Education

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New Zealand: Sexual violence, racism and exploitation, the sad state of student housing

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Oceania/ New Zealand/ 07.07.2020/ Source: www.stuff.co.nz.

Sexual violence, racism and exploitation are all prevalent in the halls of residence at Victoria University, according to the university’s student association.

Victoria University of Wellington Students’ Association (VUWSA) has released its submission to the inquiry into student accommodation with students detailing horror stories they have faced while living in halls of residence.

It is part of a national discussion on New Zealand’s under-regulated student accommodation sector.

One student living at Stafford House in 2019, said their bond was withheld because a flatmate left soap and a few food packets in the flat.

The students had a flat inspection before leaving, but one person was allowed to stay on an extra week, and left the items behind.

“As a result of this, the staff decided this meant our rooms were not spotless and thus they refused to give my sister and I our bonds back.”.

They emailed Stafford House in February this year but it was not until June they were told they would receive their bonds back, and as of June 29 were still waiting for their money.

Stafford House is managed by accommodation provider UniLodge, on behalf of more than 80 apartment owners.

Another student told of being sexually assaulted while living in a hall of residence.

“Myself and other girls were sexually assaulted in the hall and … after over three months of going through Vic Uni complaint process, I lost.

“He moved out on his own accord, but he has faced no repercussions.”

VUWSA’s submission claimed there was a lack of clarity for students when disclosing experiences of sexual violence, and limited support for victims, which fell to friends or residential assistants (RAs), who were typically older students.

One RA recalled having to deal with the brunt of sexual assault complaints along with two female colleagues, as the senior management team were all men.

The submission also claims staff in student accommodation struggled to handle issues of racism and other forms of discrimination.

Victoria University vice-chancellor Grant Guilford speaks at the May 5 Epidemic Response Committee meeting.

One student recalled being told to apologise when calling out other students for making fun of their culture.

VUWSA was calling for legislation to mandate a standard of care in student accommodation.

However, a University spokeswoman said there were inaccuracies and misinformation in VUWSA’s submission which was «very disappointing”.

The inaccuracies included things such as how the university educated students about consent, bystander intervention and their options when disclosing sexual harmful behaviour, she said.

The university provided “extensive” training to hall staff and RAs on these problems, and how to recognise and respond to students in distress.

The spokeswoman also said there were inaccuracies over the communication of information to students in halls of residence, the level of pastoral care given to those students, the role of RAs and the support provided to them and the University’s response to requests for information from VUWSA and its response to Covid-19.

“Universities New Zealand has contributed a submission to the inquiry into student accommodation, on behalf of all New Zealand universities.”

What is the student accommodation inquiry

The inquiry into student accommodation was called after the Covid-19 lockdown exposed the sector as being under-regulated and unfit for purpose.

It follows Interim Pastoral Care Code for domestic students, which Parliament passed in 2019 after the death of University of Canterbury student Mason Pendrous.

The Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to student accommodation, meaning students have fewer consumer protections than other renters.

The inquiry is being heard by the Education and Workforce Select Committee.

Source of the news: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/122048279/sexual-violence-racism-and-exploitation-the-sad-state-of-student-housing-in-new-zealand

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Japan: Gov’t seeks more inclusive education for foreign children

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Asia/ Japan/ 07.07:2020: Source: english.kyodonews.net.

 

The government aims to improve its outreach to foreign children in Japan to provide them with learning opportunities as part of strategies adopted Tuesday to promote Japanese-language education.

A survey conducted last year by the education ministry yielded an estimate that more than 19,000 elementary or junior high school-age children of foreign nationalities in Japan do not attend school at all, including international schools.

In Japan, compulsory education covers nine years starting at first grade, from about age 6 to 15.

Foreign residents of Japan are not subject to compulsory education but the ministry urges public schools to accept and provide free tuition to any child who wishes to enroll based on international treaties.

The government wants to ensure that all foreign children in Japan have the same educational opportunities as local students.

The basic policy to promote Japanese-language education endorsed at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday says it is the responsibility of the central and local governments to offer Japanese-language education to foreign children.

Under the new policy, local governments will work closely with international schools and relevant nonprofit organizations to better assess the situation and offer parents of foreign children information about their educational options.

Amid growing demand for Japanese-language education both at home and abroad, the basic policy also affirms the need to create new licenses for Japanese-language teachers.

Education minister Koichi Hagiuda stressed the need to deliver best-practice regulation at the municipality level to guarantee learning opportunities for foreign children.

«Based on the basic policy adopted this time, we will strengthen the system» to promote Japanese-language education, he told a press conference.

The policy was adopted based on the law on promotion of Japanese-language education that took effect in June last year. The policy will be reviewed every five years if deemed necessary.

The law stipulates the central government must make legal changes and provide necessary financing to promote Japanese-language education, while local governments are responsible for crafting and implementing specific measures and policies.

It was a major turnaround of the country’s policies on language education, which have conventionally depended heavily on municipal and private efforts.

The legislation initiated by lawmakers was compiled as Japan introduced a new visa system in April last year to accept more foreign blue-collar workers to deal with severe labor shortages caused by the country’s rapidly aging populace.

The number of foreign nationals in Japan stood at record-high 2.93 million as of the end of 2019, up 7.4 percent from the previous year, according to the Immigration Services Agency.

The ministry’s first survey conducted on foreign children’s school attendance in May and June last year found 19,654, or 15.8 percent, of foreign children eligible to enroll may not be attending Japanese elementary or junior high schools.

In addition to education being not compulsory for foreign nationals, the lack of sufficient command of the Japanese language among some children and guardians as well as the varied quality of local government support are suspected as reasons for the result.

The policy was adopted based on the revision to the law on promotion of Japanese language education that was put in force in June last year. The policy will be reviewed every five years if necessary.

Source of the news: https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/06/8d735195fa85-govt-seeks-more-inclusion-in-education-for-foreign-children-in-japan.html

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Kenya: KETRACO scholarships to bridge engineering skills among vulnerable girls

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Africa/Kenya/05/07/2020/Author: Claire Wanja/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

The Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited, KETRACO has partnered with Kenyatta University to offer scholarships to girls from vulnerable families across the country.

The partnership will see KETRACO pump resources into the program dubbed KETRACO Scholarship for Orphans and Vulnerable Students (KSOVS).

Over the next five years vulnerable female students in KU’s Electrical or Civil Engineering faculty are set to be beneficiaries of the initiative.

Speaking during the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony, KETRACO’s Managing Director FCPA Fernandes Barasa hailed the initiative as attempting to bridge the engineering skills gap in the country – which is one of the initiatives the transmission company has engaged in with institutions of higher education so as to fulfill its vision.

“The overall objective of the MoU signing is to jointly develop mutual collaboration in various areas including areas of research that touches on electricity transmission, support equity, access and excellence in higher education especially among vulnerable girls,” Barasa said.

“This will form a link that will see the development of new products and technology in electricity transmission through scholarships, research funding and knowledge management consultancy,” KETRACO said.

“This partnership will facilitate mutual collaboration between KETRACO and KU that will enable us to explore emerging trends in electricity transmission and research,” he KU Vice-Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina.

The partnership will give an opportunity to young girls from vulnerable families to pursue their dreams.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/ketraco-scholarships-to-bridge-engineering-skills-among-vulnerable-girls/

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Josée Scalabrini: Les problèmes en éducation, le gouvernement ne peut s’en laver les mains

Entrevistas

Par: lapresse.

Les derniers mois n’ont pas été de tout repos pour l’ensemble des acteurs de notre système d’éducation public.

Josée ScalabriniJOSÉE SCALABRINI
PRÉSIDENTE DE LA FÉDÉRATION DES SYNDICATS DE L’ENSEIGNEMENT, CENTRALE DES SYNDICATS DU QUÉBEC

En mars dernier, alors que la pandémie de la maladie à coronavirus nous frappait de plein fouet, le premier ministre a convié les syndicats à négocier de façon intensive et accélérée dans le but, disait-il, de mettre ces pourparlers derrière nous et de garantir une « paix sociale ». Bien que les enseignantes et enseignants n’avaient pas du tout la tête à la négociation à ce moment, nous avons accepté l’invitation insistante du gouvernement. Nous étions au rendez-vous. De toute évidence, malgré l’image qu’il voulait laisser, le gouvernement n’avait pas non plus la tête à la négociation.

Dans le contexte de la pandémie que nous vivons depuis plusieurs mois, la FSE-CSQ a démontré qu’on peut toujours compter sur elle quand vient le temps de trouver des solutions pour améliorer les choses en éducation. Dans un contexte difficile, les profs ont organisé le retour en classe de mai dernier avec brio, en moins de deux semaines. Cette opération a été réussie grâce au professionnalisme des enseignantes et enseignants et des équipes-écoles, car on va se le dire, les conditions n’étaient pas toutes réunies. La FSE-CSQ a joué son rôle en posant des questions, en demandant des réponses, en remettant parfois en doute certaines décisions gouvernementales. De bonne foi, elle a proposé des voies de passage réalisables afin de s’assurer que les décisions prises répondent aux besoins réels des profs et des élèves dans les écoles et les centres du Québec.

C’est avec la même attitude que la FSE-CSQ s’est présentée aux tables de négociation à la demande du premier ministre. Malheureusement, force est de constater que le gouvernement ne s’est pas présenté aux rencontres qu’il a lui-même convoquées.

Cette négociation devait être enfin l’occasion de mettre un baume sur la souffrance du personnel enseignant, en s’assurant que les services soient offerts aux élèves qui en ont besoin, en revoyant la composition de la classe et en reconnaissant son travail à sa juste valeur, notamment sur le plan de la rémunération.

Le gouvernement avait un autre plan en tête. Il souhaitait profiter de la crise ainsi que de son capital de sympathie pour tenter d’obtenir une entente au rabais avec les profs. Les enseignantes et enseignants ne sont pas dupes. Ils ont été catégoriques et ont refusé à 97 % les dernières offres gouvernementales.

Rappelons-nous que ce gouvernement se targuait de mettre l’éducation au cœur de ses priorités. De plus, le ministre de l’Éducation a répété à maintes reprises ses intentions d’améliorer les conditions de travail des enseignantes et enseignants pour attirer les meilleurs candidats, et retenir celles et ceux qui ont fait le choix de la profession enseignante. Mais entre le discours et la réalité de l’offre qui nous est faite, il y a un monde.

Alors qu’ils sont nombreux à être épuisés, est-ce en allongeant la semaine de travail qu’on rendrait la tâche du personnel enseignant humainement supportable ?

Est-ce en ne proposant rien pour améliorer la composition de la classe et en retirant les remparts qui garantissent les services aux élèves en difficulté qu’on améliorerait leur sort ?

Est-ce en revenant sur sa promesse phare d’éliminer les six premiers échelons salariaux que le gouvernement reconnaîtrait le travail des enseignantes et enseignants ? En leur offrant moins que l’inflation ?

Est-ce en offrant une majoration salariale minime à quelques enseignants émérites (des directions adjointes déguisées !) qu’on revaloriserait la profession enseignante et qu’on lui retirerait la palme de la moins bien payée au Canada ?

Si le gouvernement avait été réellement sincère et avait donné des mandats conséquents à son équipe de négociation pour qu’il y ait de véritables avancées aux tables de négociation, il aurait été possible d’en arriver à une entente rapidement. Malheureusement, il faut être deux pour danser.

Malgré le fait qu’il n’y aura rien de normal à la prochaine rentrée, les enseignantes et enseignants sont tout de même soulagés de voir que l’ensemble des élèves reprendront le chemin des établissements et des centres et que les spécialités seront enseignées, car elles favorisent la motivation de plusieurs et le développement global de chacun.

Oui, les enseignantes et enseignants ont hâte de retrouver leurs élèves. Parce qu’ils tiennent toujours à bout de bras l’école publique, ils seront tenus de mettre les bouchées doubles pour aider les plus vulnérables à rattraper le retard qu’ils ont accumulé au cours des derniers mois, sans qu’on leur donne toutes les ressources nécessaires.

Ils auraient cependant souhaité se consacrer aux élèves l’esprit tranquille, sans avoir à se préoccuper de la négociation nationale. Mais parce qu’ils aiment leurs élèves et leur profession, si besoin est, ils seront mobilisés.

Les enseignants seront prêts à poursuivre le combat pour obtenir une juste reconnaissance de la qualité de leur travail, car le gouvernement, qui s’était pourtant engagé à le faire, a manqué à sa parole.

On comprend qu’il pourrait être tenté de faire porter à la négociation le poids des ratés du plan de pandémie, comme il l’a fait pour les camps pédagogiques, alors que ce sont particulièrement les directions qui les décriaient. Nous avons trop donné dans les dernières semaines pour accepter d’être instrumentalisés ainsi.

L’arrivée de la nouvelle présidente du Conseil du trésor nous laisse cependant espérer un changement de ton dans les négociations. Sonia LeBel doit prendre rapidement conscience de l’ampleur des défis qui sont devant elle.

C’est le gouvernement qui voulait négocier en temps de pandémie. Les problèmes en éducation, il ne peut s’en laver les mains.

Source de l’interview: https://www.lapresse.ca/debats/opinions/2020-06-26/les-problemes-en-education-le-gouvernement-ne-peut-s-en-laver-les-mains.php

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EEUU: Texas education officials consider changing state’s sex education policy for first time in 23 years

Noticias

North America/ EEUU/ 30.06.2020/ Source: www.texastribune.org.

For the first time since 1997, Texas education officials will consider a new statewide sexual education policy, and it could include teaching middle schoolers about birth control options beyond abstinence.

That proposed revision to the state’s health education standards is expected to draw crowds of people — albeit virtually — to Monday’s State Board of Education meeting, where members will take public comment and discuss the changes. Work groups of educators and experts have been working for months preparing recommendations for how the Republican-dominated board should revise its standards.

At what is likely to be a high-tension online hearing, advocates for comprehensive sexual education plan to laud the recommendation to teach abstinence-plus education earlier; opponents will say the proposals go too far beyond abstinence to be legal. The board is expected to make a final decision by November, setting the stage for how teachers and textbook publishers will approach the controversial subject for years to come.

Texas public schools are not required to teach sexual education. State law requires that schools teaching sex ed stress abstinence as the preferred choice for unmarried young people and spend more time on it than any other sexual behavior. Parents can opt their children out of any lesson they want.

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According to a Texan Freedom Network study, just 17% of school districts, including some of the state’s most populous, taught abstinence-plus sex education in 2015-16. At the same time, federal data shows Texas consistently has one of the highest teen birth rates in the country, which studies show correlates with an emphasis on abstinence-only education.

This year, the board will consider requiring all seventh and eight grade health teachers to “analyze the effectiveness and ineffectiveness of barrier protection and other contraceptive methods, including the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, keeping in mind the effectiveness of remaining abstinent until marriage.” Currently that is only a requirement in high school, where health education is an optional course. All Texas public schools must offer health education for students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

Advocates for comprehensive sexual education consider the proposed change a win and will rally for the board to approve it. “If we include basic information about topics like contraception and STI [sexually transmitted infection] prevention at the middle school level, we know students will have some exposure to that before high school,” said Jen Biundo, director of policy and data for the Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.

The organization conducted a public opinion poll with the firm Baselice & Associates, which shows that 75% of poll respondents, including 68% of Republicans, support teaching sexual education that prioritizes abstinence but also provides information about contraception and STI prevention.

The state board last took up the health standards in 1997 and then adopted abstinence-only health textbooks in 2004. Abstinence-only advocates have successfully kept information on birth control and sexually transmitted disease prevention out of textbooks for decades.

As more school districts adopt more robust sexual education curricula, Texas Values, a conservative statewide advocacy group, has organized campaigns to fight back. Most recently, it led a group of detractors to speak out against Austin Independent School District’s proposed curriculum for grades three through eight, which included topics like gender identity, reproductive anatomy and body image, tailored for each grade. The school board unanimously approved the curriculum.

“Leftist LGBT advocacy groups are calling this a ‘once in-a-generation opportunity’ to attack Texas’ abstinence focused approach and teach highly sexualized LGBT propaganda starting in kindergarten,” read a Texas Values email blast sent to subscribers Friday.

Texas Values is also urging board members to exclude health standards teaching students about gender identity or sexual orientation. “Teaching children to question the biological reality of their gender or engage in dangerous sexual behavior at a young age is not the job of Texas schools,” said Mary Elizabeth Castle, a Texas Values policy adviser, in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

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Advocacy groups like Texas Freedom Network and Texas Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy are asking the board to include LGBTQ students in the standards. The existing standards and the proposed revisions make no explicit mention of those students, who are more likely to be discriminated against and bullied in their schools.

Source of the notice: https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/29/Texas-schools-sex-education-policy/

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United Kingdom: Teachers to film 10,000 lessons in case schools can’t fully open in September

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Europe/ United Kingdom/ 30.06.2020/ Source: www.theguardian.com.

 

The online school set up by the government to support pupils in lockdown is preparing to record 10,000 lessons in July, as the government splashes out £4.3m on providing an online learning “backup” during the new academic year.

Boris Johnson told the House of Commons last week that primary and secondary schools will return in September “with full attendance”, but headteachers suggested it was “pure fantasy” to suggest schools could accommodate all of their pupils while maintaining a safe social distance, even at one metre.

Now, the Observer has learned that Oak National Academy, the government’s new, funded online school, is recruiting 300 teachers to create and record a huge bank of video lessons next month, covering the entire national curriculum for both primary and secondary schools.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for schools to have a really good-quality backup plan if, for whatever reason – and we hope this doesn’t happen – all their pupils can’t be back in school full time for the year ahead,” said Matt Hood, the academy’s principal. “We’re in a slightly weird position where a great outcome for us is that no one uses us.”

He added: “There might be a local lockdown, or pupils shielding, or schools might need to have a rota [where pupils attend part time], we don’t know. In any of those situations, schools need to be as resilient as possible – that means they need to deliver lessons for pupils in their schools and they need to be ready to deliver lessons for some pupils who might be at home.” Oak Academy will provide schools with a “plan B”, he said.

Since the lockdown began, the academy’s 80 teachers have been recording more than 200 online lessons each week from their homes. In total, they have managed to deliver 14m lessons to around four million pupils.

But Hood is concerned that many children from poorer backgrounds haven’t had the technology to be able to access education like their wealthier peers. He said: “This crisis has exacerbated the same age-old problem. On top of all the disadvantages some kids already have, they’ve found themselves in a situation where they’ve been sent home, their home is less likely to have a device and a nice, quiet place where they can study, their parents are more likely to be key workers, and they are more likely to get whacked on [mobile] data charges [because they don’t have broadband].”

As a former recipient of free school meals himself, he is “working on” getting the Department for Education to supply all pupils who need one with a device. The Observer this month revealed that the government’s promise made in April to deliver laptops to disadvantaged teenagers had not yet been fulfilled, with the majority of headteachers saying that they had yet to receive any.

Hood said that, as well as access to laptops, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport needed to ensure that all online learning platforms could be accessed via a mobile phone connection for free. It could achieve this, he said, by “whitelisting” sites such as his own and BBC Bitesize, another online learning platform – excluding them from all data-streaming charges.

A former economics teacher, Hood set up the online school in a week during the Easter holidays and did not have to compete for the new £4.34m contract because the government used emergency powers to forgo its normal selection process.

The academy had recently been rightly criticised, Hood said, for not having enough teachers from diverse backgrounds. He explained: “The team were some teachers who knew each other, who started messaging each other in a WhatsApp group to see if we could help out. The consequence is that we haven’t been thoughtful or deliberate about diversity, particularly around people from different ethnic backgrounds being well represented.”

He is planning to address this issue during his current recruitment drive and to make sure the academy’s curriculum covers black history and the slave trade, promotes gender equality and reflects the diversity of its learners.

Source of the news: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jun/28/teachers-to-film-10000-lessons-in-case-schools-cant-fully-open-in-september
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Updated lockdown rules for schools – including matric exams, return to hostels and more

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Africa/ South Africa/ 23.06.2020/ Source: businesstech.co.za.

 

The Department of Basic Education has published a new directive focusing on the reopening of school’s under South Africa’s lockdown.

While the directive is largely in line with previous changes made by the department, it does provide further clarity of a number of key issues.

These points are outlined in more detail below.

Matric exams

The directive states that the May/June 2020 examination for candidates who registered for the Senior Certificate and the National Senior Certificate will be administered in November/December 2020.

It adds that the November/December 2020 National Senior Certificate examinations will be administered as planned, subject to the alignment of the timetable to the 2020 revised school calendar.

The revised school calendar can be viewed here.

School attendance 

The directive makes specific provision for parents who do not wish for their children to return to school due to coronavirus concerns.

In these instances, a parent must apply to the Head of Department, who, in terms of section 4 of the South African Schools Act, may exempt a learner entirely, partially or conditionally from compulsory school attendance, if it is in the best interests of the learner.

This is subject to the proviso that the parent makes reasonable efforts to ensure that the learner continues learning from home in line with the learning materials provided by the school.

“Should a parent wish to apply for a learner to receive education at the learner’s home (home education), he or she must comply with the legal requirements for the provision of home education, as contemplated in section 51 of the South African Schools Act.”

Opening of hostels

The department said that school hostels are permitted to open provided that they comply with the department’s minimum health, safety and social distancing measures and requirements on Covid-19.

The directive also includes new requirements for both schools that plan to reopen their hostels, as well as requirements for schools who plan to close their hostels.

“Hostels may open once the notification and declaration have been submitted to the Head of Department: Provided that the Provincial Department of Education reserves the right to conduct an inspection, once the hostels have opened to verify the hostel with the measures and requirements.”

Learners with special educational needs

In addition to the guidelines developed for schools with specific categories of learners with disabilities, all schools with learners with special educational needs, as contemplated in the South African Schools Act, must comply with all directions and circulars regarding the re-opening of schools.

The new directive makes a number of specific provisions for the return of these learners, including autistic learners and learners who are blind, partially sighted or deaf.

“Officials who are unable to practise social distancing from learners with special education needs must be provided by the Provincial Department of Education with appropriate personal protective equipment, including protective clothing, where such provision is necessary.”

“Officials appointed to carry out symptom screening, in accordance with direction 13, in schools for deaf learners, must be able to communicate using South African Sign Language. Where this is not possible, a sign language interpreter must be available to ensure proper communication with the learners.”

Permits and certificates

The directive states that school officials who have to commute to and from work on a daily basis are permitted to move between provinces, metropolitan areas and districts provided they have the correct permit.

This permit may be issued by the Head of Department or a delegated official or, in the case of a school, by a principal or a person delegated by him or her.

Similarly, learners who are required to move between provinces to commute to and from school on a daily basis must be issued with a certificate issued by a principal or a person delegated by him or her.

You can find these documents in the directive below.

Curriculum trimming

To accommodate the teaching time lost as a result of the national state of disaster and the adjustment of timetables, the national curriculum has been reviewed by the Department of Basic Education.

The revised content phase map, which contains a broad overview of the curriculum content, including skills, knowledge, attitudes and values learners would be exposed to over a three year period, as well as the revised annual teaching plans and curriculum support guidelines, are accessible on the website of the Department of Basic Education here.

You can read the full directive below.

Source of the notice: https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/410045/updated-lockdown-rules-for-south-african-schools-including-matric-exams-return-to-hostels-and-more/

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