19 research outputs found
Ensuring the right to education for Roma children : an Anglo-Swedish perspective
Access to public education systems has tended to be below normative levels where Roma children are concerned. Various long-standing social, cultural, and institutional factors lie behind the lower levels of engagement and achievement of Roma children in education, relative to many others, which is reflective of the general lack of integration of their families in mainstream society. The risks to Roma childrenâs educational interests are well recognized internationally, particularly at the European level. They have prompted a range of policy initiatives and legal instruments to protect rights and promote equality and inclusion, on top of the framework of international human rights and minority protections. Nevertheless, statesâ autonomy in tailoring educational arrangements to their budgets and national policy agendas has contributed to considerable international variation in specific provision for Roma children. As this article discusses, even between two socially liberal countries, the UK and Sweden, with their well-advanced welfare states and public systems of social support, there is a divergence in protection, one which underlines the need for a more consistent and positive approach to upholding the education rights and interests of children in this most marginalized and often discriminated against minority group
Comparing Equity Policies in Canada and Northern Ireland: Policy Learning in Two Directions?
The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada's Position Statement on Federal Budget Cuts to the Interim Federal Health Program
Disabled children and their families : a decade of policy change
Focusing mainly on the United Kingdom, this article reviews a decade of national and international policy and legal changes in relation to disabled children and their families. It discusses attempts to transform the ways that disabled children are perceived and the rights accorded to them. The UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons, specific UK policy initiatives and debates on universal and specialist provisions are outlined. Consideration is given to whether these initiatives have contributed to equality of opportunity for disabled children. The association between poverty, deprivation and child disability is identified as a major challenge for social policy