Models of SEND: the impact of political and economic influences on policy and provision

The content and direction of policy can be impacted upon by broader political and economic influences that are of central concern to the government in office. With regard to education, the concepts of inclusion and SEND are at the forefront of professional pedagogy and provision. These concepts, although well-established educational practices, may be impacted by these influences. This article has two aims. Firstly, it will identify and critically evaluate potential factors that may have an impact upon the implementation of these concepts. This analysis will focus on the effects of national and international financial instability, the standards agenda and the use of attainment data. The second aim is to critically examine existing and new models of SEND and evaluate how they may be affected by broader political and economic influences and thus reflect current political values. This article will also present a table that summarises each model of SEND and the political and economic influences that may impact upon them. A conclusion is drawn that the potential to achieve inclusive educational practice is affected, not by the models of SEND impacting upon policy and practice, but by political and economic influences acting at both national and international levels.Key words: inclusion, special educational needs, disabilities, medical model, social model, biopsychosocial model, state influenced market model, financial crisis mode

United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting health and well-being through physical education partnerships

The United Nations recently approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which forms a guideline policy for all nations. While the UN have strongly advised that partnerships are essential for the implementation of these global goals, within local communities there is little evidence of how this is best done or what it looks like in practice. This paper shares a health and wellbeing community initiative that achieves goals three and four of the SDGs, and in doing so models how to implement physical education partnerships as advocated by the UN. The highly successful innovative initiative is “Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness” (2011–2014).This paper shares a health and wellbeing partnership, modelling implementation of physical education (PE) advocated by the United Nations (UN). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) exemplifies global efforts towards equality, specifically Goal 3 and 4 address health and wellbeing. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into cross sector “partnerships”, identified as essential for the implementation of the SDGs. This is significant as the UN acknowledge a present gap of information on partnerships in action and a need for reporting from the ground level. The project “Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness”, began as a partnership between a university and nearby schools and quickly grew to involve Australian Registered Training Organisations, the local health industry, Education departments and sport governing bodies. The collaborations involved pre-service teachers teaching Health and PE lessons to children in a disadvantaged socio-economic area, creating valuable learning experiences for stakeholders. Local and global communities were involved in research and reform. The project creatively optimised resources available through state, Australian and international connections. International partnerships enabled identification of unique contextual opportunities. Programme planning was strengthened with data gathered from an England and Wales Ofsted awarded Primary Physical Education course. Various methods, including; semi-structured interviews, reflective journal, observations, document analysis, and Student Evaluation of Teaching Units (SETU) were adopted. SETU is valid and reliable data collected by the university for the purposes of research. The findings support that partnerships enable SDG implementation and the research paper offers direction for localisation

An evaluation of the educational support for teachers who teach children with life-limiting illness in schools

There are increasing numbers of children living with life-limiting illnesses in mainstream schools. The aim of this literature-based study was to evaluate the current provision of educational support for teachers who are teaching these children in schools. An international literature search produced 23 papers published between 2005 and July 2010 that concerned children with life-limiting illness in relation to education in mainstream schools. The analysis identified that the needs of children with life-limiting illnesses are not being well met, and there appears to be little evidence of educational support for teachers. The paper concludes that schools need to work with both the medical and social models of health/disability in order to meet the needs of children with life-limiting illness. There is some consensus that the way forward needs to include multidisciplinary working within an ecological approach that supports home, schools and the health services working together. Only one paper reported an evaluation of such an intervention. There is a need for more research, evaluation and dissemination about the experience of living with a life-limiting illness in mainstream schools and related interventions, and for this to inform professional education and the coordination of education, health and home systems

Achieving gender equality in learning outcomes: Evidence from a non-formal education program in Bangladesh

Non-formal education (NFE) programs have been a long standing approach to educating marginalized children, especially girls, across the developing world. Though such programs provide girls expanded access to learning opportunities, the evidence of whether enhanced access actually leads girls to achieve on par with boys remains limited. I analyze the academic achievement of girls relative to boys in a sample of 1,203 children participating in a NFE program in rural Bangladesh, known as SHIKHON which means “learning” in Bengali. I find strong correlational evidence that gender is not significantly associated with achievement; on average, girls achieve on par with boys across four subject areas including literacy (English and Bangla), numeracy, science and social science

Accessing parental perspectives to inform the development of parent training in autism in south-eastern Europe

Parent training has been shown to be an important means of supporting families living with autism – but such services are not universally accessible. A multinational project funded by the European Commission has been developed in order to establish such parent training in three south-eastern European countries. To ensure that the training was relevant and appropriate, a survey was carried out in autumn 2015 to ascertain the attitudes of parents of children with autism in Croatia, Cyprus and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding this issue, and to identify the areas of training that they felt most important. Two hundred and fifty-three surveys were distributed, and 148 were returned, a response rate of 58%. Respondents in the three counties were overwhelmingly positive about parent training, with almost 90% stating that they would like to attend such training. Weekend training sessions were preferred by the majority of respondents. There was wide variation between the three countries with regard to what content was felt important to be included, with parents in the FYR of Macedonia seeking information in the greatest number of areas. Five topics were prioritised by parents across all three countries. These were: • Strategies for enhancing my child’s communication • Strategies on facilitating my child’s interaction with other children • Sensory integration and development • General information on behavioural management strategies • Identifying and/or developing socialisation opportunitie

Learning in the chaos: A political economy analysis of education in Afghanistan

© 2018, The Author(s) 2018. Afghanistan is often characterised as a ‘failed’ or ‘fragile’ state in terms of state ‘functionality’, lacking in capacity to provide security and wellbeing to its citizens and failing to prevent violent conflict and terrorism. Since 2001, education has become a major victim of Afghanistan’s protracted crisis that involves international military interventions, fragile democracy and growing radicalisation. Drawing upon qualitative interviews with educational officials and practitioners in Afghanistan and critically examining the literature in education and conflict, we argue that Afghanistan’s education is caught in the nexus between deteriorating security conditions, weak governance and widespread corruption, resulting in rebel capture of educational spaces for radicalisation and violent extremism. More broadly, we contend that education faces the risk of capture for radicalisation in contexts where state fragility and fundamentalism intersect. Finally, we highlight some critical issues relating to educational programming in conflict-affected contexts

"Physical education", "health and physical education", "physical literacy" and "health literacy": Global nomenclature confusion.

The title “physical education” (PE) is the traditional taxonomy used to represent the education discipline. Health and physical education (HPE) is regarded to be an all-encompassing health-dimensional title that has been recently embraced by various education systems around the world. Hence, it can be argued that PE and HPE are often used interchangeably by educationalists, portraying a similar meaning and understanding. This can be regarded as internationally confusing, as historically PE and HPE have represented different and at times paradoxical discourses and ideologies. Amongst the ambiguity of which title to use, PE or HPE, new terms of branding such as “physical literacy” and “health literacy” have re/emerged. The purpose of this interpretivist study is to identify if associated terms used for the original PE label are a help or hindrance to practitioners? Participants were asked an open-ended question relating to PE nomenclatures. The data gathered were analysed and findings confirmed that practitioner confusion does exist. It is suggested that children are first and foremost “physically educated”; therefore a strong, clear and comprehensive grounding in quality PE is essential for teachers and students

The delivery of primary school physical education in South African public schools : the perceptions of educators

Abstract: Background: Physical Education (PE) is a fundamental cornerstone for childhood development as it promotes lifelong participation in physical activities for holistic health. School educators play a key role in creating school environments that lead to developmentally appropriate and high-quality PE lessons. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine educators’ perceptions on the state and status of PE in selected public primary schools in all nine provinces of South Africa. Setting: Data were collected on the campus of the selected primary schools within 150 km of a university. In the absence of a university within the stated radius, an airport was used as an initiated point of departure. Methods: The mixed-methods approach (quantitative: questionnaires and qualitative: semistructured interviews and focus group discussions) was used to collect data. The purposive sampling method was used to select the participants. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics in the form of percentages, and presented using graphs and tables. Qualitative data were analysed using themes. Results: The findings revealed that the educators from quintile 4 and 5 schools especially are of the opinion that challenges, such as a lack of resources, qualified PE specialist educators, and facilities and equipment negatively affected the delivery of PE at their schools. Conclusion: Participants perceived that there are varying contextual and socio-economic school settings affecting the delivery of PE in the Curriculum Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) curriculum. The researcher recommends that all learners have access to the adequate provision of PE programmes