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izz aty

Inclusive Education in Finland: A thwarted development | Saloviita | Zeitschr... - 0 views

www.inklusion-online.net/...172

finnish special ed inclusive issues dissertationZ

shared by izz aty on 30 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • Finland differs in the amount of segregated education from its Nordic neighbours Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, where the proportion of segregated education is very low.
  • statistics collected by the European Agency of Special Education (2003), Finnish numbers are more comparable with the situation in Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium.
  • A simple explanation for the large percentage of segregated education is the models of financing. In Finland local authorities receive extra money for each student removed into special education. It has been shown that this kind of financing explains best the international differences in the number of students in special education (Meijer, J.W., 1999).
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  • second reason is linked with teacher professionalism. If a teacher can have a difficult student from her class removed, she can secure for herself a less stressful future in her work.
  • Finnish teachers have got a strong union, and it has taken a very negative stance towards educational integration (OAJ, 1989). Teachers, like all other professional groups, have step by step achieved more power in the affairs of local municipalities at the cost of local political process (Heuru, 2000). This has given teachers more influence in guiding schools in the directions they want schools to go.
  • third reason for the large proportion of segregated education lies in the Finnish set of values. In Finland, the shift from an agricultural to an industrial society occurred internationally quite late, during the late forties. The industrial phase remained brief, and the new post-industrial society began to emerge during the late sixties. This means that the traditional values of agricultural and industrial societies still prevail in Finland to a greater extent than in many other countries. These traditional values stress overall conformity and tend to reject people who are considered socially deviant. The Finnish traditional set of values also manifests itself in the internationally high proportions of past sterilization of people with disabilities, high proportion of disabled people in institutions, or in the exceptionally high frequency of fetal screening (Emerson, et. al., 1996; Meskus, 2003).
  • Traditional Finnish sets of values combined with strong teacher professionalism together explain the high legitimacy of segregated special education in Finnish society
  • increasing numbers of students in special education are interpreted by representatives of the government as a healthy answer to increasing pathological conditions of children.
  • nternational discussion on inclusion (UN, 1993; Unesco, 1994) was first met in Finland by silence, which continued for several years (e.g. Blom, et al., 1996).
  • At the political level, inclusion is not raised as a goal to be sought
  • it is understood as a state that has already been achieved, because all that is possible has already been done.
  • The main focus of special education policy is localized in the neoliberal philosophy of “early intervention”, where problems are found in the pathological conditions of individual children (Plan for Education and Research 2007-2011 by the Ministry of Education). This focus is evident also in the Special Education Strategy report of the Special Education Committee of the Ministry of Education (2007). Furthermore, none of the political parties have raised the issue of inclusive education, outside of the small left wing party, The Left Alliance.
  • Since the rehabilitation committee of 1966, the official documents of the National Board of Education have repeatedly stated that integration is a primary choice which, however, is not always possible to achieve. What is “possible” depends on the abilities of the person himself, and these limits are decided by teachers.
  • A popular scapegoat for the lack of integration is found in deficits in teacher education (Special Education Committee, 2007). According to this explanation integration is not possible because teachers have not acquired the necessary skills in their education. Antagonists of this explanation underline that current teacher education is fully adequate in this respect and gives readiness for all teachers to include students with disabilities.
  • The academic world of special education has traditionally taken a conservative stance towards inclusion
  • Very recently there has been observable some change in the discussion
  • First, some large disability organizations, e.g. the Parents’ Association for People with Intellectual Disabilities, The National Council on Disability, and the Finnish Association on People with Physical Disabilities have presented critical statements, not heard previously, on current policy which favours increased placement of students in special classes. These organizations have begun to refer to international goal statements on inclusive education, like the Salamanca statement.
  • Second, the academic field of special education has begun to experience some polarization in the question of inclusion, and more positive sounds are being heard in favour of inclusion. This argument is observed, for example, in a recent addition on special education of the Finnish educational journal “Kasvatus” (2/2009). Additionally, a current textbook written by leading special education professors (2009) refers to inclusive education in a cautiously positive tone of voice, even if traditional special education is in no way criticized. It also gives space to the presentation of the international inclusion movement and international statements.
  • More radical changes could be expected from a different direction. The preparation of new legislation concerning the state funding of local municipalities is currently taking place
  • If the change happens it, in all probability, will mean a free fall in the number of special class placements. Inclusive development may thus become materialized as an unintended consequence of a bureaucratic funding reform
  • Finland is a black sheep in the international movement on inclusive education.
  • The legitimacy of separate special education is strong and unquestioned. Since the mainstream in most other countries is towards inclusive education, the situation of Finnish school authorities is not always comfortable.
  • There is a continuous threat of a legitimacy crisis in special education. Until now the threat has been successfully handled first through the means of ignoring the international discussions, statements and policies, and lately by changing the meaning of the concept of inclusion. Instead of inclusion meaning desegregation it is increasingly defined by educational authorities to mean some kind of good teaching in general (Halinen & Järvinen, 2008; Special Education Committee, 2007).
  • In opposition to inclusion, the official policy promotes early intervention as a main area of development in special education.
  • There are no visible interest groups questioning this ongoing development.
  • The high legitimacy and constant growth of segregated special education can be understood as a consequence of the individual funding model, teacher professionalism and the Finnish value system originating from the late modernisation of overall society.
  • The idea of integration, or the principle of the primacy of mainstream class placement in the education of students with special needs, was first expressed in Finland in the report of the Rehabilitation Committee in 1966
  • the late sixties were, in many ways, an exceptional point in time. In the parliamentary election of 1966 the left wing parties achieved a majority in the parliament. This political change coincided with a turning point in Finnish society as a whole.
  • The process of modernization and urbanization had led to the point where the economic structure of the country was shifting that of an industrial to a post-industrial phase.
  • The shift was manifested in the numbers of people working in the service sector, which superseded the numbers of those working in industry. The concomitant cultural change was expressed in the upheaval of societal values seen in many “cultural wars” of the time.
  • The construction of a welfare society meant the widening of public services. A widening professional sector sought new customer groups as clients. One of these groups was people with intellectual and mental disabilities who, until that time, were mainly treated in institutions
  • ideas of “rehabilitation” launched during the fifties by the International Labour Organization (ILO) now found breeding ground in Finnish society. The change in ideology was revolutionary, and was also noticed by the contemporaries. For example, the Rehabilitation Committee characterized the ideological change as expressing “a new conception of civil rights and human value” (Rehabilitation committee, 1966, 9).
  • The structure of special education at this time contained two types of special classes: auxiliary classes for students with learning difficulties and other separate classes for students with emotional and behavioural problems. Additionally, there were a few state schools mainly for students with sensory disabilities. The number of students in special classes remained under two percent.
  • During the educational reform which took place from 1972-1977 the previous dual educational system was superseded by a unified and obligatory nine year comprehensive school, called “peruskoulu”, for all children
  • School began at the age of seven and continued until an age 16
  • School began at the age of seven and continued until an age 16. After completion of comprehensive school the voluntary school path continued either in vocational education or in a three year upper secondary high school.
  • Special education achieved great attention in this reform. The special education division was founded in the National Board of Education and two committee reports were published on the organisation of special education in Finland.
  • The forms of traditional special education were secured but, additionally, the principle of integration was launched. On one side the new concept expressed positive content of the occurring paradigm shift from institutional care to rehabilitation. On the other side it very early expressed its ideological nature as a concept that helped to legitimate the exclusion of disabled people. Integration was considered conditional and depended on the “readiness” of the person.
  • A new profession of special education teachers, professionals without a grade level class responsibility, was established.
  • In this so called “part-time special education” students received individual or group-based support without formal enrolment into special student status. This led to a conflict with the professional union of teachers, OAJ, which declared a lock-out for those positions in the schools which offered them. As a compromise it was at last agreed that the new profession was not allowed to influence reductions in the number of relocations into special classes (Kivirauma, 1989).
  • The number of special class students in the seventies had increased to about two percent of the overall student population in comprehensive schools (Statistics Finland, 1981).
  • From 1983 onwards, a new law concerning comprehensive schools changed the field of special education
  • The two older forms of special education classes, the auxiliary school (Hilfschule) for students with learning difficulties and the “observation classes” for students with emotional and behavioural problems were now superseded by a system which could be characterised as principally a non-categorical system of special education. Local municipalities were now allowed to categorize their special education classes as they wanted, though most of the older terms still survived.
  • There was not, however, a true change from categorical to non-categorical special education.
  • First, strong categorical features came from state funding, which portioned out state support on an individual basis in accordance with the level of disability.
  • Second, local municipalities began to develop new, more medical, special education categories.
  • Third, the special teacher education programs continued to use categorical labels such as “special teacher for the maladjusted”, “adapted education” or “training school education”. Training school education referred to students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities which were now at last entitled to enter comprehensive school.
  • During the eighties the proportion of special class students in comprehensive schools grew approximately from two to three percent (Statistics Finland, 1989).
  • One consequence of the liberation from special class categories was the sudden emergence of new types of special needs categories.
  • For example, the proportion of students with dysphasia increased from 10% to 20% in just six years.
  •   Disability category 2002 2008 N % N %
  • Autism and Asperger syndrome 679 2.0 1408 3.0
  • An important characteristic of these new popular categories was their medical nature. New diagnoses such as “dysphasia”, “autism”, and “ADHD” attained popularity at the expense of older categories such as mental retardation
  • A common feature of the new popular diagnoses was their obscurity. Instead of a clear-cut collection of symptoms they resembled more vague metaphors.
  • This medical turn can be seen as the late fruit of the rehabilitation paradigm which was adopted twenty years earlier.
  • The new categorizations were more merciful as compared to the older ones because children were no longer seen as “bad” or “stupid” but as “sick” and in need of rehabilitation (Conrad & Schneider, 1980/1992). This change in perception from “badness” to “sickness” also helped to give new legitimacy to special education.
  • proportion of comprehensive school students transferred into special classes now grew up to four percent (Table 2). Students with severe and profound intellectual disabilities were now also accepted into comprehensive school in 1997 as the final small disability group thus far marginalized to the outside.
  • The last ten years have witnessed a rapid growth of segregated special education in Finland
  • Year   Total   SEN total % SEN total % Full time in mainstream class % Full time or part-time in special education class
  • 2008 561 061 47 257 8.4 2.3 6.1
  • 1998 591 679 21 826 3.7 0.3 3.4
  • Now the proportion of students in special schools and special classes has increased to over six percent, maybe the highest percentage reported anywhere in the world at the present time.
  • Other supports, such as the increasing use of part-time special education have not been effective in reducing this development
  • During the school term of 2006-2007 of the students in comprehensive schools, 22.2% received part-time special education (Statistics Finland, 2009)
  • the number of integrated students has also grown. This was due to a change in funding legislation in 1998, which also guaranteed additional state support for those special education students not removed into special classes.
  • The relative proportion of students in special schools was 2.0% in 1998 and 1.4% in 2007
  • The slight fall in special school placements seems to be mainly technical: many special schools have been administratively united to mainstream schools. The number of special schools has dropped to about 160. Most of them probably were schools for students with mild disabilities (former auxiliary schools).
  • Large towns slightly more often use special class placements than rural schools
  • While in 2005 a total of 5.6% of students were moved in special classes in the country as a whole, the average proportion in larger towns was at a higher percentage, 6 - 9%
  • Large towns also relied more on separate special schools (Memo, 2006)
  • In contrast, in sparsely inhabited areas, such as Lapland, special class placements have remained rarer than elsewhere.
  • The least number of placements are in the Swedish speaking part of Finland. This may indicate a cultural influence from Sweden where special class placements are much rarer than in Finland
  • The significant distances in the countryside of Finland explain why integration is more common in rural areas.
izz aty

The French Educational System - French expat school-guide - 0 views

www.french-school-expat-guide.com/index.php

french education france education private school ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - No Cached
  • the French educational system is highly centralized
  • Ministry of National Education establishes the national curriculum followed by a very large majority of the country's schools
  • very well developed learning program for children starting at three years of age (see grades and cycles below). Though school is not obligatory before a child turns six , 99% of the three-year-olds in France go to school at least part-time, and by four they attend school full time, from 8:30am to 4:30pm
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  • very important baccalaureate exam at the end of secondary school and the prestigious Grandes Ecoles which provide higher education for the country's elite are two other factors that mark the French system.
  • in a majority of the countries schools, students receive a good, albeit traditional, education.
  • In primary school rote learning, memorization and a tidy, well-presented written page are a big part of learning
  • As children move on to secondary school long written exams, as opposed to multiple choice or fill in the blank questions, competitiveness and a certain reverence for math as well as for a neat presentation are common. At this level also, knowledge goes from the top down. Students are encouraged to study and understand what their teachers and the experts have to say on a particular subject, then, within an established framework, they can carefully offer their point of view. Advanced math classes, where students are often encouraged to think for themselves and to find original solutions, are about the only exception to these somewhat austere learning practices.
  • the large majority of schools in France are French system schools
  • Public Schools, Private Schools sous contrat (state funded) or hors contrat (not state funded), - bilingual schools and many of those referred to as international schools follow the French national curriculum
  • Only the schools which apply the methods of well-known pedagogues (Montessori, Steiner, etc) or those adhering to curriculums from other countries (British School of Paris, The International School of Paris, Marymount) don't fall into this category
  • Public schools are free of charge, you pay only for your child's personal supplies
  • rivate schools vary. The sous-contrat private schools that are religious (Catholic for the most part) are the least expensive of the state funded schools with an annual tuition between for most 1200 and 2000 euros a year, depending on your child's grade level. Extra expenses such as registration fee, insurance, class outings and extra curricular activities can add up to between 100 and 500 euros a year while a school lunch will cost at around 5,50 euros a day
  • In state funded secular schools the annual tuition starts at around 3000 euros plus the extra expenses which can exceed those mentioned above
  • The most expensive schools are those that are not state funded. The tuition in schools belonging to this category, which includes those following curriculums from other countries, range between 5000 and 20, 000 euros a year plus the extra expenses
izz aty

Private Schools in Denmark - Ministry of Education - 0 views

eng.uvm.dk/...Private-Schools-in-Denmark

danish education private school denmark independent school free school ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • Denmark has a tradition of private schools with a substantial government subsidy.
  • tradition mainly originates in the ideas and initiatives of the clergyman, poet and politician, N.F.S. Grundtvig (1783-1872), and the teacher, Christen Kold (1816-1870)
  • In 2006, approx. 91,000 children attended 491 private schools, while 690,000 pupils attended the municipal school, of which there are approx. 600.
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  • the first "free school" (private independent school) for children in 1852
  • meant to serve the rural population.
  • ideas of Grundtvig and Kold had such an impact on the political thinking of their time that they were written into the democratic Constitution adopted by Denmark in 1915
  • In Denmark, all children must receive 9 years’ education, but - provided a certain minimum standard is obtained - it is a matter of choice for the parents whether the education is received 1) in the publicly provided municipal primary and lower secondary school, 2) in a private school, or 3) at home.
  • 13% of all children at basic school level (including the voluntary pre-school class and 10th form) attend private schools
  • Private schools in Denmark
    • izz aty
      izz aty on 11 May 14
       
      private schools will be recognized and receive government financing regardless of the ideological, religious, political or ethnic motivation behind their establishment. 
  • small independent schools in rural districts (friskoler)
  • large independent schools in urban districts (privatskoler)
  • religious or congregational schools,
  • progressive free schools
  • schools with a particular educational aim, such as the Rudolf Steiner schools
  • German minority schools
  • immigrant schools
  • "a school for life based on the living word"
  • private schools will be recognized and receive government financing regardless of the ideological, religious, political or ethnic motivation behind their establishment
izz aty

Statistics Finland - Statistics by topic - Special education - 0 views

www.stat.fi/kas_en.html

finnish special ed scandinavian education finnish education autism ASD aspergers ADHD LDiff

shared by izz aty on 21 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Acceptances or transfers to special education In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools, acceptances and transfers to special education in 1995 to 2010 refer to pupils who have been accepted or transferred to special education due to disability, illness, delayed development, emotional disorder or other reason. Decisions about acceptances or transfers have been made by municipal administrative bodies and have required hearing of experts and parents, and drawing up of plans concerning the organisation of personal teaching. If necessary, subject syllabuses can have been individualised and reduced from those in general education. Duration of compulsory education can also have been extended where the pupil has not been to able reach the targets set for comprehensive school education within nine years. From 2011 onwards, comprehensive school pupils accepted and transferred to special education have been considered equal to comprehensive school pupils having received special support.
  • Comprehensive school In the statistics on pre-primary and comprehensive school education, subject choices of students, special education, and students and qualifications of educational institutions comprehensive schools refer to educational institutions providing basic, general knowledge teaching to an entire age cohort (basic comprehensive school education, compulsory education school). All children of the compulsory school age of 7 to 16 must complete the comprehensive school. Completion of the comprehensive school takes nine years.
  • 1. Severely delayed development The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are moderate, severe or very severe delay of development. Pupils' syllabuses are always partly or com-pletely individualised. 2. Slightly delayed development The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are slight delay in the pupil's development. 3. Varying degrees of cerebral dysfunction, physical disability or similar The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's neurological disability or developmental disorder, such as ADHD, or physical disability, such as the CP syndrome. 4. Emotional disturbance or social maladjustment The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's emo-tional disturbance or social maladjustment. 5. Learning difficulties related to autism or the Asperger's syndrome The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's autism or Asperger's syndrome. 6. Learning difficulties caused by impaired linguistic development (dysphasia) The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's im-paired linguistic development (dysphasia). 7. Visual impairment The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's visual impairment. 8. Hearing impairment The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are the pupil's hear-ing impairment. 9. Other than reasons listed above The grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education are some other reasons not listed above. The grounds for special education were based on the decision concerning acceptance or transfer to special education.
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  • Grounds for special education In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools, the grounds for acceptance or transfer to special education were in 2001 to 2010 as follows
  • ntensified support In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools and in the statistics on pre-primary and comprehensive school education, intensified support refers to support to pupils on which a learning plan for intensified support has been drawn up. Intensified support is provided to pupils who need for their learning or school attendance regular support or simultaneously several forms of support (e.g. remedial teaching, part-time special education, school assistant or interpretation services) The support arranged for the pupil is recorded in the learning plan that is drawn up based on pedagogical assessment in co-operation with the pupil and his or her guardian.
  • Part-time special education n the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools, part-time special education refers to teaching pupils can have beside other teaching if they have difficulties in learning or school attendance. Pupils can receive part-time special education also during intensified or special support
  • Reason for part-time special education In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools, the reasons for part-time special education were in the academic years 2001/2002 to 2009/2010 as follows: 1) Speech disorder 2) Reading or writing disorder or difficulty 3) Learning difficulty in mathematics 4) Learning difficulty in foreign languages 5) Difficulties in adjustment or emotional disorder, or 6) Other learning difficulties. The reason for part-time special education was determined by the primary reason for needing special education.
  • Place of provision of special education In the statistics on special education, the places of provision of special education were in 2001 to 2010 as follows: 1. All teaching is provided in a general education group: pupils are fully integrated into groups attending general education. 2. Teaching is partially provided in a general education group: pupils study partly in special classes or groups and partly in groups attending general education. 3. Special groups, special classes: pupils study in special groups or classes. From 2011 onwards, the concept "place of implementation of special education" corresponds to the concept "place of provision of special education".
  • Place of implementation of special education In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools, for pupils with a decision on special support the places of implementation of teaching are from 2011 as follows: 1. All teaching is provided in a general education group. 2. 51 to 99 per cent of teaching is provided in a general education group. 3. 21 to 50 per cent of teaching is provided in a general education group. 4. 1 to 20 per cent of teaching is provided in a general education group. 5. All teaching is provided in special groups or classes. In 2001 to 2010, the concept "place of provision of special education" corresponds to the concept "place of implementation of special education".
  • Special education In the statistics on special education in comprehensive schools and in the statistics on pre-primary and comprehensive school education, special education refers to teaching arranged from 1995 to 2010 for those accepted and transferred to special education and starting from 2011 that arranged for pupils receiving special support because of disability, illness, delayed development, emotional disturbance or some other comparable special reason. Part-time special education is also special education that pupils can have besides other teaching if they have difficulties in learning or school attendance.
  • Before the decision on special support, the pupil and his or her guardian are heard and a pedagogical survey is made, including an assessment of the need for special support. The decision is checked at least after the second grade and before the transition to the seventh grade. An individual plan on the arrangement of teaching is made for special support pupils. Support to learning and school attendance can be divided into general, intensified and special support. If general support is not enough, intensified support is provided. If intensified support is not enough, special support is provided. Comprehensive school pupils accepted and transferred to special education in previous years (1995-2010) are considered equal to special support pupils.
  • Comprehensive school education is general knowledge education provided for entire age cohorts. All children permanently resident in Finland must attend compulsory education. Compulsory education starts in the year of the child's seventh birthday.
izz aty

Issues A to Z - Education Week - 0 views

www.edweek.org/issues

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  • These pages contain brief but thorough, research-based background essays on important education issues in America today. Each page includes links to research citations, to definitions of related education terms, and to relevant stories from the Education Week and Teacher Magazine archives. You'll also find links to pertinent reports, Web sites, and organizations.
  • A Nation at Risk Accountability Achievement Gap Adequate Yearly Progress After-School Programs Alternative Teacher Certification Assessment Character Education Charter Schools Choice Class Size College Access Comprehensive School Reform Desegregation Distance Learning Dropouts English-Language Learners High School Reform Home Schooling Leadership Low-Performing Schools No Child Left Behind Parent Involvement
  • Prekindergarten Private Schooling Privatization of Public Education Professional Development Reading Religion in Schools Rural Education School Construction School Finance School-to-Work Social Promotion Special Education Standards Student Health Student Mobility Teacher Quality Technology in Education Title I Tracking Violence and Safety Vouchers Year-Round Schooling
izz aty

Comprehensive school (England and Wales) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...ive_school_(England_and_Wales)

english education education comprehensive school schooling state school wales england

shared by izz aty on 10 May 14 - No Cached
  • In 1976 the future Labour prime minister James Callaghan gave a speech at Oxford's Ruskin College. He launched what became known as the 'great debate' on the education system. He went on to list the areas he felt needed closest scrutiny: the case for a core curriculum, the validity and use of informal teaching methods, the role of school inspection and the future of the examination system.
  • Comprehensive schools remain the most common type of state secondary school in England, and the only type in Wales. They account for around 90% of pupils, or 64% if one does not count schools with low-level selection.
  • Since the 1988 Education Reform Act, parents have a right to choose which school their child should go to. This concept of "school choice" introduces the idea of competition between state schools, a fundamental change to the original "neighbourhood comprehensive" model, and is partly intended as a means by which schools that are perceived to be inferior are forced either to improve or, if hardly anyone wants to go there, to close down
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  • Government policy is currently[when?] promoting 'specialisation' whereby parents choose a secondary school appropriate for their child's interests and skills. Most initiatives focus on parental choice and information, implementing a pseudo-market incentive to encourage better schools. This logic has underpinned the controversial league tables of school performance.
  • Supporters of comprehensive education argue that it is unacceptable on both moral and practical grounds to select or reject children on the basis of their academic ability
  • comprehensive schools in the UK have allowed millions of children to gain access to further and higher education after the age of 16, and that the previous selective system relegated children who failed the eleven-plus examination to a second-class, inferior education and hence to worse employment prospects.
  • the reality has been a levelling-down of provision and a denial of opportunity to bright children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who might once have expected to pass the eleven-plus exam and have the advantage of a grammar school education.
  • The most straightforward way for parents to ensure that their children attend what is perceived to be a "good" school now is to buy a house within its catchment area. This, critics claim, has led to de facto selection according to parents' financial means rather than their children's ability at passing exams.
izz aty

Free school: Conservatives eye the Swedish model - Education News - Education - The Ind... - 0 views

www.independent.co.uk/...the-swedish-model-1042734.html

swedish education sweden free school english education schooling school choice ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 10 May 14 - No Cached
  • Each youngster is set weekly goals and gets a 15-minute briefing with their own tutor at the end of the week to check on progress and discuss how to reach the targets setfor the following week.
  • The big difference between the education system in Sweden and the UK is that, in Sweden parents are given an educational voucher for each child, and they use that voucher to apply for any school they want to.
  • Bertil Ostoberg, the Swedish Secretary of State for Education, summarised the scheme as "providing freedom of choice for the parents and the pupils, much wider freedom of choice". He added: "They have to compete to provide a high quality to get pupils. We think this competition has led to a higher quality in the system."
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  • a wide variety of providers, with Waldorf Steiner, Montessori, confessional (faith schools) and traditionally-run schools which emphasise the basics and are strong on discipline.
  • Claes Bromander, vice-chairman of the Swedish Association of Independent Schools and principal of Vaxjo Fria Gymnasiet. "They reinvest most of the profit. Swedish TV has done some research: the 60 biggest providers that are run as companies have a turnover of about 10 billion kroner (£804m)."
  • The Swedish government has made a determined effort to make the admissions system for its independent "free" schools fair. They operate a "first come, first served" policy, announcing the date for the start of admissions and closing once they have filled up all the places.
  • Research for the Swedish National Agency for Education shows it has caused increased segregation, with better-educated parents more likely to opt for an independent "free" school place.
  • Mervyn Benford, a former primary school head from the UK who has spent years in Sweden advising ministers on their inspection system thinks there could be another reason for the "free" schools' higher results. "They are smaller than the municipal schools," he said. "They can give pupils more attention."
  • All political parties – the Conservative-led coalition in government at present and the opposition Social Democrats – are committed to maintaining the system, although the Social Democrats have called for a freeze on new schools, with pupil numbers falling. "We have to shrink the system," said Maria Sellberg, vice-principal of Norre Real High School, a top-performing public school in Stockholm. "Shrinking such an organisation costs a lot but the number of students [nationally] is decreasing. You squander taxpayers' money on this over-capacity; there is a great bleed-away of taxpayers' money." As the Swedish National Agency for Education put it: "To provide choice, you have to over-provide."
izz aty

10 questions to understanding PISA results | The EDifier - Center for Public Education - 0 views

blog.centerforpubliceducation.org/...-to-understanding-pisa-results

PISA american education OECD education

shared by izz aty on 17 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • The rhetoric pertaining to the quality of our public schools is certainly going to be amplified tomorrow, with critics lamenting how the results show our public schools are in dire straits while others will argue the results are meaningless
  • an assessment of reading, math, and science literacy given every three years to 15-year-old students in public and private schools in about 65 countries.
  • international institution Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) coordinates the development and administration of PISA worldwide
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  • PISA is one of the few tools we have to compare the outcomes of high school students internationally.  PISA provides valuable information on how prepared high school students are for postsecondary success whether in the workplace, career training, or higher education.
  • PISA is designed to measure how well students can apply their knowledge to real-world situations. To measure such skills, the test items on PISA are primarily “constructed response,” meaning the test-taker has to write their answers to the questions, and there are few multiple-choice items.
  • Every industrialized country now educates all their students, including language minority, special needs and low-performing students. Every country that participates in PISA must adhere to strict sampling rules to ensure the country’s results are nationally representative of all 15-year-old students. Indeed, the decision to test secondary students at age 15 was made in part because young people at that age are still subject to compulsory schooling laws in most participating nations, which provides more assurance that PISA will capture the broadest sample.
  • OECD reports statistically significant differences in performance between nations, which is a more accurate way to look at PISA rankings than a straight listing of average scores.
  • Does PISA measure the effectiveness of public school systems? Not completely, for three reasons: 1) PISA results are representative of the performance of all 15-year-olds in participating countries including those  attending private schools; 2) PISA makes no attempt to isolate schools from outside factors such as poverty or high proportions of non-native language speakers that may have an impact on  performance —such factors are important to include in the mix when evaluating the effectiveness of each country’s schools; and 3) No single measure can incorporate every outcome we expect from our public schools
  • look at how much time other countries give teachers for professional development, how much they pay their teachers, how much time teachers spend in the classroom, how much flexibility exists at the local level, how special needs students are taught, and how much time students spend in school.
  • see PISA results as an opportunity to assess if best practices in teaching and learning in other countries can also work for secondary schools here in the U.S.
  • just because a high-performing or high-gaining country does something does not mean it will work in U.S. schools.
  • Many analysts observe that poverty has a greater impact on student performance in the U.S. than elsewhere. For one thing, the U.S. has the highest child poverty rates among industrialized countries. For another, students in the U.S. who live in poverty tend to have less access to resources that research consistently shows impact student achievement, including highly effective teachers, access to rigorous curriculum, and high quality pre-k programs.
izz aty

School choice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...School_choice

school choice sweden france ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 21 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • The French government subsidizes most private primary and secondary schools, including those affiliated with religious denominations, under contracts stipulating that education must follow the same curriculum as public schools and that schools cannot discriminate on grounds of religion or force pupils to attend religion classes. This system of école libre (Free Schooling) is mostly used not for religious reasons, but for practical reasons (private schools may offer more services, such as after-class tutoring) as well as the desire of parents living in disenfranchised areas to send their children away from the local schools, where they perceive that the youth are too prone to delinquency or have too many difficulties keeping up with schooling requirements that the educational content is bound to suffer. The threatened repealing of that status in the 1980s triggered mass street demonstrations in favor of the status.[citation needed]
  • Sweden reformed its school system in 1992.[17] Its system of school choice is one of the freest in the world, allowing students to use public funds for the publicly or privately run school of their choice, including religious and for-profit schools.[17] Fifteen years after the reform, private school enrolment had increased from 1% to 10% of the student population.[17]
izz aty

England's Ranking in International League Tables | National Union of Teachers - NUT - 0 views

www.teachers.org.uk/...in-international-league-tables

english education education ESTEkiv state school OECD PISA social problems social phenomenon social justice england united kingdom

shared by izz aty on 17 May 14 - No Cached
  • The Sutton Trust report said that big variations in England’s education rankings in global league tables can be misleading, should be treated with caution and can obscure the true challenges facing schools.
  • apparent differences in performance between different global tables, are the result of three key factors: Different countries are included in the different tables; League tables exaggerate the importance of raw test scores; and Some countries do better on one survey than another, perhaps because the surveys test different aspects of literacy, numeracy and science.
  • Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust, said:“Whatever the average ranking of English education, we need to focus on reducing social segregation which is greater in England than almost all other OECD countries
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  • We also need to improve teaching standards across the board and not focus so much on structures if we are to match those countries that consistently outperform the rest of the world – not just places like Hong Kong and Japan, but successful European education systems – and use their achievement as our benchmark
  • School systems that offer parents more school choices are less effective in raising the performance of all children
  • UK state schools outperform private schools;
  • Financial constraints limits school ‘choice’ for low income families
  • PISA 2009 had some interesting things to say on schools systems, choice and equity, finding, for example that: Comprehensive school systems produce better and more equitable results;
  • Exclusions and school transfer of pupils reduces performance.
  • Pisa is unequivocal in saying that: “The bottom line is that the quality of a school system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers.”
  • The top ranked countries were Finland and South Korea where, despite huge differences, there was a shared social belief in the importance of education and its “underlying moral purpose”. These countries also had among the lowest levels of school choice and Finland had the lowest levels of school autonomy.
  • The Pearson report concluded that spending on education was important but less so than other factors. For example it said successful countries gave teachers a high status and have a ‘culture’ of education.
  • also emphasised the importance of high-quality teachers and the need to find ways to recruit the best staff – including raising teacher status, professional respect and pay.
  • OECD, PISA 2009 Results: What Makes a School Successful? – Resources, Policies and Practices (Volume IV) (OECD Publishing, 2010)
izz aty

The Swedish Model - Education | Frontier Centre for Public Policy - 0 views

www.fcpp.org/...the-swedish-model-education

sweden swedish education free school independent school social reform scandinvian education ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • Reforms that came into force in 1994 allow pretty much anyone who satisfies basic standards to open a new school and take in children at the state's expense
  • local municipality must pay the school what it would have spent educating each child itself—a sum of SKr48,000-70,000 ($8,000-12,000) a year, depending on the child's age and the school's location
  • Children must be admitted on a first-come, first-served basis
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • no religious requirements or entrance exams
  • Nothing extra can be charged for, but making a profit is fine
    • izz aty
      izz aty on 11 May 14
       
      profit is fine; can't ask for fees
  • In just 14 years the share of Swedish children educated privately has risen from a fraction of a percent to more than 10%
  • What no one predicted was the emergence of chains of schools. Yet that is where much of the growth in independent education has come from
  • Kunskapsskolan gets its customers to do much of the work themselves
  • He then broadens the analogy to hotels and airlines, which make money only if they are popular enough to maintain high occupancy rates.
  • Youngsters spend 15 minutes each week with a tutor, reviewing the past week's progress and agreeing on goals and a timetable for the next one. This will include classes and lectures, but also a great deal of independent or small-group study
  • Kunskapsporten allows each student to work at his own level, and spend less or more time on each subject, depending on his strengths and weakness
  • Each subject is divided into 35 steps. Students who reach step 25 graduate with a pass; those who make it to step 30 or 35 gain, respectively, a merit or distinction
  • no money is wasted on fancy surroundings
  • Teachers update and add new material to the website during school holidays and get just seven weeks off each year, roughly the same as the average Swedish office worker
  • “We do not mind being compared to McDonald's,” he says. “If we're religious about anything, it's standardisation. We tell our teachers it is more important to do things the same way than to do them well.
  • Sweden's Independent Schools Association has ten members that run more than six schools, and five that run ten or more
  • Each child's progress is reported each week in a logbook, and parents can follow what is being studied on the website.
  • expectation that the children take responsibility for their own progress
  • “Our aim is that by the time students finish school, they can set their own learning goals,” says Christian Wetell, head teacher at Kunskapsskolan Enskede. “Three or four students in each year may not manage this, but most will.”
  • tracks the performance of individual teachers to see which ones do best as personal tutors or as subject teachers
  • bonuses to particularly successful teachers and is considering paying extra to good ones from successful schools who are willing to move to underperforming ones
  • preferred bidder to run two “academies”—state-funded schools run largely free from state control—in London
  • run by a not-for-profit arm, since for-profit ventures are banned from Britain's academies programme
  • The firm also hopes to open low-cost independent schools in Britain, where it can offer the full Kunskapsskolan experience, free of state meddling
  • the returns are solid, rather than stellar: Mr Ledin quotes an average return on capital of 5-7% a year
  • If a future government, hostile to school choice, changed the rules, that would be the end of this nascent market.
  • The school reforms are popular with parents, he says, and politicians know they meddle with them at their peril. More plausible would be a change to the rules so that independent schools had to match the methods and curriculum of state schools more closely, or perhaps even a ban on profits
  • The latter sounds bad, says Mr Stawström, but would not really amount to much: companies could split themselves into non-profit schools and a profit-making body that supplies services, such as teaching materials and consultancy
izz aty

Facts about the Danish Efterskole - Find den rigtige efterskole! Søg på fag, ... - 0 views

efterskole.dk/...ts-about-the-Danish-Efterskole

danish education private school denmark independent school ESTEkiv boarding school

shared by izz aty on 11 May 14 - No Cached
  • Each Efterskole is a self-governing independent institution and they all deal with both the educational and personal development of the students
  • enlightenment for life, general education and democratic citizenship
  • Efterskole were founded about 150 years ago
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • school’s political, religious or pedagogical orientation. Freedom of the Efterskole is assured by substantial state subsidies to both schools and students.
  • Efterskole has substantial freedom in terms of eg. choice of subjects, teaching methods and educational approach
  • The schools were closely related to the Danish Folk High School and the educational ideas of N.F.S. Grundtvig (1789-1872) who wanted schools to provide enlightenment for life rather than formal vocational training
  • unique about the Efterskole is the teacher-student relationship. The teacher is responsible for both teaching and supervision outside of school hours
  • Most Efterskoles offer the same subjects and final examinations as the public schools, but many focus on special subjects like physical education, music or theatre, or offer various kinds of special education.
  • more than 260 Efterskoles spread across Denmark, mostly in rural areas or near provincial towns
  • approximately 28.500 students attend the schools. Schools vary in size from 25 to 500 students but must have a minimum of approx. 100 students. The number of students has increased considerably within the last 25 years.
izz aty

BBC News - Parents 'made to feel private school unacceptable choice' - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...education-24334356

education english private school english education ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 10 May 14 - No Cached
  • HMC chairman Tim Hands said there was an "illogicality" about families buying a house near a good school but not being willing to pay school fees
  • Average fees in UK private schools are £14,000 a year.
  • Mr Hands said parents were making illogical choices and that private schools, such as those in his association, were wrongly attacked for restricting social mobility because of the fees they charged.
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  • 36% of pupils in HMC schools across the UK received help with their fees.
  • "Tony Blair, opening a London Academy in 2005, talked of the different ways in which parents could transform their child's education. "Examples included moving house in order to access a better school and employing a personal tutor - one quarter of all parents in London pay for private tuition in the course of their child's school career.
izz aty

Special Education History | History of Special Ed in the U.S. - 0 views

www.alleducationschools.com/...special-education-history

special education american special ed american education IDEA EHA NCLB

shared by izz aty on 09 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • for nearly 200 years after the United States was established in 1776, little was done to advance the rights of its disabled students
  • over 4.5 million children were denied adequate schooling before legislation to ensure equal education opportunities for special education children began in the early 1970s.
  • once legislation began, a steady stream of mandates, laws and decisions presented special needs students with opportunities previously unheard of. Suddenly, the foundation of a quality, individualized education in an accepting, unrestricted environment made independent living an option.
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • victories were a culmination of decades of advocacy and dedication that helped build the rich selection of special education resources in the United States today.
  • The first advocacy groups to fight for quality special education were made up of parents whose children were marginalized as far back as 1933.
  • In the 1960s, multiple laws were passed, granting funds for special education students.
  • The majority of these family associations began making waves in the 1950s when their lobbying encouraged the passage of laws that provided training for teachers who worked with deaf, hard-of-hearing or intellectually disabled students (historically called "mentally retarded").**
  • In the early 1970s, multiple landmark court decisions giving states the responsibility to provide special education resources and schooling to students in need of it.
  • Currently, state and local institutions provide 91 percent of special education funding, while federal funds take care of the remaining 9 percent when states meet federal criteria. This balance allows for the varying special education programs you'll find across the country, as well as the uniform regulations that hold states to certain standards and encourage excellence in teaching.
  • The 1970s brought more significant improvement to the lives of special education students than any other decade in special education history
  • the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 guaranteed civil rights to all disabled people and required accommodations for disabled students in schools.
  • in 1975, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (EHA) guaranteed and enforced the right of children with disabilities to receive a free, appropriate education.
  • providing unique educational opportunities suited to the needs of disabled students and delivering it in the "least restrictive environment" possible, this law is still the foundation of modern-day special education history in the U.S. today.
  • onset of IDEA brought about a widespread focus on providing the best-researched, most effective methods for special education teaching. Now, not only were students guaranteed an equal education, they were provided with viable schooling options and the individualized attention they needed.
  • IDEA emphasized the use of individual education plans, or IEPs, for all special education students. IDEA also initiated the use of individualized transition plans, or ITPs, to best prepare students for successful in their adult lives.
  • During its reauthorization in 1997, EHA underwent a number of substantial revisions and became known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
  • IDEA took many of the aims represented in EHA and brought them to life by providing applicable standards and structure to its best intentions.
  • In 2001 and 2004, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) provided further accountability to schools and added technology assistance and loan programs to help schools acquire needed special education resources.
  • basic rights are set in place, advocacy groups similar to those first started in 1933 are forming to put forth legislation. These groups work toward a number of differing goals in regard to teaching methods, the recognition of certain disabilities and greater choice in schools.
  • *Source: "Back to School on Civil Rights: Advancing the Federal Commitment to Leave No Child Behind," by the National Council on Disability; January 25, 2000
izz aty

ESL Cafe's Idea Cookbook - Personality adjectives with Alanis Morisette - 1 views

www.eslcafe.com/...index.cgi

worksheet activities songs music education english language learning language resources reference adjectives grammar

shared by izz aty on 12 Aug 11 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 12 Aug 11
     
    Here is an activity that I designed and used with my beginner level university prep school students. Before listening to the song, we talked about personalities, boarded some adjectives, and suggeted some opposites of these adjectives. Then I gave out the handouts and we went over the words together and talked about the new vocabulary together. I explained the students that they are going to listen the song, and try to fill in the blanks using the words on the right. It is important to tell the students that these words are not the opposites or antonyms of the adjectives given in the song, but there are just contradictions or some kind of relationship between them. The students also choose from the multile choice options or guess what the singer is going to say before listening to the song. Before listening to the song, I asked the students to work in pairs or small group and try to fill in blanks. As a discussion, the students were told to justify their choices. There are also some useful spoken English expressions and collocations in the song such as 'giving a high five, flicking a cigarette' which you might focus on after listening to the song. As a post-listening activity, the students can be asked to write their own versions of the song, describing their own personalities.
izz aty

Adult ADHD: 50 Tips of Management « Dr Hallowell ADHD and mental and cognitiv... - 0 views

www.drhallowell.com/ult-adhd-50-tips-of-management

health ADHD attention psychology 'mental health' brain society social science science medicine

shared by izz aty on 09 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • the single most powerful treatment for ADHD is understanding ADHD in the first place. Read books. Talk with professionals. Talk with other adults who have ADHD. You’ll be able to design your own treatment to fit your own version of ADHD.
  • It is useful for you to have a coach, for some person near you to keep after you, but always with humor. Your coach can help you get organized, stay on task, give you encouragement or remind you to get back to work. Friend, colleague, or therapist (it is possible, but risky for your coach to be your spouse), a coach is someone to stay on you to get things done, exhort you as coaches do, keep tabs on you, and in general be in your corner. A coach can be tremendously helpful in treating ADHD.
  • ADHD adults need lots of encouragement. This is in part due to their having many self-doubts that have accumulated over the years. But it goes beyond that. More than the average person, the ADHD adult withers without encouragement and positively lights up like a Christmas tree when given it. They will often work for another person in a way they won’t work for themselves. This is not “bad”, it just is. It should be recognized and taken advantage of.
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  • it equally if not more important for those around you to understand it–family, job, school, friends. Once they get the concept they will be able to understand you much better and to help you as well.
  • Try to get rid of the negativity that may have infested your system if you have lived for years without knowing what you had was ADHD
  • Listen to feedback from trusted others. Adults (and children, too) with ADHD are notoriously poor self-observers. They use a lot of what can appear to be denial.
  • Consider joining or starting a support group
  • Give up guilt over high-stimulus-seeking behavior. Understand that you are drawn to high stimuli. Try to choose them wisely, rather than brooding over the “bad” ones.
  • Don’t feel chained to conventional careers or conventional ways of coping. Give yourself permission to be yourself. Give up trying to be the person you always thought you should be–the model student or the organized executive, for example–and let yourself be who you are.
  • what you have is a neuropsychiatric condition. It is genetically transmitted. It is caused by biology, by how your brain is wired. It is NOT a disease of the will, nor a moral failing. It is NOT caused by a weakness in character, nor by a failure to mature. It’s cure is not to be found in the power of the will, nor in punishment, nor in sacrifice, nor in pain. ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS. Try as they might, many people with ADHD have great trouble accepting the syndrome as being rooted in biology rather than weakness of character.
  • External structure. Structure is the hallmark of the non-pharmacological treatment of the ADHD child. It can be equally useful with adults. Tedious to set up, once in place structure works like the walls of the bobsled slide, keeping the speedball sled from careening off the track.
  • Make frequent use of: ◦    lists ◦    color-coding ◦    reminders ◦    notes to self ◦    rituals ◦    files
  • Color coding. Mentioned above, color-coding deserves emphasis. Many people with ADHD are visually oriented. Take advantage of this by making things memorable with color: files, memoranda, texts, schedules, etc. Virtually anything in the black and white of type can be made more memorable, arresting, and therefore attention-getting with color.
  • try to make your environment as peppy as you want it to be without letting it boil over.
  • Now that you have the freedom of adulthood, try to set things up so that you will not constantly be reminded of your limitations.
  •  Make deadlines.
  •  Break down large tasks into small ones. Attach deadlines to the small parts. Then, like magic, the large task will get done. This is one of the simplest and most powerful of all structuring devices. Often a large task will feel overwhelming to the person with ADHD. The mere thought of trying to perform the task makes one turn away. On the other hand, if the large task is broken down into small parts, each component may feel quite manageable.
  • Prioritize. Avoid procrastination. When things get busy, the adult ADHD person loses perspective: paying an unpaid parking ticket can feel as pressing as putting out the fire that just got started in the wastebasket. Prioritize. Take a deep breath. Put first things first. Procrastination is one of the hallmarks of adult ADHD. You have to really discipline yourself to watch out for it and avoid it.
  • Accept fear of things going well. Accept edginess when things are too easy, when there’s no conflict. Don’t gum things up just to make them more stimulating.
  •  Notice how and where you work best: in a noisy room, on the train, wrapped in three blankets, listening to music, whatever. Children and adults with ADHD can do their best under rather odd conditions. Let yourself work under whatever conditions are best for you.
  • it is O.K. to do two things at once: carry on a conversation and knit, or take a shower and do your best thinking, or jog and plan a business meeting. Often people with ADHD need to be doing several things at once in order to get anything done at all.
  • Do what you’re good at. Again, if it seems easy, that is O.K. There is no rule that says you can only do what you’re bad at.
  • Leave time between engagements to gather your thoughts. Transitions are difficult for ADHD’ers, and mini-breaks can help ease the transition.
  • Keep a notepad in your car, by your bed, and in your pocketbook or jacket. You never know when a good idea will hit you, or you’ll want to remember something else.
  • Read with a pen in hand, not only for marginal notes or underlining, but for the inevitable cascade of “other” thoughts that will occur to you.
  • Set aside some time in every week for just letting go
  • Recharge your batteries. Related to #30, most adults with ADHD need, on a daily basis, some time to waste without feeling guilty about it. One guilt-free way to conceptualize it is to call it time to recharge your batteries. Take a nap, watch T.V., meditate. Something calm, restful, at ease.
  • Many adults with ADHD have an addictive or compulsive personality such that they are always hooked on something. Try to make this something positive.
  • Understand mood changes and ways to manage these. Know that your moods will change willy-nilly, independent of what’s going on in the external world. Don’t waste your time ferreting out the reason why or looking for someone to blame. Focus rather on learning to tolerate a bad mood, knowing that it will pass, and learning strategies to make it pass sooner. Changing sets, i.e., getting involved with some new activity (preferably interactive) such as a conversation with a friend or a tennis game or reading a book will often help.
  • recognize the following cycle which is very common among adults with ADHD: Something “startles” your psychological system, a change or transition, a disappointment or even a success. The precipitant may be quite trivial. This “startle” is followed by a mini-panic with a sudden loss of perspective, the world being set topsy-turvy. You try to deal with this panic by falling into a mode of obsessing and ruminating over one or another aspect of the situation. This can last for hours, days, even months.
  • Plan scenarios to deal with the inevitable blahs. Have a list of friends to call. Have a few videos that always engross you and get your mind off things. Have ready access to exercise. Have a punching bag or pillow handy if there’s extra angry energy. Rehearse a few pep talks you can give yourself, like, “You’ve been here before. These are the ADHD blues. They will soon pass. You are O.K.”
  • Expect depression after success. People with ADHD commonly complain of feeling depressed, paradoxically, after a big success. This is because the high stimulus of the chase or the challenge or the preparation is over. The deed is done. Win or lose, the adult with ADHD misses the conflict, the high stimulus, and feels depressed.
  •  Use “time-outs” as with children. When you are upset or overstimulated, take a time-out. Go away. Calm down.
  • Learn how to advocate for yourself. Adults with ADHD are so used to being criticized, they are often unnecessarily defensive in putting their own case forward. Learn to get off the defensive.
  • Avoid premature closure of a project, a conflict, a deal, or a conversation. Don’t “cut to the chase” too soon, even though you’re itching to.
  • Try to let the successful moment last and be remembered, become sustaining over time. You’ll have to consciously and deliberately train yourself to do this because you’ll just as soon forget.
  •  Remember that ADHD usually includes a tendency to overfocus or hyperfocus at times. This hyperfocusing can be used constructively or destructively. Be aware of its destructive use: a tendency to obsess or ruminate over some imagined problem without being able to let it go.
  •  Exercise vigorously and regularly. You should schedule this into your life and stick with it. Exercise is positively one of the best treatments for ADHD. It helps work off excess energy and aggression in a positive way, it allows for noise-reduction within the mind, it stimulates the hormonal and neurochemical system in a most therapeutic way, and it soothes and calms the body. When you add all that to the well-known health benefits of exercise, you can see how important exercise is. Make it something fun so you can stick with it over the long haul, i.e., the rest of your life.
  • Learn to joke with yourself and others about your various symptoms, from forgetfulness, to getting lost all the time, to being tactless or impulsive, whatever. If you can be relaxed about it all to have a sense of humor, others will forgive you much more.
  • Make a good choice in a significant other. Obviously this is good advice for anyone. But it is striking how the adult with ADHD can thrive or flounder depending on the choice of mate.
  • Schedule activities with friends. Adhere to these schedules faithfully. It is crucial for you to keep connected to other people.
  • Find and join groups where you are liked, appreciated, understood, enjoyed. Conversely, don’t stay too long where you aren’t understood or appreciated.
  • Pay compliments. Notice other people. In general, get social training, as from your coach.
  • Set social deadlines.
izz aty

Let teachers teach - 0 views

thestar.com.my/...story.asp

education school schooling learning malaysia teachers teaching

shared by izz aty on 21 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • After so many years, even your spirit can get a little dull and the zeal you may have once had to bring out the potential you recognised in your students, slowly slips away, submerged by all the other urgent, but not nearly as important duties.
  • Things that jabbed, that even pierced or hurt at one time may have become so familiar that you couldn’t imagine it any other way. It is a little like going for a wax job or a foot massage. At first it hurts and then your body slowly gets accustomed and you feel numb to the pressure.
  • There are undoubtedly places where teachers have to take on a whole gamut of non- teaching duties simply because there is no one else to do these things. If teachers don’t patch up the cracks no one else will. If teachers don’t control the information communication paraphernalia no one else will. If teachers don’t manage student data, records or payments, again no one else will. So we are basically left with no choice. Should that even be, we sometimes wonder.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Yes, I have a dream. That one day teachers will be allowed to fulfil the purpose of their calling. To facilitate the impartation of knowledge, skills and experience. To mould young minds. To educate. To teach.
  • izz aty on 21 Feb 12
     
    How do teachers who are constantly called to fix technical glitches or spend all their non-teaching periods keeping a record of furniture, writing receipts or updating student data, be able to plan and prepare new pedagogical strategies, classroom activities or even upgrade their personal professional development? How does one find the time and more importantly the energy to meet students, counsel if needed, advise, coach, train, or mentor when the greater part of the time is spent on these "other" duties? This definitely is not anything new. For decades teachers have been crying out to anyone who was willing to listen about workload that was not related to their profession, and about the unnecessary filling of forms, the preparing of redundant and overlapping files.
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