Alternative Education, Equity and Compromise: Dilemmas for Practice Development

 2014 Children, Youth and Environments Children, Youth and Environments 24(3), 2014 Geographies of Alternative Education: Diverse Learning Spaces for Children and Young People Peter Kraftl (2013). Bristol: Policy Press, 290 pages.£70.00 (hardcover); ISBN 978-1-44730-049-6. Geographies of Alternative Education is a book about the importance of “spaces” for learning. The book addresses key questions about the significance of geographies of alternative education in the practice of teaching and learning. What is unique about the authors contribution of this book to the field of “children’s geographies” is that with the exception of some of his own previous work, there exists very few of studies theorizing geographically alternative educational settings or alternative education. Throughout his writings he extends beyond the physicality of spatial readings of a learning space to theorize using the richness of new and innovative theoretical work currently underway in human geography (non-representational geographies, new materialities) to reflect on the role alternative education has in disrupting neoliberal regimes. But his conceptual framework is not limited to this, he crafts a range of theoretical perspectives together in order to show how “alternative learning spaces operate across a series of registers and concerns— financial, political, habitual, affective, material and much more” (54). The strength of the book is that it draws on an extensive history and depth of research studies and field work conducted by him in alternative education settings in the UK between 2003 and 2010. The settings include Care farms, Forest schools, homeschooling, Democratic, Steiner and Montessori school, 59 in all. He draws on data obtained from 79 educator and 35 learner interviews and 14 informal discussions with individual or groups of learners during learning activities. He notes on average he spent between half a day and three days at each of these research sites. The sites were selected because they were representative of the diversity of alternative education in the UK and fulfilled criterion that illustrated they did not confirm to the philosophical, political or pedagogical approaches adopted in “mainstream” schools. The sites of the cases also “represented a broad geographical spread of mainstream UK” (14) but in order not to narrow his discussion he draws on studies outside of the UK to create a further “international” tone and conversation with other researchers. While each of the chapters provide interesting and provocative ways for reading the activities within these settings, I felt chapter five on mess/order and chapter six movement/embodiment were the most lively and fascinating. The discussions on the materiality of learning environments in particular disorderly materialities constitutes a new “language” for reconsidering and reconfiguring assumptions about the heterogeneous relations of alternative and mainstream education. Being Book Review: Geographies of Alternative Education: Diverse Learning Spaces… 243 ordered, providing space and time for messiness, the “thing-power of material stuff” (148). Then in chapter six with the exploration of intimate and fleshy relations exposed through the theorizing of humans as “body-brain-material” assemblages within habitats of learning is a curious and creative way to consider the pragmatics of managing active bodies in lively spaces. The examples from Steiner, Montessori and home schooling provided throughout these chapters are insightful and thought-provoking. This is especially true in chapter six when Kraftl theorizing the notion of habit as inspired by the work of Felix Ravaisson, provides detailed and powerful examples of children actively engaging in learning spaces to illustrate the three styles of bodily movement and learning: distraction, implication and repetition. The book is dense and complex, yet Kraftl deploys a number of strategies to help with the theoretical work you need to do as a reader by juxtaposing theory with clearly articulated adult voices. Maybe the only limitation to the book is the less visible voice of the young learners themselves, who although present tend to be represented through proxy information’ from significant adults such as parents and professionals. As a teacher educator who has primarily worked with mainstream schools I found the detail of pedagogical exchanges in the alternative settings as inspirational and invigorating. As a researcher it provided an innovative example of how to execute what Pauliina Rautio identifies as “messy methodologies,” to present data that does...

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child: Its Relevance for Social Scientists

This study compares students' life skills from alternative education with those from mainstream schools in Kerala. Education is an essential virtue that transforms the unlettered child into a responsible and mature adult. Consequently, the present study explores the opportunities for alternative education to enhance school education in India, particularly in Kerala. This study demonstrates the importance of alternative education as a powerful tool for meeting the changing needs of public education in the era of a globalized economy. The tool used for the study was the Life Skills Inventory (LSI) developed by the investigator. The study results revealed that alternative education students in Kerala have more life skills than those in mainstream schools. Study results indicate that alternative education improves the socioeconomic status of a nation as well as the quality of life of individuals.

This article reflects on a number of key concepts and planning tools that have been developed or adapted through the inter-agency planning of services for children and young people in Northern Ireland (Children's Services Planning). These conceptual models have been developed between 1999 and 2005 and illustrate the key contribution of Children's Services Planning to two significant shifts in how the planning task has been understood. These refer to, firstly, the movement from service orientation to needs orientation, and secondly, the progression from needs to rights within service planning. Children's Services Planning in Northern Ireland is now based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Whole Child Model, which demonstrates the understanding that there is no such thing as a uni-dimensional child who only requires services from one agency. The Family Support model has been in use for some years within the process, and the joint outcomes framework, to be designed to enable agencies to address rights and needs has also been adopted across all four Children and Young People's Committees. In terms of outcomes, an overarching Strategy for Children and Young People will develop an outcomes framework within Northern Ireland, which is likely to build upon that of Every Child Matters, as well as children's rights. Children's Services Planning has also demonstrated that the approach to planning of universal services must be consistent with the planning of services for children with additional needs. There needs to be a strong linkage between the planning and delivery of universal and targeted services. It is a contention of the article that concepts such as those described are required for multi-sectoral planning, and that a whole system planning approach is required to address the rights and needs of children and young people.

This paper examines the context of school exclusion in Northern Ireland. In doing so, we explore the political economy of exclusion, focusing in particular on the intersection of perspectives between four key stakeholder groups: principals (n = 7) and teachers (n = 31) in mainstream schools, representatives from an official education body (n = 8), and staff from Education Other Than at School (EOTAS) Centres (n = 4) who provide alternative education for young people who have been permanently excluded from mainstream schools or who have social, emotional, behavioural and well-being needs that cannot be met in mainstream schools. The study used qualitative data from individual and small group interviews and focus groups with the stakeholders mentioned above. School exclusion has been under-researched in Northern Ireland and this paper addresses this gap. Additionally, official exclusion data point to relatively low levels of temporary and permanent exclusions compared with the other jurisdictions of the UK, though why this is so remains unclear. The analysis draws attention to the use and prevalence of informal or unofficial school exclusions; claims of limited official support for schools; restricted collaboration between mainstream schools and alternative education; and a general consensus around limited resources to support pupils at risk and to train teachers.

Manfred Liebel, ed.: Children's Rights Below: Cross-Cultural Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, 272 pp. $87.00 hardcover (9780230302518) Significant international scholarship has recently emerged to theorize children's participatory rights. European scholar Manfred Liebel and his colleagues Karl Hanson, Ivan Saadi and Wouter Vandenhole contribute to this area by importantly conceptualizing children's rights from Drawing on sociology, political science, and socio-legal studies this thirteen chapter volume focuses primarily on majority world children on the margins. Assuming readers with a degree of familiarity with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and surrounding debates, Liebel and his fellow contributors are able to deeply explore the possibilities and challenges of acknowledging and fostering children's rights below. While advocacy for children's rights did not begin with the CRC, work in this area inevitably grapples with this significant convention. In articulating children's rights below, Liebel and his colleagues convey mixed feelings about the CRC. On the one hand, it is a modernist document which certain groups have used to enforce a narrow, Western ideal of childhood. It was conceived by adults and it suggests that rights are bestowed above. The CRC is also frequently undermined by state and global political and economic policies which hinder possibilities for children's rights. For instance, individualized legal rights do not always work well for children on the margins for whom rights are alien, and who believe that asking for rights shows weakness or invites reprisals. On the other hand the CRC is a flexible document which has incited significant interest in children's rights, and consequently the language of rights is emerging within children's organizing and demands. It is such children's organizing within the majority world that has most captured the attention of the authors of this book. Liebel and his colleagues draw on the sociology of childhood to counter the top-down, narrowing aspects of the CRC, arguing instead that children are actively and competently involved in what Liebel and Saadi discuss as transcendant innovations, or collective actions initiated below. This is what they mean by rights below, whether such participation is framed in the language of rights or not. This more localized rights work commonly emerges within contexts of marginalization and exclusion. A strength of this text is its use of many such examples of children who successfully participate and organize, including children in child headed households and in economic cooperatives. Particularly noted for discussion is the activism of working children's movements, an area most deeply explored in the chapter by Iven Saadi. Children in these movements are making their rights manifest and advocating new ones. They advocate for work, the right to choose to work, and the right to specific conditions of work, as well as for health care and education. Their more macro-level advocacy tends to arise in coalitions with adults, however, which in turn undermines their legitimacy with organizations such as the International Labour Organization as these children are then assumed to be manipulated by adults. Saadi counters that adult assistance is needed sometimes, e.g., in renting a space, but that it is the young people who are the leaders. There is tension, within the CRC and in broader discussions of children's rights, between protection and participation. Liebel and his colleagues grapple with this tension as they explore the possibilities and challenges of children's rights below. Much child advocacy work in the twentieth century has focused on children's protection and the provision of services. Those who embrace more participatory rights worry that provision and protection rights often foster only dependency and scrutiny while limiting freedom and undermining children's capacities. …

The violations and abuses of the rights of women and children has been a source of global concern for decades. The United Nations (UN) has made several international efforts to protect the rights and freedoms of women and children starting with the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHRs) by its General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948, which sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be internationally safeguarded. Other efforts which the UN has made to protect the rights of women include the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others 1949, Equal Remuneration Convention 1951, Convention on the Political Rights of Women 1952, Convention on the Nationality of Married Women 1957, Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention 1958, Convention against Discrimination in Education 1960, Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages 1962, Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) 1979. Similarly, efforts which the UN has made to protect the rights of children include the UN General Assembly Declaration of the Rights of the Child 1959, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice (The Beijing Rules) 1985, the Declaration on Social and Legal Principles relating to the Protection and Welfare of Children 1986, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime 2003. However, despite these global efforts made by the UN to protect the rights of women and children, there still exist rampant cases of the violations of the rights of women and children globally. Therefore, the UN, in 2015, made further efforts to protect the rights of women and children through its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This article, which adopted the doctrinal research methodology, assesses the protection of the human rights of women and children under the United Nations 2030 Agenda for SDGs in the light of some selected human rights instruments.

In 1990, Romania signed the United Nations (UN) Convention on the rights of children. This created the conditions for the adoption of some measures that lead to the improvement of children’s lives by protecting them against neglect and abuse. This study is the result of a secondary analysis of study data collected in 1999 that focused on neglect and abuse existing in the long-term residential centers of Romania. Our goal was to reconstruct the living conditions of institutionalized children at the end of the 1990s, based on the requirements formulated in the Convention articles. This reconstruction has more than a historical value. It may contribute to our understanding of institutional neglect whose victims were thousands of children who were cared by an inadequate protective system. This analysis included a national representative sample of 3164 (1701 boys and 1463 girls) children residing in 80 different long-term residential centers (i.e., nurseries, centers for preschool and school aged, and institutions for disabled) between 0 and 19 years of age (M = 9.45; SD = 5.39) whose quality of life was measured following the UN Convention vision on the rights of children. The results show that respect of children’s fundamental rights varied within each type of institution. Thus, 9 years after signing the Convention and after 2 years of intense structural reforms, the respect given to the basic human rights of Romanian children placed in long-term residential centers still had many weak points, but included some accomplishments as well.

Young people who are either at risk of disengaging or disengaged from mainstream education in Ireland are often supported by what is termed ‘out-of-school’ or the ‘alternative education’ sector. A recent review of out-of-school education provision (Department of Education. 2022. Review of Out-of-School Educational Provision. Dublin: DE, Social Inclusion Unit.) was the first attempt to recognise this hidden educational sector. This paper aims to build upon and expand the typology describing out-of-school alternative education provision developed by Department of Education (Department of Education. 2022. Review of Out-of-School Educational Provision. Dublin: DE, Social Inclusion Unit.) to further explore the meaning of alternative education in Ireland. Based on findings from the first-of-its-kind evaluation of Rethink Ireland’s Education Fund, we propose a tentative typology of alternative education based on three clusters of Awardee projects. Three critical criteria, positionality toward the mainstream schools, learners’ age, and focus of projects’ work, were used to distinguish between the clusters, identified as (a) life-long learning/social inclusion programmes, (b) curriculum reform/diverse pathways to adulthood programmes, and (c) alternative centres of education/based outside the mainstream schools. We show how alternative education providers offer a much broader range of programmes, operating both inside and outside of the mainstream schools, use innovative approaches to teaching and learning, support the overall well-being of students and tackle structural inequality within education in Ireland.

Zero or 18

The 40 substantive rights contained within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) 1989, have applied, without discrimination, to all children in the United Kingdom since 1992. However, recurrent tragedies starkly highlight the potential vulnerability of some children when their parents experience mental health difficulties; and many children affected by parental mental illness remain a hidden population, the unique challenges they face going unaddressed. Article 3 of the UNCRC states: “All organisations concerned with children should work towards what is best for each child”. Social workers occupy a critical position in safeguarding the UN Convention rights of children, particularly in situations where mental illness is having an adverse impact on parenting, and where children are “in need” or “at risk”. However, collaboration between Mental Health and Family & Child Care services can be problematic. Poorly-integrated service provision constrained by inadequate resources and training, and complicated by a latent dichotomy between the human rights of parents and the Convention rights of children, can contribute to regrettable outcomes for these most vulnerable families. This article highlights the potential psychological vulnerability of children living in a situation where one or both parents experience mental health difficulties. Evidence regarding the scale and impact of parental mental health difficulties is explored, and discussed in the context of the UNCRC, and the key findings of recent Child Protection Inspections and Health & Social Care inquiries in Northern Ireland. The article draws on relevant literature (specifically the Western and Eastern Health and Social Services Boards Inquiry into the tragic deaths of Madeleine and Lauren O'Neill in Northern Ireland, and the preliminary findings of research being carried out by the authors within the University of Ulster) to illustrate and consider the problems associated with effective social work practice with these families. The article concludes by making recommendations to enhance effective, responsive, collaborative social care provision for children in families experiencing parental mental health difficulties.

Academic publications on children’s rights––undertaken from different perspectives––have witnessed significant growth in recent years. The book under review is one such, where the author 'employs sociology to study children's rights'(Gran 2021: 1). Sociology is the common, broader field of reference for the issues analysed in this book. The sociological perspective brings new questions and allows the author to introduce new, critical aspects of researching and analysing the practice of children’s rights. The author draws attention to the double standard with regard to the legal framework, which on the one hand, is designed to protect children's rights and on the other hand, makes it difficult for children and young people themselves to have and enjoy those rights. The author has managed to combine quite diverse issues concerning the construction of rights, key theories for understanding what children's rights are and why they are so important, into one coherent whole. The book is a harmonised polyphony of content dedicated to reflecting on key questions: what rights young people have, whether these rights promote equality, as well as how these rights affect children's identities, freedoms and their participation in society; whether we need children’s rights in the world of human rights. The author has divided the material into six chapters, alongside an Introduction and Appendices. The layout of the book is clear, which means that every reader, regardless of their familiarity with these scholarly debates will find the book’s content important and inspiring. The first chapter ‘What Are Children's Rights?’ takes a closer look at the historical background, roots and stages of the emergence of children's rights and the bundles and typologies of rights. The analysis indicates that despite the wide range of children's rights, there is a perceived lack of political rights and few of the available rights are privileges or entitlements of children. The next two chapters focus on the role and condition of institutions and structures that have been established to monitor and promote children's rights, and what defines children's rights policy and its implications for children's rights. The author explores the status of children's political rights, draws attention to ageism and the marginalisation of these rights and what political rights can potentially do for young people. Chapter four deals with the meanings that young people attribute to their rights, the areas in which they perceive the impact of their rights and the role and significance that young people’s rights have in relation to societies they are part of. The author introduces selected pathways, approaches and methods from across the social science, thanks to which we can learn what young people think about their rights. These important themes are continued in another chapter highlighting the right to have rights and the impact of rights on children. Reviewing the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, other UN bodies, UN agencies, UN Special Procedures, the author looks at what children can achieve through their rights, particularly in terms of their interests and welfare. He also raises the question of the benefits that accrue to adults as a result of children's rights. The consideration is sealed by the sixth chapter structured around the search for an answer to the question ‘What Is Right with Children's Rights?’. The author reveals and justifies the arguments for and against children's rights (e.g. the dilemmas of the movement to advance children's rights, relativism, the divergence of children's interests and those of adults, the dependence of young people on others for their rights). We have become accustomed to the 'presence' of children's rights in international and national legislation, hence, it is difficult for us to imagine what would happen if they were not there. It is even more difficult, as the author concludes, to realise that children's rights have not been systematically conceptualised and legislations fail because many of the rights contained in international legislations are not present in the UN CRC or remain in contradiction. Children, as human beings, are entitled to all human rights, yet, there is a lack of global research today that includes children's voices on what they think about their rights. Research in a participatory approach based on an ethical symmetry that takes into account the perspective of children and adults seems to be one of the available solutions. This book is an excellent compendium for all social scientists and students working on children's rights in sociology, political science, social policy, childhood studies, education studies and legal sciences.

The twentieth century began with children having virtually no universally accepted rights but ended with the most powerful international legal instrument supporting their rights: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The challenge for interested parties in the twenty-first century is effective implementation of this Convention. However, it is also important to consider whether in practice the concept of children's rights is interpreted to protect children's interests or their choices. Whilst child care professionals are a key group for the effective implementation of children's rights, little empirical evidence exists on how they conceptualise children's rights. Therefore, an exploration of the views of child care professionals was undertaken to inform insights into how these rights are conceptualised in practice. A qualitative research approach was utilised in which in-depth interviews were conducted with senior child care professionals in Northern Ireland. The findings indicated that children's rights were perceived as a right to protect the interest of children largely in relation to provision and protection issues. Furthermore, the Convention has been the main source of understanding and application of the concept of children's rights by professionals who participated in the study.

Introduction ... nowhere is education an uncomplicated 'good'; it produces both justice and injustice, equity and inequity and the issue is to understand why, when and how. (Walker, 2003, p. 169) The compulsory education of a nation's children and young people is characterised by complexity. This article focuses on the experiences of disabled students, whose education is sometimes marked by injustice in terms of inequitable access to and participation in New Zealand state schools (IHC, 2008). Given the central role of curriculum in ensuring that young New Zealanders are equipped with the knowledge, competencies, and values they will need to be successful citizens in the twenty-first century (Ministry of Education, 2007, p. 4), the purpose of this article is to examine the opportunities that disabled students have to access the body of knowledge deemed significant by and reflective of New Zealand society. This article begins with an examination of the legislative and policy context. Legislative and policy context Why is the right to education of such importance for all students? In a recent analysis of children's rights in New Zealand educational policy documents, Quennerstedt (2009) noted that, while education is a human and social right in and of itself, it is also a critical means of attaining civil and political rights as an adult. If a child's right to education is compromised, this also compromises their future opportunities for participation in and contribution to all aspects of community life, which in turn diminishes their opportunities to develop and exercise the civil and political rights that characterise citizenship in democratic societies. For some students whose human difference may diminish their humanity and educability in the eyes of others, the right to compulsory education can be conditional and contested (IHC, 2008). It is encouraging, therefore, to note that over the last 20 years the rights of disabled children and adults in New Zealand society have been increasingly recognised in legislation (Education Act 1989; Human Rights Act 1993), in the commitment to United Nations conventions (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989; United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2007) and in the implementation of The New Zealand Disability Strategy (Minister for Disability Issues, 2001). the strategy aims to develop an inclusive and socially just society in which the importance of quality education for disabled students is emphasised. It is underpinned by current thinking about disability that recognises cultural and structural barriers to participation and justice (see, for example, Priestley, 2003). Interestingly, current Ministry of Education policy documents present a somewhat inconsistent interpretation of disabled students' right to education (Higgins, MacArthur, & Rietveld, 2006; Kearney & Kane, 2006). On the one hand, the ministry recognises its responsibility to implement The New Zealand Disability Strategy (see, for example, Ministry of Education, 2008), and to ensure that schools remove barriers to achievement for disabled students (see, for example, Ministry of Education, 2009); on the other hand, aspects of Special Education 2000 policy (Ministry of Education, 1996) impose barriers to students' participation and achievement. For example, although disabled students have a right to attend local schools, some are required to go through a contestable, deficit-focused, needs-based application process (through the Ongoing Reviewable Resourcing Scheme [ORRS]) in order to get the resourcing required to access the curriculum in meaningful ways. Should their application be declined, students, their families/whanau and schools have to find the required resources from other sources, including schools' Special Education Grant (intended to support students with so-called moderate rather than very or high needs) and/or charitable trusts or private funding. …

This article explores the fundamental right of disabled children to feel safe and be free from bullying, harassment and abuse. The article proposes that, 20 years since the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, disabled children are still facing barriers to securing this right. The article focuses on recent Mencap research that shows a very high incidence of bullying of children and young people with a learning disability; and also how measures to prevent and tackle bullying are hindered by a lack of compliance around new legal duties on schools to eliminate the discrimination and harassment of disabled people. The article links the high incidence of bullying with the similarly high incidence of abuse of disabled children, and proposes that these should be considered within the context of a safeguarding continuum. It is argued that the UK government and devolved administrations should respond to the 2008 report of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and ensure the legislation providing protection for persons with disabilities is effectively implemented. Furthermore, increased priority must be given to the inclusion of disabled children in society in order to reduce their marginalisation and consequent vulnerability to bullying, harassment and abuse.