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BBC News - Schools should be fined for illiteracy, says riot panel - 0 views

  • Schools in England should be fined if pupils leave school with poor literacy skills, an independent report into last year's riots says. It adds they should demonstrate how they are building pupils' characters, and give careers advice to each child.
  • But head teachers have dismissed the recommendations as unrealistic.
  • The key to avoiding future riots, the report claims, is communities "where parents and schools ensure children develop the values, skills and characters to make the right choices at crucial moments". It says: "We propose that there should be a new requirement for schools to develop and publish their policies on building character. "We also recommend that Ofsted undertake a thematic review of character building in schools.
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  • The final report by the panel says a lack of support and opportunities for young people contributed to the outbreak of riots across England last summer.
  • The report also highlights poor literacy skills among young people, saying schools should be fined if they fail to deliver. "We recommend that schools failing to raise the literacy rate of a child to an age appropriate standard should cover the financial cost of raising their attainment," it says.
  • The panel also expresses concern that many young people leave school not ready for work. "We recommend schools develop and publish a careers support guarantee, setting out what a child can expect in terms of advice, guidance, contact with businesses and work experience options."
  • "We are very disappointed that the panel has come up with such an unrealistic set of recommendations," he said. "Schools have always seen building character as a major priority - the requirement to publish policies on this would be an additional bureaucratic requirement which would distract schools from their front line duties. "And the recommendation to assess strength of character raises all sorts of questions about how that should be done."
Teachers Without Borders

Jerry Large | Baby, what a lesson! Kids learn a little empathy | Seattle Times Newspaper - 1 views

  • What makes Asa Berg such an effective third-grade teacher is that he is not quite 11 months old. It's an ideal age for the subject he's been teaching for more than half his life. The course is called Roots of Empathy. Asa is teaching the students about emotions, and his are right on the surface, easy to observe. In 47 classrooms around Puget Sound, in seven public-school districts and seven private schools, babies are part of the learning experience. The idea, which began in Canada and is spreading in the United States, is that children need to learn more than letters and numbers, they need emotional and social literacy in order to learn well now, and to grow into good parents and constructive citizens.
  • "I was a kindergarten teacher and I realized early on, as in the first week, that there was a great injustice, that some children came to school so ready to learn and a lot came with a lot of problems that prevented them from taking advantage of what schools had to offer," she said.
  • The program finds mothers or fathers from the neighborhood around each school. They don't look for super parents, just caring ones who are doing a good job with their own children. The students learn to read other people's emotions by watching the baby and parent interact, and they learn to think about the underlying causes of various behaviors.
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  • Studies have shown reduced levels of aggression in schools that use the program. Kids are more attuned to each other's feelings and they police each other. But bullying prevention is just a side benefit. The core purpose is breaking that cycle.
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