A study of the extent to which Irish law, policy and practice allow for Ireland's application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989 to pre-natal children

The central research question of this thesis asks the extent to which Irish law, policy and practice allow for the application of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to pre-natal children. First, it is demonstrated that pre-natal children can fall within the definition of ‘child’ under the Convention and so the possibility of applying the Convention to children before birth is opened. Many State Parties to the CRC have interpreted it as applicable to pre-natal children, while others have expressed that it only applies from birth. Ireland has not clarified whether or not it interprets it as being applicable from conception, birth, or some other point. The remainder of the thesis examines the extent to which Ireland interprets the CRC as applicable to the pre-natal child. First, the question of whether Ireland affords to the pre-natal child the right to life under Article 6(1) of the Convention is analysed. Given the importance of the indivisibility of rights under the Convention, the extent to which Ireland applies other CRC rights to pre-natal children is examined. The rights analysed are the right to protection from harm, the right to the provision of health care and the procedural right to representation. It is concluded that Ireland’s laws, policies and practices require urgent clarification on the issue of the extent to which rights such as protection, health care and representation apply to children before birth. In general, there are mixed and ad hoc approaches to these issues in Ireland and there exists a great deal of confusion amongst those working on the frontline with such children, such as health care professionals and social workers. The thesis calls for significant reform in this area in terms of law and policy, which will inform practice.

EU Social and Labour Rights and EU Internal Market Law: Study for the EMPL Committee

EU Social and Labour Rights have developed incrementally, originally through a set of legislative initiatives creating selective employment rights, followed by a non-binding Charter of Social Rights. Only in 2009, social and labour rights became legally binding through the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union (CFREU). By contrast, the EU Internal Market - an area without frontiers where goods, persons, services and capital can circulate freely – has been enshrined in legally enforceable Treaty provisions from 1958. These comprise the economic freedoms guaranteeing said free circulation and a system ensuring that competition is not distorted within the Internal Market (Protocol 27 to the Treaty of Lisbon). Tensions between Internal Market law and social and labour rights have been observed in analyses of EU case law and legislation. This study explores responses by socio-economic and political actors at national and EU levels to such tensions, focusing on collective labour rights, rights to fair working conditions and rights to social security and social assistance (Articles 12, 28, 31, 34 Charter of Fundamental Rights for the European Union). On the basis of the current Treaties and the CFREU, the constitutionally conditioned Internal Market emerges as a way to overcome the perception that social and labour rights limit Internal Market law, or vice versa. On this basis, alternative responses to perceived tensions are proposed, focused on posting of workers, furthering fair employment conditions through public procurement and enabling effective collective bargaining and industrial action in the Internal Market.

Law, technology and water conflicts in developing societies: a case study of tank systems in Tamil Nadu

The study examines the relationship between law, technology and water conflicts from colonial days to the present in traditional (water) tank systems in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tanks are man-made water systems developed for irrigation and many other purposes in semi-arid areas. The thesis adopts a historical approach to study the development of law, particularly property rights, and takes an empirical approach to investigate the tank conflicts. Archival documents on irrigation development, Case laws, Focus Group Discussions, Open ended Interviews and Field visits to selected tank chains are used as source material for the discussion. Case studies of conflicts are described and analyzed at three levels - Vaigai river basin for a macro level, Kothai Anicut system in Cauvery basin for a meso level, and twenty other interconnected tanks for a micro-level. The thesis deviates from the conventional understanding that tanks as traditional systems as simple and local technologies but considers them to be complex. It argues that the use of commonly held systems such as tanks within the colonial and post colonial laws as state ownership has been the source of many conflicts. In particular, it finds most tank conflicts are a product of progressive and absolute state control over water and the systems established using colonial land revenue administrative law. The law continues to treat tanks as pieces of landed property held by state and the individuals rather than as technology systems that presupposed the regime of property rights introduced after the colonial times. The modern interventions in water including the reservoir building, and altering the hydraulics of rivers and streams aggravate tank conflicts and lead to their further detriment. The study brings the focus to ground realities, and offers new perspectives on understanding tank systems in dynamic ways.

The association of faculty's teaching philosophy and teaching behaviour, and critical thinking and self- direction in learning

The intent in this study was to investigate in what ways teachers· beliefs about education and teaching are expressed in the specific teaching behaviours they employ, and whether teaching behaviours, as perceived by their students, are correlated with students· critical thinking and self-directed learning. To this end the relationships studied were: among faCUlty members· philosophy of teaching, locus of control orientation, psychological type, and observed teaching behaviour; and among students· psychological type, perceptions of teaching behaviour, self-directed learning readiness, and critical thinking. The overall purpose of the study was to investigate whether the implicit goals of higher education, critical thinking and self-direction, were actually accounted for in the university classroom. The research was set within the context of path-goal theory, adapted from the leadership literature. Within this framework, Mezirow·s work on transformative learning, including the influences of Habermas· writings, was integrated to develop a theoretical perspective upon which to base the research methodology. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies were incorporated. Four faCUlty and a total of 142 students participated in the study. Philosophy of teaching was described through faCUlty interviews and completion of a repertory grid. Faculty completed a descriptive locus of control scale, and a psychological type test. Observations of their teaching behaviour were conducted. Students completed a Teaching Behaviour Assessment Scale, the Self-Directed Learning Readiness Scale, a psychological type test, and the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal. A small sample of students were interviewed. Follow-up discussions with faculty were used to validate the interview, observation, teaching behaviour, and repertory grid data. Results indicated that some discrepancies existed between faculty's espoused philosophy of teaching and their observed teaching behaviour. Instructors' teaching behaviour, however, was a function of their personal theory of practice. Relationships were found between perceived teaching behaviour and students· self-directed learning and critical thinking, but these varied across situations, as would be predicted from path-goal theory. Psychological type of students and instructor also accounted for some of the variability in the relationships studied. Student psychological type could be shown as a partial predictor of self-directed learning readiness. The results were discussed in terms of theory development and implications for further research and practice.

The regulation of Internet content. A qualitative, Colombian and comparative law study

 The incursion of Internet has created new forms of information and communication. As a result, today’s generation is culturally socialized by the influence of information and communication technologies in their various forms. This has generated a series of characteristics of social and cultural behaviour which are derivative of didactic, academic or recreational use. Nevertheless the use of the Internet from an early age represents not only a useful educational tool; it can constitute a great danger when it is used to access contents unsuitable for their adaptive development. Accordingly, it is necessary to study the legal regulation of internet content and to evaluate how such regulation may affect rights. Further, it is also important to study of the impact and use of this technological tool at level of the familiar unit, to understand better how it can suggest appropriate social mechanisms for the constructive use of Internet. The present investigation involves these two aspects with the purpose of uniting the legal and social perspective in a joint analysis that allows one more a more integral vision of this problem of great interest at the global level. 

Calculators, mathematics and young children : a study of six children using calculators as part of the mathematics curriculum during their first two years of school

The thesis investigates the role a calculator can play in the developing number knowledge of three girls and three boys as part of their mathematics program, during their first two years at primary school. Random sampling was used initially to select six girls and six boys from the twenty-four children entering a 1993 prep class. These twelve children were interviewed on entrance to school and based on the performance of the twelve children on the initial interview, a girl and a boy were chosen from the higher, middle and lower achievers to take part in the full study. The class teachers involved were previously participants in the ‘Calculators in Primary Mathematics’ research program and were committed to the use of calculators in their mathematics program. A case study approach using qualitative methods within the activity theory framework is used to collect relevant data and information, an analysis of five interviews with each child and observations of the children in forty-one classroom lessons provides comprehensive data on the children's developing number knowledge during the two years. The analysis questionnaires establishes each teacher's perceptions of the children's number learning at the beginning and end of each year, compares teacher expectations with children's actual performance for the year and compares curriculum expectations with children's actual performance. A teacher interview established reasons for changes in teaching style; teacher expectations; children's number learning; and was used to confirm my research findings. An activity theory framework provides an appropriate means of co-coordinating perspectives within this research to enable a description of the child's number learning within a social environment. This framework allows for highlighting the mediation offered by the calculator supporting the children's number learning in the classroom. Levels of children's developing number knowledge reached when working with a calculator and as a result of calculator use are mapped against the levels recommended in ‘Mathematics in the National Curriculum’ (National Curriculum Council, December 1988), and the Curriculum and Standards Framework: Mathematics (Board of Studies 2000). Findings from this comparison illustrate that the six children's performance in number was enhanced when using a calculator and indicate that on-going development and understanding of number concepts occurred at levels of performance at least two years in advance of curriculum recommendations for the first two years of school.

Action research in higher education : the advancement of university learning and teaching

This thesis aims to contribute to the improvement and advancement of university learning, teaching, and staff development; to integrate educational theory and the practice of university teaching; and to contribute to the establishment of a new, emerging paradigm in higher education. The strategy towards achieving these aims comprises (1) an alternative research methodology in the interpretive, non-positivist paradigm; (2) an integrated framework drawing on a variety of previously unrelated theories to form an alternative model of university education; and (3) reference to the dialectical relationship between educational theory and teaching practice and their integration through action research in higher education. The thesis is not so much a critique of the traditional paradigm and of existing functionalist-structuralist approaches to higher education, but more a development and clarification of an alternative, dialectical, human action approach to higher education. The original contribution of this thesis to the theory and practice of higher education lies in the development (1) of an alternative model of university education based on an integration of previously unrelated domains of theory; (2) of a theoretical model of professional development as action research (the CRASP Model: Critical attitude, Research into teaching, Accountability, Self-evaluation, Professionalism); and (3) of action research projects in higher education. Action research is research by the university teachers themselves into their teaching practice, i.e. into problems of the curriculum and student learning. The case studies included in and appended to this thesis show that in one educational setting at least it was possible to improve and advance university learning and teaching through action research. The evidence for this advancement is provided in a number of previously published case studies compiled in the Appendix.