Recognising difference while promoting cohesion: the role of collaborative networks in education

The chapter outlines various approaches taken to the challenge of divided societies through education systems and links this to debates on political approaches to conflict resolution in Northern Ireland. The education debate has structural and affective components, while the political debate revolves around the privileging of identity or commonality. Applying the principle of recognition and the importance of tolerance is seen to provide a range of policy options, but the evidence of education interventions in Northern Ireland does not highlight any one policy option as the most effective, nor did the end of the violent conflict produce a new consensus on a way forward. The chapter argues that a key additional element to effective practice might be provided through the promotion of shared education through collaborative networks of schools which allows for the continued operation of separate schools while promoting an integrated experience for pupils and teachers.

The Influence of Education on Community Cohesion: Adaptation of Policy to Practice

In the last 15 years, social and community cohesion have become key concepts in European social, migration, and education policy. Although their definitions often remain ambiguous, social and community cohesion typically refer to harmonious coexistence of individuals of all cultural backgrounds within a community. Frequently connected with education at the elementary and secondary level, they are regarded a desirable outcome of compulsory schooling. Drawing on longitudinal data from 2 schools in England, the authors analyze the interplay between national policies of community cohesion and local level practices. In a discussion of the findings, the authors show that, despite the gaps between national policy and local practice, parental and community members’ involvement in school and family education are efficient tools to enhance community cohesion at the local level.

The Impact of School Leadership on Parental Engagement: a Study of Inclusion and Cohesion

This article focuses on the role played by principals in enhancing parental involvement in primary schools. The schools involved in this research were characterised by a high presence of ethnic minority children and were located in a neighbourhood of low social and economic status in the Midlands region of the United Kingdom. Qualitative methods were employed in order to explore the influence of strong leadership on engagement of the parents. The study spanned a period of four years, giving an opportunity to examine sustainability of the activities introduced by the principals and staff. The findings reported are based on data collected from an Infant and Junior School involved in a number of extra-curricular and curriculum-enhancing projects. It argues that strong leadership fosters engagement of parents in school activities and thus academic achievement of pupils improved over time. The findings bring evidence that the role of the school principal is crucial in the introduction, implementation and sustainability of solutions focused on parental involvement, as well as bringing benefits to the social cohesion of the local community. Full Text:

Explaining party cohesion and discipline in democratic legislatures: purposiveness and contexts

Legislative party discipline and cohesion are important phenomena in the study of political systems. Unless assumptions are made that parties are cohesive and act as unified collectivities with reasonably well-defined goals, it is really difficult, if not impossible, to consider their electoral and legislative roles usefully. But levels of legislative party cohesiveness are also important because they provide us with crucial information about how legislatures/ parliaments function and how they interact with executives/governments. Without cohesive (or disciplined) parties,1 government survival in parliamentary systems is threatened because executive and legislative powers are fused while in separated systems presidents' bases of legislative support become less stable. How do we explain varying levels of legislative party cohesion? The first part of this article draws on the purposive literature to explore the benefits and costs to legislators in democratic legislatures of joining and acting collectively and individualistically within political parties. This leads on to a discussion of various conceptual and empirical problems encountered in analysing intra-party cohesion and discipline in democratic legislatures on plenary votes. Finally, the article reviews the extant empirical evidence on how a multiplicity of systemic, party-levels and situational factors supposedly impact cohesion/discipline levels. The article ends with a discussion of the possibilities and limitations of building comparative models of cohesion/discipline.

Validation of a brief form of the Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion questionnaire.

The aim of this study was the validation of a brief form of the Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion questionnaire using data from 5065 men from the "Cohort Study on Substance-Use Risk Factors." A 9-item scale covering three factors was proposed. Excellent indices of internal consistency were measured (α = .93). The confirmatory factor analyses resulted in acceptable fit indices supporting measurement invariance across French and German forms. Significant correlations were found between the brief form of the Perceived Neighborhood Social Cohesion questionnaire, and satisfaction and self-reported health, providing evidence of the concurrent validity of the scale. Perceived neighborhood social cohesion, and depression and suicide attempts were negatively associated, sustaining the protective effect of perceived social cohesion.

Social capital and natural hazards : trust and cohesion in the eastern visayas of the Philippines

Cette thèse porte sur le capital social et les mesures prises afin de se préparer aux aléas naturels aux Philippines. L’archipel est régulièrement soumis à de nombreux risques de catastrophe, générant parfois des conséquences désastreuses pour la population et le patrimoine économique du pays. Par ailleurs, ces îles portent un lourd héritage colonial rendant omniprésents les inégalités socioéconomiques, le manque de solidarité et la pauvreté. Le concept du capital social demeure encore très polémique, cependant nous croyons qu'il peut s'avérer utile afin de mieux réfléchir à la façon dont les sociétés humaines interagissent avec les aléas naturels. Nos recherches mettent en avant l’importance des inégalités socioéconomiques, du contexte et de l'échelle géographique dans l’analyse du capital social et de la préparation aux aléas. Elles soulignent d'autre part que la compréhension des dynamiques sociales, telles que la confiance et la participation communautaire, ne peut être atteinte sans une considération des contextes politiques. Nous avons porté une attention particulière à l'examen des contextes et des différentes formes de capital social, et ce, à plusieurs niveaux géographiques (village, municipalité, région, pays). Un nombre croissant d'études montre que l'inégalité économique entraîne des conséquences néfastes sur le capital social. Des recherches récentes ont également commencé à interroger les rapports entre le capital social et les catastrophes dites « naturelles ». Notre thèse établit un lien entre ces deux approches en couplant une analyse générale de la situation des Philippines à une étude approfondie d'une municipalité rurale isolée de la région des Visayas orientales. L'argument central de cette thèse est que l'inégalité économique produit des effets néfastes sur le capital social, entraînant des répercussions négatives sur la prévention des catastrophes « naturelles ». Par le biais de l'analyse de plusieurs échelles géographiques, cette thèse entend montrer comment les inégalités, de par leur impact sur le capital social, contribuent à augmenter les chances de voir les aléas naturels se constituer en désastres. Nous avançons qu'un usage circonspect du concept de capital social, prenant en compte les complexités politiques, historiques, et géographiques du contexte auquel il s'applique, a la capacité d'améliorer la manière dont les gens se préparent collectivement afin d'éviter que les aléas ne se transforment en catastrophes.

El plan de lengua y cohesión social en Catañunya: primeros datos de una investigación = Language and Social Cohesion Plan in Catalonia: Initial research data

Los programas de inmersión lingüística han constituido y constituyen dentro del Sistema Educativo catalán la principal forma para que el alumnado de lengua familiar no-catalana aprenda una nueva lengua, el catalán, sin que, en su proceso de aprendizaje, vea mermado ni el desarrollo de su propia lengua ni su rendimiento académico. El éxito de la inmersión lingüística en las décadas anteriores ha sido frecuentemente utilizado como uno de los argumentos orientativos para justificar la política lingüística que se sigue en la escolarización de la infancia extranjera. Sin embargo, los resultados obtenidos por investigaciones recientes parece que no avalan empíricamente dicho argumento. Este artículo analiza dichos resultados y expone, a partir del Plan para la Lengua y Cohesión Social puesto en marcha por el Departamento de Educación de la Generalitat de Cataluña, cuáles son los retos que se presentan a su Sistema Educativo dentro del nuevo marco que supone el aumento de la diversidad cultural y lingüística en la actual sociedad catalana

El plan para la lengua y la cohesión social (Plan LIC) del gobierno de Cataluña = The language and social cohesion plan from the Government of Catalonia

El Plan para la Lengua y la Cohesión Social es un proyecto estratégico del gobierno de Cataluña para la mejora de la educación. Sus tres objetivos fundamentales son: consolidar la lengua catalana, fomentar la educación intercultural y promover la igualdad de oportunidades. Este artículo explica el origen y las finalidades del Plan, sus ejes estratégicos y emblemáticos, y los contextos socioculturales y políticos en los que se plantea y desarrolla

The growth effects of EU cohesion policy: a meta-analysis. Bruegel Working Paper 2012/14, October 2012

We run a standard income convergence analysis for the last decade and confirm an already established finding in the growth economics literature. EU countries are converging. Regions in Europe are also converging. But, within countries, regional disparities are on the rise. At the same time, there is probably no reason for EU Cohesion Policy to be concerned with what happens inside countries. Ultimately, our data shows that national governments redistribute well across regions, whether they are fiscally centralised or decentralised. It is difficult to establish if Structural and Cohesion Funds play any role in recent growth convergence patterns in Europe. Generally, macroeconomic simulations produce better results than empirical tests. It is thus possible that Structural Funds do not fully realise their potential either because they are not efficiently allocated or are badly managed or are used for the wrong investments, or a combination of all three. The approach to assess the effectiveness of EU funds should be consistent with the rationale behind the post-1988 EU Cohesion Policy. Standard income convergence analysis is certainly not sufficient and should be accompanied by an assessment of the changes in the efficiency of the capital stock in the recipient countries or regions as well as by a more qualitative assessment. EU funds for competitiveness and employment should be allocated by looking at each region’s capital efficiency to maximise growth generating effects or on a pure competitive.