Sharing Web Resources

My search on the website of the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) revealed that one of the four core values of ACEI is equity.  The association is of the view that “all children should be educated in environments of fairness where there is freedom from bias or favoritism and where access to, and participation in, educational experiences are the cornerstone of the home, school and community.” According to ACEI, this statement does not only speak to their beliefs about equity and equality issues in education, but also to their perspectives on equity and equality in all areas of life.  ACEI believes that issues such as income inequality have a direct link to educational access and opportunity.  To them the rise in income inequality is propagating more inequality in educational opportunity, resulting in greater inequality in educational attainment.  This situation then undermines mobility and perpetuates income inequality from generation to generation.  Oxfam International released a report titled ‘Political Capture and Income Inequality’ which stated that if “ left unchecked, the effects of income inequality are potentially immutable, and will lead to ‘opportunity capture’ in which the lowest tax rates, the best education, and the best healthcare are claimed by the children of the rich. This creates dynamic and mutually reinforcing cycles of advantage that are transmitted across generations.”

The Oxfam International report is available www.oxfam.org

Further analysis of the ACEI website led me to the Fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which highlights that the close link between education and culture should be understood as an opportunity to promote human rights, which also incorporates cultural rights.  The Fourth Session of the UNGA took place in June 2013 as part of a series of meetings for conceptualizing SDGs, the SDG process, and poverty eradication to inform the post-2015 development framework.  The brief accentuates a rights-based approach to both education and culture.  According to the brief, education is a means by which the culture of a particular society or social group as well as the development of global citizenship and respect for cultural diversity can be transmitted.  Equally, “…culture is the soil in which education must grow.” It serves as a means through which young generations can learn about themselves and can only flourish and develop through education. The issue brief points out that, five years ago, culture was mentioned in less than 30% of United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAF) at the country level; now, it is mentioned in 70% of them. For the post-2015 development framework, it proposes that culture should be acknowledged as an enabler and driver of sustainable development.

Highlights from the Fourth Session of the Open Working Group (OWG) of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Additionally, I found out that the International Inclusive Education Institute, hosted by the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, which will be held on 3-11 August 2014 has a mission to strengthen the capacity of pre-service teacher education programs through dynamic development training that will provide participants with the knowledge and skills necessary to develop teacher education programs that are focused on models of inclusion. The organizers of the International Inclusive Education Institute have planned the event with the goal of building a sustainable collective of inclusive teacher education professionals who will work to overcome the obstacles to providing all children the fundamental human right to a quality education.

http://www.acei.org/global-news/inclusion-focused-education