Browsing by Subject "schools"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Education for All Week 3 - Creating an inclusive school
    (2018-06-01) Ohajunwa, Chioma
    In this video, Chioma Ohajunwa introduces the focus for Week 3 of the Education for All MOOC, looking at how schools become inclusive, exploring support systems within the school to support this transition. The relevance of involving all aspects of the school community and methods of facilitating this shift to inclusion is discussed, supported by samples of good practise.
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    Exploring the perspectives of health service providers on mental health policy and interventions for school children in the Western Cape, South Africa
    (2021) Mgoqi, Khusela; Shung-King, Maylene
    Background: Mental health is recognised as a critical public health challenge globally, yet child and adolescent mental health receive low priority, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Children and adolescents spend a significant proportion of their lives in school, suggesting that educational settings are potentially important environments where child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) can be strengthened to improve early identification and treatment. This study explored the perspectives of key service providers on needs, barriers and facilitators of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) in schools in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Methods: This study employed an exploratory qualitative approach. In-depth individual interviews were conducted by one of the authors (SM), and the first author (KM) conducted a thematic analysis on the interview data. Results: There were nine interviewees selected who were diverse health service providers involved in child and adolescent health which included school doctors, school nurses, psychiatrists, occupational therapist, clinical nurse and mental health nurse. Thematic findings were grouped under: a) perceived needs, b) barriers and c) facilitators. The need to improve intersectoral collaboration, following a referral pathway, a strong multidisciplinary team (MDT) and integration of services were all identified important in the delivery of CAMHS. The neglect of CAMHS in both education and health sectors and limited resources were identified as barriers. Facilitators included intersectoral collaboration, task shifting from nurses and doctors to community health workers, and committed health workers. Conclusion: CAMHS receives very low priority in comparison to other health issues such as HIV/TB in South Africa. There is an urgent need to address CAMHS in South Africa, and the school setting is an important site of intervention. Intersectoral collaboration, task-shifting, continuous training of teachers and health professionals are potential strategies that could be used to strengthen access to CAMHS in education sector and have integrated services in the Western Cape Province.
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    The junction: transcending sociotechnical divides through youth space
    (2018) Dowlath, Rahul; Carter, Francis; Brunette, Tessa
    Infrastructure continues to perpetuate the effects of splintering urbanism in South African cities. Where apartheid planning policies such as the group areas act used infrastructure as a mechanism of social organisation, this design dissertation proposes using architecture as social infrastructure to transcend these sociotechnical divides. The concept of the sociotechnical denotes the synergy of a city's infrastructural systems and its social life. In this design dissertation this idea is explored at various scales: at the urban level, through a development strategy that spatialises unsafe public open land; at the architectural scale, through surface articulation and interfacing with urban infrastructure; and at the technical level, through building performance analysis and technical design development in support of architectural goals. The project uses a distributed programme that stretches across communities in order to socialise the existing urban infrastructure of a pedestrian bridge. By leveraging the social significance of a local football club, the project proposes a social programme around the idea of a football clubhouse as a programmatic anchor. In reacting to urban infrastructure, the idea of imageability and presence are important considerations. These concepts enable youth to positively engage with the architecture, and allows the building to convey its purpose and programmatic intent, thereby creating a strong social interface with its users. Sociotechnical architecture is considered as an urban armature that socialises and spatialises urban infrastructure. The architecture therefore seeks the minimal amount of fixity to support a variety of flexible events surrounding sports and recreation activities. This is achieved through a selection of robust materials used in horizontal surfaces of social purpose, and the combination of structure, materiality and geometry to create a series of vertical surfaces of social presence and architectural imageability. The result is a strategic arrangement of architectural interventions deployed across a large urban scheme. By distributing the architecture across urban infrastructure, the project connects two communities and presents an architectural response to splintering urbanism.