"BREAK THE BARRIERS IN EDUCATION"

Barriers to education can take a variety of forms. They can be physical, technological, systemic, financial, or attitudinal, or they can arise from an education provider's failure to make available a needed accommodation in a timely manner.

Main barriers to education for students with disabilities

Barriers to education can take a variety of forms. They can be physical, technological, systemic, financial, or attitudinal, or they can arise from an education provider’s failure to make available a needed accommodation in a timely manner. The following appear to be the main barriers to educational service for students with disabilities:

Inadequate funding: This was cited as the prime reason for delayed and diminished special education services at the elementary and secondary levels. Often, accommodation decisions are made based on budgetary considerations rather than on an assessment of the actual needs of students with disabilities.  At the post-secondary level, the funding structure is highly complex, with some programs containing eligibility requirements and restrictions that raise human rights issues.

Physical Inaccessibility: Students with disabilities continue to encounter physical barriers to educational services, such as a lack of ramps and/or elevators in multi-level school buildings, heavy doors, inaccessible washrooms, and/or inaccessible transportation to and from school. Students at the post-secondary level also experience difficulty in securing accessible students housing.

Accommodation Process: Accommodation is not always provided in a timely manner, is often insufficient, and sometimes not provided at all. At the elementary and secondary levels, other difficulties include: delays at many stages of the accommodation process, a large backlog in the processing of claims for special education funding, long waiting lists for professional assessments, and delays in the provision of special education programs and services. At the post-secondary level, information about services and supports is not always accessible, there are delays in accessing accommodations, and the right of students to confidentiality is not always respected.

Lack of Individualization: At the elementary and secondary levels, some education providers are relying on blanket approaches to accommodation, rather than assessing each student on an individual basis. Some funding schemes rely on pre-set categories and labels, and emphasize student "weakness" rather than strength. Suspension and expulsion policies are at times rigidly applied and do not take into account a student’s individual circumstances. At all levels of education, there needs to be a greater recognition of the context in which discrimination occurs. Not all students will experience discrimination in the same way. For example, some students with disabilities are also members of other historically disadvantaged groups, and thus may experience discrimination on more than one ground.

Ineffective Dispute Resolution Mechanisms: The dispute resolution mechanisms that exist to deal with accommodation issues are often ineffective, and disputes about accommodation are often causing students to lose time in school, and are increasingly ending up at the Ontario Human Rights Commission as complaints. At the elementary and secondary levels, the appeal process for decisions regarding identification and/or placement of exceptional students is cumbersome, time-consuming and overly litigious, and does not allow for appeals regarding programs and services. At the post-secondary level, processes for resolving disputes are inconsistent, time-consuming, and often, place the onus of proof on students themselves to show that an accommodation would not cause undue hardship.

Negative Attitudes and Stereotypes: Students with disabilities continue to face negative attitudes and stereotypes in the education system. Lack of knowledge about and sensitivity to disability issues on the part of some educators, staff and students can make it difficult for students with disabilities to access educational services equally.

Emotional barriers. lack of self-esteem or confidence due to low skills levels; negative personal experience of learning; previously undetected or unaddressed learning disabilities; social problems such as unemployment, abuse or bullying.

Common barriers to learning

Many people find that there are barriers impeding their ability to access learning. These include:                        

Social and cultural barriers peer pressure and family background Practical and personal barriers transport; time; disability; caring responsibilities; childcare; finance; cost; age; language; and lack of access to information Emotional barriers lack of self-esteem or confidence due to low skills levels; negative personal experience of learning; previously undetected or unaddressed learning disabilities; social problems such as unemployment, abuse or bullying Workplace barriers time off; access; discrimination; un supportive managers; shift work; isolation

Emotional barriers. lack of self-esteem or confidence due to low skills levels; negative personal experience of learning; previously undetected or unaddressed learning disabilities; social problems such as unemployment, abuse or bullying. Workplace barriers.

Learning disabilities

In addition to other common barriers to learning, around 1.5 million people in the UK have learning disabilities. Learning disabilities affect how people understand information, communicate, or learn new skills, and include difficulty reading, difficulty writing, and difficulty with mathematics. The severity of a learning disability varies from person to person.

There are specific learning disabilities which can be independent of other conditions, such as dyslexia. Some conditions, such as Down’s Syndrome, are always associated with a learning disability, whereas some conditions, such as autism, are only sometimes associated with a learning disability. Other conditions, such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), are not technically associated with a learning disability, but may still affect learning.

Working together

Employers and unions can work together to promote equality and diversity and break through barriers to learning.

A barrier to learning is anything that stands in the way of a child being able to learn effectively. A learner may experience one or more barriers to learning throughout his or her education. ... For example extreme poverty, abuse or neglect will all act as barriers to a child's learning

.Some of the communication barriers during conversation include:The use of jargon. Over-complicated, unfamiliar and/or technical terms.

• Lack of attention, interest, distractions, or irrelevance to the receiver.
• Differences in perception and viewpoint.
• Physical disabilities such as hearing problems or speech difficulties.
• Language differences and the difficulty in understanding unfamiliar accents.
• People often hear what they expect to hear rather than what is actually said and jump to incorrect conclusions.

Lack of education is root cause of poverty. A sad misconception pervades our city: that Rochester's urban students cannot be educated until we have solved the problem of poverty. ... Believing that poor children can't learn merely leads to paralysis. The root cause of poverty is lack of education

Lack of education is root cause of poverty

A sad misconception pervades our city: that Rochester’s urban students cannot be educated until we have solved the problem of poverty. This is a convenient narrative because it lets everyone off the hook for poor educational results. All blame can be put on poverty. Unfortunately, for some this means blaming the children and their parents.

Any enterprise—or city—is in trouble when the dialogue revolves around the question “who’s at fault?” instead of “what’s the problem and how do we solve it?” Let’s get out of the blame game in which good teachers stuck in a bad system feel vilified, politicians duck for cover and people argue about the wrong things. Believing that poor children can’t learn merely leads to paralysis.

The root cause of poverty is lack of education. If you can’t read or do basic math, if you can’t show up for work and apply yourself, you will not have a job. You will be poor. Other actions may dent poverty, but the War on Poverty is 50 years old and the gains are few.

The clear path forward is to realize that the premise that poor children can’t be taught is wrong and to give our city’s children a good academic, social, behavioral and physical education right now. The human potential currently going to waste could be turned into the economic engine—one that would make our region the envy of the nation and demonstrate a better route to prosperity than building stadiums and other physical investments.

Fortunately, we citizens can take direct action. Good teaching is hard work; teaching children mired in poverty is even harder. To address the needs of these children requires a completely different structure or business model. Putting bandages on the current broken system is not working.

E3 Rochester Inc. is a non-profit whose mission is to identify charter schools across the nation that have proven they can take large numbers of children in poor neighborhoods to success and to recruit their leaders to Rochester. PUC Schools, which we recruited to open a school here, has 5,000 students in the poorest parts of Los Angeles and sends 75 percent of them to four-year colleges. Vertus Charter School, run by proven leaders, takes in high school boys who were dismissed as hopeless and has already advanced them a full grade level in four months. Uncommon Schools has five Rochester Prep schools. More high-performing organizations exist. We will bring them here.

The School District spends almost twice the national average per student but is the lowest performing urban school district in a country. More money is not the answer. The obvious answer is to open good schools designed specifically to help this demographic. To maintain quality, E3 Rochester seeks proven charter leaders with replicable school models. Charter schools get only two-thirds the funding of district schools. If those schools were run by proven charter leaders with replicable school models, parents and students would be able to choose among excellent schools offering a variety of educational approaches. Teachers could choose an employer that helps them develop their full potential as educators.

Our approach is practical. Almost all schools in New Orleans are now charters, and their citywide graduation rate has climbed from 45 percent to 80 percent. Within 20 years we could transform our city by graduating the next generation of students ready to be productive citizens. Employers would flock to our city because of the well-prepared workforce. Neighborhoods would revive.

Would those who say it can’t be done please stop impeding the people who are doing it? And would those of you sitting on the sidelines to please step forward to support and improve our effort?

As Nelson Mandela says, “ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Education is the key to eliminating gender inequality, to reducing poverty, to creating a sustainable planet, to preventing needless deaths and illness, and to fostering peace.

I also believe education is important because it helps us develop a unique perspective of looking at life. Education has played a major role for all individuals in the society. It has allowed the community to succeed both socially and economically by enabling it to develop common culture and values.

I believe education is the most important tool you can receive, that can bring you most success in society today. Education lessens the challenges you will face in life. The more knowledge you gain the more opportunities will open up to allow individuals to achieve better possibilities in career and personal growth. Education has played an important role in the career world of the twenty-first century. A person with a higher education will be easily qualified compared to a person without an extended education; as one will be prepared to do various tasks that careers demand as well as meet job standards.I also believe education is important because it helps us develop a unique perspective of looking at life. Education has played a major role for all individuals in the society. It has allowed the community to succeed both socially and economically by enabling it to develop common culture and values. Education is the reason our world is the way it is today, doctors have been close to finding cures for cancer because of a higher education; our technology has been enriched compared to the 19th century all because of education.

If the importance of education is not recognized, then someday education will become less relevant. Education serves to unite and strengthen our country. Without education people would not be able to distinguish right from wrong. If this should happen, then our society will find itself at a large disadvantage compared to other countries. “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” once said by a wise man name Nelson Mandela, and that is why I strongly agree why education is important.

Education reduces poverty, boosts economic growth and increases income. It increases a person's chances of having a healthy life, reduces maternal deaths, and combats diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Education can promote gender equality, reduce child marriage, and promote peace.

Education is a vital human right and plays a key role in human, social, and economic development.

Education is a human right

Despite great progress in the last few years, millions of children are still denied their right to education. Restricted access to education is one of the surest ways of transmitting poverty from generation to generation. Education is a vital human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Every girl and every boy should have the right to a quality education so that they can have more chances in life, including employment opportunities, better health and also to participate in the political process.

Breaking down the barriers: Integrating the school and beyond in education

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Parental and community engagement is crucial not only to bring students—especially those marginalized—into the school system, but also to make sure they stay and learn. Beyond issues of access and retention, research finds that communities play a positive role in improving school infrastructure and governance—especially reducing teacher absenteeism. There are also several cases on how parental involvement has facilitated improvements in learning. A longitudinal study of learning outcomes in 100 Chicago Public Schools identified ties with parents and communities as one of five critical factors that led to improvements in reading and math over a seven-year period. Similarly, an evaluation of a parent empowerment program in rural Mexico found improvements in intermediate school outcomes, including a reduction in primary school grade repetition and failure.

Engaging parents in the school system

As global education policy has become aware of the need to engage parents and communities, countries have responded by creating various enabling institutional mechanisms. Following global examples of decentralized school-based management through the empowerment of parents and communities, India’s Right to Education Act (2009) seeks to bring all children into the school system and mandates the creation of School Management Committees (Sm Cs) in all government schools. Sm Cs are responsible for monitoring school functioning, overseeing grant utilization, increasing enrollment and retention, and creating school development plans for improvements in school infrastructure. There has been a similar focus on organizing Parent-Teacher Meetings (Pt Ms) at frequent intervals, with a push to increase parents’ attendance at these meetings.

However, these institutional mechanisms face significant constraints that prevent them from being effective. An analysis of Sm Cs by the Center for Budget and Policy Studies across five Indian states found that SMC members were largely unaware of their roles and powers. Furthermore, only about 20 percent of members had received some training, and even the majority of those trained rated the training ineffective. Across the country, training and capacity building of SMCs has been inadequate, with limited follow up and support.

Studies from around the world find that information gaps among parents and bodies like SMCs prevent them from playing their intended role. Parents, especially those of first-generation learners, remain unaware of their role in ensuring effective schooling, and information about their children’s learning outcomes and needs is rarely communicated in ways that they can comprehend or respond to. This makes forums such as PTMs exercises in futility. As Prachi Windlass of the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation writes, this lack of information ultimately silences parents and prevents them from being the influential agents of change they can be.

New technology-driven solutions and data provide avenues for keeping parents informed. However, the problem isn’t the access to information—it is the inability and lack of capacity to use it effectively. For parents to be active users of data, it is critical that they are not supplied information in a top-down manner, but are instead agents in its collection and authentication. One model example is Pratham’s Village Report Cards experiment, where report cards were created at the hamlet-level with wide local participation. Their involvement in the data collection process was followed by discussions in village meetings and eventually led to community action through active engagement with the school system.

There are no quick fixes, though, and while the aforementioned institutional mechanisms provide a good starting point to understand the constraints parents and communities face in being effective agents of change in the school system, it is also crucial to recognise that these are by no means the silver bullets in addressing the need for parental and community engagement.

Inadequacies of existing institutional mechanisms

The aforementioned institutional mechanisms can only be as successful as the autonomy they’re allowed to have and the change they’re able to influence. While on paper, SMCs in India are responsible for monitoring how school grants are utilized and for creating school development plans, in reality, they were found to have the discretion to spend less than 2 percent of the total money that schools receive in a year.

The World Bank, studying school systems across South Asia, finds that the decisions—ranging from teacher recruitment and training to curricula and textbooks—that might have an impact on school quality rarely fall within the purview of individual schools themselves. With entities allocating resources and making decisions at a level much higher than the school system, SMCs are eventually toothless in ensuring the effectiveness of teachers and other school-level resources. For school management to happen in a decentralized manner, it is not enough to focus just on the demand side. The supply side, schools, must have the ability to respond to this demand, and unless, governance structures are reformed, any measures that claim to empower communities and parents will remain tokenistic.

It is critical that we also study how these institutional mechanisms actually “empower” parents and communities. Bodies like SMCs and PTAs must contend with profound challenges, mirroring as they do the larger hierarchies and structures in society. There is overwhelming evidence across Africa and South Asia that points to how the socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds of families posit them at different levels and allow them to take advantage of the education system towards their own interests and benefit. These forums are captured by local elites and are subject to the larger social, economic, racial, and gender inequalities in society.

In line with this, the CBPS survey finds that even though the marginalized and weaker sections of society were represented in SMCs, their presence did not translate into active participation, and that there was a visible power dynamic between men and women, due to which women were unable to participate effectively.

All of these factors, coupled with a cascade model of training that fails to be cognizant of the heterogeneity of SMCs or the parent constituency more generally, prevents them from being truly participatory. Far from realizing the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring inclusive and equitable education, this instead ends up perpetuating the inequalities in access to quality education. We have made rapid strides in utilizing granular data to inform political campaigns and identify and target social programs—this infrastructure may also be leveraged towards targeted training, communications, and messaging to address the specific concerns and constraints of parents from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds.

At a much more fundamental level, though, we need to reframe the larger conversation on parental engagement. Far too often, parents and communities are seen as regulators or watchdogs of the school system. Such a framing seldom fosters constructive interactions between schools and parents, and in fact, curtails the motivation of teachers and school leadership in promoting parental engagement.

Research finds that for parental engagement to be effective, parents and the school system must see themselves as partners. They must also share a relationship of mutual respect, trust, and be bound by a unity of purpose. There is also evidence that increased involvement in schools allows parents to develop a more positive attitude towards teachers. It is crucial that such evidence is widely disseminated and that schools and teachers are actively trained—and reminded of their own incentives—to engage parents.

Engaging parents beyond the “school system”

As we think of parents as partners in the education system, it is also important that we broaden our conversation from how parents can engage with the “school system,” to how they can engage with their children’s learning and education.

While we have increased access to formal education over the past two decades, we have also begun to assume that education happens only within the compounds of a school. SMCs and PTAs serve as vehicles that enable engagement with the school system, but should not cannibalize conversations about engaging the parent constituency more broadly and comprehensively.

It is essential that we go back to the basics, and embed the conversation on children’s learning and academic performance in the fundamental socioeconomic factors they are exposed to at home and in their communities. One study found that early childhood stunting and poverty levels have an impact on children’s cognitive abilities and academic performance, causing them to do poorly in school. As a consequence of this, the authors estimate that over 200 million children under the age of 5 are unable to fulfill their developmental potential.

This makes it imperative that we address parents and communities in a more holistic manner, with the recognition that education policy cannot work in isolation from social policy. In line with this, Brazil’s Early Childhood Development Support program—predicated on the belief that the parents’ role is the “principal determinant in child development”—brings together the Departments of Education, Health, and Social Development to coordinate home visits to parents, to promote all-round development of children.

To prepare children to be successful citizens in the 21st Century, there is an urgent need to emphasize a broader set of skills and find ways to leapfrog education innovations. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report lists skills such as problem solving, creativity, critical thinking, and ability to coordinate and work with others, among the top 10 skills in demand for the future. The Center for Universal Education at Brookings surveyed the educational mission statements and priorities of about 100 countries and found that more than 86 percent lay emphasis on 21st Century Skills such as communication, problem solving, and collaboration.

When we think of education only in terms of literacy and numeracy skills, we inevitably erect barriers that keep out parents who can’t contribute in these areas, create a hierarchical relationship between the teacher and the parent, and reinforce the socioeconomic inequalities between parents who have different capacities owing to their backgrounds.

The new emphasis on a broader set of skills provides a valuable opportunity to redefine these relations, recognize that learning can happen anywhere and the teacher is far from the only person who can allow children to cultivate the skills they need to be active citizens in a changing world. Skills like collaboration and communication, and creativity and problem solving, are far from the purview of just the school system—they may well be taught in theory in classrooms, but need to be practiced and honed at home and in society. Children need an extended time and space for learning, and unless we empower and train more agents outside the school system to serve as mentors and guides, we will fail to successfully equip students with the skills they need to be successful.

Ultimately, the jury is still out, with evaluations around the world yielding differing results, on whether parental and community involvement in schools leads to increases in learning outcomes. But we should be reasonably confident that parents have a unique role in the education of their children—as consumers and suppliers. Furthermore, as we devise mechanisms to translate the policy focus on 21st Century Skills to actual changes on the ground, a new parent-teacher partnership might just be the leapfrog opportunity that we’ve been looking for...