Middle Level Education Aims for Equity and Inclusion, but Do Our School Websites Meet ADA Compliance?

An often-overlooked component of a middle school website is the necessity for that website to be accessible to those with disabilities, while following the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act. In support of the belief that support the belief that inclusive education and respect for diversity should be integrated throughout the school, this study investigated the accessibility of middle school websites in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio by selecting a random sample of 150 schools and analyzing their homepages using WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator), which reports accessibility violations by annotating a copy of the page that was evaluated and presenting embedded icons and indicators to disclose breaches with ADA. Out of 150 districts, 54% had errors that need immediate attention and all 150 schools had alerts of likely violations that ranged from alt-text omissions and empty or confusing links to issues with color contrast and keyboard-only navigation. The article proceeds to give practical suggestions for eliminating many of the errors, even for those shareholders with less than sophisticated technological expertise

EU Disability Law : An overview

Altres ajuts: LEAD-ME Cost Action (CA19142)Xarxa promoguda pel grup de recerca TransMedia Catalonia

Health promotion and education in Portuguese schools: links between the health and the education sectors

The purpose of the study is to analyse the links between the health and the education sectors in legal documents and in field practices, i.e., to compare the theory with the practice of implementing health promotion and education programmes in schools. In a first phase, a document analysis study on the organization of health services and education services regarding, respectively, the "School Health" and "Health Education" national programmes and guidelines was carried out in order to understand the contributions of both sectors to the health promotion and education in schools. A second phase will be carried out in the field by assessing the implementation processes of health promotion and education programmes in schools. The preliminary analysis of key documents has showed that the partnership between Health and Education sectors exists formally since 1994, when Portugal joined the European Network of Health Promoting Schools (ENHPS). Later, in 2006, both Ministries of Health and Education signed a common protocol for the development of health promotion and education activities. The commitments assumed by both sectors aim at promoting active participation and interdisciplinary team of health and education professionals in order to build a common and structured health promotion and education programme with the contribution of different areas of knowledge (health and education). Both Ministries have developed measures and undergone structural changes that allow a deeper and more systematic cooperation between health and education sectors. Taking into account the documents produced by the Ministries of Health and Education, it can be concluded that the foundations for a successful interaction between these two sectors have been set up. Future work in the field, by assessing the implementation processes of health promotion and education programmes in schools, will show how the practices incorporate the theory.CIEC – Research Centre on Child Studies, IE, UMinho (FCT R&D unit 317), PortugalNational Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) and co-financed by European Regional Development Funds (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI) with the reference POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007562info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The meritocratic ideal in education systems: the mechanisms of academic distinction in the international context

The state school lives immersed in the tension between democratic purposes and the ideals of merit and selectivity. In this context, state schools establish instruments of public praise for students who stand out academically or in other dimensions. We propose to map the rituals of academic distinction in Portuguese state schools and to discuss the widespread adoption of these mechanisms by secondary schools. However, neither their configuration nor the selection criteria are homogeneous, which points to the existence of distinct conceptualisations of excellence and margins of freedom for each school to define their own criteria for success.This work is financed by National Funds through the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Foundation for Science and Technology) within the framework of the project PTDC/IVC-PEC/4942/2012 of the Centre for Research in Education of the University of Minho (CIEd), entitled Entre Mais e Melhor escola: A excelência académica na escola pública portuguesa (Between More and Better School: Academic Excellence in the Portuguese State School).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Information and Communications Technologies and Secondary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: Policies, Practices, Trends and Recommendations

The following report discusses the use of Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) to improve access to, quality of, and delivery of secondary education within sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses the policy environment for ICTs in sub-Saharan Africa, their successes, challenges, andlessons learned, and it concludes with a broad and detailed set of recommendations for policymakers, donors, the private sector, designers, and implementers of ICTs in education programs. The report seeks to generally answer the question of how sub-Saharan African (SSA) governments can best use technology to improve access to secondary education, improve learning, strengthen management of schools and the education system, and foster innovation

Nurses’ perspective about the Mental Health First Aid Training Programmes for adolescents in upper secondary schools: A focus group study

Introduction: Mental Health First Aid Training Programmes performed by nurses can empower adolescents to aid people with mental health problems. There do not appear to be any studies that describe these healthier interventions aimed at adolescents in upper secondary schools. The development of these educational interventions benefits from the input of their participants and facilitators. Aim: To explore the perspective of nurses about Mental Health First Aid Training Programmes for adolescents in upper secondary schools. Method: A qualitative, descriptive and exploratory study was conducted. Data were collected from seven mental health nurses during two focus group sessions. Data were analysed using content analysis. Results: Twelve themes were identified around nine main areas: facilitators, intervention foci, outcomes assessment methods, process assessment methods, participants, implementation context, duration and frequency, intervention methods and strategies, and contents. Discussion: Mental health nurses can regularly perform these classroom interventions to improve the mental health competencies of adolescents. Various educational methods can facilitate learning related to mental health literacy components, mental health nursing problems and the first aid plan. Valid and appropriate assessment methods enhance a good representation of these interventions. Implications for Practice: This evidence can guide the creation and modelling of these first aid training programmesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio