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This chapter considers the current status of inclusive education in New Zealand in relation to the UN's Agenda 2030 initiative and Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). It outlines the history of the development of special education and inclusive education in New Zealand and provides a critique of policies and practices regarding education for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Policies on inclusion are considered in relation to those in other developed countries, and recommendations are made for future policy and practice for the education of children with SEND.

This purpose of this paper is to examine the organization of the UAE educational system, its components, their goals, and finally their effectiveness.

Three elements of the UAE education system were examined: the development; delivery; and evaluation and feedback.

On analysis, it was found that there is poor alignment among what the system was developed for, how it was delivered, and what was evaluated. In order to align this system significant efforts are needed to ensure that extensive documentation in terms of teachers' guides, training sessions for teachers and supervisors, and relevant evaluation instruments must be designed with systems thinking as the guide.

An orientation to goals rather than textbooks, to systems thinking, and to the vision developed for the system (and perhaps some form of strategic feedback to the respective committees established in the structural framework delineated by the ministry) might be worth consideration to erase the misalignment indicated by this research.

This paper will be of interest to those involved in education and in particular, those involved in the education system within the UAE.

Higher education institutions increasingly have gained momentum in integrating sustainability into university curricula. The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the approval, implementation and management process of the new university-wide, general education requirement in sustainability at the University of Vermont (UVM). The intent is to provide a case study to inform other institutions seeking to create similar university-wide sustainability requirements.

The authors applied a process framework focused on institutional dynamics and values to analyze UVM’s success in instituting a sustainability requirement across the curriculum. These two frameworks can provide a more general application of this case study to other institutional contexts.

The case study suggests that in the context of a diverse disciplinary and administrative environment at a university, the strategic unfolding, approval and implementation of UVM’s university-wide, general education sustainability requirement can provide a general model for other universities seeking to embed sustainability across the curriculum.

It is uncommon for research universities with multiple professional schools to offer a university-wide requirement in sustainability. This case study analyzes the creation of a sustainability requirement at UVM by using a process framework to organize the complex, multi-stakeholder activities and events that eventually resulted in a successful curricular change. Thus, it is potentially instructive for institutions seeking to integrate a learning outcomes-based sustainability requirement into a university curriculum because it is generalizable to other institutions and pushes forward our understanding of institutional change.

Discusses educational development, focussing on curriculum changes and issues affecting the change in Malaysia and perspectives for the future. Begins with an introduction that describes the school system in general, followed by a description of educational and curriculum development from independence to the present, highlighting the most current trends and changes Malaysia is undertaking. Concludes with discussions on the issue of values education which is being taught in schools and the efforts of the government to mould a united Malaysian nation with Malaysian values, as well as an overview of the current incentives and future perspectives for greater use of technology in the classroom.

Work experience helps develop skills necessary for life after high school. The California WorkAbility 1 (WA1) Program was developed to improve post-secondary outcomes for students with disabilities by providing temporary employment to students. Teacher experiences and perspectives reveal benefits and challenges of the WA1 Program. Success of the program is measured by how many student participants are hired by the employer after internship hours are completed. Challenges include funding and development of an equitable process for student selection. This chapter discusses strategies and recommendations for developing an effective work-experience program, including, acquiring and appropriating funds, staff placement, collaboration, equitable access, and education of all stakeholders.

We sought to identify codes and themes in the mission statements of Kentucky's school districts and examine the relationship between district characteristics and the mission statements.

We undertook a mixed methods design, specifically, a sequential transformative strategy with a theoretical lens overlaying the sequential procedures and guiding the analysis.

Analysis revealed a range of 1–7 codes per mission statement and a mean of 3.05. Generic student success and individual attention represented the most frequently occurring codes in the mission statements. Chi-square tests of bivariate association yielded no significant differences between districts by locale. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the percentage of students in the district scoring proficient or distinguished in both reading and mathematics was associated significantly (p < 0.05) with the theme of student support.

Although we cannot establish causation between mission statements content and student outcomes or vice-versa, district mission statement remain a visible and public expression of why an organization exists that should guide actions and decision-making, whether instructional, financial or otherwise.

Our study revealed shared institutional language within mission statements across Kentucky's school district, largely without regard to local context. Our analysis suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.

Our analysis provides further evidence that suggests that federal and state policy makers are influencing mission statements more so than those at the local level.

Adolescent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections including HIV are important public health issues in many countries around the world. The trend is escalating among adolescents of younger ages. Many programmes aim to prevent adolescent sexual risk behaviours associated with these health outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyse methodological and substantive features of research on interventions to delay the initiation of sexual intercourse and prevent other sexual risk behaviours among early adolescents.

The review includes studies published between 2006 and 2017 that appear in Thai and international databases.

A total of 33 studies met specified review criteria. Of the studies reviewed, 14 used randomized control designs, 16 used quasi-experimental designs and three used a pre-test, post-test design. Sample sizes ranged from 64 to 4,776 subjects; nearly two-thirds of the studies (n = 22) included multiple follow-up surveys. The programmes evaluated in these studies can be grouped into three categories: abstinence-based sexuality education programmes (n = 12), comprehensive sexuality education programmes (n = 13) and youth development programmes designed for early adolescents (n = 10). In total, 22 programmes reviewed were effective in changing targeted adolescent psychosocial and/or behavioural outcomes.

One of the limitations encountered in this study involved the search in library databases published only in Thai and English. Due to the limitation of searching library databases included in the review that reported the effects and differences among the included studies. Moreover, the search included publications consisted of heterogeneous designs and purpose with reports of different types of outcomes made it impossible to compare effect sizes.

The knowledge gained can be used to design and implement effective sexual health promotion programmes for early adolescents. Moreover, the findings can be applied as a guideline for health provider working in a schools, communities and adolescent health services. Recommendations for future studies are needed to consider methodological and substantive characteristics as well as the people who are involved in youth sexual health outcomes.

It is necessary for government to develop a policy for encouraging parents to be aware and participate in solving the problems.

The review indicated that the positive effects of parental involvement and technology media as a programme material on the psychosocial and behavioural outcomes.

This study aims to examine the factors of growth‐oriented atmosphere in a Finnish polytechnic institution of higher education with categorical exploratory factor analysis, multidimensional scaling and Bayesian unsupervised model‐based visualization.

This study was designed to examine employee perceptions of how their managers create conditions that support professional growth and learning, and how the employees perceive their growth motivation and commitment to the organization. Data were gathered from 447 employees with the Growth‐oriented Atmosphere Questionnaire in a Finnish polytechnic institution of higher education.

Results showed that the theoretical four‐group classification of the growth‐oriented atmosphere factors was supported by the empirical evidence. Results further showed that managers and teachers had higher growth motivation and level of commitment to work than other personnel, including job titles such as cleaner, caretaker, accountant and computer support. Employees across all job titles in the organization, who have temporary or part‐time contracts, had higher self‐reported growth motivation and commitment to work and organization than their established colleagues.

Leaders in various organizations may benefit from learning what is the current professional growth status of diverse employee groups, and in understanding the potential differences in employee growth motivation.

This study contributes to an understanding of organizational growth and learning as a non‐linear process. The statistical non‐linear modeling approach is novel providing research and practical example of how to use these techniques in practice.

In order to ensure that registered accountants and auditors (RAAs) discharge their functions in the public interest, the RAA profession, through its governing bodies, should establish, maintain and ensure compliance with among other things an identified set of educational requirements. The research objective is twofold: Firstly, to provide a normative description of pre‐qualification professional education and, secondly, to evaluate the extent to which the current pre‐qualification education process applicable to RAAs in South Africa is normatively justifiable. A study of the literature on general professional education and on education in the field of accountancy facilitated the achievement of the first objective, while the second objective was addressed by means of a comparative analysis of the basic prequalification educational requirements applicable to prospective RAAs and the normative description of professional education presented. The current educational process permits latitude for factors and practices that are not wholly justifiable within a normative definition of professional education. The lack of normative justification for several aspects of the system will impede the achievement of sound educational objectives.