Schools

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Vietnam: Schools that lack teachers not allowed to expand staff

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Asia/ Vietnam/ 09.10.2018/ Fuente: english.vietnamnet.vn.

VietNamNet Bridge – Schools have repeatedly complained to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) about the lack of teachers, but the Ministry does not have the right to recruit teachers.

MOET’s Deputy Minister Nguyen Duy Thang said at an event held by the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children on September 24 that 29 provinces want an additional 40,447 civil servants for the education sector this year. Thanh Hoa province alone needs 7,519.

According to MOET, schools now lack 80,000 teachers, including 43,000 for preschools.

The shortage has forced schools to employ teachers under short-term labor contracts. They are not official civil servants and do not receive salaries from the State.

Dang Thi My Huong, a National Assembly deputy, has raised questions about the responsibilities of MOET and the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA) for teacher shortage.

29 provinces want an additional 40,447 civil servants for the education sector this year. Thanh Hoa province alone needs 7,519.

According to Huong, the teachers working under labor contracts signed with schools receive “starvation” salaries, about VND2 million a month.

The jobs are unstable because schools may terminate the contracts at any time.

In reply, MOET’s Minister Phung Xuan Nha said MOET is aware of teacher shortage, but the ministry does not have the right to recruit teachers. MIA is in charge of recruiting civil servants.

He said this was a difficult question to solve as schools want to recruit more teachers, while Vietnam is trying to cut out waste in organizations to ease the burden on the state budget.

Tran Hong Quan, deputy chair of Ca Mau province, also said that while the number of students increases every year (the population of the province increases by 10,000 each year), the number of teachers do not.

Van Thi Bach Tuyet, a National Assembly deputy from HCMC, commented that the solutions mentioned by MOET and MIA cannot settle the problem quickly. She suggested a mechanism under which cities and provinces have self-determination, with no need to wait for MIA’s approval on the personnel list.

Meanwhile, most National Assembly deputies agree that the problem lies in the recruitment scheme.

Nha said that under current laws, MOET and local education departments can only make suggestions, while it is MIA which makes final decisions in recruiting teachers.

Tran Thi Tam Dan, former chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, the Youth and Children, said: “Those who use workers need to be given the right to recruit workers. It is unreasonable to assign teacher recruitment to MIA.”

“Only education establishments know how many teachers they need and what they have to do to settle the problem,” she said.

Fuente de la noticia: https://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/education/209484/schools-that-lack-teachers-not-allowed-to-expand-staff.html

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Kuwait: Qatari teen wonder featured in Qatar and Kuwait school textbooks

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Asia/Kuwait/24.09.18/Source: thepeninsulaqatar.com.

The Peninsula Online

Ghanim Al-Muftah, often dubbed the Qatari “miracle child” for having overcome the physical limits imposed by rare Caudal Regression Syndrome which impaired the development of his lower spine, is now featured in both Qatari and Kuwaiti school textbooks.

His life journey is study material for 10th-grade life and vocation skills book, which is in Arabic.

In Kuwait his story is published in 8th grade English book. A user tweeted a picture of the lesson and the cover, which was posted on Instagram and Twitter by  Ghanim.
The lesson is titled «My incredible story» by Ghanim Al Muftah.

“Qatari teenager Ghanim was born with a rare disease which stops the development of the lower spine. Doctors told his family he probably would not survive. Ghanim has inspired people around the world by surviving and, incredibly, by becoming an athlete. He shares his story of hope and determination with the world. His dream is to become a Paralympian,” the lesson continued.

«Through my Instagram account, where I have almost one million followers, I want to say that everyone has the right to dream. Social media is a window to the world. It helps us get our message out there faster and we have to use it in a positive and useful way. I want people to understand that people with disabilities are capable of giving and are active in society,” Ghanim said in the lesson.

Thanking the Ministry of Education of Qatar and Kuwait he tweeted (translation from Arabic):

“The Ministry of Education in Qatar has had my profile in grade 10 curriculum of life and vocational skills subject. This was great encouragement, I thank you to all.”

“Today, I would also like to thank the Ministry of Education in the State of Kuwait for their generous initiative to develop a profile in the eighth-grade curriculum. Thank you from the heart and I wish to be a good ambassador of my country Qatar.”

Ghanim al Muftah is an inspiration to many. At an young age, this budding entrepreneur, aspirational Para-Olympian and social media success has won the hearts of nearly 1 million followers on Instagram and practically everyone he’s ever met. Ghanim has only ever confronted his situation with courage and determination. Although still just a teenager, Ghanim has achieved so much in his lifetime, despite his physical impediments.

He has set up his own charities, is active in various sports activities and is also an entrepreneur after setting up his own ice cream shop.

Source of the notice: https://thepeninsulaqatar.com/article/19/09/2018/Qatari-teen-wonder-featured-in-Qatar-and-Kuwait-school-textbooks
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Textbooks vs. software: Finding the right mix for schools

Catherine Idzerda

By: Catherine Idzerda

Imagine a textbook that changed every year.

Ineffective lessons would disappear from its pages and be replaced with others. As state education standards evolved, textbooks would absorb those changes, saving the school district and, by extension, the taxpayers money.

Best of all, students could write on their pages.

Textbook companies have already made it happen.

It’s educational software, and it has been around in one form or another since the beginning of affordable home computers. Some educational experts believe it’s inevitable schools will end up with all software-based curriculum. It’s a move that could save thousands of dollars while giving educators a more flexible format.

Earlier this month, the Janesville School Board approved $131,747 to buy a final round of Chromebooks for high school students. Classrooms across the district have laptops for students to use, but this is the first time students will have an electronic device they can take home.

But that doesn’t mean the district is on its way to an all-electronic curriculum, said Allison DeGraaf, Janesville School District Director of Learning and Instruction. In fact, the decision to provide all high school students with Chromebooks was more about equal access than software vs. textbooks, she said.

Still, in the past five years, spending on textbooks and workbooks has declined significantly, according to Janesville School District budget documents.

In the 2013-14 school year, the district spent $762,685 on textbooks. That number dropped to $225,845 in the 2015-16 school year but then went up again to $396,541 in 2016-17.

In the 2017-18 school year spending on textbooks and workbooks dropped to $181,816, a 76 percent drop over five years.

Part of the spending changes are due to the district’s textbook adoption cycle, which previously provided reliable funding for books every few years, DeGraaf said.

But in 2008, when the economy went off the rails, the district couldn’t keep up with that cycle. When the economy improved, the district had to play catch up.

District officials are now attempting to re-establish that cycle so it matches the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s academic standards review timeline. When the department changes its standards for a subject, the district would update its curriculum.

But the trend is moving away from textbooks, local and national educational officials say.

Part of it has to do with cost.

Software for a single subject might cost $15 per student, DeGraaf said. That amount would include updates for the next five or six years. Software companies get ongoing feedback from teachers both about content and ease of use and then make changes.

In addition, software often provides more “differentiated” lesson plans, different ways of teaching the same materials to students who need extra help or want additional challenges.

Of course, that doesn’t include the cost of the laptops. The district paid $319 each for its Chromebooks and the insurance for them, according to a memo included in the July 10 school board packet. The lifetime of such devices varies.

A textbook might cost between $80 and $120 per student.

Still, it’s not just one format versus another. Textbook companies will often provide additional online resources or lessons or information or digital content for electronic whiteboards, DeGraaf said.

Electronic whiteboards are large, interactive computer screens that are common in classrooms.

For Degraaf and other district officials, it’s not about deciding between textbooks and software but about finding the curriculum that best aligns with state standards and the school district’s promises.

The promises are a set of five-year goals in areas such as finances, health and safety, and student achievement.

Prominent among the student success promises is a move from direct instruction to “engaged and empowered instructional opportunities.”

Direct instruction involves the traditional style of teaching where teachers lecture and students take notes.

“Engaged” means the students are involved in the learning. It’s a method that requires students to do more critical thinking and problem solving. For example, instead of taking notes about the difference between anaerobic and aerobic bacteria, the roles of carbon and nitrogen in decomposition, and the work of micro- and macro-organisms, students would create a food composter and then ask themselves questions about how and why it works.

Laptops lend themselves to that kind of learning. If students are working on essays in class, the teacher can be reviewing their work in real time and offer them suggestions. Students will be able to record their results from problems and experiments they’re working on and collaborate with their classmates on projects, DeGraaf said.

It is one of the many steps the district has taken away from textbooks, but it’s one officials say makes sense.

*Fuente: https://www.gazettextra.com/users/profile/cidzerda/

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United Kingdom: Parents have clear views on the education system, it’s time they were heard

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Europe/United Kingdom/26.06.18/By Charles Parker/Source: www.telegraph.co.uk.

On an almost daily basis we hear from educators, politicians and commentators on what needs to change in education. But we rarely hear from parents, despite the fact they have a clear perspective on the outcomes. It’s their children that the system teaches and they see first hand whether it’s working.

Recent research from the Baker Dearing Educational Trust shows that 80 per cent of parents think the current education system needs to change to reflect 21st century Britain, which suggests they have concerns.

The research surveyed 1,000 parents with teenagers at mainstream schools and their responses were compared with 450 parents whose children attend University Technical Colleges (UTCs), technical schools for 14-18 year olds.

The results found that for two thirds (66 per cent) of parents their biggest fear is that their child will not find a job when they leave education and nearly half (48.1 per cent) of parents said they felt stressed about their child’s education.

It is completely understandable that parents are concerned about the future and whether their children will secure the careers they deserve.

Parents are hearing about high youth unemployment and graduates not being able to find jobs. Their children are staying at home longer and finding it harder to rent, let alone buy, their own homes.

«It is completely understandable that parents are concerned about the future and whether their children will secure the careers they deserve.»

Futurist, Rohit Talwar says that youngsters need to be ready to have 40 jobs during their career and work, potentially, up to the age of 100.

Although no one really knows what’s in store it’s clear that the way we’ve been working and living is going to change greatly. So for UTC parents it must be reassuring to know that their child is confident and has a clear understanding of the industry they want to work in.

Nearly two thirds (64 per cent) of mainstream school parents surveyed said they wanted a greater variety of choice in the type of school for their child and 69 per cent said they wanted the option to select a technical education if it reflected their child’s talents.

It’s really hard for schools to keep pace with the modern world of work, where the skills requirements are changing all the time. In order to cope with these changes, young people will need to be well grounded in basic behaviour, social skills, communication and teamwork. They will need to have the ability to adapt, learn new skills and master technologies that haven’t even been conceived yet.

Recently, Nicky Morgan showed she had been listening to working parents when she offered them the right to request childcare from their school that reflects a full working day.

I agree that it is important that schools align themselves with the working day for three reasons. First, it helps children in their transition between school and work. Second, parents will be pleased that children remain in school where they are safe and supervised to do their homework and extra-curricular activities.

But finally it makes sense on a social level for everyone’s quality of life. It keeps learning and homework within the working day rather than dragging into the evening when parents and children are too tired to concentrate.

UTCs are ahead of the curve on this as they have been operating on a working day since the first one opened.

Schools are working hard to deliver the talent employers need but employers need to change too. They need to take a long-term view of their skills requirements and integrate better with the education system.

In Europe, collaboration is normal, but in the UK the worlds of education and employment are largely separate.

Employers and the university control the governing bodies of UTCs. This means they are required to understand more about education and it helps the senior leaders of the school to better understand the needs of employers. It’s testing for both sides, but it seems to be paying off.

The research showed that about eight out of 10 parents believed the UTC was preparing their child for the world of work compared to just over 6 out of 10 parents with children at mainstream schools.

The skills challenge we face will not be solved by one single system or education program. This is not just a problem for the Government, educators or industry. Our research show parents have clear ideas and should play a larger role in engineering future solutions.

Source of the notice: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/11960332/Parents-have-clear-views-on-the-education-system-its-time-they-were-heard.html

 

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‘The importance of great teaching on children’s success’

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Europe/United Kingdom/By Peter Tait/ 25.06.18/Source: www.telegraph.co.uk.

As a society, we spend an inordinate amount of time, resources and money looking at how to improve the quality of education in our schools.

The questions we ask ourselves are always the same. How do we improve the quality of teaching and learning? (and its corollary, our examination results?) How do we make our children more motivated and competitive? And how do we get children to value and ‘own’ their education?

And yet, after all the talk of new methodologies and curricula; after new and different methods of teaching and models of assessment; after all the time and money spent on technology; after the personalisation of education and differentiated teaching; after learning styles and habits of mind; after mindfulness and Every Child Matters; after the debates about continuous and formative assessment; and after all the constant tinkering, bureaucratic and legislative, with their greater focus on data and compliance, we seem to be no closer to establishing what are the most important factors that make children succeed.

The only consistent factor we can identify is the role of the teacher, whose abilities and skillset, knowledge and enthusiasm are crucial in determining the success or otherwise, of the children they teach.

Teaching, after all, is about engagement, about getting children to listen and switch on. The best investment any government can make is to get the most effective, the most talented, the best teachers they can in front of the children.

By best, I don’t mean those who are the best qualified, but those teachers who know how to enthuse and connect with children regardless of their own levels of education. I mean those teachers who can properly engage with children and teach them by inspiring and challenging them.

Sometimes the pathway dictates that the process comes down to hard work rather than inspiration, but teaching is all about the relationship between teacher and pupil more than anything else.

Children will work harder for a teacher they respect, even if they demand more and insist on discipline and high standards. One can only speculate what would have been the impact if all the money spent on technology had gone instead into lowering the teacher-pupil ratio and improving the identification, selection and training of the most effective and passionate teachers. Where would we be now? In a somewhat better place, I would suggest.

I look back at outstanding teachers from my own teaching career and remember, in particular, one woman, whose ability with children was legendary. She was strict, uncompromising, but children wanted her approbation.

One particular year she took on a particularly difficult class of Year 4 children, two of whom had considerable physical and intellectual difficulties and could not even print their names and yet finished the year with impressive cursive writing – achieved through repetition, practice, discipline and unwavering high expectations.

She made such a difference to their young lives and all who were fortunate enough to have her as a teacher.

Good teachers don’t need the security of extra resources and technology that, evidence suggests, can detract rather than add to the learning process.

While they may use resources to embellish their lessons, they will not allow the resources to become the lesson. The best teachers are always wanting to do and find out more about their own craft, pushing out the boundaries of their learning and teaching, which is why many exceptional teaches re-work or even discard their teaching notes on a regular basis and look for new topics, and ways, to teach.

This lesson came home to me when I was asked to introduce art history into the sixth form in a New Zealand school and finding – after the subject had been offered, and places filled – that my knowledge of the period (Italian Art, 1300 – 1650) was almost as deficient as were my resources.

That year, with a few old text books and slides, I learnt alongside the students and at the year’s end, we were the top performing department in the school with one student in the top 10 in national scholarships.

The next year, I went to Italy and soon had the best resourced art history department anywhere with videos and CD Roms, slides, a library of outstanding books of reproductions, computer programmes on every aspect of the course, but my students never did quite so well ever again.

I think they learned better, as I did, by having to think more, by having to eke out what they could from the meagre resources, by having to think and having a teacher learning alongside them. There was no hiding place for any of us.

Teachers need to keep learning and growing – it is not a profession for the cynical or indifferent. The best can be identified by their enthusiasm and interest in pedagogy. They are not characterised by their own high academic performance, but by a thirst for passing on the benefits of education.

They may be unorthodox, idiosyncratic, employing a variety of approaches to get children to want to learn and to question what they are being taught. They are typified by their passion, their non-negotiable standards, breadth of interests, high expectations, understanding of how children learn, empathy, an insistence on greater self-discipline and by their relationship with their pupils.

Interestingly, children know who the best teachers are, even if they try and avoid them in favour of the more popular variety who may make their lives easy. They often criticise them to their parents for being too demanding and only realise later the opportunity they have squandered.

These are the teachers who entered the profession in order to make a difference. And they do.

Source of the notice: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationopinion/12201014/The-importance-of-great-teaching-on-childrens-success.html

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10 (More) Reasons Why the U.S. Education System Is Failing

Matthew Lynch

By Matthew Lynch

We must grapple with digital equity, year-round schooling, gender parity in STEM, and more.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a post for my Education Futures opinion blog on edweek.org, entitled “10 Reasons the U.S. Education System Is Failing.” I listed 10 problems and issues that prevent the U.S. education system from living up to its potential. Even years later, my list—which addressed economic shortfalls, gender and racial disparities, parent engagement, and more—still periodically shows up as one of edweek.org’s top-read blog posts of the day.

Because of this sustained interest from readers, Education Week’s opinion editors thought it would be interesting to revisit this list, and I wholeheartedly agreed. Most of the reasons that I listed still ring true, so I am adding 10 additional emerging problems and issues with our education system.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

—Getty

1. In this digital age, we need to rethink literacy. Historically, literacy referred to print texts, but it’s becoming increasingly complex as we transition to a digital age. To accommodate this generational shift, educators need to start adopting a curriculum that covers digital literacy. Beyond basic reading and writing, students should be able to use technology to conduct research and make their own judgments about what they read. Without these skills, students will be left behind in our digital age.

2. The way we currently assess students is not working. The current testing system does not accurately measure the progress of individual students. In our digital age, we should be searching for testing options that can implement technology, gather information, and account for the differences among students who take the assessments. The initial cost outlay could be substantial, but we owe it to our students to create a fair testing system to help deliver brighter minds for the future.

3. We do a poor job of educating boys of color. Black and Latino boys have consistently been misunderstood in America’s schools. Their behavior, learning styles, and social skills are often misconstrued as problems. Until this situation is remedied, boys of color will continue to slip through the cracks. They have higher dropout, poverty, and incarceration rates than their peers. Perhaps the education system is partly to blame.

4. We continue to retain and socially promote students. The U.S. education system retains students at astronomical rates. The cost is outlandish, likely exceeding $12 billion annually, according to a 2012 estimate from The Brookings Institution, even though research shows that holding children back has little effect on their academic achievement. On the other hand, social promotion also poses a problem, as students will struggle to meet academic standards without extraordinary intervention. To end social promotion and retention, we must move from a graded classroom approach to a multi-age approach. Multi-age classrooms let students learn at an individualized pace, working to reach their full potential in their own time.

«The result is that wealthy students end up ahead, creating another barrier for schools with high poverty rates.»

5. Anti-intellectualism and academic disengagement are running rampant. In this digital age, students are accustomed to instant gratification. In response, school districts water down academic standards to keep students on an equal footing, but the result is academic disengagement. Traditional education is undermined by this growing anti-intellectualism. Today’s students are less inclined to pursue academic achievement if it offers no direct relevance in their daily lives.

6. We need more year-round schools. Most schools in America maintain the antiquated system of granting students the summer off, even though the economic justifications for such a schedule no longer exist. Unfortunately, the solid evidence that a switch to year-round schooling would improve our academic system is ignored because it’s too challenging to make a change. Teachers and policymakers alike would have to agree to switch up the status quo to accommodate this drastic shift in scheduling.

7. We are not able to consistently produce quality teachers. A child’s education is highly dependent upon the instruction they receive. The reality is straightforward: Not all teachers entering the classroom have enough training and experience to foster student learning. A strong teacher is an invaluable classroom tool, but we have yet to discover what it takes to produce strong educators with any degree of consistency.

8. We are not doing enough to foster digital equity. In the modern age, technology is an essential part of the world and academics. Students from wealthier backgrounds have greater access to the internet and technology in general than their impoverished counterparts. The result is that wealthy students end up ahead, creating another barrier for schools with high poverty rates. Digital equity could eliminate this gap and provide a more level playing field.

9. We are not doing enough to get girls involved with STEM. Despite Beyoncé’s declaration that girls run the world, there are still plenty of academic fields where females are underrepresented. The booming STEM industry is primarily male-dominated, with few opportunities for young girls to join. The issue is not a lack of interest but a lack of encouragement for girls to enter these fields or study the subjects at school. We must find new ways to promote STEM subjects to girls and help them foster a love for the mechanical and chemical.

10. Teacher-preparation programs don’t teach neuroscience. Most teacher-preparation programs focus exclusively on education instead of providing a more holistic view. Truly great educators need to understand neuroscience to grasp how the brain and nervous system work fully. It would fortify educators if they had a better understanding of how the brain learns new information and how strong neural pathways are formed. Even the most basic understanding of neuroscience could influence and improve the way teachers perform in the classroom.

The underachievement of the U.S. education system is not the result of one problem. It is a confluence of issues that undercut the cultural importance of education equity and broad-based intellect. To achieve better results, we must put aside partisan politics and petty policy disagreements and try to improve our schools, no matter what. I am overjoyed that my last piece has resonated with my readers, and I hope this installment will also strike a chord. Now, let’s get to work.

Source:

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2018/01/29/10-more-reasons-why-the-us-education.html

 

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Philippines: Anti-illegal drugs education program in QC schools pushed

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Asia/Philippines/12.06.18/By Perfecto Raymundo/Source: www.pna.gov.ph.

MANILA — The Quezon City Council has passed a resolution urging the Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council (QCADAAC) and the Quezon City Council Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs to conduct an anti-illegal drugs education program for parents and teachers associations (PTAs) in all public elementary and high schools in the city.

City Council Resolution 7449-2018 authored by Councilor Allan Butch Francisco states that “instructions on drug abuse prevention and control shall be integrated in the elementary, secondary and tertiary curricula of all public and private schools.”

“Student councils and campus organizations in elementary, secondary, and tertiary schools shall include a program for the prevention of drug abuse among students in their activities,” the resolution said.

“Schools have a significant role to play in addressing illegal drug use and abuse among Filipino children and youth through drug education and other prevention programs,” it added.

The Dangerous Drugs Board has identified preventive education programs as a key component of its drug demand reduction-strategy.

The study conducted by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) said “the most effective preventive measure against drug abuse among youth are after-school programs and the adoption of a drug education framework.”

DPA is a non-stock, nonprofit organization which promotes drug awareness and prevention.

The QCADAAC and the City Council Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs have been conducting “Masa Masid,” a drug education program in the barangays (villages) of Quezon City. (PNA)

Source of the article: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1037904

 

 

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