Teaching students with learning difficulties or disabilities: regular education teachers' professional development and practices

This article focuses on how curricular and pedagogical differentiation for students of special education is perceived by teachers of the second cycle of basic education in Portugal. The objectives of this research were (i) to inquire about the teachers’ perceptions regarding their training path and their training needs; (ii) to characterize the teaching practices of teachers, aimed at students of special education; and (iii) to learn the perceptions of these teachers regarding their curricular and pedagogical practices directed at students of special education—this called for an interpretative methodology. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and subjected to content analysis. The results indicate a widespread concern with teachers’ current professional development and the management of diversity. The respondents’ perceptions, shown as favorable to change, are in line with personalized work, enhancing visible contributions to students’ personal and social development.This research was funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia S.A. (FCT), grant number SFRH/BD/136655/2018, and projects UIDB/04372/2020 and UIDP/04372/2020

Impacto e efeitos da avaliação externa das escolas nas práticas curriculares das lideranças intermédias

O reconhecimento da avaliação externa como um elemento - chave na mudança dos sistemas educativos trouxe para o centro do debate a importância das lideranças intermédias na melhoria das práticas curriculares e o aumento da qualidade do ensinoaprendizagem. Esta comunicação apresenta os resultados parciais de um projeto de investigação, em que se objetivou compreender de que modo o primeiro ciclo da avaliação externa das escolas, em Portugal, influenciou as dinâmicas curriculares e eficácia das lideranças intermédias. A análise dos dados quantitativos, recolhidos junto de uma amostra nacional de professores, através de um questionário on line (n=1102), remete para uma dicotomia entre, por um lado, o reconhecimento de que a Avaliação Externa tem um impacto mais positivo que negativo nas escolas, criando patamares de exigência mais elevados e abertura à mudança; por outro, a constatação de que ainda não produziu efeitos/resultados substanciais, no trabalho colaborativo de planificação, articulação, gestão e avaliação do currículo

The Interface and Control System of the Upgraded HVOpto/HVRemote Card of the TileCal

To comply with the increase in luminosity of the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) in the next decades, the electronics of the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC Apparatus) experiment is being upgraded. Included in the upgrade is the interfacing and control electronics system of the HVOpto/HVRemote cards in the TileCal (Tile Calorimeter) detector, which provides high voltages to about 104 photomultipliers (PMTs). This paper presents the new interfacing architecture for the system and details the design of a prototype control board (HVRemote-Ctrl) used for test and validation of the new architecture. The tests evaluate the system multiplexing capabilities needed to monitor all the TileCal PMTs in real time. The communication channels involved, supported in Ethernet and SPI interfaces/protocols, have been fully tested. Some results from the tests already completed are presented