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Australia: Indonesia’s knowledge sector is catching up, but a large gap persists

Noticias

Oceanía/Australia/Noviembre 2016/ Noticias/https://theconversation.com/

Academic publications are important reflections of the strength of the research community in a country. A strong research community fuels innovation in the economy. It’s also the bedrock for generating high-quality evidence to inform policy decisions.

Indonesia, the largest economy in Southeast Asia and the fourth-most-populous country in the world, wields substantial economic and political influence in the Asia-Pacific region. It has the potential to make important contributions through academic research and the dissemination of knowledge emerging from Indonesian universities.

In the last four years Indonesia has rapidly increased its academic publications output. Indonesia’s publication output increased tenfold with an average annual growth rate of 15%, growing from 538 in 1996 to 5,499 in 2014.

This may ultimately help Indonesia produce high-value goods for export, such as chemicals, electronics and bio-medical manufacturing. It would also quicken its transition to a middle-income country.

As Lord Nicholas Stern noted:

Whilst creativity, ideas and questioning are of value in their own right, economies and societies which invest more in research generally show faster rates of growth in output and human development.

Still behind

However, Indonesia still has a lot of catching up to do to be on par with other countries in the region and other middle-income countries in publishing academic articles.

Between 1996 and 2008 Indonesia published just over 9,000 scientific documents. That figure places Indonesia more than 13 years behind other lower-middle-income countries like Bangladesh or Kenya.

Indonesia trails even further behind neighbouring upper-middle-income countries such as Thailand and Malaysia or high-income countries such as Singapore.

Singapore, South Africa and Mexico still each produce three times as many academic publications as Indonesia.

The low production of academic papers by Indonesian research institutions is one of the symptoms of a weak knowledge sector.

In 2014 Indonesia accounted for only 0.65% of academic publications in the ASEAN region. It produced just over 0.2% of global publications. Compared to the size of the economy and population of Indonesia there’s a substantial gap between actual and potential research output.

Indonesia produces the lowest number of academic publications per US$1 billion of GDP (2.2 publications per US$1 billion of GDP), compared to neighbouring ASEAN countries and partner countries of the G20. The Philippines produces 2.7 and Vietnam 7.2 academic publications per US$1 billion of GDP.

Indonesia has also failed to maximise the potential for international collaborations in recent years. International collaborations help scientists to access knowledge and expertise, and apply them to local problems. They also enhance domestic scientific capabilities through the exchange of knowledge and experience.

Until 2011 67% of publications involved co-authorship, but by 2014 this had fallen to 44%. Previously, Indonesian authors were more collaborative than authors from countries with much higher publication output.

Indonesia’s potential

If Indonesia continues to produce academic publications at the current rate it may eventually overtake other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia. Indonesia may also overtake key G20 partners such as South Africa and Mexico, which have had lower growth rates.

Indonesia’s academic articles are also informing other research. Other researchers are citing more and more academic articles by Indonesian academics.

Between 1996 and 2011 Indonesia’s average annual increase in cited publications was 16%. This is lower than China and Singapore. But higher than the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and other countries.

This does, however, reflect a lower absolute increase in cited publications compared to other middle-income G20 economies given the smaller total publication output of Indonesia. There is still progress to be made.

Indonesia’s researchers have shown progress in producing knowledge. But it must catch up to close the gap in academic publications with other countries.

To do so, Indonesia has to continue building a culture of research in its universities. This means funding basic research and innovation.

Government organisations should commission research directly from Indonesian universities and research centres to support public policy decisions. The government should also create incentives to promote private and philanthropic investment in research.

Indonesia has made an important start on funding research through the creation this year of the Indonesian Science Fund. This is the first competitive, peer-reviewed research fund in the nation.

Changes in regulations and rules are needed to guide research commissioning to support public policy. There should also be a change in attitude and expectations among policymakers.

Here too there are signs of progress. The government is considering changing procurement regulations to incentivise policy makers to commission research from Indonesian universities and research institutes.

All of this points to a cultural shift that values research. Creating a culture of research in universities cannot be done by researchers alone. It needs leadership from the government and university rectors, and clear signals that research is valued and used.

Academic publication is the visible indicator of a healthy research environment. As the culture of research is built and the research environment grows, publications will grow. Then we will see Indonesia catch up with – and perhaps surpass – other countries in the region and produce the knowledge and research evidence required by a rapidly growing economy to innovate.

Fuente:

https://theconversation.com/indonesias-knowledge-sector-is-catching-up-but-a-large-gap-persists-67937

Fuente imagen

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/wgJpzsSsSF33zf9Srk39WOS2sZYqDwNXZ60yIkhw8n8Lkt6vIwpjjROv47Ki_kmoDXie4w=s85

 

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ONU insta a los medios a apoyar campaña contra violencia de género

Noticias

África/Asia/Oceanía/Europa/América Norte,Sur,Central/Noviembre 2017/Noticias/http://rnv.gob.ve/

La Organización de Naciones Unidas (ONU) instó a los medios de comunicación del mundo a apoyar la campaña contra la violencia de género, a propósito de la conmemoración del Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia contra las Mujeres, el próximo 25 de noviembre.

La secretaria general adjunta de la ONU, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, espera que los medios “decidan prestar su poderosa voz a esta causa y colaborar en los esfuerzos mundiales dirigidos a eliminar la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas”, escribió en una carta dirigida a los medios de comunicación citada por Prensa Latina.

Recordó que la campaña comenzará el 25 de noviembre y culminará el 10 de diciembre. La actividad cuenta con el apoyo de organizaciones públicas, de salud, feministas y grupos sociales. La campaña fue denominada Pinta el mundo de naranja: Pon fin a la violencia contra las mujeres y las niñas.

“El color naranja es un símbolo de un futuro más brillante sin violencia contra las mujeres” señaló Mlambo-Ngcuka según citó   Prensa Latina.

Como parte de la jornada de actividades, informó que varios sitios emblemáticos del planeta serán iluminados con luces naranja y también tienen previsto movilizaciones, publicación de artículos en prensa, radio y televisión.

Indicó que el apoyo de los medios permitirá al mundo conocer los compromisos adoptados por cada nación para enfrentar y combatir este flagelo. “Se trata de una grave violación de los derechos humanos, una pandemia que debemos detener”.

El Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia contra las Mujeres fue establecido en la Asamblea General de Naciones Unidas en 1999, en homenaje a las hermanas Mirabal, tres activistas políticas asesinadas en 1960 durante la dictadura de Rafael Trujillo, en República Dominicana.

En 2014 la ONU llamó al mundo a utilizar el color naranja para mostrar solidaridad durante los 16 días que separan el Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia contra la Mujer y el Día de los Derechos Humanos, que se conmemorará el 10 de diciembre próximo.

Fuente:

http://rnv.gob.ve/onu-insta-a-los-medios-a-apoyar-campana-contra-violencia-de-genero/

Fuente imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/zzJr8zpiqmUJhPmGpWRk9kYhdhDAy0Z2idY6neFEwMYdi28WfEQerAbAzbiwBAGuoPdu9A=s85

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Se recuperan archivos valiosos que prueban el impacto de los pesticidas en la salud

Eco Portal

 

Gracias a los apoyos recibidos! Hemos logrado recuperar la custodia de la documental de los #CampamentosSanitarios”, escribió Verzeñassi en su cuenta de Twitter, luego de la campaña nacional e internacional de apoyo que se desató no bien la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario empezó a aplicar recortes de profesionales y amenazó con eliminar el programa que dirige el médico paranaense.

La responsabilidad por ese recorte recayó en el decano de Ciencias Médicas, Ricardo Nidd, que públicamente se despegó del entredicho. “Lejos de esa inculpación, nuestra Facultad ha dado sobradas muestras del compromiso social por las causas populares. Desde su modelo de ingreso irrestricto y de currículas innovadas basadas en la estrategia de Atención Primaria de la Salud, hasta mi manifestación pública en defensa de la Salud como Derecho y el posicionamiento en favor de la Salud Colectiva, en la cual, la lucha por la Salud Socioambiental es una temática innegociable. Este decanato favoreció y gestionó personalmente la asignación de los recursos necesarios para los campamentos sanitarios que se realizan al cierre de la Práctica Final y de los cuales se obtiene toda la información, que obra en poder de sus organizadores: el Dr. Verzeñassi y el Dr. Palacios al frente de ellos”, manifestó.

Y dijo que las denuncias públicas de Verzeñassi, “que es docente de la Casa y responsable académico de la Práctica Final, pero que no es Investigador Acreditado de la Facultad, no forma parte de ningún organismo vinculado a la Investigación Científica y que tampoco es Epidemiólogo titulado aparecen posteriormente a un conflicto suscitado a mediados de agosto, cuando él presentó un proyecto de Práctica Final que a consideración del grupo de gestión y mía, perjudicaba a todos los estudiantes y era resistido por las agrupaciones estudiantiles, por lo que lo desactivé en el marco del Consejo Directivo”.

Lo que había ocurrido es que la Facultad clausuró el lugar que ocupaban Verzeñassi y su equipo, y separó profesionales. Además, corría serio riesgo de pérdida la información colectada en los campamentos sanitarios.

Ahora, los integrantes del equipo de trabajo del Instituto y la materia SaludSocioambiental y de los Campamentos Sanitarios y Práctica Final de la Carrera de Medicina de la UNR queremos hacer público nuestro profundo agradecimiento a quienes desde los más diversos rincones del planeta nos han hecho llegar su apoyo y solidaridad ante los difíciles momentos que se han vivido en nuestra Facultad en las últimas semanas”.

“Nos urge poner en conocimiento de la sociedad en su conjunto, que en el día de la fecha, con la presencia del asesor jurídico de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, fue posible ingresar en la oficina donde se encontraba el material documental referido a los Campamentos Sanitarios realizados hasta la fecha y trasladar el mismo, previo inventario, a la sede del Instituto de Salud Socioambiental (ubicada dentro de la Institución) para, de esta manera, reiniciar el proceso de trabajo de análisis de los datos y construcción de los informes finales”, señalaron.

Y agregaron: “Sin dudas las innumerables muestras de solidaridad recibidas de movimientos sociales, vecinos y vecinas, intelectuales, académicos, artistas, periodistas, trabajadores de la educación y de la salud públicas, investigadores, entidades gremiales, legisladores, referentes sociales, así como las acciones de muchos actores que desde sus lugares garantizaron la posibilidad de recuperación de algunos diálogos, permitió que en el día de la fecha el Decano de la Facultad se comprometa además de permitirnos acceder y recuperar la documental reclamada, a garantizar la continuidad de los Campamentos Sanitarios, así como del funcionamiento del Instituto y la materia Salud Socioambiental, y la libertad de trabajo de todos sus miembros”.

Ecoportal.net

Fuente:

http://www.ecoportal.net/Eco-Noticias/Se-recuperan-archivos-valiosos-que-prueban-el-impacto-de-los-pesticidas-en-la-salud

Fuente Imagen:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dlKUV7H3zB22G1Mi74EWt2pB4obLhtoWAemZDs9mBGJvtyaakxHq85GMCRCGKBP0FPg8=s117

 

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Expansion is no longer the answer to improving the Australian education system

Noticias

Oceanía /Australia/Noviembre 2016/Noticias/http://theconversation.com/

For 50 years, Australia’s policymakers have been persuaded that growth at every level of the education system would be a good thing in itself – and would drive economic growth and social progress.

That faith is now under unprecedented pressure.

While massive expansion has brought the benefits of education to millions, it has also created new problems, and left old ones unresolved.

Human capital theory

Belief in the power of education to lift lives and societies is hardly new. But “human capital theory” gave it a new form.

Developed by a small group of US economists in the late 1950s, human capital theory arrived in Australia via the OECD in 1964, when L. H. Martin became the first in a long line of Australian policymakers to argue that education was not a necessary expense but an investment.

Investment in education would make individuals and economies more productive, triggering a virtuous circle of economic growth, more equal opportunity, higher levels of health and civic-mindedness, and cultural enrichment. The economic rain would follow the educational plough.

It followed (as one Australian human capital theorist argued) that,

“education spending should be expanded up to the point where the rate of return to additional spending is equal to the general rate of return on capital”.

Anything less will reduce the rate of economic growth and result in “a culturally impoverished and less cohesive society”.

In the meantime, education pays for itself (as another theorist put it) “many times over”.

Promise and performance

Governments have certainly done as advised.

In just two generations they have tripled the proportion of students completing 12 years of schooling, expanded numbers in vocational education and training (VET) from a few tens of thousands to around 1.5 million, and multiplied higher education numbers by thirteen.

But 50 years on it is clear the benefits of vastly expanded access to education are heavily offset in ways scarcely anticipated by the human capital argument:

  • Despite claims that education pays for itself, the chronic problem of funding it has recently become acute, pushing minister Pyne from his portfolio, and his government toward a near-death electoral experience.
  • Even the OECD, the leading apostle of human capital theory, concedes that “over-education” is relatively pronounced in Australia. Employment and salary returns to degree and diploma programs have fallen steadily, while at the lowest qualification levels returns are negligible or even negative. On the other side of the transaction, employers continue to complain about the employability and “job readiness” of graduates
  • Despite more years of schooling by many more people, a persistently large minority of students is “disengaged”, and an even larger proportion of adults lacks the skills “to meet the demands of everyday life and work”.
  • Research dominates the universities and they dominate the system as a whole. The universities have been allowed to pursue their owninterests at the expense of teaching, and to undertake increasing amounts of educational work for which neither they nor their students are well equipped. Their dominance extends to the purposes and curriculum of schooling, and contributes to the perception of VET – under-funded and beset by scandal – as an educational last resort.
  • There have been few or no gains in the social distribution of opportunity in and through education. It seems likely that structural inequality – the distance between the best and worst educated, and the distribution of the population across that spectrum – has increased.
  • Growth has been in time served as well as numbers enrolled, causing costs for young people to rise as returns fall. They spend a steadily increasing proportion of their lives in a limbo between childhood and fully adult circumstances and responsibilities in pursuit of employment which may or may not materialise.

Growth still the solution?

There are those who argue or assume that growth should still be the first objective of policy.

The most recent substantial review of higher education, for example, relied on human capital theory to argue for a much-expanded, demand-driven system.

Deloitte Access Economics prosecutes the same case, claiming not just a long list of social, health and other benefits for expansion, but an 8.5% increase in GDP “because of the impact that a university education has had on the productivity”.

Australia’s most successful federal minister of education, John Dawkins, recently called for a comprehensive rethink, but with funding for further growth as the central question, a view apparently shared by the Grattan Institute.

The guns of policy are pointing in the wrong direction. We need a re-orientation for the next 50 years as substantial as that introduced by Martin 50 years ago.

A different orientation for public policy

The first question for policy should not be the size of the system or its funding but its disposition, character, and consequences:

  • Policy has concentrated on the supply of skills and knowledge; it should now concentrate on their use and development in the workplace.
  • The effort to load up individuals with economically useful skills and knowledge via front-end, formal education should give way to expanding career and training paths and work-based learning across the broadest possible range of industries and occupations, including most of the professions.
  • The focus on the social distribution of education should be widened to tackle structural inequality. Policy must be directed less toward opportunity to get the best, and more toward providing the highest possible proportion of the population with the best possible educational experience and attainment.
  • The priority currently given to the top half of the system and to those who do well at school and go on to higher education should be given to those for whom education is a bad experience with bad consequences.
  • Policy should above all stop equating human capital with the consumption of formal education. That conflation has allowed occupational groups, including particularly the professions and those aspiring to professional status, to combine with education providers to use credentials to drive up amounts of education consumed. Educational provision should be seen within the larger frame of learning and its recognition, irrespective of where, when or how undertaken, but particularly learning and its use in workplaces.

It is possible to detect the beginnings of such a re-orientation in some of the areas discussed; in others, it is not.

Learning the lessons of experience

Although human capital theory has gone largely unchallenged in policy debates, among economists it has been as much criticised and rejected as accepted.

Even those who work within the human capital framework often distancethemselves from the growth argument appealed to by governments and others.

The rise of human capital theory from one among several accounts of the education-economy relationship to conventional wisdom owes as much to its political usefulness to governments and to the education industry as to its merits.

There is much more to the complex interaction of education and learning (on the one hand) and economic activity (on the other) than human capital theory comprehends, including particularly competitionfor economic advantage through education by occupational groups and by families and individuals.

There is also much more to education than its contribution to economic activity.

Martin depended upon a theory. Now we have experience. If the lessons of the past 50 years are to be learned, policymakers will need a much broader course of instruction than can be provided by human capital theory

Fuente :

http://theconversation.com/expansion-is-no-longer-the-answer-to-improving-the-australian-education-system-67788

Fuente imagen

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/uqcPmoaHLX1xu2RM5bF2Q3n3gwnDlPletNl0Udc3OPMwiR-LUBsbH7Q62bBQW9lltwgv=s88

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Nueva Zelanda: Online schools make for ‘wild west’ education system

Noticias

Oceanía/Nueva Zelanda/Noviembre de 2016/Autor: John Gerritsen/Fuente: RNZ

RESUMEN: Se advirtió al gobierno que las escuelas podrían enfrentarse a aulas vacías si un gran número de estudiantes se trasladan a escuelas en línea. El Proyecto de Enmienda de la Educación (Actualización) ha propuesto permitir a las escuelas, instituciones terciarias y empresas privadas crear escuelas en línea que ofrezcan cualquier cosa desde una asignatura hasta un plan de estudios completo. Documentos obtenidos por la Asociación de Maestros de Primaria muestran que el Ministerio de Educación dijo al gobierno este año que las escuelas podrían conducir a un aumento significativo en la matrícula por correspondencia. Dijo que la actual escuela de educación a distancia, Te Kura (la Escuela de Correspondencia), podría perder matrículas y tal vez sufrir un éxodo masivo de estudiantes. Dijo que los mejores resultados parecían venir del aprendizaje combinado, donde la enseñanza en línea y cara a cara era mixta. El ministerio inicialmente recomendó que las escuelas en línea tuvieran que emplear maestros registrados.

The government was warned schools could face empty classrooms if large numbers of students transferred to online schools.

The Education (Update) Amendment Bill has proposed allowing schools, tertiary institutions and private companies to set up online schools offering anything from one subject to a full curriculum.

Documents obtained by the Post Primary Teachers Association show the Education Ministry told the government this year that the schools could lead to a significant increase in correspondence enrolments.

It said the existing distance education school, Te Kura (the Correspondence School), could lose enrolments and perhaps suffer a mass exodus of students.

It said the best results appeared to come from blended learning, where online and face-to-face teaching was mixed.

The ministry initially recommended online schools be required to employ registered teachers.

It later said that would only apply to regular schools with online operations. The Education Minister could decide the number of registered teachers required by online schools run by private entities or tertiary institutions, it said.

It said the government should fully fund full-time enrolments in the schools, but students could pay for one or two subjects on top of a full-time education.

The ministry said the Education Minister could set restrictive requirements on the first online schools.

A June document referred to POLs (Providers of Online Learning). But in July the documents called them COOLs (Communities of Online Learning).

The documents raised concerns about students failing in online schools. It suggested ways to avoid that happening.

Post Primary Teachers Association president Angela Roberts said the government should remove the schools from the Education Act update.

She said the union supported distance education, but the bill would encourage «wild west» competition.

«This does nothing to support the substantial online system that we have across the country at the moment.

«It just cashes up our education system for private providers,» she said.

Ms Roberts said the documents showed the government had thought about online schools for some time. It should have consulted with education sector groups, she said.

Principals Federation president Iain Taylor said online schools could harm enrolments, especially in small, rural schools.

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the online schools would provide more choices for students.

«They will not replace schools, they will supplement and complement them,» she said.

«Many students who learn online will do so where a particular subject, like Mandarin, or Te Reo Māori, are not available at their local school, or where they wish to take more advanced studies in subjects like chemistry.»

Ms Parata said most students would not undertake full-time online learning. However, it might be the best option for some who were disengaged from school, home-schooled, or living in isolated areas.

She said the schools might also cater for gifted students, those who were itinerant or of ill-health and those who lived overseas, but wanted New Zealand qualifications.

Ms Parata said Communities of Online Learning providers would face a rigourous accreditation process and ongoing monitoring.

Fuente: http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/317961/online-schools-make-for-‘wild-west’-education-system

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Nueva Zelanda: OECD Education Panel visit highlights NZ schools failings

Noticias

Oceanía/Nueva Zelanda/Noviembre de 2016/Fuente: Scoop Independent News

RESUMEN: ¿Por qué los países de la OCDE buscan en el sistema educativo de Nueva Zelanda las mejores prácticas de inclusión cuando hasta hace muy poco todavía seguíamos utilizando prácticas arcaicas y anticuadas como las salas de aislamiento en nuestras escuelas?». Glenis Bearsley, co-fundadora del grupo de promoción liderado por padres VIPs inc NZ, responde al anuncio de que los expertos en educación internacional de la OCDE están actualmente en Nueva Zelanda visitando escuelas en Auckland y Christchurch. Los delegados están aquí por cinco días para compartir información sobre entornos de aprendizaje inclusivos. VIPs cree que la eficacia de los Ambientes de Aprendizaje Modernos (MLE) para estudiantes con necesidades de apoyo al aprendizaje aún no ha sido probada. Algunos comentarios de los padres sugieren que los espacios grandes y abiertos pueden ser inadecuados para los estudiantes que requieren un ambiente tranquilo en el que sentirse seguros y aprender. Los padres han informado de que sus hijos con necesidades adicionales se pueden pasar por alto en un ambiente tan ocupado y tienen más desafíos con la estructura flexible y los horarios.

“Why are OECD countries looking to New Zealand’s education system for inclusion best-practices when until very recently, we were still using archaic, outdated practices like seclusion rooms in our schools?”

That is the question being posed by Glenis Bearsley, co-founder of parent-led advocacy group VIPs inc NZ in response to the announcement that international education experts from the OECD are currently in New Zealand visiting schools in Auckland and Christchurch.

The delegates are here for five days to share information on inclusive learning environments. VIPs believes the efficacy of Modern Learning Environments (MLE) for students with learning support needs is yet to proven. Some feedback from parents suggests the large, open plan spaces can be unsuitable for students requiring a quiet, calm environment in which to feel safe and learn. Parents have reported their children with additional needs can be overlooked in such a busy environment and have more challenges with the flexible structure and timetables. VIPs cite media reports from Australia showing problems with MLE’s. For example in Victoria, hundreds of partitions have been purchased by schools to try to minimise visual and noise distractions inherent in their MLE.

As well as considering optimal learning environments for ALL students, VIPs inc NZ strongly urges the Minister of Education to urgently address massive funding and support deficits which have led to non-inclusive practices such as seclusion rooms, local schools discouraging students to enrol, limited access to learning for students with complex needs and increasing numbers of families resorting to correspondence or homeschooling.

“We need better funding, training and resources for our educators and students in NZ. Before we can advise others in best practice we need to create an inclusive education system that ALL students can participate in FULLY and that we can ALL be proud of.»

“We want to see our educators better supported and resourced to deal with mild to complex needs and behavioural issues in a positive way. We oppose the use of seclusion rooms as a form of punishment, and are disappointed that it has taken nearly two years for the Minister to finally take action and ban them.”

Andrea Matheson, whose 7 year old son is fortunate to have secured ORS funding, has seen first-hand the successes that investment in his education can mean. The access to funding, paired with motivated teacher aides and an experienced, passionate SENCO has made all the difference. She says, “It is past overdue for the government and Ministry to recognise the importance of adequate funding and the life-changing differences it makes for a child at school. It upsets me to know that there are deserving children in New Zealand who are not receiving the same levels of support as my son, or being turned away from schools who do not have the knowledge or experience to support these children.”

The list of schools included on the delegates’ tour includes a satellite class of Kelston Deaf Education Centre, but no other specialist schools. VIPs question which specialists in inclusive education in NZ are participating in this OECD visit and why more specialist schools are not being visited.

Glenis Bearsley, both a teacher and a parent of a child with complex needs, says the reality of student experience is vastly different from what is being reported by the Ministry of Education.

“Our Minister is widely quoted as saying that we have a world class education system for students with additional needs but despite her claims, which are based on self-reported inclusive practices from schools, the real experiences in the sector are never widely surveyed and many, many students and families are suffering in the current defunct system. Seclusion rooms are just the tip of the iceberg and clearly show we are not a nation to be following for best practice in the area of inclusion.”

Current attention around seclusion rooms has highlighted the vital work that needs to be done in the area of disability-specific training at a tertiary level for trainee teachers, as well as additional funding

for support staff and ongoing professional development for schools. In some schools, inclusion will only be achieved with a shift in attitude, led from the top-down by principals and boards. Lack of funding and support are barriers that add significantly to students not being included.

VIPs inc Facebook Group NZ believe the following changes would greatly improve inclusivity in our schools:

– Adequate support for students that equates to their real needs.

– Disability-specific training for undergraduate courses as well as funded on-going teacher professional development.

– The provision of safe sensory rooms or spaces where children with neurological or developmental difficulties can take breaks from the pressures of a busy classroom to self-regulate.

– Robust monitoring and intervention by the Ministry of Education around inclusive practice in schools including wider surveys of actual student and family experience (rather than the current system which relies on the ‘self-monitoring’ of schools and offers little objectivity or recognition for areas of growth).

– Recognition and celebration of inclusive schools in a ‘best-practice’ register. Monitoring of non-inclusive schools, censured if necessary and provided with the tools and resources to improve their practices in a timely manner.

– ERO to investigate health and safety issues and non-inclusive practices, such as those arising from parental complaints, in a timely manner.

– The Ministry of Education to provide better and more consistent support for students with challenging behavioural needs.

– Waitlists for behavioural services to be reduced to better support schools and families.

– Speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists to be connected with schools in a far timelier and more frequent manner to provide purposeful assistance.

– A comprehensive survey of what students and families believe inclusive practice looks like. A far more collaborative approach between the Ministry of Education and families in decisions that impact directly on the lives of students.

– An independent entity where students and families can take any issues to be mediated that may arise.

– A comprehensive survey of other countries who have best-practice education systems for students with additional needs.

Fuente: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED1611/S00051/oecd-education-panel-visit-highlights-nz-schools-failings.htm

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Australia toma un rumbo equivocado con la prohibición de refugiados

Noticias

Australia/10 noviembre 2016/ Fuente: Amnistia Internacional

Hubo una época en que Australia encabezó la protección de las personas refugiadas.

Después de la II Guerra Mundial, Australia fue el segundo país, después de Estados Unidos, en el reasentamiento de refugiados europeos. Unos años después, su firma hizo que entrase en vigor la Convención sobre los Refugiados. Y en la década de 1970, fue el tercer país de reasentamiento de la población refugiada de Indochina tras las guerras que sufrió esa región.

Por desgracia, esa época es ahora un recuerdo lejano. Tras adquirir fama mundial por la crueldad con la que sigue tratando a las personas refugiadas y solicitantes de asilo en Nauru y la isla de Manus, el gobierno de Australia ha demostrado que es capaz de algo peor.

No sólo se niega a cerrar sus centros en estas dos islas del Pacífico, sino que ahora planea promulgar una ley para prohibir permanentemente a las personas atrapadas en ellos la obtención de un visado para entrar en Australia.

Este proyecto de ley constituye una clara violación del derecho internacional, y además es una medida cruel y mezquina que discrimina aún más a quienes se dirigen a Australia en busca de seguridad. Como Estado Parte en la Convención sobre los Refugiados, Australia tiene la obligación de tratar con humanidad a las personas solicitantes de asilo y refugiadas y de reasentarlas sin riesgos. En cambio, ha decidido sumar una injusticia a otra.

En julio viajé a Nauru a investigar para el nuevo informe de Amnistía Internacional sobre las personas refugiadas y solicitantes de asilo. Estuve cinco días en la isla y me entrevisté con 58 personas refugiadas y solicitantes de asilo, así como con cuatro proveedores de servicios. Muchas personas me contaron los viajes que se habían visto obligadas a hacer, afrontando grandes peligros para huir de peligros aún mayores en su lugar de origen.

El domingo, hablando con la prensa, el primer ministro Malcolm Turnbull reconoció que la política de tramitación de Australia es “un desastre”, aunque aparentemente no entendía por qué. El principal problema no son las “llegadas no autorizadas”, como dijo Turnbull, sino que, en su intento de detenerlas, Australia ha creado una prisión al aire libre en Nauru.

El gobierno australiano esboza desde hace muchos años un plan de acción peligroso. Ahora, tras una avalancha de revelaciones —procedentes de diversas fuentes independientes y dignas de crédito—, no sólo se niega a afrontar la realidad, sino que tiene la intención de acelerar en la dirección equivocada.

En mi reciente visita a Australia, me sorprendió la reacción del gobierno a nuestro informe Isla de desesperación: La «tramitación» de personas refugiadas en Nauru por Australia. Por haber crecido y trabajado en Rusia, conocía demasiado bien los desmentidos de carácter general de las autoridades y los ataques de los periodistas que siguen a pies juntillas la línea del gobierno. No esperaba ver las mismas tácticas desplegadas en una democracia multipartidista que se enorgullece de sus valores y reivindica su autoridad moral en materia de derechos humanos.

Australia esboza desde hace muchos años un plan de acción peligroso. Ahora está acelerando en la dirección equivocada.
@AnnaNeistat

No éramos en absoluto los primeros en expresar preocupación por los abusos contra los derechos humanos en Nauru. Ya en 1998, un informe de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos de Australia sobre la detención de “refugiados del mar” señaló una serie de quejas sobre “la duración y el carácter indefinido del periodo de detención, y los efectos que esto tiene en la salud física y mental de las personas detenidas”.

Casi todas las personas con las que hablé en Nauru habían sufrido un deterioro de su salud mental. El gobierno de Australia sabe que estas condiciones crean angustia psicológica. Lo sabía antes de que se trasladara a Nauru a las personas que están actualmente allí. Y aun así persistió en llevar a cabo prácticas que infligen daños intencionados, para intimidar y coaccionar a las personas de modo que sus condiciones puedan servir de disuasión.

Según el derecho internacional, esto equivale a tortura. No hacemos esta afirmación a la ligera, y tampoco es la primera vez que se acusa al gobierno australiano de esto. El año pasado, un relator especial de la ONU, horrorizado por el trato que reciben las personas en la isla de Manus, llegó a la misma conclusión basándose en las condiciones imperantes allí.

No mucho después de mi visita a Nauru, The Guardian publicó más de 2.000 informes filtrados sobre incidentes que confirmaban nuestras conclusiones y revelaban una constante de de abusos. En octubre, el Comité de los Derechos del Niño de la ONU señaló con alarma que las condiciones en los centros de tramitación “generaban y agravaban problemas de salud mental, propiciando sentimientos de desesperanza y a menudo pensamientos suicidas”.

Otras agencias de la ONU y ONG destacadas que han hecho denuncias en los últimos meses llegaron a la misma conclusión: los centros de tramitación de Nauru y de la isla de Manus deben clausurarse de inmediato.

En todos los lugares en los que estuve en Australia conocí a personas que daban las gracias a Amnistía Internacional por contar la verdad sobre las prácticas del gobierno. Incluso quienes se mostraban comprensivas con los objetivos de Canberra estaban horrorizadas por el manto de secreto, ahora en jirones, que había cubierto sus ojos.

Todas ellas merecen saber por qué se está haciendo daño a unas personas que buscan refugio so pretexto de reforzar la protección de las fronteras, cuando ninguna práctica de control fronterizo debería basarse en un sistema de tortura.

Globalmente, Australia sufre una crisis de credibilidad. El gobierno quiere ocupar un puesto en el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de la ONU. Pero, como muestra la reacción a nuestro informe, pocos creen que esté preparado para liderar en materia de derechos humanos. “El encarcelamiento inhumano de personas desesperadas por parte de Australia”, escribió el comité editorial deThe New York Times el mes pasado, “es una vergüenza”.

El gobierno de Australia tiene ante sí una decisión clara. Puede dar marcha atrás, cambiar de rumbo y recuperar la reputación de Australia de país que protege los derechos humanos o puede decidir ser conocido como un país que comete abusos, deliberada y sistemáticamente, contra miles de personas.

Fuente: https://www.amnesty.org/es/latest/news/2016/11/australia-is-heading-in-the-wrong-direction-with-refugee-ban/

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