A minha casa é o meu mundo: consumos que demarcam no quotidiano do viver só

No inquérito do INE às condições de vida e rendimentos das famílias, a habitação e as despesas associadas às condições de habitabilidade impõem-se como uma das fatias com maior expressão na composição do cabaz de consumos dos indivíduos e das famílias. Só por si, este é um indicador que dá relevo à importância da casa: espaço físico singular, pleno de significações, onde se incorporam as histórias de vidas vividas e materializam sobre diversas e imbricadas dimensões as orientações e as ‘escolhas possíveis’ de estilos de vida. Neste texto, focalizado na análise de experiências sociais do viver só, salienta-se a casa, ou antes, o espaço doméstico e as práticas que se constroem no quotidiano para a sua manutenção/apropriação, como espaço de mediação de estilos de vida, que corporaliza redes de comunicação – referenciadas, simultaneamente, no passado, presente e futuro – e consubstancia as relações dos sujeitos com a sua situação e com os seus contextos mais restritos ou mais alargados de participação social

The left and right hands of the Portuguese state: Welfare retrenchment of public employment

This article focuses on welfare retrenchment in Portugal by analysing the evolution of public sector employment up until 2013. A multidimensional analysis of the structure of public employment in the Portuguese state was developed, theoretically guided by the ‘hands of the state’ model proposed by Bourdieu, which divides the main functions of contemporary states between its left hand (more redistributive) and its right hand (more rational economic-oriented). Bourdieu’s approach is especially useful in addressing the transformations of the Portuguese public employment between 1979 and 2013, characterized by specific economic, social and political changes. In 2013 – a year in which the adjustment measures agreed by the Portuguese government, the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund during the global crisis were especially intense – we observed the tendency towards the disqualification of public employment and the shrinking of the left hand of the Portuguese state. Public policy orientations in the areas of education and science were particularly troubling, considering the structural backwardness the country faces in these fields in the context of the European Union.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Como estão as famílias de classe média a lidar com a crise?: um olhar focalizado sobre a reconfiguração dos estilos de vida das famílias com crianças

A comunicação focaliza-se nas reconfigurações de práticas de consumo e estilos de vida das famílias com crianças, tendo por referência um momento de retração das condições sociais e económicas. Este segmento familiar é particularmente sensível no momento de agudização das desigualdades sociais no acesso a bens e a recursos de natureza económica, social e cultural. Contrariando, em parte, algumas das visões – veja-se as abordagens de Ulrich Beck, Anthony Giddens, Zygmunt Bauman – que subavaliam a importância da noção de classe social para explicar alguns dos processos sociais mais relevantes que hoje estamos a viver, o certo é que tomam a classe média como um dos protagonistas mais centrais e implicados em tais transformações. Aqui pretende-se desenvolver um entendimento de “classe média”, em termos dos seus principais traços socioeducacionais e socioprofissionais mais distintivos e tendo por base as suas condições de vida e orientações de consumo. Esta proposta terá como referente empírico os resultados de um inquérito (online) aos rendimentos e consumos das famílias de classe média em Portugal, promovido no CIES-IUL, e desenvolvido no quadro do Projeto “Pensar o futuro e encontrar novas perspetivas para a promoção sustentada do bem-estar e qualidade de vida”.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The inequality effect in the well-being of European OECD countries: a new perspective on data addressing the multidimensionality of the concepts

Social inequality refers to the uneven distribution of resources in a society that can lead to systematically and unfair advantages/disadvantages in peoples’ life circumstances and opportunities. In populations all over the world, people with fewer resources have worse chances in life, health and well-being. Additionally, inequality hinders not only the people on the bottom of the social rank, but also the general population: in more unequal societies there is a higher incidence of a wide range of health and social problems such as criminality and poverty, fewer chances of economic growth, and higher unbalances in political representation, that can seriously undermine the fairness of political and economic institutions. Despite the consistence of its implications, social inequality is not a one-dimensional construct. Addressing social inequalities, implies not only addressing the degree of concentration or dispersion of valued goods, but also the correlation among these valuable features, and their plural implications in peoples' life circumstances – a multidimensional approach of social inequality is therefore advised. We explore the well-being inequalities in Europe building upon the OECD Framework For Measuring Well-Being And Progress. In this scope, well-being is understood as a multidimensional concept, framed by material conditions, quality of life and sustainability, and expressed by eleven well-being dimensions – income and wealth, jobs and earnings, housing, health, education, work-life balance, environment, social connections, civic engagement, safety and subjective well-being. Taking European Social Survey as the main empirical source, the interplay between key distributional (education, income) and categorical (gender, social class) dimensions of social inequalities in well-being and well-being profiles was studied, under two levels of analysis of the OECD European social space – transnational (across individuals) and national (across countries). Social inequalities on well-being scores and well-being profiles were identified. Higher education, higher income, and belonging to a more privileged social class positively influence well-being; men tend to present higher well-being than women. The four well-being profiles identified among Europeans were shown to be clearly structured by social inequalities, opposing higher- and lower- qualified socio-occupations, and males and females' life circumstances (Low-wage earners well-being profile, Elite well-being profile, Female well-being profile, Male well-being profile). At a country level, profiles are mostly defined in terms of volume of well-being, expressing regional affiliations (with a exception of one profile) and asymmetries of income, education, and class structures (Nordic high-rank well-being profile; Central Europe medium-rank well-being profile; Southern Europe medium-rank well-being profile; Eastern Europe low-rank well-being profile; Social disengagement low-rank well-being profile). The developed analysis confirms the existence of multidimensional intersections between well-being and categorical and distributive social structuring variables.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A educação ao longo da vida na perspectiva do envelhecimento ativo: Novos desafios, novas oportunidades para as estruturas de educação-formação

A pesquisa em curso, desenvolvida no âmbito do doutoramento em Sociologia pelo CIES-IUL, baseia-se numa abordagem do envelhecimento ativo que destaca o papel da Universidade na orientação de práticas de inclusão de indivíduos em ciclos de vida mais avançados. Neste paper apresentam-se alguns dos resultados obtidos através de um inquérito por questionário junto do universo de alunos com mais de 50 anos de idade inscritos nos vários ciclos de estudo (formais) da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, no ano letivo 2013-2014. Na análise destes dados, considerando o movimento multiforme do fenómeno, procuramos analisar as experiências de envelhecimento ativo na relação dos próprios sujeitos com o desenvolvimento de competências de literacia, de modo a compreender diferentes protagonismos subjacentes à retoma aos contextos de educac?a?o-formac?a?o nestas idades. A análise desenvolvida permitiu para já mapear experiências de (re)descoberta de si; de possibilidade de concretização de projetos de vida significativos ou também de alternativa a situações de rotura em ciclos de vida mais avançados (decorrentes de situações de desemprego de longa duração, reforma, perda do cônjuge, etc.).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Is this blended-learning, or another thing?

Today there are many forms of online use to support training, education and information dissemination. There's been a lot of confusion about the concept of online learning and we may not be able to get a definitive definition of it but hopefully, we can clarify concepts and the objective of this presentation is to be able to have a satisfying definition to understand the way our institution uses online content for our undergraduate students. Online learning in higher education is often pointed out as a good alternative, in the planning and organization of teaching/learning activities. Although there is resistance to its adherence by older or traditionalist teachers, because they do not master the tools and pedagogical innovation with digital technologies and also some resistance to the format, as it seconds the role of the teacher, shifting the axis of learning towards the student. Our University uses currently a platform for online learning, where there are small online courses that are additinally for some of the mandatory or optative curricular courses for the first year of the Undergraduate Programme. The structure of the online courses is normally of videos in varying number, followed by quizzes to assess the knowledge retained by the viewer of the video. It requires a minimum percentage of result to proceed to the next video. This model for training and education gives both the student and the teacher the opportunity of enrichment if, on the one hand, the student creates some autonomy, on the other hand, does not lose contact with teacher presence.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

21st century skills and digital skills, are one and the same thing?

The preparation of students of new generations for the labour market and for new social contexts currently requires higher education (ES) to reflect and reorganize its learning and training offer. In this sense, higher education institutions (HEIs) need to pursue a set of challenges, which include identifying and understanding the characteristics and needs of new students generations. Over the last decade's reference models on transversal competences (soft skills) have been established, classifying them on several nomenclatures as instrumental, interpersonal and systemic, but not always considering the temporal, and social, economic context of these same references. With the aim of designing an adequate formative offer, we have developed a study based on the systematization of the literature on the extent of reference models, categorization and terminology of references, regarding competences skills and aptitudes, and reflect, if in some cases, we are talking about equal, different or complementary competences, in one single one. An asymmetry still seems evident between the needs for skills of a digitalized society and the development by HEIs of an educational offer convergent with these same needs, not only at the professional level but also of behavioural, emotional, social, cultural capacities. Moreover, unlike digital skills, 21st-century skills are not necessarily underpinned by digital technologies. If two decades ago the categorization terminology was limited to instrumental, interpersonal and systemic skills, the research in this area develops more detailed frameworks that do not separate 21st-century skills from digital skills, structuring this large set into foundation or fundamental, social and emotional skills to learn, create and innovate, emancipatory and humanistic and artistic skills. In addition, the discussion focuses on the ability of students to acquire and develop these new skills in an academic and professional context, leaving aside the ability of teachers to conduct and integrate those skills in a transversal and transdisciplinary in teaching and learning approaches.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Foreign students in higher education institutions in Portugal, expectations and reality: A case study

The objective of this presentation is to provide a case study analysis of the presence of foreign students in higher education institutions in Portugal, in a public university, focusing on students from African Portuguese Speaking Countries (PALOP), namely, scholarship students entering the Portuguese higher education system, through the protocol between the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Ministry of Internal Administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the governments of the PALOP. The analysis considers two dimensions. On the one hand, it considers the volume and evolution of the presence of this set of students in the Portuguese higher education system, in the light of the institutional and legislative framework, which enables international mobility and favors the entry of students from these nationalities into higher education in Portugal, and influences the dynamics of their progression. On the other hand, the real conditions under which those students enter higher education in Portugal are analyzed, as well as the possible dissonance between the expectations built on the basis of a normative discourse, established and legislated, and the experiences actually lived in the context of their reception, and the difficulties experienced by those who enter with "scholarship status" on the basis of a term of responsibility that exempts the host state from any social responsibility. The differences between the educational systems have particular relevance in the adaptation of these students, from the language, which, being Portuguese, is one of the greatest difficulties in interpreting texts and consulting bibliographies, digital literacy, and social and economic needs that make access to elementary resources (photocopying, personal computer, Internet, and daily mobility) difficult.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Starting over through different learning areas

This paper aims to present a pilot study, with an action research methodology, in a campus recently created by a public university where an UpSkill: Digital Skills & Jobs program has been developed. This vocational training program is funded by the Institute of Employment and Vocational Training and is aimed at unemployed people who have at least secondary education and English language skills and who wish to obtain qualifications in the area of digital technologies. It integrates six months of intensive training in areas such as programming in several languages, cloud platform management, or low-code platform programming. However, this is a very diverse public, they can be individuals with master's, doctorate, or no higher education and even people who emigrated and now return to their country and have difficulties integrating into the labor market. Thus, two modules of transversal skills were developed, one for preparing the entry into the labor market and another for training interpersonal competencies when they are already in the organization that employed them. The two-course modules were based on an in-depth analysis and deconstruction of the concept of decent work (ILO 2019), with the purpose of developing the main axes that should be present in the active job search. The first-course module general orientation is to promote self-knowledge and skills assessment, the resources and abilities that each person possesses and that can be mobilized in the search for a job. This can enable students to make informed choices that enhance their knowledge and abilities, reconciling these guidelines with the opportunities. The second-course module invests in the development of interpersonal skills that enable students to enhance their individual abilities such as social skills (social interaction and cooperation, managing conflicts, teamwork, and communication skills). We know that any organization wants to have a team of employees that can work in full harmony, promoting a pleasant and healthy corporate space. However, the reality of teamwork and conflict management does not always correspond to such an expectation. In this context, applying conflict management strategies in the workplace becomes essential. From this experience, students evaluate their progress and we can share positive results of the evaluation of the seven groups (25 students each) formed so far and also their inclusion in the labor market that allowed them the possibility of starting over.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Paths to interdisciplinarity in higher education: Comparative analysis of experiences in Portugal

In a context of intense changes and global competitiveness, education is becoming increasingly relevant. In the underpinning societal challenges, higher education institutions are asked to innovate, by adopting a more flexible curriculum and promoting interdisciplinary experiences (OECD, 2019; Falcus, Cameron & Halsall, 2019). Within this scope, the present communication analyses three solutions of interdisciplinarity: (a) Open study plans, without outset disciplinary specialization, which incorporate in their realization a significant margin of freedom on the part of the students in the elaboration of their educational curriculum; (b) Courses which although registered in an area of disciplinary specialization, in their syllabus incorporate an interdisciplinary and "multi-vocational" orientation in their training-profession relations, offering wide-ranging opportunities for interdisciplinary training choices; (c) Education-training contexts built on the principle that higher education experiences, as constituent pillars of choices with a future for their students, should necessarily incorporate activities inside and outside the classroom, in a fruitful relationship with different aspects of academic, civic, economic and cultural life. The question that guides us focuses on different solutions indicated, presenting them as possible paths, complementary and/or alternative, in the materialization of the contemporary demand for interdisciplinarity. For this purpose, the study analyses a graduate study program of the type: (a) offered by the largest Portuguese public university; two types (b) graduation and post-graduation programs at another university and, in this same university, characterizes the context of interdisciplinarity type (c). The analysis of the data collected allows an understanding of the difficulties inherent in multidisciplinary dialogue, but, at the same time, it points the way to solutions that reconcile the need for specialist expertise with interdisciplinary openness.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio