Schools have enlisted debt collectors to make parents pay “voluntary” donations, with one school attempting to ban a teenager from the ball until the optional fee was paid.
Documents obtained under the Official Information Act reveal cases brought to the attention of the education minister, including a furious parent who received a debt notice from a debt-collecting agency in the name of his son.
Schools have been sent warnings for fudging the fact that some fees are optional, while others have been caught trying to withhold privileges unless the “voluntary” fees were paid.
By law, every child has the right to a free education from age 5 to 19. But state schools say they cannot survive on government funding so ask parents for an annual donation – on top of compulsory fees. In the year to December 2010, schools collected $101m in donations.
Food companies wouldn’t be “conning” well-meaning parents, would they?
CHILDREN are being conned by food companies who are making fatty and sugary foods appear to be healthy, a study suggests.
Some of Australia’s most popular brands, including Kellogg’s and Nestle, have been accused of making food that appeals to children look healthier than it actually is, the Flinders University study shows.
Researchers, led by lecturer Kaye Mehte, found 157 products on a major supermarket chain’s shelves with packaging designed to appeal to children through cartoons, competitions and give-aways.
More than three-quarters of these products were deemed to be unhealthy, primarily because they are high in fat and sugar.
But more than half of them had prominent nutrition claims on the packaging, boasting that the product is, for example, “99 per cent fat free”, “high in calcium” or has “no artificial colours”, they found.
“This has the potential to mislead and confuse children as well as parents who would be more inclined to purchase products carrying claims about health and nutrition,” Dr Mehte said.
Jane Martin, executive manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition said using the techniques to attract children to unhealthy food was “simply unethical”.
It’s ultimately the role of parents to ensure that their children are reading age appropriate books. Beyond that, I don’t think the major problem here is that some children are reading violent books. The real problem is that many children aren’t reading at all.
Bestselling children’s author GP Taylor believes that children’s literature has become too frightening and should be marked with an age certification system.
Taylor, appearing this morning on BBC Breakfast, said he plans to withdraw from the direction he has taken in his latest trilogy of books, the Vampyre Labyrinth series, which adds vampires to the backdrop of Yorkshire during the second world war. “I wrote the Vampyre Labyrinth, it came out, I hadn’t really read it when I wrote the book, and people who were reading it and reviewing it were saying this is the most frightening thing that has ever been written for kids,” said Taylor. “I have changed my mind: I think children’s literature has gone too far.”
His comments follow new analysis of recent award-winning children’s literature which shows that the books of today are more likely to feature abandoned children, with troubled or absent parents, as opposed to the fictional children of times past, who were carefree and happy and would set off on adventures of their own accord, rather than being forced out.
To make matters worse, the instructions to bus driver to greet students and learn their names is belittling and highly disrespectful. The role of a bus driver is to drive the bus safely. The role of the passengers is to behave with respect.
A video of students taunting, threatening, and degrading school bus monitor Karen Klein gave millions of people a 10-minute glimpse into a growing bullying epidemic.
Roughly 30 percent of middle school and high school students are bullied, and nearly 10 percent of the abuse happens on the school bus, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
But the problem is likely much worse, since nearly two thirds of the incidents are never reported, the department estimates.
Limited supervision and a confined environment make school buses a hotbed for bullying, a recent Slate article notes.
Insufficient training and bullying policies that don’t address a bus driver’s role only compound the problem, Mike Martin, executive director of the NAPT, said in a presentation last year. To address this issue, the NAPT and Department of Education developed a two-part training program specifically for school bus drivers.
Building a rapport with students by greeting them and addressing them by name can help drivers prevent bullying, according to the training materials. When bullying does occur, the training champions the “See something, do something” mantra, instructing drivers to warn the students and inform school administrators.
What a brave decision! After weeks of writing an endless array of negative posts, I have found a truly remarkable person to write about. Fed up with a school that included teachers who sexually abused students (even in one case forcing them to eat semen), Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy fired the entire staff:
Faced with a shocking case of a teacher accused of playing classroom sex games with children for years, Los Angeles schools Superintendent John Deasy delivered another jolt: He removed the school’s entire staff — from custodians to the principal — to smash what he called a ‘culture of silence.’
‘It was a quick, responsible, responsive action to a heinous situation,’ he said. ‘We’re not going to spend a long time debating student safety.’
The controversial decision underscores the 51-year-old superintendent’s shake-up of the lethargic bureaucracy at the nation’s second-largest school district. His swift, bold moves have rankled some and won praise from others during his first year of leadership.
Hired with a mandate to boost achievement in the 660,000-pupil Los Angeles Unified School District, Deasy has become known for 18-hour days that involve everything from surprise classroom visits and picking up playground litter to lobbying city elite for donations and blasting Sacramento politicians over funding cuts.
He’s also gained a reputation for outspokenness and a brisk decision-making style some have criticized as heavy-handed. Earlier this year, for instance, Deasy ordered a substitute teacher fired after finding students doing busy work.
‘I’m intolerant when it comes to students being disrespected,’ he said in an interview sandwiched between school visits and meetings. ‘I do what I think is right and everyone has the right to criticize. You appreciate the critics, but you wouldn’t get up in the morning if you listened to them.’
It’s about time a leading figure put the welfare of students above all else! Please click on this link to read more about this remarkable man.
It’s very hard for parents to find time with their iPhones and iPads because children have a habit of getting to them first.
It was only a matter of time before manufacturers invented a toy that will give your children yet another reason to run off with your phone:
Any parent knows that irrespective of what engaging and exciting toys you buy for your children, they will always be more interested in your mobile phone or tablet computer. It’s an inescapable fact of modern day parenting. With this in mind, toy firm Little Tikes has revealed a range of iPhone-friendly toys which can connect with your iOS devices.
The iTikes toysiOS devices toys include a keyboard, map, microscope and an art canvas, all of which can be used as stand-alone toys. But it’s when you add an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch running a free iTikes app, that the fun really begins and the toys gain additional (and considerably more high-tech) functionality.
I’m still waiting for the iCanMakeMyBed, iWillShareMyToys and the future bestseller iWillDoMyHomeworkWithoutComplaint.
I am glad that I teach both boys and girls in my Grade 3 classroom. I find it more challenging and the social dynamic can be quite fascinating. At the same time, I can understand why many prefer a single-sex classroom to a co-ed one.
Some parents don’t want their children to be in mixed-gender classrooms because, especially at certain ages, students of the opposite sex can be a distraction.
Leonard Sax and others agree that merely placing boys in separate classrooms from girls accomplishes little. But single-sex education enhances student success when teachers use techniques geared toward the gender of their students.
Some research indicates that girls learn better when classroom temperature is warm, while boys perform better in cooler classrooms. If that’s true, then the temperature in a single-sex classroom could be set to optimize the learning of either male or female students.
Some research and reports from educators suggest that single-sex education can broaden the educational prospects for both girls and boys. Advocates claim co-ed schools tend to reinforce gender stereotypes, while single-sex schools can break down gender stereotypes. For example, girls are free of the pressure to compete with boys in male-dominated subjects such as math and science. Boys, on the other hand, can more easily pursue traditionally “feminine” interests such as music and poetry. One mother, whose daughter has attended a girls-only school for three years, shares her experience on the GreatSchools parent community: “I feel that the single gender environment has given her a level of confidence and informed interest in math and science that she may not have had otherwise.”
Few educators are formally trained to use gender-specific teaching techniques. However, it’s no secret that experienced teachers usually understand gender differences and are adept at accommodating a variety of learning styles within their mixed-gender classrooms.
Gender differences in learning aren’t the same across the board; they vary along a continuum of what is considered normal. For a sensitive boy or an assertive girl, the teaching style promoted by advocates of single-sex education could be ineffective (at best) or detrimental (at worst). For example, a sensitive boy might be intimidated by a teacher who “gets in his face” and speaks loudly believing “that’s what boys want and need to learn.”
Students in single-sex classrooms will one day live and work side-by-side with members of the opposite sex. Educating students in single-sex schools limits their opportunity to work cooperatively and co-exist successfully with members of the opposite sex.
At least one study found that the higher the percentage of girls in a co-ed classroom, the better the academic performance for all students (both male and female). Professor Analia Schlosser, an economist from the Eitan Berglas School of Economics at Tel Aviv, found that elementary school, co-ed classrooms with a majority of female students showed increased academic performance for both boys and girls. In high school, the classrooms with the best academic achievement were consistently those that had a higher percentage of girls. Dr. Schlosser theorizes that a higher percentage of girls lowers the amount of classroom disruption and fosters a better relationship between all students and the teacher.
The American Council on Education reports that there is less academic disparity between male and female students overall and a far greater achievement gap between students in different racial, ethnic and socioeconomic groups, with poor and minority students children faring poorly. Bridging that academic chasm, they argue, deserves more attention than does the gender divide.
Single-sex education is illegal and discriminatory, or so states the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) . In May 2008, the ACLU filed suit in federal court, arguing that Breckinridge County Middle School’s (Kentucky) practice of offering single-sex classrooms in their public school is illegal and discriminatory. The school doesn’t require any child to attend a single-sex class, yet the suit argues that the practice violates several state and federal laws, including Title IX and the equal Educational Opportunities Act.
Above is a video taken by Ridgefield, Connecticut couple David and Elena Barnes of themselves and their five-year-old daughter Anaia during a vacation with Power Boat Adventures in the Bahamas. In the 9-minute clip, the family snorkels in shallow water with a number of shark breeds (shown being fed by Power Boat employees at the opening of the clip), including mild nurse sharks as well as the more excitable and predatory lemon and Caribbean reef varieties. The video has hit 350,000 views on YouTube and provoked massive amounts of criticism from maritime professionals and parents alike. Before the comments were disabled, the San Franciso Gate’s Mommy Files blog reposted a sample YouTube response from commenter luigib0511:
“I’m an experienced diver who did work for the Oceanic Association scuba diving with sharks and other dangerous fish. What this people have done is an outrage and an extreme stupidity. Swimming with sharks is not a Sea World adventure.”
A HIGH school teacher allegedly obtained naked and semi-naked pictures of two 14-year-old girl students at his school after posing as a teenage boy on a fake Facebook profile.
It is understood police will allege the country teacher pretended to be a schoolboy of a similar age from another regional town in a ploy to prey on the girls.
The students are believed to have sent him naked and semi-naked photos of themselves via the social networking site.
The teacher, who has been sacked and cannot be named for legal reasons, faced court this week on two counts of involving a child in child exploitation.
Until now, The Sunday Times has been prevented from publishing any details of the case.
After successfully challenging the terms of the original suppression order on the case, The Sunday Times is now permitted to reveal certain aspects of the allegations, which have prompted a warning from cyber safety experts for parents to educate their children about the importance of safety settings on Facebook for the coming school holidays, which started yesterday.
This is why I am a strong proponent of the no contact rule in schools. Whilst the vast majority of teachers are good citizens, there are still too many sick, evil predators still to be exposed.
Click here to read my post, “Why Can’t Teachers Touch Kids any More? :O’Brien”.
I was stunned how poorly I was trained at University. I completed a Bachelor of Teaching at a major Melbourne university, but experience has shown that my degree was not worth more than a roll of toilet paper.
My training did not prepare me for how to teach and what to do in certain highly pressurised situations. This is because my course was high on theory and propaganda and low on practical teaching opportunities. It was those fleeting teaching round experiences at other schools that I was able to observe other teachers and begin to form my own teaching style.
For a generation there has been a significant decline in scholarship in the nation’s classrooms. Education degrees do not prepare undergraduates adequately in subject knowledge. The result is that many teachers entering Australian classrooms clutching their bachelor of education scrolls simply do not have enough academic depth to teach with any scholastic authority.
I personally felt like I was drowning in “academic depth”. I wanted more practical experience … far more!
Topical Teaching 