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Good Day,pericp107-ga.
The SCRE Forum
The Scottish Council for Research in
Education(http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/index.html) is a source of many
articles on education in UK:Scotland. The issues and remedies apply
to this major part of the UK, but they reflect the UK educational
sytems and its attempts to address a myriad of issues including
inclusion and exclusion coupled with social classes.
If you wish to discover what educational leaders in the UK are
thinking and implementing for these and other issues, this Forum
website will provide a necessary introduction. The Forum abstracts are
first highlighted annually. Within each you will find a number of
topics. Among those topics are issues that most likely address your
concerns.
Although I have included some of these below as examples, it is vital
that you visit the forum site to scan all the of the topics presented
in the last few years. This effort should provide you will a solid
understanding of the concerns of those educators in UK:Scotland.
As a separate part of this reseach answer, I shall add a multitude of
websites that you might wish to visit beyond the Forum.
There is sufficient Internet data available on UK education and social
issues to keep you very busy in your immersion into this area.
Also, please note that I have included gender issues which might
indeed be part of your pursuit regarding social exclusion.
Since this is presented to you as simple text, it tends to look a bit
sloppy. I would prefer to arrange these items with the usual visually
enhancing tools of a word processor; alas, that is not possible, but
you might try copying this response to your word processor for such
enhancements.
Brad-ga
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http://www.scre.ac.uk/pr/pr97005.html
Equity in Education: What should the Priorities be?
Equity in education is the theme.... of the Forum on Educational
Research in Scotland.... Delegates from schools, further and higher
education and research departments across Scotland are coming together
for a wide-ranging discussion of research findings....
Setting the scene Professor Sally Brown calls for rethinking by
policy-makers, practitioners and researchers...
'... and exhorted researchers to put their energies into work which
both sets out to explain why things turn out as unequal as they do,
and undertakes action research which not only promotes that
understanding further but also sets change in motion.'
....One of the major challenges they face is that the achievement of
equity requires not only that certain entrenched attitudes, which all
of us here would deplore, have to be dismantled, but also that some
educational principles, which we all support, may have to be
rethought.'
http://www.scre.ac.uk/ForumHome.shtml
...Exclusion from School: the dilemmas for equity...
...in Mainstream Schools: building inclusive relationships
...Thinking About Equity in a Lifelong Context
...Whose School Is It Anyway? - Children, power and participation
The Scottish Council for Research in Education is an independent
national body, founded in 1928 to support policy-making and good
practice in education through the conduct and communication of
research.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/
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pericp107-ga,
Please note that I am showing samples from various abstracts that
might include areas of concern to you. I am presenting data sites of
information in these fields, but am not offering my own essays on such
topics as such an undertaking would no doubt be a very long term
effort, and, if done correctly, which would include complete immersion
in
this topic.
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Equity: Keeping it in the Forefront of Educational Thinking for the
Future
Sally Brown
University of Stirling
Introduction
Today, in the discussion groups, we are going to hear about some
thought-provoking, but also very practical ideas from research studies
which are concerned with a variety of facets in this large and
important field we call Equity in Education.
One of the rather irritating features of recent debate in education
has been the hijacking of the very useful concept of 'foresight' into
the compound term 'technology foresight'. ......focused on values and
the development of moral understanding. And that is no small
undertaking.
.... many overarching ideas which characterise this field. This will
include some distinctions between equity and equality, and between
equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. Comment will be made
about the limited extent to which we seem to be prepared to be
accountable in this field....consideration will be given to the
contrast between positive action and positive discrimination and to
the apparent incompatibility among various educational principles
which include those concerned with achievement of equity...
Equity and Equality
Equity and equality are words which tend to become synonymous in
everyday language. The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary reflects the
potential confusion by defining equity as
The quality of being equal (or fair or impartial or even-handed)
and equality as
The condition of being equal (in quantity, value, intensity,
privileges)
The distinction lies in the difference between the words 'quality' and
'condition'. Quality is defined as character, disposition, nature,
capacity; equity is, therefore, full of good, ethical and
broadly-based intentions. Condition, however, is something demanded or
required as a pre-requisite; equality is, therefore, an hard practical
matter for which those for us in education have to be accountable, and
where we fail to meet the requirements, we will be expected to take
action.
...therefore, I want to stress equity because of its emphasis on
notions of fairness and social justice ... On the other hand, I want
to use the word equality to stress that we have to go beyond its
meaning of simply leaving the door to educational opportunities open
for everyone.... towards the elimination of inequalities in
educational, social and economic outcomes on the basis of race,
gender, disability, age or social class. Children from disadvantaged
families, for example, need more from education than those who are
socially advantaged. Those in most need, whether from economic
constraint, language problems, disability, or prejudice, are those for
whom additional resources have to be provided.
Some Barriers to Progress
.... we have failed to face up to the incompatibility which exists
between a strategy for equality and other firmly held principles.
...placing very heavy emphasis on meeting the needs of individual
children may exacerbate existing inequalities, and even reinforce many
of the discriminatory ideas and practices ...focus on helping students
from different ethnic and social backgrounds
... in this country we see a hesitancy to deal effectively with
matters of equity.
..Similarly the idea, prevalent over the last decade and a half, that
equality has to be at the expense of quality is fundamentally flawed.
... Recent studies suggest that more equal societies have faster
economic growth
Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Outcome
...An immediate concern for us in education is the engendering of a
much more widespread shift...of a focus on equality of opportunity to
one on equality of outcome.
...Positive action is about getting everyone to the same starting
point and is quite different from positive discrimination. The latter
is concerned with outcomes, such as selection for jobs or education
opportunities, on the basis of some characteristic (gender, ethnicity,
age or disability) rather than on capability.
...Equality of outcome as a principle is in some contrast to equality
of opportunity; the latter emphasises equality of access, the former
equality of result.
Monitoring Outcomes
..It is results, not good intentions, which count in the long run.
... but if you want to see anything of substance on matters of gender,
racism, social disadvantage or disability you have to look very hard
indeed in this document which purports to be 'a radical look at
education today and a strategy for the future'.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97keynote.html
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Forum on Educational Research in Scotland: Forum 1997: Equity in
Education
..Abstracts of Discussion Groups
Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools: Building
Inclusive relationships
....focus on the inclusion of pupils... It will explore positive and
negative relationships between pupils and the significance of
mainstream pupils as 'gatekeepers' on whom the success of inclusion
may depend.
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Black/Minority Ethnic Parental Perspectives of Education in Scotland:
Lessons for ethical and anti-racist methodology
...Does research involving issues of 'race' help to reinforce and
reproduce racism?
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Equity Issues in Testing: 'Realistic' maths questions, social class
and validity
....quantitative and qualitative data from an ESRC research project to
explore the possibility that the mathematical capacities of working
class children are systematically underestimated by 'realistic'
English National Curriculum test items.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Able Children in Remote Primary Schools: Remote-control thinking
...the role of the STARS Project (Superhighways Teams Across Rural
Schools) in developing specific thinking skills and a 'thinking habit'
through the use of electronic communication.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Ability Groups, Setting and Streaming: What the research says
..research conducted for The SOEID as an input to the HMI report
Achievement for All.... raise serious equity issues arising from the
clear findings that actions which advantage some pupils will
disadvantage others.
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Exclusion from School: The dilemmas for equity
..Exclusion poses a number of dilemmas for teachers, pupils and
parents.
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Whose School Is It Anyway? - Children, power and participation
....whether giving more rights to children will encourage them to take
more responsibility for their actions. Abstract
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Classroom Cultures in Scottish Schools
...explore how Japanese children's experiences of adapting to the
Scottish educational system reveal some of the hidden assumptions in
our school practices....implications of these assumptions for all
pupils whether mono- or bicultural
-------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
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Classroom Cultures in Scottish Schools
...Cross cultural education entails making all children, including
those from minority groups, comfortable and able to learn effectively
in the classroom....to enhance mutual understanding and acceptance
than to recognise that there may be cultural as well as individual
differences in the ways in which children learn...illuminate different
learning styles adopted by individuals regardless of culture.
.... enhancing multi-cultural elements of the curriculum and promoting
anti-racism.
...identify areas of 'dissonance'
...more alert and sympathetic to the learning needs and abilities of
pupils from minority groups
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97powney.html
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Ability Groups, Setting and Streaming: What the research says
... serious equity issues arising from the clear findings that actions
which advantage some pupils will disadvantage others.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
Setting and Streaming: A Research Review
...Pupils' performance is affected by many factors, for example, class
size, ability range, teaching methods and materials, the degree of
differentiation, curriculum content and teachers' attitudes towards
mixed-ability teaching.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/cat/1860030491.html
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Able Children in Remote Primary Schools: Remote-control thinking
...the role of the STARS Project (Superhighways Teams Across Rural
Schools) in developing specific thinking skills and a 'thinking habit'
through the use of electronic communication.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97ewing.html
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Equity Issues in Testing: 'Realistic' maths questions, social class
and validity
...possibility that the mathematical capacities of working class
children are systematically underestimated by 'realistic' English
National Curriculum test items.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
...The research findings will be discussed in the light of Basil
Bernstein's work on social class, culture and education.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97cooper.html
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Black/Minority Ethnic Parental Perspectives of Education in Scotland:
Lessons for ethical and anti-racist methodology
...Does research involving issues of 'race' help to reinforce and
reproduce racism?
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97arshad.html
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Pupils with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools: Building
inclusive relationships
This session will focus on the inclusion of pupils with special
educational needs in mainstream schools, using their accounts and
those of their mainstream peers. It will explore positive and negative
relationships between pupils and the significance of mainstream pupils
as 'gatekeepers' on whom the success of inclusion may depend. Abstract
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97abst.html
... This functions as a set of unwritten rules of conduct and has a
number of positive and negative features, including:
Pedagogic - in which mainstream pupils see themselves as agents on the
academic and social development of pupils with SEN.
Transgressive - allowing some of the usual rules between pupils to be
breached.
Pastoral - whereby mainstream pupils were protective and showed
concern for the wellbeing of pupils with SEN.
Punitive - which led to the social isolation of some pupils with SEN.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1997/forum97allan.html
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Assessment of Children on Entry to School: A review of base-line
assessment
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1998/forum98abst.html
.... Such assessments are referred to as Baseline Assessments and
have two key purposes: (1) to provide information to help teachers
plan effectively to meet children's individual learning needs; and (2)
to assess children's attainment
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum1998/wilkinson.html
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Social Inclusion and Education - Perspectives from Research
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
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Early Intervention: raising standards or confronting social exclusion?
.......Is it possible to focus on raising standards in literacy and
numeracy and at the same time ensure increasing equity and social
inclusion?
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Early Intervention: Raising standards or confronting social exclusion?
...indicated that there were significant inequalities between pupils
in respect of their attainment in literacy and numeracy. These were
related to socio-economic disadvantage, gender and age.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000fraser.html
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The Language of the Community Versus the Language of the School. Why
the contest?
... value of supporting bilingualism - ....
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000paget.html
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Raising Attainment - Social Inclusion: Making connections
...In the U.K. today, poverty and social exclusion are complex,
multi-dimensional problems. Linked problems - such as unemployment,
low skills, low income, poor housing and bad health... The main
premise which will be explored is that ‘raising attainment is the key
to breaking the spiral of disadvantage which is social exclusion’.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
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School Collaboration with the Local Community: Prospects for social
inclusion and new community schools
...A key feature of policy to promote social inclusion is ‘joined up’
working at national, local and institutional level.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
...The government's policy to promote social inclusion has two main
dimensions: individual empowerment and community empowerment.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000munn.html
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Can Target Setting Reduce Social Inequality?
...approaches to target setting, with a focus on the need to reduce
social inequalities in attainment.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.htmlCan Target
...Early intervention in primary schools, using baseline assessment
and progress monitoring provide examples of targeting resources to
support the learning of pupils at risk of underachievement because of
social disadvantage.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000croxford.html
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Social Exclusion and Education: the LEA perspective
....The issue of ‘social exclusion’ has been used by the government as
a means of focusing attention on groups in society who are denied full
access to society's goods. However, the concept has not been precisely
defined.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000dyson.html
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Researching Social Inclusion
... key definitional issues relating to social inclusion and
exclusion, examining different conceptual approaches to the subject,
their implications for the examination of social inclusion, and their
relationship to related concepts such as citizenship and social trust.
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
...What is social inclusion?
...We begin by considering the meaning of the term ‘social inclusion’.
This will include: a) the debates surrounding terminology (in
particular, the difference between a focus on ‘inclusion’ as opposed
to ‘exclusion’); b) a discussion of how the concept of exclusion
attempts to move beyond previous research into poverty by focusing on
more than just financial exclusion (and incorporating an interest in
factors ranging from productive activity and social networks to
political participation); c) the complex distinction between factors
that might be seen as indicators of exclusion (for example, the
proportion of people living below a certain income level) and those
that might facilitate or inhibit exclusion but are not necessarily
examples of exclusion in their own right (with examples being the
attainment of certain educational qualifications); d) a discussion of
other concepts that are related to exclusion (such as social capital,
social trust and citizenship).
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000park.html
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The Use of Individualised Educational Programmes in Mainstream and
Special Schools in Scotland
...As part of a wider social inclusion agenda, Given the emphasis on
including children with SEN in mainstream schools, the following
issues arise in relation to the use of IEPs in such settings:
how are decisions made about which children should receive IEPs?
to what extent do IEPs impinge on individual teacher and wider school
target setting and planning processes?
is the responsibility for monitoring progress in relation to IEP
targets shared between the learning support and subject teachers?
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000prog.html
http://www.scre.ac.uk/forum/forum2000/forum2000riddell.html
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ADDITIONAL WEBSITES FOR YOUR REVIEW***
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Welcome to FACE
... Equity in Education, FE/HE Partnership, Evaluation. Research and
Development Projects,
www.face.sbu.ac.uk/
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WSSLinks: Women, Girls, & Education
... Quotations on Feminist Pedagogy
http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~le1810/fpq.htm
... Bernice Sandler, consultant and trainer on women's equity in
education has a homepage ...
www.library.wisc.edu/libraries/ WomensStudies/womened.htm
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Development services in education and training - The British ...
... pursuit of the goal of improving access to, quality of and equity
in education
www.britishcouncil.org.pk/education/pakdeved.htm
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Travel Britain - The UK Search Engine
... Gender Equity in Education: Additional Resource Gender Equity in
Education
www.travelbritain.com/search/ Education/Equity/index.shtml
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Feminist Majority Foundation
... Association for Women in Science & Engineering The UK ASWIE works
to ... biographies of woman mathematicians; and links and articles
pertaining to gender equity in ...
www.feminist.org/gateway/science.html - 42k - Cached - Similar pages
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(This site is Canadian...how close it is to UK issues should be your
decision; however, such issues as social exclusion in education are
worldwide)
The International Institute for Global Education
... Education as if the planet really mattered (Kogan Page/WWF UK,
1987 ... Tara Goldstein
(anti-discriminatory education; initiatives and practices that promote
equity ...
www.oise.utoronto.ca/depts/ctl/ rschctr/iige/IIGEhome.htm
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HM TREASURY
... to supporting initiatives that can accelerate progress towards
gender equity in education ... to develop links between schools in
Commonwealth countries and the UK ...
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/Documents/International_Issues/
Commonwealth_Education_Fund/int_cef_index.cfm
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Keele University Postgraduate Study Guide : Doctorate in ...
... e-supported EdD programme is the first of its type to be offered
in the UK. ... Researching and evaluating strategies of gender equity
in education management
www.keele.ac.uk/courses/gp/gp02/ studyguides/edd-gem.htm
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ILC Links
... UK Women's Forum; UK Affirmitive Action Plan; UK Racial Harassment
Brochure; UK ... Chapter;
Kentucky Women: Our Legacy, Our History; National Coalition for Equity
www.uky.edu/ILC/html/links.html
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GCE - UN Special Session on Children - Quality and Gender in ...
... Education to UN Special Session on Children Speech by Bill Bell
(SCF-UK), 9 May 2002.
The link between the quality of education and gender equity in
education ...
www.campaignforeducation.org/_html/2002-docs/
05-ssoc-qualgndr/content-txt.shtml
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Save the Children (UK): - press release
... Oxfam and Save the Children have been the three longstanding
leading UK ... be given to supporting initiatives that can accelerate
progress towards gender equity ...
www.savethechildren.org.uk/pressrels/120302.html
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Martha's Gender Equity Site
... Gender Equity in Education A List of Sites Related to Gender
Equity Compiled ... In Computing
www.crpc.rice.edu/CRPC/GT/mborrow/ GenderEquity/eqlist2.html
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HM TREASURY
... progress towards gender equity in education;; Enabling local
communities to monitor ... in
Commonwealth countries and the UK, to raise children's development
.
www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/.../International_Issues/Commonwealth_Education
_Fund/ int_cef_index.cfm?textonly=true
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Welcome to King's College London
... Her publications include Markets, Choice and Equity in Education
... Assessment Exercises - one of only two Departments of Education in
the UK ...
www.kcl.ac.uk/phpnews/wmview.php?ArtID=34
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Gorard: Market Forces, Choice and Diversity in Education
... S., BALL, S. and BOWE, R. (1995) Markets, Choice and Equity in
Education ... Annual Conference,Lancaster
....Education-Line - <http://www.leeds.ac.uk ...
www.socresonline.org.uk/2/3/8.html
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UK Education Update
... UK experts in the following fields will be participating: Lifelong
... Based Learning;
Continuing Professional Development; Student Services; Access
Provision; Equity ...
www.britishcouncil-usa.org/education/ edup/ukedup/UKIssue2.shtml
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3i Network : Education
... education. Private participation and contribution from the
non-governmental sector can really help improve the situation
considerably. Guide to Independent UK ...
www.iitk.ac.in/3inetwork/education/education.shtml
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pericp107-ga,
This should give you a decent boost in resolving the issues of social
equity in education and, by no means, is this the end of available
internet information on this topic. If you have specific concerns in
this area, or unique inquiries, do let us know via the Answer
Clarification button on the Google screen at any time.
As you have noticed above there seems to be a great concern in the UK
with equity in education. I have no doubt that such concerns are
voiced similarly on a worldwide basis. In the event, you wish to know
how other countries are dealing with these issues, we'd be delighted
to address your queries.
Brad-ga |
