Teens make an impact on the teachers
STUDENT projects to help create more inclusive schools and combat bullying are having a positive effect, a Hobart social justice organisation says.
Students involved in A Fairer World’s Let’s Get Together program shared some of their projects at the Peter Underwood Centre for Educational Attainment’s Education Transforms symposium yesterday.
The Huonville, Kingston and Rose Bay high school students shared projects that focused on racism, mental health, visual impairment and the LGBTI community.
A Fairer World co-ordinator Helen Hortle said she was pleased to see the students’ projects attracted interest from teachers, academics and senior Education Department bureaucrats at the symposium.
“One of the big differences the teachers talk about is it gives the students the vocabulary, the language to talk about those issues ... and they feel more empowered to stand up,” Ms Hortle said.
On the final day of the three-day symposium yesterday, obesity expert Andrew Hills said physical activity could play an important role in improving academic performance.
The University of Tasmania researcher said that like a nutritious breakfast, physical activity helped concentration and engagement at school.
“There is a growing body of evidence indicating that regular participation in physical activity and higher levels of physical fitness benefits both the health and academic performance of children,” Professor Hills said.
“Because children spend so much time at school, schools have a unique opportunity to help children become more physically active before, during and after school.”
He said organised sport was not attractive to all.
“Some form of physical activity to a reasonable level should be provided to everybody. That isn’t the case, otherwise we wouldn’t have the problems we do.”
Leading Queensland education academic Bob Lingard, who also spoke at the symposium, said Tasmania could be used as a “laboratory” to determine the best way to spend so-called Gonski funding.
“I would like to see a research and evaluation structure around what happens with the money. I think Tasmania is a place where this can be done in a really powerful way,” said Dr Lingard, a professorial research fellow at the University of Queensland.
“The reason I think that is the [small] population, and at the moment there seems to be the potential for collaboration across the department, schools, the community, political lines and the University of Tasmania.”