Suchergebnisse

Linking environmental sustainability with poverty reduction and social justice, and making science and technology work for the poor, have become central practical, political and moral challenges of our times. These must be met in a world of rapid, interconnected change in environments, societies and economies, and globalised, fragmented governance arrangements. Yet despite growing international attention and investment, policy attempts often fail. Why is this, and what can be done about it? How might we understand and address emergent threats from epidemic disease, or the challenges of water s

Problem Statement The literature from Cameroon depicts that the implementation of inclusive education is not only in its embryonic stage but faces resistance from educators who are still not accepting of the presence of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. This resistance has been attributed to several factors ranging from attachment to customs and traditions that encourage the isolation of persons with disabilities, to the lack of resources and professionals needed for the successful implementation of inclusive education programs. These unfavorable attitudes have been a cause for concern among parents, educators, and especially government leaders who do not want to be left behind the international community in embracing inclusive education. Researchers have found that unsuccessful inclusive programs stem from teachers' perceptions of the concept of inclusion, their teaching ability, classroom management, and benefits/outcomes of inclusion. As a result, this study sought to examine if there is a relationship between teachers' characteristics (such as gender, age, the level of education, years of teaching experience, experience teaching in inclusive classrooms, training, and teachers' language of instruction), and their attitudes toward inclusive education. Method A quantitative non-experimental descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Participants included 346 full-time state licensed general education teachers from seven bilingual secondary schools participating in SEEPD pilot inclusive education program in the North West Region of Cameroon. A survey instrument "Opinions Relative to the Integration of Students with Disabilities" (ORI) was used to collect data in determining the attitudes of general education teachers toward inclusion. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences Software (SPSS) was used to analyze the data, organize the results, and provide descriptive statistics, multivariate and univariate analysis of variances (MANOVA, and ANOVA). Results Teachers' attitudes toward inclusive education in Cameroon were negative on how they perceived the concept of inclusion and perceptions of their ability to teach in inclusive classrooms. They had positive attitudes toward managing students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms, and about the outcomes/benefits of inclusion. Overall, most teachers in the pilot inclusive education program in the North West Region of Cameroon were not accepting of the presence of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. These negative attitudes were manifested in teachers' self-perceptions of their inability or lack of training in both special and inclusive education. There was no significant difference in attitudes on the basis of the language of instruction. However, differences were found regarding the other demographic variables such as age, gender, experience, and education. Male teachers were more favorable to inclusion than their female colleagues. Additionally, older, more experienced, more qualified, and more educated teachers, were more likely to be supportive of inclusive education than younger, less experienced, less qualified, and less educated ones. Conclusion This study was conducted in general education secondary schools actively engaged in a pilot effort to introduce inclusive classroom practices in seven selected bilingual secondary schools in the North West Region of Cameroon. It is not certain what the level of acceptance the practice of integrating students with disabilities into the general education classroom would be if the study were carried out in schools not actively involved in the inclusive education initiative. Nonetheless, what stands out about the findings of this study is that most teachers showed negative attitudes about the success or outcome of inclusive education and indicated that the training they received in special education and inclusive education was not enough to ensure a successful integration of students with disabilities into general education classrooms. These findings support not only the rationale but also the urgent need for investment by all Cameroonian education stakeholders, especially the leading sponsor of education, the government, in the training of special education professionals and paraprofessionals in the country. These revelations also constitute a call for needed action from instructional leaders and higher education leaders who can make a difference by promoting professional development through seminars and workshops as well as creating targeted special education programs in the various institutions of higher learning in the country.

This article explores the fiduciary law of the founding fathers to determine whether it was part of the constitutional design for the Judiciary to review special interest appropriations, and, if so, how the courts might proceed. The author's findings suggest that, at least from the standpoint of the original understanding of the Constitution, prior judicial deference to the Legislature has been excessive and that there are solid constitutional grounds in arguing for a more searching standard of review.

This article looks at the initial response of the social science community to the advent of nuclear weapons and their use on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The idea that human society as a whole was not sophisticated enough to responsibly steward nuclear weapons was widespread among American sociologists and psychologists: if society needed to change, many social scientists felt compelled to engineer that transformation. Fundamental to this effort was an analysis of the roots of human violence. I argue that this was a fundamental misdiagnosis that placed the blame in individuated human violence rather than in the organized social violence of militarism. The final section of the article explores the role of social scientists in planning for nuclear war and in creating and assessing the indoctrination of U.S. troops participating in nuclear weapons testing. This indoctrination would form the model for later indoctrinations aimed at easing general public distress over nuclear weapons testing.

Abstract This paper studies the normative problem of redistribution between individuals who differ in their lifespans. We discuss aspects related to the objective function and argue that aversion to multiperiod inequality should be taken into account. Then, we study the properties of the social optimum both with full information and with asymmetric information. We highlight the role of aversion to multiperiod inequality and show that it has substantial consequences on the design of Social Security schemes. In particular, we show that for a low (resp. high) aversion to multiperiod inequality, a negative (resp. positive) implicit tax rate on continued activity is desirable.

AbstractVarious informal networks such as extended and immediate family, religious organizations, and NGOs assist a large segment of the neglected poor population worldwide by providing informal social protection. However, it is hard to locate a comprehensive definition of informal social protection that may help measure its aggregate benefits. Hence, it represents a considerable gap in the literature. To fill this gap, we used existing literature to define and devise a new framework to conceptualize and categorize informal social protection into three components: informal assistance, informal insurance, and informal labour market measures. By doing so, this paper makes critical contributions to the social policy literature as follows: First, the study synthesizes a sizeable body of research to provide a comprehensive definition and conceptualizes informal social protection in three components. The primary sources of the provision of three components of informal social protection are also presented. Second, this conceptualisation would help measure the concept of informal social protection and its attributes. Last, the proposed framework helps compare informal with formal social protection, which can further integrate the two forms of social protection. These contributions will respond to the repeated calls in the literature to advance the scholarship and develop meaningful questions for research on the role of informal social protection.