável cortejo de horrores e desumanidades. Num livro muito bem escrito. Diria que até que é mais do que um livro. Ver mais aqui.

E que nos chama a atenção para novas tragédias em latência. Na Nigéria.

A Tábua de Flandres

O ponto de partida é um quadro de Van Huys, "Partida de Xadrez" que Julia, ao restaurar descobre ter uma inscrição "Quid Necavit Equitem"? (quem matou o cavaleiro?). Uma trama romanesca entre passado e presente, referente e realidades, personagens da pintura e personagens da 'ficção'. Mais uma vez a mestria de Pérez-Reverte, na leitura em tempo de férias.

Terceiras Pessoas