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Improving educational outcomes for people with disabilities in low and middle-income countries: why does it matter and what works?

KUPER, Hannah
SARAN, Ashrita
WHITE, Howard
July 2018

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The studies included in this Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) are taken from the Disability Evidence and Gap Map (EGM) prepared by the Campbell Collaboration for the UK Department for International Development (DFID) under the auspices of the Centre for Excellence for Development Impact and Learning (CEDIL). Eligible studies included systematic reviews and impact evaluations published in English from 2000 onwards that assessed the effectiveness of interventions for people with disabilities in LMICs. Qualitative studies, process evaluations, and non-impact evaluations (e.g. crosssectional surveys) were not eligible for inclusion. Quality grading was applied to the literature, so that assessment could be made of where there was strong evidence and where evidence was limited or missing. The studies were grouped by education sub-outcomes related to different stages in education across the life course; that is: early intervention, primary education, secondary education, non-formal education, and lifelong learning. 

 

There were 24 eligible individual studies, including studies conducted in the Middle East (10), Asia (7), and Africa (5), one from Latin America, as well as one multicountry study

Preparation of students with disabilities to graduate into professions in the South African context of higher learning: Obstacles and opportunities

NDLOVU, Sibonokuhle
WALTON, Elizabeth
2016

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Background: Persons with disabilities continue to be excluded from professions in South Africa despite legislation on non-discrimination and equity. Objectives: We sought to identify both the opportunities and obstacles that students with disabilities face in professional degrees.

 

Method: Selected texts from the South African and international literature were analysed and synthesised.

 

Results: Students with disabilities are afforded opportunities to graduate into professions through the current climate of transformation, inclusion and disability policies, various support structures and funding. These opportunities are mitigated by obstacles at both the higher education site and at the workplace. At university, they may experience difficulties in accessing the curriculum, disability units may be limited in the support they can offer, policies may not be implemented, funding is found to be inadequate and the built environment may be inaccessible. Fieldwork poses additional obstacles in terms of public transport which is not accessible to students with disabilities; a lack of higher education support extended to the field sites, and buildings not designed for access by people with disabilities. At both sites, students are impacted by negative attitudes and continued assumptions that disability results from individual deficit, rather than exclusionary practices and pressures.

 

Conclusion: It is in the uniqueness of professional preparation, with its high demands of both theory and practice that poses particular obstacles for students with disabilities. We argue for the development of self-advocacy for students with disabilities, ongoing institutional and societal transformation and further research into the experiences of students with disabilities studying for professional degrees.

Education transition for children with disabilities in Armenia

BRIDGE OF HOPE
2015

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The  research report from Armenia looks in depth at the challenges and promising practices relating to education transition in the country - from the perspectives of teachers, parents, children and young people, specialist staff and other key stakeholders. It looks at learners transitioning from kindergarten to primary education, and then to secondary and higher/vocational education, as well as to other learning opportunities and into employment

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