Hong Kong students ranked second among 45 jurisdictions participating in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2006, just one point behind Russian pupils who topped the list.

Welcoming the results, Deputy Secretary for Education Bernadette Linn today said Hong Kong students’ performance has improved significantly, up from 14th place in the study conducted in 2001.

Ms Linn said this is great encouragement to teachers, principals and other education professionals who have been making unrelenting efforts in implementing the education and curriculum reforms.

“The success should be attributed to the efforts made by schools and teachers. They have taken up the new Chinese-language curriculum, used quality assessment data, and engaged in targeted professional development. All education professionals know the importance of reading for better learning,” she said…

The study is administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement in a five-year cycle to assess the reading literacy of students aged 9 to 10 in the fourth grade.

The Education Faculty of the University of Hong Kong was commissioned to study Hong Kong’s performance. More than 4,700 primary four students and their parents as well as teachers and principals from 144 primary schools participated…

Reading habits

Hong Kong students’ reading habits have improved in the past few years. Their reading attitude has shown positive changes and reading self-concept has improved significantly.

A significant rise was seen in the time students spent on reading and in the frequency of their borrowing books from the library. About 76% students read stories or novels at leisure time at least once or twice a week while 83% went to school or public libraries at least once or twice a week.

The study also showed there was a rise in parents engaging their children in reading activities such as telling stories and visiting the library. There was also improvement in home educational resources, such as the increasing number of books at home. All these helped to provide a favourable reading environment…

Source: News.gov.hk, Hong Kong
http://news.gov.hk/en/category/atschool/071129/html/071129en02003.htm

An innovative curriculum for preschoolers may improve academic performance, reduce diagnoses of attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and close the achievement gap between children from poor families and those from wealthier homes, according to research led by a Vancouver neuroscientist who is an expert on the development of the cognitive functions that depend on the prefrontal cortex area of the brain, called executive functions (EFs).

University of British Columbia Psychiatry Prof. Adele Diamond, who is Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, led the first evaluation of a curriculum called Tools of the Mind (Tools) that focuses on EFs. These functions include resisting distraction, giving a more considered response instead of your first impulse, working with information you are holding in mind, and the mental flexibility to think “outside the box.” …

“The recent explosion in diagnoses of ADHD may be partly due to some children never learning to exercise attentional control and self-discipline,” says Diamond. “Although some children are strongly biologically predisposed to hyperactivity and wouldn’t benefit from training, others may be misdiagnosed because what they actually need are skills in self-regulation.”

Previous research has shown that EFs are stronger predictors of academic performance than IQ, she adds. Children from lower-income families enter school with disproportionately poor EF skills and fall progressively farther behind in school each year — facts which Diamond says are related and correctible.

“Helping at-risk children improve EF skills early might be critical to closing the achievement gap and reducing societal inequalities. We showed EFs can be improved in preschoolers without fancy equipment and by regular teachers in regular public school classrooms.”

Most interventions target consequences of poor self-control rather than seeking prevention at an early age, as does Tools. “Early intervention – heading off problems before they develop — costs far less and achieves far better results than trying to correct problems once they have developed,” Diamond says.

“If throughout the school-day EFs are supported and progressively challenged, benefits generalize and transfer to new activities. Daily EF ‘exercise’ appears to enhance and accelerate brain development much as physical exercise improves our bodies,” she adds…

Source: University of British Columbia, Canada
http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/2007/mr-07-105.html

Finland once again takes the number one spot in OECD’s three-yearly PISA test of the abilities of a sample of 15-year old secondary-school students, followed by Hong Kong (China) and Canada in second and third place while Ireland got a 15th place, according to advance details of results that will be published in full next week.

The PISA survey, based on tests carried out in 2006 in 57 countries that together account for nearly 90% of world GDP, is the most comprehensive and rigorous international yardstick of secondary-school students’ attainments. After focusing in 2000 on reading skills and in 2003 on mathematics, PISA 2006 tested students on how much they knew about science and their ability to use scientific knowledge and understanding to identify and address questions and resolve problems in daily life.

Comparisons between the results of the 2006 tests and those of previous years are not strictly valid, as the nature of the tests varied. Full PISA results will be published on Tuesday 4 December 2007; advance details are being made available following the publication by a Spanish magazine of partial leaked figures.

Commenting on the PISA survey, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría noted that it is a tool to assist governments in their policy choices on education. “In today’s competitive global economy, quality education is one of the most valuable assets that a society and an individual can have,” he said.

In that context, he added, “PISA is much more than just a ranking. It is about how well individual education systems are equipping their young people for the world of tomorrow. First and foremost, it tells countries where their strengths and weaknesses lie.” …

Source: FinFacts Ireland, Ireland
http://www.finfacts.com/irelandbusinessnews/publish/article_1011958.shtml

You have to wonder why, when the U.S. Census reports that the single child family is the fastest growing family unit, people tell parents with only one child that they really should have another. Those proponents of large or larger families claim your only child will be spoiled, lonely, or selfish.

These social stereotypes and others date back to the 1890s and have no basis, in fact – one could question if they ever did. It is parenting style more than the number of siblings that influences how an only child—or any child for that matter—turns out…

Myth: Only children are aggressive and bossy.

Fact: Only children learn quickly that attempting to run the show, a ploy that they may get away with at home, doesn’t work with friends and a bossy, aggressive attitude is a quick ticket to ostracism from the group. Lacking siblings, only children want to be included and well liked.

Myth: Only children prefer more solitary, non-competitive amusements because they are alone a great deal of the time.

Fact: This preference has more to do with social class than family size. The interests in these amusements stem from parental values and the home environment of middle- and upper-middle class families, which are more likely to have a single child…

Myth: Only children are spoiled.

Fact: Being spoiled is a reflection of our society. The Chinese feared they were raising a generation of “little emperors” when their only child policy was in effect. Looking back 20 years later they found the only children were not particularly spoiled and found no difference in only children’s relationships with friends when studied with children who had siblings.

Myth: Only children are selfish.

Fact: Every child at one time or another believes the world revolves around him…

Myth: Only children must have their way.

Fact: Children with siblings often have more “who’s the boss” difficulties because they are constantly forced to share toys, television times, and parents…

Myth: Only children are dependent.

Fact: Because of adult guidance and lack of siblings to lean on, only children are more self-reliant and independent than those who have brothers and sisters to fend for them.

Myth: Only children become too mature too quickly.

Fact: Children with siblings relate and talk to their siblings rather than their parents. The only child’s primary role models are parents. The result is that only children copy adult behavior as well as adult speech patterns and develop good reasoning skills early on making them better equipped to handle the ups and downs of growing up. A good thing, for sure…

Source: Modern Mom, CA
http://www.modernmom.com/content/2875/2/

According to Cambridge University, we should be doing more to protect children from the ’scholarisation’ of childhood. We’re creating a generation of school children who can’t escape the clutches of education - their free time is being eaten into by preschool breakfast clubs, after-school homework sessions and earnest attempts by parents to get involved in their homework.

While no-one can question the importance of play for child development, the report misses a crucial point - the dividing line between learning and play has always been at best blurred, and technology is making things even more obscure, says Stephen Crowne, chief executive of Becta…

We can lament the passing of a more innocent age, or we can get on and give our children the support they need to develop and succeed. Technology, one of the reasons why things have changed, is also one of the tools open to us for helping them.

Young people today have grown up with technology. According to research by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, children spend a lot of their free time using it. 41% of children aged 8-11 regularly use the internet. Over 75% of 11-year-olds have their own TV, games console and mobile phone. 56% of children aged 8-11 play computer games, and 7% of 10-year-olds have their own webcam.

Whatever you feel about these statistics, they describe the real world for our children. We need to help them use all this technology in as positive a way as possible.

The Cambridge University report urges us to “understand children’s lives outside school” - a valid point. But rather than keeping school time and playtime separate as the report seems to suggest, it would be far more effective to use learning methods that straddle the two.

Our children respond to technology because they have grown up with it. We shouldn’t exclude it from their education because we have a vague sense that it is “not a good thing”…

Encouraging children to carry out their studies at home using technology makes learning fun, because it feels like an extension of what many of them already do in their free time…

Source: Guardian Unlimited, UK
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/mortarboard/2007/11/why_learning_never_stops_with.html

A new study has found older siblings enjoy exerting power over their younger brothers or sisters, while younger siblings work hard to keep the peace.

This dynamic is true even for twins, where the age gap may be just a few minutes, not years.

An Australian study of 355 pairs of siblings and twins aged 13 to 17 found younger children play down their success to protect the feelings of their older brothers and sisters.

But older siblings have less concern for the feelings of their younger brothers and sisters, and enjoy being more successful.

The study, by University of Queensland emeritus professor Pat Noller and PhD student Anita Blakely-Smith, concluded that “the older sibling, even in twins, seems to have more power in the relationship, whereas the younger sibling is continually working to preserve their relationship with the younger one”.

“Younger siblings also played down their success when they outperformed their older sibling and were generally more aware of their older sibling’s self-evaluation needs,” they said…

Parenting ideas.com.au director Michael Grose, author of Why Firstborn Rule the World and Lastborns Want to Change It, said the research was backed up by existing studies.

“Generally firstborns like to be the boss and have a competitive gap between them and those who follow,” he said.

“But second or last borns tend to try and keep the peace and often use charm to do it. They also often have better people skills.” …

Source: Courier Mail, Australia
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22833054-23272,00.html

Almost one in three parents have hired tutors for their kids, says a new study.

The Canadian Council on Learning attributes the growing trend to an era of “intensive parenting” in which mothers and fathers, particularly the more affluent, want their sons and daughters to have a competitive edge.

The survey found that people are increasingly hiring tutors because schools are falling short of escalating expectations and parents are too time-restrained to cope with homework.

“Tutoring is no longer primarily geared towards low-achieving students requiring remedial instruction, but rather caters to a growing number of average and high-achieving students seeking to improve their learning and academic performance,” said the 2007 Survey of Canadian Attitudes Toward Learning.

There are about five million school children in Canada attending kindergarten to Grade 12 and 33 per cent of parents reported sending their kids to tutors, particularly for help with math.

For some middle-class families, private tutoring is a lower-cost alternative to sending their kids to private school, said Paul Cappon, head of the learning council, an independent body funded by Ottawa…

Source: The Province, Canada
http://tinyurl.com/ypabca

Almost every parent I know talks up having kids like they are an Easter Show urger, saying “it changes your life!”, “you don’t know what love is until you have a child!” or “it focuses you on what’s really important!“.

However, scattered among those exclamations will be a person who will admit “if I’d known what it was going to be like, I probably wouldn’t have done it” or “I’m really struggling. I want my old life back.”

These disclosures are usually accompanied by a sense of guilt or fear they will be judged a lesser person, or at least parent, because of their “failings”.

The shame of this is that with so few people talking publicly about the negative aspects of parenthood they often come as a nasty shock to new mums and dads, with “why didn’t anybody warn me” being the unspoken message.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates one in four women in this country will remain childless for “a wide variety of reasons … these range from lifestyle choices relating to the pursuit of education and a career, to a preference for a life without children”.

“For some, the cost of raising children, in terms of both time and money, is a barrier, while for others, health concerns such as fear of passing on a genetic defect to a child are contributing factors,” reports the bureau in the 2002 Australian Social Trends study.

I do not have children and I am not ruling them out altogether, but as I get older, the sacrifices faced by my friends who have taken the plunge seem ever more daunting.

First they all get rather fat, their social life evaporates and they look 10 years older from lack of sleep; a little further down the track and the suggestion of international travel is still met with an amused snort, their sex lives have curled up to die under the doona and, as their sprogs sprout further, they become obsessed with backyards and moving to moonscape suburbs…

Candid first-time parents have told me they did not realise the effect their child had on their life until a few months into the process, when the elation of the birth was replaced by a creeping terror they did not know what they were doing. It was not until their children hit about age five that the real drudgery began, the realisation that driving kids to school and soccer practice was their lot in life for the next decade…

If you have found parenthood a nightmare, you are often considered weak or selfish or lacking a certain humanity. Perhaps we would all be better off not shouting down or judging those who have found the experience unfulfilling or nerve-shattering and instead let their stories be heard so the rest of us can walk through the nursery door with our eyes wide open.

Source: The Age, Australia
http://tinyurl.com/2sf7ju

The Court of Appeal has yet again restricted the rights of dads - when will fatherhood be given a break?

The court of appeal has ruled that a mother wishing to have her baby adopted does not have to tell the father of its existence. This decision shows just how ambivalent and uneasy the establishment is about endorsing the developing role of fathers, beyond the traditional stereotype of breadwinner and sperm provider.

The 19-week-old baby girl was conceived as a result of a one-night stand with a colleague. The mother, who is now 20, wished to have the child adopted immediately after giving birth, but a legal guardian and the local authority made an application to the county court asking that the father be made aware of the existence of his child.

Lord Justice Thorpe, one of the three appeal court judges, said:

“The law improves the opportunity of the child of anonymous birth to search out its biological origin. However, the ultimate veto remains with the mother. Registers of information are in place to lead the searching child to the mother’s door but the child has no right of entry if the mother, despite counselling, refuses to unlock it.”

Given that so much is now known about the strength of the biological tie, why shouldn’t the father know that a one-night stand has led to the birth of his child? Why should the mother have the right to deny a child information that might one day provide an important piece of the jigsaw puzzle that is his or her heritage?…

For me, as a feminist, the aim is social change. Men and women freed from stereotyped views of what their respective genders “ought” to want and do, and how they should behave. Generalisations about “all” men being rapists, or inadequate fathers, or bastards, are as daft as the archaic sexist remarks made by Rodney Marsh in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! or Lynne Franks banging on about the specialness of “femaleness” - whatever that is.

In the 1950s, “motherhood” was defined as staying at home, baking bread in a pinny. Now, this vision has changed to give credence to the working mum. It is time the changing face of fatherhood, too, was given credit where it’s due; and the legal terms of engagement were changed.

Source: Guardian Unlimited, UK
http://tinyurl.com/2mvypk

… First, let’s sort out what’s important and what’s not. While nutrition is always important, it is not important that you cook a main dish, prepare a salad and offer a cooked vegetable. That you sit down together to eat is.

Eating at least one meal together five times a week is important for families. Why? There’s more that goes on at mealtime than ingesting food for the sake of sustenance.

Meals together provide a daily solidification of the family unit, where each person is recognized and validated.

There’s much more that’s fed at the table than hunger and thirst. Children learn social skills, the art of conversation and manners. It’s an opportunity for parents to pass along values as each child shares a little about his or her day. The children’s intellect grows as they bring up issues and situations and then parents offer their input and perspective.

Traditions, rituals and heritage become habitual and, therefore, embedded in each child’s experience. All of these contribute to building the child’s character.

Additionally, children learn — from watching or helping — basic cooking skills and nutritional information.

Studies suggest that children who eat with their families receive better grades and confide in their parents more than children who do not. There’s also a lower risk of substance abuse among children who eat meals with their parents. The TV, however, must be turned off.

Families also eat more nutritious foods when dining together — more fruits, vegetables and fiber, and less fried food, soda, saturated fats and trans-fatty acids.

What if tempers flare at the table, or the parents drink a bottle of wine each night during dinner? It’s important that mealtime not be a place for conflict, harsh discipline or over-imbibing…

Source: Seattle Times, United States
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/parenting/2004031372_faull24.html