The Human Rights Approach to Education in International Organisations

In this article, the work of three international governmental organisations (IGOs) dealing with human rights will be discussed, namely the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)¹ and the Council of Europe (CoE). In the first section, the main characteristics of the three IGOs in terms of similarities and differences will be elaborated. Then, their human rights approach to education will be described, dealing with the legal foundations. In the final section, the different strategies of implementation based on both their official mission statements and their present strategy papers will be evaluated under the heading ‘competition vs. cooperation’.     

Physics in upper secondary schools in Denmark

This article is the third in a series reporting on the changes in attitudes and interests‐‐mainly with respect to physics‐of several hundred students as they proceed through the Danish upper secondary school (Gymnasium). It concentrates on the results of the final investigation which took place shortly before the students leave the school.     

Is Reading Recovery sustainable two to four years after discontinuation?

The Reading Recovery programme has been a key early literacy intervention in many international contexts for over two decades. As a consequence, there have been numerous investigations into its efficacy for short-term gains, but only a few on long-term sustainability. This study examines the progress of 95 Year 4–6 students from seven schools in the rural hinterland of New Zealand. Standardised data were collected from students who had been successfully discontinued from Reading Recovery two to four years previously and compared them with mean performance from the same school populations. Results showed that only Year 6 students obtained the mean scores which placed them within the national average range. Our results also showed that whilst almost half of the ex-Reading Recovery students we studied, fell within the average band, 45% were classified as well below average.     

MYTHPERCEPTIONS OF HEARING LOSS,HEARING AIDS,AND AGING

Myths are ill‐founded beliefs held uncritically by persons or groups about other persons or groups. Such myths hinder the communication process and lead to negative feelings or attitudes toward older persons with hearing loss. Hudson, Dancer, Patterson, Reynolds, and Tillery (1990) highlighted five common myths of hearing loss and aging. This article explores whether older persons themselves accept these and other myths presented by the DanPat, a 30‐item questionnaire with “Agree‐Disagree” statements such as the following: “Hearing Aids are Best Left to younger Persons Who Can Learn to Use Them,” or “Persons with Hearing Loss are Paranoid and Suspicious.”

Twenty older persons attending a Senior Companions and Foster Grandparents Health Fair filled out the DanPat with the following results to the 30 statements: informed about 14 of the statements; misinformed about 2 statements; and didn ‘t know the correct answer to 14 statements. Of the five prevalent myths presented by Hudson et al., this group of older adults still believes only one, that persons with hearing loss are excellent lipreaders. They don't know what to believe about two others, and they have discarded the remaining two. This article highlights the DanPat and provides correct answers to the questionnaire.