68 research outputs found
Retreat into scientism, paradoxes of transparency, and corruption in education
Get PDFUm dos sintomas da razão indolente (SANTOS, 2006) é o recuo ao cientificismo, o qual tem sido, particularmente, acentuado nas políticas, cada vez mais hegemônicas, de avaliação, de prestação de contas e de responsabilização. Por isso, um dos objetivos deste texto é o de colocar em causa este aparente consenso
cientificista (ou este consenso supostamente transideológico) e fazer uma breve incursão exploratória ao que aqui se designa de paradoxos da transparência. Considera-se que esses paradoxos traduzem a existência de tensões e contradições relativas a uma dimensão central dos discursos políticos e educacionais contemporâneos. Com isso, o artigo pretende dar continuidade a uma linha de pesquisa que tem procurado sublinhar a relevância da necessidade de complexificar e dar maior rigor teórico-conceptual à accountability em educação. Finalmente, tentando abrir caminho para o desenvolvimento de novas articulações e análises, chama-se a atenção para a corrupção na educação cuja complexidade ainda é insuficientemente
conhecida e pesquisada, nomeadamente, nas suas relações com as problemáticas da transparência e da accountability. Admite-se que as práticas de corrupção em educação, em muitas situações, são (paradoxalmente) induzidas pela necessidade de dar resposta à governação baseada nos números, nos rankings e nas (supostas) evidências, anulando completamente as expectativas legítimas em torno da transparência dos processos educacionais e das decisões políticas.One symptom of “indolent reason” (SANTOS, 2006) is the retreat into scientism, which is especially marked in the increasingly hegemonic policies surrounding assessment, reporting and accountability. As such, one of the aims of this paper is to call into question this apparent consensus on scientism (a supposedly trans-ideological
consensus), and briefly explore what we define as the paradoxes of transparency. These paradoxes are found to reveal the existence of tensions and contradictions concerning a central aspect of current political and educational discourse. In doing so, the article seeks to continue a line of study which has aimed to emphasize the significance of the need for a more complex, and theoretically and conceptually rigorous understanding of accountability in education. Finally, in an attempt to pave the way for further discussion and analysis, attention is drawn to corruption in education, the complex nature of which remains insufficiently understood and studied,
notably in terms of its relationship with the problems of transparency and accountability. It is acknowledged that practices of corruption within education are, in many situations, (paradoxically) caused by the need to answer to a system of governance based on numbers, league tables, and (supposed) truths, completely nullifying legitimate expectations about the transparency of educational processes and policy decisions.Trabalho financiado por Fundos Nacionais através da FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia – no âmbito do Projeto PEst-OE/CED/UI1661/2014.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The uncertain relationship between transparency and accountability
Full text linkThe concepts of transparency and accountability are closely linked: transparency is supposed to generate accountability. This article questions this widely held assumption. Transparency mobilises the power of shame, yet the shameless may not be vulnerable to public exposure. Truth often fails to lead to justice. After exploring different definitions and dimensions of the two ideas, the more relevant question turns out tobe: what kinds of transparency lead to what kinds of accountability, and under what conditions? The article concludes by proposing that the concept can be unpacked in terms of two distinct variants. Transparency can be either ‘clear’or‘opaque’, while accountability can be either‘soft’or‘hard’
Organic contaminants in western pond turtles in remote habitat in California
Full text linkRemote aquatic ecosystems are exposed to an assortment of semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs) originating from current and historic uses, of local and global origin. Here, a representative suite of 57 current- and historic-use pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons were surveyed in the plasma of the western pond turtle (Emys marmorata) and their potential prey items and habitat. California study sites included Sequoia National Park, Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and Six Rivers National Forest. Each was downstream of undeveloped watersheds and varied in distance from agricultural and urban pollution sources. SOCs were detected frequently in all sites with more found in turtle plasma and aquatic macroinvertebrates in the two sites closest to agricultural and urban sources. Summed PCBs were highest in Whiskeytown National Recreation Area turtle plasma (mean; 1.56 ng/g ww) compared to plasma from Sequoia National Park (0.16 ng/g ww; p = 0.002) and Six Rivers National Forest (0.07 ng/g ww; p = 0.001). While no current-use pesticides were detected in turtle plasma at any site, both current- and historic-use pesticides were found prominently in sediment and macroinvertebrates at the Sequoia National Park site, which is immediately downwind of Central Valley agriculture. SOC classes associated with urban and industrial pollution were found more often and at higher concentrations at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area. These findings demonstrate a range of SOC exposure in a turtle species with current and proposed conservation status and shed additional light on the fate of environmental contaminants in remote watersheds
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