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Teachers are more likely to include children with developmental needs (DN) in their classroom when they perceive that important people around them, such as principals, colleagues, and parents of children with and without DN, endorse inclusive education. Adequacy of resources and availability of training opportunities may also affect how teachers perceived being supported. This study examines Singapore preschool teachers' perception of support received from their working environment to include children with DN and how this predicts their intention to practice inclusive education and self‐reported implementation of inclusive practices in the classroom. The original Perceived School Support for Inclusive Education (PSSIE) scale, developed in Bangladesh, was reviewed for relevance and clarity by a panel of six experts familiar with Singapore preschool inclusion. 211 preschool teachers in Singapore completed the new 11‐item revised PSSIE – Singapore Version online. Perceived school support was found to be a single construct that significantly and reliably predicts both intention and self‐reported practices (alpha = 0.929). Stakeholders in Singapore can now use this newly validated instrument to reliably understand the support received by teachers and to re‐examine the strategies provided to support preschool teachers in this journey towards quality inclusive education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Asia, countries have signed the UNCRPD and to a greater or lesser extent are pursuing inclusive education (IE). In this article, we present case studies from Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, and China analyzing them for common themes around the education of students intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), and noting commonalities, challenges, and emerging issues. While the definition of IE (being the philosophy, process and practice of welcoming, valuing and supporting all learners in general education environments) and the conceptual distinction between integration and segregation are clear in the UNCRPD and subsequent comments, the terminology used in some of the countries is inconsistent with these definitions. This makes interpretation of reports from government instrumentalities difficult. In some cases, misuse of terminology allows justification of practices that are contrary to the UNCRPD. Terminology differences coupled with challenges of finding data related to the education of children with IDD, if the data exist, make a regional analysis of progress towards IE complex. In our paper, we have drawn on previous reviews and reports to discuss common issues and make suggestions for ways forward. Our findings add to the few other reviews from Asia on IE and draw attention to the continuing need for improved access to any education at all for learners with IDD. Provision of IE is caught up in dilemmas in the region about teacher preparation and professional learning, and how to provide specialist support in inclusive settings. School structure decisions including staffing provision and class sizes affect the education outcomes of students with IDD. School leadership, with the fundamental role of translating policy into practice, is critical for the development of IE and must be aligned with system and country priorities. Collaboration across the region has the potential to share best practice and continue to improve the educational opportunities for learners with IDD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural policy frameworks such as Growing Forward are intended to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the Canadian agricultural sector and to stabilize farm income. This paper examines the relationship between production efficiency and government program payments. First, we find evidence of heterogeneity in production efficiency across farms. Second, we find a negative correlation between production efficiency and the share and level of program payments. The result of this study underscores the importance of understanding the link between technical inefficiency and government payments. Les cadres stratégiques agricoles comme Cultivons l'avenir existent pour favoriser la productivité et la compétitivité du secteur agricole canadien et pour stabiliser les revenus des exploitations agricoles. Cet article examine la relation entre l'efficience de la production et les programmes gouvernementaux de paiements. En premier lieu, nous avons trouvé des preuves d'hétérogénéité dans l'efficience de la production dans toutes les exploitations agricoles. Ensuite, nous avons identifié une corrélation négative entre la production efficiente,et la part et niveau des programmes de paiements. Le résultat de cette étude met en relief l'importance de comprendre le lien entre les inefficiences techniques et les paiements gouvernementaux. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biosecurity is an increasingly prominent concern to the Canadian agri-food sector given heightened public awareness of animal welfare and the continued importance of trade. Due to the potential for large-scale animal depopulation and uncertain trade flow restrictions, the economic costs and animal welfare implications of disease outbreaks have prompted efforts to control their spread within and across trade boundaries. We build a partial equilibrium model of the beef supply chain in Ontario to examine the welfare impacts of a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak inside and outside the province. Somewhat surprisingly, economic impacts for Ontario are not dramatically different between an outbreak within the province versus an outbreak in western Canada: losses total $245 and $217 million, respectively. When the outbreak occurs outside Ontario and provincial zoning is recognized, losses total only $93 million. Restrictions on international and, inter- and intra-provincial movement of livestock and beef products are the main driver of losses. A strength of our model is that we are able to disaggregate these impacts across the various market participants (i.e., producers, processors, retailers, consumers). Retailers and consumers incur little to no losses as imports from the United States easily fill shortages in supply. Production losses from livestock movement restrictions and depopulation are partially offset by higher prices, while processors bear the brunt of the losses due to reduced supply and higher livestock prices. La biosécurité revêt de plus en plus d'importance dans le secteur agroalimentaire canadien en raison de la sensibilisation accrue du public au bien-être animal et de l'importance soutenue du commerce. Compte tenu de l'éventualité d'un dépeuplement animal à grande échelle et de mesures pouvant restreindre le flux des échanges commerciaux, le coût économique des éclosions de maladies et leurs répercussions sur le bien-être animal ont stimulé les efforts afin de maîtriser leur propagation tant à l'intérieur qu'à l'extérieur des frontières commerciales. Dans la présente étude, nous avons élaboré un modèle d'équilibre partiel de la chaîne d'approvisionnement du bœuf en Ontario afin d'examiner les répercussions d'une éclosion de fièvre aphteuse à l'intérieur et à l'extérieur de la province. Étonnamment, que l'éclosion survienne en Ontario ou dans l'Ouest canadien, l'impact économique pour l'Ontario ne diffère pas considérablement : les pertes totales étant de 293 millions de dollars (M$) et de 267 M$ respectivement. Lorsque l'éclosion survient à l'extérieur de l'Ontario et que les zones de contrôle provinciales sont déterminées, les pertes totales s'élèvent à 27 M$ seulement. Les restrictions concernant le déplacement du bétail et des produits de bœuf entre pays, entre provinces et à l'intérieur d'une même province constituent les principaux facteurs entrainant des pertes. L'une des forces de notre modèle tient au fait que nous avons été en mesure de désagréger les impacts entre les différents acteurs dans le marché (producteurs, transformateurs, détaillants et consommateurs). Les détaillants et les consommateurs subissent peu ou pas de pertes étant donné que les importations en provenance des États-Unis comblent facilement les pénuries de l'offre. Du côté des producteurs, les pertes causées par le déplacement et le dépeuplement du bétail sont en partie contrebalancées par des prix élevés, tandis que les transformateurs essuient les pertes les plus lourdes en raison d'une diminution de l'offre et du prix du bétail élevé. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author examined how individuals with intellectual disability ( ID) are supported in Singapore and what are the needs for further service development. Service provision for individuals with disabilities in Singapore is broadly reflective of its changing needs as a developing nation. Disability service provision began in the pre-World War II period and then advanced greatly during the last 20 years with the proliferation of early intervention and specialized programs for school-aged children as well an expansion of adult-focused supports. Social services are organized along the 'Three Ps Model' (public, private, and people), involving a collaboration of nongovernmental organizations, the government, and the corporate sector. With respect to school-age services, although a fairly comprehensive system has been put in place to support the education of students with disabilities, the system continues to evolve. The situation is more limited with respect to supports for adults. With Singapore reaching high levels of employment, there is an impetus for some individuals with ID to be part of the workforce; for those without work skills, day options for some include workshops and developmental activity centers. For parent carers, supports remain limited and there is a disparity between the goals outlined in the World Disability Report and currently available options for most adults and their families. Recommendations include studies to better understand the population of persons with ID and their needs, a reexamination of the diffused responsibility for disability-related services within the government, and an evaluation of the way services are delivered by the voluntary sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Risk balancing refers to the balancing of business risk (BR) and financial risk (FR) by firms through their investment and borrowing decisions. Assuming the concept holds, a decrease in income variability (BR) prompts the firm to incur greater debt levels thereby increasing FR. Reducing (BR), which continues to be the central objective of Canadian agricultural policy through programs such as Canadian Agricultural Income Stabilization Program (CAIS)/AgriStability, may lead farmers to take on more FR than they would take otherwise, which, in turn, increases the risk of equity loss. However, it is not known whether Canadian business risk management (BRM) programs offset BR as intended, and whether any potential reduction leads to increased FR (risk balancing) and possibly higher levels of overall risk for individual farm operations. This paper represents the first attempt to shed light on whether Canadian BRM programs fail to reduce farm risk as a result of farmers' risk balancing behavior using a longitudinal farm-level data set from Ontario. Results are mixed: (1) BRM payments reduce BR for beef farms but not for field crops farms (though the latter result may be due to the lack of data on Crop Insurance payments); (2) risk balancing holds particularly for the larger farms, and (3) BRM programs overall have no significant effect on the likelihood of increased debt use for either sector, on average; however, participation in CAIS/AgriStability increases the probability that farms take on more debt than they would take otherwise for both sectors. Further analysis is needed to determine whether BRM programs increase the probability of default for farms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canada has four major sources of information on the financial and production aspects of agriculture: the Census of Agriculture, the Farm Financial Survey, the Agricultural Taxation Data Program, and administrative data resulting from Business Risk Management programs. These data sets form the basis for the analysis of Canadian agricultural policy, which has shifted from a focus on farm family income enhancement, to commodity-specific supply stabilization, to enhancing the competitiveness of the sector and individual operations. The changing focus of agricultural policy together with the growing heterogeneity of the farm sector has significant implications for the forms of analysis conducted and the suitability of the data collected for analysis. No single data set supplies all the data necessary to determine the need for and effect of farm support programs. Census data provide descriptive measures of total production but lack detailed farm financial information. Such data is provided by tax data but information is not provided on assets/liabilities, inputs/outputs, and demographics. Proposals to consider the individuals behind a unit of production in the determination of support eligibility would drive an even larger gap between data demands and the current supply of publicly provided data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the Second Asia-Pacific Conference of the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability (IASSID). The conference had the theme "creating possibilities for an inclusive society." At the conference, more than 350 papers were submitted to the Scientific Program Committee for peer review.