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Aboriginal
schools in New South Wales (Australia) did not go
beyond grade three until 1938, and Aboriginal children were
not admitted to high schools until after 1949. They could
still be barred from State schools until 1972.
Source: Parbury, N. (1988) Survival:
A History of Aboriginal life in New South Wales, Ministry
of Aboriginal Affairs (NSW), Sydney, p 138.
The
child looks inquiringly up from her work, eyes bright, wide
open to the message of the teacher. The image is a classic
one that never fails to appeal. Send a photographer to capture
the everyday life of a community in any part of the world
and they will unerringly home in on a schoolroom and, whether
it is stocked to the nines with computers or has no facilities
at all, will take photos of children learning. They do this
because they know there is a market for such images – we
have an apparently insatiable thirst for these snapshots
of hope and human improvement.
Source:
New
Internationalist
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Education:
Activities
Visit
the Internet sites listed below, or any of your choice, make detailed
notes on children and education around the world.
Make sure
you note specific examples and web addresses. Include in your notes:
1. any
facts and figures about education around the world
2. quotes
about education
3. programs
that encourage education
4. how
education brings change to the children
5. factors
that stop children having an education, such as war, gender or not being
registered at birth etc.
Once you
have made notes about education around the world:
A.
Write a biographical story about a fictional person with the focus on
education.
A biographical
story is written to recount significant events in a person's life. The
biographical story should be structured in the following way:
1.
The orientation
or background
stage introduces the information, such as who the person was, when
he or she was born and/or died, where he or she lived, and why he
or she are being written about.
2.
The record
of events
stage records the significant events in the person's life as they
unfolded over time.
3.
The
evaluation of a person stage
is an optional stage. It draws out the historical significance of
the person's life.
Information
should be organised chronologically. Each paragraph deals with a block
of time or series of events.
Source:
Teaching literacy in History in Year 7, NSW Department of Education
and Training Curriculum Support Directorate, 1998 p.36
B.
Visit the Kids
Rights in Action web site (UNICEF Australia). Visit the following
sections: Bhutan an amazing country; Bhutanese schools and how we
can help; and The Bhutan multigrade project.
- Divide
class into groups.
- Read
through the information from the three sections.
- Each
group designs three mind maps based on each of the sections. (See
example of a computer-generated mind map.)
- Each
group presents their mind maps to the class.
- Based
on the mind maps the class discuss:
- Bhutan
and their beliefs
- Need
for change
- UNICEF
program
- Based
on the discussion, students make notes on the importance of education
in the modern world.
C.
Teaching others about the right to education
Puppets
and computer-generated stories:
1. Puppets.
- Visit
the UNICEF puppets site.
- Read
the information about puppets.
- Design
a puppet show based on the information you have found about the child's
right to education.
- Decide
upon the audience. Is it for young people and/or adults?
- Decide
a story. Here are some suggestions for stories:
- Iqbal
or other bonded labourers
- War
zone children
- Street
children
- Geographically
isolated children (such as many Bhutanese children)
- Girls
in a developing country
- Write
a story to teach others about the importance of education and
how many million children do not have the educational opportunities
you have.
- Make
some puppets. (Some puppet sites are listed below they include
ideas on how to use and make puppets in the classroom.)
- Perform
the play to your school, to another school or parents.
- Keep
a diary of the play's development and take photographs of each
stage.
- Report
on the play to UNICEF
in its Voices of Youth section.
2. Computer-generated
stories
Design
a computer generated story based on the information you have found out
about the child's right to education. An example, Rozita's
story is provided.
Internet
sites:
Kids'
rights in action - UNICEF Australia
Camfed
New
Internationalist at the One World site
Amnesty
International article
The Children's Defence Fund
Children's rights across the world
UNICEF community
participation program
Puppets
(puppets or puppetry can be found using any search engine):
http://www.puppet.org/
http://www.familyplay.com/activities/actPuppets.html
http://www.gis.net/~puppetco/index.html
Based
on the activities create a homepage called EDUCATION
IS THE WAY TO FUTURE.
Completed
material should be posted on your school's web site.
Please
supply the project officer with:
- URL
- school
name
- country
- e-mail
address
- contact
person
- 1-2
sentences about the work.
If you
have any problems in doing this, please contact the project officer.
Project
officer E-mail:
One.World@det.nsw.edu.au
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