There is a consensus that students should be involved in interdisciplinary activities that promote a solid education in STEAM subjects from an early age. The outdoor settings of schools present an advantageous context for STEAM education, allowing for a myriad of learning experiences. To understand how teachers perceive the pedagogical use of the school’s outdoor space, a study was carried out in a cluster of schools in a Portuguese city, including one middle school and 10 kindergarten and elementary schools. A mixed methods approach was used, combining a questionnaire for teachers (N = 49) with interviews (N = 8). The results indicate that teachers’ perceptions of the characteristics of their school’s outdoor spaces either facilitate or hinder the implementation of outdoor pedagogical activities. Most teachers concur that the outdoors provides contact with nature and encourages interdisciplinary and collaborative activities. However, the teachers surveyed admit to using the school’s outdoor spaces only occasionally, and this use decreases as the educational level at which they teach increases. The most common use of outdoor spaces is for physical and motor activities, promoting the well-being of children and youth. Although interdisciplinary activities in outdoor spaces are recognised, their implementation is limited and hampered by factors such as the length of curricula and the lack of training for teachers in these approaches. In this sense, there is an urgent need to train teachers in the interdisciplinary use of outdoor spaces to promote a solid education in STEAM subjects.

Research relating to the study of personal factors of students is currently of great importance especially those focusing on students' self-esteem. The goal of this research is to analyze the psychometric properties of Rosenberg´s Self-esteem scale and the Psychosocial Wellbeing Scale (EBEPS-A©) subscale of Self-esteem by studying the scales from two aspects which are whether the psychometric qualities of the instruments of self-esteem measures are appropriate for Portuguese students and if the instruments are one-dimensional or bi-dimensional. To understand this issue, two studies were developed for the psychometric validation of the instruments relating to self-esteem. One study investigated the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1979) on a sample of 588 students comprising 70.7% females and 29.3% males. Another study looked at the Psychosocial Wellbeing Scale (EBEPS-A©) (Galinha & Loureiro, 2005; 2006) subscale of Self-Esteem on a sample of 605 students comprising 63.3% females and 36.7% males. A Factorial analysis created a 14-item Self-esteem subscale. The Factor analysis confirmed previous studies with one factor; high saturations, a variance of 49.657 and Cronbach alpha =0.88. For the EBEPS-A©, the subscale results point to a variance of 4.53% and Cronbach alpha =0.90 which validated the appropriateness of the psychometric characteristics of both scales. The studies conclude that these instruments have proven useful in the study of self-esteem with students and may be used in future investigations.

This study represents a segment of broader research on the production context of goods and services in a federal educational institution located in the Federal District, Brazil. The investigation analyzed socioprofessional relationships in this Federal Public Administration institution, using the Work Context Assessment Scale (WCAS) as a reference. A quantitative approach was adopted, characterized as descriptive and inferential research. Data were collected through a survey, with the instrument made available to 1,294 federal public servants, obtaining a total of 424 respondents. The findings of this study point to the need for implementing short- and medium-term strategic actions aimed at improving perceptions of the factors that compose social and professional interactions in this context. Such measures are essential for mitigating work-related discomfort and reducing the risk of illness among federal public servants, contributing to a healthier and more productive organizational environment.