Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T14:21:40.519Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Educating Practices at Primary School Level and New Forms of Positive Welfare for Families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 June 2013

Suzanne Gatt  and
Laura Sue Armeni
Suzanne Gatt
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Malta E-mail: suzanne.gatt@um.edu.mt
Laura Sue Armeni
Affiliation:
Malta Council for Science and Technology E-mail: laurasue.armeni@gov.mt
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The global financial crisis across Europe has created great societal demands. Social inclusion has become one of the main challenges of the millennium with those hit hardest being the most vulnerable people. It is at such times that it becomes crucial to provide positive welfare. This article presents research results from a transnational study, INCLUD-ED, an FP6 project of the European Commission, which focuses on educational practices promoting social cohesion as a form of positive welfare. The research focuses on six successful schools in five countries that have demonstrated that they can transform children's academic performance as well as have an impact on the community itself. A number of positive transformative approaches beyond better academic performance included a spill over of benefits to the schools’ neighbouring communities and an increase in social cohesion and community in health, housing, employment and social and political participation was also identified.

Keywords

Educationcommunity involvementsocial innovationpositive welfaresocial inclusion
Type
Themed Section on ‘New’ Welfare in Practice: Trends, Challenges and Dilemmas
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 12 , Issue 4 , October 2013 , pp. 565 - 581
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BEPA (Bureau of European Policy Advisers, European Commission) (2010) Empowering People, Driving Change, Social Innovation in the European Union, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.Google Scholar
Cutler, D. M. and Lleras-Muney, A. (2006) ‘Education and health: evaluating theories and evidence’, Working Paper 12352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, www.nber.org/papers/w12352 (accessed 13.09.2008).Google Scholar
Castells, M., Freire, P., Flecha, R., Giroux, H., Macedo, D. and Willis, P. (1999) Critical Education in the New Information Age, Lanham, MD: Roman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Chang, G. (2010) ‘Monitoring the effects of the global crisis on education provision’, Comparative Education, 12, 2, 14–20.Google Scholar
European Commission (2010) ‘Communication from the Commission, Europe 2020: a strategy for Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth’, Brussels: 3.3.10 COM (2010) 2020.Google Scholar
European Commission, Directorate-General for Education and Culture (2001) European Report on the Quality of School Education: Sixteen Quality Indicators, Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.Google Scholar
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (2012) Experiencing the Economic Crisis in the EU: Changes in Living Standards, Deprivation and Trust, Dublin: Eurofund.Google Scholar
Flecha, R. and Gomez, J. (2004) ‘Participatory paradigms: researching “with” rather than “on”’, in Crossan, B., Gallacher, J. and Osborne, M. (eds.), Researching Widening Access: Issues and Approaches in an International Context, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Green, A. and Preston, J. (2001) ‘Education and social cohesion: recentering the debate’, Peabody Journal of Education, 76, 3/4, 247–84.Google Scholar
Green, A., Preston, J. and Sabates, R. (2003) ‘Education, equality and social cohesion: a distributional approach’, Compare, 33, 4, 453–70.Google Scholar
INCLUD-ED (2010) Working Papers: Case Studies of Local Projects in Europe (4th Round), Barcelona: CREA.Google Scholar
Ipsos MORI (2010) Every Child Matters – Exploring the Need of Vulnerable Young People in Kent: Qualitative Research Conducted with Young People and Parents/Carers Living in Kent, Maidstone: Kent County Council.Google Scholar
Jensen, C. (2011) ‘Determinants of welfare service provision after the golden age’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 20, 2, 125–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kravdal, O. (2009) ‘The importance of community education for individual mortality: a fixed-effects analysis of longitudinal multilevel data on 1.7 million Norwegian women and men’, Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 64, 12, 1029–35.Google Scholar
Martin, R. and Taylor-Gooby, P. (2008) Fairness and the Welfare State: The Double Disconnect, Germany: The Anglo-German Foundation.Google Scholar
OECD (2001) Schooling for Tomorrow: What Schools for the Future? Paris: OECD, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation.Google Scholar
OECD (2010) Improving Health and Social Cohesion through Education, Paris: OECD, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation.Google Scholar
Pearson, N. (1999) ‘Positive and negative welfare and Australia's indigenous communities’, Family Matters, 54, Spring/Summer, 30–5.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. D. (2004) ‘Education, diversity social cohesion and “social capital”, raising the quality of learning for all’, meeting of OECD Education Ministers, 18–19 March, OECD Education, Dublin, Ireland, Paris, pp. 1–8.Google Scholar
Sen, A. (1999) Development as Freedom, New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stein, J. (1997) Empowerment and Women's Health: Theory, Methods and Practice, London: Zed books.Google Scholar
Walker, K. (1998) ‘Promoting positive welfare: social security is a great success story which facilitates economic change’, New Economy, 5, 2, 77–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watkins, K. (2007) Classrooms as Learning Communities: What's in It for Schools, London: Routledge.Google Scholar