Policy and Policy Development Archives

Christianity and inclusive education

Supporting concepts of inclusion is one thing; putting it into practice is another. “The Challenge” is the title of a book chapter about including children with disability in Christian schools and giving them access to a Christian education. An interesting discussion about faith and inclusion using a case study to illustrate points. The discussion gives yet another voice to the inclusion discourse‍.

Abstract Christian educators advocate that faith and learning should be holistic and integral to Christian education, but is this available for all students? The inclusion of students with disabilities does not have a strong record of implementation within Christian Schools. This chapter briefly recounts the history that led to the legislation mandating inclusion, and discusses the very real issues that concern teachers and parents today. The question posed is: should children with disabilities be enrolled in Christian schools? Responding in the affirmative, nine research-based strategies are described in detail, which provide solutions to the challenges faced in inclusive classrooms. Children with disabilities are capable of learning; and in order to receive a holistic Christian education they need to be included in Christian schools.

“The Challenge”, written by Marion Shields, is a chapter in Revealing Jesus in the learning environment:Experiences of Christian educators. It is open access.

Access Standard for Other Standards

Did you know that all Australian Standards should include accessibility issues when they are being written? If you are on a standards committee or working party then it’s important to know. There are two access standard documents relevant to this topic.

- The global ISO Guide 71: Guide for addressing accessibility in standards, and
- The CEN-CENELC Guide 6 Guide for addressing accessibility in standards.

The ISO Guide 71 is a global standard and applies to Australia as well as other countries. CEN is the European standards agency. Their document is an adoption of ISO Guide 71. So, basically the same information but freely available.

Both standards are relevant to implementing the UNCRPD* and related national policies across the world. It is also useful for manufacturers and educators. Discussion on standards might seem a bit dry, but when you think of all the official Standards that are developed, it is good to know there is a guide for addressing accessibility issues within the content of those Standards. Key points are:

“ISO/IEC Guide 71:2014 provides guidance to standards developers on addressing accessibility requirements and recommendations in standards that focus, whether directly or indirectly, on systems (i.e. products, services and built environments) used by people. To assist standards developers to define accessibility requirements and recommendations, it presents a summary of current terminology relating to accessibility, issues to consider in support of accessibility in the standards development process, a set of accessibility goals (used to identify user accessibility needs), descriptions of (and design considerations for) human abilities and characteristics, and strategies for addressing user accessibility needs and design considerations in standards.”

CEN CENELEC Guide

The CEN Guide “… is an important goal for the whole of society that all people, regardless of their age, size or ability, have access to the broadest range of systems. Issues of accessibility to and usability of systems have become more critical as the number of people (such as older persons, children, persons with reduced abilities and persons with disabilities) with diverse user accessibility needs has increased.”

*The UNCRPD is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Applying UD to organisations

Increasing numbers of people with disability are achieving higher education attainments. But workplaces haven’t kept up with this social change. Recruitment bias is not easy to overcome without re-thinking hiring processes. But recruitment is only the beginning. The culture of the organisation also needs to be welcoming and inclusive.

Equal Access: Universal Design of Professional Organizations is a useful checklist to start the process of being inclusive. It covers policies, planning, the built environment, staff, technology and information resources. It asks questions that cover people with differing native languages, gender, racial and ethnic backgrounds, abilities and disabilities. Age and older people are not mentioned. The checklist was developed from a post-secondary institution perspective, but the content is applicable in other organisational settings.

In a related paper, a child care centre is used as a case study on inclusive practice in an organisation. Katherine Mowrer takes three views: sustainable development, universal design, and disability justice. As an academic paper, it includes philosophical discussions and theory. It utilises the Equal Access checklist described above in the analysis of the centre’s policies and practice. The title of the paper is Organization-Based Disability Access: A YMCA Childcare Center Case Study.

Are you Diverse or Diversish?

Sometimes wry humour and satire is the way to get the message across. Sheri Byrne-Haber’s article You might be #Diversish if… explains what Diversish means. It’s a satirical term for businesses and organisations that call themselves diverse because they have a diversity policy. However, when you look at what they actually do, the policy is just collecting dust. So their claims lack authenticity. The article includes a British satirical video that really represents many of the business conversations around diversity. Funny but serious.

Smart Cities for All Toolkit

How smart can a smart city be? ‘Smart’ is everything from the footpath to the website. So not so smart if it doesn’t include everyone and join the dots between all the factors that make a city a city. With digital transformations happening worldwide, the aim of the Smart Cities for All Toolkit is to eliminate the digital divide and improve urban environments for everyone.

The main part of the toolkit, the Inclusive Innovation Playbook, is detailed and aimed at a policy and planning level. Stakeholder participation and inclusion is an essential theme. Case studies assist with understanding. There is a helpful checklist at the end of the Playbook.

There’s a lot to digest, but this means it isn’t a cursory overview with simplistic solutions. It goes much deeper than a digital accessibility checklist. This is about joining the dots across city assets and leveraging them for everyone’s benefit. Other sections of the toolkit cover:

- Toolkit Overview
- Guide to adopting an ICT accessibility procurement policy
- Implementing priority ICT accessibility standards
- Communicating the case for stronger commitment to digital inclusion in cities
- Database of solutions for digital inclusion in cities

“The toolkit supports a range of organizations and roles related to Smart Cities, including government managers, policy makers, IT professionals, disability advocates, procurement officials, technology suppliers, and developers who design Smart City apps and solutions.

Each of the tools addresses a priority challenge identified by global experts as a barrier to the digital inclusion of persons with disabilities and older persons in Smart Cities.” See also Smart Cities for All: A Vision.

James Thurston of 3Gict came to Sydney in 2019 and discussed the issues and solutions in his keynote presentation in the video below.

5 Pillars of a Smart City

James Thurston is G3ict’s Vice President for Global Strategy and Development. He previously worked for Microsoft, so he knows the territory well. His keynote presentation at UD2021 Conference showed that technology is improving but it’s not inclusive. Cities have to do a lot more if we are to meet the challenges of the digital world.

He lists the five pillars as:

1. 1. Strategic Intent: inclusion strategy and leadership
  2. Culture: citizen engagement and transparency
  3. Governance & Process: procurement and partnerships
  4. Technology: Global standards and solution development
  5. Data: Data divide and solutions

Persistence, Policy and Research

How well can evidence influence policy? Evidence can sometimes be an inconvenient political truth. This situation is frustrating for researchers and advocates alike. A few tips could help. Ten things to know about how to influence policy with research provides some helpful guidance.

1. Know what you want to influence – be clear about the policy issue
2. Find out who you want to influence – who has the power?
3. Consider when to influence
4. Build relationships and networks
5. Policy development is not a linear process
6. Policy making is inherently political
7. Plan your engagement
8. Focus on idea and be propositional – be constructive
9. It takes time, stick at it
10. Monitor, learn and adjust along the way
11. There are links to other useful references for researchers

Seems persistence is the key – don’t give up, says David McDonald. The 10 things to know was developed by the Overseas Development Institute based on years of experience. Find out more about the ten things. Here at CUDA, we are remaining persistent about implementing universal design everywhere.

Counting costs that don’t count

Road workers in hi-vis vests are laying bitumen. Counting costs don't count. — Workers repairing the road

Ever wondered why economic arguments seem to fall on stony ground even when they’ve been well researched and even asked for? Seems politicians’ personal experience counts more when decisions are being made. A Norwegian researcher wanted to find out why road-building priorities diverge from those suggested by cost-benefit analysis. It is likely that many other policy decisions are made in a similar way, not just road investments. That’s why sometimes counting costs don’t count.

Here is an excerpt from the findings about why factors other than cost criteria mean that counting costs don’t count:

Political institutions have created a kind of gift relationship in the road sector, with the state as donor and municipalities as recipients.

To the extent that the state cannot scrutinize all assumptions and calculations of traffic, costs and benefits, an information asymmetry arises and favours the local receivers.

In cases of local/national conflict of interest, some key politicians and other stakeholders at the donor side either have their own agendas (such as campaigning), or their loyalty is with the recipient rather than the donor (society).

It seems reasonable that elected representatives are less likely to vote in accordance with the benefit/cost ratios of projects the more sceptical they are to the method of CBA. When sceptical, they are apt to look for alternative decision support, even if several studies have found CBA results to be quite robust.

The intention has not been to argue that the benefit/cost ratio should be decisive when setting priorities among projects on classified roads, but rather to highlight circumstances that tend to push CBA results into the background. The principle of choosing projects with high benefit/cost ratio may be supplemented by so many other assessment criteria that the difference between professional and political judgement is dissolved.”

The title of the article is, Why don’t cost-benefit results count for more? The case of Norwegian road investment priorities. Published in Urban, Planning and Transport Research an open access article.

Abstract:

The starting point is that the benefit/cost ratio is virtually uncorrelated to the likelihood of a Norwegian classified road project entering the list of investments selected for the National Transport Plan. The purpose of the article is to explain what pushes cost-benefit results into the background in the prioritization process.

The reasons for their downgrading point to mechanisms that are at work not only in Norway. Explanatory factors are searched for in incentives for cost-ineffective action among planners, bureaucrats and national politicians, respectively, as well as in features of the planning process and the political system.

New data are used to show that the road experts’ list of prioritized projects changes little after submission to the national politicians, suggesting that the Norwegian Public Roads Administration puts little emphasis on its own cost-benefit calculations. Besides, it is shown that the petroleum revenues of the state do not provide a strong reason for neglecting cost-benefit accounts.

The overall contribution of the article is to offer a comprehensive explanation why professional and political authorities in Norway set road-building priorities diverging massively from those suggested by cost-benefit analysis.

The 100 year life

People expect to grow old, but they don’t plan to grow old. Public policy has to do more than just capture people when they can no longer care for themselves. Even if people plan for their older age, there are policy and built barriers preventing the continuation of a “decent life”. And housing is a key barrier.

The report, The 100-year life: the role of housing, planning and design, highlights the issues and provides recommendations. The report recommends an integrated approach to housing, planning and design to support people in later life. It stresses the importance of taking a universal design approach and co-production. Developers, planners and local authorities also have an important role to play. And of course, focusing on older people means that people of all ages are included. While this is a UK project, there are many aspects that apply to other countries including Australia.

The research was conducted jointly by Design Council, Centre for Ageing Better and Social Care Institute for Excellence. The report in PDF was published in June 2018. The report includes references and resources.

See also the Colorado Lifelong Homes White Paper for a similar take on the issues of successful ageing in place.

“A decent life” as described by Amartya Sen.

Toilets, taboos, and design principles

Public toilets are a key factor in getting out and about. But are they useable by everyone? Ever thought about how they contribute to our economic and social growth? A myriad of issues are brought together for a thoughtful discussion in Katherine Webber’s Churchill Fellowship report. The report is based on her international study tour. It has several recommendations for design, maintenance and social planning. The title of the report is, “Exploring Accessibility and Inclusion in Public Toilets“. There is a one page checklist on public toilet design principles. See below.

The report has a great quote from Lezlie Lowe that indicates the importance of public toilets in everyday life, “Have we ever granted toilets – and especially public toilets – their due? Have we given them credit for how they’ve helped grow our world? As gross or goofy or quotidian as they may seem, public toilets represent higher notions and beliefs. Fundamentally: who is in and who is out. Whom we see as part of the city. Whom we see as human.” From, No Place to Go: How Public Toilets Fail Our Private Needs.

Category: Policy and Policy Development

Christianity and inclusive education

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