‘If parents are punished for asking their children to feed goats’: supervisory neglect in sub-Saharan Africa

Summary: In the United States and the United Kingdom supervisory neglect of children is premised on a construction of childhood which characterises children as essentially vulnerable and in need of constant care and protection by parents. This Western conception has been transmitted to the countries of the sub-Sahara via the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, the socio-economic and cultural context of African countries differs significantly from those of the United Kingdom and the United States. The incorporation of a Western hegemonic idea of childhood into the national laws of African countries creates fundamental contradictions in the application of criteria for adjudging the adequacy of parental supervision in the sub-Sahara. Drawing on secondary data, this article explores these contradictions and proposes alternative considerations in the conceptualisation and assessment of supervisory neglect. Finding: The combined effects on households in the sub-Sahara of economic conditions, ascribed gender roles and the reciprocal duties held by children to assist their families, contest established indicators and thresholds for supervisory neglect. The concept of societal neglect together with the application of the Haddon Matrix provides a more apposite framework for reducing the risk of significant harm to children. Application: All African countries, excepting Somalia, have introduced the Convention on the Rights of the Child through domestic legislation. The findings of this study are pertinent to policy-makers and social workers in the sub-Sahara. They also invite Western scholars to critically engage with dominant notions of supervisory neglect and re-appraise its applicability in cross-national contexts

Rethinking Social Justice in Education: An Epistemological Approach

There are many different notions of social justice in education. For example, some argue that social justice in education means giving individuals the opportunity to succeed; for others, it means seeking equality of outcome so that everyone does succeed. So great is the diversity of views that it has been suggested the term has become meaningless, or that it can mean anything people want it to mean. This has led some to argue that trying to define social justice in education is a hopeless task. This chapter argues that an approach informed by the later philosophy of Wittgenstein can be helpful in dealing with such issues. In particular, attention is focussed on Wittgenstein’s epistemology and theory of meaning in the Philosophical Investigations. It is argued that these are helpful in understanding the multiplicity of meanings of the term social justice in education. This multiplicity however, it is argued, does not lead to a situation where the term can mean anything its users want it to mean. Nor does it lead to a situation where all attempts to define the term are ruled out, or where only one definition is acceptable, presumably to be imposed on all users of the term. Instead, the significance of contextual understanding and meaning in different language-games is highlighted. Wittgenstein’s theory of meaning is then allied to Gallie’s notion of an essentially contested concept to advance the idea of engagement between those with different views, and of the need to recontextualize rather than decontextualize the notion of social justice in education

CPAG's housing benefit and community charge benefit legislation 1992-93

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:3486.1722(5) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply Centre5. edGBUnited Kingdo

Parallel lives? Poverty among ethnic minority groups in Britain

Includes bibliographical referencesSIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m02/44845 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Welfare benefits handbook 2001/2002

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:9293.522(2001/2002) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply Centre3. ed.GBUnited Kingdo

Poverty The facts

5.95Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:90/26202(Poverty) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

The exclusive society Citizenship and the poor

4.95Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:90/15020(Exclusive) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Poverty and deprivation in the South West Preliminary survey from published data

2.00SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:q90/13944(Poverty) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Windows of opportunity Public policy and the poor

6.95Available from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:6571.6(81) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

An end in sight? Tackling child poverty in the UK

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:6571.635(102) / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo