Based on the recognition that children are important social actors, researchers within the geographical discipline are now calling for more research on children as a neglected grouping undergoing socio-spatial marginalisation.

This study aims to explore the dynamics behind the emergence and expansion of working street children since 1990s in Turkey and Romania, in the context of New Poverty. Poverty is not a new concept, it is a dynamic process, accommodating to new circumstances, its scope shrinking from time to time, but surviving ages. Children, on the other hand, are among the groups that are first and foremost affected from the course of poverty. Nevertheless, working street children is a new notion different from traditional forms of child labour driven with distinct dynamics. In this study, it is claimed that poverty is transformed in the course of globalization process and neo-liberal paradigm. It is also argued that the way children are affected from poverty changed in this process, leading to emergence of working street children. The main discussion of the study is about the connection between working street children and the concept of New Poverty. Turkey and Romania are countries whose political, economic, social and cultural characteristics involve differences at the expense of similarities / however, working street children have been a common problem that both countries have faced at the same period. Employing comparative historical methodology, the main research question is developed as why working street children emerged in similar time periods in Turkey and Romania, which are two quite different countries. After an introductory chapter, Chapter II aims to provide a theoretical framework in which transformation of poverty in general and transformation of child poverty in relation to this process leading to emergence of working street children will be discussed. The third chapter focuses on Turkey and the fourth chapter is on Romania / in both chapters the dynamics leading to emergence of working street children, the scope and dimension of the issue is explored. The fifth chapter is devoted to the comparison of Turkey and Romania in terms of working street children in the context of New Poverty. The conclusion chapter discusses the findings of the study in both countries and tries to locate them into the theoretical framework.

Magister Educationis - Med / Parental involvement in low-income school communities in the Western Cape, South Africa, has received little attention irrespective of its significance to learner outcomes. This study explores parental involvement with regard to teachers' perceptions of parental involvement, as well as barriers and solutions to meaningful parental involvement in a low-income school community in the Western Cape. This study, in the form of a qualitative study, sought to establish how teachers perceived parental involvement, and what restricts parents with poor socio-economic backgrounds from becoming involving in their children's education. Additionally, the study sought to establish or develop ways in which parental involvement could be improved. This study adopted a qualitative method design using qualitative procedures such as semistructured interviews, focus group interviews, observation and an open-ended questionnaire. It emerged from the findings that teachers had limited understanding of parental involvement. They perceived parental involvement to be parent's school-based activities such as fund-raising and the provision of school materials for the learners. Most of the teachers were never exposed to training on how to involve parents. Teachers believed that lack of material resources and poor parental education contributed to the issue of a lack of parental involvement in the school. Furthermore, participant parents indicated that they are willing to become involved in their children's education; however, their involvement was restricted by various barrier factors such as poverty and a lack of enabling environment. Both (teachers and parents) participants also suggested programmes or useful ways in which parental involvement could be promoted, such as the provision of basic infrastructures, grant support, educational training or facilities and a supportive environment for the parents. The findings revealed that creating an enabling environment to nurture these parents' capabilities will improve parental involvement. The capability-approach framework was used not only to explain the restraining factors to parental involvement but also to propose or suggest ways or intervention measures to improve parental involvement in their children's education, especially the parents from the community of this research. The approach was use to analyse parental involvement with the view to develop parental involvement or parents' capabilities in the school community.

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The purpose of this qualitative study was to assess teacher perception of how economically disadvantaged students at White Pine School were being served. The results of this study may help educators at White Pine School determine how to support and improve learning conditions for economically disadvantaged students. Data collection techniques included individual interviews, focus group interviews, and document review. The following conditions were discovered in relation to economically disadvantaged students: positive home-school relationships; desire to become a full-service school; limited parent-training opportunities with limited participation; limited professional development opportunities; limited poverty discussion in professional learning communities; underuse of college partnerships; need for a mentoring program; need for programming to combat absenteeism; demand for additional early intervention programs; positive student-teacher relationships; a variety of opportunities for students of poverty to build confidence; teachers high expectations from teachers; importance given to enrichment opportunities; teaching strategies focused on active learning; assignment of small, meaningful doses of homework; limited tutoring opportunities; and use of multiple data-collection methods. Recommendations for improving how students of poverty are served include continuing to expand efforts concerning positive home-school relationships, investigating the possibility of becoming a full-service school, designing a powerful parent-training program, offering additional professional development training for teachers, developing poverty-related topics for professional learning communities, finding ways to improve partnerships with local colleges and universities, designing a quality mentoring program, finding creative ways to address absenteeism, finding additional means of providing early intervention, continuing to develop positive student-teacher relationships, finding additional ways to build confidence, maintaining high expectations of students of poverty, creating additional meaningful enrichment opportunities, searching for the best teaching strategies to improve learning, continuing to assign meaningful homework with assistance as needed, creating a comprehensive tutoring program, and collecting meaningful and useful data to help teachers increase students' achievement.

The academic achievement gap in the State of California has been a persistent problem. In California the achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the academic performance of white students and other ethnic groups as well as that between English learners and native English speakers, socioeconomically disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities as compared with students without disabilities (CDE, P-16, 2008, p. 11). Jack O'Connel, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, has identified closing the achievement gap as one of the primary goals for the State of California. Research has consistently shown that children of color and children of poverty have not experienced the academic success of their white peers. Utilizing the meta-analysis of research data from Mid-continent Research for Educational Learning (McREL), this study is a quantitative review of the 21 Leadership Responsibilities and Best Practices identified by school leaders from Ceres Unified School District, more specifically, from leaders in nine high-achieving schools within the district. The nine identified schools and leaders have experienced academic success with children of color and children of poverty based on their Academic Performance Index Similar Schools Rankings. In the study, two levels of surveys were conducted. The first survey reviewed the leadership responsibilities identified by McREL and asked the study participants to rank the leadership responsibilities based on the responsibilities that they perceive to have the most significant impact on student academic achievement. Employing the results of the first survey, a second survey utilized the top five leadership responsibilities identified by the study participants. Under the umbrella of the top five responsibilities, five best practices were listed and again ranked by the participants based on their perceptions of the leadership practices that have the greatest effect on increasing student achievement. The results of this survey identified the best practices perceived by leaders of high-achieving, high poverty schools. Additionally, a questionnaire was completed by the participants to provide additional demographic data. The study results support the findings that best pedagogical practices are complimented by effective leadership. Effective leaders and leadership practices do have a positive effect on student academic achievement.