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Altered cervical posture kinematics imposed by heavy school backpack loading: A literature synopsis (2009–2019)

ELLAPEN, Terry J
PAUL, Yvonne
HAMMILL, Henriëtte V
SWANEPOEL, Mariëtte
2021

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Background: Habitual school backpack carriage causes neuro-musculoskeletal vertebral, shoulder and hand pain; deviated posture compromised cardiopulmonary function and proprioception.

 

Objective: Present a novel literature summary of the influence of backpack carriage associated with deviated cervical posture and compromised pulmonary function.

 

Method: An electronic literature appraisal adopting the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews, using Google Scholar, Science Direct, EMBASE, AMED, OVID, PubMed and Sabinet search engines, was instituted during 2009–2019. Key search words: schoolbag, backpack, carriage, cervical posture and children. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Downs and Black Appraisal Scale.

 

Results: 583 records were initially identified which was reduced to 14 experimental and observational studies. A total of 1061 participants were included across the 14 studies, with an average age of 11.5 ± 1.3 years, body mass of 37.8 ± 6.6 kilograms (kg), height of 1.41 ± 0.05 meters (m), backpack mass of 5.2 ± 0.9 kg and percentage backpack mass to child’s body mass of 13.75%. The studies mean rating according to the Downs and Black Appraisal Scale was 76.3%. The average craniovertebral angle (CVA) was 53.9° ± 14.6° whilst standing without carrying a backpack was reduced to 50.4° ± 16.4° when loaded (p < 0.05). Backpack loads carried varied from 5% – 30% of the participant’s body mass that produced a mean CVA decline of 3.5°.

 

Conclusion: Backpack carriage alters cervical posture, resulting in smaller CVA and compromised pulmonary function. There is no consensus of the precise backpack mass that initiates postural changes. Girls’ posture begin changes when carrying lighter backpacks as compared to boys of the same age strata.

Do both ‘get it right’? Inclusion of newly arrived migrant students in Swedish primary schools

TAJIC, Denis
BUNAR, Nihad
2020

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The aim of this article is to advance knowledge on how Swedish primary schools organise education and what strategies they deploy to ensure inclusion and attainment of newly arrived migrant students. The article is based on semi-structured interviews with 30 teachers and school administrators, and one-year of fieldwork undertaken in two multicultural urban primary schools in the Stockholm region. One of the schools initially places students in separate classes, while the other one places them directly into mainstream classes. Both are evoking inclusion and attainment as a reason for using their respective models. As such, do both ‘get it right’? Using inclusion as the theoretical and conceptual framework this article addresses the broader question: How is the meaning of inclusion constructed in the processes of its practical implementation in these two schools? The results show the ambitious tale of inclusion in both schools was, in the process of the construction of its meaning and implementation, reduced to some of its aspects. Teachers and school administrators are allowed to include or leave out of their model whatever they deem necessary, obsolete, expensive or unrealistic and still fitting under the umbrella of inclusion. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not, and both schools ‘get it right’ and ‘wrong’ in some aspects.

Representation and methods of normalisation: Narratives of disability within a South African tertiary institution

DEVAR, Teagan
BOBAT, Shaida
REUBEN, Shanya
July 2020

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Background: The manner in which disability is understood influences how individuals within a society, its institutions, policies and structures are able to accommodate and support people with disabilities (PWD) (Kaplan 2000). Understanding how students with disabilities (SWD) within a higher education context perceive and experience disability as well as how key players, namely, lecturers and disability unit (DU) staff, who influence that experience, is important in further shaping policy and providing a truly inclusive environment for all within HEIs.

 

Objectives: The study aimed to examine the narratives of disability among SWD, lecturers and the DU within a tertiary institution, with a view to better understand their experiences and required initiatives to address the challenges of disability within a higher tertiary institution.

 

Method: The study drew on three theoretical frameworks: social constructionism, feminist disability theory and the Foucauldian perspective. Data for the study were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 SWD, seven members of staff from the institution’s DU and five lecturers from within the School of Applied Human Sciences. Data were analysed using thematic analysis.

 

Results: The findings suggested that in spite of both facilitating and positive representations of disability, the dominant representation of disability was perceived as challenging and as a result, disempowering. Students with disabilities were found to adapt, and consequently modify their behaviour by disassociating from their disability in order to fit in.

 

Conclusion: The study highlights the need for creating spaces and engagement within an HEI context that both challenge negative discourses of disability, and at the same time, promote positive representations of disability.

 

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 9, 2020

Global education monitoring report, 2020, Latin America and the Caribbean: inclusion and education: all means all

GLOBAL EDUCATION MONITORING REPORT TEAM
LABORATORY OF EDUCATION RESEARCH AND INNOVATION FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (SUMMA)
UNESCO OFFICE SANTIAGO AND REGIONAL BUREAU FOR EDUCATION IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (OREALC/UNESCO)
2020

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This regional report on inclusion and education in Latin America and the Caribbean offers a deep dive into the core challenges and key solutions for greater inclusion, in a region characterized for having the largest and most challenging socio-economic inequalities in the world.

In the framework of this report, 29 in-depth case studies from the region covering 8 dimensions of exclusion were prepared. The Report covers access to education of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia and Haitians in Dominican Republic; remoteness in Suriname and Brazil; disability in Nicaragua; girls in Peru and boys in Jamaica; sexual orientation in Mexico and Chile; and youth incarceration in Uruguay. It also explores how the Covid-19 pandemic has further exposed and deepened the disparities that already existed in education.

Chapter 2 analyses the role of legal tools in supporting the development of inclusive education. Chapter 3 addresses governance and finance. Chapter 4 discusses the politically complicated issue of how curricula and learning materials are adapted to the principles of inclusive education. Chapter 5 looks at ways teachers can support the case for inclusion, considers their needs, and examines how well governments help them prepare to meet the inclusion challenge.  Chapter 6 examines school-level factors. Chapter 7 examines communities’ crucial role in achieving inclusive education. After these chapters addressing the main inclusion challenges, Chapter 8 looks at them all through the lens of COVID-19. 

Instating settings of emergency education in Vienna: temporary schooling of pupils with forced migration backgrounds

PROYER, Michelle
BIEWER, Gottfried
KREUTER, Linda
WEIß, Jekaterina
2019

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In the year 2015, Austria was one of the main European destinations of displaced persons. According to education authoritiesaround 15,000 children with a forced migration background of school age who arrived in Austria over the course of a few months from late2015 to the beginning of 2016 called for immediate and partly temporary solutions. Due to Austrian legislation and unlike other countries,every child living in Austria between the ages of six to fifteen (or for nine years of schooling) is entitled to receive compulsory education. Though the school administration of Vienna generally promotes an inclusive approach to education in regular schools, schools inneighbourhoods with a large refugee population were reportedly unable to provide appropriate and adequate education for all children. Inresponse, the local school authority in Vienna decided to establish temporary classrooms in refugee accommodations. This article describesand analyses the emergence of new educational structures from the point of view of university students and lecturers who took part in theone and a half years of its implementation. The article thereby aims to document specific perspectives on educational emergency measuresat a certain point of time. In both the primary and secondary sectors, the emergence of a new temporary field of specialised and exceptional education were observed and recorded in a thick description of dynamic processes of trans-institutional, trans-organisational, transprofessional, communal, and individual development. Thus, the article presents a multifaceted picture of problems in refugee education under exceptional circumstances. The findings illustrate how insufficient educational opportunities for those falling outside the age of compulsory schooling – in particular, preschool children as well as youth older than fifteen – diminish possibilities for the inclusion of these children within and beyond education.

Creating an inclusive school environment

DOUGLAS, Susan
Ed
2019

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This publication draws together research and learning from around the world, in papers which highlight the need for inclusive education and some of the steps being taken to implement it. 

The settings brought to life here reveal the work of teachers, leaders and policy makers in geographically and culturally diverse situations. In each of the chapters we see the challenges they face and the significant efforts they make to ensure access to, and engagement with, a quality education for all children. The collection includes 15 case studies:

 

Special educational needs and disability section:

  • Teaching for All: mainstreaming inclusive education in South Africa
  • Successful inclusive education starts with teachers: what have we learned? A multi-country case study
  • Teaching English as a second language to the visually impaired in disadvantaged contexts: a case study from Chiapas, Mexico
  • The Theatre of the Classroom

Displaced populations section

  • Teaching on the run: safe learning spaces for internally displaced persons
  • Developing resilience through English language teaching in youth centres across Iraq
  • Capacity building for inclusive classrooms: the Living Together training
  • Integrating Syrian refugee children and their parents into Lebanese early education systems

Gender and inclusion in the classroom section

  • A gender equality and social inclusion approach to teaching and learning: lessons from the Girls’ Education Challenge
  • Teacher development and gender equality in five Nigerian states
  • Creating gender-inclusive schools in Turkey: the ETCEP project in action
  • Education, English language, and girls’ development: exploring gender-responsive policies and practices in Nepal

Minority ethnic groups in the classroom

  • Social inclusion and the role of English language education: making a transition from school to higher education in India
  • Storytelling for diverse voices
  • Inclusive education in marginalised contexts: the San and Ovahimba learners in Namibia

 

Funding and inclusion in higher education institutions for students with disabilities

CHIWANDIRE, Desiree
VINCENT, Louise
2019

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Background: Historically, challenges faced by students with disabilities (SWDs) in accessing higher education institutions (HEIs) were attributed to limited public funding. The introduction of progressive funding models such as disability scholarships served to widen access to, and participation in, higher education for SWDs. However, recent years have seen these advances threatened by funding cuts and privatisation in higher education.

 

Objectives: In this article, the funding mechanisms of selected developed and developing democratic countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa and India are described in order to gain an insight into how such mechanisms enhance access, equal participation, retention, success and equality of outcome for SWDs. The countries selected are often spoken about as exemplars of best practices in relation to widening access and opportunities for SWDs through government mandated funding mechanisms. Method: A critical literature review of the sample countries’ funding mechanisms governing SWDs in higher education and other relevant government documents; secondary academic literature on disability funding; online sources including University World News, University Affairs, newspaper articles, newsletters, literature from bodies such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Disabled World and Parliamentary Monitoring Group. Data were analysed using a theoretically derived directed qualitative content analysis.

 

Results: Barriers which place SWDs at a substantial educational disadvantage compared to their non-disabled peers include bureaucratisation of application processes, cuts in disability funding, means-test requirements, minimal scholarships for supporting part-time and distance learning for SWDs and inadequate financial support to meet the day-to-day costs that arise as a result of disability.

 

Conclusion: Although the steady increase of SWDs accessing HEIs of the sampled countries have been attributed to supportive disability funding policies, notable is the fact that these students are still confronted by insurmountable disability funding-oriented barriers. Thus, we recommend the need for these HEIs to address these challenges as a matter of urgency if they are to respect the rights of SWDs as well as provide them with an enabling environment to succeed academically.

 

African Journal of Disability, Vol 8, 2019

Relationships between physical education (PE) teaching and student self-efficacy, aptitude to participate in PE and functional skills: with a special focus on students with disabilities

BERTILLS, Karin
GRANLUND, Mats
DAHLSTRÖM, Örjan
AUGUSTINE, Lilly
2018

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Background: Students with disability show an increasing incidence of school failure. Quality teaching and appropriate support may foster high self-efficacy, a predictive factor for successful school outcomes. Physical Education (PE) can provide students with a context in which self-efficacy and participation are promoted leading to improved academic achievement. The transition into secondary school can be challenging for many students with increased educational demands, developmental changes and individual social identification coinciding. A disability may add to the challenge of success.

 

Methods: Three groups of students, aged 13 years and enrolled in Swedish mainstream schools were targeted (n=439). Groups included students with 1. A diagnosed disability, 2. Low grades in PE (D–F) and 3. High grades (A–C) in PE. Questionnaires were collected and analyzed from 30/ 439 students with a diagnosed disability (physical, neuro-developmental and intellectual) from 26 classes, their classmates and their PE-teachers (n=25). Relationships between student self-reports and PE-teachers’ self-ratings were investigated. Also examined was the potential to which students’ functional skills could predict elevated general school self- efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. Results were compared with the total sample and between the three target groups (n = 121).

 

Results: For students with disabilities, better self-rated teaching skills were related to lower student perceived general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. The impact of classroom climate in PE was more obvious among students with disabilities. Perceived functional skills were associated with elevated general school self-efficacy, PE specific self-efficacy and aptitude to participate in PE. Better socio-cognitive functional skills had an overall positive effect on all outcomes. Students with disabilities reported results similar to the total sample, the D–F group scored lower and the A–C group higher than the total sample and the disability group. Elevated self-efficacy in PE is six times less probable in students with disabilities, compared to the A–C group.

 

Conclusions: Our findings that better teacher planning and grading skills, are detrimental to students disadvantaged by disability is contradictive. Improving the establishment and communication of adapted learning standards at the transition to secondary school is a crucial and a predictive factor for promoting positive school experiences for students with disability. Students with disabilities need to be assured that the intended learning outcomes can be reached by doing activities differently than their typically functioning peers. Consideration of class composition is suggested as a means of promoting a positive learning climate, which would particularly benefit students with disabilities. Allocation of resources to support student socio-cognitive skills would improve experiences for the D–F group and likely promote a positive learning environment.

GEM report summary on disabilities and education

UNESCO
2018

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In support of the run-up to the 2020 GEM Report on inclusion and education, this paper contains summarised content related to disabilities and education in previous Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Reports since 2010. Reports cited from 2010 and 2015 monitored countries in the Global South. The GEM Report started monitoring countries in the Global North from the 2016 Report onwards only.

 

Topics covered include: compliance monitoring; the role of civil society organisations; lack of data; marginalisation; data on primary school attendance; intersection with other disadvantages; different education related challenges; and ten education policies to counteract marginalisation.

Asia Education Summit on Flexible Learning Strategies for Out-of-School Children

UNESCO
November 2016

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The Asia Education Summit on Flexible Learning Strategies for Out-of-School Children (24-26 February 2016) brought more than 550 education and learning colleagues from across the Asian Region and world to Bangkok, Thailand. The Summit welcomed 121 speakers and over 100 government officials. More than two-thirds of the Summit’s participants were NGO representatives and educators in the region who were, and currently are working “on the ground” in efforts with and for out-of-school children (OOSC).  This report aims to highlight and give voice to the unique innovative initiatives and flexible learning strategies shared during the course of this three-day summit. Each presentation summary in this report is intended to stand alone, while contributing to the collaborative nature and understanding of the innovations and FLS for OOSC presented. Presentations inlcuded "Sustainable and Innovative Financing for Disabled and Disadvantaged OOSC in Thailand: Mae Hong Son Model"

Including alternative stories in the mainstream. How transcultural young people in Norway perform creative cultural resistance in and outside of school

DEWILDE, Joke
SKREFSRUD, Thor-André
2016

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The development of an inclusive pedagogy takes on new urgency in Norwegian schools as the student body has become increasingly culturally and linguistically diverse. Traditionally, the Norwegian school has been dominated by homogenising and assimilating discourses, whereas alternative voices have been situated at the margins. In response to this tendency, we present two transcultural students’ autoethnographic stories produced in alternative spaces to the Norwegian mainstream, that is, in a transition class for newly arrived students and on Facebook. Both spaces are perceived as contact zones in the sense that they are culturally and linguistically complex. This article illustrates how the students perform cultural and linguistic resistance towards dominant homogenising discourses as the transition class and Facebook seem to offer opportunities for constructing alternative stories. Moreover, we contend that these alternative stories offer important knowledge for conventional education contexts since they represent stories of competence in contrast to the assumed limitations of these students.

Signs for a good education

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
October 2013

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This video highlights some of the challenges faced by deaf children and young people, and the opportunities sign language education offers them

How musical engagement promotes well-being in education contexts: The case of a young man with profound and multiple disabilities

MCFERRAN, Katrina S
SHOEMARK, Helen
2013

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Students with profound intellectual disabilities disorders (IDDs) have the right to participate in educational opportunities that recognize their unique resources and needs, as do all children. Because of their specific communication challenges, positive relationships with attentive communication partners are critical for success. In fact, the power of positive relationships in schools is recognized to be connected to student well-being more broadly. This article examines the case of one young man with profound IDD and his relationship with his music therapist using a duo-ethnographic informed paradigmatic case study. Video analysis based on multi-voice perspectives is used to generate hermeneutic phenome- nological findings to closely examine the relationship between a young man with profound IDD and a music therapist. The voices of four allied health researchers were also gathered to inform the authors’ construction of an informed commentary on the phenomenon. The results suggest that the essence lay in a combination of attentive, responsive and creative being with the other person over time. Four principles of musical engagement were identified in the video footage as critical to the meaningful relationships through music: the music therapist listens; the music therapist takes responsibility for structure; spontaneous initiation is sought from the young person; and the relationship is built over time. These concepts are contextualized within a discussion of student well-being that is underpinned by positive relationships and leads to students achieving their full potential within diverse school contexts.

Children and young people with disabilities : factsheet

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)
May 2013

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"This Fact Sheet on children with disabilities provides a global snapshot of the key issues affecting the lives of children with disabilities and an overview of evidence currently available. It is not a comprehensive review, but rather is intended to provide a starting point for approaching policies and programmes that can make a difference in the lives of these children, their families and their communities. Knowledge and understanding of the barriers and challenges faced by children with disabilities is essential if their rights are to be realised"

Sport and play for all : a manual for including children and youth with disabilities

HARKNETT, Steve
2013

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"This training manual 'Sport and Play for All' provides tips, guidance and advice on disability and inclusion, with the primary aim of enhancing users’ knowledge and practice on inclusion. It brings together many training materials used during the Sports for All Project in Sri Lanka, including materials on disability, social inclusion and models of inclusive sport. It features many games and sports which have been field tested and adapted to enable children with disabilities to participate"

Using the human rights framework to promote the rights of children with disabilities : discussion paper|An analysis of the synergies between CRC, CRPD and CEDAW

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND (UNICEF)
2013

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"This paper provides an analysis of the synergies of three human rights treaties from the perspective of the rights of children with disabilities: the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. It has been developed to encourage understanding of how the three treaties mutually reinforce each other, and can be used to strengthen advocacy in respect of children with disabilities"

Equal right, equal opportunity – Inclusive education for children with disabilities

WALKER, Jo
2013

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This report synthesises current evidence on the policy responses which can help bring down the common barriers faced by disabled children in gaining a quality education, across seven inter-dependent strategies – from the family, local communities and national government, through to the international community. 

 

The strategies are: create appropriate legislative frameworks, and set out ambitious national plans for inclusion; provide the capacity, resources and leadership to implement ambitious national plans on inclusion; improve data on disability and education, and build accountability for action; make schools and classrooms accessible and relevant for all; ensure there are enough appropriately trained teachers for all; challenge attitudes which reinforce and sustain discrimination; create an enabling environment to support inclusive education, including through cross-sectoral policies and strategies that reduce exclusion.

 

Actions to be taken by national governments to achieve these strategies are presented.

 

Case studies in India, Italy, Ethopia, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Gambia, Burkino Faso and Palestine are provided.

 

 

Including disabled children in learning : challenges in developing countries

CROFT, Alison
June 2010

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This is an exploratory study suggesting ways to analyse the challenges of the inclusion of disabled children and young people in learning in developing countries. This paper examines aspects of teaching and learning and ideas about the social purposes of education. It is based on a broad review of relevant literature drawing together insights from developing and developed economies. It argues that the pedagogy needed to include disabled children in learning can be developed by 1)working with disabled children and adults, 2)allowing and encouraging teachers to experiment and learn from their own and each others' experiences, and 3) sharing ideas about inclusive pedagogy between countries. All of these have implications for curriculum design and teacher education and support
CREATE PATHWAYS TO ACCESS Research monograph No 38

Study on knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS of standard VII pupils in Tanga districts - the impact of peer education

TEMU, Aloyse
November 2005

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Peer education (PE) aims to improve pupils' knowledge, attitudes and behaviour about HIV and AIDS and reproductive health. GTZ supports PE in over 200 schools in the Tanga region of Tanzania. A study was done in schools with and without PE to determine if PE has an effect on pupils' knowledge and attitudes. PE made a difference - pupils have better overall knowledge and are better informed on key facts about HIV and AIDS, and many more pupils with PE considered abstinence a viable option. But even in schools with PE there are some gaps, e.g. many pupils believe that one can see if someone is HIV positive and most pupils have negative attitudes about condoms. Contact teachers were found to share a few misconceptions about HIV and AIDS

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