Bullying and cyberbullying: what works?

The National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence on March 16 is both a good and bad thing, good in the sense that we continue to look at the issue, bad in that we still have to.

Prof Marilyn Campbell who is an expert in the area says that the issue of bullying is complex and therefore resists any quick fixes. Read more

Overcoming School Refusal: A practical guide for teachers, counsellors, caseworkers and parents

While it can be challenge getting kids to perform at school, for some the challenge is getting them there in the first place.

School refusal affects up to 5% of children and is a complex and stressful issue for the child, their family and school.

The more time a child is away from school, the more difficult it is for the child to resume normal school life which can negatively impact the child’s development. Read more

School autonomy double edged sword

Giving schools more autonomy was supposed to promote a nimbler, more accountable system both academically and financially, and it has, but not without deficits in fairness, politically, culturally and economically.

Prof Amanda Keddie of Deakin University examined the effects of school autonomy reforms on social justice and schooling in Australia in a recent research project, finding these freedoms are illusory when coupled with aggressive auditing of school performance and that they rarely translate to real professional autonomy for teachers or for principals. Read more

How can parents and teachers spot the signs of bullying?

Not dobbing is a tenet of the schoolyard code so with a quarter of Australian kids reporting they’ve been bullied repeatedly and half saying they’ve experienced bullying at least once, parents and teachers need to be able to identify the signs and step in.

“It is important children are not left to sort out bullying on their own as it can be devastating for a child’s confidence and self-esteem,” said Assoc Prof Julie Green, Executive Director of the parenting website raisingchildren.net.au Read more

Being an awesome digital citizen

We’re all digital citizens now, but are you a good one? Also, how is that done actually? Given that a lot of bullying takes place on line it’s very worthwhile to get a good idea of how kids can address tech leveraged nastiness. Read more

ClassCoach’s short cycle to better teaching

Everything you read will tell you that short cycle data, the assessment of students’ progress in close to real time, is the best way to improve results; you get to see where each student is after every lesson and adjust teaching on the fly. The problem is that gathering and assessing the data takes a lot of time and effort. For time-poor teachers accessing short cycle data required a trade-off between creating engaging lessons or gathering information on how students were progressing. Read more

2018 TeachTechPlay Conference nearly here

Teachers from all across Australia, Philippines and New Zealand will gather again at the 2018 #TTPlay Conference to enjoy a great cohort of speakers and the informative, fun sessions that the conference has come to be known for.

Conference speakers include 10 Google Certified Innovators, nine Google Certified Trainers, six Microsoft Innovative Educator Experts, five Apple Distinguished Educators and five Adobe Campus Leaders. Ivanhoe Grammar will host the event. Read more