This article talks about Canadian weight charts for following the progress of new born babies. Old weight charts would wrongly classify children of immigrant ethnicities (for example from Asia) as underweight, sometimes leading to unessential tests and extra stress for parents.
New up to date weight charts that consider ethnic and genetic variations in gestational size will avoid mis-diagnosing healthy babies.
Hoffnung et al (2010) point out that intelligence testing can contain a number of biases, influencing the outcome. Language ability is an important bias.
For bilinguage children whose home language is different from that used in the school setting, this is a significant issue. Teachers and students often lack appropriate teaching and learning resources in a child’s first language, let alone assessment tools. The International Reading Association states that bilingual children gain skills in literacy best when they have reading and writing resources in their home language.
There appears to be an issue in NZ between the teaching and assessment tools available and the test results for Pacifica children. Below is a link to an article from Auckland University, voicing the concerns, frustration and angst of the Pacifica Community as they witness the government stopping the production of Pacifica language reading resources, yet the government quotes figures of under achievement for Pacifica children in literacy. This is a striking example of how a testing structure may not provide a true picture of a child’s ability.
http://www.hekupu.ac.nz/Journal%20files/Issue1%20March%202011/Patisepa%20Tuafuti.pdf
The pause in production of Pasifika resources (the Tupu series) affects more than children’s assessments, it also impacts the value seen to be placed on Pasifika language and culture, and seems to contradict accepted bilingual language teaching - children who are secure in their home language will more readily learn a second language.
The move was criticised in this article, which said that “Bilingualism has also been identified as a major contributor to the overall academic success of Pasifika students in New Zealand schools.”
The article posted by alistin broadens the definition of literacy to include the transmission of culture, identity and much more:
“In a comprehensive discussion of what literacy is, Baker (1995) writes that to some cultures literacy is about reading, writing and promoting abstract thought, rationality and critical thinking; while to other cultures, literacy is about oral language, memorisation, and transmission of beliefs and values that illuminate the knowledge of heritage and ethics”.
Reblogging as I agree that the decision to stop production of reading materials in pacific languages is short sighted in that it goes against the accepted best practice in bilingual education as well as undermining the future success of Pacific students.
This is a UK article that interviews children about their experiences of growing up in poverty. Below are some of the children’s insights that relate to the experiences of New Zealand children living in poverty such as living in damp houses, not having suitable clothes and being hungry.
“You must be kind of bad to put people in houses like this,” says 10-year-old Paige. She is talking about her home, a high-rise flat in the Gorbals area of Glasgow……
I can’t sleep on my top bunk because the mould goes along and it goes on my chest. It’s disgusting, we feel sick all the time.”
“They call me ‘ankle boy’ because I have ripped trousers that are too small for me,” he says. “I get called ‘big girl’s blouse’. I have to re-use my sister’s shirts and then I get called a ‘girl’ which gets me psyched up and I just want to punch them, but then I’d get detention.”
“You have to be so worried about what you say. You tend to start merging into the background because you don’t want people to know what’s going on at home…….Sometimes it does feel like you’ve got a big hefty secret and you need to keep it hidden. It puts you in that mindset that you’re lower than everyone else.”
Factors that contribute to poverty and outcomes that are contributed to by poverty are complex. I can’t read all the writing on this diagram! I appreciate it’s complexity and the fact that it was created by a diverse community group. The question considered by the group was “What are the patterns that perpetuate poverty and what are the points that if leveraged properly could break the cycle?”.
Source: mamaonaturaleYes! We need to learn to appreciate each person for what they can bring to the party and stop comparing each other to everybody else.
The latest poll in our child Development Course asks what issue, that impacts upon child development, would we tackle if we were suddenly given a large amount of money from the government. Five issues were then offered: poverty, education, healthcare, childcare and family. So far poverty is ‘winning’ with a vote of 60% while the other issues have 10% each.
I think poverty is perhaps the biggest issue, and has received the most votes, because in many ways it impacts so dramatically on all aspects of all our lives.
The impoverished child’s education suffers because they go to school hungry. Their health suffers because they are malnourished, most likely live in substandard accommodation and when they are ill, healthcare is unaffordable. Childcare, particularly quality childcare, is expensive, and family relationships are frequently impacted by the constant struggle for food, shelter and clothing. Many of these factors result in poverty being inter-generational.
Clicking the link (the picture above) takes you to statistics about child poverty in New Zealand produced by the Children’s Commissioner for New Zealand.
From that site you can also access their main report, with full details and credits A Fair Go for all Children, Actions to address child poverty in New Zealand
Source: 275.203 Child Development Course, (2012). School of Arts, Development and Health Education. College of Education. Massey University Palmerston North.
A picture is worth a 1000 words… This image says so much about the intergenerational factors of the poverty cycle.
Poverty in New Zealand
NZ is ranked 28th out of 30 OECD countries for child wellbeing, and 270 000 children live below the poverty line! KidsCan works with children, but giving children shoes, coats, etc has ongoing positive effects on their wellbeing and schooling, giving them hope for the future.
I particularly noticed the benefits to children (of receiving help from KidsCan) as described by a school principal: things like increased attendance, reduced illness, less bullying and increased participation in after school activities.
This article talks about the increasing trend for parents to pick unusual (or unusually spelt) baby names. Some interesting points from the article:
New Zealand bans weird baby names:
The country’s Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages has been cracking down on parents who get too creative when naming their kids, Australia’s Herald Sun reports.
The list ofweird names for kidsthat are banned by New Zealand’s names registrar has grown to include Lucifer, Duke, Messiah and 89.
Also not approved: Bishop, Baron, General, Judge, King, Knight and Mr., names that were all said to be too similar to titles.
The letters, C, D, I and T were also rejected as first names, the Herald Sun says.
As well, the agency has refused to allow names involving asterisks, commas, periods and other punctuation marks.
And three different sets of Kiwi parents wanted to name their children Lucifer, only to have the name choice nixed.
In 2008, New Zealand’s names registrar drew international attention when it approved such non-traditional names as Benson and Hedges for a set of twins, as well as the boys names of Violence and Number 16 Bus Shelter.
Research by McDavid and Harari (1966) found that strange and unusual names were associated with low peer status. However more recently migration and celebrity culture has caused exposure to a wider variety of more unusual and multicultural names ( Hoffnung et al. p 324-5).
Children who believe in a benevolent higher power that watches over them are happier, this study suggests. The researchers found that both the personal and communal aspects of spirituality had a positive effect on happiness levels.
The particular factors that contribute to happiness are a sense of personal value and meaning in ones own life and deep and connected relationship with a community.
Religious practices such as attending places of worship and prayer, had little effect.
(The children in the study were aged 8-12).
