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izz aty

State school - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Maintained_school

state school public education education malaysia denmark france united kingdom england

shared by izz aty on 10 May 14 - No Cached
  • Education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries
  • Ministry of Education for matters up to the secondary level
  • Ministry of Higher Education for tertiary education
  • ...42 more annotations...
  • education is the responsibility of the federal government, each state has an Education Department to help coordinate educational matters in their respective states
  • By law, primary education is compulsory
  • Education may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling
  • Swedish state schools are funded by tax money
  • for both primary and secondary school (Swedish: grundskola), high school (Swedish: gymnasium) and universities
  • There are private schools as well who also receive funding from the government, but they may charge a fee from the parents.
  • Compulsory education starts at seven years of age, with an optional year in förskola (pre-school).
  • Swedish children take national exams at grades 3, 6 and 9.
  • Swedish primary school is split into three parts; Lågstadiet – “the low stage”, which covers grades 1 to 3. This is where you learn the basics of the three main subjects – in Swedish called kärnämnen – Swedish, English and mathematics. It also includes some natural science. Mellanstadiet – “the middle stage”, which covers grades 4 to 6, introduces the children to more detailed subjects. Woodwork and needlework, social and domestic science, and even a second, foreign language in grade 6, a B-språk (B-language). The languages available are usually French, Spanish or German depending on the school. Högstadiet, “the high stage”, is the last stage of the compulsory education, between grades 7 and 9. This is when studies get more in-depth and are taken to an international level.
  • When applying to gymnasium (high schools) or universities, a meritvärde (“meritous point value”) is calculated.
  • They first receive grades in grade 6. The grading system is letter-based, ranging from A-F, where F is the lowest grade and A is the highest.
  • Children not being approved in Swedish, English and mathematics will have to study at a special high school program called the “individual program”. Once they are approved, they may apply to an ordinary high school program. Swedes study at high school for three years, between the ages of 16 and 18
  • In the United Kingdom, the term "state school" refers to government-funded schools which provide education free of charge to pupils. The contrast to this are fee-paying schools, such as "independent (or private) schools" and "public schools".
  • In England and Wales, the term "public school" is often used to refer to fee-paying schools. "Public" is used here in a somewhat archaic sense, meaning that they are open to anyone who can meet the fees
  • Danish School system is supported today by tax-based governmental and municipal funding from day care through primary and secondary education to higher education
  • there are no tuition fees for regular students in public schools and universities.
  • Denmark[edit] Main article: Education in Denmark
  • Danish public primary schools, covering the entire period of compulsory education, are called folkeskoler (literally 'people's schools' or 'public schools'). The Folkeskole consists of a voluntary pre-school class, the 9-year obligatory course and a voluntary 10th year. It thus caters for pupils aged 6 to 17.
  • also possible for parents to send their children to various kinds of private schools. These schools also receive government funding, although they are not public. In addition to this funding, these schools may charge a fee from the parents.
  • France[edit] Main article: Secondary education in France
  • French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified
  • hree stages: primary education (enseignement primaire); secondary education (enseignement secondaire); tertiary or college education (enseignement supérieur)
  • Primary Schooling in France is mandatory as of age 6
  • Many parents start sending their children earlier though, around age 3 as kindergarten classes (maternelle) are usually affiliated to a borough's (commune) primary school. Some even start earlier at age 2 in pré-maternelle or garderie class, which is essentially a daycare facility
  • French secondary education is divided into two schools: the collège for the first four years directly following primary school; the lycée for the next three years
  • baccalauréat (also known as bac) is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university,
  • comparable to British A-Levels, American SATs, the Irish Leaving Certificate and German Abitur.
  • baccalauréat général which is divided into 3 streams of study, called séries. The série scientifique (S) is concerned with mathematics and natural sciences, the série économique et sociale (ES) with economics and social sciences, and the série littéraire (L) focuses on French and foreign languages and philosophy.
  • Education in Malaysia is overseen by two government ministries: the Ministry of Education for matters up to the secondary level, and the Ministry of Higher Education for tertiary education
  • Malaysia
  • education is the responsibility of the federal government, each state has an Education Department to help coordinate educational matters in their respective states
  • Education may be obtained from government-sponsored schools, private schools, or through homeschooling.
  • By law, primary education is compulsory
  • United Kingdom[edit] See also: State-funded schools (England)
  • In the United Kingdom, the term "state school" refers to government-funded schools which provide education free of charge to pupils. The contrast to this are fee-paying schools, such as "independent (or private) schools" and "public schools".
  • In England and Wales, the term "public school" is often used to refer to fee-paying schools. "Public" is used here in a somewhat archaic sense, meaning that they are open to anyone who can meet the fees, distinguished from religious schools which are open only to members of that religion
  • The National Curriculum is followed in all local authority maintained schools in England, Northern Ireland and Wales
  • he vast majority of state-funded schools are under the control of local councils
  • are referred to in official literature as "maintained schools".
  • exceptions are a minority of secondary schools in England funded directly by central government, known as academies and City Technology Colleges.
  • See Education in England.
  • Some maintained schools are partially funded by religious or other charitable bodies; these are known as voluntary controlled schools, voluntary aided schools or foundation schools.
izz aty

Upgrade SPM English grading - Letters | The Star Online - 0 views

www.thestar.com.my/...grade-SPM-English-grading.aspx

english malaysian education language learning SPM esol tertiary education grading

shared by izz aty on 27 Jul 13 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 27 Jul 13
     
    "SPM grade A in English is supposed to represent distinction or excellent proficiency in English. Sadly, in our present scenario there are grade A students who cannot string a sentence together, let alone communicate in standard English."
izz aty

How I Was Able to Ace Exams Without Studying | zen habits - 0 views

zenhabits.net/ace-exams

habits study study tips student learner learning learning styles education

shared by izz aty on 31 May 11 - Cached
  • izz aty on 31 May 11
     
    In high school, I rarely studied. Despite that, I graduated second in my class. In university, I generally studied less than an hour or two before major exams. However, over four years, my GPA always sat between an A and an A+. Recently I had to write a law exam worth 100% of my final grade. Unfortunately, I was out of the country and didn't get back by plane until late Sunday night. I had to write the test at 9 am Monday morning. I got an A after just one hour of review on the plane. The fact is most of my feats are relatively mundane. I've had a chance to meet polyglots who speak 8 languages, people who have mastered triple course loads and students who went from C or B averages to straight A+ grades while studying less than before.
izz aty

Issues about Outcomes Based Education - 0 views

www.leaderu.com/...obe.html

OBE uniklguidelines education

shared by izz aty on 05 Jun 15 - Cached
  • Outcome-based education (OBE) is one of those that is new, even revolutionary, and is now being promoted as the panacea for America's educational woes. This reform has been driven by educators in response to demands for greater accountability by taxpayers and as a vehicle for breaking with traditional ideas about how we teach our children. If implemented, this approach to curriculum development could change our schools more than any other reform proposal in the last thirty years.
  • According to William Spady, a major advocate of this type of reform, three goals drive this new approach to creating school curricula. First, all students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day or in the same way. Second, each success by a student breeds more success. Third, schools control the conditions of success. In other words, students are seen as totally malleable creatures. If we create the right environment, any student can be prepared for any academic or vocational career. The key is to custom fit the schools to each student's learning style and abilities.
  • Outcome-based education will change the focus of schools from the content to the student
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  • The teacher's role in the classroom will become that of a coach. The instructor's goal is to move each child towards pre-determined outcomes rather than attempting to transmit the content of Western civilization to the next generation in a scholarly fashion
  • the focus is no longer on content. Feelings, attitudes, and skills such as learning to work together in groups will become just as important as learning information--some reformers would argue more important.
  • Where traditional curricula focused on the past, reformers argue that outcome-based methods prepare students for the future and for the constant change which is inevitable in our society.
  • Reformers advocating an outcome-based approach to curriculum development point to the logical simplicity of its technique. First, a list of desired outcomes in the form of student behaviors, skills, attitudes, and abilities is created. Second, learning experiences are designed that will allow teachers to coach the students to a mastery level in each outcome. Third, students are tested. Those who fail to achieve mastery receive remediation or retraining until mastery is achieved. Fourth, upon completion of learner outcomes a student graduates.
  • According to William Spady, a reform advocate, outcomes can be written with traditional, transitional, or transformational goals in mind. Spady advocates transformation goals.
  • Traditional outcome-based programs would use the new methodology to teach traditional content areas like math, history, and science
  • Many teachers find this a positive option for challenging the minimal achiever
  • An outcome-based program would prevent such students from graduating or passing to the next grade without reaching a pre-set mastery level of competency.
  • Transformational OBE subordinates course content to key issues, concepts, and processes. Indeed, Spady calls this the "highest evolution of the OBE concept." Central to the idea of transformational reform is the notion of outcomes of significance.
  • Spady supports transformational outcomes because they are future oriented, based on descriptions of future conditions that he feels should serve as starting points for OBE designs
  • little mention is made about specific things that students should know as a result of being in school.
  • The focus is on attitudes and feelings, personal goals, initiative, and vision--in their words, the whole student.
  • It is in devising learner outcomes that one's world view comes into play. Those who see the world in terms of constant change, politically and morally, find a transformation model useful. They view human nature as evolving, changing rather than fixed.
  • Advocates of outcome-based education point with pride to its focus on the student rather than course content. They feel that the key to educational reform is to be found in having students master stated learner outcomes. Critics fear that this is exactly what will happen. Their fear is based on the desire of reformers to educate the whole child. What will happen, they ask, when stated learner outcomes violate the moral or religious views of parents?
  • Under the traditional system of course credits a student could take a sex-ed course, totally disagree with the instruction and yet pass the course by doing acceptable work on the tests presented. Occasion-ally, an instructor might make life difficult for a student who fails to conform, but if the student learns the material that would qualify him or her for a passing grade and credit towards graduation.
  • If transformational outcome-based reformers have their way, this student would not get credit for the course until his or her attitudes, feelings, and behaviors matched the desired goals of the learner outcomes.
  • Another goal requires students to know about and use community health resources. Notice that just knowing that Planned Parenthood has an office in town isn't enough, one must use it.
  • transformational outcome- based reform would be a much more efficient mechanism for changing our children's values and attitudes about issues facing our society
  • the direction these changes often take is in conflict with our Christian faith
  • "Who has authority over our children?"
  • Outcome-based education is an ideologically neutral tool for curricular construction; whether it is more effective than traditional approaches remains to be seen. Unfortunately, because of its student-centered approach, its ability to influence individuals with a politically correct set of doctrines seems to be great. Parents (and all other taxpayers) need to weigh the possible benefits of outcome-based reform with the potential negatives.
  • who will determine the learner outcomes for their schools
  • consideration of what learner outcomes the public wants rather than assuming that educators know what's best for our children. Who will decide what it means to be an educated person, the taxpaying consumer or the providers of education?
  • If students are going to be allowed to proceed through the material at their own rate, what happens to the brighter children? Eventually students will be at many levels, what then? Will added teachers be necessary? Will computer-assisted instruction allow for individual learning speeds? Either option will cost more money. Some reformers offer a scenario where brighter students help tutor slower ones thereby encouraging group responsibility rather than promoting an elite group of learners. Critics feel that a mastery- learning approach will inevitably hold back brighter students.
  • With outcome-based reform, many educators are calling for a broader set of evaluation techniques. But early attempts at grading students based on portfolios of various kinds of works has proved difficult. The Rand Corporation studied Vermont's attempt and found that "rater reliability--the extent to which raters agreed on the quality of a student's work--was low." There is a general dislike of standardized tests among the reformers because it focuses on what the child knows rather than the whole child, but is there a viable substitute? Will students find that it is more important to be politically correct than to know specific facts?
  • whether or not school bureaucracies will allow for such dramatic change? How will the unions respond? Will legislative mandates that are already on the books be removed, or will this new approach simply be laid over the rest, creating a jungle of regulations and red tape?
  • although districts may be given input as to how these outcomes are achieved, local control of the outcomes themselves may be lost.
  • Many parents feel that there is already too much emphasis on global citizenship, radical environmentalism, humanistic views of self-esteem, and human sexuality at the expense of reading, writing, math, and science.
  • education may become more propagandistic rather than academic in nature
izz aty

Teacher Lesson Plan | Owly Shadow Puppets - 0 views

owlyshadowpuppets.com/teacher-lesson-plan

learning creativity instructions language language learning references ideas lesson plans resources shadow shadow puppet puppet story storytelling interesting crafts speaking listening esol english

shared by izz aty on 18 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • izz aty on 18 Oct 12
     
    Recommended for students grade 3-6. To use the shadow puppets with a writing or performing activity please see the suggestions at the end of this lesson plan. Read all directions carefully and adjust the lesson to suit your students
izz aty

12 Things You Should Never, Ever Say To Teachers - 0 views

www.upworthy.com/uld-never-ever-say-to-teachers

teaching education life career learning

shared by izz aty on 07 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • “We’ve all been to elementary school, so aren’t we all kind of experts on it?”
  • “When I retire, I still want to do something, so I think I might take up teaching.”
  • “Have you ever thought about making your class more fun?”
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  • “If you really cared about kids, you wouldn’t worry about the salary.”
  • “If you managed your time at school, I bet you wouldn’t need to plan lessons and grade on the weekends.”
  • “You’ll never be a truly great teacher until you have your own kids.”
  • “Why do you make them read so much and write so many essays? Why do you give such hard grades?”
  • “I pay taxes in this district, so technically you work for me.”
  • “Ohh, you teach kindergarten. That must be fun — playing and singing all day.”
  • “Why are you so strict? They’re just kids.”
  • “How hard can it be? You have all summer off.”
  • “Teaching is nice, but don’t you want to be more successful and make more money?”
izz aty

Swedish free school system 'needs tweaking' - The Local - 0 views

www.thelocal.se/48806

swedish education free school independent school private school ESTEkiv sweden

shared by izz aty on 17 May 14 - No Cached
  • Studies have also shown that, on average, these schools employ fewer staff and have a higher percentage of unqualified teachers.
  • With government funding for each school directly linked to the number of pupils it attracts, some for-profit schools sometimes appear to prioritize quantity over quality.
  • Some have tried to boost enrolment by touting free laptops, and surveys have suggested some independent schools try to attract students by awarding them higher grades - with fears of grade inflation as a result.
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  • Polls show Swedes still largely favour the system but, paradoxically, are less supportive of taxpayers' money going into the pockets of the profit-making enterprises that run many of the independent schools.
  • "Even though we've told the schools there isn't enough demand, they've increased the number of students," said Linda Palmetzhofer, an ombudsman at Handels, Sweden's third largest blue-collar union.
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

Independent school (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

en.wikipedia.org/...endent_school_(United_Kingdom)

independent school english education england united kingdom private school state school schooling ESTEkiv

shared by izz aty on 12 May 14 - No Cached
  • History
  • Edward Thring of Uppingham School introduced major reforms, focusing on the importance of the individual and competition, as well as the need for a "total curriculum" with academia, music, sport and drama being central to education
  • The Independent Schools Council say that UK independent schools receive approximately £100m tax relief due to charitable status whilst returning £300m of fee assistance in public benefit and relieving the maintained sector (state schools) of £2bn of costs
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  • They were schools for the gentlemanly elite of Victorian politics, armed forces and colonial government. Often successful businessmen would send their sons to a public school as a mark of participation in the elite
  • the public school system influenced the school systems of the British Empire, and recognisably "public" schools can be found in many Commonwealth countries
  • The Direct Grant Grammar Schools (Cessation of Grant) Regulations 1975 required these schools to choose between full state funding as comprehensive schools and full independence
  • Until 1975 there had been a group of 179 academically selective schools drawing on both private and state funding, the direct grant grammar schools
  • Both these trends were reversed during the 1980s, and the share of the independent schools reached 7.5 percent by 1991
  • 119 of these schools became independent.
  • share of the independent sector fell from a little under 8 percent in 1964 to reach a low of 5.7 percent in 1978
  • changes since 1990 have been less dramatic, participation falling to 6.9 percent by 1996 before increasing very slightly after 2000 to reach 7.2 percent, as seen at present.
  • England
  • As of 2011[update] there were more than 2,600 independent schools in the UK educating some 628,000 children, comprising over 6.5 percent of UK children, and more than 18 percent of pupils over the age of 16
  • According to a study by Ryan & Sibetia,[7] "the proportion of pupils attending independent schools in England is currently 7.2 percent (considering full-time pupils only)".
  • Most independent schools, particularly the larger and older institutions, have charitable status
  • Most public schools developed significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries, and came to play an important role in the development of the Victorian social elite
  • Independent schools, like state grammar schools, are free to select their pupils, subject to general legislation against discrimination
  • Selection
  • principal forms of selection are financial, in that the pupil's family must be able to pay the school fees, and academic, with many administering their own entrance exams - some also require that the prospective student undergo an interview, and credit may also be given for musical, sporting or other talent
  • Nowadays most schools pay little regard to family connections, apart from siblings currently at the school.
  • Only a small minority of parents can afford school fees averaging over £23,000 per annum for boarding pupils and £11,000 for day pupils, with additional costs for uniform, equipment and extra-curricular facilities.[2][12]
  • Scholarships and means-tested bursaries to assist the education of the less well-off are usually awarded by a process which combines academic and other criteria.[13][14]
  • generally academically selective, using the competitive Common Entrance Examination at ages 11–13
  • Schools often offer scholarships to attract abler pupils (which improves their average results)
  • Poorly-performing pupils may be required to leave,
  • Conditions
  • generally characterised by more individual teaching
  • much better pupil-teacher ratios at around 9:1;[16]
  • more time for organised sports and extra-curricular activities
  • longer teaching hours (sometimes including Saturday morning teaching) and homework, though shorter terms
  • a broader education than that prescribed by the national curriculum, to which state school education is in practice limited.
  • Educational achievement is generally very good
  • As boarding schools are fully responsible for their pupils throughout term-time, pastoral care is an essential part of independent education, and many independent schools teach their own distinctive ethos, including social aspirations, manners and accents, associated with their own school traditions
  • Most offer sporting, musical, dramatic and art facilities, sometimes at extra charges, although often with the benefit of generations of past investment
  • more emphasis on traditional academic subjects
  • Independent school pupils are four times more likely to attain an A* at GCSE than their non-selective state sector counterparts and twice as likely to attain an A grade at A-level
  • Some schools specialise in particular strengths, whether academic, vocational or artistic, although this is not as common as it is in the State sector.
  • A much higher proportion go to university
  • set their own discipline regime
  • In England and Wales there are no requirements for teaching staff to have Qualified Teacher Status or to be registered with the General Teaching Council
  • impact of independent schools on the British economy
  • 2014 a report from Oxford Economics highlighted the impact that independent schools have on the British economy
  • independent schools support an £11.7 billion contribution to gross value added (GVA) in Britain. This represents the share of GDP that is supported by independent schools
  • Independent schools support 275,700 jobs across Britain, around 1.0% of all in employment in Britain
  • the report quantified the savings to the taxpayer derived from c.620,000 British pupils at independent schools choosing not to take up the place at a state school to which they are entitled. This results in an annual saving to the taxpayer of £3.9 billion, the equivalent of building more than 590 new free schools each year
  • the report highlighted the additional value to Britain’s GDP that results from the higher educational performance achieved by pupils at independent schools
  • many of the best-known public schools are extremely expensive, and many have entry criteria geared towards those who have been at private "feeder" preparatory-schools or privately tutored
  • the achievement of pupils at independent schools in Britain results in an estimated additional annual contribution to GDP of £1.3 billion.
  • Criticisms
  • often criticised for being elitist
  • often seen as outside the spirit of the state system
  • the treatment of the state sector as homogeneous in nature is difficult to support
  • Although grammar schools are rare, some of them are highly selective and state funded boarding schools require substantial fees
  • Even traditional comprehensive schools may be effectively selective because only wealthier families can afford to live in their catchment area
  • may be argued that the gap in performance between state schools is much larger than that between the better state and grammar schools and the independent sector
  • Smithers and Robinson's 2010 Sutton Trust commissioned study of social variation in comprehensive schools (excluding grammar schools) notes that "The 2,679 state comprehensive schools in England are highly socially segregated: the least deprived comprehensive in the country has 1 in 25 (4.2 percent) of pupils with parents on income benefits compared with over 16 times as many (68.6 percent) in the most deprived comprehensive"
  • Every 2.3 pupils at an independent school supports one person in employment in Britain
  • large number (c. one third[citation needed]) of independent schools provide assistance with fees
  • The Thatcher government introduced the Assisted Places Scheme in England and Wales in 1980, whereby the state paid the school fees for those pupils capable of gaining a place but unable to afford the fees
    • izz aty
      izz aty on 12 May 14
       
      1980 Assisted Places Scheme: financial aid
  • The scheme was terminated by the Labour government in 1997, and since then the private sector has moved to increase its own means-tested bursaries.
  • Some parents complain that their rights and their children’s are compromised by vague and one-sided contracts which allow Heads to use discretionary powers unfairly, such as in expulsion on non-disciplinary matters. They believe independent schools have not embraced the principles of natural justice as adopted by the state sector, and private law as applied to Higher Education
  • Nowadays, independent school pupils have "the highest rates of achieving grades A or B in A-level maths and sciences" compared to grammar, specialist and mainstream state school
  • pupils at independent schools account for a disproportionate number of the total number of A-levels in maths and sciences.
  • In 2006, pupils at fee-paying schools made up 43 percent of those selected for places at Oxford University and 38 percent of those granted places at Cambridge University (although such pupils represent only 18 percent of the 16 years old plus school population)
  • A major area of debate in recent years has centred around the continuing charitable status of independent schools, which allows them not to charge VAT on school fees. Following the enactment of the Charities Bill, which was passed by the House of Lords in November 2006, charitable status is based on an organisation providing a "public benefit" as judged by the Charity Commission.[23]
  • "ceteris paribus, academic performance at university is better the more advantaged is the student's home background".
  • In 2002, Jeremy Smith and Robin Naylor
  • they also observed that a student educated at an independent school was on average 6 percent less likely to receive a first or an upper second class degree than a student from the same social class background, of the same gender, who had achieved the same A-level score at a state school
  • The same study found wide variations between independent school, suggesting that students from a few of them were in fact significantly more likely to obtain the better degrees than state students of the same gender and class background having the same A-level score
  • Richard Partington at Cambridge University[29] showed that A-level performance is "overwhelmingly" the best predictor for exam performance in the earlier years ("Part I") of the undergraduate degree at Cambridge
  • A study commissioned by the Sutton Trust[30] and published in 2010 focussed mainly on the possible use of U.S.-style SAT tests as a way of detecting a candidate's academic potential. Its findings confirmed those of the Smith & Naylor study in that it found that privately educated pupils who, despite their educational advantages, have only secured a poor A-level score, and who therefore attend less selective universities, do less well than state educated degree candidates with the same low A-level attainment
  • Independent sector schools regularly dominate the top of the A-level league tables, and their students are more likely to apply to the most selective universities; as a result independent sector students are particularly well represented at these institutions, and therefore only the very ablest of them are likely to secure the best degrees.
  • In 2013 the Higher Education Funding Council for England published a study [31] noting, amongst other things, that a greater percentage of students who had attended an independent school prior to university achieved a first or upper second class degree compared with students from state schools
izz aty

National Library of Virtual Manipulatives - 0 views

nlvm.usu.edu/vlibrary.html

math manipulatives interactive education mathematics resources tools reference

shared by izz aty on 31 May 11 - Cached
  • izz aty on 31 May 11
     
    Choose a math concept and your grade level, and you will be eld to a page with the appropriate tools.
izz aty

SIRIUS network | Sweden: How to support inclusive education in a school where 99% of st... - 0 views

www.sirius-migrationeducation.org/-are-descendants-of-immigrants

swedish education inclusive education

shared by izz aty on 16 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • 99 percent of the 800 students at the school Ronnaskolan in Södertälje, a city southwest of Stockholm, are pupils with a migrant background.
  • most of them born in Syria and Iraq, the numbers of new arrivals remain high: at least one fifth of the students has been living in Sweden for less than two years
  • A situation that can easily exceed school capacities, especially when considering that many pupils do not speak Swedish when arriving at school, have experienced war and expulsion in their country of origin or come from a low socio-economic background
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  • Ronnaskolan has been remarkably successful in preparing its students for secondary education and providing quality education
  • When she started working for the school, only about half of the pupils were able to transition to secondary education, which in Sweden starts in grade 10. Two years later, already 76 percent of pupils had the sufficient grades to move up to higher education. Asked how such an “at risk” student population can perform that well, the prinicpal explained how the school was able to steadily improve their educational outcomes.
  • To ensure that slower learners receive the support they need without at the same time under-challenging other pupils, Ronnaskolan has introduced a two-teacher model. This means that in most classes two teachers are present to respond to the different needs of pupils
  • Convinced about the value of learning with and from each other, they stopped putting newly arrived students in a separate preparatory class. Instead, everyone is taught together in the same classroom to avoid segregation from the start.
  • this process begins with defining concrete goals and having a clear idea of what the school should look like in the future
  • it does slow down teaching sometimes, Axelsson Kihlblom assures that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks; it sends a strong message that every student is equally valuable and that the school has high expectations and confidence in their newcomers
  • Newly arrived children then also follow one full day of learning Swedish as a second language
  • In regular meetings with both the student and his or her parents, teachers discuss the pupil’s goals and jointly work on a step-by-step plan on how to achieve them
  • the school offers individual support for underperforming pupils
  • the school is also cooperating with the municipality, health care facilities and social services
  • Furthermore, the school has been working towards diversifying their staff and mostly employs teachers with a migrant background themselves.
  • izz aty on 16 Nov 14
     
    "Ronnaskolan "
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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
  • 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".
  • 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".
  • 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.
  • 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.
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select vs selected : Common Errors in English - 0 views

www.beedictionary.com/...select_vs_selected

vocabulary vocab language confusing reference learning english esol language learning error

shared by izz aty on 24 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • select Meaning(s) (v) pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives (s) of superior grade (s) selected or chosen for special qualifications
  • selected Meaning(s) (a) chosen in preference to another
  • izz aty on 24 Apr 12
     
    "Select" means "special, chosen because of its outstanding qualities." If you are writing an ad for a furniture store offering low prices on some of its recliners, call them "selected recliners," not "select recliners," unless they are truly outstanding and not just leftovers you're trying to move out of the store.
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Making our students employable - 0 views

www.dmu.ac.uk/...g-our-students-employable.aspx

shared by izz aty on 12 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • From real-world placements to projects set and graded by leading employers, our courses are designed to equip students with the skills and experience sought after by today's employers.
  • Many of our courses are accredited by professional bodies
  • you can be confident that our students and graduates will have the professional skills and experience to add real value to your organisation.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Our support extends beyond the classroom, and there are many ways that we help students to become highly employable
  • With employment fairs, graduate internships, enterprise support and a whole range of careers advice at their disposal, our graduates are ready to hit the ground running and embark on their exciting and rewarding careers, helping to support the needs of the professions
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Course Design | Center for Teaching | Vanderbilt University - 0 views

cft.vanderbilt.edu/...course-design

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  • Tools for Teaching, by Barbara Gross Davis, offers a wealth of pragmatic and insightful tactics for designing, revising, and communicating with students about a course: Preparing or Revising a Course includes sections on defining and limiting course content, selecting textbooks and readings, setting course policies, and other administrative tasks. Creating a Syllabus lists twenty categories of information to consider including in a syllabus.
  • Radical Course Revision: A Case Study. In this article from the National Teaching and Learning Forum, Professor Julie Stout (Psychology, Indiana University) adapts principles from behavioral psychology in re-thinking course design, and includes sections on syllabus-building, linking grading to course goals, setting the right tone, and providing a safety net.
  • Course Planning and Teaching. This chapter, from Teaching at Carolina (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), offers two particularly useful templates: and Instructional Planning Chart (Figure 1), and a Taxonomy of Educated Objectives (Figure 2), based on Benjamin Bloom’s classic taxonomy. Additionally, the Focus of the Course section offers contrasting cases (Examples A and B) that distinguish between simply describing what will be covered in a course, and articulating specific learning outcomes.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Teaching Goals Inventory. This tool, originally created by Patricia Cross and Thomas Angelo, contains 53 prompts to help instructors identify their goals for a particular course. This on-line version offers rapid self-scoring and data comparisons across goal areas and disciplines.
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Human Rights Petition: Demand racist teacher resign after targeting Muslim student | Ch... - 0 views

www.change.org/...after-targeting-muslim-student

human rights law education teacher news usa racism OBL politics islam school

shared by izz aty on 31 May 11 - No Cached
  • Following the assassination of Osama bin Laden by American forces in Pakistan, a high school teacher in Clear Brook, Texas was placed on administrative leave after he allegedly told an American Muslim girl in his 9th grade Algebra class "I heard about your uncle's death" and "I bet that you're grieving." More than 2,000 Change.org members took a stand against racism towards the American Muslim community, sending a clear statement that it is completely unacceptable for an American Muslim student to be targeted and publicly insulted in front of her peers out of the ignorance and hatred of her teacher.
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Regents' Test Essay Topics - 0 views

www.lcc.gatech.edu/...samples.html

writing topics ideas references education journal language learning resources reference esl language

shared by izz aty on 18 Aug 11 - Cached
  • Discuss the influence that advertising has had on your life or the lives of your friends.
  • Is romantic love a good basis for marriage? Discuss.
  • Do you believe that violence in television programs leads to violence in our society? Explain.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • What would cause you to end a friendship? Explain.
  • If you could pass one law, what would it be? Why?
  • If you had the power to do one thing to improve the world, what would you do? Discuss.
  • Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all? Discuss.
  • If you could live in any city in the world, which would you choose and why?
  • Explain what motivates you to strive for good grades in college.
  • What would be the ideal number of chil- dren for you to have in a family? Discuss.
  • Why do many people prefer watching television news shows over reading newspapers? Discuss.
  • Name some place you would not like to go on a date and explain why you would choose not to go there.
  • izz aty on 18 Aug 11
     
    Approved Regents' Test Essay Topics
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How I Became an Unfair Teacher - Atlantic Mobile - 0 views

m.theatlantic.com/...371908

teaching education learning school

shared by izz aty on 03 Jun 14 - No Cached
  • But most of all, people remember injustices. False accusations of cheating. Getting singled out randomly for scolding. Points deducted on a cheap technicality. As a teacher myself, I vowed I’d do better, that I’d run a fair classroom where every student got a voice and a straight deal.
  • The asymmetries of the classroom are intense. With each teacher responsible for a hundred students or more, the typical kid occupies a teacher’s thoughts for—at best—a minute or two per day. But each student only has a handful of teachers. Every instructor looms large in her world, wielding power over her days, via class periods; her nights, via homework; and her future, via grades. She spends much of her time thinking about the teacher’s demands, the teacher’s expectations, the teacher’s preferences and inconsistencies.
  • So when a teacher briefly focuses attention on a particular student, it comes with the heat and intensity of a spotlight. A moment the teacher barely remembers might stick with the student for years.
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  • Classroom lessons may slip quickly through students’ fingers, but the classroom experience lingers in memory. Each teacher offers students a different model of authority and justice. We set our own standards of fairness and sometimes fail to honor them. A teacher swings a heavy club, and we can leave big, purple bruises if we’re not careful.
  • My biggest rule is a familiar cliché: Always ask before drawing conclusions. It seems simple, but it's a defense against instinct.
  • My own memories of petty student frustrations should have taught me what a wrecking ball a teacher can be. But they didn’t. The understanding came only after carelessly knocking a few of my own students to the ground, and then working—slowly, purposefully—to help them back up.
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Inclusive Education in Finland: A thwarted development | Saloviita | Zeitschr... - 0 views

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

finnish special ed inclusive issues dissertationZ

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  • 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.
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Center on International Education Benchmarking » Finland: Education For All - 0 views

www.ncee.org/...finland-education-for-all

finnish special ed finnish education education finland scandinavian education nordic nordic special ed EFA education for all

shared by izz aty on 17 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Finland invests much time and effort to insure that all students have the supports they need to succeed in school.  This is quite clear in the instructional supports provided to large numbers of school children by special needs teachers found in schools across the country
  • In 2010, 23.3% of comprehensive school students in Finland received extra instruction from a Special Needs Education Teacher in school in the subjects in which the student needed help
  • By establishing a comprehensive school for grades 1-9 with rigorous standards, improving teacher quality and making school funding based solely on student numbers, Finland has been able to almost completely eliminate what was once a huge disparity.
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  • Special education teachers, are important in the process of diagnosis and intervention, but it is not up to them alone to identify students. Each school has a group of staff that meets twice a month in order to assess the success of individual classrooms and potential concerns within classrooms. This group, which is comprised of the principal, the school nurse, the special education teacher, the school psychologist, a social worker and the classrooms’ teachers, determines whether problems exist, as well as how to rectify them. If students are considered to need help beyond what the school can provide, the school helps the family find professional intervention.
  • Those students classified as having more intensive learning difficulties, including severely delayed development, severe handicaps, autism, dysphasia, and visual or hearing impairment (1.2% of the school population in 2010) were educated in a special education school.
  • there is little disparity in performance among Finnish schools.
  • The country with the second-lowest rate of variance, Canada, still had a rate more than double that of Finland.
  • Finland has also been successful in uncoupling socioeconomic status from academic success or failure: there is only about a 6.8% variance based on students’ socioeconomic backgrounds, and a 23.2% variance based on a school’s socioeconomic background.
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