Ellen Van Wageningen, Canwest News Service, November 30, 2009
 
The options for saving and spending these days are bewildering for those of us who have been handling our finances for years. Imagine what it is like for young people just getting started.

Kingsville District high school students will have help sorting through the options, thanks to a course designed by business teachers Shanno Simonton and Rob Jasey.

"Our point of view as teachers is that financial education should be separate from financial advice," says Simonton, the business department head.

Much of the flood of financial advice being offered out on the street comes from folks who are also selling products such as credit cards, insurance, mutual funds and mortgages.

So she and Jasey developed a class called Building Financial Security that will be offered to college- and university-bound students at the Grade 12 level. It covers topics such as the kinds of financial institutions, determining net worth, investment options and the social impact of investment decisions.

Read entire article: http://www.canada.com/news/national/Ontario+teachers+devise+financial+literacy+course+students/2286334/story.html

Canada:  K-12: 'It's a model that works'

Joanne Laucius, The Ottawa Citizen, November 30, 2009

Rothwell-Osnabruck School in Ingleside is a long spaghetti strand of a school. At one end of its single corridor is the elementary school.

Hike down to the other end and there's a high school, with a library and a gym that doubles as a community facility in the middle.

A student could spend his entire academic career here.  And many do.

"I like it because it's small and because everyone knows everyone," said Meagan Sommers, a Grade 12 student who has been at the school for nine years. "I'm literally on every school team."

Rothwell-Osnabruck has a population of 537 students: 337 students on the elementary side -- slightly over the provincial average for an elementary school -- but only 200 in the high school, far below the provincial average of 812 students.

But the K-12 school has allowed the village of Ingleside to keep its high school for almost 30 years. And as school enrolment drops across the province, other rural communities are turning to this 21st-century twist on the one-room schoolhouse.

Read entire article: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/model+that+works/2284279/story.html

Canada: Reading, writing, rotating: action-learning class keeps kids in motion

Louise Brown, Toronto Star, December 1, 2009

It looks like a game of speed dating – boys stand in a circle and girls shuffle around them until the signal to stop, face each other and talk.

In this unusual quiz in Portable 13 at Thorncliffe Park Elementary School, teacher Nancy Bordonaro has crafted a lesson designed to fix much of what's wrong with old-style learning.

It gets boys moving, Muslim students talking to the opposite sex and kids brainstorming about what's really important among the deluge of facts they face.

This Grade 4 test on Canada's physical regions is part of an approach to teaching seen as so cutting-edge that the Toronto school board has brought in other teachers for a day to watch how it's done.

Welcome to one of 300 new "demonstration classes" across Canada's largest school board, where teachers already practise many of the fixes expected from a curriculum review underway by Queen's Park.

Read entire article: http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/schoolsandresources/article/732901--reading-writing-rotating-class-keeps-kids-in-motion

Canada: Ontario schools plan curriculum overhaul for deeper learning

Louise Brown, Parent Central, December 1, 2009

Ontario's government is conducting a sweeping review of curriculum from Grades 1 to 8 to fix what educators charge is an overcrowded jumble of disconnected facts that fail to prepare the province's 1.4 million students for the future.

Based on tough input gathered this fall from teachers and school boards, Queen's Park says it will start clearing the clutter by the fall of 2011 with leaner guidelines, fewer checklists of facts and more time for deeper learning.

It is the first overhaul designed to weed out some of the staggering 3,400 "expectations" built into the new curriculum designed 10 years ago when Grade 13 was abolished.

A special advisory group is expected to propose a new blueprint by February, based on such input as a tough-talking missive from the Toronto District School Board that called the curriculum "a series of overly robust subject-based documents which are disconnected, overwhelming and full of content reflective of 20th century knowledge."

Read entire article: http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/education/schoolsandresources/article/732895--schools-plan-lcurriculum-overhaul

Finland: Call to limit proportion of immigrant pupils in schools “unrealistic”

Helsingin Sanomat, 10 December 2009

“An impossible equation”, laughs Rauno Jarnila, head of the Education Department of the City of Helsinki, responding to a call by Minister of Education Henna Virkkunen who has said that the proportion of immigrant pupils should not exceed 20 per cent in any school. 

Currently nearly 15 per cent of pupils in Helsinki schools have an immigrant background, and in 15 years the proportion is expected to rise to 25 per cent.
    
The distribution of immigrant schoolchildren is uneven in Helsinki. In about 20 of the city’s 108 Finnish-language comprehensive schools, about 25 per cent or more of the pupils have an immigrant background. Helsinki is the city in Finland which attracts the most immigrants.
    
Jarnila feels that it is clear that it is not a good idea to concentrate immigrants excessively in the same area.  However, there is another side to the coin. Immigrants themselves tend to gravitate to areas, where the residents are accustomed to multiculturalism, says Anu Tanzi-Albi, head teacher of the upper-level comprehensive school in Myllypuro. In her school about a third of the pupils are of an immigrant background.

Read entire article: http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Helsinki+education+authorities+call+to+limit+proportion+of+immigrant+pupils+in+schools+%E2%80%9Cunrealistic%E2%80%9D/1135251128308

India: Too few teachers to tackle too many students in too-large classes

Neha Pushkarna, Times of India, 8 December 2009

There are not enough teachers to control the high number of students who study in government schools. They also say students are now blatant in their approach. They have nothing to lose with a ban on corporal punishment in place. In such a scenario, will the defaulters go unchecked?

Explained D K Tiwari, secretary, Government Schools Teachers' Association, "It has become difficult for teachers to maintain discipline among students as they no longer fear any action."

"We worked hard to improve the results due to which the number of students opting for government schools has increased. But there are nearly 7,000 posts of teachers still vacant," said Tiwari.

He added: "We need 14,000 more teachers for over 13 lakh children studying in government schools today. We have conveyed this to the chief minister but nothing has changed."

According to teachers, many classrooms have 80 to 100 students whereas the prescribed teacher-student ratio is 1:40. "How do we give personal attention to every student? It's almost a crowd out there," Tiwari said.

Read entire article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Too-few-teachers-to-tackle-too-many-students-Experts/articleshow/5312545.cms

Indonesia: Teachers blog to complement class sessions

Hasyim Widhiarto,  The Jakarta Post, 4 December 2009 

Lita Mariana's students don't use their cell phones or any other gadgets in her class, they know better than that. 

Using her blog, the 28-year-old chemistry teacher from State High School No. 8 in Tebet, South Jakarta, is sure that her students have read and understand the do's and don'ts in her class.

"I posted the class rules on my blog and told my students there's no way they missed the rules since they could access it online.”

Having been a member of the school's faculty for two years, Lita said her nearly-paperless way of teaching has brought many significant advantages to her students.   "For example, those who are absent can download lesson materials and study at home," she said.

Eviana Hikamudin, vice principal and math teacher at SMA 8 Bekasi High School, has a totally diametric experience of the Internet in education.  Although the high school has spent millions of rupiah to install wireless Internet hot-spot facilities, Eviana said the technology had made no significant impact on improving the school's teaching quality since most teachers were still unfamiliar with the technology.

Read entire article: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/12/04/teachers-blog-complement-class-sessions.html

Ireland: Rural primary school selected for global IT development project

Laura Keys, 23 November 2009

A PRIMARY school in rural Co. Kilkenny has been named as one of the 30 most innovative and forward-thinking schools in the world.

Scoil Naomh Fiachra, Clontubrid, in Freshford will take part in a new IT project run by Microsoft that only 30 schools have been selected to participate in. It is the only Irish school taking part.

The Microsoft Path-finder project aims to identify schools that have a track record in innovation and ICT - a vision for where to go with it and it helps them develop a learning plan for how to get there.

Scoil Naomh Fiachra, Clontubrid, was chosen to participate in the programme because it has demonstrated strong school leadership with a proven record of innovation and successful change implementation.

All the Pathfinder schools were chosen because of their vision for learning and because they have already started on the road to reform and improvement.

Read entire article: http://www.kilkennypeople.ie/news/Computer-boost-for-Clontubrid-kids.5848613.jp

Lebanon: English language gaining ground in region

Matern Boeselager, Lebanon Daily Star, December 08, 2009

The demand for learning English is growing in the Middle East, according to Sue Beaumont, the regional director of the British Council in North Africa and the Near East.

During a three-day visit to Beirut, Beaumont told The Daily Star that the role of English was ever-increasing in this part of the world. “We definitely see a greater demand for it,” she said. “English is a global language, and we encourage people to learn it.”

The British Council is a non-governmental organization aiming at promoting British culture, the English language and British education internationally.  In addition to providing courses, the Council works closely with the Education Ministry to provide training to teachers from across Lebanon.

Fatmeh al-Masri, the program manager in Lebanon, provided the details: “So far, we have trained more than a thousand teachers in over a hundred schools, both private and public. We train them in the teaching of English, but also other fields, such as methodology. Even in the faculties of Islamic Studies in Lebanon, the interest in English is growing.”

Read entire article: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=109534#

New Zealand: PPP's for Schools Should Deliver Better Outcomes

NZCID, 05 December 2009

The New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development has welcomed the announcement by Minister of Education, Anne Tolley, that the Ministry of Education and Treasury are assessing the suitability of public-private partnerships (PPP) for building and maintaining new school properties.

"Experience in both the United Kingdom and Australia shows that PPP delivery of school services delivers better educational outcomes by enabling head masters and teachers the time to focus on the needs of the children they are teaching", says NZCID Chief Executive, Stephen Selwood.

"In the UK 'Building Schools for the Future' (BSF) PPP programme is the largest single capital investment programme in English schools for more than 50 years.  A recent Pricewaterhouse Coopers review (http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/_doc/13240/2ndannualreport.pdf) completed in December 2008 found "that the majority of head teachers viewed BSF programme as educationally transformational".

"Similarly in Australia post implementation reviews of new schools undertaken by the New South Wales Treasury have found the public-private partnership model to be an improvement on traditional public sector delivery (see http://www.nzcid.org.nz/downloads).

Source: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0912/S00014.htm

New Zealand: Shift in Managing Student Behaviour

Ministry of Education, 8 December 2009

Details of the rollout of a Positive Behaviour for Learning Action Plan were announced by the Ministry of Education today and have been published on http://www.minedu.govt.nz.

The Plan has been developed in association with eight other education sector agencies.

From Term One next year already successful programmes will start to be rolled out to communities and schools in response to priorities agreed by a Taumata Whanonga behaviour summit held in March.

These include programmes and initiatives for parents and teachers, school-wide programmes, improved behaviour crisis support for schools and improved intensive programmes for individual students with severe behaviour problems.

The programmes and initiatives will be rolled out gradually over the next five years, with a budget of $45 million for implementing the Plan through re-focusing current services.

Read more at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0912/S00019.htm

New Zealand: Action plan does little for class safety

Secondary Principals' Council of NZ, 8 December 2009

Principals are deeply concerned that the newly released behaviour action plan will not make secondary schools any safer, New Zealand Secondary Principals’ Council (NZSPC) representative Lisl Prendergast says.

“Making sure the classroom is a safe environment for students and teachers is paramount and the buck stops with a school’s principal and board to ensure this is the case,” she said.

The plan’s downfall was that is that it was trying to achieve results with no extra funding, when support service provision for schools around the country was already extremely patchy, she said

“A small percentage of students require clinical services to be provided in a timely manner, no matter where they live or what income bracket they fall into, but currently this is not the case.

“Rural and remote schools are at a disadvantage, and the current need for services doesn’t match their actual availability,” she said.

“We are not going to get much by trying to re-shuffle a service that’s already underperforming.”

Read more at http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/ED0912/S00021.htm

Scotland: Is reducing class size the biggest impact strategy?

Brian Donnelly, Herald Scotland, 5 Dec 2009

The Scottish Government’s Council of Economic Advisers, chaired by former RBS head Sir George Mathewson, claimed it had evidence that reducing school class sizes has “a limited impact”.

First Minister Salmond was then hit by the announcement in the CEA’s second annual report that the policy meant little “in the absence of better teachers”.

The annual report also made a raft of recommendations aimed at boosting growth.  These include a call for the Government to look at how the quality of teachers can be “prioritised” throughout the school system, with calls for the chartered teacher programme to be expanded.  The quality of training must be measured and ineffective teachers should “leave the profession”.

The report said: “The council is sceptical that the simple objective of reducing class size, as a method of improving teaching, will prove sufficient.”

Read entire article: http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/politics/salmond-s-advisers-cast-doubt-on-class-sizes-policy-1.989860

UK: Primary schools need to make children 'media savvy':

New skills could be included in literacy lessons

Anushka Asthana, Observer, 22 November 2009   

Primary school children should be taught to understand the "language" of advertisers and spin doctors to stop them becoming too susceptible to sophisticated campaigns, it has been claimed.

Steve Fuller, a professor of sociology at Warwick University, believes that "media literacy" should be taught to children from the age of five beside maths and English. "It should have the same significance as reading, writing and numeracy skills – a fundamental skill that all people need to be considered fully functioning adults," he said.

Fuller, who is leading a major academic program into why people copy behaviour, argued that lessons could help young people – and adults – be less gullible by understanding how advertising works and how to criticise it. They would also be less susceptible to subliminal messages.

"To a certain extent, kids already have this skill and they build it up through trial and error but I think it should be taught in a systematic way," said Fuller, who pointed out that such messages could influence the political direction of the country.

Read more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/nov/22/primary-school-children-media-lessons

UK: Co-ed schools experiment with separate classes for boys and girls

Nicola Woolcock, Times, 1 December 2009 

Boys and girls are being taught in separate classes as growing numbers of co-educational schools show interest in segregating lessons.   They have found that both male and female pupils concentrate better and are less intimidated when taught core subjects without the distraction of the opposite sex.

Academics and state and independent head teachers will meet tomorrow at a conference in Cambridge devoted to the issue. Mike Younger, head of the education faculty at the University of Cambridge, will describe the renewed popularity of single-sex classes in mixed secondary schools.

He is expected to say that separating boys and girls is not a panacea for disruptive classrooms, but can help to raise academic standards in schools, under the right conditions. “The number of single-sex schools has decreased since the early 1970s in both state and independent sectors,” Mr. Younger told The Times. “In the state sector there’s some ideological resistance to single-sex teaching, a notion that comprehensive schools must be co-educational.”

A resurgence of interest in teaching girls without their male classmates had been prompted by the lower number who study maths and science after the age of 16, despite performing as well as or better than boys.  Boys can also benefit from single-sex classes because they sometimes allowed them to perform without worrying about their image in front of girls.

Read entire article: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6938112.ece

UK: Are there real benefits in single sex classes?

Yes - Dr Chris Nicholls, headteacher of Moulsham high school, a comprehensive in Chelmsford, Essex, with 1,600 pupils aged 11-18.

My school started teaching girls and boys separately 38 years ago. It was felt that as the grammar schools in the area were single-sex, the local authority should offer that option too. It wasn't feasible to open a single-sex comprehensive, so Moulsham, along with two other schools, began teaching both sexes separately.

The two other schools quickly reverted to a more traditional mixed model, but Moulsham continued and when I became headteacher in 1991 I analysed the effects of the separation. The results weren't clear-cut, but they did suggest our children were developing normally and there was nothing to indicate we should stop.

I wouldn't want to run a school that was entirely single-sex and all our children mix socially from day one. But, academically, in the first three years – ages 11-14 – boys and girls are educated entirely separately. At key stage 4 – ages 14-16 – we try to maintain the separation, where possible, especially for the core subjects of English, maths and science.

In subjects where we don't separate the sexes, it's more a question of staffing levels than anything else. We offer a wide range of GCSE options and set the children according to ability and it's often not feasible to further sub-divide the classes by gender. At sixth-form, all classes are mixed.

This shift from total to partial separation to full integration reflects children's learning styles. Children are at their most different when they are youngest; there has been a great deal of evidence to suggest boys and girls have different behaviours and respond to different learning styles. Boys tend to need more direction, while girls work better in groups, and we are able to tailor our classes accordingly.

Read entire article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/dec/02/co-eds-or-single-sex

UK: Are there real benefits in single sex classes?

No – Dr Anthony Seldon, master of Wellington College, an independent school in Berkshire with 950 pupils aged 13-18.

The argument - if one can call it that - that girls and boys do better academically if taught separately is depressingly familiar. Such a case is misleading and dangerous, especially as the evidence does not support it: and evidence really does matter, in education as elsewhere.

The one key survey in this field was conducted by Professor Alan Smithers of the University of Buckingham who, with Dr Pamela Robinson, published in 2006 an extensive analysis of the evidence in various countries. His conclusion was clear: there is simply no overwhelming evidence that single-sex education is better academically for young people.

On the other hand, abundant evidence exists that children do better socially if they are educated in mixed groups. It is not enough to just be part of a co-ed school that teaches girls and boys separately in class, because the really valuable interaction in co-ed schools occurs in lessons.

For much of the rest of the time, boys and girls are separate, socially and at games. So what happens in lesson time in terms of learning about each other is crucial.

In English lessons, it is invaluable to have both female and male perspectives on texts. Girls learn about how boys see poems, plays and novels, and boys understand the very different readings girls often give. They learn to understand and respect different views and opinions. In science and even maths girls and boys respond differently, with boys being quicker to express themselves, and girls being more thoughtful and considered.

Read entire article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/dec/02/co-eds-or-single-sex

UK: Opposition proposes new maths & science teachers get loans paid off

Richard Garner, Independent, 4 December 2009

The best maths and science graduates will have their student loans repaid by the government if they decide to teach, the Conservatives pledged yesterday.

Those with a 2:1 degree pass or better will be entitled to claim repayments for as long as they stay in the classroom.

The scheme, based on a US initiative announced by President Barack Obama, will cover graduates in science, maths and engineering – so-called "Stem" subjects considered vital to the future of the economy.

The move is designed to ensure that more high-quality graduates turn to teaching, something which happens in countries such as Finland and Singapore which then perform well in international education league tables.

It will be limited to those who have studied at up to three dozen of the country's most prestigious universities such as Oxford or Cambridge – in an attempt to lure ambitious students into teaching.

Read more at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/new-teachers-to-get-loans-paid-off-under-the-tories-1833847.html

UK: Slang is undermining language – should it be banned in schools?

Vanessa Barford, BBC News, 8 December 2009

From the Cockney rhyming calls of London's East End traders to teen speak, slang has always been part of Britain's rich and diverse language. But young people are increasingly unable to distinguish when it's appropriate to use it, say some linguists. Their language is becoming saturated by slang, leaving them ill-equipped to communicate in the wider world.

Paul Kerswill, professor of sociolinguistics at Lancaster University, is studying street language in London. He says an entirely new dialect is emerging.  "Young people are growing up with a new form of composite language. It's a bit cockney, a bit West Indian, a bit West African, with some Bangladeshi and Kuwaiti - and it seems to be replacing traditional cockney."

This "multicultural English" is now the ordinary way of speaking for many young people, he says. Instead of just using it to be cool or to fit in with peers, they use it when they speak to everyone.  And those who use it are losing any sense of "appropriacy" - the important skill of turning it on and off in different situations.

"Appropriacy simply means using the right variety of language for the right context - using business jargon in business meetings, formal English in exams or slang in school playground," says slang expert Tony Thorne.  "Language isn't just about communication, there is a strong social, political and emotional charge to it."

Read entire article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8388545.stm

USA: Are high school teachers' priorities misplaced?

Scott Martindale, Orange County Register, 1 December 2009

Is there a disconnect between what students want out of high school and what teachers focus on?  Accounting giant Deloitte LLP says yes, pointing to the results of a national education survey it released this week comparing teacher, parent and student attitudes about high school's purpose.

The study found just 9 percent of high school teachers say their primary mission is to prepare students for college, versus 48 percent of students and 42 percent of parents who say college preparation should be the chief focus of high school.

Some Orange County educators say they aren't surprised by the findings, while others have questioned the way the survey was worded and defended teachers' performance, even as they acknowledged there's room for improvement.

Deloitte says its survey is evidence of a "dangerous disconnect" between what students and parents want out of high school and how teachers view their job responsibilities.

Read entire article: http://www.ocregister.com/news/high-221907-school-students.html

Access Deloitte 2009 Education Survey Report “Redefining High School as Launch Pad” http://files.onset.freedom.com/ocregister/news/2009/12/DeloitteReport.pdf

USA: Helping Self-Harming Students

Matthew D. Selekman, Educational Leadership, December 2009

Student self-harming is one of the most perplexing and challenging behaviours that administrators, teachers, nurses, and counselling staff encounter in their schools.

Approximately 14 to 17 percent of children up to age 18 have deliberately cut, scratched, pinched, burned, or bruised themselves at least once (Whitlock, 2009), with 5 to 8 percent of adolescents actively engaging in this behaviour (J. Whitlock, personal communication, September 27, 2009).

Self-harming behaviour is not a new phenomenon among adolescents. Mental health and health-care professionals have typically viewed such behaviour as a symptom of an underlying psychological or personality disorder as a possible suicidal gesture suggesting the need for psychiatric hospitalization or as a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder caused by sexual or physical abuse.

However, both research and practice-based wisdom indicate that the majority of self-harming adolescents do not meet the criteria for diagnosable DSM-IV1  psychological or personality disorders, have never had suicidal thoughts or attempted to end their lives, and have never experienced sexual or physical abuse (Selekman, 2009).

Most self-harming adolescents use the behaviour as a coping strategy to get immediate relief from emotional distress.

Read entire essay: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/dec09/vol67/num04/Helping_Self-Harming_Students.aspx

USA: Maintaining and building on test score success creates own challenge

Bill Turque, Washington Post, December 6, 2009

Studies across the country show that many low-performing schools falter after big one-year gains in test scores. Of the seven D.C. public schools that increased proficiency rates by 20 percentage points or more in both reading and math in 2008 only one showed growth in 2009. Most of the schools that surged 20 points or more in a single category last year also had difficulty building on the increase this year.

Educators say several factors contribute to schools losing ground, some rooted in basic statistics.

Those with small enrolments - and therefore small testing samples - are more vulnerable to wide score swings. Many of the public schools that produced big jumps in 2008 and declines this year tested fewer than 150 children. Maury elementary tested fewer than 100.

New waves of children arrive each year, often with new sets of learning issues. Key teachers and administrators depart. Losing a valued assistant principal hurt. Some sub-par second grade teaching in the 2007-2008 school-year left last year's third-grade teachers with too much ground to cover.....

Read entire article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/05/AR2009120501773.html?wpisrc=newsletter

USA: We Know How to Turn Schools Around

Allan R. Odden, Education Week, 7 December 2009

School turnarounds are not a new phenomenon, despite their increased visibility as part of the Obama administration’s education agenda.

For decades, America has been trying to turn around its low-performing schools and school districts.

Because most of them enroll large numbers and substantial concentrations of students from low-income and minority backgrounds, this mission has a strong equity component.

Drawing on studies my colleagues and I have conducted as part of school-finance-adequacy research, as well as the research of others examining districts that have beaten the odds and produced high-performing schools in poor communities, and related research on school improvement, I have been able to identify 10 core elements of what it takes to turn around low-performing schools and districts.

One striking finding is that the strategies are quite similar across all contexts: rural or urban, large or small, rich or poor.

It seems reasonable to expect states, districts, schools, administrators, and teachers to use them now to fix these failing systems.

USA: Teacher loans via wage deferrals to avert system bankruptcy

Chastity Pratt Dawson, Detroit Free Press, 8 December 2009

The $10,000 that each member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers is being asked to defer until departure from the school district would save Detroit Public Schools $25.4 million, school officials said Monday.

DPS ended the past school year with a $219-million deficit and is looking to cut jobs this school year in response to state budget cuts and rehires of counselors and other support staff.

Thousands of teachers at a meeting at Cobo Hall on Sunday booed the wage deferment proposal that is part of a 3-year tentative contract agreement. Teachers are to vote over the next two weeks on the contract.

If approved, the funds would be deducted from paychecks over two years and be placed in a Termination Incentive Plan account. The school district would be able to use the money to help pay bills and would repay the employees upon retirement, layoff, firing or resignation - with no interest.

Read entire article: http://www.freep.com/article/20091208/NEWS01/912080463/1322/Teacher-loans-can-save-DPS-millions

Vietnam: When principals are good teachers rather than good managers

VietNamNet Bridge, 9 Dec 2009

Most head teachers of schools in Vietnam have been promoted from the ranks of teachers – often meaning they stand accused of being poor managers.

Currently, a principal becomes accredited after the government agencies choose them from amongst the highest qualified and best teachers.

As such, principals can be good teachers but can find themselves short on  training in management skills.

In neighboring countries, like Singapore, head teacher accreditation is possible only after achieving a degree in management.

The process is quite different in Vietnam. Principals only attend short term management courses after they are accredited.

Read more at http://english.vietnamnet.vn/education/200912/When-principals-are-good-teachers-rather-than-good-managers-883327/

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