Make Student-related Concerns Evidence Based

Height charts and weighing scales are common resources in any good school. They are items that are useful for instance in Mathematics and science curriculum, as well as in literacy. Depending on the creativity level of the teacher, height charts and weighing scales are useful to every teaching subject. They are however much more useful than we appear to be making use of them in our private and public schools. Nigeria is a country where her private sector is a great contributor to the economic strength of the nation. Private schools from nursery to tertiary institutions have struggled to sustain some continuity in education. Many Nigerian parents have equally struggled to access their services as their pedagogy seems to be more reliable. Private Nigerian schools appear also to be the ones that would demonstrate innovativeness in varying areas either to attract patronage or to genuinely improve quality. Of the 12 government primary schools I made enquiries from recently, nine had neither height charts nor weighing scales, two had one or the other, the 12th had both, but in dilapidated conditions. The reverse was the case with the private schools I asked. A major aspect of any school’s baseline and continuing assessments is the measurement of its children and young people’s heights and weights. This enables the school to keep an eye on the rates of growths of its students. It also enables the school to determine whether its children are in healthy age ranges. As many illnesses and diseases do not cause obvious symptoms in children and adults, poor growth may actually be the first and only indicator of a problem. Height and weight measurements are confidential information that are useful evidence for determining whether or not individual children are growing at healthy rates. If this appears not to be so, the teacher who is the measurer can quickly call parents’ attention to this vital piece of evidence. Regular measurements of children or young people can allow early diagnosis and possible treatments of pathological disorders like hypertension (children can also have high blood pressure-hypertension), psychosocial disorders, cranial and pharyngeal problems, malabsorption and eating disorders. All of these issues impact heavily on successful learning and of course, teaching. The teacher may be the first to observe changes in the well-being of his/her pupil/student. The teacher is privy to the following: Child’s school attendance records. Child’s energy, attention levels in class and in extra-curricular school performances. Child’s behaviour and emotional stability. Record of child’s chronic or recurrent health issues. Child’s eating patterns. Indicators of weight gain or loss such as child’s frequency of buying new uniforms and shoes. In the light of the above, height and weight records become one of the evidences that may substantiate the teacher’s concerns. A single measurement will not reflect children’s rate of growth. Measurements should be three monthly (termly), and plotted on a centile chart. Before you measure a child or young person, it is important that you are mindful of their gender, their culture, their religious beliefs, their dignity and their privacy. In fact, it would be unprofessional of you not to obtain their parents’ consent and the child’s consent before you measure their height or length (if child is a wheel-chair user) and their weight. To measure your students standing heights, ensure the following: Child removes shoes. Child’s feet are together and legs are straight. Child’s feet are flat on the floor. Child’s arms are loosely to their side. Remember that poor positioning would result in inaccurate measurements. Simply touch the end of a tape measure to the floor and unroll it to the top of child’s head. Log the measurement. Alternatively, stand the child against a wall and mark the top of their head on the wall with a pencil. Measure the distance from the floor to the mark. Log the measurement. A good way to find out whether or not a child is a healthy weight is to use the Body Mass Index Measurement known as the BMI percentile calculation.The BMI compares the child’s weight with their age, height and sex and reveals whether they are growing as expected. Once you’ve calculated the child’s BMI, you’d then check it on a graphed reference standard that accounts for a child’s age and sex. To obtain the child’s BMI percentile: Obtain child’s height as explained above. Weigh child on a suitable and well calibrated scale. Calculate BMI as “weight (in kg) divided by square of the height (in metres). Find a BMI Chart online and see where the child’s height intersects with his/her weight. The chart will indicate whether child is on the over-weight or under-weight spectrum taking their age and gender into account.