Inclusion Agenda Research Articles

How is an inclusive agenda possible in an excluding education system? Revisiting the Danish Dilemma

ABSTRACTThe policy of inclusion in the Scandinavian countries is often related to the idea of the welfare state, and specifically to notions of equality, equity and democracy. The image of the welfare state seems to live well, even though structural and social barriers seem to maintain inequality when it comes to access to education. Instead of overcoming the barriers, the politics of inclusion may actually make the gap between ideals and realities more visible. In this article, we analyse the political efforts to create a more inclusive education system in Denmark in relation to these structural barriers. By applying the notions of discourse and dispositive of Foucault, we argue that the policies of educational inclusion encompass rationales and governing techniques directed at the societal and individual levels that may in itself challenge the inclusive agenda. By highlighting some of the political notions of inclusion, we highlight the discrepancies between inclusion as a political project and the structural barriers on the one hand, and inclusion as educational practice on the other. This challenges the previously accepted image of how well the Scandinavian welfare state is doing, especially as it relates to solving the gap between privilege and disadvantage in education.

Cultural production in the working-class resistance: labour activism, gender politics, and solidarities

ABSTRACTAgainst the backdrop of China as a seemingly ideal model to justify and normalize capitalist globalization, this article seeks to demonstrate how grassroots and bottom-up resistance can disrupt hegemonic ideologies and dominant values. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with a local NGO and an activist group from March 2016 to July 2017, my study demonstrates that labour activism through cultural production becomes an important constitution of contemporary working-class resistance in China. Collective cultural production, such as advocacy songs, live shows, and writing endorsement articles, expresses a working-class subjective position and an anti-capitalist standpoint. Rural migrant workers’ inequality serves as a political and ideological stance from which different social actors join together in activism and resistance to construct imaginations of a new socialist China where there are equal relations in production and distribution, and social inclusion and respect. In the process of forming solidarities, feminist agendas for gender equality are marginalized in working-class resistance and gendered power relations greatly shape activists’ subjectivities, practices, and experiences. This study contributes to the intersection of labour studies, cultural studies, and feminist studies in China. I argue that grassroots labour cultural production contributes to the discursive formation of counter-hegemonic power; yet a more inclusive activist agenda is still required to imagine and build an equal and just society.

Intensidad de apoyos, salud mental, empleo y su relación con resultados de calidad de vida

The improvement of personal results and quality of life for the people with intellectual disability has become the main challenge for the organizations destined to provide assistance. Aprosub incorporated in 2010 the evaluation of quality of life as a key result for the organization. This article displays the results in terms of quality of life and its relationship with different variables considered relevant as the intensity of aids, mental health diagnosis and psychiatric medication. Likewise, the impact of inclusive agendas, such as the program of employment with support developed in the entity, is taken into consideration. The data provided was obtained through the scales inico-feaps y San Martín according to the assistance needs. The data refers to 412 adults with intellectual disability, of which 39,3% are women and 60,7% are men. All of them are provided with support in Aprosub services in the province of Cordoba. The results obtained show the positive impact, in terms of quality of life, of inclusive programs as the employment with support program. Furthermore, we have found a direct relationship between the needs for assistance of one person and its results in quality of life. Conversely, the data shows that the presence of any mental health issue decreases the punctuation of quality of life in comparison with the individuals that do not endure the condition.

Alleviating Poverty Through Islamic Microfinance: Factors and Measures of Financial Performance, and Roles of Islamic Values and Financial Policies

Indonesia has a strong presence of microfinance sector with the number of Islamic Microfinance Institutions (IMFIs) estimated to be around 5,000 currently. Microfinance is an effective tool in alleviating poverty in Indonesia due to the limited access to financial services by the poor who accounted for approximately 96 million Indonesians (or 37% of the total population), living on less than USD 1.90 a day. In the absence of collateral and steady income, the poor are considered too risky to be given credit facilities by the formal financial services providers and living in remote areas has also limited their access to formal financial services. This study aims to examine the poverty alleviation efforts from the perspective of the IMFIs in view of their direct involvement in the process and having rich information about financial issues facing the borrowers. The managers also understand about financial inclusion agenda as well as financial guidelines and regulations issued by the relevant authorities. A total of 34 managers of Baitulmaal Wa Tamwil (BMTs), which registered under the Sharia Cooperative Centre (INKOPSYAH) are taken as respondents from the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (JABODETABEK) areas. The first instrument was a survey questionnaire, and the second one was an in-depth interview to outline data related to the model design. The findings of this research are expected to contribute to better decision-making for the BMTs to further enhance its role in alleviating poverty. The findings also elaborate several dimensions to improving financial inclusion among the poor including providing financial services, implementing Islamic principles, significant policies, community-based framework concept and training financial education. This research highlights the need for a variety of strategies to warrant success of poverty alleviation efforts by BMT.

Body studies in mathematics education: diverse scales of mattering

This paper offers a survey of body studies in mathematics education. Building on earlier insights about the ‘embodied mind’, which focused primarily on individual, intact bodies, we focus on recent work that elaborates bodies as distributed and extended and fully implicated in socio-material ecologies of learning. The aim of this article is to map current trends in this domain, and to articulate some of the current challenges. Because bodies matter differently depending on the research perspective, and because they are studied at multiple scales of mattering (neurological, sensory-gestural, affective, social, institutional, national, etc.), there tends to be disparate insights across the field with little to no cross-fertilization. This paper aims to open up conversations across different theoretical approaches—and scales of mattering—so as to create a more expansive and inclusive agenda for body studies in the field of mathematics education. We have chosen to organise our survey around five themes that seem dominant in the literature, where key theoretical and methodological trends can be discerned. These are: (1) groups, systems, ecologies (2) affect, movement, sensation, (3) language-use and gesture, (4) dis/ability and power, (5) technology, technicity, and tools. We argue that these different approaches need to be in conversation with each other, to think across research contexts, problems and communities, so that new forms of inquiry and new insights can emerge.

A Systematic Review of Research on Social Work Practice with Single Fathers

This paper presents a systematic literature review that explored social work practice with single fathers. The literature search identified 7 studies, both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The small number of studies identified that met the inclusion criteria suggests that single fathers are under-researched in social work, which aligns with their relative invisibility in practice and welfare debates. The findings suggest that social workers did not genuinely or comprehensively understand the needs of single fathers and did not effectively engage with them. This paper’s discussion relates these findings to Doucet’s interpretations of borderwork and border crossing and relates these concepts to questions of whether social work is inclusive of single fathers or assesses their needs fairly. The discussion is located within wider discourses that propose that societal assumptions about the feminised role of caring and lone parenthood exclude fathers and place responsibility for children primarily on mothers. This paper found that current research into social work with single fathers has not effectively considered the array of social influences on their capacities to parent and thus areas for future research are suggested to promote an agenda of inclusion for single fathers and greater awareness for social work and social work practitioners.

The rights of children and young people under special educational needs legislation in England: an inclusive agenda?

ABSTRACTIn this article we consider the rights of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in England, introduced under the Children and Families Act 2014, within the context of the wider reforms made by the Act. Drawing primarily on key informant interviews conducted as part of an ESRC project on Autonomy, Rights and Children with Special Needs: A New Paradigm? (ES/P002641/1), and making reference to the international framework of children’s and disabled persons’ rights, we present an analysis of the (mostly professional) viewpoints gathered and what they tell us about the progress towards the realisation of children and young people’s autonomy and agency in this field.

Do financial stability and institutional quality have impact on financial inclusion in developing economies? A new evidence from Nigeria

This paper investigates the empirical linkages among financial stability, institutional quality and financial inclusion in Nigeria using quarterly data from 1986-2013. For empirical analysis, the study applies the autoregressive distributed lag model based on unrestricted error correction model (ARDL-UECM). First, the results show evidence that financial stability has significant impact on financial inclusion in the long run period but not in the short run. Second, the study reveals that institutional quality has significant impact on financial inclusion in the long run period and in the short run. Having found that financial stability and institutional quality are positively related to financial inclusion in the long run, the study therefore recommends that the government and policymakers pursuing the agenda of financial inclusion should pay attention not only to the financial and economic indicators but also to institutional factors existing in the country since they interact in creating a harmonised and sustainable developmental trajectory. In a country where the economic, legal, judicial and political institutions are very weak, many households (savers) and firms (borrowers/investors) may not be protected when there are issues of financial contract enforcements or breaches within the economy.

Keeping Out Extreme Inequality from the SDG Agenda – The Politics of Indicators

AbstractThe SDGs are important because they set consensus norms. At face value, Goal 10 sets a strong norm on reducing inequality within and between countries. Yet this is undermined and distorted by the targets and indicators which are weak and set an agenda for inclusion rather than for reducing inequalities. This paper explains this paradox as a result of an intense contestation over the framing of the inequality agenda as inclusion, focusing on the poor and excluded, rather than on extreme inequality. The paper provides a detailed account of the negotiations and argues that the insertion of the shared prosperity measure in setting the target on vertical economic inequality (rather than distribution measures such as Gini or Palma ratio) was strategic. It concludes that the political choice over the meaning of a norm is made on what is said to be a technical basis. The technical and political considerations cannot be disentangled and greater transparency on the policy strengths and weaknesses of measurement choices is needed.

Promoting Gender Inclusive Governance to Deliver Better Education in Nepal

With inclusion agenda gaining currency in public policy discourse, women representation has now been ensured in public institutions, including schools, in Nepal. Informed by the concepts of representation and participation, this paper argues that though women’s participation in decision-making has received significant attention across the world, there are less opportunities for female to engage in governance and decision-making in Nepali community schools. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to examine what perspectives School Management Committee (SMC) members hold towards inclusion of female members. Employing interview and observation techniques during six months of ethnographic fieldwork, I collected data from six members in the SMC (including three female) from a community secondary school in rural Kaski. The findings highlight some surfacing inclusion issues in school governance which are contestable. The study concludes that though descriptive representation of female is ensured, female are yet to ensure their substantive representation in the school board.

Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Sociality

The paper aims to formulate theoretical and methodological foundations as well as basic research questions for studying intervention of artificial intelligence in everyday life of medical and life sciences in the 21 century. It is an invitation for professional philosophical, theoretical and methodological discussion about the necessity and reality of artificial intelligence in contemporary medical/life sciences and medicine. The authors commence with a proposition of their definitions of ‘artificial intelligence’ (AI) and ‘artificial sociality’ (AS). The next section of the paper deals with a review of basic trends in medical/life sciences and medicine. In what follows the authors debate two problems related to incorporation of AI in reality of current medicine. The first is the potential revision of the principles developed in western medicine; the second is the alteration of the contents and forms of medical education. The authors theorize the dynamic interplay between structural expansion and cultural contraction of medicine and life sciences in current practices of higher education and explore how this introduces an essential tension between the necessity and reality for medical professionals to work with AI. The paper shows that attending to institutional dynamics serves as a critical and timely extension of disciplinary/cross/anti-disciplinary critiques of science and medicine, not only since the current inclusion agenda of the AI in medicine may do little to address the real concerns of a medical profession in the XXI century but also because it may inadvertently undermine the institutional recognition and epistemic acceptance of new anti-disciplinary vista for studying AI per se. In conclusion the authors underline basic outcomes of the discussion and propose further routes for inquiry and research.

Reflexive professional subjects: knowledge and emotions in the collaborations between teachers and educational-psychological consultants in a Danish school context

ABSTRACTIn this article, we investigate how the shift towards inclusive education in Danish schools changes and affects the ways in which educational-psychological advisory service (in Danish, PPR) units and school staff collaborate. Since inclusion is generally a matter of ensuring that every child can be accommodated within the mainstream school system, the increased inclusion agenda has altered the type of support that PPRs typically offer. Classic psychological assessments now play a lesser role, with PPR staff expected to conduct consultative work to promote the school staff’s reflection on their own practice, with the aim of supporting the inclusion of children. Based on an ethnographic study of the collaboration between PPR and school staff, we investigate the impact of the changes on the forms of knowledge and professional subjectivities that are produced, as well as the emotional work that is involved.

Bank Competition and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Mexico

We document a positive relation between bank competition and the penetration of bank accounts at the local level in Mexico. To account for potential biases in our regressions due to the endogeneity of market structure, we employ a two-stage estimation approach that is based on an equilibrium structural model. Our preferred estimate implies that moving from a monopoly to a duopoly will lead to an increase of 972 accounts per 10,000 adults: a 40% increase over the cross-market mean. This is comparable to the effect of large increases in per capita income and years of schooling, or an increase of one branch per 10,000 adults by banks that are already present in the local market. We conclude that policies that facilitate bank competition should be given a prominent role in the financial inclusion agenda.

Mainstreaming the Financial Inclusion Agenda in India - Lessons from the Genesis and Growth of Canara Bank, 1906-1969

Financial Inclusion has always been a much touted policy agenda since India’s Independence. The State played a key role through promoting cooperative credit societies, nationalising big private sector banks and facilitating several supply side measures to ease access to credit. Post 90s, the accent was more on demand led private initiatives through self help groups and microfinance institutions. Today, there seems to be a policy turn again towards formal institutions like Banks. In 2015, in a rare move, the Reserve Bank of India granted licenses to differentiated banks like the Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks. Given these policy reversals, the state seems to be grappling with implementing a proven agenda towards mainstreaming financial inclusion through banks. To this end, we turn back to a period of Indian banking history to derive lessons from the trajectories of the indigenous joint stock banking companies, often termed swadeshi banks that spontaneously emerged, especially in southern India, at the turn of the 20th century. We focus on the Dakshin Kanara district in coastal Karnataka where between 1880 and 1935, 22 banking companies were established. We take up this district for two reasons (a) Three nationalised banks of the country today, out of the total of 21, had their origins in this district - Corporation Bank, Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank (b) All the three banks were closely associated with a minority community in that district, namely the Gowd Saraswat Brahmins (GSBs). Many of the founders and initial Board members of the three banks were lawyers, teachers, doctors and philanthropists from this community. Commissioned biographies of all the three banks point to the ethos of this community (gameinscaft) in initiating these banking companies. These were in the nature of small finance banks of today, primarily catering to the needs of the community. Among the three, we take up the study of Canara Bank – the most successful among its peers in terms of growth. Our methodology will rely both on primary, secondary sources and oral histories dealing specifically with the genesis and growth of the bank. We will focus from the early 19th century (the time the bank had its origin as a banking company) to 1969, after nationalisation. India’s Independence and the Banking Regulation Act (BRA), 1949 will be another time-marker. By beginning its journey as a small banking company in the pre-industrialised period and growing to become one of the key players in the banking sector in India, Canara Bank offers a compelling narrative for understanding the future trajectories of the Small Finance Banks of the country.

Institutionalizing Diversity Agendas: Presidents’ Councils for Diversity as Mechanisms for Strategic Change

Researchers examined the potential of Presidents’ Councils on Diversity (PCDs) to position advancing diversity and inclusion agendas at 11 higher education institutions. Researchers investigated strategies and the degree that PCDs set up agendas through the mobilization (i.e., creating vision and setting priorities), implementation (i.e., creating systems to support change), and institutionalization (i.e., embedding initiatives in the culture and practices of the institution) phases as outlined by Kezar’s Phased Leadership Strategies for Institutionalizing Diversity Agendas.​

Ghana’s Progress on Reaching out to the Unbanked through Financial Inclusion

Financial inclusion is a measure of the proportions of individuals and firms that use formal financial services. It serves as a vehicle for poverty alleviation and the driving force for the achievement of the global sustainable development goals (SDGs). The purpose of this study was to find out the progress achieved pertaining to financial inclusion in Ghana. The government of Ghana has for the past years consciously put in place policies and programs to facilitate the promotion of financial inclusion. These policies have resulted to rapid expansion of the banking sector thereby making formal financial services accessible to all. The expansion of bank branches, ATM coverage, increment in Debit/Credit cards ownership and mobile money account holders are indications of achievement in the financial inclusion agenda. An estimated 83.1% of Ghanaians have mobile money account, which has taken savings and other forms of financial services to the doorstep of the ordinary citizen. This has also resulted to a rise in the level of making/receiving payment digitally from 22% in 2014 to 44% in 2017 among rural dwellers. Bank branches coverage per 100,000 adults has grown from 4.8 in 2008 to 7.2 in 2016. Because of the branch visibility, account ownership has also seen a surge especially, in the rural areas where it used to be minimal. Although there has been some success, there is the need for the government to continue with the provision of an enabling environment for faster progress since achievement of financial inclusion enhances stability and faster economic growth.

Enacting participatory, gender-sensitive slum redevelopment? Urban governance, power and participation in Trivandrum, Kerala

This paper looks at two governance challenges that sit behind global commitments to deliver ‘cities without slums’: under what conditions can participatory ideals be successfully transferred to housing redevelopment programmes, and under what conditions can participatory slum redevelopment trigger wider shifts towards inclusive urban governance? It does so by examining Indian national slum redevelopment policy and its implementation in Kerala’s capital city, Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). Kerala’s track-record of participatory governance and the lead role given to its women-focused poverty alleviation mission, Kudumbashree, in implementing housing projects make it an ideal place in which to examine these questions, and their gender implications. Primary data focusing on two housing projects are used to contrast intended governance changes featuring female-centred community participation with their actual operation on the ground. Despite moves to foreground women’s engagement, both projects suffered from shortfalls in institutional design, the inevitable administrative complexity of housing delivery, and resistance from local power brokers. Given Kerala’s favourable starting conditions, these outcomes highlight the need for slum redevelopment to be based around a deeper analysis of power dynamics and the explicit articulation of an agenda for inclusion at a city-level if participation is to realise its transformative potential.

Using multiple correspondence analysis for finance: A tool for assessing financial inclusion

This paper introduces multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to the literature on financial product choice. MCA is a useful way of assessing the typology of actual or potential consumers, which can then be used to assess the extent to which existing products cover consumer needs. Given the importance of the financial inclusion agenda, this provides a useful means of detecting areas of financial under-servicing. An illustration using bank mortgage data shows how some groups are well-serviced, but others suffer from mismatch between the characteristics of the available and desirable products.

A Critical Theory Perspective and Corporate Sosial Responsibility: The Concept

Frynas and Stephens (Political corporate social responsibility: reviewing theories and setting new agendas. They described existing trends and suggested an agenda for future research. They make efforts to develop ‘a more inclusive pluralist research agenda in political CSR, which can integrate different perspectives on political CSR in order to account for different phenomena, including global governance changes at macro level, instrumental concerns at organizational level or cognitive dimensions at individual level, in both descriptive and normative terms’. This was an ambitious endeavour, given the rapid growth of the literature and the extensive heterogeneity of the field. There is much to like in Frynas and Stephens’ paper, as it spans a broad range of perspectives and links together discrete research topics. In the present review, however, the author focuses on a number of critical aspects in their argument. Frynas and Stephens failed to define core concepts, to reveal their normative stance on CSR and their paradigmatic position, or to address the inherent conflict of values in political CSR. And they were too optimistic about the possibilities and benefits of ‘integration’. The author suspects that their approach, when adopted in practice, will impede rather than promote social welfare. This paper starts with a brief summary of the field and continues by emphasizing critical issues in Frynas and Stephens’ analysis. It concludes with an alternative agenda for research in political CSR.

Disability, technology innovation and social development in China and Australia

ABSTRACTThis paper examines the turn to technology innovation in disability policy, as it has manifested in the accessibility and digital inclusion agendas in China and Australia. It provides a review of the disability policy changes and related initiatives in both countries to offer insights for broader discussions of digital technology innovation and social policy in Asia. We argue that while governments take pivotal roles in formulating and implementing digital disability policies, people with disabilities apply their own agency to take advantage of market opportunities through economic participation in digital economy. The state responds positively to the agency of people with disabilities in social development and participation by opening opportunities for research grants, start-up funds, publicities and policy lobbying. It is here we see the hope in such a collaborative and mutually constitutive approach to innovative social policies that aim at inclusive and sustainable growth – something that deserves concerted, comparative research and evaluation by policy scholars.