Grannies at School - Anniversary

Every afternoon, the grandmothers of Phangane village wrap pink saris around themselves and slip abacuses and chalkboard into their backpacks.They are going to school.

They live in Maharashtra state in India, a country where women are nearly a third less likely than men to be able to read and write.

Some of them have trouble with seeing the letters, and others feel chest pain when they talk.
But every day except Thursday, these women gather to learn from a teacher less than half their age.
International Women's Day 2017 is the one-year anniversary of the school, and photographer Satyaki Ghosh has been documenting the women's journey to literacy.

                            
Yogendra Bangar, is the founder of the school.

He started it after women in the village told him that if only they could read, they would be able to read about the life of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, a 17th century king whose life is celebrated in the village every year.
"It is said that women have to be respected on Women's Day, so we thought that our grandmothers, who until now have not received respect, shall finally get the respect they deserve," he says.
"The people of our grandmothers' generation did not get any opportunity to go to school."                             

 

Teamwork - Healthcare Delivery

Within recent decades healthcare delivery has become increasingly reliant on the principles, which support teamwork.

Educational studies have also focused on promoting the inter-professional practices associated with nurturing the teamwork aspects, required to deliver modern medical care.

A recent publication on this topic is now part of the James Hardiman collection:

Healthcare Teamwork (Inter-Professional Practice and Education)  by  T J K Drinka and P G Clark (2nd edition, 2016) is located at

362.1068 DRI

                   

 

Obesity - Ticking Time Bomb!

Ireland risks becoming the fattest nation in the world, unless it deals with the obesity crisis in the same way it tackled smoking, Minister for Health, Simon Harris has warned

 

Obesity is a “ticking time bomb” that has to some extent already “detonated”, Mr. Harris said at the launch of the Government’s policy and plan on the issue.

National eating guidelines, calorie posting legislation and the prioritisation of obesity services within the HSE form part of the plan, which will be implemented over the next decade.

A clinical lead to guide obesity policy within the health service will be appointed and a “whole of school” approach to healthy lifestyles is promised in collaboration with the Department of Education.

 

Compromise

The current plan contains specific targets and timelines and the appetite for tackling obesity is much greater, he said. While he was not happy the sugar tax was not being introduced quickly, he recognised the need for compromise.

Professor Donal O’Shea said there were 300 people waiting for weight-reducing surgery in his clinic in Loughlinstown and 150 in a clinic at Galway.

Mr. Harris said there was no question of the plan having been watered down to suit the food industry. The Government was not ruling out legislation in the area, but wanted to begin with a collaborative approach. Legislation requiring restaurants to post the calorie content of meals will be law by the end of next year, his officials confirmed.

Minister of State for Health Promotion, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy said the new document was a plan with specific timelines and “not designed to sit on the shelf”.

 

The plan supports the introduction of a sugar levy to cut consumption of sweetened drinks. It is expected the Department of Finance, which has rejected such a measure in the past two years, will in next month’s budget give the go-ahead for a levy from 2018.

The plan on obesity proposes the development of a policy on nutrition, and work with the food industry on a voluntary code of practice for food advertising, promotion and marketing. Agreement will be sought with the industry on reformulating food to make it more healthy.

 

Portion Sizes

The introduction of maximum portion sizes for “relevant” foods and drink will be considered, on a voluntary basis initially. Drinkable water will be provided in all centres of learning, and guidelines on reducing the “obese-ogenic environment” will be developed for use in urban development.

Some 60 per cent of Irish adults, and one in four children, are overweight or obese. The cost to society is estimated at more than €1 billion a year. One of the State’s foremost obesity experts, Professor Donal O’Shea, said the plan “could not be more different” from the 2006 report of the national obesity taskforce, on which he served. “That plan was dead in the water within the year and we weren’t even allowed hold a meeting to discuss it.”

 

 

 

 

 

NUI Galway Conference on Mobile Technologies in the Classroom

Mobile technologies are becoming a standard teaching tool in the classroom. However, as an ever-growing range of devices and apps come on stream, many teachers are struggling with a technological skills gap.

To help combat this gap, NUI Galway’s School of Education, will host the First International Conference on Mobile Technology in Initial Teacher Education (MiTE) on Friday and Saturday, 23 and 24 January, in the Galway Bay Hotel, Salthill.

The two-day conference will celebrate the possibilities and explore the challenges of integrating mobile technology in teacher education and provide a forum for practitioners to come together to benchmark and share best practice. Speakers include experts in the field of mobile technology including representatives from CalStateTEACH, California State University, Apple, Google and national and international education institutions.

Seán Ó Grádaigh, School of Education, and Chair of the MiTE 2015 Conference, said: “Mobile technology offers today's students the opportunity to learn how, when and where they wish. Commonly called digital natives, the pupils of today have smart technology at their fingertips. Incorporating this technology into the classroom is a natural way to help build the pupils' engagement with their learning, thereby preparing mobile citizens for the future.”

Punya Mishra, Professor of Educational Technology and Director of the Master of Arts in Educational Technology programme at Michigan State University, observes that technologies become obsolete as quickly as they arrive. This rapid rate of change is a challenge for educators and leads to an increased pressure on teachers to learn new ways to incorporate technology into their teaching. Professor Mishra, an internationally renowned pioneer in the area, will give a keynote address at MiTE.

This conference is open to parents, teachers and students who are interested in seeing and hearing how mobile technologies, for example, smartphones/tablets, can contribute positively to the learning processes within our classrooms today.

To find out more see www.gratek.ie/mite2015.

View more information here

Irish Education Under the Microscope

The OECD has published its 'Education at a Glance' study

The proportion of young people in Ireland who are unemployed and not engaged in any training or education programme is higher than other developed countries, according to a study published by the OECD.

This year's ‘Education at a Glance’ report found that 22% of Irish young people are in this category, compared to an EU and OECD average of 15%.

In its latest report comparing education systems and outcomes the OECD has found that young people here are far more likely to complete second level education.

Two years ago, 93% of Irish teenagers were expected to complete secondary school, compared to an average OECD rate of 84%.

However despite high rates of educational achievement here the OECD says Ireland's general unemployment rates remain higher than average compared to other member states.

On spending, the latest data finds that Ireland has the third greatest annual expenditure per student compared to all other OECD countries.

In the classroom, this study finds that Ireland's pupil teacher ratio is worse than the OECD and EU average.

The study finds that Irish teachers engage in more teaching time than average, at 915 hours per year at Primary level here compared to an average of 761 hours annually across EU states.

The figure at second level is also considerably higher than the average.

The study finds that teachers here are well paid by OECD and EU standards. Salaries here are higher at all levels compared to the average across other countries.

View more here

Pharmacy Education -

The WHO, UNESCO, FIP, Pharmacy Education Taskforce: Enabling concerted and Collective Global Action,  Am J Pharm Educ. 2008 December 15; 72(6): 127.

Pharmacy Education is a priority area for the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global federation representing pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide that is spearheading the Global Pharmacy Education Taskforce. This paper describes the work of the Taskforce that was established in March 2008, explores key issues in pharmacy education development, and describes the Global Pharmacy Action Plan 2008-2010.

Given the significance of pharmacy education to the diverse practice of contemporary pharmacists and pharmacy support personnel, there is a need for pharmacy education to attain greater visibility on the global human resources for health agenda. From this perspective, FIP is steering the development of holistic and comprehensive pharmacy education and pharmacy workforce action to support and strengthen regional, national, and local efforts.

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