| Education News from Around the World |  |
| Learning and Teaching |  |  |
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- Pakistan's schools are urged to abandon focus on memorisation
Some are calling for Pakistan's schools to abandon their focus on rote memorisation and adopt a more inquiry-based approach to learning, which will encourage critical thinking and curiosity among students. This focus has put a spotlight on a speech-writing competition, with one teacher arguing that some student speeches are actually written by teachers or parents, with students simply memorising the words. The News - International (Pakistan)
(16 Nov.)
     
- Toronto students stay in school "Beyond 3:30"
Beyond 3:30, a Toronto pilot programme at eight middle schools, gives disadvantaged students free after-school access to food, homework help or even chess. Officials say they launched the programme based on research showing that middle-school students without structured activities engage in high-risk activity after school. Metro (Canada)/Torstar News Service
(17 Nov.)
- Mayor plans creativity boost for Seoul schools
The mayor of Seoul, South Korea, says he hopes to bring more creativity to classrooms as early as preschool. Oh Se-hoon's plan is to encourage more student participation, debate and discussion in school. "Thus, kindergartens will be the first in a series of changes that will eventually tackle elementary, middle and high schools at the foundation," he said. The Korea Times
(15 Nov.)
| Professional Leadership | | |
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| Regional Spotlight: Saudi Arabia | | |
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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 Saudi Arabia.
- Plan for thousands of new schools is announced by Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabian officials hope to raise education standards by building 3,200 schools expected to serve about 1.7 million students. "They [Ministry of Education] have been renting buildings from private individuals and turning them into schools," one businessman said. "It has been a longstanding problem and is something the government is anxious to rectify. This is the most comprehensive initiative yet, though the estimation is that they need some 4,000 [to] 5,000 new schools." The Jerusalem Post/The Media Line News Agency (free registration)
(16 Nov.)
- Non-native Saudi Arabian students kept out of government schools
In Saudi Arabia, children of low-income foreign parents have difficulty enrolling in school because they must be placed in expensive private schools that their parents can not afford. The students also can enroll in a government-run school after Saudi Arabian pupils have enrolled, but officials say space in those schools runs out quickly. Arab News (Saudi Arabia)
(15 Nov.)
| Reform and Research | | |
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- Research shows many teachers, students worldwide oppose evolution
Researchers have found resistance to accepting evolution among teachers and students worldwide -- a trend that a religion writer says is attributable to a lack of understanding about science and research. Educators everywhere -- from the Middle East to the US -- are apprehensive to accept evolution, and in Egypt, about half of teachers said they are opposed to evolution. Muslim and Christian students said their opposition was influenced by their religious beliefs. The Guardian (London)
(15 Nov.)
| ASCD News | | |
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Teaching Kids to Teach Each Other
In a new ASCD book, "Productive Group Work," authors Nancy Frey, Doug Fisher and Sandi Everlove guarantee that engaged, cooperative group work can occur in every classroom. How can teachers use collaborative learning to help students "consolidate what they know, clarify what they don't know, and extend their learning skills"? The authors recently sat down for an ASCD Talks With an Author interview, where Frey called productive group work the "linchpin for what happens in student learning."
- Listen to the talk.
- Read sample chapters from the book.
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The Education and Public Health Intersection
On the Whole Child Blog, ASCD responds to Rick Hess, resident scholar and director of education policy at the American Enterprise Institute, who wrote a blog post that questions why US Education Secretary Arne Duncan would become involved in health care reform. ASCD's blog post describes how research and common sense have shown time and again that education and health are inextricably linked. It references H1N1 as a current example of the intersection between the two sectors and profiles schools that participate in ASCD's Healthy School Communities program. Rick Hess' upcoming ASCD book, "Education Unbound: The Promise and Practise of Greenfield Schooling," will be available in February.
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