‘No Shame at AIME’: Listening to Aboriginal Philosophy and Methodologies to Theorise Shame in Educational Contexts

Shame is a ‘slippery’ concept in educational contexts but by listening to Aboriginal philosophy and Country, we can rethink its slipperiness. This article contemplates how multiple understandings of shame are derived from and coexist within colonised educational contexts. We focus on one positive example of Indigenous education to consider how these understandings can be challenged and transformed for the benefit of Indigenous learners. We discuss a mentoring program run by and for Indigenous young people that is successfully impacting school retention and completion rates: The Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME). AIME has a rule, ‘No Shame at AIME’, with the view to minimising shame as a barrier to engaging with Western education. But is this as beneficial as might first appear? Might this erode important cultural understandings of shame necessary in Indigenous education? Instead, could shame be repositioned to better align with original cultural meanings and purposes? We philosophise about the AIME rule with Yuin Country and stories from Country along with our observational and interview data. We argue AIME does not so much ‘remove’ shame as reposition it to better align with Aboriginal cultural educational practice, which positively impacts mentees.

RELAÇÃO ENTRE A INTELIGÊNCIA EMOCIONAL E O RENDIMENTO ESCOLAR EM CRIANÇAS DO 1.º CICLO DO ENSINO BÁSICO DA RAM

The growing interest in emotional intelligence has motivated, since the ‘ 90, the development of numerous studies on the topic. One of the approaches of these studies has been the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement, without much agreement on the results (Angelo, 2007; Newsome et al., 2000; O’Connor & Little, 2003; Parker et al.,2004; Parker et al., 2006; Silva & Duarte, 2012) and was developed further this research. The survey was developed with a set de129 individuals of both sexes of RAM (Autonomy Region of Madeira) in order to respond to the questions: is there any relationship between IE, the IE perceived and school performance? Does gender, age, social participation, socio-economic status of parents and school retention influence the IE and the school performance? The instruments used were: A demographic and educational survey where they gathered, in addition to the socio-demographic data, academic performance data as: retention, the notes of the Portuguese language, Mathematics, the Study of the Middle note of calibration tests: Portuguese language and Mathematics; and the Emotional Intelligence survey of Bar-On (Candeias & Rebocho, 2007, Candeias et al., 2008). The results reveal that only some aspects of IE relate to some of the variables of school performance, in particular the classifications to Portuguese and Mathematics.Key-words: Emotional intelligence, school performance.Resumo:O crescente interesse pela Inteligência Emocional tem motivado, desde os anos 90, o desenvolvimento de numerosos estudos sobre o tema. Um dos enfoques desses estudos tem sido a relação entre a Inteligência Emocional e o rendimento escolar, não existindo muita concordância nos resultados (Ângelo, 2007; Newsome et al., 2000; O’Connor & Little, 2003; Parker et al.,2004; Parker et al.,2006; Silva & Duarte, 2012), pelo que se desenvolveu mais esta pesquisa. A pesquisa foi desenvolvida com um conjunto de 129 indivíduos de ambos os sexos da RAM (Região Autónoma da Madeira), no sentido de dar resposta às questões: Será que existe alguma relação entre a IE, a IE percebida e o rendimento escolar? Será que o género, a idade, o índice de participação social, o estatuto socioeconómico dos pais e a retenção escolar influenciam a IE e o rendimento escolar? Os instrumentos usados foram: um questionário Sociodemográfico e Educativo onde se recolheram, para além dos dados sociodemográficos, os dados do rendimento académico como: a retenção, as notas da Língua Portuguesa, da Matemática, do Estudo do Meio, nota das provas de aferição a: Língua Portuguesa e Matemática; e o questionário de Inteligência Emocional de Bar-On (Candeias & Rebocho,2007, Candeias et al., 2008). Os resultados revelam que apenas alguns aspetos da IE se relacionam com algumas das variáveis do rendimento escolar, nomeadamente as classificações a Português e a Matemática.Palavras-chave: Inteligência emocional, rendimento escolar.

Agentes del aprendizaje. Docentes en el proceso educativo para la retención positiva

Como parte de las actividades de investigación educativa realizados en la Universidad de Quintana Roo, se diseñó y ejecutó un curso-taller con el propósito de involucrar a los profesores en los procesos de investigación en el aula para obtener elementos para la retención escolar. Este escrito tiene como objetivo mostrar el proceso reflexivo del docente, en tanto agente del aprendizaje, sobre su implicación en la trayectoria escolar y sobre sus alcances en la retención positiva universitaria que emergió durante y posterior al taller. El curso-taller, elaborado en dos de las tres unidades académicas, constó de tres aspectos: a) la ubicación del papel del profesor en la vida escolar del universitario, b) la aplicación de un ensayo de acción tutorial grupal y c) la propuesta y ejecución de estrategias remediales y/o de canalización en orden de mejorar aspectos académicos y fomentar la retención. A partir de este ejercicio, se establecieron mecanismos de acciones tutoriales alternativas pensados desde la práctica docente.AbstractAs part of the activities of educational research conducted at the Universidad de Quintana Roo, there was designed and executed a teachers’ training course with the purpose of involving them into research processes inside the classroom in order to improve school retention. This paper aims to show the teachers self-reflexive process, as learning-teaching agents, about their influence over students’ school life and their possibilities to achieve positive retention that emerged during and after the activities of the course. This course, developed in two of the three academic units of the University, addressed three aspects: a) teachers’ role within the school life of the university and the students, b) to fulfill a sort of tutorial actions towards a school group, and c) to propose and accomplish remedial strategies by improving academic performance and encourage retention. From this exercise, teachers developed alternative mechanisms of tutorial actions thought-out from teaching practice.Recibido: 07 de marzo de 2014Aceptado: 29 de agosto de 2014