TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD INCLUSION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN RURAL EL SALVADOR

The attitude of school teachers toward inclusion of children with disabilities is an important factor in the successful implementation of a national inclusion program. With the universal pressure to provide education for all and international recognition of the importance of meeting the needs of diverse populations, inclusive education has become important to governments around the world. El Salvador’s Ministry of Education seeks to establish inclusion as an integral part of their struggle to meet the needs of children across the country, but this is a difficult process, especially for a country with limited resources which still struggles to meet international expectations of educational access and quality. Teacher attitude is an important factor in the success of inclusion programs and can be investigated in relation to various factors which may affect teachers’ classroom practice. While these factors have been investigated in multiple countries, there is a need for more knowledge of the present situation in developing countries and especially in schools across the rural areas of El Salvador to meet the needs of the diverse learners in that country. My research was a mixed methods case study of the rural schools of one municipality, using a published survey and interviews with teachers to investigate their attitudes regarding inclusion. This research was the first investigation of teachers’ attitudes toward inclusion in rural El Salvador and explored the needs and challenges which exist in creating inclusive schools across this country. The findings of this study revealed the following important themes. Some children with disabilities are not in school and those with mild disabilities are not always getting needed services. Teachers agreed with the philosophy of inclusion, but believed that some children with disabilities would receive a better education in special schools. They were not concerned about classroom management. Teachers desired more training on disability and inclusion. They believed that a lack of resources, including materials and personnel, was a major barrier to inclusion. Teachers’ attitudes were consistent regardless of family and professional experience with disability or amount of inclusion training. They were concerned about the role of family support for children with disabilities.

Indoor air quality in Portuguese schools: levels and sources of pollutants

Indoor air quality (IAQ) parameters in 73 primary classrooms in Porto were examined for the purpose of assessing levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), aldehydes, particulate matter, ventilation rates and bioaerosols within and between schools, and potential sources. Levels of VOCs, aldehydes, PM2.5 , PM10 , bacteria and fungi, carbon dioxide (CO2 ), carbon monoxide, temperature and relative humidity were measured indoors and outdoors and a walkthrough survey was performed concurrently. Ventilation rates were derived from CO2 and occupancy data. Concentrations of CO2 exceeding 1000 ppm were often encountered, indicating poor ventilation. Most VOCs had low concentrations (median of individual species <5 μg/m(3) ) and were below the respective WHO guidelines. Concentrations of particulate matter and culturable bacteria were frequently higher than guidelines/reference values. The variability of VOCs, aldehydes, bioaerosol concentrations, and CO2 levels between schools exceeded the variability within schools. These findings indicate that IAQ problems may persist in classrooms where pollutant sources exist and classrooms are poorly ventilated; source control strategies (related to building location, occupant behavior, maintenance/cleaning activities) are deemed to be the most reliable for the prevention of adverse health consequences in children in schools.

Complexos de estudo: investigando um experimento de currículo em uma escola de assentamento do MST no Paraná

The Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) from its educational process and the path taken in education, started in the year 2013, with an experimental curricular proposal by Complexes of study the School Base and the Itinerant Schools, the MST, in Paraná state. For the construction of this proposed curriculum, the movement takes the historical background and the experience of the original foundations of the single school of labor started by the working class in revolutionary Soviet period as a training proposal and school organization that comes close to the creation of collective subjects, fighters and builders of a new society and sociopolitical objectives to this social movement. The Soviet experiment reference required a work of a critical appropriation for the Brazilian context. The curriculum prescription, called Study Plan, in its introduction, includes elements of design fundamentals like: the Education Eesign and Training Matrix; Matrix detailing: School and Life, School and Labor Formative Matrix, School and Social Struggle Formative Matrix, School and Collective Organization Formative Matrix, School and Culture Formative Matrix and School and History Formative Matrix; general school guidelines: a pedagogical function of the environment, the school's political organization, school times, specific methodological aspects, sequencing and duration of Complexes of Study and the evaluation process. The Study Plan contemplates the complexes, the disciplines, the portions of reality / practice categories present in complexes, organized by semester and year, i. e., from 6th to 9th grade in elementary school. Given the the presented context, this research aims to analyze the process of testing the proposed curriculum for the Complexes of Study in Primary School of Iraci Salette Strozak State School, located in the Marcos Freire Settlement, in Rio Bonito do Iguaçu in Paraná state. As a methodological approach, we chose the qualitative approach and analysis were conducted under the Marxism perspective. Library research and field research, semi-structured interviews and analysis of documents generated in the process of construction of the proposal were made.Initially, in this paper, we discus about the path followed by the MST in the fight for schools and public education; highlighting elements of the process which led to the understanding, by the Movement, of which only the struggle for land is not enough for the realization of Agrarian Reform. Then discuss whether some elements of Pedagogy of the Movement, the concept of education and the goals for education that Social Movement, the training matrices and the potential to transform the school from a pedagogical proposal that has these elements as guiding. They present also the original foundations of Complexes Study in its historical origin and design. Is discussed about the changes and curriculum innovations, curriculum as schooling as social reproduction and presents the structure of Curriculum Proposal by Complex of Study. Forth, it is shown how the experiment occurred in basis School Iraci Salette Strozak. At this point, we propose a dialogue on the transformations in the organization of pedagogical work, discussing the elements of the proposal that are being experienced and the changes already perceived. Still, we address the issue of formation of educators and also elements relating to the challenges andadvancements encountered by the school in this area, and possible implications for the experiment.

Optimization of flocculation process and continuous filtration for sea water primary treatment filtration to reduce SDI for entree to reverse osmosis system

Today , Providing drinking water and process water is one of the major problems in most countries ; the surface water often need to be treated to achieve necessary quality, and in this way, technological and also financial difficulties cause great restrictions in operating the treatment units. Although water supply by simple and cheap systems has been one of the important objectives in most scientific and research centers in the world, still a great percent of population in developing countries, especially in rural areas, don't benefit well quality water. One of the big and available sources for providing acceptable water is sea water. There are two ways to treat sea water first evaporation and second reverse osmosis system. Nowadays R.O system has been used for desalination because of low budget price and easily to operate and maintenance. The sea water should be pretreated before R.O plants, because there is some difficulties in raw sea water that can decrease yield point of membranes in R.O system. The subject of this research may be useful in this way, and we hope to be able to achieve complete success in design and construction of useful pretreatment systems for R.O plant. One of the most important units in the sea water pretreatment plant is filtration, the conventional method for filtration is pressurized sand filters, and the subject of this research is about new filtration which is called continuous back wash sand filtration (CBWSF). The CBWSF designed and tested in this research may be used more economically with less difficulty. It consists two main parts first shell body and second central part comprising of airlift pump, raw water feeding pipe, air supply hose, backwash chamber and sand washer as well as inlet and outlet connections. The CBWSF is a continuously operating filter, i.e. the filter does not have to be taken out of operation for backwashing or cleaning. Inlet water is fed through the sand bed while the sand bed is moving downwards. The water gets filtered while the sand becomes dirty. Simultaneously, the dirty sand is cleaned in the sand washer and the suspended solids are discharged in backwash water. We analyze the behavior of CBWSF in pretreatment of sea water instead of pressurized sand filter. There is one important factor which is not suitable for R.O membranes, it is bio-fouling. This factor is defined by Silt Density Index (SDI).measured by SDI. In this research has been focused on decreasing of SDI and NTU. Based on this goal, the prototype of pretreatment had been designed and manufactured to test. The system design was done mainly by using the design fundamentals of CBWSF. The automatic backwash sand filter can be used in small and also big water supply schemes. In big water treatment plants, the units of filters perform the filtration and backwash stages separately, and in small treatment plants, the unit is usually compacted to achieve less energy consumption. The analysis of the system showed that it may be used feasibly for water treating, especially for limited population. The construction is rapid, simple and economic, and its performance is high enough because no mobile mechanical part is used in it, so it may be proposed as an effective method to improve the water quality and consequently the hygiene level in the remote places of the country.

Embedding sustainability into the new computer science curriculum for English schools

The primary goals of this study are to: embed sustainable concepts of energy consumption into certain part of existing Computer Science curriculum for English schools; investigate how to motivate 7-to-11 years old kids to learn these concepts; promote responsive ICT (Information and Communications Technology) use by these kids in their daily life; raise their awareness of today’s ecological challenges. Sustainability-related ICT lessons developed aim to provoke computational thinking and creativity to foster understanding of environmental impact of ICT and positive environmental impact of small changes in user energy consumption behaviour. The importance of including sustainability into the Computer Science curriculum is due to the fact that ICT is both a solution and one of the causes of current world ecological problems. This research follows Agile software development methodology. In order to achieve the aforementioned goals, sustainability requirements, curriculum requirements and technical requirements are firstly analysed. Secondly, the web-based user interface is designed. In parallel, a set of three online lessons (video, slideshow and game) is created for the website GreenICTKids.com taking into account several green design patterns. Finally, the evaluation phase involves the collection of adults’ and kids’ feedback on the following: user interface; contents; user interaction; impacts on the kids’ sustainability awareness and on the kids’ behaviour with technologies. In conclusion, a list of research outcomes is as follows: 92% of the adults learnt more about energy consumption; 80% of the kids are motivated to learn about energy consumption and found the website easy to use; 100% of the kids understood the contents and liked website’s visual aspect; 100% of the kids will try to apply in their daily life what they learnt through the online lessons.

On the way to universal coverage of maternal services in Iringa rural District in Tanzania. Who is yet to be reached?

Background: Strategies to tackle maternal mortality in sub-Saharan Africa include expanding coverage of reproductive services.Even where high, more vulnerable women may not access services. No data is available on high coverage determinants. We investigated this in Tanzania in a predicted high utilization area. Methods: Data was collected through a household survey of 464 women with a recent delivery. Primary outcomes were facility delivery and ≥4 ANC visits. Determinants were analysed using multivariate regression. Results: Almost all women had attended ANC, though only 58.3% had ≥4 visits. ≥4 visits were more likely in the youngest age group (OR 2.7 95% CI 1.32–5.49, p=0.008), and in early ANC attenders (OR 3.2 95% CI 2.04–4.90, p<0.001). Facility delivery was greater than expected (87.7%), more likely in more educated women (OR 2.7 95% CI 1.50–4.75, p=0.002), in those within 5 kilometers of a facility (OR 3.2 95% CI 1.59–6.48, p=0.002), and for early ANC attenders (OR 2.4 95% CI 1.20–4.91, p=0.02). Conclusion: Rural contexts can achieve high facility delivery coverage. Based on our findings, strategies to reach women yet unserved should include promotion of early ANC start particularly for the less educated, and improvement of distant communities' access to facilities.

The revolving door of mental, neurological, and substance use disorders re-hospitalization in rural KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

Objective: Little is known about the extent of mental, neurological and substance-use (MNS) disorders re-hospitalization in South Africa. We examined the extent of one-year MNS re-hospitalization (MNS-R) in a rural South African primary health care facility (PHCF). Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of hospital administrative data from 10,525 adults discharged from a rural PHCF in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Chi-squared tests were utilized to describe MNS-R within one year of an index hospital admission in individuals with MNS, with a sub-analysis also being conducted to describe schizophrenia re-hospitalization (S-R). Results: The prevalence of MNS and schizophrenia recorded at an index hospitalization was 5% and 1%, respectively. A total of 44/67 (66%) individuals with a diagnosis of MNS at the index hospitalization were classified as having MNS-R during oneyear follow-up period. Half of those diagnosed with schizophrenia at the index hospitalization (6/12 patients) were classified as having S-R during one-year follow-up period. There was a significant association between re-hospitalization outcomes (MNS-R and S-R) and MNS (p<0.01) or schizophrenia diagnosis (p<0.01) at index baseline hospitalization. Conclusion: The extent of MNS-R and S-R remains relatively high in rural South Africa, and needs further health systems strengthening to prevent revolving door occurrences.

Job satisfaction among primary school personnel in Madagascar

This article analyzes the job satisfaction of primary school teachers in Madagascar. Based on the estimation of multilevel models, low wages and problems getting paid, job insecurity, lack of in-service training, high pupil-teacher ratios, and lack of basic infrastructure and teaching materials are identified as the main reasons for dissatisfaction. Principals’ control of teachers’ activities also adversely affects satisfaction, suggesting that, in Malagasy schools, neither school directors nor teachers have succeeded in adopting organizational cultures based on cooperation among their members. These results are likely to stimulate debates on educational policy, both in Madagascar and in many other developing countries.

A inclusão da diversidade linguística no ensino básico na perspectiva de pais e professores : Um estudo de caso no interior rural

É num quadro internacional caracterizado pela crescente multi/interculturalidade das populações escolares, que se inscreve o presente trabalho de investigação, que tem como tema a inclusão da diversidade linguística no ensino básico, no contexto específico da Escola Básica com Jardim-de-infância de Ammaia, situada no interior rural de Portugal, mais precisamente no Alto Alentejo. A pesquisa, alicerçada no paradigma interpretativo, caracterizou-se por uma investigação de cariz qualitativo, mais precisamente um estudo de caso, que teve como principal fonte de recolha de dados as entrevistas em profundidade, realizadas a quatro docentes e a um encarregado de educação imigrante, as quais foram objecto de análise de conteúdo posterior. Entre os objectivos do estudo encontravam-se a identificação de algumas respostas educativas organizadas pelas escolas, no âmbito da sua autonomia, com vista a inclusão dos alunos migrantes e dos principais factores de favorecimento e de obstrução à inclusão dos mesmos, na perspectiva e concepção dos mais directos intervenientes no processo, nomeadamente os professores e os pais ou encarregados de educação destes alunos. Da análise e interpretação dos resultados ficou expresso o esforço que as comunidades educativas vêm fazendo com vista a adaptarem-se à inclusão da multi/interculturalidade, designadamente a linguística, não obstante as dificuldades com que se debatem, tais como a falta de formação da docente e a escassez de recursos para garantir o sucesso destes alunos. Além disso, permitiu comprovar alguns dados apontados pela investigação, nomeadamente a disseminação desta população por todo o território nacional e a generalização da prática denominada por «desclassificação», através da colocação dos alunos em níveis inferiores aos que frequentavam no estrangeiro. Foi igualmente possível apontar alguns dos factores que mais contribuirão para a sua inclusão, dos quais se destaca o estabelecimento de relações afectivas sólidas por parte destes alunos com os seus pares e a necessidade de fazer uso de métodos progressivos e flexíveis, adaptados às necessidades e capacidades dos alunos, capazes de lhes garantirem um nível adequado de proficiência da língua portuguesa, enquanto factor essencial ao seu sucesso educativo. ABSTRACT: It is in an international context, characterized by the growing cultural, ethnical, linguistic diversity and other aspects of school populations, which lead educational communities to severe changes, that the present investigational work refers to, whose topic is the inclusion of language diversity in the basic teaching, in the specific context of Escola Básica com Jardim de Infância de Ammaia, located in the rural interior of Portugal, to be more accurate, in the North Alentejo region. The research, based on the interpretational paradigm, is characterized by a qualitative investigation, more precisely in a case study, which had as a main source of data gathering the interviews done to four teachers and an immigrant parent, which were subjected to posterior content analysis. Among the aims of the study were the identification of some educational responses organized by schools, in the extent of its autonomy, regarding the inclusion of migrant pupils and the main favoring and obstruction factors to the inclusion of these same pupils, in the perspective, conception and comprehension of the most direct intervenient in the process, namely teachers and parents of these pupils. From the analysis and interpretation of the results it is visible the effort educational communities have been making in order to adapt themselves to the inclusion of the multi/interculturality, namely linguistic, in spite of the difficulties they find, such as the lack of formation of teachers and the scarcity of resources to guarantee the success of this new school population. Likewise, it allowed to prove some data pointed out by the investigation, namely the dissemination of this population throughout the national territory and the generalization of the practice called "disqualification”, by placing pupils in inferior levels to those they attended abroad. It was also possible to point out some of the factors that most contribute to their inclusion, of which stand out the establishment of solid affective relationship between these pupils and their peers and the necessity to use progressive and flexible methods, adapted to the needs and capacities of the pupils, able to guarantee an adequate proficiency level of the Portuguese language, as the key factor to their educational success.

"Going outside": discussing the connection between pedagogical practices with digital tools and outdoor learning in early childhood and primary education

Technology has an important role in children's lives and education. Based on several projects developed with ICT, both in Early Childhood Education (3-6 years old) and Primary Education (6-10 years old), since 1997, the authors argue that research and educational practices need to "go outside", addressing ways to connect technology with outdoor education. The experience with the projects and initiatives developed supported a conceptual framework, developed and discussed with several partners throughout the years and theoretically informed. Three main principles or axis have emerged: strengthening Children's Participation, promoting Critical Citizenship and establishing strong Connections to Pedagogy and Curriculum. In this paper, those axis will be presented and discussed in relation to the challenge posed by Outdoor Education to the way ICT in Early Childhood and Primary Education is understood, promoted and researched. The paper is exploratory, attempting to connect theoretical and conceptual contributions from Early Childhood Pedagogy with contributions from ICT in Education. The research-based knowledge available is still scarce, mostly based on studies developed with other purposes. The paper, therefore, focus the connections and interpellations between concepts established through the theoretical framework and draws on the almost 20 years of experience with large and small scale action-research projects of ICT in schools. The more recent one is already testing the conceptual framework by supporting children in non-formal contexts to explore vineyards and the cycle of wine production with several ICT tools. Approaching Outdoor Education as an arena where pedagogical and cultural dimensions influence decisions and practices, the paper tries to argue that the three axis are relevant in supporting a stronger connection between technology and the outdoor.

School belongingness and mental health functioning across the primary-secondary transition in a mainstream sample: Multi-group cross-lagged analyses

The relationship between school belongingness and mental health functioning before and after the primary-secondary school transition has not been previously investigated in students with and without disabilities. This study used a prospective longitudinal design to test the bi-directional relationships between these constructs, by surveying 266 students with and without disabilities and their parents, 6-months before and after the transition to secondary school. Cross-lagged multi-group analyses found student perception of belongingness in the final year of primary school to contribute to change in their mental health functioning a year later. The beneficial longitudinal effects of school belongingness on subsequent mental health functioning were evident in all student subgroups; even after accounting for prior mental health scores and the cross-time stability in mental health functioning and school belongingness scores. Findings of the current study substantiate the role of school contextual influences on early adolescent mental health functioning. They highlight the importance for primary and secondary schools to assess students' school belongingness and mental health functioning and transfer these records as part of the transition process, so that appropriate scaffolds are in place to support those in need. Longer term longitudinal studies are needed to increase the understanding of the temporal sequencing between school belongingness and mental health functioning of all mainstream students.

Urban-rural connections and development perspectives in Portugal

Portugal is characterized by a significant asymmetry in the population distribution/density and economic activity as well as in social and cultural dynamics. This means very diverse landscapes, differences in regional development, sustainability and quality of life, mainly between urban and rural areas. A consequence coherent with the contemporary dynamics: urbanization of many rural areas that loose their productive-agricultural identity and, simultaneously, the reintegration in urban areas of spaces and activities with more rural characteristics. In this process of increasing complexity of organization of the landscape is essential to restore the continuum naturale (between urban and rural areas) allowing closer links to both ways of life. A strategy supported in the landscape, which plays important functions for public interest, in the cultural, social, ecological and environmental fields. At the same time, constitutes an important resource for economic activity, as underlined in the European Landscape Convention. Based on this assumption, and using a multi-method approach, the study aims to analyse a) the links between urban and rural areas in Portugal and b) the reasons why these territories are chosen by individuals as places of work and mobility, residence or evasion, culture and leisure, tranquillity or excitement – meaning overall well-being. Primary information was obtained by a questionnaire survey applied to a convenience sample of the Portuguese population. Secondary data and information will be collected on the official Portuguese Statistics (INE and PORDATA). Understanding the urban-rural links is essential to support policy measures, take advantage from the global changes and challenge many of the existing myths.

Educational Inclusion in the Regular Classroom: an Asperger Syndrome Case

The following paper resulted from the final research project conducted for my Master’s Degree in Teacher Training for Teachers of Primary Education (1st – 6th grade of the Basic General Education). This research project was conducted under the supervision of the Rural Education Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE-UNA, Spanish acronym), in coordination with the Central America Educational and Cultural Coordination (CECC). The research is qualitative with an interpretative approach. Our main objective was to analyze the process of inclusive education in the regular classroom for a person with Asperger’s Syndrome, defined as a type of social impairment. The case study method was used in this research, as it allows a deeper study. A girl was chosen from a public school in an urban area of San José, Costa Rica. Three techniques were used to obtain information: interviews, questionnaires and documentation (personal file, behavior record, and psychological assessment) related to the girl with Asperger. The triangulation of sources was used as a method of analysis. The conclusion of the project was that regular schools may have children miss-diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, and that our schools are still far from achieving inclusive education, but efforts are being made to achieve it. For a more opportune intervention, some recommendations based on this study were provided to the family and the school of the girl with Asperger.

Contributions of the Rural Education Project (PER)

This paper presents the results of the research project “El proceso de formación inicial del Proyecto de Educación Rural (PER)” (creation of the Rural Education Project, PER by its Spanish acronym), conducted between 1984 and 1987 in the Regional Offices of the Ministry of Public Education in San Carlos, Coto and Limón. The Rural Education Project (PER) was implemented by the Center of Research and Teaching in Education (CIDE) of the Universidad Nacional (UNA) aiming at training teachers of single-teacher schools located in rural areas. The objective of our research was to collect the contributions of PER bearing in mind the training processes required today, and considering the success of PER, which was based on the leadership of teachers to promote community progress in rural areas from the classroom, an input to be considered in the new learning processes of Rural Education

[health Protection For Rural Workers: The Need To Standardize Techniques For Quantifying Dermal Exposure To Pesticides].

Quantification of dermal exposure to pesticides in rural workers, used in risk assessment, can be performed with different techniques such as patches or whole body evaluation. However, the wide variety of methods can jeopardize the process by producing disparate results, depending on the principles in sample collection. A critical review was thus performed on the main techniques for quantifying dermal exposure, calling attention to this issue and the need to establish a single methodology for quantification of dermal exposure in rural workers. Such harmonization of different techniques should help achieve safer and healthier working conditions. Techniques that can provide reliable exposure data are an essential first step towards avoiding harm to workers' health.