Social Equity Issues Research Articles

Teachers’ Insights on Cultivating Inclusive Education for Students with Complex Support Needs

Background/Context: This qualitative study investigates teachers’ perspectives on providing inclusive services for students with complex support needs. Using a Disability Studies in Education (DSE) framework, the research focuses on understanding the challenges and strategies associated with promoting inclusive education, with attention to issues of social justice and equity. The study draws on the experiences of 11 teachers enrolled in a master’s program, exploring the relationship between teacher agency and its potential to foster inclusive educational environments for students with complex support needs. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The primary focus of the study is to explore teachers’ beliefs and practices related to inclusive education for students with complex support needs. The research seeks to answer the following questions: How do teachers navigate the cultural and systemic challenges in schools while promoting inclusive education? What strategies do they use, and how do their beliefs evolve within the context of promoting equity and social justice? Research Design: This study used narrative inquiry and thematic analysis to analyze data from focus group interviews with 11 teachers. A DSE lens guided the analysis, taking into account social justice and equity issues. Thematic analysis yielded two key themes: (1) beliefs and practices of school culture and (2) shifting perspectives within school systems Conclusions/Recommendations: Findings revealed challenges related to ingrained beliefs hindering inclusive practices, emphasizing the need for teacher education programs to prepare teachers to navigate contextual factors within schools and districts and address underlying beliefs about disability while promoting an understanding of and actions toward social justice in education. Overall, complexities were revealed surrounding inclusive education and the importance of teachers’ understanding of their beliefs and agency in promoting inclusive education for students with complex support needs. Implications for future practice and research included the need for systemic change, teacher education addressing ableism, and authentic partnerships between teacher preparation programs and schools.

Low-carbon transition or low-carbon trap? — An instrumental variable regression analysis based on carbon decoupling and energy equity

ABSTRACT Although the low-carbon transition has enormous potential for improving economic and environmental benefits, it may also lead to social equity issues, trapping certain regions in a low-carbon dilemma. Based on panel data from the Yangtze River Economic Belt for the period 2007–2019, this study empirically analyzes the impact of carbon decoupling on energy equity, employing the carbon emission trading policy and natural wetlands as joint instrumental variables. The findings reveal that: (1) from 2007 to 2019, the average level of carbon decoupling in the Yangtze River Economic Belt was recorded at 0.415, maintaining a weak decoupling state overall and nearly forming an “inverted V” shape; (2) in the instrumental variable regression results, for every 1% increase in the level of carbon decoupling, the energy equity in the Yangtze River Economic Belt decreased by an average of 0.095% (p < .01); (3) environmental burden played a partial mediating role between carbon decoupling and energy equity, with the mediation effect value being −0.007 (p < .05); (4) green energy consumption and marketization can variably mitigate the adverse effects of carbon decoupling. Examining the sustainability of the economic-environmental system from the perspective of energy equity contributes to shaping a low-carbon economy that maintains social justice and sustainability, thereby avoiding falling into a low-carbon trap.

Trainees’ perspectives on sickle cell education: a qualitative needs assessment

BackgroundSickle cell disease (SCD) exemplifies many of the social, racial, and healthcare equity issues in the United States. Despite its high morbidity, mortality, and cost of care, SCD has not been prioritized in research and clinical teaching, resulting in under-trained clinicians and a poor evidence base for managing complications of the disease. This study aimed to perform a needs assessment, examining the perspectives of medical trainees pursuing hematology/oncology subspecialty training regarding SCD-focused education and clinical care.MethodInductive, iterative thematic analysis was used to explore qualitative interviews of subspecialty hematology-oncology trainees’ attitudes and preferences for education on the management of patients with SCD. Fifteen trainees from six programs in the United States participated in 4 focus groups between April and May 2023.ResultsThematic analysis resulted in 3 themes: 1. Discomfort caring for patients with SCD. 2. Challenges managing complications of SCD, and 3. Desire for SCD specific education. Patient care challenges included the complexity of managing SCD complications, limited evidence to guide practice, and healthcare bias. Skill-building challenges included lack of longitudinal exposure, access to expert clinicians, and didactics.ConclusionsVariations in exposure, limited formal didactics, and a lack of national standardization for SCD education during training contributes to trainees' discomfort and challenges in managing SCD, which in turn, contribute to decreased interest in entering the SCD workforce. The findings underscore the need for ACGME competency amendments, dedicated SCD rotations, and standardized didactics to address the gaps in SCD education.Graphical

Negotiating Adivasi Identity: A Multimodal Analysis of Indian Picturebook The Why-Why Girl (2003)

Abstract: Mahasweta Devi and Kanyika Kini's debut picturebook The Why-Why Girl (2003) introduces a dynamic representation of Adivasi (collective term for indigenous communities in India) livelihood in the arena of Indian children's literature. Through the portrayal of Moyna, Devi and Kini not only offer readers insight into the veiled lives of the Adivasi but also sensitize them to issues of social justice and equity by unmasking systematic oppression. With a multimodal approach, this article analyzes the glorified status quo of the Adivasi lives and their indigenous connection with their land and culture vis-à-vis the tropes of rapid globalization, the rampant practice of feudalism, and the systematic marginalization of Adivasi from the mainstream society. Juxtaposing the multitudinous modes of oppression, Devi and Kini's picturebook negotiates the process of formulating subaltern girlhood and elucidates sociocultural implications for the depiction of Adivasi lives—specifically, romanticized ideologies and contradictory social ostracism—attempting to call for inclusivity, respect, and empathy.

High and Dry: Rental Markets After Flooding Disasters

Recent disasters across the United States highlight the devastating effect of climate-change on individuals and households. The effects of these disasters on access to housing and housing stability are pressing issues of social equity and urban policy. How, if at all, do disasters affect rents? We find that severe floods are associated with significant increases in rents for households renting units priced at the bottom of the rent distribution, but not the middle or the top. Second, is there a relationship between federal rental assistance to affected households and any price changes in the market? We find that disaster rental assistance is not associated with changes in rents after flooding disasters. These findings raise important questions about how policy should support low-income renters after disasters, including those not directly displaced by the disaster who are facing increased rents after a disaster but unable to access federal post-disaster rental assistance.

Inclusive Futures? A Systematic Review of Social Equity in Scenario Planning

Scenario planning is a valuable tool for dealing with uncertainty, but little is known about its consideration of social equity. We investigated if and how studies of scenario planning in the peer-reviewed literature address issues of social equity. After reviewing 157 peer-reviewed articles on scenario planning, we find that social equity is either ignored or underemphasized in scenario processes. Integrating social equity principles into the scenario planning method promises to help planners prepare for different social equity outcomes in the future. We suggest ways to incorporate social equity principles, such as recognition, representation, and redistribution, into the scenario planning method.

Equity zombies in Canada’s blue economy: a critical feminist analysis for equitable policy implementation

IntroductionOcean equity is a key aim of blue economy frameworks globally and is a pillar of the international High Level Panel for A Sustainable Ocean Economy. However, the Panel offers only a general definition of ocean equity, with limited guidance for countries. Canada, as a party to the High Level Panel’s blue economy agenda, is developing its own blue economy strategy, seeking to reshape its ocean-based industries and advocate for new ones. How equity will be incorporated across scales is not yet known but has implications for how countries like Canada will develop their ocean-based industries. This raises important questions, including what are Canada’s equity commitments in relation to its blue economy and how will they be met? Currently, the industries identified in Canada’s emerging blue economy narratives are governed through both federal and provincial legislation and policies. These will shape how equity is implemented at different scales.MethodsIn this paper, we examine how the term equity is defined in relevant federal and provincial legislation and look to how understandings of equity found in critical feminist, environmental justice, and climate justice scholarship could inform policy and its implementation within Canada’s blue economy. We focus on two industries that are important for Canada’s blue economy: offshore oil and marine salmon aquaculture in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. We investigate how existing legislation and policy shapes the characterization, incorporation, and implementation of equity in these industries.Results and discussionOur analysis highlights how a cohesive approach to ocean equity across the scales of legislation and policy is needed to ensure more robust engagement with social and environmental equity issues in blue economy discourse and implementation.

The Relationship between Regional Educational Resource Inequality and Income Inequality: The Case of China

The relationship between intra-regional inequality in educational resources and income inequality has always been the focus of social development and equity issues. Using the education Gini coefficient as the main indicator for portraying educational inequality, this paper selects relevant provincial panel data to study the relationship between inter-regional educational inequality and the widening of the income distribution gap in China, and finds that: 1) China's inter-regional educational inequality is positively correlated with the income distribution gap; 2) Over time, the effects of unequal access to education and widening economic disparities are becoming more pronounced. In order to stop the income gap from expanding due to educational inequality, the government should invest more in education, boost the rate at which educational resources are used, and support the coordinated growth of interregional education. This article fills the research gap on the relationship between educational resources and income in the last decade and contributes to the national education field.

Making plans findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable with data infrastructure: A search engine for constructing, analyzing, and visualizing planning documents

Local land-use plans help guide future development, but it is often difficult to compare content across jurisdictions, making regional coordination and plan evaluation challenging. This research reviews federal, state, and local data infrastructure guidance for land-use plans and compares such guidance to compliance with a California use-case. Findings indicate a number of obstacles to fostering data sharing and comparative analysis of plans: there is currently no central repository of land-use plans; plans are not uniform in format and are often out of date; many plans are not machine-readable thereby inhibiting text extraction, and planning language varies so greatly that there are numerous synonyms for terms of interest. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the creation of digital platforms for archiving and searching across plans is currently feasible and enables large-scale quantitative analysis. Based on currently available metadata in existing land-use plans, we designed and piloted a structured database to enable users to search for terms and phrases across over 500 land-use plans. To center issues of social equity, the open access platform was developed in collaboration with state agencies and community organizations focused on environmental justice. Based on the pilot, we conclude with a framework for both developing plan data infrastructure given current constraints in standardized plan metadata and availability as well as guidance for plan formatting using FAIR standards (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable).

“We Tell Our Story”: The Power of Critical Literacy with Refugee-Background Students

As the number of displaced people increases, providing refugee-background students with critically engaging classrooms is essential. Supporting diverse learners, while focusing on issues of social justice and equity, critical literacy facilitates a perspective where texts are analyzed for underlying messages of power and sociopolitical issues. Using Lewison et al.’s critical literacy framework, we present ways in which refugee-background students’ educational experiences were enhanced. Through the stories of these students, we provide ideas for practical application of Lewison et al.’s concepts of disrupting the commonplace, interrogating multiple viewpoints, focusing on sociopolitical issues, and taking action and promoting social justice.

The Impact of China’s Tax Policy Reform on the Gap between Rich and Poor

Common prosperity is the goal that the Chinese government is constantly striving for, and the reform of the tax system is the only way to achieve this goal. In the past ten years, China has continuously carried out tax reform and achieved good results. Previous scholars have conducted in-depth research on China’s tax reform from multiple perspectives. Previous research has focused on the impact of tax policy on China’s economic growth, exploring how taxes stimulate or constrain the development of different industries and regions. And early research focused on social equity issues, examining the impact of tax policies on income distribution, and how to reduce the social gap between rich and poor through taxation. These studies provide lessons and theoretical support for current tax reforms and provide a basis for future research. This article will start from two aspects: personal income tax reform and value-added tax reform, and analyze the impact of personal income tax and value-added tax reforms on the gap between the rich and the poor.

Assessing Sustainability Impacts and Paradoxes of Large-Scale Solar Farms in Energy Infrastructure Project

This study aims to determine the sustainability impact of large-scale solar PV farms and to recommend strategies for their sustainable development. Using a comprehensive assessment framework, we analyzed environmental, economic, and social dimensions through a combination of life cycle assessment (LCA), cost-benefit analysis, and respondent interviews. Our findings reveal that while solar farms significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on fossil fuels, they also pose challenges such as land use conflicts, ecological disruption, and social equity issues. Specifically, the displacement of agricultural land and impacts on local biodiversity emerged as critical concerns. Additionally, although solar farms create jobs and reduce energy costs, these benefits are sometimes offset by high initial investment costs and long-term maintenance. The study underscores the importance of integrated planning and policy-making to address these challenges and enhance the sustainability of solar energy projects. These insights contribute to the broader discourse on balancing renewable energy development with sustainable land and community management practices.

Designing in the times of AI: Co-Creation as a Strategy Towards Emergent Learning Design

This paper explores co-creation as a strategy for emergent learning design in developing a new postgraduate diploma in blended and online learning (BOLD) at a large South African university. In this conceptual paper, grounded both in theory and critical collaborative autoethnography, we examine how co-creation functions as an epistemological, ontological, and political project in learning design. The “Designing with AI" design process illustrates the complexities and uncertainties inherent in emergent learning design. Our reflections reveal that co-creation challenges traditional notions of expertise disrupts established roles and processes, and addresses issues of social justice and equity in education. We propose a set of principles for co-creation in emergent learning design, including the affirmation of multiple knowledges, embracing entangled processes, and recognising the importance of affect and power dynamics. The paper highlights the potential of co-creation to navigate the uncertainties of rapidly evolving fields like AI in education while acknowledging the challenges and tensions inherent in this approach. We argue that co-creation when applied thoughtfully, can lead to more flexible, inclusive, and responsive learning designs. However, we also recognise that institutional contexts and individual positionalities within higher education may influence the ability to engage in such emergent practices.

Indian engagement with education for sustainable development and the primary school curriculum

In India, curriculum experts have long grappled with issues of social justice, equity, and ecological justice. This article considers how, from 2005, education for sustainable development has been integrated in the curriculum and textbooks, drawing on the legacy of Gandhian pedagogy. It looks at the themes and approaches used in primary environmental studies and mathematics, and shows how it echoes in teacher education. The article concludes with an update on the current situation, with a new curriculum rowing back on these developments. A discussion follows on the contemporary challenges faced when implementing education for sustainable development in India today, and how critical perspectives, responsive to different sociocultural contexts, help interrogate and enrich the international discourse.

Prosperous futures inspired by prosperous pasts: Fostering imagination of radical food system alternatives in Guatemala

Transformations imply the need for radical alternatives to current realities. This requires a fundamental reimagination of current systems. Different future-oriented practices specifically designed for the imagination of transformations have emerged in recent years, including the Disruptive Seeds approach (DS). DS focuses on innovative bottom-up initiatives (seeds), that show potential to grow in impact and challenge unsustainable systems, contributing to transformative change. This paper reports on the first time DS was applied in practice, as part of a project focusing on food systems transformation in Guatemala. Working primarily with Indigenous actors representing smallholder communities, DS shows great potential when it comes to emphasizing their perspectives and objectives in the imagination of desired futures. Tapping into marginalized perspectives and sources of knowledge, it can help advance the conceptualization of transformative change that truly contributes to social equity and justice. Moreover, the approach facilitates an inclusive platform for articulating and interrogating power dynamics. Initially developed and tested in Global Northern contexts, the DS approach demonstrates adaptability across diverse contexts, including Indigenous communities in the Global South. Findings underscore the transformative potential of collective imagination rooted in Indigenous worldviews, offering alternatives to unsustainable and unjust realities, challenging dominant narratives and contributing to more just and sustainable futures. More generally, it demonstrates huge potential for imagining transformations, challenging dominant political structures and imaginaries, emphasizing issues of social justice and equity. It shows the value of incorporating the knowledge, perspectives, values and imaginaries of—often marginalized—communities into conversations about sustainability transformations.

The Health and Social Implications of Racism During Covid-19: Insights from Melbourne’s Multicultural Communities

ABSTRACT The health, social, and economic uncertainties that accompany crisis events make them fertile ground for racism, as observed on a global scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, with evidence of significant social and health consequences for those targeted. In this article, we present the findings of a reflexive, interpretive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 10 service providers and community leaders who have supported multicultural communities during the pandemic in Melbourne, Australia. Interviewees discussed numerous social and health equity consequences of pandemic-related racism and offered best-practice recommendations for policy, research, and advocacy. Drawing on Systemic Racism Theory, our analysis reveals significant social and health implications of racism in Melbourne during COVID-19, lending further support to the concept of racism as both a social determinant of health and a key driver of social inequity. Participants advocated collaborative, community-led antiracism and advocacy approaches that centre the knowledge and expertise of people with lived experience of racism. These recommendations are discussed with consideration of contemporary challenges in research, policy, and practice efforts to address the ongoing health and social equity issues facing multicultural communities in times of crisis.

The role of autonomous vehicles in transportation equity in Tempe, Arizona

In 2016, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported that human error is involved in 94–96% of all motor vehicle crashes. Also in 2016, Bonnefon et al. predicted that autonomous vehicles could eliminate 90% of traffic collisions due to their elimination of human error. However, questions of safety, accessibility, and social equity have arisen after the first pedestrian death by an autonomous vehicle in its testing phase occurred in Tempe, AZ, in 2018. This project analyzes how social equity issues shape the discussion, creation, and implementation of governmental policies and regulations surrounding driverless automobiles in Tempe, using policy and text analysis as well as semi-structured interviews of government officials or residents of Tempe. Informed by the concept of the right to the city and critical legal studies, this research suggests that public policy around autonomous vehicles does create new and expand existing spaces for inequality in Tempe. This is exacerbated by increased awareness of inequality within Arizona’s autonomous vehicle regulation scheme and its entire transportation system after the first pedestrian death by autonomous vehicle.

Mobility-as-a-Service and the role of multimodality in the sustainability of urban mobility in developing and developed countries

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging framework that integrates multiple transport services into a single and intuitive platform. This paper contrasts the urban passenger transport markets in developed versus developing economies to understand the challenges of integrating mobility services using the MaaS framework, with a focus on decarbonization and sustainability as societal goals. In addition, we conducted a Life Cycle Assessment of carbon emissions and energy requirements of travel alternatives in the city of Santiago, Chile, to shed light on the effects of multimodality as an environmental tool. A summary of findings follows. Data sharing and open data are new in developing countries, and thus more investment in data infrastructure is required so that MaaS can leverage digital technology and network optimization. If the scalability of MaaS is an open question in developed countries, it is more so in developing countries, owning to institutional and financial constraints that are present in the latter. The lack of public subsidies to support formal public transport is a key limitation for the implementation of MaaS schemes and multimodal frameworks in the developing world. Regarding formality, in countries with an informal public transport sector, a potential implementation of MaaS will be spatially constrained to those locations where public transport operates formally and frequently (BRT and rail lines), limiting its spatial coverage and posing social equity issues. In countries with scarce or no public funds available for the transport sector, MaaS could be used as a catalyst for a broad environmental and equity-seeking transport pricing reform which requires a direct involvement of public sector in both regulation and financial backing. We conclude that the formalization and general improvement of the public transport sector, the regulation of shared-mobility platforms including the formalization of the work of drivers, and the setting of proper pricing and subsidization instruments in the direction of internalizing the social costs of motorized traffic, are all prerequisites for any MaaS system that aims to improve economic efficiency, social equity, and sustainability.

Contracts-for-Difference: An assessment of social equity considerations in the renewable energy transition

This research advances knowledge regarding social equity as it relates to electricity network charges, renewable investments, and household income. While much research has examined social equity issues related to electricity access, research has yet to fully explore how different network tariff designs used to recover the cost of renewable energy investments, such as those related to ‘Contracts-for-Difference’ (CfDs), impact low-income individuals. We accordingly examine CfDs in more detail, assessing if regressive effects emerge from levying CfD cost recovery via network charges. By analysing energy use and network design charges in Australia, we find that CfDs are a regressive form of taxation used by state governments to fund renewable energy commitments. We illustrate the impact that CfDs have on different energy users and provide recommendations to reform renewable energy policies to provide greater social equity.

Traditional Food Consumption in Andean Ecuador and Associated Consumer Characteristics, Shopping and Eating Habits

ABSTRACT Traditional foods (TFs) hold increasing global relevance due to their potential to address health and dietary challenges. This study explores TF consumption and patterns in a middle-income country’s general population. Using 2017 Ecuadorian highlands survey data, we identified four consumption clusters with distinct TF preferences. Chi-square tests identified variations in independent variables across clusters. Poisson regression models highlighted city, age, education, and food habits as independent predictors of TF-based clusters. Our findings broaden TF importance to nutrition beyond specific populations. Understanding consumption patterns and socioeconomic links supports nuanced public health strategies to tackle contemporary health, social equity, and sustainability issues.