Rozprawy doktorskie na temat „Children – government policy”

Policy research in education is a relatively new discipline which deals with the analysis of public policies governing education. The professional literature provides both a conceptual and methodological basis for defining what constitutes a public policy and the means to carry out different types of analysis. Using such a framework, this study analyzes the policy of the Government of Quebec with respect to the education of exceptional children. More specifically, the study focuses on the policy goals and legislative action of the Government.
Three separate research questions are each addressed by a systematic analytical framework using a form of qualitative content analysis. The methodology consists first of summarizing all policy data in a computerized database and then scrutinizing these summary statements to search for and analyze emergent themes and the content of policy objectives and standing decisions. The relation between these elements is then determined on the basis of specified decision rules. This analysis has also been subjected to an inquiry audit to test for the dependability and trustworthiness of the results.
The analysis reveals three emergent policy themes, over eighty specific objectives and almost 100 standing decisions, which are found in statutes, regulations, ententes and administrative documents. Various incongruencies between the goals and the legislative action are identified and discussed; implications for further research are presented, with reference to the literature.

In November 2016 the Swedish government requested a study where actions were suggested in order to strengthen the children's rights perspective for those children living at refuges. This resulted in the commission of inquiry "A window of opportunity- a strengthen children's rights perspective for children in refuges" (SOU 2017:112). The aim for this paper is to study how this inquiry is constructed and in which way it problematize children's rights and will be guided by three research questions: how is the concept ‘children's rights' problematized in the report SOU 2017:112, how does the problematization of children's rights position children living at the refuges in order to strengthen them as rights holders and what implicit assumptions are made as a way to increase the children's rights perspective for the children living at refuges? To investigate these questions this paper will do a policy analysis based on Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) approach. The method is chosen since the WPR-approach is used for the study of policies and especially studies the way a policy constructs a problem. This paper argues that the problematization of children's rights positions the children at the refuges as in need of protection and care and at the same time emphasizes their right to get their voice heard, as they are being active individuals. The urge to strengthen the children is argued to be a way to prevent the children who have experienced violence to become abusive themselves. As such, the conclusion is that a strengthen children's rights perspective for those children living in refuges transmits to them becoming ‘good citizens'.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2015.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study focused on the social protection of vulnerable children in Zambia. The aim was to find out how social protection had evolved and how it was conceptualised – its functions and types, policies and programmes, the benefits and services, and the risks and vulnerabilities that it addresses. A descriptive study design was used with qualitative methods of collecting and analysing data. The sample of 24 participants from government and nongovernmental organisations involved in social protection delivery as well as carers of children was drawn from the Central, Lusaka and Southern provinces of Zambia respectively. A semi-structured interview schedule was used, and all the recorded interviews were transcribed by the researcher and sent back to the participants for proofreading or corrections, where necessary, before analysis. The basic needs, the empowerment, the risk management, the rights-based, and the capability approaches have been used to further the conceptualization, design features and implementation modalities of social protection. Additionally, given that a theoretical basis for social protection is still lacking, the study drew on representational, explanatory, normative, human capital, social construction, social contractual, and structural social work theories in order to complement, extend and verify the findings. Ethical clearance (number Desc_Moonga2012) was obtained from Stellenbosch University’s Research Ethics Committee. The ethical clearance certificate was used to apply for and obtain permission from the Zambian Ministry of Community Development Mother and Child Health and nongovernmental organisations involved in the study. Empirically, the study found that social protection was an old activity under a new name and was being scaled up rapidly but biased towards cash transfers. By and large, social protection in Zambia is provided as unconditional transfers, mainly as social assistance. No existing legislative or policy framework specifically focused on social protection was found, although the latter had been drafted at the time of the study. The Zambian government and a number of partners such as CARE, Child Fund, World Vision and the World Food Programme, to mention only a few, were found to be involved, but their efforts were fragmented and interventions for children were limited, fragmented and less responsive to the current risks and vulnerabilities of children. The study also established that if 2–3% of the country’s gross domestic product as recommended by the International Labour Organization were used, Zambia could afford to provide extensive social protection coverage (beyond its current offering) by using local resources. However, this would require putting in place appropriate and sustainable resource mobilisation measures and decentralization of the processes and interventions. Based on these and other concluding findings, it is recommended that in order for social protection for vulnerable children in Zambia to be effective, among other requirements, political will is needed in the provision of social protection for vulnerable groups, especially children, through legislative and policy frameworks. Additionally, there is a need for sustainable resource mobilisation, especially through progressive taxation such as taxation of undeserved income and taxation of big businesses, especially mining companies. However, due to limitations in qualitative methods and descriptive designs and the small sample of the data used, the conclusions and recommendations of the study are but conjectural.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het op die maatskaplike beskerming van kwesbare kinders in Zambië gekonsentreer. Die doel was om te bepaal hoe maatskaplike beskerming ontwikkel het en gekonseptualiseer is – die soorte en funksies van maatskaplike beskerming, die beleide en programme daaroor, die voordele en dienste wat daarmee verband hou, en die gepaardgaande risiko’s en kwesbaarhede. ʼn Beskrywende navorsingsontwerp met kwalitatiewe metodes vir data-insameling en -ontleding is gebruik. Die steekproef van 24 deelnemers uit die staatsektor en nieregeringsorganisasies wat met die lewering van maatskaplike beskerming gemoeid is, sowel as kinderversorgers, het uit die Lusaka-, sentrale en suidelike provinsies van Zambië gekom. ’n Semigestruktureerde onderhoudskedule is gebruik. Die navorser het alle opnames van onderhoude getranskribeer en dit voor ontleding aan die deelnemers gestuur om te proeflees en enige nodige regstellings te maak. Die basiese behoefte-, bemagtiging-, risikobestuur-, regsgebaseerde en vermoëns benaderings is gebruik om die konseptualisering, ontwerp kenmerke en implementering van modaliteite van maatskaplike beskerming te bevorder. Benewens die gebrek aan ’n teoretiese grondslag vir maatskaplike beskerming, het die studie op die verteenwoordigende- verklarende-, normatiewe-, menslikekapitaal-, maatskaplikekonstruksie-, maatskaplikekontrak- en strukturele maatskaplikewerk-teorieë staatgemaak om die bevindinge aan te vul, uit te brei en na te gaan. Etiekgoedkeuring (nommer Desc_Moonga2012) is van die Universiteit Stellenbosch se Navorsingsetiekkomitee verkry. Die etiekgoedkeuringsertifikaat is op sy beurt gebruik om toestemming te vra en te verkry van die Zambiese Ministerie van Gemeenskapsontwikkeling en Moeder- en Kindergesondheid en nieregerings-organisasies wat by die studie betrokke was. Die empiriese bevinding van die studie is dat maatskaplike beskerming ’n ou aktiwiteit met ’n nuwe naam is, en dat dit vinnig uitgebrei word, dog na kontant-oorplasings oorhel. Maatskaplike beskerming in Zambië geskied merendeels as onvoorwaardelike oorplasings, hoofsaaklik in die vorm van maatskaplike bystand. Geen bestaande regs- of beleidsraamwerk wat bepaald oor maatskaplike beskerming handel, kon opgespoor word nie, hoewel werk aan ’n beleidsraamwerk ten tyde van die studie aan die gang was. Die Zambiese regering en ’n aantal vennote, waaronder CARE, Child Fund, World Vision en die Wêreldvoedselprogram, om net enkeles te noem, is betrokke by maatskaplike beskerming dienslewering, maar hul pogings is gefragmenteer. Veral intervensies vir kinders is beperk, gefragmenteer en nie juis ingestel op die kinders se huidige risiko’s en kwesbaarhede nie. Daarbenewens het die studie vasgestel dat indien 2–3% van die land se bruto binnelandse produk gebruik word, soos wat die Internasionale Arbeidsorganisasie aanbeveel, Zambië kan bekostig om met behulp van plaaslike hulpbronne omvattende maatskaplike beskerming (wat verder strek as sy huidige aanbod) te bied. Dít sou egter vereis dat toepaslike en volhoubare maatreëls en desentralisering van prosesse en intervensies ingestel word om hulpbronne te mobiliseer. Op grond van hierdie en ander bevindinge is die gevolgtrekking dat maatskaplike beskerming vir kwesbare groepe in Zambië slegs doeltreffend sal wees indien die nodige politieke wil bestaan om deur regs- en beleidsraamwerke maatskaplike beskerming aan hierdie groepe, veral kinders, te voorsien. Daar bestaan ook ’n behoefte aan volhoubare hulpbronmobilisering, veral deur progressiewe belasting soos belasting op onverdiende inkomste en belasting op groot ondernemings, bepaald mynmaatskappye. Weens die beperkinge van kwalitatiewe metodes en deskriptiewe ontwerpe, sowel as die klein datasteekproef wat gebruik is, is die gevolgtrekkings en aanbevelings van die studie egter bloot verondersteld.

The purpose of this study was to explore the Helping Children With Autism (HCWA) package, which is a public website on Australian autism policy with a particular consideration of how the HCWA package positioned parents when they engaged with this federal government initiative. The study also aimed to examine how and to what extent the HCWA package aligned with international human rights standards using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This study was underpinned by a theoretical framework that combined the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman and the models of disability (charity, medical, social, human rights) with human rights. The nature and complexity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents challenges to parents raising their child with ASD, which often results in uncertainty about their rights and responsibilities alongside those of the government, and State. In 2008 the Australian Government attempted to solve the policy problem of autism and implemented the HCWA package in response to parents’ pleas for help in raising their child with ASD (Palm Consulting Group, 2005, June 20). The HCWA package was the first autism specific policy in Australia and aimed to provide funding, support, and services for children with ASD and their families (Minister for Families Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2007). The HCWA package is currently being superseded by the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) across Australia and hence the opportunity to benefit from a close exploration of the HCWA may contribute to this process. Limited research evaluating the effectiveness of the HCWA package has been conducted. No study has evaluated the parent perspective on the HCWA initiative as a policy and there were insufficient studies of parents’ reactions to the HCWA package (Prior, Roberts, Rodger, & Williams, 2011; Wicks & O'Reilly, 2013; K. D. Wilson, 2013; K. D. Wilson & Watson, 2011). Moreover, there is limited research on disability policy compliance with human rights standards, especially in Australia. Research on the HCWA package is important because it has the potential to identify areas of strength and weakness from a consumer and human rights perspective and helps inform future government policies and initiatives such as the NDIS and to improve the quality of life for children with ASD. A qualitative approach of Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) was used to examine the HCWA package across three landing pages from two government departments: FaHCSIA and DEEWR. In 2013 data were selected from the HCWA package over several months during the implementation of the HCWA package across Australia. The researcher, as a parent of a child with ASD, selected and analysed the data to explore how the HCWA package positioned parents when they engaged with this federal government initiative. Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) grammar of visual design provided a framework to analyse online web content using the researcher as viewer of the policy. The e-government autism policy was further analysed in terms of web accessibility and compliance with regulatory guidelines for federal government department websites. The findings from this study reveal that the Australian Government positioned parents of children with ASD as consumers of the product of autism policy, in this case the HCWA package. This positioning was framed within a discourse of charity and medical models of disability that viewed autism as a problem of the individual and provided charity through funding, supports, and services (e.g. medical and education professionals). The charity and medical models of disability were entwined within a broader discourse of power where the Australian Government had power, position, and authority as experts over parents of children with ASD. This unequal distribution of power added to the tensions within the autism community and the cycle of blame between parents and professionals. Good parenting - as it was constituted by the HCWA package - involved being informed and educated and willing to follow the advice of the Australian Government. Good parents furthermore complied with traditional western gender roles where women were viewed as the primary caregivers and nurturers of children with ASD, particularly in the early years. The Australian Government also positioned parents as neoliberal citizens who were responsible for the success of raising their child with ASD and the outcomes of that child in life and within society. Lastly, the study found that the HCWA package did not align with all general principles of Article 3, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and was thus regarded as indicative of a violation of human rights for children with ASD in Australia. Based on these findings, the study presents recommendations concerning the parent-as-consumer role in autism policy in meeting the best interests and needs of children with ASD and their families, which also have relevance to the current transition to the NDIS in Australia. An eight-step model is proposed to improve parent information and health literacy on ASD, which is important for improving parent decision-making for their child with ASD. In particular, a newly framed human rights model of disability is recommended as a means of moving forward from the social model of disability in critical disability studies and for advancing the rights of children with ASD in theory and in practice.

The purpose of this study was to explore the Helping Children With Autism (HCWA) package, which is a public website on Australian autism policy with a particular consideration of how the HCWA package positioned parents when they engaged with this federal government initiative. The study also aimed to examine how and to what extent the HCWA package aligned with international human rights standards using the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This study was underpinned by a theoretical framework that combined the sociology of Zygmunt Bauman and the models of disability (charity, medical, social, human rights) with human rights. The nature and complexity of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) presents challenges to parents raising their child with ASD, which often results in uncertainty about their rights and responsibilities alongside those of the government, and State. In 2008 the Australian Government attempted to solve the policy problem of autism and implemented the HCWA package in response to parents’ pleas for help in raising their child with ASD (Palm Consulting Group, 2005, June 20). The HCWA package was the first autism specific policy in Australia and aimed to provide funding, support, and services for children with ASD and their families (Minister for Families Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2007).
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Arts, Education and Law
Full Text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--School of Social, Policy and Curriculum Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, 2001.
Title from title screen (viewed 12th February, 2009) Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print form.

The South African White Paper for Social Welfare (1997:58) acknowledges the importance to children of living in a secure and nurturing family. Nevertheless, many families are unable to fulfil their parenting roles as a result of the increasing pressures in society. One of these pressures concerns the employment of parents. There is an increasing tendency for people to relocate to bigger cities where there are more job opportunities. This then results in many children being left in the care of grandparents or other relatives while the biological parents pursue job opportunities in other cities. The aim of this study was to enhance an understanding of children’s experiences of these voluntary parental absences and the factors that contribute to their resilience during this process. A qualitative, explorative, descriptive and contextual design was employed and seven primary school children (10-12 years) from Port Elizabeth participated in semi-structured interviews including drawings. Trustworthiness was ensured and data analysis was conducted by using Tesch’s model (in Creswell, 1998). Four themes were derived from the study: Children’s perception of a family, where the participants defined family according to characteristics of (amongst others) care and love; Children’s experiences of living with a substitute family, where there was a process of detachment from biological parents, attachment to the substitute family and present experiences in the new family; Resilience in children, where the participants revealed their ways of coping; and, lastly, Suggestions from the participants on how other children in the same situation could cope.

Thesis (DPhil (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The changes in child and youth care policies over the last fifteen years have had profound consequences for the staff at Youth Care and Education Centres (hereafter referred to as YCECs). These changes included systemic changes, philosophical changes, and changes in the way services are rendered to children and youth in their care. It was thus expected of team members to not only change their behaviours but to also make mind shifts. The mandates were that they move from working in silos (educators, residential educators and support team) to working in teams; from rendering generic services to developing individualised plans for children and youth; from following a medical (deficit) approach in service delivery to following a strength based- and developmental approach. Whereas a punitive approach to discipline was followed in the past staff members now have to follow a restorative approach. In addition, the emphasis on children’s rights, in general, and the abolishment of corporal punishment, in particular, brought about changes in the nature of the adultchild relationship. It was required of the team members to learn to use alternatives to this form of punishment. The study explored how the members of the institutional level teams at the four YCECs in the Western Cape were experiencing the implementation of changed child and youth policies. A combined quantitative and qualitative research methodology was followed in obtaining the data from the residential educators, as well as the educators and the support team members comprising of psychologists, school social workers, occupational therapists, and school nurses. The points of departure were the organisational learning model and the phases of team development. Findings derived from the empirical study were that the difference between the way the participants embraced and implemented changed policies and legislation had much to do with the guidance that the principal and senior management provided for them. Where the principal set the tone and conveyed the message that the implementation of the policies were not negotiable and gave staff members the opportunity to thoroughly discuss these changes, they eventually shared the underlying principles of the changed policies. Where the principal provided direction, support and encouragement for the implementation of the changed policies the participants felt secure and empowered. Where this support was not present participants felt uncertain and to some extent let down. When a shared vision was articulated to them the participants were able to align their personal visions thereto, which further led to a greater understanding of their roles within the team. Where participants, however, were not clear on the shared vision they seemed to struggle with role division and status and power issues. When team members were left to their own devices a measure of personal mastery still took place due to the commitment of individuals but team learning was either limited or virtually nonexistent. Systems thinking remained a challenge due to the forming of subgroups within the YCEC and the limited or nonexistent services rendered by external social workers to the families of the children and youth. The most important recommendations resulting from the study indicate that provision must be made for frameworks for the implementation of changes in policy and guidelines for team processes. To ensure that new staff is informed about the policies that guide their services an orientation programme must be in place. Training for principals in effective introduction and implementation of change should also be provided. To ascertain what the staff complement should be to effectively implement changes in the policies, a work-study and a fast track pilot project should be conducted. From this, job descriptions should be developed that make provision for the incumbent’s role within the team. Consideration should also be given to the incentive system that currently only makes provision for individual performance and could hamper teamwork.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die veranderinge in kinder- en jeugsorgbeleide oor die laaste vyftien jaar het diepgaande gevolge ingehou vir personeel by Jeugsorg- en Onderwyssentrums (hierna verwys as JSOS). Hierdie veranderinge het sistemiese en filosofiese veranderings, asook verandering in die wyse waarop dienste gelewer word, aan kinders en jeug in hul sorg, meegebring. Dit word dus van die spanlede verwag om nie net hul gedrag nie, maar ook hul denkwyse te verander. Die mandate vervat in die beleide is dat personeel skuif van werk in silos (opvoeders, residensiële opvoeders en ondersteuningspan) na werk in spanne; van die lewer van generiese dienste tot die ontwikkeling van individuale planne vir kinders en jeug; van die volg van ‘n mediese benadering aangaande dienslewering tot ‘n sterkte-gebaseerde- en ontwikkelingsbenadering. Waar daar in die verlede ‘n strafgerigte benadering gevolg is moet daar nou beweeg word na ‘n helende benadering. Verder het die klem op kinderregte in die algemeen, en die afskaf van lyfstraf in besonder, veranderings meegebring in die aard van die volwasse-kind verhouding. Dit was verwag van die spanlede om te leer om alternatiewes tot die vorm van straf aan te leer. Die studie het ondersoek ingestel na hoe lede van die inrigtingsgebaseerde span by die vier JSOS in die Weskaap die implementering van veranderde kinder- en jeugbeleid ervaar. ‘n Gekombineerde kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiwe navorsing metodologie was gevolg in die insamel van data van die residensiële opvoeders, die opvoeders en die lede van die ondersteuningspan (sielkundiges, skool maatskaplike werkers, arbeidsterapeute en skool verpleegkundiges). Die vertrekpunt was the organisasieleer model en die fases van spanontwikkeling. Bevindings wat gemaak is uit die empiriese studie was dat die verskille tussen die wyse waarop die deelnemers die veranderde beleid aanvaar en implementeer het baie te doen gehad het met die mate van leiding wat die prinsipaal en senior bestuur vir hul gegee het. Waar die prinsipaal die toon aangegee het en die boodskap oorgedra het dat die implementering van die beleide nie onderhandelbaar was nie en personeellede die geleentheid gebied is om die veranderings deeglik te bespreek, het hul geleidelik ingekoop in die veranderde werkswyses. Waar die prinsipaal rigting en ondersteuning vir die implementering van die veranderde beleid gebied het, het die deelnemers veilig en bemagtig gevoel. Waar die ondersteuning egter ontbreek het, het die deelnemers onseker en, tot ’n mate, in die steek gelaat gevoel. Wanneer ‘n gedeelde visie oorgedra is aan hulle was die deelnemers in staat om hul persoonlike visies in lyn te bring daarmee. Dit het verder aanleiding gegee tot beter begrip vir hul rolle binne die span. Waar deelnemers egter nie duidelik was oor die gedeelde visie nie, het dit geblyk dat hulle probleme gehad het met rolverdeling, status en magaangeleenthede in die span. Wanneer spanlede oorgelaat is aan hul eie lot het ‘n mate van persoonlike bemeestering nog plaasgevind as gevolg van die persoonlike toewyding van individue, maar spanleer was óf beperk óf feitlik afwesig. Sisteem denke was steeds ‘n struikelblok as gevolg van die vorming van subgroepe binne die JSOS en die beperkte of afwesige dienslewering deur eksterne maatskaplike wekers aan gesinne van die kinders en jong mense. Die belangrikste aanbevelings, wat voortspruit uit die studie, dui aan dat voorsiening gemaak moet word vir raamwerke vir die implementering van beleidsveranderings en riglyne vir spanprosesse. Om te verseker dat nuwe personeel ingelig is omtrent die beleide wat hul dienslewering rig moet ‘n oriënteringsprogram in plek wees. Opleiding van prinsipale in die effektiewe bekendstelling en implementering van veranderings moet ook voorsien word. Om vas te stel wat die aanvulling vir personeel moet wees om die veranderings in die beleid te implementeer, behoort ‘n werkstudie en ‘n snel loodsprojek onderneem word. Hieruit kan pligstate opgestel word wat voorsiening maak vir die ampsdraer se rol in spanverband. Oorweging moet geskenk word aan die aansporingstelsel wat tans net voorsiening maak vir individuele werksverrigting en wat spanwerk kan strem.

This American Political Development research explains cross-state variation in aid for children at private religious schools in the United States up to the end of 2012. Using a mixed-methods approach I examine how the institutional orderings of Federalism, Constitution, Church and Party affect policymaker decisions to instigate and sustain programmes of aid. By ‘aid’ I mean education vouchers and tax credits, transportation, textbook loans, equipment, nursing and food services, and tax exemptions for private religious school property. I conduct Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis across all fifty states, supported by interview and archival research in six case-study states – California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New York and Utah – and by statistical treatment of the constitutional amendments known as ‘No-Aid Provisions’. All of the aid policies examined here are ‘submerged’ in Mettler’s terms, in that they help private organizations to take on state functions, re-frame such functions in terms of the marketplace, and are poorly understood by the public. In this thesis I extend Mettler’s conception of submergedness to explain when institutions matter, which institutions matter, and why they matter for religious school student aid. State decentralization is necessary for high levels of aid and a high proportion of Catholics is sufficient for high levels of aid. Republican control of the state offices is a necessary condition for the passage of tax credit or voucher scholarships but not for other types of aid. No-Aid Provisions are unrelated to aid. Of the four institutional explanatory conditions, Federalism and Church have the most important effects on aid for children at private religious schools. Party explains some types of aid but not all, and Constitution is surprisingly lacking in explanatory power.

The international drive among western countries to shift from industrial to knowledge economies has focussed considerable attention on education. United Kingdom government educational policy, influenced by the global knowledge economy, has shifted responsibility for learning work skills from the workplace to schooling and post-compulsory education. Government policy emphasises the importance of education's role in preparing students with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to enhance the United Kingdom's competitiveness in the global market. In contrast to the work-related emphasis of the wider educational context, music education emphasises the enrichment of experience. The value of music education is related to people's needs, and the functions it performs in their lives. Music education should be transformative, creative, enriching and relevant. Participation in music education is motivated by the intrinsic satisfaction of making music, rather than the extrinsic need for work-related competencies and qualifications. Music education competes for students with other subjects in the educational marketplace when the music curriculum ceases to be compulsory at age fifteen. Therefore, it is important to understand how students relate not only to music education, but also to the wider work-related educational context in which their subject participation choices are made. Therefore, the purposes of this study are twofold: (1) to establish an overview of how students perceive music education and the factors that influence their enrolment intentions, and (2) to establish an overview of how students perceive music within the wider context of education. Statements were chosen that were considered representative of the rationales for education presented by the government and the music education community. Questionnaires and interviews were developed using the statements, and were ii administered to a random sample of Year Nine and Ten (GCSE Music and non - GCSE Music) students Music was not a relevant subject for most students. However, the perceptions of a small percentage of students (mainly Music students) did find music education relevant in the ways the literature suggested it should be. The most common influences on enrolment were perceptions of ability and enjoyment (or lack of). Despite the strong emphasis on work-related skills and qualifications in the wider educational context, students generally agreed that Music was a subject better suited to enhancing life and lifestyle than career options. However, reflecting the wider educational context, Music was perceived as being more careers/future study orientated than transformative, creative, enriching and relevant.

This study of early years services in India explores the take-up of the government ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services Scheme) and RGNCS (Rajiv Gandhi National Crèche Scheme), and the factors affecting their uptake by working mothers in a Delhi slum. Policy cannot assess programme outcomes effectively without understanding how services are implemented. Existing literature indicates that programme impact is related to programme take-up, with non-take-up being a complex phenomenon affected by factors operating at multiple levels of the policy process. The study makes original contributions by examining user perspectives on early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the Indian context; in being the first to research any aspect of the RGNCS; and in utilizing Critical Realism as the underlying philosophical, theoretical and methodological paradigm for studying programme uptake. It poses five research questions that examine mothers' childcare arrangements and needs/expectations from services, their take-up of government programmes and component services, and the combination of factors affecting uptake. Study findings are based on surveys with 200 working mothers and 37 children's centre workers, and interviews with 15 policy experts. Findings reveal childcare arrangements and needs/expectations to vary by family structure, child's age, and mother's age and employment. ICDS uptake is found to be higher (54.3% of all mothers), than RGNCS (18.6%). An explanatory framework for analysing take-up reveals that low take-up results from a combination of multiple factors, most significantly programme characteristics for the ICDS, and participant characteristics for the RGNCS. Two theoretical frameworks frame this analysis - Wolman's (1981) determinants of programme success and failure, and the 'barriers and bridges' to programme uptake. Critical policy analysis further identifies the effects of the policy meaning-making processes, and the role of local 'street-level bureaucrats' in take-up. Both programmes display 'conflicted policy success' vis-à-vis take-up when categorised using McConnell's (2010) criteria for programme 'success' and 'failure'. Policy implications include strategies for increasing programme uptake, and a policy focus upon service users and women in the informal economy, recognition of the dual role of ECEC, and the importance of evidence-creation for interactive governance.

A short attention span, impulsivity, distractibility, and hyperactivity are characteristics that are commonly found in young children and sometimes in adults. These difficulties also meet the American Psychiatric Association diagnostic criteria for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The British Psychological Society has adopted the term ‘bio-psycho-social’ to reflect the complex and multi-dimensional nature of ADHD. In young people, these symptoms interfere with learning, interpersonal relationships and self-esteem and can lead to social and educational exclusion. The use of drugs in the treatment of ADHD remains controversial and according to the 2005 prescription cost analysis (Cohen, 2006), Ritalin use has risen by 7600 per cent. Unfortunately, since the move away from the medical model following the 1978 Warnock Report on supporting children with special needs, a mindset has been created amongst teachers regarding the identification and assessment of children with certain types of complex needs as being outside of their expertise and this has resulted in teachers placing an over-reliance on external support services and specialists. This thesis proposes an enhancement to the existing over-complicated and bureaucratic system of identification and support for behavioural, social and emotional difficulties (BESD)/ADHD that develops the expertise and the role of the SENCO and thus streamlines identification of individual need and enhances educational support for ADHD sufferers. This research thesis used a case study approach with an interpretive dimension to enable the researcher to enter the working world of doctors and other medical professionals, teachers and classroom support assistants, and children as the ultimate subjects of this enquiry. The purpose of the study was to extend my knowledge of a complex childhood phenomenon and to examine the systems put in place in schools and support services that identify certain SEN and disorders that affect learning. An analysis of the role of teachers and school special needs coordinators was explored along with government policy on inclusion practices. The role of professionals from medicine and education in LEA support services was also examined and reported. A total of eighteen questionnaires were used to target key personnel in LEA support services. This was followed up with interviews at support services and in schools. A total of six medical professionals and a further nine educational professionals were interviewed. Three classroom observations were also conducted at a London comprehensive school. Analysis of the resulting data led to the identification of a series of Figures and a flowchart depicting the ‘story’ of this difficult process, with a proposed enhancement for earlier BSED/ADHD identification and support, and a range of recommendations. Although this was a small-scale research study, the literature and the comments from professionals cited from the national expert SENCO Forum indicate that my findings reflect a much wider picture locally and nationally.

United Nation's (UN) millennium development goal number three is aimed at eliminating gender inequality and empowering women. Gender-based violence is recognised as a global public health and human rights problem that leads to high rates of morbidity and mortality, including sexually transmitted infections, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance dependence and suicide. In responding to this international public health and human rights concern, the South African government has adopted numerous public health communication strategies to highlight the plight of women and children. One of the campaigns that are conducted in South Africa is the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children (16 Days of Activism Campaign). This campaign was introduced in 1999 but the literature review reveals that to date, no studies have focused on its evaluation. As such, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the 16 Days of Activism Campaign with special reference to the Soshanguve community in Gauteng province. This study builds on two theories, namely the excellence theory and the diffusion of innovation theory. Mixed research methods (also called triangulation) was used whereby in-depth interviews were conducted with representatives from the Government Communication and Information System and the Department of Women, Children and People with Disability to establish the promotion strategies used in the campaign and the methods used to assess the effectiveness of the campaign. Furthermore, a self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted within the Soshanguve community to evaluate the promotion strategies and assess the impact of the campaign.This study revealed a high level of reliance on the television, radio and newspapers in the communication strategies. Both government departments acknowledged that they do not have a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign from the receivers‟ perspective. The Soshanguve community felt that in essence the campaign is relevant but not on time. The residents viewed the study as an important part of creating awareness about the campaign and they believed the campaign helped them to know what to do when faced with gender-based violence so that they can assist those who are affected by it.

This dissertation fundamentally explores the nature of change, and the development interventions that aim to bring this change into a particular society. What emerges is the notion of a ‘spiral’: imagining the dynamic relationship between paradigms and discourses, the institutions and programmes operating in a place, and the way individual identities are constructed in intricate and contradictory ways. Within this spiral, discourse has power – ‘words matter’ – but equally significant is how these words interact dialogically with concrete social structures and institutions – ‘it takes more than changing words to change the world’. Furthermore, these changes are reacted to, and expressed in, the physical, sexed body. In essence, change is ideational, institutional, and embodied. To investigate the politics of change, this dissertation analyses the spiral relationships between gender discourses, institutions, and identities in contemporary Indonesia, focusing on their transmission across Java. It does so by exploring the Indonesian state’s gender policies in the context of globalisation, democratisation, and decentralisation. In this way, the lens of gender allows us to analyse the dynamic interactions between state and society, between ideas and institutions, which impact on everything from cultural structures to physical bodies. Research focuses on the gender policies of the Indonesian Ministry of Women’s Empowerment, substantiated with case study material from United Nations Population Fund reproductive health programmes in West Java. Employing a multi-level, multi-vocal theoretical framework, the thesis analyses gender discourses and relational structures (how discourses circulate to construct the Indonesian woman), gender institutions and social structures (how discourses are translated into programmes), and gender identities and embodied structures (how discourses enter the home and the body). Critically, studying gender requires analysing the human body as the site of both structural and symbolic power. This dissertation thus argues for renewed emphasis on a ‘politics of the body’, recognising that bodies are the material foundations from which gender discourses derive their naturalising power and hence ability to structure social relations. The danger of forgetting this politics of the body is that it allows for slippage between ‘gender’ and ‘women’; policy objectives cannot be disentangled from the reality of physical bodies and their social construction. This thesis therefore argues that there are distinct and even inverse impacts of gender policies in Indonesia. As the ‘liberal’ and ‘modern’ assumptions of gender equality are overlaid onto the patriarchal culture of a society undergoing transformation, women’s bodies and women’s sexuality are always and ever the focus of the social gaze. The gender policies and interventions affecting change on discursive and institutional levels may thus provoke reaction at the level of individual identities that are contrary to explicit intentions. In effect, projects that purport to work on ‘gender’ are often so deeply rooted in underlying gender normativity that their net effect is to reinscribe these gender hierarchies. By exposing the contradictions in these underlying paradigms we gain insight into the politics of a transforming society. Furthermore, engaging with the politics of the body allows us to analyse the spiral processes between discourse and practice, the question of power, and the way men and women embody social structures and experience social transformation.

There were different kinds of imbalances that were created by the past regime in which race and colour were determining factors in terms of access to state welfare. The State Maintance Grant was one of the state welfare interventions where African women did not even know how or where to access the grant. When the Child Support Grant was introduced in 1998 it gave hope to the vulnerable section of the society, the children. The CSG is one of the poverty alleviation programs introduced by the government to target the poverty stricken children of South Africa. This is a means tested program which not all children are to benefit but a certain portion of the society. There are special conditions attached to the grant which require to be fulfilled. These conditions require the child to be fed, clothed, immunized, school needs be paid, and have proper accommodation. This study made use of the Mdantsane Township which is 25 km away from East London city centre as a case study to determine whether the CSG has managed to achieve its objective of relieving poverty among children, given the conditions of poverty and unemployment in Mdantsane. The findings of this study indicate that the people of Mdantsane are still in poverty and the most affected sections remain the children. The respondents indicate that the people are unemployed as a result the CSG seems to be the source of livelihood in these households leaving the children at a disadvantage as the grant is intended for x their own needs. Therefore there is a need to investigate whether the CSG has any impact on the lives of these children. Also since Eastern Cape is known to be one of the poorest provinces, it is important to investigate whether the CSG has become the source of livelihood in some households.

Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: One of the cruelest legacies of the apartheid era in South Africa was that it created a situation in which a very large proportion of children in the African and Coloured populations live in households affected by severe poverty. The first aim of this dissertation is to make a contribution to knowledge about the South African child poverty profile and its sensitivity to the adult equivalence scale used in measurement. This contribution is based on the Income & Expenditure Survey 2005. In April 1998, following the recommendations of the Lund Committee, the Child Support Grant (CSG) cash transfer programme was introduced. This programme initially paid a benefit of R100 a month to primary caregivers who passed a means test to help them care for children age 0-6. Currently it offers R250 to primary caregivers of children age 0-15 who pass a means test. The second aim of this dissertation is to synthesize the main findings and knowledge gaps of the performance of the CSG based on an analysis of the existing research on the programme. The questions used to structure the CSG analysis are derived from an application of the Rossi et al. (2004) systematic approach for tailoring a social programme evaluation and cover the logic of the programme‘s impact theory, implementation impact and design. Chapter one considers conceptual and methodological issues in child poverty measurement, thereby providing methodological foundations for the analysis. Chapter two reviews the existing research on child poverty in South Africa and identifies knowledge gaps that the Income and Expenditure Survey of 2005 analysis contributes towards filling. Chapter three presents the findings on the sensitivity of the child poverty profile to changes in the adult equivalence scale as well as on the dimensions of the South African child poverty profile. Chapter four describes the Rossi et al. (2004) method for tailoring a social programme evaluation and applies it, thereby laying the foundations for the CSG programme analysis, presented in chapter five. The conclusion explains how the child poverty analysis in the first half of the dissertation relates to the CSG analysis in the second and draws implications of the dissertation‘s main findings for future research. Setting the poverty line at the 40th percentile of households calculated with different AESs, the scope and composition of child poverty are found to be relatively insensitive to the scale used. This supports the argument that it may be appropriate in South Africa to use a poverty line based on a per capita welfare measure. For the construction of the poverty profile per capita income is used as the welfare indicator, with the poverty line set at the 40th percentile of household. The profile finds that poverty remains more extensive amongst children than adults even after the massive injection of cash via the CSG into poor households with children. Large variations across provinces remain. The child poverty headcount and depth and severity measures are all found to be higher amongst children age 0-4 than children age 15-17, despite the prioritization of very young children in the roll out of the CSG programme. The finding that children age 0-4 are still most in need questions the logic behind the government‘s recent decision to expand coverage of the grant to children age 15-17 instead of allocating additional funds to support this group. The CSG programme impact theory is found to be reasonable. A substantial amount of research on the programme‘s implementation is identified, which shows the massive expansion in its coverage since 2000 and that, in general, it has been well implemented. Delay in reaching very young eligible children, under-representation of children with non-biological caregivers and failure to reach some of the very poorest children who live in remote areas emerge as weaknesses in programme implementation. Barriers to access are identified. The difficulty of distilling the effects of the CSG programme on child poverty and its associated deprivations in the absence of a randomized community trial is explained, as is the need to use direct rather than indirect monetary indicators to isolate the impacts of the CSG on child poverty. A small yet convincing evidence base on the impacts of the programme is identified; this shows that it has been achieving its ultimate objectives of reducing child deprivation and promoting human capital development. It is argued that the existing research and current budgetary context suggests that: the income means test should not be eliminated; the CSG benefit value should not be raised substantially; school related conditions should not have been linked to receipt of the CSG benefit; and, even in the case of children age 16 and above, the grant should be paid to children via the primary caregiver. The research priorities implied by this dissertation are organized into three separate yet interrelated areas of research. The first is further research on the dimensions of multi-dimensional child poverty in South Africa. Here the spotlight needs to be on: understanding more about which children are deprived and in what sense; similarities and differences between the composition of poverty based on indirect monetary measures and other more direct measures of deprivation; the circumstances which ensure that children age 0-4 are still most in need (at least in the resource deprivation sense). The second area is research on the implementation of the CSG programme, in which case the findings from the existing research on the weaknesses in programme implementation and concerns about targeting outcomes need to guide the research. The third area of research identified as requiring further attention is that of the CSG‘s impacts on child deprivation (wellbeing). Here the focus needs to be on establishing which children are benefiting most and least from the grant and why. Towards this end quantitative researchers need to follow the lead of other researchers and use direct indicators of child outcomes. Qualitative research on who controls the resources that flow into the household, as well as how resources are allocated inside the household, can make an important contribution to answering these questions. The CSG‘s potential to generate behavioral effects which could alter household structure and/or income earned from wages is something that is also identified as important for researchers to explore.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Een van die wreedste erfenisse van Suid-Afrika se apartheid-era was dat dit ‘n toestand geskep het waarin die grootse gros van swart en kleurling kinders in huishoudings geleef het wat deur armoede geraak is. Die eerste doel van hierdie proefskrif is om ‘n bydrae te lewer tot kennis omtrent die Suid-Afrikaanse kinderarmoedeprofiel en hoe sensitief dit is vir die volwassene-ekwivalentskaal waarmee dit gemeet word. Die empiriese bydrae oor die kinderarmoedeprofiel en sy sensitiwiteit vir die VES is gebaseer op die Inkomste- en Bestedingstudie van 2005. Na die aanbevelings van die Lund-komitee is die Kinderbystandstoelae (KBT), ʼn program van kontantoordragte, in April 1998 bekendgestel. Die program het aanvanklik ʼn voordeel van R100 per maand aan primêre versorgers betaal wat aan 'n middeletoets voldoen het om hulle te help om kinders van 0 tot 6 jaar oud te versorg. Tans word R250 aangebied aan primêre versorgers van kinders van 0 tot 16 jaar wat aan die middeletoets voldoen. Die tweede doel van hierdie proefskrif is om vas te stel wat die belangrikste vrae is wat tans gevra behoort te word omtrent die KBT se vertoning, gegrond op ʼn analise van die bestaande navorsing oor hierdie program, om die bevindings en kennisleemtes hieroor saam te vat. Hoofstuk 1 beskou konsepsuele en metodologiese kwessies rakende die metings van kinderarmoede, wat die metodologiese grondslag vir hierdie analise bied. Hoofstuk 2 gee 'n oorsig van die bestaande navorsing oor kinderarmoede in Suid-Afrika en identifiseer sodoende die kennisleemtes, wat die analise van die IBS help vul. Hoofstuk 3 bied bevindinge oor die ontleding van die sensitiwiteit van die kinderarmoedeprofiel vir die volwasse-ekwivalentskaal wat gebruik word en dateer hierdie profiel op met gebruik van die Inkomste- en Bestedingstudie van 2006. Hoofstuk 4 beskryf Rossi et el. (2004) se metode oor hoe om ʼn maatskaplike program te beoordeel en pas dit toe om belangrike vrae te identifiseer wat oor die KBT gevra behoort te word. Hoofstuk 5 bied antwoorde op hierdie vrae rakende die KBT sowel as bevindinge en kennisleemtes uit die literatuur rakende die KBT-program. Deur die armoedelyn op die 40e persentiel van huishoudings soos met verskillende VES‘e bereken te stel, word gevind dat die omvang en samestelling van kinderarmoede redelik onsensitief is vir die skaal wat gebruik word. Dit ondersteun die argument dat dit toepaslik mag wees om 'n per capita armoedelyn vir berekening van Suid-Afrikaanse armoedeprofiele te gebruik. Dus word die armoedelyn op die 40e persentiel van per capita inkomste gestel vir die konstruksie van die armoedeprofiel. Hierdie profiel toon dat armoede onder kinders meer algemeen is as onder volwassenes, selfs ná die massiewe inspuiting van kontant in arm huishoudings met kinderlede deur die KBT. Daar bly groot onderskeide tussen provinsies. Vir kinders 0 tot 4 is die koppetelling, diepte en intensiteit van kinderarmoede alles hoër as vir ouer kinders tot in die groep 15–17. Dit ondersteun die regering se huidige beleid om voorkeur te verleen aan jonger kinders in die stryd teen armoede. Die teorie agter die KBT program se impak word as redelik beoordeel. ʼn Beduidende hoeveelheid navorsing bestaan oor die KBT se implementering. Dit toon die massiewe uitbreiding van die program sedert 2000 en dat die program in die algemeen goed geïmplementeer is. Swakpunte in implementering wat uitgewys word is die sloering om baie jong kwalifiserende kinders te bereik en onderverteenwoordiging van kinders waarvan die versorgers nie biologies verwant is aan die kinders nie. Daar word aangevoer dat die beperkte navorsing oor die KBT-program se impak daarop dui dat dit sy uiteindelike doelstelling bereik om kinderontbering te verminder en menslike kapitaal te bevorder. Die analise van die KBT-program lei tot die slotsom dat die inkomste-middeletoets nie uitgeskakel moet word nie, dat skoolplig-voorwaardes nie vir die program moes ingestel geword het nie, dat die voordeelvlakke van die program nie tans beduidend verhoog moet word nie en dat die toelae ook in die geval van ouer kinders (16 jaar en meer) wel steeds aan die primêre versorger uitbetaal behoort te word. Een duidelike kennisleemte oor die KBT-program is hoe dit gedrag beïnvloed, in die vorm van arbeidsmigrasie, arbeidsaanbod en fertiliteit, sowel as gesinstruktuur en reëlings rondom die versorging van kinders. ʼn Verdere kennisleemte is hoe die program op die vlak van beleid en implementering met ander ondersteuningsmaatsreëls vir kinders geïntegreer is. Die analise wys op die behoefte daaraan om beleidsopsies te verken wat sal help dat kinders wie se versorgers nie biologiese verwante is nie netsoveel sal baat van die inkomste wat weens die KBT in arm huishoudings invloei as ander kinders. Navorsingsprioriteite wat uit hierdie proefskrif se bevindinge spruit kan in drie onafhanklike maar gekoppelde navorsingsgebiede gegroepeer word. Die eerste is verdere navorsing oor die dimensies van multi-dimensionele kinderarmoede in Suid-Afrika. Hier behoort die soeklig te val op: ʼn beter begrip van watter kinders ontbeer en in watter sin; ooreenkomste en verskille tussen die samestelling van armoede gebaseer op indirekte monetêre maatstawwe en ander meer direkte maatstawwe van ontbering; en wat veroorsaak dat kinders in die ouderdomsgroep 0-4 se behoefte steeds die grootste is (ten minste in die hulpbron-ontbering sin van die woord). Die tweede gebied is navorsing oor die implementering van die KBT-program, waar bevindinge oor swakhede in program-implementering uit bestaande navorsing en besorgdheid oor die uitkomste van teikening navorsing behoort te rig. Die derde navorsingsgebied wat verdere aandag verg is die KBT se impak op kinderontbering en -welsyn. Hier behoort die klem daarop te val om vas te stel watter kinders die meeste voordeel trek uit die toelae en hoekom dit die geval is. In hierdie verband word geargumenteer dat kwantitatiewe navorsers ander navorsers se voorbeeld behoort te volg en direkte maatstawwe van kinderuitkomste behoort te gebruik. Kwalitatiewe navorsing oor wie bronne beheer wat die huishouding binnevloei en hoe dit binne die huishouding toegedeel word, kan veel tot die beantwoording van hierdie vrae bydra. Nog iets wat uitgewys word as ʼn belangrike gebied wat navorsers verder moet ontgin is die KBT se potensiële effek op gedrag wat huishoudingstruktuur en/of looninkomste beïnvloed.

This dissertation profiles the children's television industry in Australia; examines the relationship between government cultural policy objectives and television industry production practices; and explores the complexities of regulating and producing cultural content for child audiences. The research conducted between 1997 and 2002 confirms that children's television is a highly competitive business dependent on government regulatory mechanisms and support for its existence. For example, the Australian Broadcasting Authority's retaining of mandatory program standards for children's programs to date, is evidence of the government's continued recognition of the conflict between broadcasters' commercial imperatives and the public-interest. As a consequence, the industry is on the one hand insistent on the government continuing to play a role in ensuring and sustaining CTV - however, on the other hand, CTV producers resent the restrictions on creativity and innovation they believe result from the use of regulatory instruments such as the Children's Television Standards (CTS). In fact, as this dissertation details, the ABA's intended policy outcomes are inevitably coupled with unintended outcomes and little new or innovative policy development has occurred. The dissertation begins with an investigation into the social, cultural and ideological construction of childhood within an historical and institutional context. I do this in order to explore how children have been defined, constructed and managed as a cultural group and television audience. From this investigation, I then map the development of children television policy and provide examples of how 'the child' is a consistent and controversial site of tension within policy debate. I then introduce and analyse a selection of established, establishing and aspiring CTV production companies and producers. Drawing on interviews conducted, production companies profiled and policy documents analysed, I conclude by identit~'ing ten key issues that have impacted, and continue to impact, on the production of children's television programming in Australia. In addressing issues of industry development, the question this dissertation confronts is not whether to continue to regulate or not, but rather, how best to regulate. That is, it explores the complexities of supporting, sustaining and developing the CTV industry in ways which also allows innovative and creative programming. This exploration is done within the context of a broadcasting industry currently in transition from analogue to digital. As communications and broadcasting technologies converge, instruments of regulation - such as quotas designed around the characteristics of analogue systems of broadcasting - are being compromised. The ways in which children use television, and the ways in which the CTV producers create content, are being transformed. The ten key issues identified in this dissertation, I propose, are crucial to industry development and policy debate about the future of children's television in Australia. In integrating the study of policy with the study of production, I have given prominence to the opinions and experiences of those working in the industry. In doing so, this dissertation contributes to the growing body of work in Australia which incorporates industry with cultural analysis, and which includes the voices of the content providers.

This dissertation profiles the children's television industry in Australia; examines the relationship between government cultural policy objectives and television industry production practices; and explores the complexities of regulating and producing cultural content for child audiences. The research conducted between 1997 and 2002 confirms that children's television is a highly competitive business dependent on government regulatory mechanisms and support for its existence. For example, the Australian Broadcasting Authority's retaining of mandatory program standards for children's programs to date, is evidence of the government's continued recognition of the conflict between broadcasters' commercial imperatives and the public-interest. As a consequence, the industry is on the one hand insistent on the government continuing to play a role in ensuring and sustaining CTV - however, on the other hand, CTV producers resent the restrictions on creativity and innovation they believe result from the use of regulatory instruments such as the Children's Television Standards (CTS). In fact, as this dissertation details, the ABA's intended policy outcomes are inevitably coupled with unintended outcomes and little new or innovative policy development has occurred. The dissertation begins with an investigation into the social, cultural and ideological construction of childhood within an historical and institutional context. I do this in order to explore how children have been defined, constructed and managed as a cultural group and television audience. From this investigation, I then map the development of children television policy and provide examples of how 'the child' is a consistent and controversial site of tension within policy debate. I then introduce and analyse a selection of established, establishing and aspiring CTV production companies and producers. Drawing on interviews conducted, production companies profiled and policy documents analysed, I conclude by identit~'ing ten key issues that have impacted, and continue to impact, on the production of children's television programming in Australia. In addressing issues of industry development, the question this dissertation confronts is not whether to continue to regulate or not, but rather, how best to regulate. That is, it explores the complexities of supporting, sustaining and developing the CTV industry in ways which also allows innovative and creative programming. This exploration is done within the context of a broadcasting industry currently in transition from analogue to digital. As communications and broadcasting technologies converge, instruments of regulation - such as quotas designed around the characteristics of analogue systems of broadcasting - are being compromised. The ways in which children use television, and the ways in which the CTV producers create content, are being transformed. The ten key issues identified in this dissertation, I propose, are crucial to industry development and policy debate about the future of children's television in Australia. In integrating the study of policy with the study of production, I have given prominence to the opinions and experiences of those working in the industry. In doing so, this dissertation contributes to the growing body of work in Australia which incorporates industry with cultural analysis, and which includes the voices of the content providers.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Arts, Media and Culture
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This study explores the changing nature of filial piety in contemporary society in rural China. With the economic, social and political upheavals that followed the Revolution, can 'great peace under heaven' still be found for the rural Chinese family as in the traditional Confucian proverb,"make yourself useful, look after your family, look after your country, and all is peaceful under heaven"? This study explores this question, in terms not so much of financial prosperity, but of non-tangible cultural values of filial piety, changing familial and gender roles, and economic migration. In particular, it examines how macro level changes in economic, social and demographic policies have affected family life in rural China. The primary policies examined were collectivisation, the hukou registration system, marketization, and the One-Child policy. Ethnographic interviews reveal how migration has affected rural family structures beyond the usual quantifiable economic measures. Using the village of Meijia, Sichuan province, as a paradigmatic sample of family, where members have moved to work in the cities, leaving their children behind with the grandparents, the study demonstrates how migration and modernization are reshaping familial roles, changing filial expectations, reshuffling notions of care-taking, and transforming traditional views on the value of daughters and daughters-in-law. The study concludes that the choices families make around migration, child-rearing and elder-care cannot be fully explained by either an income diversification model or a survival model, but rather through notions of filial piety. Yet the concept of filial piety itself is changing, particularly in relation to gender and perceptions about the worth of daughters and the mother/ daughter-in-law relationship. Understanding these new family dynamics will be important for both policy planners and economic analysts.

O consumo de crack tem se constituído numa problemática de saúde pública pelas diversas consequências individuais, familiares e sociais que provoca. O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar a relação entre a perspectiva de suporte familiar de usuários de crack, de familiares e de técnicos sociais do Programa ATITUDE, analisando as possíveis implicações dessas percepções na assistência aos usuários e seus familiares. Optou-se por desenvolver a dissertação na modalidade artigos. No primeiro artigo, foi realizada uma revisão narrativa baseada em 23 artigos pesquisados nas bases de dados BVS, Scielo Periódicos e ScienceDirect, no intuito de avaliar as contribuições dos estudos às estratégias públicas de enfrentamento ao crack. Os critérios adotados para a seleção dos artigos foram: 1) artigos sobre "crack e políticas públicas", publicados nos últimos cinco anos e, 2) estudos com a população ou sobre a política pública brasileira. Como resultado foram incluídos nove artigos epidemiológicos, três sobre clinica das drogas, três sobre contextos de uso e violência, sete sobre representação social e mídia e um sobre família. Aspectos como mudança na assistência comunitária, políticas intersetoriais, vigilância e controle epidemiológicos, melhor integração entre os organismos que trabalham para a redução da demanda e aumento de pesquisas clínicas, foram ressaltados como importantes para a proposição de políticas públicas. O segundo artigo vem atender ao objetivo principal do estudo, sendo realizado com 62 participantes. Inicialmente foi aplicado em 46 usuários de crack, vinculados ao Programa ATITUDE, o Inventário de Percepção de Suporte Familiar (ISPF), que apresentou uma elevada consistência interna (α=0,88). Na segunda fase, foi realizada uma entrevista semi-estruturada com oito usuários selecionados entre os 46 iniciais, quatro familiares e 12 técnicos sociais do programa. A média de idade desses usuários foi de 30 anos (DP=6,98), cujo perfil sociodemográfico remete a usuários, em sua maioria: não casados (78,3%), que residiam sozinhos (52,2%), com ensino fundamental incompleto (63%), advindos de famílias sem convivência entre os pais (65,2%) e que responderam ao IPSF com referência à família de origem (87%). Foram encontradas correlações significativas entre morar sozinho e ter uma baixa percepção de suporte familiar (r=0,324; p=0,05). A análise por fator, também evidenciou uma correlação significativa entre o Fator 1 (afetivo-consistente) e tipo de família (r=0,460; p=0,01) e com quem reside (r=0,309; p=0,05). Na etapa qualitativa, foi realizada uma análise de conteúdo temática, revelando-se, em linhas gerais, quatro temáticas principais para usuários e familiares, quais sejam: influência familiar, relacionamento familiar, lidar com problemas e expressão de sentimento. Para os técnicos, foram identificadas outras quatro temáticas: contribuição familiar, atividades terapêuticas, abordagem à família e relato de experiência. A predominância da percepção de um baixo suporte familiar (t (44) = -4,428; p<0,05), evidenciada na análise quantitativa, foi consoante com a fala dos demais participantes durante a entrevista. Em consonância com a literatura, neste estudo também se constatou a predominância do apoio materno e a influência dos pares se sobrepondo à da família na relação dos usuários com o crack. Discute-se, à luz da Teoria Social Cognitiva, a influência que a autoeficácia familiar e a modelação social exercem sobre o consumo de substâncias. Essa reflexão nos revela a importância de se efetivar uma proposição já contemplada na Política Nacional de Assistência Social, que remete a um olhar mais sistêmico sobre a questão do consumo do crack, contemplando tanto as necessidades do usuário como de seus familiares. Acredita-se que os paradigmas poderão ser aprimorados no sentido de favorecer novos modelos de políticas na atenção aos usuários de drogas, em especial de crack.
Crack usage has constituted a public health problem by the various individual, family and social consequences it causes. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between family support perspective of crack users, family and social technicians from the ATTITUDE program, analyzing the possible implications of these perceptions on the assistance for users and their families. We chose to develop the thesis in the format of articles. In the first article, we reviewed narratives based on 23 articles surveyed in the VHL databases Scielo Journals and Science Direct, in order to assess the contributions of these studies to public coping strategies with crack. The criteria adopted for the selection of items were: 1) articles on "crack and public policy," published in the last five years, and 2) studies with the population or on the Brazilian public policy. As a result, it was included nine epidemiological articles, three on clinical drug, three on contexts of use and violence, seven on social representation and media and one about family. Aspects such as change in Community assistance, intersectional policies, surveillance and epidemiological control, better integration between organizations working to reduce demand and increase in clinical research, were highlighted as important in proposing public policies. The second article is an answer to the main objective of the study, being conducted with 62 participants. Initially, it was applied to 46 crack users, linked to the Program ATTITUDE. Inventory of Family Support Perception (ISPF), which showed a high internal consistency (α = 0.88). In the second phase, a semi-structured interview with eight selected users was conducted between the 46 initial four families and 12 social workers program. The average age of these users was 30 years (SD = 6.98), whose socio-demographic profile refers to users, mostly: not married (78.3%), who lived alone (52.2%), with incomplete primary education (63%) coming from families without coexistence between parents (65.2%) who responded to the IPSF with reference to the family of origin (87%). Significant correlations were found between living alone and having a low perception of family support (r = 0.324; p = 0.05). The factor analysis also showed a significant correlation between Factor 1 (affective-consistent), and family (r = 0.460; p = 0.01) and with whom resides (r = 0.309; p = 0.05). In the qualitative stage, a content analysis was performed, revealing themselves, in general, four main themes for users and families, such as: family influence, family relationships, dealing with problems and expression of feelings. For technicians, four other themes were identified: family contribution, therapeutic activities, approach to family and experience report. The predominance of the perception of a low family support (t (44) = -4.428, p <0.05), as evidenced in the quantitative analysis, was consonant with the speech of the other participants during the interview. In line with the literature, this study also found the prevalence of maternal support and peer influence overlapping the familys as observed in the link of users with crack. It is argued in the light of Social Cognitive Theory, the influence family self-efficacy and social modeling have on substance use. This reflection reveals the importance of executing a proposition already included in the National Policy for Social Assistance, which refers to a more systemic view on the issue of crack consumption, covering both user needs and their families. It is believed that the paradigms can be improved in order to encourage new policy models in the care of drug users, especially crack.

In August 2000, Justice O�Loughlin of the Federal Court of Australia handed down the decision in Cubillo v Commonwealth in which Lorna Cubillo and Peter Gunner took action against the Commonwealth Government, arguing that it was vicariously liable for their removal from their families and communities as children and subsequent detentions in the Northern Territory during the 1940s and 1950s. The case is the landmark decision in relation to legal action taken by members of the Stolen Generations. Using the decision in Cubillo as a key site of contestation, my thesis provides a critique of legal positivism as the dominant jurisprudential discourse operating within the Anglo-Australian legal system. I argue that the function of legal positivism as the principal paradigm and source of authority for the decision serves to ensure that the debate concerning reconciliation in Australia operates rhetorically to maintain whiteness at the centre of political and discursive power. Specifically concerned with the performative function of legal discourse, the thesis is an interrogation of the interface of law and language, of rhetoric, and the semiotics of legal discourse. The dominant theory of evidence law is a rationalist and empiricist epistemology in which oral testimony and documentary evidence are regarded as mediating the relationship between proof and truth. I argue that by attributing primacy to principles of rationality, objectivity and narrative coherence, and by privileging that which is visually represented, the decision serves an ideological purpose which diminishes the significance of race in the construction of knowledge. Legal positivism identifies the knowing subject and the object of knowledge as discrete entities. However, I argue that in Cubillo, Justice O�Loughlin inscribes himself into the text of the judgment and in doing so, reveals the way in which textual and corporeal specificities undermine the pretence of objective judgment and therefore the source of judicial authority.

The political debate concerning parent education and parenting support between 1964 and 2009 has been scrutinized in this study in the light of the development of and changes in the welfare state. The investigation is based upon the analysis of official government inquiries and parliamentary papers dealing with parent education and parenting support. This study analyzes the different choices in the organization of welfare relevant to children and the family for which political actors have argued, and it examines the views on the relations between children, parents, family and the welfare state that were expressed in the argumentation. Parent education and parenting support aim at changing the living conditions of children by means of the parents. The study shows that the interest in this type of investment has been shared by both the political left and center-right, but from different arguments and political visions on how welfare for children and families with children should be organized, as well as from different views of the role of parent education and parenting support in the welfare.
I den här avhandlingen granskas den politiska debatten om föräldrautbildning och föräldrastöd mellan 1964 och 2009 i ljuset av välfärdssamhällets utveckling och förändring. Studien bygger på en analys av betänkanden från statliga utredningar och riksdagstryck i frågan om föräldrautbildning och föräldrastöd. I studien granskas vilka vägval i organiseringen av välfärden kring barn och familj som politiska aktörer har argumenterat för och vilken syn på relationerna mellan barn, föräldrar, familj och välfärdsstat som kommit till uttryck i argumentationen. Föräldrautbildning och föräldrastöd syftar till att förändra barns villkor genom att påverka föräldrarna. Analysen visar att intresset för denna typ av åtgärd har delats av såväl vänster som borgerliga, men utifrån skilda argument och politiska visioner för hur välfärden kring barn och barnfamiljen ska organiseras, såväl som utifrån olika sätt att se på föräldrautbildningens och föräldrastödets roll i välfärden.

Goal of research is to analyze the organizational and legal foundations of the development of the institute of children's self-government at the level of the municipality, determine the social technologies of its implementation and develop recommendations for the development of the institute of children's self-government for municipal authorities. In the course of research, the current state of the institution of children's self-government in Russia was analyzed; the main problems of the development of the institute of children's self-government are identified and the causes of these problems are established; recommendations were developed to overcome the identified problems in the development of the institute of children's self-government for municipal authorities.
Цель работы − проанализировать организационные и правовые основы развития института детского самоуправления на уровне муниципального образования, определить социальные технологии его реализации и разработать рекомендации развития института детского самоуправления для органов муниципального управления. В процессе исследования проанализировано текущее состояние института детского самоуправления в России; выявлены основные проблемы развития института детского самоуправления и установлены причины этих проблем; разработаны рекомендации по преодолению выявленных проблем в развитии института детского самоуправления для органов муниципального управления.

This thesis reviews the underlying theoretical and normative paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law and its effect on the refugee determination process with respect to the approximately 100 unaccompanied children who were among 599 migrants from Fujian Province, People's Republic of China who arrived in four boats off the coast of British Columbia, Canada in the Summer of 1999. Upon deconstructing Canadian migration legislation and jurisprudence, especially with respect to asylum, it is apparent that the dominant paradigm is one of liberal communitarianism/realism, rather than one based on individual, universal human rights. This communitarian/realist paradigm is reflected in and reinforced by normative distinctions between immigrants and illegal migrants, and between politically motivated, forced migrants (refugees) and economically motivated, voluntary migrants (illegal migrants). Illegal migrants, such as the Fujianese children, are de-legitimized and criminalized under Canadian migration law. Moreover, this paradigm had the effect of subsuming the children's human rights claims into an assessment of their motivations for, and the voluntariness of, their emigration, that is, into a refugee determination process based on an understanding of the children's migration that was both inherently incoherent and inconsistent with a nuanced comprehension of migration as a structural phenomenon. The author concludes with a proposal for the development of a more strongly human-rights based paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law.
Law, Peter A. Allard School of
Graduate

This thesis explores the concept of child protection from a policy perspective. I argue that concepts matter in the formulation of policies because the way an issue is thought about affects policy responses. The concept of child protection has come a long way from its origin in the 'child rescue movement' of the 1870s; however, the socially constructed nature of child protection has only been gradually realised. The uncritical acceptance of child protection imperatives stemming from the concepts of 'child rescue' and 'battered baby syndrome' has resulted in system-wide failures. The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child has significantly changed the social context in which children and child protection problems are viewed and child protection policies are formulated. Such continuously evolving understandings of issues relating to children and their safety and well-being have given rise to a scholarly debate on the need of a fundamental reconceptualisation of child protection. This thesis argues that there is a need to reconceptualise child protection in a way that recognises the complexity and fluidity of issues around child protection as well as of the importance of context. This thesis establishes that such a reconceptualisation is necessary to develop effective and relevant child protection policies in varying contexts around the world. By using Pakistan as the context, this research examines the ways in which policymakers conceptualise child protection and the ways in which these conceptions translate into policies. The research uses an interpretive- constructivist methodology and mix methods for data gathering. The analysis shows that child protection problems in Pakistan include incidents of individual abuse and exploitation, but, more commonly, collective abuse and exploitation caused by broader socioeconomic and structural factors. Child protection policy-making involves a range of individual and institutional actors in the absence of a specialised national institution to cater to all children-related issues. The policy process is characterised by personalistic decision-making which highlights the importance of individual policymakers' conceptions of child protection in the policy process. The analysis reveals three major conceptions of child protection among Pakistani policymakers: 1) child protection a socioeconomic issue, 2) child protection as a religious and cultural issue and 3) child protection as a human rights issue. These findings have special significance for conceptualising child protection and formulating child protection policy not only in Pakistan, but also in similar contexts elsewhere, for global child protection policy and for theoretical debates on the concept of child protection. The analysis shows that child protection is not a neutral and/or technical activity. Rather it highlights the relative and contextual nature of the concept of child protection and the ways these relative concepts ultimately translate into concrete policies and practices. The findings of this thesis suggest that to have an effective and locally relevant policy, it is necessary to reconceptualise child protection in ways that take account of children's individual needs and rights, familial and societal values as well as national and international standards around care and protection of children.

ABSTRACT The main aim of this study was to analyze South African government response to the plight of street children. In order to achieve this aim, policies and legislation addressing street children were examined through the lens of its formulation process and how they are being implemented by the Gauteng Department of Social Development, the Johannesburg City Council, South African Police Services, and street children NGOs registered with the Department of Social Development. In order to ground the research on knowledge foundation, a comprehensive review of literature was carried out. Findings from data collected and documents reviewed, revealed that despite the adoption of a new Act for children from the 1974 Child Care Act to the new 2005 Children’s Act and the 2006 Children’s Amendment Act, the target population concerned in this study still faces difficulties being fully integrated in to the society as intended by the policies. Several reasons have been attributed to this, but this study concludes that the weak collaboration between NGOs and government departments and among stakeholders and the limited resources for the implementation of the policies are the utmost.

Child poverty is a troubling issue over the world. Many scholars and professionals have devoted themselves to alleviating and eliminating child poverty. However, hundreds of millions of children in the world are still suffering from poverty. In China, poverty is a serious social problem. Chinese government did intervene heavily in poverty alleviation in the last decades. But so far, compared to other social problems, the scholars and policy-makers in China have paid less attention to the issue of child poverty. In light of these developments, this study, based on a children's right perspective, sets out to identify the basic characteristics of urban child poverty as well as the basic needs of poor children. Further, it gauges urban poverty's social, economic and psychological impacts on the children and effects of current social policies. Qualitative methodology, including in-depth interviews and focus group methods, is adopted in this study. Some 19 poor families were interviewed in 2006-2007.
The main findings of this research are as follows: (1) There is no access to health insurance which threatens poor urban children's survival and health; (2) Educational fees, especially expensive compulsory education, compromise the right of development on the basic of equal opportunity. In addition, the existence of key schools and classes gives rise to educational stratification; (3) Basic rights of survival, development and protection of poor urban children are satisfied to a certain extent, but the right of participation is overlooked; (4) Poor families take on too much burden to realize children's rights and needs. Although the government provides some assistance, current social policies have many problems to meet the basic needs and they could not satisfy the child rights due to absence of and ineffective policies, strategies and social services; (5) Support from families, especially from grandparents, is indispensable for children's needs and rights.
This research reviews international experiences to draw attention in China to child poverty as well as to family and adult poverty, which will be helpful to future studies on this issue. We believe the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a basic policy framework to guide the implementation of children's rights and government obligations in China. Actually, the Chinese government should take a more positive attitude towards child poverty. More children's living and developmental indices should be collated and added in national statistics and more studies on child poverty should be encouraged. Universal and low-charge public social services, including education, health, social work and other basic welfare services, should be provided. Safety net and incentive employment policy should be implemented to secure poor people and stimulate them to get rid of poverty by employment. In brief, as a state party of The Convention on the Rights of the Child, Chinese government should work out more concrete policies and strategies to show respect to children's rights, and children's rights can be adopted as Chinese child policy model in the future.
姜妙屹.
Adviser: Kwong-Leung Tang.
Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-09, Section: A, page: .
Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 350-392).
Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.
Abstracts in Chinese and English.
School code: 1307.
Jiang Miaoyi.

This non-experimental, descriptive, quantitative survey attempted to evaluate IMCI implementation in the eThekwini district of KwaZulu -Natal. The study focused on IMCI implementation by IMCI trained registered nurses, health facility support and follow-up and supervision. The research population comprised of all IMCI trained registered nurses working in health facilities in the eThekwini district. The convenient sample consisted of 40 research subjects. Data was collected by means of an interview schedule and a checklist, and analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007. Findings of the study revealed that many of the IMCI trained registered nurses were unable to assess, classify and treat the sick child comprehensively and consistently. The recommended follow-up visit at six weeks after completion of IMCI training, and lack of on-going supervision remains an area of concern. Recommendations were that district or clinic supervisors can enhance the skills of IMCI trained registered nurses through recommended follow-up visits and on-going supervision and the provision of updated IMCI chart booklets.
Health Studies
M.A. (Health Studies)

本研究探討深思的可能性模型（Elaboration Likelihood Model）在設計推廣使用營養標籤的廣告中的適用性。香港的一所中學的169位學生參與了一個2 x 2 x 3（健康意識：高vs. 低 x 論據：數據 vs. 經驗 x 代言人：專家vs. 名人 vs. 普通人）的實驗。 部分假設得到支持。 健康意識的主效果明顯。 具有較高健康意識的青少年更易被廣告說服。 健康意識和代言人具有交叉效應。對於健康意識較高的人來說，營養師更有說服力， 而對於健康意識較低的人來說，名人更有影響力。論據和代言人的搭配影響了資訊的處理路徑。如果以數據為主的論據是由普通人提供的，則更易推動青少年使用營養標籤。而如果以個人經驗為主的論據是由名人提供的，則更有效。統計結果將在深思的可能性模型下得以展開討論。 本文還會對開展針對青少年的公共健康傳播運動提出建議。
This study tested the utility of the Elaboration Likelihood Model in creating effective Public Service Announcements (PSAs) of nutrition label use. Students (N=169) from a secondary school in Hong Kong participated in a 2x2x3 (Health consciousness: High vs. Low x Argument: Informational vs. Testimonial x Source: Expert vs. Celebrity vs. Ordinary Person) factorial design experiment. Hypotheses were partially supported. Main effect was located for health consciousness. Adolescents with high health consciousness were more persuaded by the PSAs. There was an interaction effect between health consciousness and source. A dietitian as the source was most persuasive to people with high health consciousness, while low health conscious people were most influenced by a celebrity. The information processing route was biased by the match of argument and source. Informative argument made by an ordinary person was more likely to motivate adolescents to use nutrition label, while testimonial argument made by a celebrity was the most effective. The findings are discussed in light of ELM and match-up hypotheses. Recommendations are also offered for public health communication campaigns.
Detailed summary in vernacular field only.
Dong, Zhuowen.
Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-84).
Abstracts also in Chinese; appendixes in Chinese.
Abstract --- p.i
Acknowledgements --- p.iii
Table of Content --- p.vi
Chapter Chapter 1: --- Introduction --- p.1
Publicity Campaign of Nutrition Labelling Scheme in Hong Kong --- p.1
Adolescent and Nutrition Label (NL) --- p.3
Significance of the Research --- p.4
Organization of Thesis --- p.7
Chapter Chapter 2: --- Literature Review --- p.9
Adolescents and Preventive Health Behavior --- p.9
Health Consciousness --- p.10
Information Processing of Adolescents --- p.12
Informative or Testimonial Argument --- p.13
Expert vs. Celebrity vs. Ordinary person --- p.15
Source credibility --- p.20
Initial attitude --- p.24
Self-efficacy --- p.25
Chapter Chapter 3: --- Theoretical Framework --- p.28
The Elaboration Likelihood Model of Persuasion --- p.28
Chapter Chapter 4: --- Research questions and Hypothesis --- p.34
Chapter Chapter 5: --- Methodology --- p.39
Subjects and Design --- p.40
Procedure --- p.40
Materials and Manipulations --- p.41
Independent variables --- p.44
Dependent variables --- p.46
Chapter Chapter 6: --- Results --- p.49
Health Consciousness Assessment --- p.49
General results --- p.49
Covariate --- p.56
Predictors of Behavioral Intention --- p.56
Hypothesis Testing and Answers to Research Questions --- p.57
Chapter Chapter 7: --- Discussion --- p.59
Chapter Chapter 8: --- Implication --- p.66
Chapter Chapter 9: --- Limitation and Direction for Future research --- p.69
References --- p.72
Lists of Appendices
Chapter Appendix A --- :Experiment Questionnaire --- p.85
Chapter Appendix B --- :Experiment Masterial--- PSA --- p.87
Chapter Appendix C --- :Experiment Masterial--- PSA --- p.88
Chapter Appendix D --- :Experiment Masterial--- PSA --- p.89
Chapter Appendix E --- :Experiment Masterial--- PSA --- p.90
Chapter Appendix F --- :Experiment Masterial--- PSA --- p.91
Chapter Appendix G --- :A Proposed PSA of Nutrition Labels --- p.92

From the literature we learn that existing educational frameworks that inform law and policy- making on the education of disabled children deal extensively with the curricular and educational concerns of disabled children. Yet, these frameworks leave out the pivotal issue of children‟s human right to education. The rights-based frameworks address human rights issues in a grand fashion, but give scanty educational guidelines on the actual education of disabled children, rendering hollow the human rights credo they espouse. South Africa has been one of a few countries which made attempts at addressing both the human rights concerns facing learners with disabilities and their curricular and pedagogic needs. The country embarked upon extensive efforts of legislative and policy formulation that are, in some respects, unparalleled in the world. Hence, this country is a potential storehouse of good practices on the education of children with disabilities with the potential to inform the re-formulation of existing African and global frameworks on the right to education of disabled children. Furthermore, the impressive novelty contained in South African education laws and policies notwithstanding, there are a number of issues which should be addressed in the country‟s education environment, including how the laws and policies are implemented. It is to be acknowledged that laws and policies are only as good as their implementation. Mindful of the above situation prevailing at the global level and the national (South African) level, this study offers a framework that marries the right to education of children with disabilities with educational theory on and practice in regard to the education of disabled children. The framework is constructed on the basis of current international literature on both disability and education and related South African law and policy instruments. In terms of its methodology, the study employed a generic or non-categorical qualitative design, also called methodological bricolage. Under this overall design, two principal modes of inquiry were applied, namely the enlightenment mode to policy analysis and critical law and policy discourse analysis. Theoretically, the study is anchored in the human rights variant of the Social Model of Disability, Critical Theory and Post-structural paradigms.
Educational Leadership and Management
D. Ed. (Education Management)

This dissertation explores historical processes and daily practices of indigenization within the context of British Columbia's model for delegating Aboriginal agencies for child and family services. This research draws from historical data, examining the ways in which contemporary indigenization within Aboriginal child welfare is shaped by Canada's colonial past- most notably, the historical relationship between the Indian Residential School System and Aboriginal child welfare in Canada. Grounded in indigenous methodologies, research practice, and critical theory, this dissertation queries indigenization within the Pacific Aboriginal Child Welfare Association (PACWA). This dissertation explores the complexity of the urban setting in which PACWA operates, providing case studies of daily practices of indigenization within the association, considering the roles of Aboriginal Elders and Knowledge Keepers throughout this process, and arguing for the need to reframe urban Aboriginal child welfare in Canada. This dissertation asserts that Indigenization at PACWA is making significant differences in the lives of children and families involved in Aboriginal child welfare and that Aboriginal families continue to have their children removed at alarming rates most often because they are living in the aftermath of colonization, amidst contemporary conditions that continue to marginalize Aboriginal peoples. Indigenization is a process that can and is being achieved within the context of child welfare in British Columbia today. It is a process connected to Aboriginal sovereignty, self-government, identity and mainstream-Aboriginal relations. It is also a process that is making significant impacts in the lives of those connected to Aboriginal child welfare (Aboriginal and otherwise), while simultaneously being challenged by the structural inequalities and political eddies that continue to marginalize urban Aboriginal peoples. This research demonstrates that successful indigenization practice, at the level of large organizations such as PACWA, requires that various levels of Canadian government view them as true partners in a project of decolonization and indigenization. This requires a recognition and honouring of history and diversity of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, validated by means of mutual respect and sharing power.

This dissertation deals with the understanding of policies and interventions that foster human development, with a focus on children and youth, and to build a link between human development and a learning society by using an interdisciplinary approach. This thesis studies how individuals develop their learning capabilities as well as their creative, entrepreneurial, and socio-emotional skills. The dissertation is structured in three main chapters in addition to this brief introduction. The first chapter, "Affective Neuroscience meets Labor Economics: Assessing Non-Cognitive skills on Late Stage Investment on at-Risk Youth,” studies the role of a program designed to foster entrepreneurial and self-confidence through learning by failure using insights from micro-econometric, behavioral economics and applied neuroscience. The second chapter, "How Much Should We Trust Self-reported Measures of Non-cognitive Skills?,” explores the relation between transient emotional states and self-ratings on self-reported measures of socio-emotional skills using a behavioral and a neuro-physiological experiment. This chapter also works as a “proof of concept” of the methods —e.g. emotion-detection theory and lab-in-the-field experiments implemented on chapter 1. The third chapter, “Can Art-based Programs Nurture Human Capital? Evidence From Public Schools in Chile,” studies the impacts of an art-based program in high school in Chile following a quasi-experimental design using propensity score matching techniques.

In the past, the Ministry of Social Services and Housing has placed many native children from the Seabird Island Band, a Salish band in the Sta’lo Nation, in permanent placement or adoption off the reserve. Government agencies imposed a system of child welfare that superseded Seabird Island adoption practices. The Seabird Island Band members would prefer to see these children placed within the band through ‘custom’ adoption. In apprehension and placement court cases, the band social worker has needed documented information defining ‘custom’ adoption, and data regarding the benefits of this Seabird Island process. This thesis investigates and documents the process and results of adoption on the Seabird Island Indian Reserve. This thesis begins with a brief history of Canadian adoption policy as it applies to First Nations people. The thesis is based on detailed taped interviews with Seabird Island Band members who had experienced foster care and/or adoption. This fieldwork was the result of negotiation with the Seabird Island Band to discover the type of research that they needed. The thesis documents four kinds of adoption experience of the Seabird Island members: foster care, closed legal adoption, open adoption, and ‘custom’ adoption. In my analysis of these adoption experiences, three main themes occur: (1) issues of ethnic identity, (2) power and the child welfare system, and (3) the definition and functions of ‘custom’ adoption. The thesis concludes that the imposed system of child welfare based on Euro-western ideas of appropriate child care may have destroyed or seriously damaged some Seabird Island Band members’ sense of ethnic identity. As well, it may be a factor in the break-up of the extended family. ‘Custom’ adoption, as defined by Seabird Island Band members, offers an alternate model for keeping apprehended Seabird Island children within the band. Open adoption, as defined by the pilot project documented, is an alternative for those children who cannot be returned to the band. I have made several recommendations in the conclusion for the Seabird Island Band’s consideration.

The concepts of well-being and safety are grounded in social policy and political frameworks influencing how children experience and ascribe meaning in their lives. Contemporary knowledge in the field of children’s well-being and safety largely extends from an adult-centric perspective. From this stance, emphasis focuses on understanding children’s well-being and safety from developmental outcomes. More recent research however identifies well-being and safety by the lived experiences and feelings expressed directly by children. Although these studies have highlighted the importance of safety to a child’s overall sense of well-being, children’s direct perspectives of their well-being and safety in Australia have rarely been explored. Through qualitative methodology this study focused on understanding children’s perspectives of safety in the wider context of their own well-being. Participants included 42 children aged 6 to 17 years who lived in a region south west of Sydney’s central business district in New South Wales, Australia. Child focused participatory methods included creative art activities, photography, sandplay, focus groups and individual interviews. Reflective field notes were scribed following each fieldwork session in addition to research-peer debriefing sessions. Focus groups and individual interviews were transcribed assisting thematic analysis of the data. Through individual, peer-topeer and participant-to-researcher interactions, children co-constructed the meaning of well-being and safety through dialogue and creative mediums. Key themes emerging from narratives shared by children included Agency, Relatedness and Innate Needs in describing what well-being and safety means for them. Children described their understanding of well-being and safety and moreover the above identified key themes, as interwoven concepts which were often experienced together. Through this understanding, children shared importance that well-being and safety are experienced as co-existing concepts which influence each other. This study provided an opportunity for children to collaboratively share their thoughts and discuss ideas of these concepts among peers, contributing to a child focused co-construction of conceptual development. In presenting findings from this study, I aim to position children’s views centrally in the reconstruction and reconsideration of social policy and political frameworks that affect the lives of children.

This study examines how the unprecedented placement of blame on social workers in B.C., following the Report of the Gove Commission into Child Protection in 1995, has affected those workers, by exploring the phenomenon from the point of view of the social workers themselves. By using structural social work theory, with a feminist perspective, the conceptual context is explored in terms of how risk and blame have been constructed and how the relationship between clients and workers, and the treatment of social workers by management have been impacted by that construction. Purposeful criterion sampling was used, applying a snowball approach of recruitment. Ten social workers participated who are or have been recently employed by the Ministry for Children & Families. Data collection occurred through one focus group session as well as individual interviews. Transcripts of the interviews were made from audiotapes. Categorical and holistic content analysis led to identification of participant themes. Findings confirmed fear of blame as a significant contributor to high stress levels but, surprisingly, social workers expressed their belief that a similar fear was frequently behind management decisions. This research provides unique insight into the factors which motivate individuals to do the difficult work of child protection. It also offers an explanation for the ongoing difficulty which government experiences in recruiting and retaining skilled, trained staff, which, if unaddressed, is a serious impediment to the effective delivery of child welfare services in B.C.

M.A. (Development Studies)
This report evaluates the response of the South African government to migrant unaccompanied minors at Musina and Beitbridge Limpopo province. The report begins by outlining the migration situation at the Beitbridge Border post and the reasons for UAMs‘ migration to South Africa. It also highlights the processesthey follow in migrating, services available and their vulnerability to sexual and gender based violence as they cross the border through irregular routes. The second section outlines the responsibilities of host states in as far as the needs of migrant UAMs are concerned. As this study is focusing on the South African government, the section further develops a narrative informed by international law and the South African Constitution as well as policies and legislationin force in South Africa. This section points to a well developed legal and policy framework for securing the rights of migrant children. The third section concludes by summarising the needs of UAMs and by stating some of the measures that should be implemented by the South African government in responding to the situation. The fourth section of this study presents evidence crucial for evaluation of state responses to its obligations towards UAMs. This section presents evidence gathered over a period of time in Beitbridge and Musina that enables me to evaluate the South African state‘s respond to UAMs in Musina and Beitbridge. The outcomes of this research indicate that South Africa has failed to implement international law and the Constitutional, legal and policy frameworks in as far as the rights of migrant UAMs are concerned. The majority of UAMs are from Zimbabwe and they are running away from social, economic and political instabilities in that country. In addition, these children are migrants in their own right and existing research indicates that where children migrate alone, they are particularly vulnerable to exploitative working conditions, violence and denial of basic rights.Page ix Many children migrated in order to pursue their education as well as to work in order to support themselves and families back home. However, many of the migrant‘s organisations that exist do not specifically address the rights of children or response to their needs. Migrant children‘s ability to satisfy their basic needs is extremely compromised; much of the work is currently done by a few non-governmental organisations and faith based organisations especially with regard to shelter and food provision with very minimal support from the South African government. UAMs have very limited access to government departments and services. The majority of UAMs are crowded in the streets in Musina and others in towns such as Louis Trichardt, Thohoyandou, Dzanini and on farms wherein they fend for their own living and there is no one to cater for their needs. This report concludes by making recommendations for interventions to the South African government for implementing Children‘s rights and strengthening migrant children‘s access to basic rights in South Africa.

Thesis (MPH.) -- University of Limpopo, 2012
Introduction: An observational study was undertaken to assess the level of compliance of school nutrition with standard hygiene requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999. Aim: To assess the level of compliance of Primary School Nutrition Programme with standard hygiene requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999 in Bushbuckridge area. Study: The study was conducted in primary schools located in Bushbuckridge sub-district with an estimated population of 611.048 and 212 primary schools. Method: Observational study was conducted in schools and information regarding food preparation area, food storage rooms, environmental hygiene, personal hygiene and food transportation was recorded. Sampling: A random sampling was conducted to select schools in each circuit. Thirty two percent was used to determine the sample size. Sixty eight primary schools of a population of 212 were select from the various circuits in Bushbuckridge sub-district. Data was gathered using observation method. An observation data gathering tool was developed to collect the data that was needed for the study. Results: The study revealed that 24.3% of the schools prepare their food in kitchens that meet the standards and the requirements prescribed by the health regulations. However, 75.7% of the schools prepare their food in structures that do not comply with the health regulations. The study on environmental hygiene revealed that 95.7% of the schools do not provide toiletries in their latrines most of which are not waterborne. The study further revealed that 87% of the schools do not provide soap for hand washing in their latrines. The study on personal hygiene revealed that 61.4% of the schools do not provide protective clothing to the food handlers who prepare food for learners. The study on food transportation revealed that 100% of the vehicles used to deliver food in schools do not comply with the standards and the hygiene requirements prescribed by the health regulations. Conclusion: It can thus be concluded that the level of compliance of the school nutrition programme to the standards and the requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999 is minimal. Measures of precautions to safeguard food contaminations that may result in outbreaks are not adequately followed. The level of environmental hygiene responsible for the spread of most of the diseases in children is poor. There is a high percentage of non-compliance to the standards and the requirements prescribed by Regulations R918 of 30 July 1999.

Power, and how it is exercised within social relations is pivotal in explaining policy change. Hence, this dissertation explores policy change in Kenya by examining the transfer and subsequent adoption of social protection policies in the form of cash transfer schemes. Instead of the current analytical frameworks drawing from political settlements, political institutions, and ideational approaches in explaining policy uptake, the research studies policy making from a policy transfer and power nexus. The study examines power relations among multiple actors in the national context to explain the adoption of social protection policies. Hence this dissertation articulates power dynamics and asymmetries inherent in policy-making involving national and transnational actors as underpinning policy transfer processes. The thesis is premised on the following interrelated arguments; firstly, I show how transnational actors created and manipulated interests and incentives based on their resource base in three significant ways: controlling the policy agenda, constraining the agency of other actors and influencing the preferences of actors in the policy space. The interaction of interests and resources – financial, and ideas and knowledge – converged to bring about policy change. Secondly, I focus on the role of ideas and knowledge within policy space to show how the creation of a discursive hegemony and a structure of knowledge, social construction and policy narratives played a significant role in shaping learning and influencing national actors. Thirdly, I argue that transnational actors used structural mechanisms based on financing and coerced government to adopt social protection policies through a catalysing mechanism and imposition of conditionalities. The study depicts how transnational actors conditioned and manipulated national context and institutions to align with the idea of cash transfers. This thesis employs a qualitative approach to study policy transfer and subsequent adoption of two cases of transfer schemes in Kenya, the Cash Transfer for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CT-OVC) and the Hunger Safety Net Programme (HSNP).
Sociology
D. Phil. (Sociology)

The aim of this study was to investigate unaccompanied migrant children (UMC )experiences, challenges and coping strategies in South Africa as they navigate their lives with no parental care and protection in a foreign country. The continuous inflow of UMC remains a major challenge globally and more so in South Africa. The inflow resulted in unaccompanied migrant children facing adverse challenges such as exploitation, marginalisation, discrimination and violation of human rights. In response to this influx, the South African Government embarked on several commendable initiatives, notwithstanding the national guidelines by the Department of Social Development, which unfortunately could not provide adequate guidance for social workers, on how to respond effectively to challenges facing UMC. The study was qualitative guided by exploratory, descriptive, and contextual designs. A sample was drawn using purposive sampling. Participants sampled for data collection were UMC and social workers tending them, from two shelters; one in the Limpopo and one in the Gauteng provinces, respectively. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using Tesch’s eight steps of data analysis in Creswell (2013). The findings confirmed that unaccompanied migrant children do not receive satisfactory services from social workers who are mandated by the Department of Social Development to look after all the vulnerable children in South Africa. In addition, the findings further confirmed the contradictions and misalignment of legal frameworks that make it difficult for social workers to provide effective services to the UMC, thus exposing the latter to a continued plethora of daily challenges. Despite the magnitude of challenges presented by the host country, it emerged that unaccompanied migrant children demonstrate a range of coping mechanisms to survive the challenges experienced within the borders of South Africa. Prominent in the findings was the dissatisfaction of social workers regarding lack of clarity and inconsistencies in the current Social Development Guidelines on; Separated and Unaccompanied Children Outside their Country of Origin in South Africa. Based on these findings, recommendations are made for practice and additional guidelines were developed to enhance service delivery to the UMC.
Social Work
D. Litt. et Phil. (Social Work)

A hidden history of government intervention into the lives of unwed, white mothers is beginning to emerge. Most Australians are unaware that thousands of white babies were forcibly taken under a policy of assimilation during the 20th Century. This research project has attempted to explain this phenomenon by contextualising it within an historical account of ‘child removalist’ polices that were imported into Australia with British settlement. It also makes a linkage between the British treatment of its destitute, unwed mothers under the Poor Laws, the forced removal of their children and Forced Adoption/white stolen children in 20th Century Australia. From the beginning of colonial history motherhood has been constructed by the structures of patriarchy and capitalism imported along with the rigid, hierarchal legal system of Britain, and the ideology that underpinned it. In the 1800s the babies of convict mothers were taken and placed in Orphan Asylums, whilst they were sent back to work. During the late 19th century unsupported, unwed mothers had their babies forcibly taken and fostered out to country areas in order to be separated from their ‘contaminating’ influence and that of their ‘pauper’ families. Hence the beginning of the child welfare system was grounded in child removal practices, not in supporting vulnerable families stay together. By the early 1900s, a population policy moulded by two forces: eugenics and pronatalism had emerged. It was directed by the Commonwealth and enacted by State institutions. Its particular focus was to populate Australia with ‘good white stock’: legitimately born white infants, who could be called upon to defend the Empire. White Australians were not considered a homogenous grouping, but a continuum that ranged between the ‘racially superior’ elite and ‘racially inferior’ ‘degenerates’. The latter category included white, unwed mothers and their infants. Illegitimacy was seen as a threat to ‘race improvement’, and presumed to be the root of racial decay. It was assumed that if children were removed and assimilated with white, married, employed couples, their tainted biology would be neutralised. It was also a measure to expand the white, middle and upper classes. A little known fact is that there was resistance to the forced removal/assimilation policy at a grass roots level and that the majority of white unmarried mothers kept their infants. Therefore this research project hypothesised that there were two discourses that regulated the lives of unwed mothers. Mothers who had their infants taken were exposed to an institutional discourse that was comprised of motherhood, medical and eugenic discourses, imported from the ‘mother country’ and the United States. They were articulated through maternal and infant welfare representatives and their practices which included Forced Adoption. At the same time a lay discourse that had co-existed for hundreds of years was also imported. This was expressed in the language, the practices and the support given to daughters and grandchildren by their kin and was a backlash against the autocratic State practice of forced removal. The discourse that framed the mother’s pregnancy and birth experience determined whether or not she kept her infant or had it taken for adoption. Both discourses were grounded in patriarchy as the mother who kept had the protection and support of her patriarchal structured family. The unsupported unwed mother stood outside the norms of what was considered right and proper by the social work and medical elite. Her pregnant body challenged the power structure on which patriarchy rests: control of the reproductive labour of women. The language used for the justification of forced removals has evolved over the centuries. The 18th century ‘pauper’ was ‘vicious’ and wanted to rid herself of her burden, the 19th century feebleminded mother was incapable of providing a ‘moral’ environment. The rise of Freudian based social casework theory that dominated social work in Australia (1940-1970s) labelled her as too ‘immature and neurotic’ to rear her ‘unwanted’ infant. It was considered to be in ‘its best interest’ to be removed and placed with a ‘normal family’ with a ‘real’ mother and father. Unsupported, unwed white mothers did not have the same maternal rights as their married counterparts. They did not have access to their rights of citizenship, which led to major violations of their human and civil rights. The most brutal, being separated from their newborns at birth.