| |
|
|
Online resources
Date |
Topic and online resources |
Monday 18 May 2009 |
School attendance: When is it okay to stay away?
The Northern Territory Education Department says there has been a slight increase in school attendance since the welfare-truancy trial began. Read more ...
The latest performance snapshot of Tasmania's public schools shows truancy and retention rates remain major areas of concern for the government. Read more ...
A school in England has told parents they must send sick kids to class in order for them to develop a ‘be tough’ attitude. Last month, Fairways headteacher, Lee Pinchback, warned that absence because of illness would no longer automatically be authorised and medical evidence could be requested if a child’s attendance dropped below 90 per cent. Read more ...
Errant parents in England were feeling the heat as education chiefs brought them before the courts in a bid to try and crack persistent school absence. Four parents were hauled before Norwich Magistrates Court to explain for their children's persistent absence from school. Read more ...
Police in Ipswich, Queensland, have vowed to crack down on the hundreds of students roaming the streets when they are meant to be in school. Acting Senior Sergeant Steve Andrews co-ordinated an operation this week that targeted truancy in Ipswich. The operation involving 30 police found 56 truants in just two days. The youngest was nine. Three were discovered while shoplifting. Read more ...
A successful program which helped cut truancy among Aboriginal students in Orange, NSW, could be restarted. The Better Pathways program was piloted in the city from July 2006 until last December. Read more ...
|
Tuesday 19 May 2009 |
Parental engagement: What can be done to get more parents involved in their children's schools?
In a recently reported study, parents of students with high-functioning autism, Asperger's disorder or pervasive developmental disorder; were required to attend separate, concurrent sessions where they were provided direct instruction and guidance to support their child's development. ‘Parental involvement was mandatory and important’, said Laugeson, who is also associate director of the UCLA Parenting and Children's Friendship Program and director of the Help Group–UCLA Autism Research Alliance. ‘Other research has shown us that parent involvement can have significant positive effects upon children's friendships, both in terms of direct instruction and supervision, as well as supporting a child's development of an appropriate peer network.’ Read more …
When she was a little girl, Channon Bruce took a dislike to reading but as a mother, she is making sure her children are surrounded by books. Now she often shares a good story with daughters Caitlin, 9, and Madeline, 5, particularly during the Premier's Reading Challenge. Their school, Cromer Public on the northern beaches, is asking parents to support students' participation in the challenge. Read more …
More parents are dropping their children off at school early and leaving them unsupervised amid the growing economic crisis. Principals are concerned about the safety and welfare of kids whose parents are working harder to cope with financial pressures. Victorian Principals Association president, Gabrielle Leigh, said yesterday there were growing fears over the issue. Read more …
A group of 20 parents, teachers, students and community members from Inverell High School have undertaken a 16-day study tour of Europe, by visiting France and Belgium, where the group saw many significant sites of Australians at war. Read more …
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's political fight back was marred recently after angry parents ambushed his policy relaunch. The beleaguered Prime Minister had hoped to regain the initiative with a speech on education reforms. However, his appearance at a school in London - ironically about increasing parent power - was hijacked by parents furious at plans to merge it with a nearby primary. Read more …
|
Wednesday 20 May 2009 |
Cyberbullying: How do we keep our children safe?
ABC Radio's PM revealed yesterday that two girls were taken out of Ascham School, in NSW, after they posted personal and possibly defamatory information about their classmates on MySpace. The posting included information on the girls' alleged sexual proclivities, drinking, drug use and relationships. Read more …
The Teacher Support Network, in England, has welcomed the recent publication of the ‘Cyberbullying: Supporting School Staff' guidance for Local Authorities and governing bodies. The document was written by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) with the support of Teacher Support Network, leading school employee unions and professional associations. Read more ...
High school pupils in the Isle of Man, in the UK, have been learning how to avoid cyber bullying, and how to help fellow students who become victims of it. Read more …
Bullies have moved into cyberspace with such speed and aggression that police, governments and lawyers are testing new ways of slowing their spread. The rise of new technologies such as video texting, internet chatrooms and social networking sites has allowed bullies to invade homes and exposed their prey to torment around the clock. Read more …
The Federal Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy, recently announced that a group of 305 young Australians will advise the Government on online issues such as cyberbullying. ‘Young people are at the leading edge of online experience and can provide valuable advice on emerging problems such as cyber-bullying, invasions of privacy and illegal content.’ Read more …
Students at St Peter’s College students have completed a workshop on cyberbullying. Student welfare coordinator Nadia Picinali said it was important that the college curriculum at the Cranbourne school incorporated social skills and ‘netiquette’ in order to help reduce cyber bullying and keep students safe when online. Read more … |
Thursday 21 May 2009 |
Banning confectionery from school canteens: Tell us your thoughts
New research has revealed that the New Zealand government's dumping of school food guidelines, in February, has not resulted in an improvement in student nutrition. The guidelines banned lollies, pies and other unhealthy food options from school tuckshops in favour of healthy eating. ‘Schools are now free to sell as much junk food as they wish. Any improvement in school canteen food since the inception of the now abandoned School Food Guidelines is likely to be lost’, said one observer. Read more …
The NT Education Department recently introduced a healthy eating policy, which government schools must put into practice this term. Rebecca Johnson, the Department's manager of the health promoting school section, said the policy outlined which foods could and could not be sold. ‘It also promotes nutrition education through the curriculum, so we're looking at promoting healthy eating’, she said. Read more …
The Brisbane Produce Market Queensland Kids Fresh Net (QKFN) program has been presented to more than 7000 students at 100 schools a year in south-east Queensland since its inception in 2003. The QKFN program encourages school children to make healthy eating choices and live active lifestyles, targeting children, parents, teachers and tuckshop conveners. The goal of the QKFN program is to encourage the adoption of a healthier life through increased consumption of fresh produce partnered with an active lifestyle. Read more …
More than 120 children from Ipswich, Queensland have taken part in free cooking classes with professional chef, Andre Tabet, who said that it was vital that youngsters learned to cook healthy food for themselves to combat Australia's childhood obesity problem. Read more …
The ACT Health Department is suggesting to parents of children deemed ‘overweight or at risk of becoming overweight’, that they might want to consult a dietician or participate in a ‘Talk About Weight’ group session at their local health centre, where the family’s eating habits and physical activities could be analysed. Read more …
A 2008 report for Diabetes Australia ‘guesstimated’ that the current cost of obesity in Australia is $58 billion, comprising $8 billion in direct financial costs and $50 billion in lost quality life-years. Read more … |
Friday 22 May 2009 |
Transition - what could be done to improve transition from one level of schooling to the next, i.e. kindergarten to primary, year 6 to secondary?
School starting age, as part of a raft of many reforms to education, is currently being debated in England. Read more …
Annika Loobeek, from Nepean High School, explains what her transition into high school felt like. Read more …
A report by the Wellcome Trust, which supports public understanding of science, has said that students are turned off science during the transition from primary to secondary education. Read more …
Kindergarten teachers from St Kitts have been trained in the Early Childhood Development Unit’s Transition Program. Read more …
Nearly 200 four-year-olds, who will be entering Morgan County Primary School as kindergarteners in August, have participated in the first annual ‘March to the Big School’. Read more …
Brandon Doxtator describes what he experienced when he started high school last year. Read more … |
Saturday 23 May 2009 |
Sex education - who's responsible?
Changes to the Victorian Government Schools Reference Guide will make it easier for teachers to follow clearer guidelines when dealing with transgender and intersex students. Although it is plainly stated that schools must be supportive of transgender students, there is still no direct path for teachers and principals to follow when gender identity issues arise. The guidelines for students with transgender or intersex status now fall under health responsibilities for school management, calling on schools to look at developing a management plan, reviewing toilet facilities, protecting students’ privacy, using preferred names and providing further support. Read more …
How young is ‘too young’ for sex education? Read more …
US President Barack Obama faces a Republican backlash over his plan to scrap one of the most divisive policies left over from the Bush era: education programs for teenagers that promote only sexual abstinence. Read more …
Sex education for five-year-olds to be made compulsory in schools in England. All secondaries will have to teach teenagers about contraception, but faith schools will be free to preach against sex outside of marriage and condoms. The government has announced plans to make sex education compulsory for pupils aged five to 11, dividing faith groups and safer sex campaigners. It means that all secondary schools in England will for the first time have to teach a core curriculum about sex and contraception in the context of teenagers' relationships, but teachers in faith schools will be free to tell them that having sex outside of marriage, homosexuality or using contraception is wrong. Read more …
The Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC, an Independent Member of Parliament, has raised serious concerns with the recent release of a controversial book entitled, Where Did I Really Come From? The publication explains how gay parents have children and includes in-depth descriptions of sexual intercourse which is being aimed at children as young as two. Read more… |
Sunday 24 May 2009 |
Parent/teacher meetings - how could these meetings be improved?
The mother of a Sydney schoolboy who died during a Blue Mountains bushwalk has broken down in court as his school, which should have been supervising him, apologised for his death. David Iredale, 17, died of the effects of severe dehydration while trekking with friends on the Mount Solitary walking track in December 2006. The school maintains it had no prior knowledge of the hike, despite evidence from several boys that they had discussions with a teacher about their plans. Read more …
Principals in NSW are banning some parents from their schools using a law designed to stop trespassing. The Inclosed Lands Protection Act is being used to temporarily ban parents who interfere with teaching or threaten teachers or students, according to the president of the Public School Principals Forum, Cheryl McBride. Read more …
When parents hear they need to be more involved in their child's education, the first reaction can sometimes be a feeling that they need to be more active in their school's parent-teacher organisation. If this motivates you to invest your time and energy into your local parent group, then you will certainly reap the benefits of that level of involvement in your child's education. But the most valuable way Mom and Dad can be involved in their child's education is to provide a rich learning environment in the home to support a child's academic achievement. Read more …
Parents of children with special needs need to have more frequent dialogues with the school administration, the guidance office and teachers more often than the parents of other children. Read more …
Parents will be able to compare the performance of their children's schools with similar schools around the country by the end of the year. State and Federal education ministers yesterday signed off on a new website which will publish comparative literacy and numeracy levels, teacher numbers and financial data from every school for the first time, beginning later this year. Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the website would give parents ‘reliable, clear information about what is happening in schools’. The data will be collated by the new Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. Read more …
Several parents in Shanghai, China, have hired an experienced teacher to attend parent-teacher meetings on their behalf. Read more …
Nazareth Area Middle School, in the USA, is getting sixth-grade students involved in parent-teacher conferences. Read more …
How can a parent send their child to a public institution and never attend meetings that are supposed to be for parents and teachers, asks this commentator. Read more …
|
Disclaimer
The links to recent articles in online newspapers, from Australia and overseas, are provided here to stimulate your thinking on each day’s topic and do not represent a full or balanced summary of all the opinions, developments or issues related to that topic. The online newspaper articles are intended to encourage you to contribute your own views, and your own local/personal experiences, to the online message boards that are the most important part of this conference. The ideas and information within them do not represent the official views and policies of Parents Victoria, CyberText or DEECD. Neither can Parents Victoria, CyberText or DEECD guarantee, or take any responsibility for the accuracy (or otherwise), of any information provided within the online newspaper articles we have linked to. |
|
|
