mr mover

So enlighten us to your experiences of Australian schools , not only SALE or BAIRNSDALE................. mm

BAY

I think Tony Blair has to take some responsibility.

He has dumbed down education standards ... both exam grades and behaviour standards.

What do you expect when he continually lies . Not just about Iraq but about almost everything , he fiddles figures on everything from NHS waiting lists, exam grades, crime figures. illegal economic immigrants, etc etc

And when his son a few years ago got blind drunk and gave a false name and address when arrested Blair just laughed it off. If my son did this it would be no laughing matter !

You have to have strong moral leadership from the top , when you don't it spreads to the rest of society.

Amazulu

The little *****s need a good hiding. Massive, unbending, draconian discipline is the answer.

TheColebecks

Sorry if this info is a repeat (I'm too tired to read through all the posts again!) but the programme in question is on ITV1 on Wednesday at 8pm.

Talking about kids and their attitudes .. did anyone watch the programme tonight about food and the affects it has on kids??? It was VERY interesting and certainly answered a LOT of questions rearding my nephew (15) who has behavioural problems - his diet is terrible .. the follow up programme is on Friday at 8pm, it will be very interesting to see how the kids (and parents!) have coped with the month-long special diet and also how they responded to it.

Regards
Karen & co

hevs

Perhaps he reads the paper or the internet or is well informed and doesn't think Aus is Utopia and the end to the worlds problems

moneypenny20

There are bad schools in every country in the world. There are also probably even more that are very good.

It is everybody's responsibility. If the parents have been brought up to respect others, they will generally teach their children the same respect. If not, they won't. The teachers dress too casually. If they wore suits they would get more respect. The government, and not just Blairs lot, have ensured that schools cannot treat the distruptive children in the best manner so it gets worse.

But what is a secondary school doing not having controls on the computers to stop anyone accessing any unsavoury sites. If a child tried to access porn in most schools, there would be no access. They are kids. The above example is no different from us looking up swear words in the dictionary when we were at school.

BAY

'The above example is no different from us looking up swear words in the dictionary when we were at school' ... I DON'T THINK SO ... I sort of know what you mean though. Agree with you there should be security on the PCs preventing access to unsuitable sites.

bondipom

If there is anyone who will find a way to subvert porn filters it will be teenage boys. Maybe it should be a subervise IT security lesson. Schools can take measure to prevent access but that depends on the level of expertise and funding of IT. I recall Surrey County Council having a porn blocking mechanism however I refrained from testing it.

Carl B

When I was at school, albeit in the 70's and 80's, we had a few teachers who you knew not to cross and those who you could get away with being naughty. I had my share of b*llockings and smacks, but I just got on with it. One thing I didn't do is tell my folks when I got home, as I would have got another b*llocking or smack. I like to think that I've turned out ok, I haven't got a criminal record and I tend to stay within the law. I reckon that the problem lies with the lack of discipline at home, which has been partly taken away by the do-gooders and the lack of acceptance on some parents' part that their little cherub may have deserved a smack or b*llocking at school. I'm not saying that parents and teachers should be able to smack kids black and blue but, in my opinion there needs to be a threat of further discipline and action when instructions are disobeyed. Unfortunately the sort of people that will smack kids black and blue will do so regardless of any laws brought in.

flip

Went to the Black Country Living Museum (Midlands) and took part in a Victorian lesson - kids were punished with the cane or standing for hours with their hands on their heads (sometimes with their nose touching the wall) for any breach of discipline and only told the parents once because they were likely to be punished again by their parents.

Sounds horrible - where's the happy medium?

I've taught at two schools - at the first in Yorkshire kids were excluded for a couple of days swearing at a teacher. I can't remember what other techniques they used but the kids were a delight and teachers also had respect (I was only a trainee and I was told off for calling a child a brat so maybe it included respecting the kids?).

At the second school in Essex police were called in when an egg was thrown at a teacher (me as an NQT on my first day - not happy teaching with a wet blouse on day 1) but still possibly and overreaction - kids would swear, respond to teachers with "you're avin a larf aint yer miss) and generally be horrid and the teaching scheme was dire there as well. There was so little control I gave up teaching & may well not go back.

I did continue teaching at FE colleges but so many students left the college once they'd got their grants it was heartbreaking.

So decisions to be made - do I try again in Australia or write off all that training. Teaching was great in one place maybe it can be in another and I'd like to be an optimist.

JackTheLad

The happy medium is what you said above. Or we continue the descent into madness.

JTL

tonyk38

The link between diet and behaviour in kids is nothing new.

There was a programme on telly a few years ago which carried out an experiment on two disruptive twin boys. One was kept on his usual diet of crud, and the other was only allowed to eat healthy food. After only a few weeks the results were startling. The boy on the healthy diet sat quietly at meal times and ate his dinner and was well behaved in general, whilst his twin brother continued to be aggressive in his behavoour, including attacking his twin brother who hardly even seemed to notice!

I've read of other similar experiments that have yielded similar results. It isn't conclusive proof, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't a link.

I've known quite a few teachers over the years who've come from abroad to teach in the UK. A common theme that they have nearly all metioned is that they were shocked at the behaviour of the kids in class. I'm not saying the problem is uniquely British, but their comments were rather telling I thought...

TheColebecks

There was a programme on ITV1 last night which is conducting the self-same diet experiement using three 14 year old disruptive/withdrawn/hyper boys - the outcome of the month long trial is being shown on ITV1 this Friday (29.04.05) at 8pm ... I'm sure the results will be obvious but it will be very interesting to see just how much these kids have improved on their new diets

Karen

judeyoga

No. i don't think kids are perfect in Aus. But I do think that by moving my kids will have more choices available to them, unlike the place we live now where the only choice for most people seems to be teenage pregnancy for the girls (2nd highest rate in the country for our secondary school) or unemployment or crime for the boys.

We can't afford to move any where else in this country to give our family more options but we can move to Aus so that they can see that there is a lot more out there and have opportunities they will never have here.

hevs

Make sure you choose wisely, theres many areas here where if your not 16 with 2 kids you are the odd one out

I understand what you are saying re not affording to move out of that type of area in the UK but its worth remembering that you kids will possibly end up in your predicament too. Certainly something that i worry about