| Education News from Around the World |  |
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- Lessons for students on World Poetry Day
 The writer of this blog suggests several resources and lessons for students on World Poetry Day, to be celebrated Wednesday. Among the suggested activities are to lead students in a monologue-writing exercise and use video and audio recordings of selected poets in class. The Scottish Poetry Library includes several resources, including Poet in the Past, in which students are asked to write about a historic building, and Wild Words, which is intended to help students write about the outdoors. The Guardian (London)
(19 Mar.)      
- Australia launches anti-bullying website
In Australia, a new website is intended to curb childhood bullying by educating students and parents. The website, launched by the Council of Australian Education Ministers, includes information about bullying and how to address it. "In the cyber world, it's much easier for people to be involved in bullying without being identified in a physical way. ... Bullying is not acceptable by phone, online, through Facebook or other social media sites," said Federal Education Minister Peter Garrett. International Business Times
(16 Mar.)
- England announces new exam for gifted students
About three-quarters of England's primary schools have indicated they will begin administering a new exam for some top students. The English and maths tests will be offered to gifted 11-year-old students, who are performing at the level of 14-year-olds. "Every child should be given the opportunity to achieve to the best of their abilities," Schools Minister Nick Gibbs said. "These tests will ensure that the brightest pupils are stretched and standards are raised for all." The Telegraph (London)
(18 Mar.)
| Professional Leadership | | |
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- New Zealand considers teacher-development scheme
New Zealand Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf is recommending class sizes be raised slightly to free up more money to focus on the quality of the country's teachers. The goal, he said, is to establish teaching standards to help identify top teachers. However, Makhlouf said his goal was not to award bonuses based on students' test scores. Stuff (New Zealand)
(20 Mar.)
- Teachers in England plan to strike
Unable to agree on the terms of their pensions, school teachers in London, England, say they plan to go on strike 28 March. At issue is a proposal from the government that teachers work longer hours and pay more toward their retirement, union officials say. United Press International
(17 Mar.)
| Regional Spotlight: Ontario, Canada | | |
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ASCD Worldwide Edition SmartBrief highlights education practices and policies in specific regions to give readers more in-depth insight into that country or region's education system. This edition focuses on Tanzania.
- Tanzania to use technology to teach French
In Tanzania, the French government is providing computers, televisions and other supplies to roll out a new Information Technology system for teaching the French language. The new system will allow students to learn the language through video clips, songs, films and other resources. The launch includes training for teachers, who were taught to find resources using technology and use the resources in lessons. IPPMedia.com (Tanzania)/The Guardian
(18 Mar.)
- Tanzanian schools require students to disclose HIV status
Some students in Tanzania who have HIV were required to wear red ribbons on their school uniforms following a request from parents who wanted to ensure that other students were not infected. However, critics say it is illegal to require people in the country to disclose their HIV status. Some say students wearing the ribbons often are stigmatised and suggest there are other measures that could be taken to protect children's health. The Telegraph (London)
(18 Mar.)
| Reform and Research | | |
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- Mind wandering in children may indicate better working memory
Researchers reported in the journal Psychological Science that children who seemed constantly distracted while performing simple tasks had greater working memory capacity, allowing them to store more information than their peers. "What this study seems to suggest is that, when circumstances for the task aren't very difficult, people who have additional working memory resources deploy them to think about things other than what they're doing," said Dr Jonathan Smallwood, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science in Leipzig, Germany. The Telegraph (London)
(16 Mar.), International Business Times
(17 Mar.)
- Heavy backpacks increase risk for children, Spanish study shows
 Schoolchildren carrying the heaviest backpacks were 50% more likely to suffer back pain than those carrying the lightest bags, according to a Spanish study published in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. Researchers said schoolchildren shouldn't carry items that weigh more than 10% of their body weight, but almost two-thirds of the 1,403 children in the study had backpacks that exceeded that limit. BBC
(15 Mar.)
- Youth 21 to press for UN influence by young people
Global youth leaders meeting in Nairobi, Kenya, have created an initiative, Youth 21, aimed at ensuring that people below the age of 35 are fully represented at the United Nations. "When you look around, the youth constitute the largest population across the world, yet they are often ignored, they are only remembered by leaders when they want votes," said John Anugraha, of India, who sits on the UN-Habitat Youth Advisory Board. AllAfrica Global Media/Capital FM
(19 Mar.)
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| ASCD News | | |
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Best questions: Good schools
"One of the great ironies of public opinion research on education is that everyone rates the school with which they are most familiar as good and 'all those other schools' as bad," writes Managing Director of Whole Child Initiative Molly McCloskey in a recent Whole Child Blog post. But what tool or measure should someone use to objectively evaluate a school's quality -- test scores, neighbourhood conditions, graduation rates? McCloskey points to the Whole Child indicators as a comprehensive answer. Read on.
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The seven Cs of effective teaching
Have you asked your students about their perceptions of the learning environment in your class? It may be time, suggests ASCD author Muriel Rand in a recent ASCD EDge blog post. Reflecting on a recent conference on assessment, Rand shares ideas from keynote speaker Ronald Ferguson's research on the seven Cs that make a difference in the learning environment -- "caring" and "challenging" among them. Rand also points to findings about the reliability of surveying students on teacher effectiveness. Learn more.
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