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Unrestrained consumption and a lack of a proper breeding ecosystem have depleted the variety and species count of mithun (Bos frontalis). Indigenous Kuki tribes have a unique relationship with mithun, reared in the semi-domestic countryside. For the Kuki community, a mithun is used during community festivals, as a bride price in marriages, to settle disputes, in land-deed covenants, and at death ceremonies. Mithun-human interrelationship lessens poverty, empowers community survival, guarantees the completion of critical cultural obligations, and maintains marital bonds in the Kuki community. The head of a mithun signifies solemnity and celebration in many cultural underpinnings. A white cock, a dog, a goat, a pig, and a mithun were sacrificial elements to appease the unseen spirits for good health and prosperity. While some Indigenous practices have faded with the arrival of Christianity, the cultural involvement of mithun persists to this date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding poverty and related social determinants is an important component of health profession training so that students understand how to care for under-resourced communities. This study assessed the impact of poverty simulations on students' self-efficacy to practice in vulnerable communities. We used a retrospective study to evaluate the influence of a poverty simulation students' knowledge, skills, and intent to serve in under resourced communities. Data analysis (n = 650) demonstrated significant improvements around care team collaboration and how a patient's background impacts their overall health care. The project identified an effective strategy to help students build self-efficacy to practice in under-resourced communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This brief report provides an overview of the state of families in Vermont. The data used in this report is from the American Community Survey (ACS) conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Vermont Department of Health, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others. Key findings include demographic data on families, including family size, family composition, ethnic and racial diversity, income, and poverty rates. The report also detailed challenges faced by Vermont families and programs offered to help families navigate these challenges. The data presented in this report can be used to inform policies and programs aimed at improving the well-being of families in Vermont. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores approaches to the classification of ethnic identity. In the framework of research on comparative classifications, we analyse the contextual factors that influence classification in Hungarian education. We compared the number of students who self-reported as Roma with the respective number reported by the school heads (as experts) and examined the discrepancies between the two indicators. We also examined whether there was a correlation between the estimation by the head of the school and the views and attitudes of the teaching staff and school heads. One important finding to emerge was the more than the twofold difference between the external classifications reported by individuals belonging to the majority population, and the students' self-identification. In other words, the school heads tended to overestimate the proportion of Roma students in their schools compared to the students' own self-identification, which was related to their pedagogical practices, beliefs, and commitment. In particular, school heads overestimated the proportion of Roma students in schools where teachers perceived that there were lower expectations and where teachers attributed school failure to cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this brief report is to provide an overview of the current state of families in Arizona (USA), with a particular focus on the conditional state of households as a proxy for families. The report will draw on a variety of data sources, including census data, surveys, and research reports, to give a general idea of the conditional state of families in Arizona. This report also includes key findings, such as the challenges facing families in Arizona and the resources and programs available either by the central or state government, nonprofit organizations, etc. Some of the challenges outlined were poverty and economic insecurity, the lack of access to healthcare, and education disparities. Despite these challenges, the local government is proactive in offering strategic plans to address these challenges. It is important to understand the current state of families to help guide policymakers to invest in pressing issues in the geographic region, expanding access to affordable healthcare and promoting family-friendly policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this brief report is to provide an overview of the current state of families in Arkansas, with a particular focus on the conditional state of households. The report will draw on a variety of data sources, including census data, surveys, and research reports, to paint a picture of the challenges and opportunities facing families in Arkansas today. Key findings of the report include: Arkansas families are facing a number of challenges, including poverty, low educational attainment, and lack of access to affordable healthcare. Despite these challenges, there are also a number of positive trends in the state, such as an increase in the number of married-couple families and a decrease in the number of single-parent families. The state of families in Arkansas is conditional, meaning that it is influenced by a number of factors, including the economy, social policies, and individual choices. The report concludes with a call for policymakers to focus on supporting families in Arkansas by investing in early childhood education, expanding access to affordable healthcare, and promoting family-friendly policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change threatens hard won progress in the education and life outcomes of adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) by compounding the harmful effects of gender inequality and poverty. In recent years, there has been a rise in global advocacy for gender transformative education for climate justice that addresses the underlying gender inequalities driving climate vulnerability for adolescent girls in LMICs. But, has the international development and education community responded to this call? This paper seeks to establish a baseline for answering this question through a landscape analysis of actors working on issues of gender and climate change with youth, especially girls, as well as a landscape analysis of publicly available curricular materials on climate justice and gender equality. We find that although there are many nongovernmental efforts focused on different entry points into the nexus of gender, education, leadership, and climate change, there is much more room for aligning gender equality and climate justice programming for girls. This paper highlights the gaps and opportunities for doing so and offers a taxonomy of programming approaches to guide actors and their collaborators toward more intersectional educational programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the history of Daisyfield School, an Afrikaner children's orphanage and school in Southern Rhodesia. The existence of an Afrikaner school in a self-consciously British settler colony represented a distinctive settler project within the settler state, one supported by the school's transnational connections and one whose aims often conflicted with the state. These aims centred around the rehabilitation of poor white children, and we demonstrate how non-state institutions engaged in far-reaching interventions into the lives of children identified as poor whites. We also show how the children who were recipients of this treatment could resist it by crossing social and geographical boundaries. Challenges to Daisyfield's regime produced a kind of solidarity between the school and state to suppress this challenge as the existence of poor whites threatened racial boundaries in the colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last several decades, "zero-tolerance" policies have been implemented by federal, state, and local educational systems, which have altered the culture of learning. A consequence of this "tough on education" culture is what some scholars have called the "school-to-prison-pipeline" which disproportionately impacts students of color. By using a national representative sample of Latinx students from the National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS), and intersectionality as a theoretical framework, this paper examines the relative impact of parent-level variables, student-level variables, and key demographics on in-school suspension. That relationship is further interrogated separately for Latinx students below and above the Federal poverty line. Findings indicate that Latinx males living in poverty and Latinx students who are above the poverty line, who attend public schools, are more likely to receive in-school suspension. This suggests that structural inequities of discriminatory practices might play a larger role in secondary schools' disciplinary procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As women's labor participation has increased, the fertility rate has decreased. However, there is little research addressing economic well-being among females and the effect of females' economic well-being on the fertility rate. Through this study, we examines the effects of females' economic well-being on fertility and differences in the association across ethnicity/race. The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 was used. 3734 females were selected for the final sample. The sample consists of 1834 non-Hispanic Whites, 1175 African Americans, and 725 Hispanics. Ordinary Linear Regression Analyses and Logistic Regression Analyses were conducted. There were ethnic/racial disparities in economic well-being amongst females. Poverty was positively associated with both having more children and higher numbers of miscarriages/stillbirths. Interaction effects were found: African Americans and Hispanics moderated the association between poverty and number of children. This research contributes to further understanding ethnic/racial disparities between females' economic well-being and fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though adversely impacted by the recent COVID-19 crisis, households' consumption of food and non-food items are essential components of well-being worldwide. Against this background, the present analysis tests human capital theory predictions by assessing the resilience effect of formal education vis- a-vis food and financial insecurity in Burkina Faso. This is achieved using data on 10,411 households, extracted from the latest available wave of the Burkina Faso's National Survey on Households Living Conditions, along with geospatial meta-data and semi-parametric modelling techniques. The findings reveal that relaxing the linearity and independence assumptions provides a more robust representation of the systemic and inter-dependent relationship that exists between education, food and monetary security. In fact, education is found to increase the joint likelihood of food and monetary security in the country. Specifically, compared to households headed by individuals with no education, those headed by primary, secondary or higher educated individuals are 19.8%, 49.7% and 1.189 times, respectively, more likely to experience food security, and 40.1%, 77% and 1.723 times, respectively, more likely to come out of poverty. Therefore, easing access to formal education ought to be part of the solution mix sitting squarely at the poverty/food insecurity nexus, for a sustainable future beyond the pandemic. This is indeed supported by the high positive correlation of 0.927 between the incidence of food and monetary security, which suggests that coordinated efforts in those sectors will have much greater development's returns than isolated initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports a finding that emerged from a wider study into children's engagement with literacy provision in child-initiated play. In this observation-based study 25 of the 42 children involved were observed engaging a particular form of participation, a learning modality that aligns with Rogoff's et al.'s (2003) description of first-hand learning through Intent Participation. Based on these findings, the paper argues that, alongside other more established early years pedagogical practices, an understanding of this learning modality may need to be part of early years practitioners' pedagogical repertoire. Recognition of this learning modality is, it is argued, particularly significant in two related contemporary contexts. Firstly, the ameliorating effect of early childhood education for children growing up in poverty, and, secondly, the strong drive to encourage language-based pedagogy to develop children's spoken language and mediate their early learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty years since Dr Tudor-Hart's publication of the 'Inverse Care Law', all-cause mortality rates and COVID-19 mortality rates are higher in more deprived areas. Part of the solution is to increase access and availability to healthcare in underserved and deprived areas. This paper examined how socio-economically representative the undergraduate general practice placements are in Northern Ireland (NI). A quantitative study of general practices involved in undergraduate medical placements through Queen's University Belfast, comparing practice lists by deprivation indices, examining both blanket deprivation and deprivation quintile trends for teaching and non-teaching practices. Deprivation data for 135 teaching practices were compared against the 323 NI practices. Teaching practices had fewer patients living in the most deprived quintiles compared with non-teaching practices. Fewer practices with blanket deprivation were involved in undergraduate medical education, 32% compared with 42% without blanket deprivation. Practices in areas of blanket deprivation were under-represented as teaching practices, 10%, compared to 14% of NI general practices that met this criterion. Practices with blanket deprivation were under-represented as teaching practices. Exposure to general practice in deprived areas is an essential step to improving future workforce recruitment and ultimately to closing the health inequalities gap. Ensuring practices in high-need areas are proportionately represented in undergraduate placements is one way to direct action in addressing the 'Inverse Care Law'. This study is limited to NI and further work is required to compare institutions across the UK and Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research analyses childhood career development learning through a qualitative career assessment. To help children to make meaning of the career influences, culturally sensitive procedures were used. A case-study design has been carried out, using techniques such as mapping, family portrait, role-playing and self-portrait to unveil the process of 5-year old children's career development learning. The findings illustrate the process of meaning making of the children's system of influences in low-income contexts. They show the life themes that shape the construction of identities. The conclusion highlights the usefulness of qualitative career assessment in enhancing career development learning. The use of culturally sensitive procedures allows children to raise critical awareness about the factors that influence their career construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the gender gap in poverty remains a priority for South African policymakers. Using the 2018 General Households Survey (GHS), this paper examines gendered multidimensional poverty in post-apartheid South Africa. The analyses draw on Alkire-Foster multidimensional poverty methodology to present multidimensional poverty measures for men and women. The dimensions and indicators used in this paper are slightly adapted to reflect the socioeconomic realities and circumstances that are unique to South African households and individuals. The results show a persistence in multidimensional poverty among women, as the magnitudes of multidimensional poverty measures remain higher for women than for men. Further findings show that the economic activity and health dimensions contribute substantially to poverty among men and women. Notably, contributions of unemployment and the presence of chronic disease(s) indicators for gendered multidimensional poverty are more considerable for women than for men. In order to further reduce gendered poverty, this paper recommends strengthening a social policy review that strongly promotes more job creation, health-enhancing interventions and potent 'gender sensitive' ideologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper challenges (inter)national development narratives that propose schooling as a way out of poverty in the global South by interrogating poor children's experience of pedagogic and disciplinary processes in an Indian classroom. It also develops a theoretical framework to interrogate the relationship between urban poverty and classroom processes which attends to wider class and caste relations in the contemporary context of economic liberalism and 'political and social illiberalism'. Drawing upon parent interviews and ethnographic fieldnotes from a classroom in a state school it unpacks the term, 'labour class', used by teachers to refer to pupils' social background. Further, deploying the notion of 'deficit view' it shows how pedagogic practice, physical and verbal aggression experienced by pupils and pupils' struggles to engage with classroom teaching are shaped by realities of deeply stratified schooling, inadequate infrastructure in state schools and the relationship between 'labour class' communities and middle-class teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditional cash transfer programs are strategies used by countries over the past two decades, and they play a key role in reducing income inequalities and expanding access to basic services such as health and education. The Brazilian Cash Transfer Program (Bolsa Família), the largest conditional cash transfer program in the world, aims to bring immediate poverty alleviation and eradicate hunger. The objective of this study was to analyse the contributions of the Brazilian Cash Transfer Program for reducing social inequalities and ensuring the right to health, food, education and social assistance in Brazil. A review of the scientific literature published between 2003 and 2020 was conducted, associated with documentary research on government websites. There was a relationship between the Brazilian Cash Transfer Program, reduction of child mortality and increase in access to Primary Health Care services; increased access to food, including in natura; higher school attendance and reduced dropout. However, no improvement in the nutritional status of the families entitled to the program was observed, nor the interruption of the intergenerational cycle of poverty was ensured. The Brazilian Cash Transfer Program continues as a potent intersectoral policy for reducing inequities, which reinforces the need to strengthen and combine complementary policies to expand its effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the prevalence and socio-economic factors on child marriage in the Malda district of West Bengal using a mixed-methods approach: in-depth qualitative interviews of female victims of child marriage as well as quantitative data collected using structured interviews of women. Quantitative analysis reveals that educational attainment had an inverse relationship with girl-child marriage. This study also found that women who belonged to low-income families were more likely to married-off their daughter at an early age compared to high-income families. The qualitative information indicated multiple themes related to the causes of child marriage such as economic vulnerability due to land erosion, siblings as sisters, and comeliness of girls. The findings of the study suggest that child marriage could be prevented by increasing opportunities for girls' education and employment. The targeted approach should be made among rural and poor girls to combat the practice of child marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health studies typically characterise adolescent marriage as a fundamental risk to female wellbeing. In contrast, ethnographic research among communities 'at risk' identifies that early marriage is often viewed as an opportunity weighed against locally feasible alternatives. Addressing this contradiction, we document perceived risks and opportunities of marriage, positioning them among wider concerns facing female adolescents in north-western Tanzania. On the basis of these data, we then provide recommendations for global efforts to end the marriage of minors. Thirteen focus groups and 26 in-depth interviews were conducted in 2019 with female adolescents, young women and men, and parents of female adolescents from a semi-urban community where adolescent marriage is normative. Data were compiled to synthesise narratives of adolescent risk and opportunity. Marriage was viewed as an opportunity for adolescent girls, bringing benefits such as increased social status. Risks sometimes outweighed benefits of marriage, but marriage remained desirable when structural constraints, like poverty, limited feasible alternatives and when adolescents faced similar risks, like pregnancy, outside of marriage. We conclude that remaining unmarried does not shield adolescents from adversity, and campaigns targeting adolescent marriage via criminalisation, without diminishing other risks of adolescence, may further limit rather than expand options for adolescent girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While exploring the everyday experiences of Tonga youth, this paper draws on a participatory graffiti-on-board project in Binga, a rural community in Zimbabwe. Focus is placed on what shapes and drives youth aspirations in precarious contexts marked by unemployment and poverty. Using graffiti to create participatory and artistic engagements, the research aims to stretch the limited boundaries of social and political space available to the youth for discussing issues that concern their development pathways and livelihoods. The article presents everyday narratives that impact on Tonga youths' aspirations, endeavouring to create a space where they can visualise their prospective futures. Additionally, exhibition spaces are seen as sites for the construction of a collective voice and political capabilities for the youth. We argue that aspirations among disadvantaged youth evidence the broader geopolitical conflict that exists in marginalised communities in Southern Africa. A lack of spaces to construct political voice among the youth curtails their capabilities and agency to choose from existing development opportunities in an uncertain future. We discuss the potential role of participatory art in relation to this in providing spaces for political voice, unsettling established power dynamics and developing a collective, unified voice that might influence governance processes in fragile contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Explore the effects of poverty simulation integrated into an upper level nutrition course as a preparation for working with low income individuals. Background: The number of poor people is increasing in United States. Nutrition students need to understand the constraints of living in poverty and its relationship to nutrition and health. Method: A total of 123 students in an upper level course underwent poverty simulation to be sensitize to the realities of living in a typical low-income family. A pre-and post-questionnaire were administered to measure the impact of the simulation on the student's sensitivity towards poverty. Data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results:Thirty two percent of the students strongly agreed that the community does not provide efficient services to help low income families after the simulation. Most of the students did not change their thinking about causes of poverty after the simulation. Conclusion: Poverty simulation did not significantly alter the students'sensitivity towards low-income individuals, but they identified that the community needs to provide a more effective and efficient services. Implication:Results suggests that incorporating experiential learning in a nutrition course can help student develop a more empathetic understanding of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The currently proposed meanings of paid work among adolescent girls who attend school neglect their negotiation of their belonging to their communities, calling for additional exploration of the field while focusing on belonging as achieved through respectability production. We investigate the meaning of adolescents' paid work by examining it in terms of prevalent paths of respectability production. Based on 20 interviews with adolescent Palestinian girls living in Israel whose families live in poverty and who are employed while attending school, we show that girls who live in a community that touts education as a 'weapon' and expects girls to aim high are in fact shamed by such an expectation. To restore their self-worth facing educational barriers, girls use paid work to enable three paths to respectability: parentification, market citizenship, and belonging. Our findings suggest that girls unable to produce respectability through education, turn to produce it through paid work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Symbolic violence is (re)produced within families at the nexus of blame and shame. This paper presents an understanding of symbolic violence that extends beyond processes of internalisation, in which shame is directed against the self, to questions of processes of reproduction within families, in which shame is externalised through blame. Drawing on mother-tongue life-history interviews with mothers and grandmothers in rural KwaZulu-Natal, the paper explores how this nexus of blame and shame is situated at the intersect of race and gender. It is bound by intergenerational poverty and educational exclusion that span the apartheid and post-apartheid eras in South Africa. Our understandings of gendered poverty thus need to attend to these intergenerational processes of shaming, in which pervasive neoliberal discourses around individual effort and success mask structural constraints, potentially damaging relationships within families and across social networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how Owen's ideas and their application in his factory in New-Lanark were understood and judged by the two leading members of Geneva's liberal élite, J.C.L. Simonde de Sismondi and Marc-Auguste Pictet, who wrote extensively on questions pertaining to the development of industry. While Pictet and Sismondi shared Owen's concerns over the deleterious consequences of industrialisation, and examined with interest his proposals to resolve these problems, they were quick to distance themselves from his solutions, and rejected his ideas on co-operation and shared ownership. The article concludes with an analysis of Sismondi's work and his reflections on the two courses open to industrial civilisation: it could be either liberal, with all that entailed – competition, antagonism, conflict, but also liberty, imaginative and creative development – or 'planned', with the consequences that flowed from that: collective ownership, peace, security, but also an extinguishing of creative impulses, of inventiveness, and of the human spirit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospera, a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCTs) program in Mexico, provides recipients with cash contingent on three nodes of civic engagement: health, nutrition and education. This article examines the educational component of Prospera in La Gloria, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. I utilize gender and culture of migration theories to explore the role gender plays in the educational, employment and migration outcomes of 31 high school students, and a smaller sample that pursued post-secondary education, six years after participating in the Prospera program. My findings raise questions about the ability of Prospera to ameliorate social inequalities, foster gender equity, and economic mobility among indigenous recipient households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses articles in the issue on topics including educational careers in Latin America; childhood education; and poverty.

The purpose of this study was to use Photovoice to examine meaningful experiences and learning for Education and Health and Community Wellness students (n = 9) on the short-term study abroad trip to Belize. The study used Photovoice and journal reflections as a way to learn about the perceptions of the participants and gain deeper understanding of their experiences while on a short-term study abroad trip. Seven main themes emerged from the photographs chosen by participants and corresponding reflections: (1) teaching; (2) gratitude; (3) poverty; (4) community; (5) education; (6) cultural pride; and (7) environment. Conclusions: The results are consistent with previous Photovoice research and quantitative research with short- and long-term study abroad trips. Overall, this study provides insight into perceptions of learning experiences from the perspective of rural, undergraduate college students studying abroad in a novel country and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The problem of students dropping out of school is one of the barriers to improving educational outcomes in poor and developing countries. Purpose: This small scale, in-depth study sought to explore the phenomenon of students who drop out from secondary education, through the perspectives of fathers of such students in a rural district of Pakistan. Method: Primary data were collected through detailed, individual interviews with 14 fathers whose sons had dropped out from secondary education. The study adopted a framework involving push and pull factors to analyse qualitatively the processes and examine the reasons for dropping out that prevailed inside and outside school. Findings: The analysis suggested that, from the perspectives of the fathers, family poverty, poor academic performance and issues relating to teachers' engagement with teaching at school were main factors involved in a student dropping out of school. Conclusions: The findings from this small scale, detailed analysis of data draw attention to the issues arising from a tension in mainstream teachers' educational roles in and beyond the school. It further highlights the need for greater investment in secondary education, in order to help to reduce rates of student drop out in the remote rural areas of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban environments marked by violence create fear that can have real impacts on the urban poor, particularly women and girls. Any efforts to tackle poverty and promote health must address the impacts to their access to livelihoods and education, healthcare, markets, and social support that underlie wellbeing. This study aimed to elucidate specific impacts that violence and fear have on the very poor in rapidly growing cities and the coping strategies employed. This multi-country qualitative study was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Port-au-Prince, Haiti; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Participants in all three cities employed similar tactics to avoid violence. People adjusted how, when, and where they travel and how they interact with people who threaten them. These coping strategies led participants to spend more money on goods and to restrict access to livelihood opportunities, education, healthcare, and social activities. Women are impacted more than men in all spheres and city specific differences are highlighted. Residents of urban slums, particularly women, in these three cities cope with urban violence in many ways, suffering consequences in a range of categories – leading to significant impacts to their own health and well-being and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is important for the successful development and growth of individuals and societies, yet some factors adversely affect its provision. This article reports on a study that explored the factors that adversely affect education in the Builsa District located in the Upper East Region (UER) of Northern Ghana, by examining the attitudes and concerns of the people in Chuchuliga regarding education. Surveys were administered to students, parents/guardians and head teachers, and interviews and focus group discussions were held with opinion leaders and school dropouts, respectively. A striking finding was that the Tono Irrigation Dam located at Navrongo and farming, which is the predominant economic activity, negatively affect education in the community. Further findings were that the late introduction of education in Northern Ghana and traditional beliefs about education, as well as other long-established factors are responsible for high illiteracy and school-dropout rates. Recommendations to improve the quality of education in the district and country are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from qualitative and survey research with young people in 24 locations (urban and rural) across Ghana, Malawi, and South Africa expose the complex interplay between phone ownership and usage, female empowerment, and chronic poverty in Africa. We consider gendered patterns of phone ownership and use before examining practices of use in educational settings, in business and in romantic and sexual relationships. While some reshaping of everyday routines is evident, in the specific context of female empowerment we find little support within our sites for the concept of the mobile phone as an instrument of positive transformative change. The phone's application in romantic and sexual relationships demonstrates particularly strongly the way phones are complicit in constraining women's empowerment and points to potential wider repercussions, including for educational and entrepreneurship trajectories. Women's agency is still mired within wider structures of patriarchy and chronic poverty: existing inequalities are being re-inscribed and reinforced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent resurgence in small-scale mining in Ghana has coincided with falling enrolments in schools, leading to public concerns about the participation of children and young people in mining work. The engagement of children and young people in gold mining is also perceived to diminish efforts to improve education, inviting abolitionist actions from the government. This has created tension between government and its functionaries on one hand and young workers and their families on the other. Drawing on qualitative research, this article explores controversies around young people's involvement in small-scale mining and governments' efforts to curtail it in Amansie West District, Ghana. We discuss the tensions between securing individual/household livelihoods and societal interest in reducing child labor. The study findings underscore not only the importance of work in the lives of young workers and their households but also its positive implications for educational pursuits as well as for future livelihood prospects. Whereas the abolitionist framework emphasizes children's right to education, it fails to acknowledge that the income generated through work makes schooling possible for most children. We conclude that policies rooted in global ideologies of work-free childhoods are at odds with prevailing sociocultural and economic realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan's Punjab province has witnessed numerous education reforms in recent years. Many of these reforms have been aimed at improving the well-documented low levels of learning by focusing on improving teaching quality. The rhetoric suggests that government schools, particularly those in rural areas with a more disadvantaged pupil base, are especially ineffective at imparting learning. This paper seeks to investigate whether children in rural Punjab are learning literacy and numeracy over the course of a year, and if so, are some pupils progressing more than others. Using recently collected data, it finds that children in our sample are making progress. Variation in progress is found to be greater within schools rather than across them. The competence and qualifications of a teacher also makes a significant difference to a child's academic progress. The paper further finds differential progress for rich and poor students within schools, suggesting an important role for education policy to put in place targeted support towards those from disadvantaged backgrounds to ensure improvements in their learning keep pace with their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current paper, we introduce a special issue on Social Inequalities, and the papers which contribute to our understanding of social inequalities and the role of communities in further addressing or preventing said inequalities. The papers in the issue show that to effectively address and prevent inequalities, it is important to understand the complex community factors, such as economic, access to resources, and the nature of disadvantaged groups, particularly within the context of youth, families, and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evidence suggests that early education can promote children's development and narrow attainment gaps between those from lower-income and higher-income families. However, realisation of these potential benefits depends on many factors, feasibly including peer composition. We use national census data for a year-group cohort of children in England in 2011, to answer two questions: how are low-income children distributed across pre-schools; and what is the relationship between the proportion of low-income peers in a low-income child's setting and these children's subsequent recorded educational attainment? In contrast to many European countries and to the United States, we find that the majority of low-income children attend mixed settings. We find little evidence for associations between the proportion of low-income peers and low-income children's subsequent early attainment. We suggest that this may be due to an arguably optimal distribution across settings, where the funding and provision context of 2011 facilitated a lack of clustering of low-income children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education needs to shift from a utilitarian perspective to one that focuses on the greater social good. Recent brain research supports the multiple digital pedagogies of Libre. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While research on Asian American students has overwhelmingly emphasized family ties as an important contributor to student success in high school, what it neglects is how family ties can constrain students in their educational endeavors. Based on a study of 30 low-income Hmong American high school students, I argue that poverty can create conditions in which family ties bind students to gender-based expectations and obligations that prevent them from pursuing opportunities for social mobility. In their discussion of mobility obstacles, Hmong students consistently brought up family as a significant barrier. Whereas males were concerned about fulfilling family obligations related to performing cultural and religious rituals, females were distressed about providing social and economic support for their families. Both males and females framed family obligations as obstacles that interfere with their schooling but females were also concerned that family obligations would restrict their ability to pursue opportunities away from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many educators subscribe to poverty myths that can negatively impact teaching practices. This study examined whether poverty simulation participation would lead to sustained changes in poverty attributions and whether these changes would predict subsequent behavioral differences. Participants (n = 161) were educators from three schools in the mid-Atlantic region who participated in a poverty simulation. Results indicated that attributions do significantly change in the long-term following a simulation and these modified attributions predict some intended future behaviors. The poverty simulation is an effective tool for challenging poverty myths and may provide an important opportunity for teacher and staff professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces a multidimensional child poverty index (MCPI) for Iran. It comprises 10 indicators in three dimensions: health, education, and living standards. Based on MCPI scores 31 provinces of Iran were categorized. Results indicate that the border provinces have higher child poverty than the central ones. Although Iranian children do not have significant deprivation in access to health and education services, they face major difficulties in regard to the living standards. It is recommended to develop and implement policies and programs particularly focused on strengthening child's living standards especially in the border provinces of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective educational leadership is essential for the success of schools and ultimately student achievement. The impact of school leadership may be even more pronounced in charter schools. Due to current and unprecedented growth, unique design, and complexities of political, financial, and governance issues they face, there is a need for more highly qualified charter school leaders and perhaps even "differently" prepared leaders. In this qualitative study, the authors documented the characteristics and skills of two successful, sustained charter school leaders who retrospectively described their evolved and evolving roles over twenty five years. Each transformed high-poverty, low-performing schools with at-risk populations and led with vision, passion, and a relentless desire to positively influence their organizations and ultimately improve student success in their communities. Although many of their skills and characteristics fall within existing theories, such as situational leadership, transformational leadership, and distributive leadership, they embodied a level of dedication and commitment to the original communities in which they founded charters lasting over a quarter of a century. The findings suggest that founding a charter school and seeing it through to success over time may more closely resemble missionary work than traditional school leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poverty is associated with numerous poor health outcomes. Youth unemployment in Tanzania is approximately 13.7%, and concentrates in urban areas. These youth lack relevant job skills and access to financial capital. Microfinance continues to be implemented globally to address poverty, and increasingly has been linked to health interventions. Men less frequently are recipients of microfinance loans. We offered microcredit to young men in an area of Dar es Salaam with high poverty as part of a randomised controlled-trial to assess the efficacy of a microfinance and health leadership intervention in preventing STI acquisition. We used mixed methods to understand predictors of successful loan repayment. Our qualitative sub-study showed that leader influence, prior business experience, personal motivation, and planning facilitated repayment. Using a modified Poisson approach, our quantitative analysis showed that successful repayment was associated with business experience, education, increasing number of children, community of residence, percentage of network members trained in business, and repayment success of peer leaders. Our results suggest that enforcing group accountability and repayment rules, offering ongoing training, and using successful entrepreneurs as role models could increase repayment success in similar populations. These strategies could provide financial opportunity for men while minimising risk for microfinance institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assumed inability of adolescents to voluntarily consent to marriage is a key definition of child marriage. Using ethnography, this study approaches consent, self-determination, and fulfillment as dependent on the ability to make choices, not only between actual alternatives but also between perceived alternatives. In contexts of severe poverty, more attention is needed to the lack of viable alternatives open to families, and their motives in this context. In this study, 171 persons were interviewed in two majority-Muslim neighborhoods in Dar es Salaam. Some girls reported wanting to marry early, since poverty forces them to become adults capable of supporting themselves at roughly age 15-16, regardless of the personal wishes of their parents or guardians. Prior research tends to assume that early marriage prevents girls from continuing their education. This study suggests that educational opportunities are often closed off to girls before marriage. Policy recommendations given here are that organizations can more effectively address early marriage by (1) shifting the focus from legislation to urban poverty alleviation, (2) creating more employment opportunities for the poorest women in the city, (3) campaigning for more gender-equal attitudes in the informal employment sector, and (4) reducing financial costs of secondary schooling for adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to discuss the term ‘quality’ in relation to primary education in Tanzania, and to contextualize quality and identify the premises for obtaining quality in primary school education in rural and urban settings. To understand opinions about the quality of education and the current situation in primary schools, the author conducted interviews with teachers and focus group discussions with parents and caregivers in Iringa town and three villages in Iringa Region. The findings indicate a general consensus, regardless of geographical setting, that quality in primary education is primarily measurable through national exams. However, surrounding circumstances such as infrastructure and poverty have a great impact on the quality of education in rural primary schools. Lack of water and electricity, and poor transport networks have consequences for schooling by limiting children’s, parents’, and teachers’ access to school supplies and limiting the ability of officials to carry out monitoring activities. The author concludes that the premises for providing and receiving education vary to a great extent, depending on geographical setting, and favour urban youths with respect to their further education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research set out in this paper attempts to identify whether one of three conventional IQ tests is more capable of identifying intellectual potential amongst poor children in Dar es Salaam. To this end 1857 children from 17 government schools in poor districts of Dar es Salaam were asked to complete a questionnaire and undertake a range of tests. The study included teacher, peer and self-nomination. It has been noted that static testing may not fully elicit the abilities of African children. It has been suggested that dynamic testing might provide a more fair and equitable means of assessment. Therefore 101 students took part in a control and intervention group in order to investigate. The findings show a significant correlation between IQ test scores and other test outcomes. Those with larger families and older children perform less well on IQ tests. Peer ability and self-confidence positively influence test scores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines under-18 marriage in urban Tanzania from an ethnographic perspective. Due to poverty and high unemployment, some girls aspire to early marriage. Two pathways to early marriage are identified: first, poverty and gendered economic disparities motivate girls to begin transactional sexual activity at an early age, leading parents to favour early marriage as a risk-reduction measure. Second, educational opportunities are often closed off to girls before marriage, as a result of which early marriage becomes the only culturally approved pathway that allows girls to present themselves to others as a self-sufficient agent. These pathways are reinforced by cultural and religious concepts surrounding the transition from childhood to adulthood. The study finds that, in urban Tanzania, two important factors associated with early marriage are the prevalence of premarital sex leading to out-of-wedlock pregnancies, and the relatively high cost of secondary schooling, which blocks educational opportunities for girls after the age of 15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the education provided to the children in the London Foundling Hospital in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. These children were abandoned children, paying for the immorality of their parents. However, the Foundling Hospital provided them with an opportunity to escape their hereditary poverty. This research utilizes the education records of the London Foundling Hospital as well as its records of apprenticeship, to examine the education received by Foundling children, and the various career paths the children took during the early part of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Persistent education inequality is a complex problem in the United States, and, despite efforts to promote equity, education performance and attainment remain highly related to characteristics of students' families, schools, and neighborhoods. Systemic interventions are designed to address complex problems through the identification and purposeful incorporation of knowledge from the multiple systems implicated in a problem. Although systemic intervention approaches are not widely reported in education, they have yielded positive effects in health and human services and are worth investigating in the education context. In this paper we review policy and research evidence related to education inequality and provide an agenda for designing and evaluating systemic interventions to reduce education inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurocognitive screeners are used to detect symptoms of HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND). However, the degree to which education and socioeconomic status affect these screeners remains unclear. Neurocognitive screeners were administered to 187 socioeconomically disadvantaged HIV+ individuals upon entering treatment who had no other risk factors for HAND. The false positive rates were: 84% for the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, 59% for the International HIV Dementia Scale, and 28.3% for the Modified HIV Dementia Scale. Given these high false positive rates, the screeners may be more useful for establishing baseline functioning and sequential testing to detect deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a 2008 report that documented the extent of chronic absenteeism in New York City's schools, the city organized an interagency task force to develop and implement a citywide effort to reduce chronic absenteeism. Given the size of the city school system and the scope of chronic absenteeism, the effort became the nation's most comprehensive campaign against absenteeism. Analyses of the campaign's pilot in 100 schools, with over 80,000 students, found that its efforts, particularly the Success Mentors program, significantly improved students' attendance rates and reduced chronic absenteeism, particularly for students from a high-poverty background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe experiences of attitudes in the society of Sierra Leone from the perspective of individuals with poliomyelitis and people with amputations using orthotic or prosthetic devices. Methods: Individual interviews were conducted using open-ended questions. Twelve participants with amputations or polio were included. Content analysis was applied to the data. Results: The following six themes emerged during data analysis: Experience of negative attitudes; Neglected and respected by family; Traditional beliefs; The importance of assistive devices; People with disability struggle with poverty; and The need for governmental and international support. Conclusions: In Sierra Leone, people with disabilities face severe discrimination. They need to be included, recognized, and supported to a greater extent by the society, the community, and the family, as well as by the government and international organizations. Traditional beliefs have a negative impact on people with physical disabilities and are an important cause of discrimination in Sierra Leone. Prosthetic and orthotic devices are vital for people with physical disability and offer increased dignity. Prosthetic and orthotic services need to be accessible and affordable. Poverty affects access to education, employment, and health care for Sierra Leoneans with physical disabilities, forcing them to resort to begging to cover basic living needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]