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This paper aims to trace parallels in the unintended consequences of interpretations of special-needs law in Ireland and Sweden.

The paper is conceptual, based on Irish and Swedish legal reports, studies and national planning documents on supports for people with disabilities. It begins by discussing unintended consequences, and then analyses the Irish court decision in Sinnott v. Minister for Education (2001), which stated that the State’s obligation to provide for education for people with special education needs (SENs) ceases when they reach 18 years. It considers how economic considerations influenced that decision. The focus then diverts to Sweden’s human rights culture and the 1994 legislation, LSS (Sweden’s Act Concerning Support and Services for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments), which enshrines equality and support for people with disabilities, including personal assistance (PA). Cost-saving restrictions on PA allowances are discussed.

While the Irish State enacted a law on education rights following the Sinnott case the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (2004), or EPSEN (2004), it restricts those rights, and sections remain uncommenced. The case may have exhausted litigation as a remedy for people with SENs. In Sweden, austerity diluted the impact of LSS, leading to reduced entitlements and intrusions on privacy. It allowed legal discourse to dominate discussion. Families were negatively affected. In both countries, human rights may have suffered. Identifying which consequences of the legal actions were unintended, and which party did not intend them, can be problematic.

The paper concludes that the courts limited entitlement to the detriment of people with disabilities, and that caution must be exercised in having recourse to law courts in settling entitlements.

The paper is an original analysis of unintended consequences of legal interventions in special-needs policy. It illustrates difficulties in matching visions and systemic requirements in legal and the educational domains.

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977 and its amendment – the Trade and Competitive Act of 1988 – are unique not only in the history of the accounting and auditing profession, but also in international law. The Acts raised awareness of the need for efficient and adequate internal control systems to prevent illegal acts such as the bribery of foreign officials, political parties and governments to secure or maintain contracts overseas. Its uniqueness is also due to the fact that the USA is the first country to pioneer such a legislation that impacted foreign trade, international law and codes of ethics. The research traces the history of the FCPA before and after its enactment, the role played by the various branches of the United States Government – Congress, Department of Justice, Securities Exchange commission (SEC), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS); the contributions made by professional associations such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICFA), the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), the American Bar Association (ABA); and, finally, the role played by various international organizations such as the United Nations (UN), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). A cultural, ethical and legalistic background will give a better understanding of the FCPA as wll as the rationale for its controversy.

This paper reports a qualitative research study of comparative analysis of global citizenship education (GCE) in two primary schools, one international school in Singapore (Stamford International) and an independent school in Australia (Coastal College). The research focussed on how these two schools implemented GCE through the adoption of international education models, utilising the International Primary Curriculum (IPC) or the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB), creating hybrid curricula. Central to this research is the examination of educational practices, which address global citizenship education in each of the two schools.

Qualitative data from interview transcripts, document analysis, website analysis as well as field notes were analysed both inductively and deductively, teasing out the key themes from interviews, various documents such as policy papers, curriculum materials, syllabuses, the websites and other forms of documents that shed more light on the issues presented. The analysis of each case study began with a brief overview of the global citizenship education policies in the two schools and of their international curricula models, followed by a separate interpretation and juxtaposition of interview data (Phillips and Schweisfurth, 2014).

The key focus is examining the interplay between the global and national, which both schools have acknowledged in their design of the curricula. It is integral to note that globalization differs within different communities around the world with a unique and multifaceted interplay of global and national factors termed as a “global-local nexus”. A key overarching finding relates to the tensions between educational domains and neo-liberal market rationales, which had affected the schools' decisions in curricula and GCE enactment within both schools. Despite their commitment to GCE ideals, schools were mindful about being distinctive and remaining competitive within their educational markets.

In the study, the ideas of hybridity and “mixture and fusion” of curricula elements to generate new practices in local contexts against global influences have been explored. These ideas form the key features of the curriculum design in both schools and of the contexts in which the schools were situated. Even though the selected case study schools were international and independent and were not expected to fully adhere to government guidelines from their respective country’s policies, they were staged against these policies, which in turn influenced the curriculum initiatives and pedagogical approaches of these schools. Thus studying the landscape in which these two schools are situated provided a better understanding of the various influences – geo-political, formal policy, school-specific factors – which contributed to the knowledge base of global citizenship education studies for multi-ethnic nations such as Singapore and Australia.

As more national school systems embrace diversity, an international education approach has been adopted. This study affirms the idea proposed by Hayden, Thompson and Bunnell (2016), that the use of “international” is less relevant in categorising schools that seek to embrace GCE. It is more appropriate to use “cosmopolitan,” as proposed by Rizvi (2008), where the focus is more broadly on acquiring knowledge about cultural trajectories and social identities and reinforcing the idea of global connectivity as is evident in both case study schools. The focus is on understanding and acting on local issues within the “broader context of the global shifts that are reshaping the very nature of localities” (Rizvi, 2008, p. 21). One of the key things to note is that the global and international approaches are seldom enacted in their pure form. Schools that have adopted international education are usually unique and heterogeneous in nature, and what they have done is very much dependent on their histories, their geographical locations and the economic and political statuses. This is evident in both case study schools.

This study has added to the existing literature by providing a rich comparative investigation of global citizenship education in two countries, Australia and Singapore. The research provided the opportunity to study different models of internationally minded schools, with similar GCE ambitions. As the study explored two types of schools in two different countries, there is no claim of generalisability of findings to all the schools in these two countries. However, educators and researchers who are interested in this field could reflect on the themes that have emerged from this study and make an informed decision on the possible transferability to their own contexts.

Besides its contribution to existing literature, the study has also shown that for effective integration of GCE in schools, either in a national or international education system, it is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of the GCE principles. The results drawn from the study indicate that the ambiguity of the concept of GCE can result in different interpretations by school leaders, teachers and students, thus affecting its enactment in schools. In order to better understand and apply GCE, an effective conceptual model would provide a critical understanding of the multi-faceted nature of global citizenship education. A critical GCE requires schools to reflect on the entire curriculum, ensuring a seamless integration of GCE into curricula and practices.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

THE Reference Department of Paisley Central Library today occupies the room which was the original Public Library built in 1870 and opened to the public in April 1871. Since that date two extensions to the building have taken place. The first, in 1882, provided a separate room for both Reference and Lending libraries; the second, opened in 1938, provided a new Children's Department. Together with the original cost of the building, these extensions were entirely financed by Sir Peter Coats, James Coats of Auchendrane and Daniel Coats respectively. The people of Paisley indeed owe much to this one family, whose generosity was great. They not only provided the capital required but continued to donate many useful and often extremely valuable works of reference over the many years that followed. In 1975 Paisley Library was incorporated in the new Renfrew District library service.

The decision of the Wolverhampton Stipendiary in the case of “Skim‐milk Cheese” is, at any rate, clearly put. It is a trial case, and, like most trial cases, the reasons for the judgment have to be based upon first principles of common‐sense, occasionally aided, but more often complicated, by already existing laws, which apply more or less to the case under discussion. The weak point in this particular case is the law which has just come into force, in which cheese is defined as the substance “usually known as cheese” by the public and any others interested in cheese. This reliance upon the popular fancy reads almost like our Government's war policy and “the man in the street,” and is a shining example of a trustful belief in the average common‐sense. Unfortunately, the general public have no direct voice in a police court, and so the “usually known as cheese” phrase is translated according to the fancy and taste of the officials and defending solicitors who may happen to be concerned with any particular case. Not having the general public to consult, the officials in this case had a war of dictionaries which would have gladdened the heart of Dr. JOHNSON; and the outcome of much travail was the following definition: cheese is “ coagulated milk or curd pressed into a solid mass.” So far so good, but immediately a second definition question cropped up—namely, What is “milk?”—and it is at this point that the mistake occurred. There is no legal definition of new milk, but it has been decided, and is accepted without dispute, that the single word “milk” means an article of well‐recognised general properties, and which has a lower limit of composition below which it ceases to be correctly described by the one word “milk,” and has to be called “skim‐milk,” “separated milk,” “ milk and water,” or other distinguishing names. The lower limits of fat and solids‐not‐fat are recognised universally by reputable public analysts, but there has been no upper limit of fat fixed. Therefore, by the very definition quoted by the stipendiary, an article made from “skim‐milk” is not cheese, for “skim‐milk” is not “milk.” The argument that Stilton cheese is not cheese because there is too much fat would not hold, for there is no legal upper limit for fat; but if it did hold, it does not matter, for it can be, and is, sold as “Stilton” cheese, without any hardship to anyone. The last suggestion made by the stipendiary would, if carried out, afford some protection to the general public against their being cheated when they buy cheese. This suggestion is that the Board of Agriculture, who by the Act of 1899 have the legal power, should determine a lower limit of fat which can be present in cheese made from milk; but, as we have repeatedly pointed out, it is by the adoption of the Control system that such questions can alone be settled to the advantage of the producer of genuine articles and to that of the public.

Literature indicates African American parents can feel real or perceived discrimination that strains their interactions with teachers, resulting in them feeling alienated from their children’s school.

This is an exploratory case study of two African American parents, who although guarded in their relationships with teachers, exposed their vulnerabilities to Project ESTEEM faculty as they requested support in resolving behavioral and academic challenges with their children. It is an exploratory case study in that the field notes were taken prior to defining the research question, positioning it as research that sets the stage for a future more comprehensive study. The researchers, as participant observers recorded field notes of events and interactions that occurred. The research question was, “What were the factors that influenced the relationships between the Project ESTEEM faculty and African American Parents? The subquestions were “What were the distinctions of alienation that challenged the parents’ relationships in the schools? and "How were the factors that challenged the parents’ relationships with teachers mitigated in Project ESTEEM faculty’s relationships with the parents?” A constant comparative method was used beginning with open coding, followed by identifying patterns, themes and subthemes reflecting the specific needs of the parents in relationship to the overall theme.

The stories highlight sociocultural contexts influencing the alienation of some African American parents in their children’s education through an analysis of the relationships fostered with Project ESTEEM faculty.

This case study reports the experiences of two parents from one community and school, participating in a specialized program.

The significance resides in the representation of alternate viewpoints in understanding the alienation experiences of African American parents from schools.

Health care organizational research should pay greater attention to the specific settings where health is practiced. An ethnographic account of humor, ritual and defiance is presented from 29 months spent in a private, concierge-type radiation oncology center. A thick description of the setting and interaction among center staff and patients is offered in an attempt to establish why qualitative research of health care settings is so important. Findings are compared to Ellingson’s work on health care setting. Humor, ritual and defiance have therapeutic value and deserve greater attention in cancer treatment centers and health care organizations more broadly. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

An ethnographic account of humor, ritual and defiance is presented from 29 months spent in a private, concierge-type radiation oncology center through thick description.

This study reinforces the literature on the value of institutionalizing humor and ritual to improve patients’ experience in cancer care given the dominance of large public institutions, most easily accessed by academic researchers. Suncoast Coast Radiation Center’s “institutionalized humor” is an important finding that should be examine further. Scholarship can also illuminate the use of ritual in settings where health care is practiced.

This study is limited to a particular research setting which is a private, concierge care radiation oncology treatment center in the Southeastern USA.

Cancer care centers should consider carefully institutionalizing humor and ritual into their daily practices. Further, patient defiance should be reinterpreted not as a patient deficiency but as a therapeutic coping mechanism by patients.

While nearly half of cancer care in the USA is offered in private, for-profit institutions, the vast majority of the understanding of cancer care comes only from non-profit and government-run institutions. Shining a light of these neglected cancer care settings will add to the understanding and the ability to improve the care offered to patients.

This is the first health ethnography in a concierge care, cancer care treatment setting. It tests the proposition that humor, ritual and defiance play an important role in a private concierge cancer care organization.

The purpose of this case study is to allow the exploration of social entrepreneurship, environmental improvement and volunteering in the context of the UK's declared Big Society. Recently, there has been increased interest in “environmental” as well as social entrepreneurship. Volunteering is also an area of growing concern in policy circles, particularly with the advent of the “Big Society”, the UK Government's vision of citizen involvement.

The case was written with both secondary and primary data and with the co‐operation of Incredible Edible. Primary data include street questionnaires and semi‐structured interviews with relevant stakeholders.

Incredible Edible is an environmental initiative started in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. Basically community members – largely volunteers – have looked for opportunities where they could plant and grow fruits and vegetables that others could just help themselves to. Any spare land and space has been seen as suitable. From this the themes of local food growing and self sufficiency have taken over. Over a (short) period of years the initiative has grown and received considerable support from local stakeholders as well as extensive publicity. The initiative has attracted attention elsewhere and not just in the UK. But its real impact has been on the community and its sense of place.

The data have been used (so far) to write a case that traces the journey of the people behind the initiative, their motives and their impact. It explores a number of themes, namely: social entrepreneurship in action; improving the local environment aesthetically; the Big Society and volunteering; the local economic and social impacts – a new sense of place; improved diets and healthy eating – but also the impact on other local businesses which sell rival food products; how local successes can be replicated elsewhere; and the sustainability of initiatives such as this.

The case demonstrates five important themes that could be seen as a litmus test for the effectiveness of projects and initiatives in the Big Society – namely the presence and commitment of a visionary who provides the purpose and direction, volunteers, velocity – and emergence, visibility, and value.