Session Information
25 SES 13 (JS), Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion in Urban Contexts
Joint Symposium with NW 5, 23, 25
Contribution
In spite of goals declared by the UN and the EU in order to reduce poverty for populations in risk for social exclusion, systematic exclusion of these populations from welfare benefits are reported. In the struggle against poverty and social exclusion, education is seen as a force for change. Successful strategies are often linked with education policies and actions to increase these groups’ educational level. Many of these strategies are implemented in urban areas where concentrations of social exclusion and segregation are high.
The aim of this symposium is to review, discuss and critically examine the role of education to combat poverty and social exclusion. Current European research is presented, covering various aspects of education as a tool for this. Three ECER Networks are involved: Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education (NW 5), Policy Studies and Politics of Education (NW 23) and Research on Children's rights in Education (NW 25). The networks represent various perspectives on the theme, involving issues of policy, urban contexts and rights.
Anne Bore discusses the social divide in education. In spite of political actions to decrease the achievement gap between children defined as disadvantaged and those described as advantaged, it is as apparent as ever. It is argued, that the educational policy agenda in UK involves solutions that have not contributed to solve this intractable and “wicked” problems in education. A transdisciplinary approach is proposed in order to develop boundary crossing skills and enhance teachers’ capability to encounter the problem.
The paper by Sally Power, Chris Taylor & Gareth Rees, builds on current work on how disadvantaged young people might acquire access to universal/cosmopolitan forms of knowledge. The paper refers to research indicating that out-of-school learning, as a form for this, is threatened. The authors explore these threats and how they compound inequalities in frequency and nature of out-of-school learning activities in urban schools.
Mark Hadfield and Michael Jopling discuss collaboration among schools in urban contexts and its potential in terms of improving the quality of educational provision and to combat social exclusion. The discussion draws on experiences from a recentl study of a national collaborative programme in UK as well as on prior research. The authors provide a critical examination of collaboration as a way to increase social inclusion in urban contexts.
In his paper Palle Damkjaer Rasmussen discuss educational marginalization and regional initiatives to reduce these problems. Within a Danish context where the educational level by tradition has been low, demands for higher education have increased. Although a benefit for many, access to secondary and higher education creates marginalization problems for those not involved in these activities. In the paper such initiatives and their possible impact is discussed.
Guadalupe Francia re-examines Educational Priority Policies for Social Inclusion and Equity planned by National Educational authorities and targeted to pupils in segregated urban areas in Sweden. Her results indicate that school failure is reduced to a question of ethnic segregation and individualized teacher support. Other possible causes are not being considered.
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