What’s the single most important process determining whether or not your coaching business is successful?
The correct answer to this question can completely change your coaching business forever. It can change your perception of your business. It can change your focus in your business. It can change how you go about operating your business. And most importantly, it can determine the success or otherwise of your business.
We asked dozens of coaches this question and got a broad array of responses. But only 4% of them were even close to the mark! Most coaches answered: quality service; number of clients; pricing; branding; advertising copy.
…And whilst all these issues are critical, the single most important process is your marketing methodology. Whilst you must have all the other elements as well, it’s your marketing methodology that ultimately determines the success or otherwise of your business.
Let us explain…
Nearly all coaches use a marketing methodology that’s a sales-based marketing methodology. This is understandable as most traditional marketing methods teach sales-based marketing methods. We’re all impacted by sales-based marketing at every turn – on TV, newspapers, magazines, billboards, radio – everywhere. And when coaches research marketing methods, they are most likely to learn about traditional sales-based marketing methodologies – print ads (in newspapers, yellow pages, journals, magazines etc), direct telephone calls, radio, flyers, direct mail letters, etc.
But there are several extremely powerful forces at play against coaches employing a sales-based marketing methodology…
Most coaches invariably feel uncomfortable delivering a ‘sales pitch.’ Coaches generally have better technical skills than marketing skills. They’re therefore uncomfortable talking about themselves and endorsing the quality of their product. This means they don’t close, and comes across to prospects as a general lack of confidence in themselves, and their product and service.
Sales marketing is extremely expensive – narrowing your net margin on your service. The more you spend to get a client the less net profit you’ll retain at the end.
Generally people are very sceptical and defensive against sales approaches. This exponentially increases the barrier of making a sale. When you employ a sales-based marketing method, most prospects have already closed themselves off to learning about your services due to their natural tendency to put up a defence against sales-based marketing.
There is no trust and rapport built through a sales-based marketing approach. For a prospect to buy from you, there needs to be an element of trust. Your prospect needs to trust that you can deliver on your promises and that they’ll gain a positive return on their investment. This level of trust is extremely difficult to build through a sales-based marketing approach.
You build no reciprocal obligation on the prospect to investigate your offer or purchase from you. It’s a natural human tendency to reciprocate in kind what’s been given to you. You can not build reciprocal obligation through sales-based marketing.
You attract price sensitive shoppers and ‘tyre kickers’ that take up a lot of your time and result in extremely low conversion.
It’s difficult to maintain contact with prospects for long enough to build rapport and trust – it generally takes 4 to 6 contacts before a prospect will buy from you.
So, we can hear you shouting “If sales-based marketing is not going to be effective, what’s my alternative to get clients?”
And the answer is… Education-based Marketing. Education-based marketing is simply the process by which you attract and convert highly-qualified clients by giving them what they want – valuable information and advice that solves their problems - and removing what they don’t want, a sales pitch.
Education-based marketing is generally undertaken by delivering Credibility Marketing techniques such as public speaking, information based teleclasses, publications, networking, hotlines, free educational give aways (such as reports, assessments, tools, ecourses), etc.
As opposed to sales-based marketing, education-based marketing means…
- You give your prospect what they really want – highly valuable information. And you take away what they don’t want – a sales pitch.
- You maintain your dignity and feel good about yourself as you never make an effort to sell.
- Your brand recognition and respect will skyrocket! Education-based marketing is the ultimate brand builder. By positioning yourself as the ‘expert’ or ‘specialist’ by solving, through your education products, the most pressing issues your niche confronts. You become the only logical choice in your market.
- You can establish yourself as a credible authority as prospects depend on you as a reliable source of valuable advice.
- You significantly reduce your marketing costs – and can in fact get paid to market yourself. This vastly compounds the net worth of every client you attract – you can actually earn double the net profit with only half the clients!
- You don’t have to seek out new prospects – prospects come to you (to have their problems solved).
- You can maintain (mutually beneficial) contact with your prospects through the sales process because they don’t feel pressured by a sales pitch and value your information and advice.
- You reach prospects early during the first stages of their decision making process.
- You attract ‘moderately interested’ prospects that may otherwise be afraid to call you but are not afraid to request your information.
- Due to the high level of trust and rapport built early on you’ll be perceived as an adviser, not a salesperson, making added-value sales dramatically easier.
- You dramatically increase your referrals from prospects as they feel loyal to you – due to a relationship built on trust and reciprocal obligation and your efforts to help them – even if they don’t hire you! And your referrals will come much earlier in your relationship.
- You gain compounded advantage as your information is passed freely between prospects within your niche.
- You gain a competitive advantage because not many competitors are using education-based marketing.
- You achieve a highly leveraged advantage as you can put forward your marketing even when you are not present.
- You save valuable time as you often are delivering your message directly to your most highly qualified target audience.
As you can see, education-based marketing is the exact opposite to sales-based marketing, and can make an extraordinary difference to your business, and your enjoyment of ‘doing’ business. So, ask yourself, “How much education-based marketing am I currently doing?” and “How can I develop a marketing plan significantly comprised of education-based marketing methodologies?”
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Education & Teaching - Language Acquisition
Brenda Geier K-12 Reading Specialist - The research tells us that with the support of parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators, as well as exposure to a literacy-rich environment, children progress from emergent to conventional reading. By interacting through reading aloud and conversation, children are exposed to learning early. It is very important to read aloud to children and provide opportunities for them to talk about the stories that they hear. As Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, and Wilkinson (1985) state, "The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children, especially during the preschool years". It helps them develop oral language, cognitive skills, and concepts of print and phonemic awareness.
Children read to develop background knowledge about a range of topics and build a large vocabulary, which aids them in later comprehension and development of reading strategies. They also watch how others read and therefore become familiar with the reading process. They are constantly learning.
Still, many enter elementary school without a strong background in literacy. These are the children who are most at risk of developing reading problems. To provide high chances of success, teachers should be involved in professional development to learn more about child development as it relates to literacy acquisition.
At age 3-4, children begin to "read" their favorite books by themselves. They begin to use "mock handwriting" (Clay, 1975). Around age 5, in kindergarten, most children are considered emergent readers. They make rapid growth in literacy skills if they are exposed to literacy-rich environments (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Children may try to recall what has been written or use a picture created with the text to reread instead of using the letter clues (Kamberelis & Sulzby, 1988; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Although they are beginning to apply phonetic knowledge to create invented spellings, there is a lapse in time before they use phonetic clues to read what they write.
For those parents who choose to home-school their children, an enormous advantage exists to teach children phonetic knowledge, sight words and decoding before they enter school. This learning advantage gives them power with text that most will not be equipped with.
Most children will become early readers during the first grade. They commonly look at beginning and ending letters in order to decode unfamiliar words (Clay, 1991; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). They know a small number of sight words.
By second grade, they are transitional readers, able to read unknown text with more independence. They use meaning, grammatical, and letter cues more fully and use pictures in a limited way while reading (Clay, 1991; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, burns, & Griffin, 1998). Transitional spellers can apply spelling rules, patterns, and other strategies to put words on paper.
By the third grade, children are typically fluent readers. They can read for meaning while focusing less on decoding. They may use transitional and phonetic spellings to spell infrequently used words.
The child's concept of words changes as the child's literacy development evolves. Children construct their own knowledge thus the difference between how an adult understands reading and writing and how a child understands reading and writing.
Children progress through several categories of phonological skills from rhyming to blending. The most difficult task involves the complete segmentation of phonemes and manipulation of them to form new words (Griffith & Olson, 1992; Hall & Moats, 1999). If we begin teaching our children how to segment and manipulate phonemes at the pre-school age, they will have the tools necessary to spell correctly, understand the meaning of words and be able to write and read complete sentences with ease.
Screen and assessment are crucial tools to determine children's literacy needs. Data helps teachers identify children who are developing at a less than normal pace and are in need of intervention. The earlier, the better to find these children. Throughout kindergarten and first grade, children can be screened for phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and an understanding of basic language concepts (Texas Education Agency, 1997a). Performance based assessments, such as observational records of reading and writing, developmental benchmarks, and portfolios can also be used to inform daily teaching (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; international Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Slegers, 1996).
Teachers, parents and caregivers need to understand and support children's emergent literacy and, in later years, children's transition to conventional reading and writing. Teachers, administrators, and specialists must understand the developmental nature of emergent literacy and early conventional literacy and ensure that the curriculum and instructional materials are appropriate. Parents need to be educated in child development and support sharing and exploring literacy with their children. The literacy program needs to support children's social, emotional, aesthetic, maturational, and cognitive needs. The reading program must be balanced and include quality literature, writing opportunities, development of phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge.
To provide opportunities for children's literacy acquisition, schools should work with community groups and libraries to provide informational programs for parents regarding the development of literacy skills in young children. Teachers should review research on reading and young children and become familiar with Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children. (The joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children). All teachers should develop an understanding of phonological terms and work to provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum in reading and writing that is attainable but challenging. Educators need to develop strategies for preventing reading difficulties to begin with. Libraries or resource centers should have extensive and varied resources.
Learning should be a fun process that instills a desire to learn even more. If we all work together, we can accomplish this.
Children read to develop background knowledge about a range of topics and build a large vocabulary, which aids them in later comprehension and development of reading strategies. They also watch how others read and therefore become familiar with the reading process. They are constantly learning.
Still, many enter elementary school without a strong background in literacy. These are the children who are most at risk of developing reading problems. To provide high chances of success, teachers should be involved in professional development to learn more about child development as it relates to literacy acquisition.
At age 3-4, children begin to "read" their favorite books by themselves. They begin to use "mock handwriting" (Clay, 1975). Around age 5, in kindergarten, most children are considered emergent readers. They make rapid growth in literacy skills if they are exposed to literacy-rich environments (Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999). Children may try to recall what has been written or use a picture created with the text to reread instead of using the letter clues (Kamberelis & Sulzby, 1988; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). Although they are beginning to apply phonetic knowledge to create invented spellings, there is a lapse in time before they use phonetic clues to read what they write.
For those parents who choose to home-school their children, an enormous advantage exists to teach children phonetic knowledge, sight words and decoding before they enter school. This learning advantage gives them power with text that most will not be equipped with.
Most children will become early readers during the first grade. They commonly look at beginning and ending letters in order to decode unfamiliar words (Clay, 1991; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998). They know a small number of sight words.
By second grade, they are transitional readers, able to read unknown text with more independence. They use meaning, grammatical, and letter cues more fully and use pictures in a limited way while reading (Clay, 1991; International Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Pinnell, 1996b; Snow, burns, & Griffin, 1998). Transitional spellers can apply spelling rules, patterns, and other strategies to put words on paper.
By the third grade, children are typically fluent readers. They can read for meaning while focusing less on decoding. They may use transitional and phonetic spellings to spell infrequently used words.
The child's concept of words changes as the child's literacy development evolves. Children construct their own knowledge thus the difference between how an adult understands reading and writing and how a child understands reading and writing.
Children progress through several categories of phonological skills from rhyming to blending. The most difficult task involves the complete segmentation of phonemes and manipulation of them to form new words (Griffith & Olson, 1992; Hall & Moats, 1999). If we begin teaching our children how to segment and manipulate phonemes at the pre-school age, they will have the tools necessary to spell correctly, understand the meaning of words and be able to write and read complete sentences with ease.
Screen and assessment are crucial tools to determine children's literacy needs. Data helps teachers identify children who are developing at a less than normal pace and are in need of intervention. The earlier, the better to find these children. Throughout kindergarten and first grade, children can be screened for phonemic awareness, alphabetic knowledge, and an understanding of basic language concepts (Texas Education Agency, 1997a). Performance based assessments, such as observational records of reading and writing, developmental benchmarks, and portfolios can also be used to inform daily teaching (Allington & Cunningham, 1996; Burns, Griffin, & Snow, 1999; international Reading Association & National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1998; Slegers, 1996).
Teachers, parents and caregivers need to understand and support children's emergent literacy and, in later years, children's transition to conventional reading and writing. Teachers, administrators, and specialists must understand the developmental nature of emergent literacy and early conventional literacy and ensure that the curriculum and instructional materials are appropriate. Parents need to be educated in child development and support sharing and exploring literacy with their children. The literacy program needs to support children's social, emotional, aesthetic, maturational, and cognitive needs. The reading program must be balanced and include quality literature, writing opportunities, development of phonemic awareness and alphabetic knowledge.
To provide opportunities for children's literacy acquisition, schools should work with community groups and libraries to provide informational programs for parents regarding the development of literacy skills in young children. Teachers should review research on reading and young children and become familiar with Learning to Read and Write: Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children. (The joint position statement of the International Reading Association and the National Association for the Education of Young Children). All teachers should develop an understanding of phonological terms and work to provide a developmentally appropriate curriculum in reading and writing that is attainable but challenging. Educators need to develop strategies for preventing reading difficulties to begin with. Libraries or resource centers should have extensive and varied resources.
Learning should be a fun process that instills a desire to learn even more. If we all work together, we can accomplish this.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Ideas and programs on moral education
How to instill confidence in children?
Fragment from the methodology of the PROJECT Kind Child:
Educational books for children: a unique approach
to Education
Fragment from the methodology of the PROJECT Kind Child:
Educational books for children: a unique approach
to Education
LESSONS ON VIRTUES
What parents should not do:
There is no set formula on how to raise children. Each child is different.
Each child is unique, so Parent's relationships with their children are
unique. There are things which are counter productive when talking with a
child. It is question of what parents should not do under any condition.
If we want to bring up the child with a good understanding of moral values
and a good discipline, we, must first develop the child's consciousness, to
do it's best in the task to generate in the child's mind the positive image
of his/her self. And we must avoid anything that can destroy this positive
image.
Unfortunately, out of ignorance, anger, annoyance, irritation and sometimes
desperation parents use lawful methods in raising their children.
As we remember the commandment “Thou shall not sin” so too we should remember
to avoid using any of the following methods:
DO NOT MAKE NEGATIVE COMMENTS TO HUMILIATE THE
CHILD
Sometimes we question the child: "How this idea did come to your mind? Can
you do anything better?
Do you have a head on your shoulders etc? Every time we make a negative
comment to the child we erode his/her confidence.
DO NOT THREATEN
Sometimes we say: "If you do this again - you will receive from me!" Or "if
you kick your little brother, I will kick you too!" Each time when we
threaten the child, we, without realizing,
teaching him to become afraid of us or even hate us. Threats are absolutely
useless - they do not improve the behavior of the child.
DO NOT EXTORT PROMISES
The sequence of such actions at times happens to be like this: the child has
done something what he was not supposed to do. Imagine, mum tells him: "
Please, promise me now, that you will never do it again." In response she,
certainly, receives the promise. And half an hour later the child will repeat
the same action. Mum is offended and upset:
"You have promised! Why did you do it then? Why?"
But she does not know that a promise means nothing to a small child. The
promise, as well as the threat, is more relevant in the future. But the child
lives only in the present. If he is sensitive and conscientious, exhortation
of promises will develop in the child the own fault syndrome each time he/she
breaks the promise. If he is not sensitive, it will teach him cynicism:
when the words and reality differs from each other.
DO NOT SPONSOR UNDULY (excessively)
It belittles the child in his own eyes. Excessive trusteeship gives him the
idea, that he cannot do anything. Many parents underestimate the ability of
the child to do something independently. It is necessary to accept as the
motto: "Never do for the child what he can do for himself ".
DO NOT SPEAK TOO MUCH .
Unduly long explanations mean to the child: "You are not capable of
understanding simple things,
so listen, I shall explain to you".
DO NOT DEMAND IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE
Imagine your husband tells you: "Dear, leave everything and prepare for me a
cup of coffee this!" Would you like this demand? In the same way it is not
pleasant to your child for anyone
to demand things from him. We, at least, should give him in advance notice; "
In ten-fifteen minutes we are having dinner together” We expect him to
protect a little: "Oh, mums, I'm still.
Playing!" Unconditional submission is appropriate for a puppet, but it does
not help in creation of an independent mind.
DO NOT PAMPER THE CHILD
In this case it is a question of permissiveness. The child will feel that the
parents are afraid to be firm in observance of borders, that they are afraid
to say "no". It instills confidence in the child, that all rules are not firm
(a rubber-kind) – they will stretch just under a little of
pressure. It can work within the home, but outside of the home bitter
disappointments await such a child. To indulge the child, you deprive him the
opportunity to grow into a person who can
adapt in any situation.
BE CONSISTENT IN YOUR RULES
For example, On Saturday mum is in a good mood and thus allows her child to
break all rules (or some of the rules). But on Monday when the child does the
same thing, she "leans on him, like a
ton of bricks (i.e. she reprimand, scorn etc)." Imagine yourself in the place
of this child. How well would you learn to drive a car, if on Monday, Tuesday
and. Thursday red light means "
stop", and on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday – means “go”? Consistency is
necessary for the child. He should know what he should expect. Confusion in
following the rules (allow this one
day and forbid the same on another day) does not promote good discipline, on
the contrary it confuses the child and he won't know what to expect from his
parents next time.
DO NOT MORALIZE
It instills a feeling of fault in the child and helps to develop a negative
self-image. All of morals finally are reduced to one for the child: What you
have done is bad. You are bad because
you did this. How could you do such a bad thing after doing so many good ones?
Reprimanding and critisizing children on a regular basis decreases the child'
s self worth. If one were to tape all the criticism on a recorder and then
play it back
to the parents, they would be amazed. There are so many inappropriate words
and methods they use in speaking with the children! They will hear the
threats, sneers, constant grumbling, and certainly, moral lectures.
Scientifically it is proven, that under such ‘strain' the child becomes ‘
disconnected' (doesn't pay attention anymore). It is his unique way of
defense which he quickly masters. Certainly, the child cannot
be disconnected completely and eventually feels guilty.
DO NOT DEMAND THINGS THAT IS INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE AGE OF THE CHILD
Do not expect a two-year-old child to obey the same like a five year old.
This instill in the child, feelings of hostility toward you. You demand from
him mature behavior which he is not capable of understanding. This will badly
affect the development of his
consciousness.
With respect,
Authors
www.KindBook.com
Monday, November 21, 2011
Tradition & Energy: Calculating Our Educational Power Bill
Seeing an orbital image of planet Earth at night you immediately become aware of two things. Firstly, how much energy is used to maintain the human experiment; secondly, how inequitably it is distributed around the globe. As James Lovelock recently observed, “civilisation is energy-intensive” yet the real energy that is involved in human existence cannot be seen as easily as the orbital photo of our nightly planet suggests.
The real energy driving the human experiment is psychic energy. There is undoubtedly some correlation between the physical energy emitted each night by our cities and the psychic forces that are driving late-modernity, yet this tells only part of a much bigger story.
Much of the psychic energy driving the human experiment is bounded by traditions. In fact it is quite a plausible proposition to claim that traditions are energy streams that draw on energy from the past, condense and focus energy in the present and, like a torch light, channel and project energy into the future. The fibre optic cables and satellite transmissions that bring speed and flexibility to the planet and its globalising economy and culture, as well as the urban incandescence of the Earth at night, are in fact the by products of an invisible but clearly defined confluence of energy generating traditions.
Roots & Rivers
Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s great poets, describes creation as a waking up, an explosion of energy. Not the traditional Big Bang, but something akin as Brahma awakens and its joy is boundless. The roots of the Indic tradition lie in this expression of boundless-joy. Today this story has merged with many others like the course of the Ganges as it first meets the great rivers of Yamuna, Ghaghara and Kosi and goes on through twists and turns, finally spitting again and again in the monsoonal Delta of Bengal.
Similarly, the turbine engines of culture are alive with the dynamic dance of traditions, churning away like the great river Ganges as it makes its (untidy) way to the sea. The stories cultures tell themselves are the source of much energy, the dreams (and nightmares) that inspire nations, drive business and political leaders are more powerful than nuclear energy. The myths and metaphors that frame our unconscious daily coming and goings are what we need to turn to when seeking to rethink civilisation and our role in its maintenance.
The Educational Power Bill
When you think of traditions as conduits of power it is possible to look at any social structure and ask about it: What traditions power it? Who pays? Are there alternative energy sources?
Take one of societies most complex and contested institutions: Education. Far from being monolithic education is a veritable power grid generating huge energy for the expansive and predatory economic and the cultural practices of a globalising world.
The energy of this system draws on an array of traditions each bringing to the current system energy in the form of values, practices and beliefs. The humanism that drove education for centuries has been absorbed by the utilitarian needs of a rapidly globalising society. The pragmatic concerns of utilitarianism are at least in part off set by an opening up of democratic processes and a greening of the school. Furthermore, we also have the romantic tradition placing the child at the centre of the learning equation. Thus we find humanist, utilitarian, democratic, environmental and romantic strands at work; all provide energy and work to maintain the coherence of the system.
And the cost? The humanist tradition privileged the old elites, where culture and money and power coalesced, the poor payed; the utilitarian, as power shifted from the old elites to the new, a new form of education emerged and the user pays, ultimately the poor are excluded and as money flows upwards, they pay again.
The democratic offers a way out, as does the environmental: both stem from traditions that challenge hierarchies, yet both are too fragmented to challenge the dominance of the utilitarian, their effect is ameliorative but they contain the potential energy to challenge this dominance should a shift in the world-system cause a ‘power failure’ – such a shift could be either social or environmental. And the romantic? Child centredness is powerful, as it is the root of both soft and hard individualism, but it is too easily coopted by the dominant cultural elites, particularly those seeking a cultural ‘off-set’ for the vacuum created by the loss of humanism to utilitarianism.
Alternative Energy
We have lived in a resource rich world that at the physical level is coming to recognise its limits. What has been left largely unharnessed is the natural capital essential to traditions: human energy. To date human psychic capital has been focussed on the control and manipulation of the physical world. It has been largely shaped and directed by the materialism inherent to the Enlightenment and the drive to generate capital.
Holistic solutions embrace spiritual energy. This is energy locked in ancient traditions such as that Tagore describes above. Captured by the so-called ‘Protestant work ethic’ creation becomes an act of toil; schooling as a result is about ‘hard’ work, productivity and accountability. Add to this a healthy dose of capitalist rhetoric with ‘user pays’ and ‘choice’ on the menu and we end up with an entropic system that consumes energy, in the form of the lives, heart and imaginations of people and communities, rather than generates it.
This formula can be turned on its head with creation becoming an act of joy. Creative, life-affirming neohumanist traditions generate energy. If we infuse education with spiritual energy drawn from the practices, values and commitments of the great spiritual traditions we produce a system that channels powerful creative forces into the future. The turn is inward and thus saves us from the materialist despair inherent to the thinking of James Lovelock who can only measure energy at the physical finite level.
Physical energy is a measure of the psychic, but it is a symptom not a driving force. This is so, despite the obvious fact that both physical decline and technological advance, a la Moore’s Law, have momentums of their own once they gets beyond a specific point.
To harness traditions of power and depth and focus them into systems such as education is a powerful idea. Education that generates rather than consumes energy has the potential to return hope and creativity to the human experiment and enliven our daily dealings with the pressing environmental concerns that seem so overwhelming. Moore’s law and environmental catastrophe theories are certainly a pressing concern but they overlook the largely untapped power that lies within us all.
The real energy driving the human experiment is psychic energy. There is undoubtedly some correlation between the physical energy emitted each night by our cities and the psychic forces that are driving late-modernity, yet this tells only part of a much bigger story.
Much of the psychic energy driving the human experiment is bounded by traditions. In fact it is quite a plausible proposition to claim that traditions are energy streams that draw on energy from the past, condense and focus energy in the present and, like a torch light, channel and project energy into the future. The fibre optic cables and satellite transmissions that bring speed and flexibility to the planet and its globalising economy and culture, as well as the urban incandescence of the Earth at night, are in fact the by products of an invisible but clearly defined confluence of energy generating traditions.
Roots & Rivers
Rabindranath Tagore, one of India’s great poets, describes creation as a waking up, an explosion of energy. Not the traditional Big Bang, but something akin as Brahma awakens and its joy is boundless. The roots of the Indic tradition lie in this expression of boundless-joy. Today this story has merged with many others like the course of the Ganges as it first meets the great rivers of Yamuna, Ghaghara and Kosi and goes on through twists and turns, finally spitting again and again in the monsoonal Delta of Bengal.
Similarly, the turbine engines of culture are alive with the dynamic dance of traditions, churning away like the great river Ganges as it makes its (untidy) way to the sea. The stories cultures tell themselves are the source of much energy, the dreams (and nightmares) that inspire nations, drive business and political leaders are more powerful than nuclear energy. The myths and metaphors that frame our unconscious daily coming and goings are what we need to turn to when seeking to rethink civilisation and our role in its maintenance.
The Educational Power Bill
When you think of traditions as conduits of power it is possible to look at any social structure and ask about it: What traditions power it? Who pays? Are there alternative energy sources?
Take one of societies most complex and contested institutions: Education. Far from being monolithic education is a veritable power grid generating huge energy for the expansive and predatory economic and the cultural practices of a globalising world.
The energy of this system draws on an array of traditions each bringing to the current system energy in the form of values, practices and beliefs. The humanism that drove education for centuries has been absorbed by the utilitarian needs of a rapidly globalising society. The pragmatic concerns of utilitarianism are at least in part off set by an opening up of democratic processes and a greening of the school. Furthermore, we also have the romantic tradition placing the child at the centre of the learning equation. Thus we find humanist, utilitarian, democratic, environmental and romantic strands at work; all provide energy and work to maintain the coherence of the system.
And the cost? The humanist tradition privileged the old elites, where culture and money and power coalesced, the poor payed; the utilitarian, as power shifted from the old elites to the new, a new form of education emerged and the user pays, ultimately the poor are excluded and as money flows upwards, they pay again.
The democratic offers a way out, as does the environmental: both stem from traditions that challenge hierarchies, yet both are too fragmented to challenge the dominance of the utilitarian, their effect is ameliorative but they contain the potential energy to challenge this dominance should a shift in the world-system cause a ‘power failure’ – such a shift could be either social or environmental. And the romantic? Child centredness is powerful, as it is the root of both soft and hard individualism, but it is too easily coopted by the dominant cultural elites, particularly those seeking a cultural ‘off-set’ for the vacuum created by the loss of humanism to utilitarianism.
Alternative Energy
We have lived in a resource rich world that at the physical level is coming to recognise its limits. What has been left largely unharnessed is the natural capital essential to traditions: human energy. To date human psychic capital has been focussed on the control and manipulation of the physical world. It has been largely shaped and directed by the materialism inherent to the Enlightenment and the drive to generate capital.
Holistic solutions embrace spiritual energy. This is energy locked in ancient traditions such as that Tagore describes above. Captured by the so-called ‘Protestant work ethic’ creation becomes an act of toil; schooling as a result is about ‘hard’ work, productivity and accountability. Add to this a healthy dose of capitalist rhetoric with ‘user pays’ and ‘choice’ on the menu and we end up with an entropic system that consumes energy, in the form of the lives, heart and imaginations of people and communities, rather than generates it.
This formula can be turned on its head with creation becoming an act of joy. Creative, life-affirming neohumanist traditions generate energy. If we infuse education with spiritual energy drawn from the practices, values and commitments of the great spiritual traditions we produce a system that channels powerful creative forces into the future. The turn is inward and thus saves us from the materialist despair inherent to the thinking of James Lovelock who can only measure energy at the physical finite level.
Physical energy is a measure of the psychic, but it is a symptom not a driving force. This is so, despite the obvious fact that both physical decline and technological advance, a la Moore’s Law, have momentums of their own once they gets beyond a specific point.
To harness traditions of power and depth and focus them into systems such as education is a powerful idea. Education that generates rather than consumes energy has the potential to return hope and creativity to the human experiment and enliven our daily dealings with the pressing environmental concerns that seem so overwhelming. Moore’s law and environmental catastrophe theories are certainly a pressing concern but they overlook the largely untapped power that lies within us all.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
A Brief Education on Education Verification
It is generally believed by those in our trade that while employment candidates may embellish their employment tasks and positions, they will downright lie about their education.
Yes, that person interviewing with your Human Resource Manger and other relevant executives, the one looking presentable and acting so bright and articulate may well be inventing his education. In most cases your candidate’s claim to a higher education is not necessarily a total invention. He may have in fact actually enrolled in the university listed on the resume. He just didn’t graduate from that school. Or any other school, for that matter.
But then there are those, a notable amount of employment candidates who have engaged in what we term a ghost attendance. That is to say they not only failed to graduate from the school, but they never enrolled at all. Why they chose that particular school as their fictional place of graduation is anyone’s guess. But enough candidates lie about graduating from schools they may have never seen, save for photos on the Internet. The HR person should always consider the ghost attendance a very real possibility.
As to which schools the job candidates may claim to have graduated, the selection is varied and sometimes darkly amusing. Some may choose the smaller and more out of the way schools as their fictional alma maters. They may select something arty and prestigious, one of those schools you may hear about but not know much about.. Or your candidate can take obscurity in another direction by listing on their resume some grievously remote or sub-par institute of higher learning that few ever even heard of..
There is certain logic to making such claims. By listing say, an obscure Mid-Western school or esoteric New England college, as his place of graduation, your candidate may believe he helps substantiate his credibility. Even the more astute HR person may well determine no one would actually lie about graduating from a Reed College, in Oregon, Amherst, in Massachusetts, or Lake Forest, in Illinois? Or for that matter as a defense against low self-esteem, who would dare boast of graduating from one of the legions of North Western Eastern Slippery Eel Teacher’s College in the far corner of the middle of nowhere? So, the thinking goes, you may accept their claim at face value and never bother to check it out.
Other candidates will take the alternate route. Most in fact, will choose the larger schools, believing their names and alleged graduation dates may well get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. Of course, if they did attend for awhile, they hope their registered enrollment may mistakenly be interpreted as proof of graduation. What they lack in education, they make up for in audacity. Well, sort of.
Finally, there are the no degree degrees. These are the phony degrees awarded for “life experience” and are not representative of attendance or graduation from any legitimate or accredited college. They are totally bogus. But they are popular. The more enterprising among the duplicitous can purchase these degrees online for anywhere from fifty bucks to several hundred dollars. The graduate degrees are a little pricier than the mere Bachelors’ but they are available from any number of phony universities. Some of them even look impressive; provided you don’t look try to find the school’s physical address on the Internet.
Before you become too upset or overly suspicious, bear in mind that those who lie about their degrees comprise a minority of employment candidates. More often than not your candidate actually is who he says he is and did attend and graduate from the college listed in his resume. But bear in mind the operative phase here is “more often than not.” With that in mind, think of the ways you may cause embarrassment and even litigation if you mistakenly hire someone who has obtained only a fictional degree.
It may be true that lacking a Bachelor’s degree in certain disciplines may be irrelevant. There is a saying, for example, that a good sales person is born and not made, or something to that affect. And while that may be true in certain disciplines, in more than a few someone better have the qualifications afforded through the proper education. It may well be your new hire with his fictional degree may genuinely lack the skill sets required for the job. This reality can cause all sorts of problems and even lead to catastrophe in its myriad forms.
You have allocated time and money to his hire. You have distracted your work force, at least those who have conducted the various interviews. In hiring this person, you may have rejected a candidate who was truly qualified but is no longer available. You must now allocate additional resources to hire someone else. Such mistakes can detract from employee morale as well as your bottom line.
Additionally, by hiring someone not qualified by virtue of lacking his degree, you are jeopardizing your relationship with clients. You may have assigned this person to a client, and now your employee has screw things up through is lack of qualifications. This can make your client extremely unhappy. The client may demand compensation. They may even threaten a lawsuit. This is not only costly, but embarrassing as well.
If you think this doesn’t happen, you had better think again. These are not the stories executives like to brag about over lunch. These are the stories that are whispered, and the whispering is far more ominous and damaging to your business. Let’s face it, if your failure to perform due diligence causes proves detrimental to your client, then you will be held accountable. You will look foolish and cheap. You may also be looking for another client to replace the one who left you.
The moral to this story is that your Human Resources Management must check out everyone, no matter how trustworthy they sound. It is essential to have a pre-employment screening program in place and to include education verification as part of that program. The few bucks you spend up front to verify your candidate’s graduation can save you plenty in money and time as well as and potential litigation and embarrassment. Those who win contracts with major corporations, especially technology or defense and security related industries will find these companies mandate background checks for everyone who will be working on the project. This includes education verification. Often they will insist on verification of all degrees and not just the highest.
When conducting education verifications here are some things to keep in mind—
• Colleges and Universities typically provide verification either in-house or through the National Student Clearing House or another third party service. If the University is registered with a third party service, the degree can often be verified that day. Third party services will charge a fixed rate for access verification. Some background checking agencies will add on to this rate while others will pass it on at cost.
• Typically, degrees are verified by background checking services within a couple, few days. The process may take longer if your candidate has either graduated some years back or is not listed in the database.
• Verification may also take longer over the holidays, semester break or the summer. Be prepared to allow for more time for verification.
• Verification from foreign universities inevitably will take longer than domestic verification. Typically, the rates for foreign verifications are significantly higher than charges for a domestic university. Be prepared to pay more and wait longer for the foreign verification.
• Some schools will ask for your candidate’s disclosure and release form before issuing the verification.
• When providing your candidate’s information to the University or third party service, it is best to include the years attended, the year graduated, the actual degree and major, and for large schools the campus where your candidate attended.
• If your candidate is a female, be sure the information you submit reflects the actual name with which your candidate graduated. Sometimes your candidate applies for the position under her married name and fails to provide her maiden name, the name she used while attending school.
• This may also apply for foreign students. Sometimes foreign candidates will change their names after graduation, to make them more accessible in the American workplace. But they may have attended school, using their formal name. Your candidate is known to you as “Ben,” but in school he was still “Bao.” This can complicate the verification process.
• If the school or the third party service is having a difficult time verifying y our candidate’s degree, they may request a facsimile of his diploma or final transcripts.
• Be sure to keep your verification process uniform. You may decide to verify all degrees or only the highest degree obtained. Whatever you do for one candidate, you should do for all the rest.
• Make sure your background checking service stays in front of any complications that may arise in the verification process. Establish and maintain fluid communication channels so that the service can keep you informed and request additional information when needed.
Remember if for some reason and after all due diligence you are unable to verify your candidate’s degree, it probably means he never obtained one. They may try to talk their way out of it, but hold firm and insist they provide any information that has been requested. There is nothing exceptional about this information for anyone who has truly graduated from an accredited college or university. If they can’t provide that information, you may want to look for another candidate. Remember the axiom that if they lie about their degree then they’ll lie when on the job didn’t become accepted wisdom for no reason. Check them out before you hire.
Yes, that person interviewing with your Human Resource Manger and other relevant executives, the one looking presentable and acting so bright and articulate may well be inventing his education. In most cases your candidate’s claim to a higher education is not necessarily a total invention. He may have in fact actually enrolled in the university listed on the resume. He just didn’t graduate from that school. Or any other school, for that matter.
But then there are those, a notable amount of employment candidates who have engaged in what we term a ghost attendance. That is to say they not only failed to graduate from the school, but they never enrolled at all. Why they chose that particular school as their fictional place of graduation is anyone’s guess. But enough candidates lie about graduating from schools they may have never seen, save for photos on the Internet. The HR person should always consider the ghost attendance a very real possibility.
As to which schools the job candidates may claim to have graduated, the selection is varied and sometimes darkly amusing. Some may choose the smaller and more out of the way schools as their fictional alma maters. They may select something arty and prestigious, one of those schools you may hear about but not know much about.. Or your candidate can take obscurity in another direction by listing on their resume some grievously remote or sub-par institute of higher learning that few ever even heard of..
There is certain logic to making such claims. By listing say, an obscure Mid-Western school or esoteric New England college, as his place of graduation, your candidate may believe he helps substantiate his credibility. Even the more astute HR person may well determine no one would actually lie about graduating from a Reed College, in Oregon, Amherst, in Massachusetts, or Lake Forest, in Illinois? Or for that matter as a defense against low self-esteem, who would dare boast of graduating from one of the legions of North Western Eastern Slippery Eel Teacher’s College in the far corner of the middle of nowhere? So, the thinking goes, you may accept their claim at face value and never bother to check it out.
Other candidates will take the alternate route. Most in fact, will choose the larger schools, believing their names and alleged graduation dates may well get lost in the bureaucratic shuffle. Of course, if they did attend for awhile, they hope their registered enrollment may mistakenly be interpreted as proof of graduation. What they lack in education, they make up for in audacity. Well, sort of.
Finally, there are the no degree degrees. These are the phony degrees awarded for “life experience” and are not representative of attendance or graduation from any legitimate or accredited college. They are totally bogus. But they are popular. The more enterprising among the duplicitous can purchase these degrees online for anywhere from fifty bucks to several hundred dollars. The graduate degrees are a little pricier than the mere Bachelors’ but they are available from any number of phony universities. Some of them even look impressive; provided you don’t look try to find the school’s physical address on the Internet.
Before you become too upset or overly suspicious, bear in mind that those who lie about their degrees comprise a minority of employment candidates. More often than not your candidate actually is who he says he is and did attend and graduate from the college listed in his resume. But bear in mind the operative phase here is “more often than not.” With that in mind, think of the ways you may cause embarrassment and even litigation if you mistakenly hire someone who has obtained only a fictional degree.
It may be true that lacking a Bachelor’s degree in certain disciplines may be irrelevant. There is a saying, for example, that a good sales person is born and not made, or something to that affect. And while that may be true in certain disciplines, in more than a few someone better have the qualifications afforded through the proper education. It may well be your new hire with his fictional degree may genuinely lack the skill sets required for the job. This reality can cause all sorts of problems and even lead to catastrophe in its myriad forms.
You have allocated time and money to his hire. You have distracted your work force, at least those who have conducted the various interviews. In hiring this person, you may have rejected a candidate who was truly qualified but is no longer available. You must now allocate additional resources to hire someone else. Such mistakes can detract from employee morale as well as your bottom line.
Additionally, by hiring someone not qualified by virtue of lacking his degree, you are jeopardizing your relationship with clients. You may have assigned this person to a client, and now your employee has screw things up through is lack of qualifications. This can make your client extremely unhappy. The client may demand compensation. They may even threaten a lawsuit. This is not only costly, but embarrassing as well.
If you think this doesn’t happen, you had better think again. These are not the stories executives like to brag about over lunch. These are the stories that are whispered, and the whispering is far more ominous and damaging to your business. Let’s face it, if your failure to perform due diligence causes proves detrimental to your client, then you will be held accountable. You will look foolish and cheap. You may also be looking for another client to replace the one who left you.
The moral to this story is that your Human Resources Management must check out everyone, no matter how trustworthy they sound. It is essential to have a pre-employment screening program in place and to include education verification as part of that program. The few bucks you spend up front to verify your candidate’s graduation can save you plenty in money and time as well as and potential litigation and embarrassment. Those who win contracts with major corporations, especially technology or defense and security related industries will find these companies mandate background checks for everyone who will be working on the project. This includes education verification. Often they will insist on verification of all degrees and not just the highest.
When conducting education verifications here are some things to keep in mind—
• Colleges and Universities typically provide verification either in-house or through the National Student Clearing House or another third party service. If the University is registered with a third party service, the degree can often be verified that day. Third party services will charge a fixed rate for access verification. Some background checking agencies will add on to this rate while others will pass it on at cost.
• Typically, degrees are verified by background checking services within a couple, few days. The process may take longer if your candidate has either graduated some years back or is not listed in the database.
• Verification may also take longer over the holidays, semester break or the summer. Be prepared to allow for more time for verification.
• Verification from foreign universities inevitably will take longer than domestic verification. Typically, the rates for foreign verifications are significantly higher than charges for a domestic university. Be prepared to pay more and wait longer for the foreign verification.
• Some schools will ask for your candidate’s disclosure and release form before issuing the verification.
• When providing your candidate’s information to the University or third party service, it is best to include the years attended, the year graduated, the actual degree and major, and for large schools the campus where your candidate attended.
• If your candidate is a female, be sure the information you submit reflects the actual name with which your candidate graduated. Sometimes your candidate applies for the position under her married name and fails to provide her maiden name, the name she used while attending school.
• This may also apply for foreign students. Sometimes foreign candidates will change their names after graduation, to make them more accessible in the American workplace. But they may have attended school, using their formal name. Your candidate is known to you as “Ben,” but in school he was still “Bao.” This can complicate the verification process.
• If the school or the third party service is having a difficult time verifying y our candidate’s degree, they may request a facsimile of his diploma or final transcripts.
• Be sure to keep your verification process uniform. You may decide to verify all degrees or only the highest degree obtained. Whatever you do for one candidate, you should do for all the rest.
• Make sure your background checking service stays in front of any complications that may arise in the verification process. Establish and maintain fluid communication channels so that the service can keep you informed and request additional information when needed.
Remember if for some reason and after all due diligence you are unable to verify your candidate’s degree, it probably means he never obtained one. They may try to talk their way out of it, but hold firm and insist they provide any information that has been requested. There is nothing exceptional about this information for anyone who has truly graduated from an accredited college or university. If they can’t provide that information, you may want to look for another candidate. Remember the axiom that if they lie about their degree then they’ll lie when on the job didn’t become accepted wisdom for no reason. Check them out before you hire.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Parent's Involvement in Children's Education
ABSTRACT
The importance of parental involvement as an accelerating and motivating factor in their children’s education is a worldwide-accepted fact. This research project provides an in depth explanation along with specific reasons, the importance of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. It also discusses the parenting techniques, their types and their consequences if neglected. It also describes the ways to measure the outcome of the positive parental involvement. Furthermore, it mentions the teachers involvement and the difficulties faced by the teachers in getting parents involved in their children’s (this is further supported by the examples of two teachers who with their deliberate efforts won the parents over to devote their maximum attention towards their children), single-parent involvement, children’s own efforts to improve their academic levels and joint home-school based interventions. A detailed analysis of the different main ideas is given, based on the findings from other research surveys and projects.
INTRODUCTION:
Parental involvement can be seen to fall into three types: 1) Behavioral, 2) Intellectual and 3) Personal. The research explores the effect of multi-dimensional participation of parents and the resulting progress of children in their studies when different parental resources were dedicated to them. Actively participating parents help their children in their academic development by going to schools and participating in open houses. By keenly observing the behavior of their children they can rightly judge the kind of behavior or the allocation of resources required by their children. Such caring parents can also motivate teachers to become more attentive towards a particular student, thus maintaining the cycle of parent-teacher involvement. Encourage Building up cognitive and perception abilities in a child are a major concern in the upbringing of the child. The way the parents involve their children in cognitive learning is by exposing them to different cognitively stimulating activities and materials such as books, electronic media and current events at home. This helps the child to practice all sorts of language comprehending skills at the school. The results show a remarkably positive behavior at the school and with peers.
Two parenting processes namely the Supportive Parenting (SP) and Harsh Parenting (HP) helped a lot in the research of parental involvement in their children’s education. By adjusting the levels of supportive parenting, different levels of successful outcomes were observed. Supportive parenting in even kindergarten students yielded positive results. Four measures of supportive parenting were used in the study, they were:
1. Proactive teaching.
2. Calm discussion in disciplinary encounters.
3. Warmth.
4. Interest and involvement in peer activities.
The assessments were conducted when children entered kindergarten and when they reached grade 6. There was a factor noted to hinder children’s development: family adversity. It was the result of a multipurpose negative process that included the risk of low socio-economic status, single-parenting and family stress. Child maladjustments were found to be more common in families with such adversities. No matter how much negative impacts were cast, SP was found to overcome the risks associated with family adversity. SP was strongly related to adjustment procedures in grade 6 children who had single parent family or experienced low socio-economic status (SES) in their early childhood.
In a way to socialize their children, parents adopted the techniques of calm discussion and proactive teaching. They helped lessen the behavioral problems by carrying long discussions with their children, cultivating in them a sense of respect, calmness and peace of mind. Mothers also participated actively in reducing the peer stress among their children. It is also a widely accepted fact that supportive parenting plays an important role in the children’s development of empathy, prosocial behavior and emotional competence. On the negative side, the absence of supportive parenting may be related to the development of internal problems such as anxiety and depression.
Lack of the necessary parental care and attention is the main factor for the subsequent rise in the percentage of juvenile delinquency (crime among children). The absence of parental instructions causes children to develop irreversible behavioral and emotional problems. They in order to seek attention, resort to crimes thinking that in this way they could fulfill their wishes. They may revert to uncontrolled violence if not kept an eye upon. Such criminal activities cannot be brought to a halt until their distressing symptoms of low self-esteem, depression, dysphonic mood, tension and worries, and other disturbances are relieved. And the importance of parents’ role in this regard cannot be over-emphasized.
In an effort to describe parental involvement, many researchers use a term “Transition”(Lombardi, Joan). “Transition” is used to describe the time period in which children move from home to school, from school to after school activities, from one activity to another within a pre-school, or from pre-school to kindergarten. The untiring endeavors of teachers in the phenomenon of transition cannot be ignored. They prepared the children and their parents to face the problems of adjusting to elementary school programs that had different psychology, teaching styles and structure than the programs offered at the kindergarten level. In the elementary level schools the teachers had to face serious challenges in motivating the parents to take interest in their children’s activities. The teachers adopted different methods to involve the parents in day-to-day classroom and home activities. They used to send notes, invitation of parent-teacher meetings, invitation of parental guidance sessions and training sessions, continuously directing the parent’s attention towards their children. Patricia Brown Clark suggests that it is very important to keep the line of communication between teachers and parents open, so that the parents can interact with the teachers and get up to date information of their children’s school activities. One way to involve parents is to schedule school events and arranging classroom activities such as volunteering for libraries, acting as classroom aides or efficiently organizing lunch breaks. The teachers also opt for making phone calls at the children’s houses to keep in touch with the parents and getting to know the extent to which they are contributing towards the welfare of their children. Apart from the above activities, the teachers also assign home activities for both the parents and their children so that the parents remain indulged in their children and the children get to study at home. However, it was a bad and disappointing experience for the teachers when many of the parents failed to respond as expected. Many of the parents were so overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children.
Moreover, for some parents their schoolings were not positive and character-boosting experiences, therefore they preferred to keep a distance from their children’s school as well. This made it really difficult and at times impossible for teachers to bring the parental involvement to the desired level. Nevertheless, the activities of two teachers proved greatly fruitful in making parents involved in their children. They were Carlos Valdez, an art teacher and 8th grade class sponsor, and Mike Hogan, the school’s band director. They did it by involving parents in music festivals and other school ceremonies. They proved to be great examples for the future teachers to come.
If the children’s academic development programs are to prove successful they must share two characteristics:
1) Developmentally appropriate practice:
A child’s academic progress is clearly reflected by the appropriate practice he/she administers while in school life. During transitions from pre-school to kindergarten, a child if given the exact developmentally appropriate practice tends to learn a great deal of language and playing skills. He develops a keen interest in exploring his environments and interacting (without hesitation) with his adults.
2) Supportive services:
These include the assistance that the school provides to low-income family students. The services include health care, childcare and community care. This strengthens the relation between school and children and creates a sense of security and confidence among the children. They get to learn that their communities are a part of their school since the school’s supportive services strive to help community development.
It is commonly believed that children are good self-teachers. Their self-initiated strategies help improve their expression, creativity, intellectual capabilities and extra-curricular skills. This idea is proved by the documentation of young children’s work provided by Reggio Emilia :
“The Reggio Emilia educators highlight young children’s amazing capabilities and indicate that it is through the unity of thinking and feeling that young children can explore their world, represent their ideas, and communicate with others at their highest level.”(Edwards, Pope. C, Springate, Wright.K)
The climax rests in the fact that how the parents would know that their sincere involvements are really proving worthwhile for their children. The answer lies in the attitude of the children. The degree of parental involvement can be judged by a child’s attitude towards his school subjects, his academic desires and achievements. There is a direct relationship between academic achievements and the attitude towards school. Schunk in 1981 had the following idea of aspiration or academic desires:
“Level of aspiration is defined as one’s subjective probability that he or she will reach a certain level of education.”(Abu, H. & Maher, M)
As a result children who received adequate parental concern were found to be much more confident in their academic desires and achievements than those who could not get the right amount of parental concern. The individual involvement of mothers and fathers also plays a vital role in the behavioral development of a child. Students from one-parent household were observed to show less positive attitude towards schools and studies as compared to students from two-parent households. One study aimed at investigating parental concern showed that despite mothers’ sincere endeavors, the role of fathers could not be ignored and both served as an important foundation for the future progress of the child. This can be proved from the following fact:
According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (1997), compared to their counterparts, children with involved fathers are more likely to have participated in educational activities with their parents (e.g., to have visited a museum or a historical site with their parents in the past month), and are more likely to have access to multiple types of resources at home as well (as measured by the proportion of parents who belong to community or professional organizations, or regularly volunteer in the community). (Flouri, E. And Buchanan, A, Pg.142)
Also, the parental involvement has been discussed and implemented in terms of interventions or prevention programs, which are nothing but safety measures taken to assure healthy and perfect upbringing of the child. The study uses school-based and home-only intervention programs to find out the extent of intellectual capabilities found in children from different family backgrounds. The success of one school-based interventions can be proved from the following fact, which was a part of “Education Service Improvement Plan 2001-2005” of Edinburgh:
----The Scottish Executive Discipline Task Force, which studied the causes of poor behavior among pupils in schools produced a report of 'Better Behavior - Better Learning' in June 2001. The report included 36 recommendations for action, which were then turned into an Action Plan in 2002. Many of these have implications for the Education Authority. (Craig Millar Instep Project)
The importance of parental involvement as an accelerating and motivating factor in their children’s education is a worldwide-accepted fact. This research project provides an in depth explanation along with specific reasons, the importance of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. It also discusses the parenting techniques, their types and their consequences if neglected. It also describes the ways to measure the outcome of the positive parental involvement. Furthermore, it mentions the teachers involvement and the difficulties faced by the teachers in getting parents involved in their children’s (this is further supported by the examples of two teachers who with their deliberate efforts won the parents over to devote their maximum attention towards their children), single-parent involvement, children’s own efforts to improve their academic levels and joint home-school based interventions. A detailed analysis of the different main ideas is given, based on the findings from other research surveys and projects.
INTRODUCTION:
Parental involvement can be seen to fall into three types: 1) Behavioral, 2) Intellectual and 3) Personal. The research explores the effect of multi-dimensional participation of parents and the resulting progress of children in their studies when different parental resources were dedicated to them. Actively participating parents help their children in their academic development by going to schools and participating in open houses. By keenly observing the behavior of their children they can rightly judge the kind of behavior or the allocation of resources required by their children. Such caring parents can also motivate teachers to become more attentive towards a particular student, thus maintaining the cycle of parent-teacher involvement. Encourage Building up cognitive and perception abilities in a child are a major concern in the upbringing of the child. The way the parents involve their children in cognitive learning is by exposing them to different cognitively stimulating activities and materials such as books, electronic media and current events at home. This helps the child to practice all sorts of language comprehending skills at the school. The results show a remarkably positive behavior at the school and with peers.
Two parenting processes namely the Supportive Parenting (SP) and Harsh Parenting (HP) helped a lot in the research of parental involvement in their children’s education. By adjusting the levels of supportive parenting, different levels of successful outcomes were observed. Supportive parenting in even kindergarten students yielded positive results. Four measures of supportive parenting were used in the study, they were:
1. Proactive teaching.
2. Calm discussion in disciplinary encounters.
3. Warmth.
4. Interest and involvement in peer activities.
The assessments were conducted when children entered kindergarten and when they reached grade 6. There was a factor noted to hinder children’s development: family adversity. It was the result of a multipurpose negative process that included the risk of low socio-economic status, single-parenting and family stress. Child maladjustments were found to be more common in families with such adversities. No matter how much negative impacts were cast, SP was found to overcome the risks associated with family adversity. SP was strongly related to adjustment procedures in grade 6 children who had single parent family or experienced low socio-economic status (SES) in their early childhood.
In a way to socialize their children, parents adopted the techniques of calm discussion and proactive teaching. They helped lessen the behavioral problems by carrying long discussions with their children, cultivating in them a sense of respect, calmness and peace of mind. Mothers also participated actively in reducing the peer stress among their children. It is also a widely accepted fact that supportive parenting plays an important role in the children’s development of empathy, prosocial behavior and emotional competence. On the negative side, the absence of supportive parenting may be related to the development of internal problems such as anxiety and depression.
Lack of the necessary parental care and attention is the main factor for the subsequent rise in the percentage of juvenile delinquency (crime among children). The absence of parental instructions causes children to develop irreversible behavioral and emotional problems. They in order to seek attention, resort to crimes thinking that in this way they could fulfill their wishes. They may revert to uncontrolled violence if not kept an eye upon. Such criminal activities cannot be brought to a halt until their distressing symptoms of low self-esteem, depression, dysphonic mood, tension and worries, and other disturbances are relieved. And the importance of parents’ role in this regard cannot be over-emphasized.
In an effort to describe parental involvement, many researchers use a term “Transition”(Lombardi, Joan). “Transition” is used to describe the time period in which children move from home to school, from school to after school activities, from one activity to another within a pre-school, or from pre-school to kindergarten. The untiring endeavors of teachers in the phenomenon of transition cannot be ignored. They prepared the children and their parents to face the problems of adjusting to elementary school programs that had different psychology, teaching styles and structure than the programs offered at the kindergarten level. In the elementary level schools the teachers had to face serious challenges in motivating the parents to take interest in their children’s activities. The teachers adopted different methods to involve the parents in day-to-day classroom and home activities. They used to send notes, invitation of parent-teacher meetings, invitation of parental guidance sessions and training sessions, continuously directing the parent’s attention towards their children. Patricia Brown Clark suggests that it is very important to keep the line of communication between teachers and parents open, so that the parents can interact with the teachers and get up to date information of their children’s school activities. One way to involve parents is to schedule school events and arranging classroom activities such as volunteering for libraries, acting as classroom aides or efficiently organizing lunch breaks. The teachers also opt for making phone calls at the children’s houses to keep in touch with the parents and getting to know the extent to which they are contributing towards the welfare of their children. Apart from the above activities, the teachers also assign home activities for both the parents and their children so that the parents remain indulged in their children and the children get to study at home. However, it was a bad and disappointing experience for the teachers when many of the parents failed to respond as expected. Many of the parents were so overwhelmed with their official work that they could hardly take out some time for their beloved children.
Moreover, for some parents their schoolings were not positive and character-boosting experiences, therefore they preferred to keep a distance from their children’s school as well. This made it really difficult and at times impossible for teachers to bring the parental involvement to the desired level. Nevertheless, the activities of two teachers proved greatly fruitful in making parents involved in their children. They were Carlos Valdez, an art teacher and 8th grade class sponsor, and Mike Hogan, the school’s band director. They did it by involving parents in music festivals and other school ceremonies. They proved to be great examples for the future teachers to come.
If the children’s academic development programs are to prove successful they must share two characteristics:
1) Developmentally appropriate practice:
A child’s academic progress is clearly reflected by the appropriate practice he/she administers while in school life. During transitions from pre-school to kindergarten, a child if given the exact developmentally appropriate practice tends to learn a great deal of language and playing skills. He develops a keen interest in exploring his environments and interacting (without hesitation) with his adults.
2) Supportive services:
These include the assistance that the school provides to low-income family students. The services include health care, childcare and community care. This strengthens the relation between school and children and creates a sense of security and confidence among the children. They get to learn that their communities are a part of their school since the school’s supportive services strive to help community development.
It is commonly believed that children are good self-teachers. Their self-initiated strategies help improve their expression, creativity, intellectual capabilities and extra-curricular skills. This idea is proved by the documentation of young children’s work provided by Reggio Emilia :
“The Reggio Emilia educators highlight young children’s amazing capabilities and indicate that it is through the unity of thinking and feeling that young children can explore their world, represent their ideas, and communicate with others at their highest level.”(Edwards, Pope. C, Springate, Wright.K)
The climax rests in the fact that how the parents would know that their sincere involvements are really proving worthwhile for their children. The answer lies in the attitude of the children. The degree of parental involvement can be judged by a child’s attitude towards his school subjects, his academic desires and achievements. There is a direct relationship between academic achievements and the attitude towards school. Schunk in 1981 had the following idea of aspiration or academic desires:
“Level of aspiration is defined as one’s subjective probability that he or she will reach a certain level of education.”(Abu, H. & Maher, M)
As a result children who received adequate parental concern were found to be much more confident in their academic desires and achievements than those who could not get the right amount of parental concern. The individual involvement of mothers and fathers also plays a vital role in the behavioral development of a child. Students from one-parent household were observed to show less positive attitude towards schools and studies as compared to students from two-parent households. One study aimed at investigating parental concern showed that despite mothers’ sincere endeavors, the role of fathers could not be ignored and both served as an important foundation for the future progress of the child. This can be proved from the following fact:
According to a recent report from the National Center for Educational Statistics (1997), compared to their counterparts, children with involved fathers are more likely to have participated in educational activities with their parents (e.g., to have visited a museum or a historical site with their parents in the past month), and are more likely to have access to multiple types of resources at home as well (as measured by the proportion of parents who belong to community or professional organizations, or regularly volunteer in the community). (Flouri, E. And Buchanan, A, Pg.142)
Also, the parental involvement has been discussed and implemented in terms of interventions or prevention programs, which are nothing but safety measures taken to assure healthy and perfect upbringing of the child. The study uses school-based and home-only intervention programs to find out the extent of intellectual capabilities found in children from different family backgrounds. The success of one school-based interventions can be proved from the following fact, which was a part of “Education Service Improvement Plan 2001-2005” of Edinburgh:
----The Scottish Executive Discipline Task Force, which studied the causes of poor behavior among pupils in schools produced a report of 'Better Behavior - Better Learning' in June 2001. The report included 36 recommendations for action, which were then turned into an Action Plan in 2002. Many of these have implications for the Education Authority. (Craig Millar Instep Project)
Sunday, August 21, 2011
My right: Universal elementary education
My right: Universal elementary education
A plight on Indian universal elementary education system
The god has created this wonderful universe. In this universe he/she has sent human to live. In human he/she has inserted an organ named brain. The brain generates ideas, these come from knowledge and finally knowledge can be gather only and only by education. Thus education is a basic fundamental need of human to live natural life.
In future, India is going to be largest population hub of world. Are we providing our new born brains that knowledge which they deserve? “My Right” deals with this aspect of future’s India. Right to education has become fundamental right in Indian statues books in 2002, as once Indian parliament had given its approval to 86th constitutional amendment in 2002 under article 21A of constitution. According to this every Indian child 6-14 year of age has fundamental right to free and compulsory education. Additional to this government of India has introduced a bill called “Right to education bill 2005”, which deal with early age child care and education for all children until they acquired the age of six. It also says that, it is the fundamental duty of every Indian parent to provide equal opportunities to his/her children of age of 6-14years to get education.
Please look into this for my sake.
Population
(6-14years) 226204139
Below poverty line
Population(6-14 years) 56573568
(25%)
Total of students
(primary) 149400000
Number of schools
(primary) 664041
Number of teachers
(primary) 2900000
Teacher/students ratio 40/teacher
Children not able to attend
the school (primary) 76804139
(33.9%)
%of girls out of school 39%
Expenditure on education 4.02% GDP
Source: census 2001&: UNICEF statistical year book
What are the reasons behind this all?
1. 25% of Indian population still live below poverty line means
India is a multi religions nation.
a) % of religion based population
b) %of illiteracy among 6-14year
Above facts clearly tell the whole tale itself. 30.8% of my Muslim friends are remaining illiterate in target age for universal elementary education campaign (6-14 year). This is highest among all religious population in India. It is largely because, Muslims prefer theirs religious education over modern education.
3. Gender bias ness.
The Indian society is fully male dominant. The gender equation always tilts towards male section of society, decline sex ratio; numbers of women in different parts of society to government position is clear cut message of bias ness towards women in my part of world. This is also a hurdle in making my school/class fully humane. (Where every child of age 6-14 year can attend it
without any consideration of caste, creed, religion and gender).Please go through it. After making every girl child into school/class room, then and only than we can see education for all in real sense.
primary school
enrollment rate Primary completion
rates Youth illiteracy Rate (% of people aged 15-24)
Male
91
85
20.3
Female
76
69
35.2
Source: world Bank
4. Urban based education system.
Education system of India is urban centric, Every financial capable Indian parent want to send theirs kids to these urban schooling, so big gap has been created in favors of urban because all good schools, educational institutions and universities are based in urban areas.
Who is caring for me?
The education in India is subject of all and none to responsibility. As per Indian constitution education fall in concurrent list, which mean federal and state governments has its say on this all important subject of human development. Following are my care takers.
1. Federal government.
2. State government.
3. International agencies (united nations)
4. Private sectors.
What are being done for my sake?
1. Sarv shiksha abhiyan(Indian universal elementary education campaign)
2. Mid day meal programme(food for education launched in 1995 and revised in 2004)
3. District Primary Education Programme (launched in November, 1994 to overhauling the primary education system in India)
4. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (Setting up unto 750 residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities in difficult areas.)
5. Programme of Mobilizing Local Support to Primary Schools (PLUS)(launched in 2004 to get additional local resources by local support.)
6. 86th constitutional amendment in 2002 under article 21A of constitution. (every Indian child 6-14year of age has fundamental right to free and compulsory education)
7. Right to education bill 2005. (Early age child care and education for all children until they acquired the age of six.)
What I require?
As above stated programmes and schemes are being run by different federal and state governments agencies for me but still I am not able to reach school yet. So to get me enroll in school, I require following.
1. One teacher for 15 students
Students/teacher ratio Source: UNESCO
Above pictorial facts show that developed nations has always less Students/teacher ratio as compare to developing side, but some developing nations has achieved shoulder to shoulder with developed ones like China, Iraq etc. As identical to China, I require one teacher for 19 students of my class.
2. One School in one kilometer radius.
India has 2973190sq.km Land area. AS one school with in one kilo meter radius need approximately 2000000 primary schools, where as only 664041 schools are for me. This clearly means 1335959 more schools I require to get my education near to my home.
3. Free education for all
As per 86th constitutional amendment has ensured me free and compulsory education (6-14year age). But in practical rural India and some urban, it is too implemented in true sprit.
4. Common education system across India.
As in India education is subject for all but responsibility of none, because there is not a uniform education system in nation. This has made me more vulnerable when I have to move around nation in my 6-14 year’s child hood. So I need a common education system across the nation to make me easy at every part of country as same.
5. Education in my mother tongue
Language is the first barrier which a child has to face in his/her school entrance in India. If it is removed than I may really not fear to attend my school as I do now. Which in latter becomes substantial reason of my drop out from schools.
Where lay my future?
My future is lying in your hands. The world fraternity has pledged in April 2000 at Dakar (Senegal), education for all unto 2015 A.D. Where as my Indian education planners has set 2010A.D for me to be in school/class room. Last not the least is my humble request to all who are concerned with this mission “education for all” that kindly look into above plight, so that my right for universal elementary education will be available to my every brethren and sisters at the time of theirs birth.
Plighted by
An Indian child of 1967
E- mail:drawat@abcnewsnetwork.com
A plight on Indian universal elementary education system
The god has created this wonderful universe. In this universe he/she has sent human to live. In human he/she has inserted an organ named brain. The brain generates ideas, these come from knowledge and finally knowledge can be gather only and only by education. Thus education is a basic fundamental need of human to live natural life.
In future, India is going to be largest population hub of world. Are we providing our new born brains that knowledge which they deserve? “My Right” deals with this aspect of future’s India. Right to education has become fundamental right in Indian statues books in 2002, as once Indian parliament had given its approval to 86th constitutional amendment in 2002 under article 21A of constitution. According to this every Indian child 6-14 year of age has fundamental right to free and compulsory education. Additional to this government of India has introduced a bill called “Right to education bill 2005”, which deal with early age child care and education for all children until they acquired the age of six. It also says that, it is the fundamental duty of every Indian parent to provide equal opportunities to his/her children of age of 6-14years to get education.
Please look into this for my sake.
Population
(6-14years) 226204139
Below poverty line
Population(6-14 years) 56573568
(25%)
Total of students
(primary) 149400000
Number of schools
(primary) 664041
Number of teachers
(primary) 2900000
Teacher/students ratio 40/teacher
Children not able to attend
the school (primary) 76804139
(33.9%)
%of girls out of school 39%
Expenditure on education 4.02% GDP
Source: census 2001&: UNICEF statistical year book
What are the reasons behind this all?
1. 25% of Indian population still live below poverty line means
India is a multi religions nation.
a) % of religion based population
b) %of illiteracy among 6-14year
Above facts clearly tell the whole tale itself. 30.8% of my Muslim friends are remaining illiterate in target age for universal elementary education campaign (6-14 year). This is highest among all religious population in India. It is largely because, Muslims prefer theirs religious education over modern education.
3. Gender bias ness.
The Indian society is fully male dominant. The gender equation always tilts towards male section of society, decline sex ratio; numbers of women in different parts of society to government position is clear cut message of bias ness towards women in my part of world. This is also a hurdle in making my school/class fully humane. (Where every child of age 6-14 year can attend it
without any consideration of caste, creed, religion and gender).Please go through it. After making every girl child into school/class room, then and only than we can see education for all in real sense.
primary school
enrollment rate Primary completion
rates Youth illiteracy Rate (% of people aged 15-24)
Male
91
85
20.3
Female
76
69
35.2
Source: world Bank
4. Urban based education system.
Education system of India is urban centric, Every financial capable Indian parent want to send theirs kids to these urban schooling, so big gap has been created in favors of urban because all good schools, educational institutions and universities are based in urban areas.
Who is caring for me?
The education in India is subject of all and none to responsibility. As per Indian constitution education fall in concurrent list, which mean federal and state governments has its say on this all important subject of human development. Following are my care takers.
1. Federal government.
2. State government.
3. International agencies (united nations)
4. Private sectors.
What are being done for my sake?
1. Sarv shiksha abhiyan(Indian universal elementary education campaign)
2. Mid day meal programme(food for education launched in 1995 and revised in 2004)
3. District Primary Education Programme (launched in November, 1994 to overhauling the primary education system in India)
4. Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (Setting up unto 750 residential schools with boarding facilities at elementary level for girls belonging predominantly to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities in difficult areas.)
5. Programme of Mobilizing Local Support to Primary Schools (PLUS)(launched in 2004 to get additional local resources by local support.)
6. 86th constitutional amendment in 2002 under article 21A of constitution. (every Indian child 6-14year of age has fundamental right to free and compulsory education)
7. Right to education bill 2005. (Early age child care and education for all children until they acquired the age of six.)
What I require?
As above stated programmes and schemes are being run by different federal and state governments agencies for me but still I am not able to reach school yet. So to get me enroll in school, I require following.
1. One teacher for 15 students
Students/teacher ratio Source: UNESCO
Above pictorial facts show that developed nations has always less Students/teacher ratio as compare to developing side, but some developing nations has achieved shoulder to shoulder with developed ones like China, Iraq etc. As identical to China, I require one teacher for 19 students of my class.
2. One School in one kilometer radius.
India has 2973190sq.km Land area. AS one school with in one kilo meter radius need approximately 2000000 primary schools, where as only 664041 schools are for me. This clearly means 1335959 more schools I require to get my education near to my home.
3. Free education for all
As per 86th constitutional amendment has ensured me free and compulsory education (6-14year age). But in practical rural India and some urban, it is too implemented in true sprit.
4. Common education system across India.
As in India education is subject for all but responsibility of none, because there is not a uniform education system in nation. This has made me more vulnerable when I have to move around nation in my 6-14 year’s child hood. So I need a common education system across the nation to make me easy at every part of country as same.
5. Education in my mother tongue
Language is the first barrier which a child has to face in his/her school entrance in India. If it is removed than I may really not fear to attend my school as I do now. Which in latter becomes substantial reason of my drop out from schools.
Where lay my future?
My future is lying in your hands. The world fraternity has pledged in April 2000 at Dakar (Senegal), education for all unto 2015 A.D. Where as my Indian education planners has set 2010A.D for me to be in school/class room. Last not the least is my humble request to all who are concerned with this mission “education for all” that kindly look into above plight, so that my right for universal elementary education will be available to my every brethren and sisters at the time of theirs birth.
Plighted by
An Indian child of 1967
E- mail:drawat@abcnewsnetwork.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)