Political Education

O trabalho discute o Acordo negociado, desde 2010, entre a Prefeitura Municipal de Florianópolis e o Banco Interamericano de Desenvolvimento. Em novembro de 2013 veio a público o Proyecto de Expansión y Mejoramiento de la Educación Infantil y la Enseñanza Fundamental en Florianópolis, expressando a presença na RME de um educador fundamental, o Capital. Trata-se da expansão e melhoria da Educação, mas subordinando o que-fazer docente à preparação de mão de obra para o trabalho simples e à transformação da esfera pública em nicho de negócios rentáveis, como construção, tecnologias e consultorias. O maior desafio da Educação, a qualidade, o “êxito” dos pobres, abrangeria cinco dimensões, duas aqui ressaltadas: estudantes devem ter acesso a docentes eficazes e ter habilidades para êxito no mercado. O trabalho docente torna-se fundamental para a execução de tal política em três aspectos: gestão, avaliação e formação. As mudanças tornarão meritocrático o processo de seleção, contratação e alocação de gestores escolares da RME, com maior controle sobre a eleição. A avaliação atravessa a formação docente e a gestão e, relativamente às crianças, sugere-se o Infant and Toddler Environmental Rating Scale e o Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale focando os comportamentos de gestores, professores e estudantes ao invés de processos educacionais. O “banco educador”, apoiado em avaliação e controle social, afirma que “eficiência” resulta de permanente escrutínio avaliativo. O docente e seu trabalho envolvem-se numa perspectiva empobrecedora, dado que Estado e Banco apresentam preocupações em relação aos professores para inibir suas capacidades de lutas e resistências às reformas e providenciar repasses de recursos públicos para instituições privadas. A subordinação do professor ligar-se-ia a mudanças na carreira e ao sistema de avaliação. O trabalho docente é considerado “frágil”, pois é mal formado, débil pedagogicamente, não usa a língua para apropriação de ciência e matemática. A solução seria o coaching para melhorar a prática pedagógica e a gestão da escola. Objetiva-se a alienação do professor, fator mais importante na escola, posto que pode interferir na formação humana via ensino-aprendizagem. Enfrentamos uma estratégia de convencimento: melhoria da qualidade da educação, qualificação de capital humano, empregabilidade. A justificação da reforma apela à vaidade: tornar as práticas exitosas da RME em padrão internacional.

In the United States, corporations and the global elite have adopted "systemic change" as their slogan, a mere symbolic reform pushed forth to adopt policies that will continue to oppress poor working-class communities. The current upheavals and social movements, we notice, lack  revolutionary theory, political education, and critique of global capitalism, specifically in their fight against the criminal justice system. Instead, the majority of social movements focus on reform - a change within the system itself rather than changing the entirety of the system as a whole. There are only a handful of non-profits or NGOs throughout the United States committed to systemic change. Therefore, the two points we attempt to argue in this paper is that the movements in the United States against super-policing and hyper-incarceration do not address their root causes, which connect their repression with global capitalism. In addition to this, both fail to do this, in part because this have no revolutionary ideology or program, which often, if not entirely, critiques capitalism as the root causes of policing and hyper-incarceration. Second, is that the non-profits and NGOs enter the scene, and the global elite, with their massive funding packages, try to substitute reformist propaganda and policies that continue to perpetuate the system of capitalism for mass mobilization and systemic change. What we are connecting here is that NGOs, financed by corporate foundations, are the ones that propagate reformist ideologies and push forward the reformist agenda of the global elite, which does nothing to change the inequalities around the world. The purpose of this paper is to look at two current US movements and their efforts against the criminal justice system. Finally, the paper analyses the lack of revolutionary pedagogy and revolutionary systemic praxis in oppositional organizing circles, bringing it back to the Black Panther Party's most critical class ideologies.

This issue of KIU Journal of Social Sciences focuses on Political Education, Social Psychology, Human Resource Management, Educational Management, Entrepreneurship Studies, Disaster Management, Counseling Psychology, Peace and Conflict Studies, as well as Educational Technology.

The first part of the Journal addresses issues in Political Education such as Civic Education, Roles of Civil Society Organizations in Public Policy, How to address Political Apathy, Christians and Partisan Politics as well as Service Delivery in the Public Sector. It is argued in one of the papers that the cost of operating democratic governance with rising politically apathetic voters and irrational voting behaviour is enormous and unbearable. It therefore suggests that non-formal political agencies and platforms should be adequately explored and used to reverse political apathy and irrational voting behaviour.

Sections two and three explore the social and cultural factors that affect the academic performance of vulnerable groups in the society. One of the papers suggests that AIDS education to include STDs, sexuality and reproductive health education should be made compulsory and be incorporated into the syllabi and curricula of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions. Also, Health Counselling unit should be established in all academic institutions.

In the Section on Peace and Conflict Studies, it is recommended that a comprehensive training approach involving the community members and law enforcement agencies is also crucial in order to institutionalize the philosophy and strategy of community-oriented policing in the world of law enforcement agencies in Nigeria. This is drawn from the conclusion that community-oriented policing is a potent weapon in the quiver of the government and various communities to stem the flow or tide of terrorism in Nigeria. Community-oriented policing is comprised of three key operational strategies namely, Trust Partnership, Organizational Transformation and problem solving.

It has also been observed that entrepreneurial education is very important in order to achieve a sustainable development and in the search for an economic development agenda/program that empowers people. Against this backdrop, the papers in part seven amplify that central tenet. Theoretical, methodological and practical implications are discussed in the papers. In particular, the results recommended that skills acquisition of university graduates is very important for employability and to retain the job gained. Also, that curriculum planner should lay emphasis on practical aspect of each profession during teaching-learning exercise. Also, that both formative and summative assessment of the learners should be properly done so as to showcase those that are capable in theory, practical and both theory and practical simultaneously in each professional programme so as to help the employers to put round pegs into round holes as the case may be.

In the last two sections of this issue, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has been recognized as an important tool for advancement of any nation especially in the era of globalization. It is observed that tertiary education is approaching the point at which, science and technology particularly Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be playing vital roles in nearly all phases of the educational process. However, the papers identify some of the problems toward the effective use of ICTs in teachers’ education programme in most African countries to include poor funding, poor power supply, low level of technical education and inadequate supply of ICTs facilities. Finally, it is recommended that governments and all the stakeholders in the educational system should wake up to their responsibilities by providing ICTs facilities for effective instructional delivery system in teacher education.

On the whole, this issue of KIU Journal of Social Sciences contains papers that have information on all aspects of human life. Collaborative and cooperative approaches are offered as best approaches for dealing with matters that lead to the instability of communities, societies, economies, and the environment. The theoretical analyses provide opportunities to operationalize the theories discussed in the articles. The authors’ teachings and areas of research must have certainly influenced their perspectives on the diagnoses of the matters they have addressed in their articles.

Professor Oyetola O. Oniwide
College of Humanities and Social Sciences,
Kampala International University,
P.O. Box 20000,
Kampala, Uganda.

editor.socialsciences@kiu.ac.ug

September, 2017.

According to many governments and educationalists, education should aim to develop dispositions conducive to political participation and solidarity, because democratic citizenship presupposes participation and solidarity. But there are radically different views on the nature of good citizenship. We examine the implications of this dissensus for citizenship education. Education, we contend, should involve and develop autonomy and open-mindedness. We argue that this requires a more critical approach than is possible when political participation and solidarity are conceived of as goals of education.

O objetivo desta coletânea é o de apresentar e discutir as implicações teóricas e metodológicas implícitas ao ato de planejar, tanto em nível nacional quanto internacional. Em âmbito nacional,
a obra confere especial destaque ao Plano de Ações Articuladas (PAR), objeto de estudo da REPAG nos últimos oito anos.
O livro pode ser adquirido pelo site da editora
http://www.mercado-de-letras.com.br/livro-mway.php?codid=491