(2014). Constructing Disability in Bhutan: Schools, Structures, Policies, and Global Discourses. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Minnesota. Bhutan is a small country in the Himalaya that has experienced rapid societal changes in the past 60 years. Perhaps the most significant change in Bhutan has occurred in its educational system, which grew from a very limited presence in 1961 to now serving the entire youth population of Bhutan. With this massive increase in educational service provision, the challenges of providing education for a heterogeneous student population are now front and center in Bhutanese policy and discourse. Specifically, one of the major challenges in Bhutanese education today is how to include students with disabilities in schooling. Inclusive education policy, philosophy, and practice has existed in international discourse for many years–especially in United Nations human rights initiatives such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This dissertation, using a vertical case study approach, explores the interactions of multiple levels of policy-making as the inclusive education… [Direct]
(2015). Exploring Hispanic Teacher Candidates' Beliefs about the Value of Play in Children's Learning and Development. ProQuest LLC, Ed.D. Dissertation, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Play has been globally recognized as valuable to children's learning and development (Frost et al., 2012). The value of play is acknowledged as a developmentally appropriate practice in part because it fosters cognitive, physical, emotional, and social benefits to children. Play is also known as a human right that should be protected. However, in the past five decades there has been a significant decline of play due to multiple and interrelated factors, which are having dire consequences on children's learning and developmental possibilities (Almon & Miller, 2011; Gray, 2013). Due to the challenges posed by the current educational climate, in South City, Hispanic teacher candidates have reportedly grappled with making sense between the rhetoric and reality of the educational value of play. Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative study with constructivist grounded theory methods was to explore teacher candidates' beliefs about the value of play and to understand what influences… [Direct]
(2011). Deciding about Sterilisation: Perspectives from Women with an Intellectual Disability and Their Families in Taiwan. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, v55 n1 p63-74 Jan. Background: This qualitative study explores decision-making regarding sterilisation for women with intellectual disabilities (ID) living with their families, including how such decisions are made and who is involved in the decision-making. Methods: Eleven families including sterilised women with ID participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with family members and four of the women with ID; the interviews took place at the family homes during March 2009. The interview schedule sought information regarding decision-making on sterilisation including the reasons for the sterilisation, the identities of those involved in the decision-making, attitudes towards the sexuality of women with ID and the role of women with ID in decision-making about their own sterilisation. Additionally, women with ID were asked about their experiences of sterilisation. Results: The data showed that most of the women who underwent tubal ligation were married and had mild ID; the… [Direct]
(2010). Learning behind Bars: Education in Prisons. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, v26 n1 p31-36 Jan. This article is based on the negotiated meanings of \teaching\ and \learning\ in prisons. It is informed by the peripheral experiences of prisoners and the legitimate peripheral participation of their teachers. It was found that teachers and students are interdependent and feel equally marginalized. The positions occupied by teachers make legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991) possible though it is restricted within limits imposed by their place of work. The research, based on in-depth interviews of four teachers explores the challenges facing both teachers and their students. Concerns about prisoners' dignity, their human rights, entitlement to education and recognition of their learning difficulties are voiced against a culture of acquiescence and unquestioning obedience demanded by the prison regime outside the education classes…. [Direct]
(2007). Promoting a Just Education: Dilemmas of Rights, Freedom and Justice. Educational Philosophy and Theory, v39 n6 p592-603 Oct. This paper identifies and addresses some dilemmas to be faced in promoting educational projects concerned with human rights. Part of the difficulty that human rights education initiatives must cope with is the way in which value has been historically conferred upon particular notions such as freedom and justice. I argue here that a just education must grapple head-on with the conceptual dilemmas that have been inherited and refuse to shy away from the implications of those dilemmas. To do this I address the fundamental fictions upon which rights are based and view those fictions as nonetheless useful for opening up the ethical terms of human rights education. With reference to the work of Arendt, Lyotard and Levinas, I conclude that the real potential of human rights education lies in its capacity to provoke insights that help youth live with ambiguity and dilemma, where freedom, justice, and responsibility cannot be dictated to them, but rather involve tough decisions that must be… [Direct]
(2010). Reframing the Universal Right to Education. Comparative Education, v46 n4 p509-525 Nov. The universal right to education has been enshrined in a range of international rights instruments. Yet despite the considerable secondary literature on the subject, there has been little discussion of the notion of education underpinning the right. This article presents a theoretical exploration of the question, leading to a normative reassessment. The article first assesses the expression of the right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, identifying limitations in its focus on primary schooling. Other candidates for a basis for the right–namely learning outcomes and engagement in educational processes–are then assessed, and the latter is found to provide the most coherent foundation. Nevertheless, the positional benefits of formal schooling cannot be ignored. Consequently, a two-pronged expression of the right is proposed, involving access both to meaningful learning and to institutions that confer positional advantage. (Contains 9 notes.)… [Direct]
(2012). Intimate Partner Violence against Older Women in Germany: Prevalence and Associated Factors. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, v27 n13 p2545-2564 Sep. Violence against women is a recognized human rights and public health issue, with significant impacts on women's life and health. Until now, several studies, most of them relying on small scale samples, have explored the prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence against older women, whereas few have examined what actually puts older women at risk of intimate partner violence. This study is based on a secondary analysis of the first national survey on violence against women in Germany, looking at the prevalence and associated factors for physical and for sexual violence by the current partners of women aged 50 to 65 and women aged 66 to 86 years. The prevalence of violence in women's current relationships was 12% and 5%, respectively. In both age groups, women who had experienced violence during childhood and nonpartner physical or sexual violence after the age of 16 had higher odds of experiencing current partner violence. Current partner violence was associated only… [Direct]
(2012). N.Y.C. Study: Don't Ignore Asian Pupils. Education Week, v31 n22 p1, 10-11 Feb. A Bangladeshi girl who spends her out-of-school time translating documents for her parents' immigration hearings. A group of Chinese high school boys whose teachers can't figure out why they're so disengaged. A Vietnamese boy who speaks almost no English and is the only Asian student at his low-performing school. A Korean-American girl at the top of her class at Bronx High School for Science. They are among New York City's Asian students, and their needs are profoundly diverse, says a report released last week. It highlights the gap between the perception of Asian-heritage students as almost universally high-achieving and a more complicated reality that scholars say holds true nationwide. The report from the Coalition for Asian-American Children and Families and the Pumphouse Projects, a New York-based consulting firm that specializes in education justice, human rights, and economic policy issues, says that 95 percent of the city's Asian-American and Pacific-American students do not… [Direct]
(2006). When All Else Fails: International Adjudication of Human Rights Abuse Claims, 1976-1999. Social Forces, v84 n4 p1909-1935 Jun. Although interest in the consolidation and expansion of the international human rights regime has grown in recent years, little attention is accorded to the formal procedures that allow individuals aggrieved by states to appeal directly to an international audience. Using data for 82 countries between 1976 and 1999, this article examines the political and cultural factors that produce cross-national variation in the propensity of individuals to file allegations of human rights abuse with the Human Rights Committee. Negative binomial and event history analyses indicate that the number and rate of human rights abuse claims (1) increase as a country's human rights practices worsen; (2) decline as domestic \opportunity structures\ become available; and (3) increase with the cultural empowerment of individuals…. [Direct]
(2011). Sex and Relationships Education, Sexual Health, and Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Sexual Cultures: Views from Young People. Sex Education: Sexuality, Society and Learning, v11 n3 p255-266. This article draws on three small-scale studies with young people in two cities in the United Kingdom, which sought to gather views on sex and relationships education (SRE) and sexual health, and included those who self-identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB). Participants were involved in detailed self-completion surveys and/or in-depth interviews/focus groups. Each project elicited data about respondents' views on SRE (at school) and how this included and excluded LGB young people. The article also looks at influences on sexual activity, conceptualizations/understandings of sexual health and "safe sex", and expectations in relation to safer sex. This aids understanding about the existence of dominant "sexual cultures" and their influence on young people's attitudes towards sexual health, including views on/experiences of "risk behaviours", and (unequal) access to services. The article concludes with recommendations for good practice, and future… [Direct]
(2017). Power through Testimony: Reframing Residential Schools in the Age of Reconciliation. University of British Columbia Press "Power through Testimony" documents how survivors are remembering and reframing our understanding of residential schools in the wake of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a forum for survivors, families, and communities to share their memories and stories with the Canadian public. The commission closed and reported in 2015, and this timely volume reveals what happened on the ground. Drawing on field research during the commission and in local communities, the contributors reveal how survivors are unsettling colonial narratives about residential schools and how the churches and former school staff are receiving or resisting the "new" residential school story. Part 1 details how residential schools have been understood and represented by various groups and individuals over time and how survivors' testimonies at the commission are changing those representations. Part 2 examines whether the… [Direct]
(2017). Transparency in Stakeholder Engagement: A Tool to Help Demonstrate How Stakeholders Informed the State ESSA Plan. Council of Chief State School Officers Stakeholder engagement is a critical component of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Under the law, states are required to engage specific stakeholders as they develop the consolidated state plan to submit to the U.S. Department of Education. But states should not only engage with their stakeholders because it's required under the law — meaningful engagement is a best practice to ensure states create plans that will meet the needs of all children, especially those who have been traditionally underrepresented, underserved or historically marginalized. In 2017, Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) published "Developing a Comprehensive State Plan pursuant to the Every Student Succeeds Act: A Tool for Structuring Your Plan" to provide guidance to states on how they might write their consolidated state plan under ESSA. CCSSO updated this tool in March 2017 to reflect changes made when Congress took action under the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to repeal the U.S…. [PDF]
(2007). Linguistic Human Rights and Mobility. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, v28 n4 p325-338. The Linguistic Human Rights (LHRs) paradigm is motivated by the desire to combat linguistic discrimination, where speakers of discriminated languages find themselves unable to use their preferred language in society at large. However, in an increasingly globalised world where speakers may feel the need or the desire to travel across state boundaries, there is a question about the transposability of LHRs. This paper first considers the human rights discourse, and shows that problems in this discourse are inherited by and exacerbated in the LHRs paradigm, in no small part because its conception of language draws on an ideology of monolingualism. But since a world of mobile humans is one that is fundamentally plurilingual, what is therefore needed is a greater emphasis on the notion of a social language, which provides a more robust understanding of the nature of language, especially in a world where people tend to move around a lot. (Contains 18 notes.)… [Direct]
(2008). Rewriting Citizenship? Civic Education in Costa Rica and Argentina. Comparative Education, v44 n4 p485-503 Nov. To what degree are nations "rewriting" citizenship by expanding discussions of human rights, diversity and cultural pluralism in modern civic education, and what explains variation between countries? This study addresses these issues by analysing the intended content of civic education in Costa Rica and Argentina. Over time, civic education in both countries has become more focused on rights and the empowerment of individuals. In addition, both countries embrace aspects of global citizenship through an affirmation of human rights. Citizenship thus expands outward and upward, incorporating more groups and people into the national polity while also broadening the concept of citizenship beyond the nation-state. Nevertheless, Costa Rica and Argentina vary in the intensity of the adoption of global citizenship, most likely a result of divergent historical experiences with state sponsored violence. (Contains 2 tables and 7 notes.)… [Direct]
(2012). Education at Risk–Educational Care as Part of the Parental Responsibilities for the Child. Online Submission, US-China Education Review B 1 p124-129. Research shows that the most important factor for the child's success in school is support from the parents. According to studies from several European countries, children, who have grown up under public care, often have unsuccessful school biographies. In Norway, some few studies indicate that the situation is not better for the children. One interpretation is that the CWS (child welfare services) are not able to compensate for parental failure. The author's law dissertation from 2008 was an analysis of the structures of human rights and the Norwegian legislation which secures the child's right to education and protection against marginalisation in school. Focus points were the corresponding obligations upon parents, school and the CWS. The intention was to find out whether the law is broken when some children drop out of school, or if the law is not better than it allows it to happen. Home, school and CWS as social institutions have their own acts and two of them have their own… [PDF]