Posted 14/07/2010 at 11:20AM

You can now download the full ’Know Your Neighbours’ resource that we developed recently for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.  Please note that the PDF files of the resource book and its accompanying picture packs are large, so the downloads will take some time.

Download the complete resource book (except picture packs):
Complete resource book - ’Know Your Neighbours’ [PDF - 39.4MB]

Or download the separate components of the resource book:
Teacher guide [PDF - 7.4MB]
Factsheet - ’Food’ [PDF - 6.0MB]
Factsheet - ’Clothing’ [PDF - 5.6MB]
Factsheet - ’Housing’ [PDF - 5.5MB]
Factsheet - ’Transport’ [PDF - 4.7MB]
Factsheet - ’Buildings and Public Spaces’ [PDF - 4.7MB]
Factsheet - ’Pastimes’ [PDF - 5.3MB]
Factsheet - ’Celebrations and Rituals’ [PDF - 5.6MB]
Factsheet - ’Arts, Crafts and Artefacts’ [PDF - 5.0MB]
Notes and acknowledgements [PDF - 1.0MB]

Download the picture packs:
Picture pack - ’Food’ [PDF - 10.8MB]
Picture pack - ’Clothing’ [PDF - 9.2MB]
Picture pack - ’Housing’ [PDF - 10.4MB]
Picture pack - ’Transport’ [PDF - 9.0MB]
Picture pack - ’Buildings and Public Spaces’ [PDF - 9.4MB]
Picture pack - ’Pastimes’ [PDF - 8.4MB]
Picture pack - ’Celebrations and Rituals’ [PDF 8.8MB]
Picture pack - ’Arts, Crafts and Artefacts’ [PDF - 7.3MB]

Posted 05/07/2010 at 10:47AM

Road injuries and deaths are one of the most significant issues facing children in Abu Dhabi. 

• 98% of children in the UAE are not restrained when they travel. 
• Traffic accidents accounted for 63% of all child deaths in the UAE in 2009. 
• 29% of all road deaths involve car passengers.
  

Educating Global (the international arm of Educating NZ) was contracted by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) to deliver a road safety education programme for summer school students in Abu Dhabi. 

We trained more than thirty teachers in three locations around the emirate on how to deliver road safety education to their pupils.  These teachers then provided the programme to children aged between six and ten at their schools across the emirate’s Education Zones, as part of the official ADEC Summer School programme. 

Feedback has been very good, with calls to continue and expand the road safety programme in Summer School, and to investigate introducing road safety education into the Abu Dhabi school curriculum. 

 

NEWSPAPER PUBLICITY

There were two reports about our programme in the United Arab Emirates daily newspaper, The National. The first article on 21 June was about the teacher training: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100622/NATIONAL/706219848&SearchID=73395053014286

The second article on 1 July was about the implementation of the programme in Summer School: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100701/NATIONAL/706309825/1021

There was also a further report about the implementation in the Khaleej Times on 6 July: http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=theuae&xfile=data/theuae/2010/July/theuae_July116.xml

Educating Global was quoted about the programme and road safety in general in the Khaleej Times on 16 July: http://www.khaleejtimes.com/weekend/inside.asp?xfile=/data/weekend/2010/July/weekend_July74.xml&section=weekend

 

YOUTUBE VIDEO

We have also put together a YouTube video of a lesson in the road safety programme being taught at Ain Jaloot Primary School for Girls.  As can be seen, one of the highlights was the involvement of quite a few parents and older siblings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV0ZJWyUTgs&feature=email

 

 

 

Posted 24/06/2010 at 3:35PM

The New Zealand Teachers Council released a new set of criteria for the registration of teachers at the end of last year and this a year they are engaged in a process of supporting the implementation of those criteria.

I suspect that in many cases these criteria are only considered superficially, viewed as a burdensome hurdle to be passed come time to renew a practicing certificate and one’s teacher registration. Hopefully the process of developing new criteria and rolling them out to the profession will help teachers and professional leaders engage with them in a more useful way.

The criteria are intended to maintain the professional standards of those entrusted with the formal education of our children, a worthy goal. They are also a way of building respect for the profession of teaching as they control access and make a public statement about the quality of those allowed entry to the state’s teaching community. Whatever the criteria being used, and the new set seems as valid and valuable as any, they should be adhered to with genuine commitment by the profession and not viewed as a compliance exercise to be ticked off.

The criteria provide an opportunity to reflect on the quality of one’s own practice with the support of experienced peers. They provide evidence-based signposts for effective practice that can guide on-going professional conversations and the nature of support that is offered to all teachers. Teaching is a learning profession and it seems to me that the criteria for registration offer a valuable tool for ongoing teacher learning. Let’s hope they are used as a formative tool to strengthen the practice of all teachers and not just as a way to rearrange the deck chairs on an unchanging ship.

Posted 24/06/2010 at 3:30PM

Social media is a technological revolution. Here at the COSM, Educating NZ’s IT and design partners, we feel the education sector can benefit widely from the innovative tools, and the communities they serve.    

Consider a stray tweet (a Twitter update): "Looking for a decent school in Wellington, any ideas?" This tweet could hang in the ether, or if you’re a “decent school”: "Hey! We like to think we’re half decent, what would you like to know?" Suddenly you’ve instigated a conversation, potentially seen by millions of people. In 69 characters, you’ve become a global marketer. In social media, your voice is paramount.

You don’t just switch on a Twitter account and stuff happens. If we created a blog for your organisation, how could you use it? You could post up the minutes from the AGM, or advertise the forthcoming fundraiser.  Or you could challenge an entire classroom to channel their creative energy into amplifying your voice, and learning tools integral to their lifestyle: "Check out the latest blog post where Danny (a student) teaches us about New Zealand birds!" 

The technology is ready. Large brands such as Apple have invested in education via their popular iTunes U function, which delivers appropriate content to a targeted audience. 

We believe social media is the ideal tool for collaboration between schools and organisations. Our recent ’Know your Neighbours’ project with Educating NZ, fosters understanding between schools throughout the twelve ASEAN countries. Imagine the potential for an integrated social media aspect, with children from different cultures collaborating daily.

Is there a business case for implementing a social media strategy into your organisation? Consider who your customers are: your pupils; your schools, your fundraisers; your governing body; your community. Where are they gathered? What do they want? Why do they want it? They’re probably already telling you. You just have to connect with them.

Andrew Fyfe, The COSM: http://andrewfyfe.me/

Posted 24/06/2010 at 3:27PM

Each year 1.3 million people are killed on the world’s roads.  Developing countries account for 90% of global road fatalities.

The UN global Decade of Action for Road Safety aims to get international donors working together with national agencies in coordinated and sustained road safety programmes in the countries with poor road safety.

Such initiatives have the potential to save five million lives and prevent fifty million serious injuries by 2020.

Educating NZ is pleased to have been involved in road safety education projects in Vietnam and Cambodia in the past.  But we mustn’t forget that although New Zealand is not affected as badly as developing countries, we still have too many people killed and injured on our roads here.

With the ending last year of the NZ Transport Agency’s RoadSense strategy, which ran in schools for much of the previous decade, we look forward to the exciting new road safety initiatives that will launch New Zealand into the forthcoming Decade of Action for Road Safety. 

At the same time, Educating NZ is looking to continue our road safety work in developing nations, as well as in other places with particularly high road tolls, such as the United Arab Emirates. 

Posted 24/06/2010 at 3:25PM

South East Asia is a region where New Zealand’s educational expertise is highly respected and sought after. Educating NZ is very pleased to be able to respond to that demand, however, with a more focused and enabling government strategy for the exporting of New Zealand’s educational expertise to help these developing nations we could do so much more.

Through our work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Educating NZ was recently invited to participate in a resource development workshop in Manila, Philippines. The workshop was the first stage in the development of a teacher toolkit on a ‘Shared ASEAN Identity’ for use in classrooms across the ASEAN community.

Representatives from across the region took part in the workshop to share current practice in ASEAN cross-cultural studies, identify what would be needed to enhance that practice and to develop an outline for the intended toolkit.  The workshop was hosted and facilitated by SEAMEO Innotech, a branch of the South East Asian Ministries of Education Organisation, and supported by ASEAN.

This was a great opportunity for Educating NZ to build professional friendships with educators from the ASEAN region. Our expertise in resource development, curriculum integration and effective teaching practice was of great interest to our South East Asian colleagues and from the workshop educating NZ entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with SEAMEO Innotech to continue to support their work.