In Nordic and Latin American countries, education systems promote well-being and resilience. The UK still has a lot to learn.
Teachers are now more the ‘union heartland’ than blue-collar workers. Union membership in the education and training sector is about 33%, compared with 15% generally.
Kelly Barnes/AAP
When it comes to inclusive education, England has gone backwards, with more and more students placed in segregated provision or excluded from educational opportunities.
When it comes to reading, choosing the books your child reads, forcing them to read at certain times and asking them questions about their books are all big no nos.
Not everyone gets an equal share.
TimeShops/Shutterstock.com
US schools now collect detailed data on their students. But teachers and parents need to think carefully about how that data is used – and what it shows, or doesn't show, about a student.
Beneath the typical full-time, permanent model of classroom teaching lies an enormous workforce of educators who function on the margins as precarious workers.
(Shutterstock)
Front-line workers employed both inside and outside of the classroom are an integral part of schooling, yet we deny their work conditions are relevant to quality education.
Bullying and harassment are not the same as a student or parent being annoying.
from shutterstock.com
A recent study found more than 80% of Australia's teachers have been bullied or harassed by students and parents. Verbal abuse was most common and female teachers were bullied more than males.
Just because your children are learning about LGBT relationships, it won't make them gay.
Jessie Dean Gipson Simmons, shown top center about age 37, c. 1961.
[Clockwise: daughter Angela, sons Obadiah Jerone, Jr. and Carl,
and husband Obadiah Jerone, Sr.; daughters Carolyn and Quendelyn are not pictured]
Simmons family archives
When Jessie Simmons applied for a teaching job in 1958, her application went to a separate file for "Negro teachers" and got rejected. An education scholar recounts how Simmons fought back and won.
Teacher license exams often fail to predict which teachers will be the best, research shows.
michaeljung from shutterstock.com
Despite the known benefits of black students having black teachers, teacher license exams often stand in the way – even though they don't predict which teachers will be effective, a scholar says.
Parents accompany their children to school on the first day back after a teachers’ strike in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Richard Vogel
The Los Angeles teachers strike wasn't just about teachers – it was also about community schools, according to an education scholar who serves as director of the UCLA Center for Community Schooling.
A new grant from the Gates Foundation to promote ‘high-quality’ curriculum comes with strings that could constrain teachers.
Kues/www.shutterstock.com
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is on a mission to get schools to adopt a "high-quality" curriculum. But the effort will constrain teachers and stifle creativity, an education scholar argues.
There need to be deeper reforms to teaching, such as higher pay at the top end, better opportunities for career advancement, and improvements to the professional working environment.
www.shutterstock.com