Decentralization Of Competences Research Articles

Role of Public Entities in Suitable Provision of Public Services: Case Study from Slovakia

Local governments in the Slovak Republic are important in public administration and form an important part of the public sector, as they provide various public services. Until 1990, all public services were provided only by the state. The reform of public administration began in 1990 with the decentralization of competencies. Several competencies were transferred to local governments from the state, and thus municipalities began to provide public services that the state previously provided. Registry offices were the first to be acquired by local governments from the state. This study aimed to characterize the transfer of competencies and their financing from state administration to local government using the example of registry offices in the Slovak Republic. In the paper, we evaluated the financing of this competency from 2007 to 2018 at the level of individual regions of the Slovak Republic. The results of the analysis and testing of hypotheses indicated that a higher number of inhabitants in individual regions did not affect the number of actions at these offices, despite the fact that the main role of the registry office is to keep registry books, in which events, such as births, weddings, and deaths, are registered.

HEALTH CARE IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION UNITS IN AMAZONAS: CONFLICT OF COMPETENCY OR RESPONSIBILITY ISSUE?

This article analyzes the discursive representations in the collective thinking of socio-environmentalists about the competencies and responsibilities of the policy of protected areas with the attention to the health of the riverside populations. The method is an exploratory descriptive of qualitative approach based on the collective thinking of socioenvironmentalists working in the protected areas policy of Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve from seven interviews collected through a semi-structured script which were analyzed by the Collective Subject Discourse technique. Respondents express knowledge about the constitutional competences of the municipality with health, but they have difficulty in dialogue with the city halls on the subject; the responsibilities of the management of conservation units (UC) and public non-state organizations that work in support of co-management are attributed the responsibility as to captain the public policies and the formulator of scientific information for the improvement of local health. The absence of dialogue adds to the lack of a public agenda within the scope of environmental policy. There are experiences of access to health in the rural area adapted to the socio-environmental context of the reserve, however, these suffer discontinuity. The discursive representations of the collective thinking of socioenvironmentalists express knowledge about municipal competences with health and concerns regarding meeting these needs. The meeting of social needs is organized in a conflictual manner, and this is due to the lack of coordination between the various institutions that operate in this territory. The decentralization of competences and responsibilities over natural resources through the co-management of UCs imposed new roles and authorities on the territories.

Los tutores de prácticas en los centros: comparativa autonómica del Practicum del Máster de Educación Secundaria

Internship is a fundamental period in any curriculum of university education because it constitutes the point of connection between theory and practice and an opportunity for a first approach to professional socialization. In this context, to do the internship in a suitable workplace and accompanied by a competent tutor, are key factors for a positive experience and a significant learning in the students. This article presents an analysis of the requirements that are established for the tutors of the workplaces in the Master of Secondary Education’s Internship. These requirements will be juxtaposed with previous studies around the figure of the tutor in the workplaces, which determine their relevance in the student's learning opportunity, as well as the personal and professional competences desirable associated with their function. Methodologically, it presents a bibliographic review about the internship and the tutor as an agent for the training. Later, it presents a comparative analysis at the intranational level, in order to offer a vision from the regulations that regulate this aspect in the different Autonomous Communities in the Spanish state. Therefore, an analysis of educational subsystems within a country based on a common regulatory framework is proposed. The results show that, based on state regulations, and based on the decentralization of competencies in the different communities, there are diverse requirements depending on the territory and that the level of demand is variable. These differences are especially evident in aspects such as seniority in the workplace or in previous experience in the development of the role of tutor student trainees.

Efficiency and Heterogeneity of Public Spending in Education Among Italian Regions

The Italian educational system is strictly regulated by the Ministry of Education. However, there are strong differences in educational inputs and outputs among Regions, as can be noticed by analyzing the allocation of public budgets to the Regions and their students' (average) performance in national and international test scores. A general institutional change is ongoing in Italy, that is, the decentralization of competencies from the State to the Regions (federalism). Some insights are necessary about the efficiency of public spending on education in a comparative perspective across Regions. To estimate efficiency scores, a non-parametric technique called DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) was used. The unit of analysis are the 18 Italian Regions, with the focus on the lower- secondary education. Then a second-stage Tobit regression was used to detect the factors affecting efficiency. The results corroborate the difference between the North and South of Italy (the Regions in the North outperform their counterparts in the South). When looking at the Regional socio-economic context, GDP per capita appears as the key determinant of efficiency.

Emu Challenges European Labor Markets

This paper discusses the challenges that European Monetary Union (EMU) poses for European labor markets, emphasizing in particular the regional dimension of the European unemployment problem. The authors argue that the inability of labor markets to adjust to shocks is largely a regional problem within member countries, requiring structural reforms to enhance labor market flexibility but also a decentralization of competencies and greater diversity of labor market outcomes. Any attempt to successfully reform European labor markets and make them fit for EMU has to take into account the regional--and even a more decentralized firm--perspective.

EMU Challenges European Labor Markets

This paper discusses the challenges that European Monetary Union (EMU) poses for European labor markets, emphasizing in particular the regional dimension of the European unemployment problem. The authors argue that the inability of labor markets to adjust to shocks is largely a regional problem within EMU member countries, requiring structural reforms to enhance labor market flexibility but also a decentralization of competencies and greater diversity of labor market outcomes. Any attempt to successfully reform European labor markets and “make them fit for EMU” has to take into account the regional–and even a more decentralized firm–perspective.