Schools as Oral Health Promoters – Evaluation of National Sweet Selling Recommendation and Oral Health Education Material

The aims were to find out 1) if schools’ oral health practices were associated with pupils’ oral health behaviour and whether 2) the national sweet-selling recommendation and 3) distributing oral health material (OHEM) affected schools as oral health promoters. Three independently collected datasets from Finnish upper comprehensive schools (N=988) were used: longitudinal oral health practices data (n=258) with three-year follow up (2007 n=480, 2008 n=508, 2009 n=593) from principals’ online questionnaires, oral health behaviour data from pupils participating in the national School Health Promotion Study (n=970 schools) and oral health education data from health education teachers’ online questionnaires (2008 n=563, 2009 n=477 teachers). Oral health practices data and oral health behaviour data were combined (n=414) to answer aim 1. For aims 2 and 3, oral health practices data and oral health education data were used independently. School sweet selling and an open campus policy were associated with pupils’ use of sweet products and tobacco products during school time. The National Recommendation was quite an effective way to reduce the number of sweet-selling schools, but there were large regional differences and a lack of a clear oral health policy in the schools. OHEM did not increase the proportion of teachers teaching oral health, but teachers started to cover oral health topics more frequently. Women started to use OHEM more often than men did. Schools’ oral health policy should include prohibiting the selling of sweet products in school by legislative actions, enabling healthy alternatives instead, and setting a closed campus policy to protect pupils from school-time sweet consuming and smoking.

Changing teachers´ practices in regular schools enrolling children with visual impairment

The number of persons with visual impairment in Tanzania is estimated to over 1.6 million. About half a million of these persons are children aged 7-13. Only about 1% of these children are enrolled in schools. The special schools and units are too few and in most cases they are far away from the children’s homes. More and more regular schools are enrolling children with visual impairment, but the schools lack financial resources, tactile teaching materials and trained special education teachers. Children with visual impairment enrolled in regular schools seldom get enough support and often fail in examinations. The general aim of this study was to contribute to increased knowledge and understanding about how teachers can change their teaching practices and thus facilitate the learning of children with visual impairment included in regular classrooms as they participate in an action research project. The project was conducted in a primary school in a poor rural region with a high frequency of blindness and visual impairment. The school was poorly resourced and the average number of pupils per class was 90. The teachers who participated in the collaborative action research project were the 14 teachers who taught blind or visually impaired pupils in grades 4 and 6, in total 6 pupils. The action research project was conducted during a period of 6 months and was carried out in five cycles. The teachers were actively involved in all the project activities; identifying challenges, planning solutions, producing teaching materials, reflecting on outcomes, collaborating and evaluating. Empirical data was collected with questionnaires, interviews, observations and focus group discussions. The findings of the study show that the teachers managed to change their teaching practices through systematic reflection, analysis and collaboration. The teachers produced a variety of tactile teaching materials, which facilitated the learning of the pupils with visual impairment. The pupils learned better and felt more included in the regular classes. The teachers gained new knowledge and skills. They grew professionally and started to collaborate with each other. The study contributes to new knowledge of how collaborative action research can be conducted in the area of special education in a Tanzanian school context. The study has also relevance to the planning of school-based professional development programs and teacher education programs in Tanzania and in other low-income countries. The results also point at strategies which can promote inclusion of children with disabilities in regular schools.

School funding and education policy-making models in Ontario /

The purpose of this thesis is to examine various policy implementation models, and to determine what use they are to a government. In order to insure that governmental proposals are created and exercised in an effective manner, there roust be some guidelines in place which will assist in resolving difficult situations. All governments face the challenge of responding to public demand, by delivering the type of policy responses that will attempt to answer those demands. The problem for those people in positions of policy-making responsibility is to balance the competitive forces that would influence policy. This thesis examines provincial government policy in two unique cases. The first is the revolutionary recommendations brought forth in the Hall -Dennis Report. The second is the question of extending full -funding to the end of high school in the separate school system. These two cases illustrate how divergent and problematic the policy-making duties of any government may be. In order to respond to these political challenges decision-makers must have a clear understanding of what they are attempting to do. They must also have an assortment of policy-making models that will insure a policy response effectively deals with the issue under examination. A government must make every effort to insure that all policymaking methods are considered, and that the data gathered is inserted into the most appropriate model. Currently, there is considerable debate over the benefits of the progressive individualistic education approach as proposed by the Hall -Dennis Committee. This debate is usually intensified during periods of economic uncertainty. Periodically, the province will also experience brief yet equally intense debate on the question of separate school funding. At one level, this debate centres around the efficiency of maintaining two parallel education systems, but the debate frequently has undertones of the religious animosity common in Ontario's history. As a result of the two policy cases under study we may ask ourselves these questions: a) did the policies in question improve the general quality of life in the province? and b) did the policies unite the province? In the cases of educational instruction and finance the debate is ongoing and unsettling. Currently, there is a widespread belief that provincial students at the elementary and secondary levels of education are not being educated adequately to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century. The perceived culprit is individual education which sees students progressing through the system at their own pace and not meeting adequate education standards. The question of the finance of Catholic education occasionally rears its head in a painful fashion within the province. Some public school supporters tend to take extension as a personal religious defeat, rather than an opportunity to demonstrate that educational diversity can be accommodated within Canada's most populated province. This thesis is an attempt to analyze how successful provincial policy-implementation models were in answering public demand. A majority of the public did not demand additional separate school funding, yet it was put into place. The same majority did insist on an examination of educational methods, and the government did put changes in place. It will also demonstrate how policy if wisely created may spread additional benefits to the public at large. Catholic students currently enjoy a much improved financial contribution from the province, yet these additional funds were taken from somewhere. The public system had it funds reduced with what would appear to be minimal impact. This impact indicates that government policy is still sensitive to the strongly held convictions of those people in opposition to a given policy.

Aging policy: a case study of co-ordination in Canadian governments

ABSTRACT Canada is an aging society. The number of people aged sixty-five and over is rising, while the number of people under twenty is declining. These two concurrent changes in the age structure have produced a sh~ft in the demographic composition of Canada which is commonly referred to as the aging phenomenon. Regardless of whether or not the number of people under twenty continues to decline, the number of elderly in Canada will almost double over the next twenty years. This rapidly growing elderly clientele will doubtless have an impact on Canadian governments. Federal, provincial and municipal governments are presently providing a variety of programs that have a special bearing on the aged and most senior citizens are beneficiaries of one or more of these programs. The ramifications of a rapidly growing elderly clientele are obvious. In order to cope with the impact of a significant increase in the number of elderly persons, the development and implementation of aging policy must be co-ordinated at each level of government and between and among levels of government. If aging policy is not co-ordinated, the results are likely to be: inappropriate policy decisions; duplication and overlap; and, ineffective and irresponsive services. No one benefits from these results. The need for co-ordination is apparent. The purpose of this thesis is to examine existing governmental efforts to co-ordinate policy in the field of aging. These efforts are examined by focusing on interactions directed at co-ordination between and among major actors in aging policy. A framework is used to structure the description and analysis of these interactions. The variables of formalisation and intensity and the concept of power are instrumental in analysing interactions for co-ordination. The underlying intent of this thesis is to discover some of the main gaps in existing governmental efforts to co~ordinate aging policy. Gaps are, in fact, discovered. Several explanations for the existence of gaps in interactions for co-ordination are discussed. A major hypothesis involving a relationship between a bureaucratic form of organisation and interactions for coordination is suggested. Finally, three recommendations for improving co-ordination in aging policy are offered.

The impact of tobacco control policies on university students' smoking in Ontario

Objective. Despite steady declines in the prevalence of tobacco use among Canadians, young adult tobacco use has remained stubbornly high over the past two decades (CTUMS, 2005a). Currently in Ontario, young adults have the highest proportion of smokers of all age cohorts at 26%. A growing body of evidence shows that smoking restrictions and other tobacco control policies can reduce tobacco use and consumption among adults and deter initiation among youth; whether young adult university students' smoking participation is influenced by community smoking restrictions, campus tobacco control policies or both remains an empirical question. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship among current smoking status of students on university campuses across Ontario and various tobacco control policies, 3including clean air bylaws of students' home towns, clean air by-laws of the community where the university is situated, and campus policies. Methods. Two data sets were used. The 200512006 Tobacco Use in a Representative Sample of Post-Secondary Students data set provides information about the tobacco use of 10,600 students from 23 universities and colleges across Ontario. Data screening for this study reduced the sample to 5,114 17-to-24 year old undergraduate students from nine universities. The second data set is researcher-generated and includes information about strength and duration of, and students' exposure to home town, local and campus tobacco control policies. Municipal by-laws (of students' home towns and university towns) were categorized as weak, moderate or strong based on criteria set out in the Ontario Municipal By-law Report; campus policies were categorized in a roughly parallel fashion. Durations of municipal and campus policies were calculated; and length of students' exposure to the policies was estimated (all in months). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between students' current smoking status (daily, less-than-daily, never-smokers) and the following policy measures: strength of, duration of, and students' exposure to campus policy; strength of, duration of, and students' exposure to the by-law in the university town; and, strength of, duration of, and students' exposure to the by-law in the home town they grew up in. Sociodemographic variables were controlled for. Results. Among the Ontario university students surveyed, 7.0% currently use tobacco daily and 15.4% use tobacco less-than-daily. The proportions of students experiencing strong tobacco control policies in their home town, the community in which their university is located and at their current university were 33.9%,64.1 %, and 31.3% respectively. However, 13.7% of students attended a university that had a weak campus policy. Multinomial logistic regressions suggested current smoking status was associated with university town by-law strength, home town by-law strength and the strength of the campus tobacco control policy. In the fmal model, after controlling for sociodemographic factors, a strong by-law in the university town and a strong by-law in students' home town were associated with reduced odds of being both a less-than-daily (OR = 0.64, 95%CI: 0.48-0.86; OR = 0.80, 95%CI: 0.66-0.95) and daily smoker (OR = 0.59, 95%CI: 0.39-0.89; OR = 0.76, 95%CI: 0.58-0.99), while a weak campus tobacco control policy was associated with higher odds of being a daily smoker (OR = 2.08, 95%CI: 1.31-3.30) (but unrelated to less-than-daily smoking). Longer exposure to the municipal by-law (OR = 0.93; 95%CI: 0.90-0.96) was also related to smoking status. Conclusions. Students' smoking prevalence was associated with the strength of the restrictions in university, and with campus-specific tobacco control policies. Lessthan- daily smoking was not as strongly associated with policy measures as daily smoking was. University campuses may wish to adopt more progressive campus policies and support clean air restrictions in the broader community. More research is needed to determine the direction of influence between tobacco control policies and students' smoking.

Unveiling Shi’i Religious Identities: Case Studies of Hijab in Culturally Homogeneous Canadian Schools

This qualitative case study explored 10 young female Shi’i Muslim Arabic-Canadian students’ experiences associated with wearing the Hijab (headscarf) within their home, community, and predominantly White Canadian public elementary school environments. The study integrated several bodies of scholarly theories in order to examine the data under a set of comprehensive lenses that more fully articulates and theorizes on the diversity of female Shi’i Muslim Canadian students’ experiences. These theories are: identity theories with a focus on religious identity and negative stereotypes associated with Muslims; feminism and the Hijab discourses; research pertaining to Muslims in school settings; and critical race theory. In order to readdress the dearth of information about Shi’is’ experiences in schools, this study provides an in-depth case study analysis in which the methodology strategies included 10 semi-structured in-depth interviews, 2 focus-group meetings, and the incorporation of the researcher’s fieldnotes. Data analysis revealed the following themes corresponding to participants’ experiences and values in their social worlds of home, community, and schools: (a) martyrdom and self-sacrifice as a means for social justice; (b) transformational meaning of the Hijab; (c) intersectionality between culture, religion, and gender; and (d) effects of visits “back home” on participants’ religious identities. Additional themes related to participants’ school experiences included: (a) “us versus them” mentality; (b) religious and complex secular dialogues; (c) absence of Muslim representations in monocultural schools; (d) discrimination; (e) remaining silent versus speaking out; and (f) participants’ strategies for preserving their identities. Recommendations are made to integrate Shi’i Muslim females’ identity within the context of Islam and the West, most notably in relation to: (a) the role of Muslim community in nondiverse settings as a space that advances and nurtures Shi’i Muslim identity; and (b) holistic and culturally responsive teaching that fosters respect of others’ religiosity and spirituality. This study makes new inroads into feminist theorizing by drawing conceptual links between these previously unknown connections such as the impact of the historical female exemplary role model and the ritual stories on the experiences of Muslim females wearing the Hijab.

The relationship between socioeconomic status, schools and bone health among adolescent females in Southern Ontario

We studied the association between socioeconomic status (SES), school attended and bone health measured by bone speed of sound (SOS) among adolescent females in Canada. 412 participants from six randomly selected schools in Southern Ontario were examined. Bone SOS was measured by quantitative ultrasound. Participant’s school and aggregate area-based census-derived (AABCD) SES were evaluated as predictors. Mean participant age was 15.7 (SD 1.0) years. Average median family income was $68,162 (SD $19,366). Median family income was non-linearly associated with bone SOS and restricted cubic splines described the relationship. Univariate regression, accounting for clustering of participants in schools, revealed a significant non-linear association between AABCD-median family income and non-dominant tibial SOS (LRT p = 0.031). Multivariable regression revealed school to have a significant impact (LRT p = 0.0001). High schools had a strong influence on the bone health of female students and this effect overrode the effect of SES.

A qualitative study of curriculum and instructional efforts in relation to high stakes federal and district policies in one low-performing elementary school

Les enjeux liés aux politiques éducatives ont considérablement changé au cours des dernières décennies. Ces changements sont liés, entre autres, à l’accroissement de l’imputabilité et de la reddition de compte qui est devenue une caractéristique importante des réformes curriculaires et pédagogiques. Les politiques à enjeux élevés exercent une pression énorme sur les districts et les écoles états-unienne afin qu’ils augmentent le rendement des élèves en utilisant des systèmes de conséquences (Hall & Ryan, 2011; Loeb & Strunk, 2007). Ces politiques envoient de puissants messages sur l'importance de certaines matières scolaires au détriment d'autres - circonscrivant les exigences en termes de compétences et de connaissances. La langue maternelle d’enseignement et les mathématiques sont devenues des mesures centrales sur lesquelles reposent l’évaluation et le degré de performance des districts et des écoles. Conséquemment, les administrateurs de districts et les directions d’écoles ont souvent recours à des réformes curriculaires et pédagogiques comme moyen d'augmenter le rendement des élèves dans les matières scolaires visées par ces politiques. Les politiques contraignent les acteurs scolaires de concentrer les ressources sur les programmes curriculaires et les évaluations, le développement professionnel, et la prise de décision pilotée par les données (Anagnostopoulos & Ruthledge, 2007; Honig & Hatch, 2004; Spillane, Diamond, et al., 2002; Weitz White & Rosenbaum, 2008). Cette thèse examine la manière dont les politiques à enjeux élevés opèrent quotidiennement dans les interactions et les pratiques au sein des écoles. Nous analysons plus particulièrement les différents messages provenant de la politique transmis aux acteurs scolaires sur les manières d'apporter des changements substantiels dans le curriculum et l'enseignement. Nous élargissons l’analyse en prenant en compte le rôle des administrateurs de district ainsi que des partenaires universitaires qui façonnent également la manière dont certains aspects des messages provenant des politiques sont transmis, négociés et/ou débattus et d’autres sont ignorés (Coburn & Woulfin, 2012). En utilisant l’analyse de discours, nous examinons le rôle du langage comme constituant et médiateur des interactions sociales entre les acteurs scolaires et d’autres parties prenantes. De telles analyses impliquent une investigation approfondie d’un nombre d’étude de cas limité. Les données utilisées dans cette thèse ont été colligées dans une école primaire états-unienne du mid-West. Cette étude de cas fait partie d’une étude longitudinale de quatre ans qui comprenait huit écoles dans les milieux urbains entre 1999 et 2003 (Distributed Leadership Studies, http://www.distributedleadership.org). La base de données analysée inclut des observations de réunions formelles et des entrevues auprès des administrateurs du district, des partenaires universitaires, de la direction d’école et des enseignants. En plus de l’introduction et de la problématique (chapitre 1) et de discussion et conclusion (chapitre 5), cette thèse comprend un ensemble de trois articles interdépendants. Dans le premier article (chapitre 2), nous effectuons une recension des écrits portant sur le domaine de l’implantation de politiques (policy implementation) et la complexité des relations locales, nationales et internationales dans les systèmes éducatifs. Pour démystifier cette complexité, nous portons une attention particulière à la construction de sens des acteurs scolaires comme étant une dimension clé du processus de mise en œuvre des réformes. Dans le deuxième article (chapitre 3), nous cherchons à comprendre les processus sociaux qui façonnent les réponses stratégiques des acteurs scolaires à l’égard des politiques du district et de l’état et en lien avec la mise en œuvre d’un curriculum prescrit en mathématiques. Plus particulièrement, nous explorons les différentes situations dans lesquelles les acteurs scolaires argumentent au sujet des changements curriculaires et pédagogiques proposés par les administrateurs de district et des partenaires universitaires afin d’augmenter les résultats scolaires en mathématiques dans une école à faible performance. Dans le troisième article (chapitre 4), nous cherchons à démystifier les complexités liées à l’amélioration de l’enseignement dans un environnement de politiques à enjeux élevés. Pour ce faire, nous utilisons l'interaction entre les notions d'agentivité et la structure afin d'analyser la manière dont les conceptions d’imputabilité et les idées qui découlent de l'environnement politique et les activités quotidiennes jouent dans les interactions entre les acteurs scolaires concernant sur l’enseignement de la langue maternelle. Nous explorons trois objectifs spécifiques : 1) la manière dont les politiques à enjeux élevés façonnent les éléments de l’enseignement qui sont reproduits et ceux qui sont transformés au fil du temps ; 2) la manière dont la compréhension des leaders de l’imputabilité façonne les aspects des messages politiques que les acteurs scolaires remarquent à travers les interactions et les conversations et 3) la manière les acteurs scolaires portent une attention particulière à certaines messages au détriment d’autres. Dans le dernier chapitre de cette thèse, nous discutons les forces et les limites de l’analyse secondaire de données qualitatives, les implications des résultats pour le domaine d’études de l’implantation de politiques et les pistes futures de recherches.

Módulo Activo Recreo Activo -MARA: una estrategia para incrementar la actividad física en niños y niñas de 5º grado en Bogotá.

Objetivo: Evaluar la efectividad de MARA (Modulo Activo Recreo Activo), sobre el tiempo de actividad física moderada vigorosa (AFMV) y de comportamiento sedentario de niños y niñas de 5º grado en 2 instituciones educativas oficiales de la ciudad de Bogotá. Materiales y métodos: Los participantes fueron 128 niños entre 10 y 12 años de edad, de 5to grado que asisten a dos colegios públicos en la localidad de San Cristóbal en Bogotá. La actividad física de los niños fue medida con acelerómetro GT3X+, durante 7 días entre julio y octubre de 2013. Uno de los colegios fue seleccionado aleatoriamente para ser intervenido por Muévete Escolar y su Módulo Activo Recreo Activo (MARA), (CIM) y otro colegio fue el grupo control (CC). El tiempo gastado en actividad física durante el día y en el momento de recreo fue medido antes y en la semana 10 después de la intervención: sedentario ( SED), actividad física leve ( AFL), actividad física moderada(AFM), actividad física vigorosa(AFV) y actividad física moderada a vigorosa (AFMV). Resultados: Posterior al análisis estadístico a través de modelos mixtos multinivel para ajustar por el efecto de conglomerado, se observó diferencia significativa entre CIM y CC (p < 0.0049) representado por incremento en los minutos de AFMV en CIM. Después de la intervención, los CMI disminuyeron los minutos de comportamiento sedentario (p= 0.0029), comparativamente con los CC. Conclusiones: El presente estudio contribuye a investigar sobre los efectos a corto plazo de modificar el momento del recreo, mediante la implementación de actividades guiadas, supervisadas y con el uso de materiales y equipos de juego. Los resultados del estudio sugieren que los efectos de la intervención con MARA fueron significativos especialmente en promover la práctica de AF diaria logrando incrementar los minutos de AFMV diaria, y así mismo disminuyendo comportamiento sedentario en el día. .

Cultural policy, literature and readership in revolutionary Cuba: the view from the 21st century

This article presents a fresh perspective on cultural policy in revolutionary Cuba, focusing specifically on the centrality of dialogue with the general readership to the production, reception and regulation of literature. It first summarises the positions regarding revolutionary literature that have been asserted and essayed at various points along the sometimes chaotic trajectory of revolution in Cuba. It then examines reading-related policies and recent attempts within Cuba to re-orient reading practices in the aftermath of the Período Especial [Special Period], and ends by presenting current Cuban debates on the need to mitigate dialogic breakdown between literary text and readership.

Death of the high street: identification, prevention, reinvention

Location is of paramount importance within the retail sector, yet defining locational obsolescence remains overlooked, despite significant concerns over the viability of parts of the complex sector. This paper reviews the existing literature and, through this, explores retail locational obsolescence, including the multi-spatial nature of the driving forces that range from the global economy, local markets and submarkets, to individual property-specific factors; and, crucially, the need to disentangle locational obsolescence from other important concepts such as depreciation and functional obsolescence that are often mistakenly used. Through this, a conceptual model, definition and diagnostic criteria are presented to guide future studies, policy development and the allocation of resources. Importantly, three stages are presented to enable the operationalization of the model, essential to future academic and industry studies as well as the ongoing development of policy in this economically important, complex and contentious area.