Paula Batista

Self-efficacy, perceived training needs and coaching competences: The case of Portuguese handball

Abstract The aim of this study was to analyse handball coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy and recognition of training needs related to coaching competences according to their coaching experience, coach certification level and academic education. Two hundred and seven Portuguese handball coaches answered questionnaires that included a scale of self-efficacy and another of recognition of training needs. Data analysis started with an exploratory factorial analysis with Maximum Likelihood Factoring and Oblimin rotation. From the factors obtained, a One-way ANOVA and Tukeys post hoc multiple comparisons were applied. Coaches’ self-efficacy revealed coaching competences related to: annual and multi-annual planning; planning and guiding training and competition; coaching methodology; implementation of sport development projects and coach education and meta-cognitive competences. Coaches’ recognition of training needs revealed four main areas: planning and guiding training and competition; multi-annual planning; management of sports careers and coaching education and leadership. Although an independent relationship between coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy and training needs was confirmed, they perceived themselves as having competences and highlighted training needs in all areas. Coaches’ perceptions of self-efficacy were influenced by their coach certification level, academic education and coaching experience. The study suggests that sport specificity within the social culture in addition to the precise sporting domain of action influence the perceptions of coaches about their self-efficacy and training needs as related to coaching competences and, therefore, should be considered in the coach education curriculum.

Competencia entre significado y concepto

The main purpose of this study is to contribute to the clarification of the concept of competence in light of the new challenges the education and development of competence has to face nowadays. After a brief review of lexical issues related to the meaning(s) of competence, the analysis is focused on the debate concerning the concept of competence occurring within such areas as professional education, evaluation, and development.The analysis support the idea that rather than a unique construct of competence, there are several dissimilar conceptual fields, portraying competence as a complex, holistic, integrative, and relational concept. Competence is situational, it is reflected in action, it is not directly observed, it is related to the outcomes but it should never be confused with any particular performance.

Competências profissionais em Educação Física: uma abordagem ao longo da carreira docente

The objective of this study was to analyze the professional competences elucidated in the educational career of Physical Education teachers from school. 64 teachers of Physical Education of the municipal public net of Porto Alegre (RS) participated in the study. In the collection of data a questionnaire was used composed by open and closed questions, whose answers were classified based on the model of professional competence of Cheetham; Chivers (1998), with the application of the Software Nvivo 7.0. In the group of analyzed competences, it was identified that teachers with more experience are those that stand out the functional competences in their paths, characterized by the specific competence of the occupation and of the organization and administration. It stands out that the social and vocational dimension was preponderant in elapsing of the educational career, in the detriment of the interpersonal dimension of the social and personal competence. In spite of the importance of the ethics to the educational profession, the ethical competence and values was not expressive in the units of registration of this study.

Latent learning in the work place: The placement experiences of student coaches

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the work-based internship experiences of eight student-coaches. This was particularly in terms of what precisely such coaches learned within the practical context, and how they engaged with unexpected situational events. The methods employed within the project included focus group interviews and participant observation. In particular, the student-coaches were both interviewed and observed over the course of a nine-month sporting season, with each phase of the research informing the next. The subsequent data were primarily subject to a thematic analysis. The findings of the study were organized under four principal themes: (1) the reality shock felt by the student-coaches in terms of the gap between what they expected and what they experienced; (2) the lack of respect demonstrated by the organizational head coaches for the students; (3) the students’ response in terms of developing their micro-political literacy; and (4) the social price paid by the student-coaches in adopting such action. The results point to the limitations of student learning within high-performance sporting environments. In this respect, the student-coaches’ experiences were not what was expected or desired. Despite this, many valuable and relevant lessons were learned. These related to developing students’ micro-political literacy; necessary knowledge for any neophyte coaches trying to establish bone-fide situational roles.

O papel do professor cooperante no contexto da formação de professores de Educação Física: A perspetiva dos professores cooperantes

This study aimed to capture how cooperating teachers of physical education are positioned in the supervision role defined in the normative documents of the higher institutions and how they interpret their actions at school. Twenty-six cooperating teachers involved in initial training programs for physical education teachers of four public universities in Portugal were interviewed. For data analysis, the construction of situational maps (Clarke, 2003), based on two coding cycles (open and focused) were used to emerge and establish connections between the structural elements of training (Charmaz, 2006). The results indicate that the way that the cooperating teachers assume the role of mentors is guided by the normative documents and configured by the relational dynamics established with the faculty supervisor. The role that cooperating teachers assume are predominantly instrumental, of support and management of the pre-service teachers’ academic and professional learning. The partnership established between school and university based on a collaborative and complementary relationship had emerged as necessary and as a priority for the quality of the training process.

LA IDENTIDAD DEL PROFESOR: DESAFÍOS DE LA GLOBALIZACIÓN

Globalization has triggered deep changes in the structures of contemporary societies and, simultaneously, in the expression and theorization of identity. The current article brings to discussion the challenges presented by the (re)construction of the teachers identity, which has shifted from a non-reflexive level to a meta-level of reflexive and critical activity. This puts a strain on the continuity and unity of the identity, in both individual and collective dimensions, where the subject of social transformation can emerge from. As this is an interactive process of the (re)construction of meaning, the teachers identity must be backed up by a communicational practice requiring critical reflexive thinking and an active intervention, which depends on the teachers involvement and is related to professionalism and professional competence.A globalizacao veio provocar alteracoes profundas nas estruturas das sociedades contemporâneas e, concomitantemente, na expressao e teorizacao da identidade. O presente estudo traz a debate os desafios colocados a (re)construcao da identidade do professor, que se deslocou de um nivel de nao reflexividade para um metanivel de atividade reflexiva e critica, pondo em tensao a unidade e a continuidade da identidade, nas dimensoes individual e coletiva, de onde pode emergir o sujeito da transformacao social. Tratando-se de um processo interativo de (re)construcao de sentido, a identidade do professor nao dispensa a pratica comunicacional e requer um pensamento reflexivo critico e uma intervencao ativa, que depende do envolvimento do professor e esta relacionado com o profissionalismo e a competencia profissional.

TEACHER'S IDENTITY: CHALLENGES POSED BY GLOBALIZATION

Globalization has triggered deep changes in the structures of contemporary societies and, simultaneously, in the expression and theorization of identity. The current article brings to discussion the challenges presented by the (re)construction of the teachers identity, which has shifted from a non-reflexive level to a meta-level of reflexive and critical activity. This puts a strain on the continuity and unity of the identity, in both individual and collective dimensions, where the subject of social transformation can emerge from. As this is an interactive process of the (re)construction of meaning, the teachers identity must be backed up by a communicational practice requiring critical reflexive thinking and an active intervention, which depends on the teachers involvement and is related to professionalism and professional competence.A globalizacao veio provocar alteracoes profundas nas estruturas das sociedades contemporâneas e, concomitantemente, na expressao e teorizacao da identidade. O presente estudo traz a debate os desafios colocados a (re)construcao da identidade do professor, que se deslocou de um nivel de nao reflexividade para um metanivel de atividade reflexiva e critica, pondo em tensao a unidade e a continuidade da identidade, nas dimensoes individual e coletiva, de onde pode emergir o sujeito da transformacao social. Tratando-se de um processo interativo de (re)construcao de sentido, a identidade do professor nao dispensa a pratica comunicacional e requer um pensamento reflexivo critico e uma intervencao ativa, que depende do envolvimento do professor e esta relacionado com o profissionalismo e a competencia profissional.

A identidade do professor: desafios colocados pela globalização*

Globalization has triggered deep changes in the structures of contemporary societies and, simultaneously, in the expression and theorization of identity. The current article brings to discussion the challenges presented by the (re)construction of the teachers identity, which has shifted from a non-reflexive level to a meta-level of reflexive and critical activity. This puts a strain on the continuity and unity of the identity, in both individual and collective dimensions, where the subject of social transformation can emerge from. As this is an interactive process of the (re)construction of meaning, the teachers identity must be backed up by a communicational practice requiring critical reflexive thinking and an active intervention, which depends on the teachers involvement and is related to professionalism and professional competence.A globalizacao veio provocar alteracoes profundas nas estruturas das sociedades contemporâneas e, concomitantemente, na expressao e teorizacao da identidade. O presente estudo traz a debate os desafios colocados a (re)construcao da identidade do professor, que se deslocou de um nivel de nao reflexividade para um metanivel de atividade reflexiva e critica, pondo em tensao a unidade e a continuidade da identidade, nas dimensoes individual e coletiva, de onde pode emergir o sujeito da transformacao social. Tratando-se de um processo interativo de (re)construcao de sentido, a identidade do professor nao dispensa a pratica comunicacional e requer um pensamento reflexivo critico e uma intervencao ativa, que depende do envolvimento do professor e esta relacionado com o profissionalismo e a competencia profissional.

A IDENTIDADE DO PROFESSOR DE EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA: UM PROCESSO SIMULTANEAMENTE BIOGRÁFICO E RELACIONAL

Building teachers’ identity is a biographical and relational process of critically re-appropriating lifelong experiences (DUBAR, 1997). This qualitative study examines reflections about six student teachers’ practices in order to understand the influence of their previous experiences on their career choice, the interpretation of the images they saw as most representative of what “being a teacher” means, and the changes they underwent throughout their education. Student teachers valued diversity of experiences, ability to involve students in their learning processes, and moments of sharing with other teachers.

The profile of the mentally incompetent patient of the local health unit of Guarda, Portugal

Forensic psychiatry, as a specific branch of psychiatry, is the medical science that approaches mental illness and its relation with law enforcement. In this regard, medicine and justice converge in the contact with individuals that, due to the alleged assumption of acting under the effects of a psychiatric disease, have a disturbing behaviour and infringe the laws of Society. The objective of this research project, which has a retrospective nature, is to delineate the profile of the mentally incompetent patients of the Local Health Unit of Guarda, Portugal, resorting to the reports of mental facultys examinations of, at least, 30 individuals. With this methodology, we will be able to study the characteristics of selected individuals who have committed some sort of criminal offences but are not subject to prosecution, namely with regard to the specific personal and family data, psychiatric background, diagnostic formulations, applied legal concepts, among others. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Microsoft Excel tool. The main goal of the study is to provide to the Psychiatry Department of the Local Health Unit of Guarda an analytical instrument that characterizes the respective mentally incompetent population and may, essentially, contribute positively to the contextualization and accomplishment of the future assessments on mental faculties of the individuals who are involved in judicial proceedings.