EDITORIAL

We are pleased to present the first issue of Education and Research in 2014. In this issue, you will find a set of texts that express the vitality of the research and the density of the theoretical discussions carried out in the context of education. Though different, the articles in this issue have two common features: in addition to having been selected through a rigorous blind peer review process – as it is expected from any scientific journal –, they all demonstrate, in one way or another, a legitimate concern with frontier themes or contemporary problems which are still poorly understood. Thus, despite the breadth of the issues it addresses, the set presented here provides the reader with an overview of some of the major concerns which today mobilize the academic community linked to the field of education and which deserve to be further investigated. The analysis of the texts allows grouping them into subsets, as described below.

Initially, from different perspectives, five articles address the complex and controversial issue of evaluation. The first, titled Educational managers and the reception of external assessment systems in school daily life, written by Rodrigo Rosistolato and Guilherme Velozzo Viana, discusses some of the challenges present in the incorporation of external evaluations to school culture. The second one, Evaluation and ranking of secondary schools: an exploratory study, by André Luís Policani Freitas and Vinicius Barcelos da Silva, deals with the evaluation of an institution of secondary education according to the perception of teachers and students. The data presented in the third article, Academic achievement: comparative analysis by gender and student perception, by Andreia Osti and Selma de Cassia Martinelli, allow discussing and evaluating the relationships and bonds established between students and teachers, the influence of experience when learning and how they affect the interest and motivation of students. The fourth article, titled The course of higher education evaluation in Lula governments, by Gladys Beatriz Barreyro and José Carlos Rothen, analyzes the higher education assessment policy developed during the governments of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2010). It is a documentary study that uses the legislation and official documents of the period as its main sources of information. The fifth and final article of this subset, Modeling of the growth of learning in the early years with longitudinal data of GERES research, by Neimar da Silva Fernandes, Nigel Pelham Brooke, Isabela Pagani Heringer and Tufi Machado Soares, compares two value-added approaches to data from the longitudinal educational survey called GERES (Longitudinal Study of School Generation – 2005), which followed a cohort of students from more than 300 public and private schools over the first four years of primary education. Both approaches use hierarchical linear models, allowing the natural grouping of educational data from three levels: student, class and school.

The second subset also has five texts, which address a matter of extreme importance in the current scenario: disability and inclusion. The first of these articles is titled Signification processes in the elaboration of knowledge by pupils with special education needs and was written by Ana Paula de Freitas and Maria Inês Bacellar Monteiro. From the cultural-historical perspective and, based on the interest in the educational practice guided by meaningful educational relationships, the text addresses the issue of inclusive education. The Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) used by the deaf community in Brazil is a visual-spatial modality language whose graphic representation commonly occurs through images in printed and digital dictionaries. Libras is the subject of the second article, Brazilian sign language dictionaries: comparative iconographical and lexical study, written by Cássia Geciauskas Sofiato and Lucia Helena Reily. Using dictionaries of Libras, the authors analyze the historical development of the genre in Brazil by identifying characteristics and weaknesses of the iconography and lexicography of such works, which may influence the teaching and learning of signs in undergraduate courses. The following article, Indicators of stress and coping in the context of inclusive education, by Kelly Ambrosio Silveira, Sônia Regina Enumo, Renata Pozzatto and Kely M. Pereira de Paula, presents results of research on teacher stress induced by work overload and the perception that the government is little concerned with providing support for work. The text Communicative interactions between a teacher and a student with autism in regular schools: an intervention proposal, by Rosana Carvalho Gomes and Debora R. P. Nunes, presents the results of a study which offers new elements that may enhance the debate on controversial issues involving the process of inclusion of students with autism in regular classrooms. The article Early mathematical concepts and language: a comparative study between deaf and hearing children, by Heloiza Barbosa, brings very interesting indicators that deafness is not a cause of low school performance in mathematics. The author concludes that it is necessary to consider forms of pedagogical intervention which can ensure successful learning in mathematics both for deaf children and hearing children who attend Brazilian public schools.

In the third subset, we gathered four articles that attest to the richness and diversity of the topics being studied. The first one is titled In the interstices of citizenship: the inevitable, urgent character of the dimension of civic virtue in education and is authored by Portuguese Eduardo Nuno Fonseca, who addresses two issues: the discussion of the conceptualization of citizenship and the implications for any educational project which recognizes the importance of education for citizenship in schools. Then, the text Expressions of the sensible: readings in a pedagogical key, written by Colombian Luz Elena Gallo, presents reflections on the sensible – from the body and its relationship with education – from a philosophical, pedagogical and experiential perspective, based on the thought of Friedrich Nietzsche and Gilles Deleuze, as well as the pedagogical reflections of Jorge Larrosa and Fernando Bárcena. The article Education about drugs: a proposal oriented by damage reduction, by Mariana Adade and Simone Monteiro, aims to provide support for the development of educational actions for the youth, parents and educators regarding drugs. Finally, the last article of this issue explores the universe of childhood and childhood education and is titled The imperative of affect in early childhood education: the order of the discourse of undergraduate education students. In it, the author Rodrigo Saballa de Carvalho presents results of an investigation which problematizated the discourses on teacher affection present in reports on an internship in early childhood education classes by 30 Education students nearing graduation. The objective of this article is to discuss how discourses about affection are constituted as imperatives which create and regulate the modes of teaching. The research is grounded in cultural studies and analyses developed by Michel Foucault.

The last section presents a very interesting interview conducted in 2013 by Professors Denise Trento Rebello de Souza and Marli Lucia Tonatto Zibetti with Mexican Professor Ruth Mercado Maldonado, who is a researcher in Departamento de Investigaciones Educativas do Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (DIE-CINVESTAV – Department of Educational Research, Center for Research and Advanced Studies, National Polytechnic Institute.). In this department, internationally renowned for its high quality and influence on the educational research in Latin America, particularly due to its exciting contributions in the field of educational ethnography, Ruth has developed investigations for over 25 years. Such investigations have always been related to two lines of research: the sociocultural studies of everyday teaching; the policies and procedures for initial and continuing teacher education.

In the rich meeting the teacher reflected on her investigations and on issues related to early childhood, primary and secondary education, teacher education, curriculum development and the creation of teaching materials. The interviewee also addressed several current and controversial issues related to initial and continuing teacher education, such as the process of universitarisation and its implications (such as the relationship between theoretical and practical education; the role of trainers; relations between university culture and school culture) and the controversial topic of professional master's programs. Finally, she presented interesting ideas about writing for teachers and writing proposals used in training processes.

I take this opportunity to inform that from this issue on our work partner, Mr. Wilson Gambeta, will no longer be part of the Education and Research team. In recent years, thanks to his seriousness and great experience in the publishing field, Mr. Gambeta has developed exquisite work with us, helping our periodical reach a higher level of professionalism and efficiency. We understand that he has fulfilled his mission in the journal. From now on, his participation will be occasional, as he will act as a consultant whenever we need his valuable contributions. On behalf of the Editorial Board, I would like to express our appreciation for Mr. Gambeta's work.

This is the first issue of the year and we know there is a lot of work ahead. The journal will again require great expenditure of time, energy and dedication from all of us (authors, publishers, ad hoc reviewers, proofreaders, translators, secretaries etc). More than that: it takes patience, flexibility and diplomacy to overcome the numerous obstacles that arise every moment in the publication of a journal with this profile and the level of editorial demand that we have. But we already know that the effort is always worth it. And that is why we are already working enthusiastically. We begin another year with the assurance that the service provided by Education and Research for the academic community is noble and valuable. We hope that reading the articles in this issue can demonstrate the strength of these contributions. Enjoy your reading.

Teresa Cristina Rego

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  06 Mar 2014
• Date of issue
  Mar 2014