scholarly journals Learning to Read in English in Different Environments: A Case of Selected Schools in Lusaka and Mufulira Districts

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-85
Author(s):  
Georginah Njapau ◽  
John Luangala

This study mainly focused on learning to Read in English in Differing Environments. Selected public and private schools in Lusaka and Mufulira urban districts in Zambia were targeted, with a population of all Grade 3 learners, totaling 150. Reading tests, semi-guided interviews, focus group discussions and a check list for lesson observation were done. A qualitative approach was used to probe and to get deep insights of how reading in English was taught. The qualitative data was analysed through the identification of teachers' common themes, descriptions and experiences. Conclusions were reached and analysed with reference to the research questions. Quantitative data was analysed using a t-test to compare the reading levels between learners in public basic and private schools. The findings indicate that learners in private schools have a conducive environment for learning how to read in English. The study found that public basic schools do not use the recommended PRP. Public schools did not have enough teaching and learning materials. It was established that learners in public schools did not read according to their reading levels while learners in private schools did that effectively. The recommendations were that the Ministry of Education needed to provide enough equipment and materials, and train teachers appropriately as well as early out regular inspection exercises. In the same way, it was incumbent on the school authorities to cooperate with parents.

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 77-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Célio Gonçalo Cardoso Marques ◽  
António Manso ◽  
Ana Paula Ferreira ◽  
Felisbela Morgado

The acquisition of reading skills is decisive for the academic achievement of students. However, learning to read is a complex process. With this in mind, several attempts have been made to find new educational approaches to enhance students' reading motivation. Considering the enormous potential of ICT for education and training, we have developed a digital repository of teaching and learning materials and a multiplatform application that runs on mobile devices: Letrinhas. This information system was designed to promote the development of reading and to provide tools for monitoring and assessing reading skills against the curricular targets set by the Ministry of Education. Letrinhas was evaluated by specialists and users and a high level of satisfaction was observed among students and teachers as time and effort spent to consolidate reading is considerably reduced with this application. This evaluation also enabled to identify features that will be available in the future.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Cohen-Woods ◽  
Rachel Laattoe

Background: School uniform options such as skirts and dresses can impact physical activity and psychological wellbeing of girls. Restrictions that exclude trousers/pants or shorts as uniform options for girls can promote inequality in comfort and engagement in school activities. The South Australian Department of Education and Child Development (DECD) School Dress Code Procedure mandates school dress codes provide flexible uniform options with the right to choice, regardless of gender. This review examines public school adherence to DECD guidelines, and compares girls’ uniform options between public and private school sectors.Method: The proportion of girls shorts and pants/trouser options provided in school uniform policies collated in 2018 were compared across 486 public and 193 private primary, secondary, and combined schools within South Australia. Policies were grouped based on the choice they provided girls for shorts, and separately for trousers/pants. The groups were gender specific choice/open choice, unisex choice, restricted choice, or no option.Results: Overall, 98.6% of public and 26.4% of private school policies included shorts as a uniform option for girls. Of these schools, about nine in ten public, and just over half private, policies listed gender-specific or open choice shorts options. All public primary and high schools, and a majority of combined schools (98.8%) provided girls pants/trouser options, with 93.4% providing gender specific or open choices. This compared to 34.2% of private school policies including girls’ pants options. In total less than 1.0% of public, and 45.5% to 66.7% of private schools provide no opportunity for girls to wear shorts every day. Similarly, 56.0% of private schools do not provide any trouser/pant option.Conclusion: The results highlight a small proportion of public schools fail to follow mandated uniform policy procedures set by the DECD, specifically in context of shorts. Moreover, this report clearly demonstrates the discrepancy in girls’ uniform options between the public and private school sectors. We present suggestions and recommendations with the aim to improve current policy, as well as a need to advance adherence to policy and South Australian anti-discrimination legislation in public and particularly private schools.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (9) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Nevin Gündüz ◽  
Tuğçe Taşpinar ◽  
Nurdan Demiş

The purpose of this research is to determine what the game means from the perspectives of children studying at public and private schools. Four questionnaires were applied to all the third grade parents of four schools; two public and two private schools in Ankara, and questionnaires were completed and sent back by 212 parents. A total of 32 volunteer students from four schools, 4 girls and 4 boys, who were determined according to the results of parents surveys consist of our student research group. Qualitative data were obtained by semi-structured interview technique. Content analysis technique was used for qualitative data and six main themes were created.As a result, children at private and public schools have described as ‘’the meaning of the play’’ theme, as ‘’having fun, being happy, having a good time with friends, ’learning new rules, being healthy and doing sports’’. In the research, they also stated that they play game types such as ’’rope, hide, hide and seek’’ which do not require materials in public schools while they indicated they play games such as ‘’ball, dart, taboo and technological games’’ in private schools. Children indicated that they play at school competitive games prepared by teachers in physical activities lessons. It is concluded that, there is not too much change in the meaning of the game in terms of children who study at private and public schools. Children’s type of game and materials especially change for both girls and boys and schools. Although there are purpose of "enjoy" for both of the two groups, but materials and games that used and played are different.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yazen Mahmood ◽  
◽  
Saif Younis ◽  
Tala Saeed ◽  
◽  
...  

This research aims to Identify the Total Quality Management standards and the ability to implementation theses standards in educational institutes of Kurdistan region (KRG) in Public and Private schools by ask a question : what is the reality of implementation the standards of Total Quality Management (TQM) in educational institutes of (KRG). The study take 100 sample (Sava private school and AL-Khouwa public school) and use the excel program for analysis the data and the result showed there are difference in implementation the standards between the Public schools and Private schools. The study recommended the need of sharing and disseminating concepts of implementation the standards of (TQM) between the workers in the educational sector.


Author(s):  
Theodora Dame Adjin-Tettey ◽  
Vincentia Abui Akrobotu

The use of mobile devices, especially, by teens has been looked at with much apprehension and suspicion with some saying that it can be used to acquire information which can be detrimental to their social and psychological growth. Some teachers complain that it affects teens' studies as these teenagers stay up late in the night browsing, chatting, watching movies and playing games which cause them to sleep in class or pay little attention because of tiredness. In Ghana students in public schools up to Senior High School are not allowed to use personal mobile phones, laptops and other mobile gadgets in school because of implications such as those enumerated above. On the other hand, some, including those in prominent positions in government, have called for a rethink of such a directive by the Ministry of Education. This chapter critically looks into previous literature on the use of mobile devices in the classroom and suggests ways in which it can be effectively used to advance academic work in the classroom.


Author(s):  
Richard J. Murnane

The previous chapter argues that comparisons of the performance of public and private schools can be misleading. This chapter examines in detail recent research providing such comparisons with the goal of clarifying what lessons can be drawn. The chapter also explains why the recent comparisons have puzzled, and in some cases infuriated, many public school educators. I begin by providing background on the best known of the recent studies. On April 7, 1981, at a conference attended by more than four hundred educators and the press, James Coleman announced the findings of research that he had conducted with Thomas Hoffer and Sally Kilgore on public and private high schools in the United States. Their principal finding was that Catholic schools and non-Catholic private schools are more effective in helping students to acquire cognitive skills than public schools are. Coming at a time of widespread criticism of public education and presidential support for tuition tax credits for families that use private schools, this finding was widely reported in the press and evoked a range of spirited reactions. Critics and supporters responded to Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore’s (henceforth CHK) work with articles and editorials with lively titles such as: “Coleman Goes Private (in Public),” “Lessons for the Public Schools,” “Coleman’s Bad Report,” and “Private Schools Win a Public Vote.” Over the succeeding months CHK’s work remained visible as critiques of their research and reanalyses of the data they used appeared in a variety of journals, in some cases accompanied by lengthy responses by CHK. Another wave of interest was sparked by the publication and subsequent reviews of CHK’s High School Achievement: Public, Catholic, and Private Schools Compared, in which they presented their final research findings. As a result of the wide range of responses to CHK’s work and the numerous symposia in which CHK have debated their critics in print, there is now ample material available to any reader interested in forming a judgment about the quality of the research that produced their main conclusion.


2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 217-231
Author(s):  
Tamgid Ahmed Chowdhury ◽  
Ishrat Jahan Synthia

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the determinants of school choice and factors that define the success of a school as perceived by the parents and then compare “Public” and “Private” schools with respect to the explored criteria to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the institutions.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on 1,121 quantitative data collected through survey questionnaire from the parents living in urban areas of Bangladesh. The school choice model was developed and validated by applying structural equation modeling.FindingsThis paper offers a statistically significant, robust and reliable five-dimensional 23-item school choice model that includes both school characteristics and preferred outcomes as perceived by the parents. Characteristic-wise comparisons in terms of characteristics revealed that public schools are superior to private institutions in fulfilling several choice criteria such as parents–teacher relationships, performance of the teachers, offerings of special programs, safety assurance in the campus and in having bigger campus with playground. On the other hand, private schools dominate in providing better educational environment, arranging training to the teachers, ensuring satisfactory library services and delivering information effectively to the parents. Among outcome determinants, government schools are well ahead in creating self-discipline, morality and good work habits among students. Private schools are superior in developing critical thinking skill of the kids.Originality/valueThere is a gap of comprehensive empirical study on school choice in South Asia region that includes both school characteristics and outcomes. Therefore, this paper contributes significantly to the relevant literature.


2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camila Silva Ferreira ◽  
Dyene Aparecida Silva ◽  
Cristiana Araújo Gontijo ◽  
Ana Elisa Madalena Rinaldi

ABSTRACT Objective: To compare and analyze the consumption of minimally processed and ultra-processed foods among students from public and private schools. Methods: Study conducted in Uberlândia, MG, with fifth-grade students from three private and six public schools, selected by stratified cluster sampling. We collected data on food consumption using the 24-hour recall. Foods were classified into four groups (G) according to extent and purpose of processing: fresh/minimally processed foods (G1) culinary ingredients (G2), processed foods (G3), and ultra-processed foods (G4). Total energy intake (kcal) of each group, amount of sugar (g), sodium (mg), and fiber (g) were quantified and compared according to administrative affiliation (private or public). Results: Percentage of total energy intake was: G1 - 52%; G2 - 12%; G3 - 5%; e G4 - 31%. Energy intake from G1 (53 vs. 47%), G2 (12 vs. 9%), and G3 (6.0 vs. 0.1%), and amount of sodium (3,293 vs. 2,724 mg) and fiber (23 vs. 18 g) were higher among students from public schools. Energy intake from G4 (36 vs. 28%) and amount of sugar (20 vs. 14%) were higher among students from private schools. The consumption of foods from G1 in the school environment was higher among students from public schools (40 vs. 9%). Conclusions: Foods from G1 represent the highest percentage of total energy intake, while those from G4 constitute a third of calories consumed. Processed juice, sandwich cookie, processed cake, and breakfast cereals are more frequent among private school students; snacks and juice powder are more common for students from public schools.


1990 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 549-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jack Tweedie ◽  
Dennis D. Riley ◽  
John E. Chubb ◽  
Terry M. Moe

In the December 1988 issue of this Review, John Chubb and Terry Moe presented data comparing public and private schools, and made an argument concerning “politics, markets, and the organization of schools.” Chubb and Moe argue that private schools outperform public schools because they are more autonomous, advantaged by market forces rather than democratic political control. Jack Tweedie takes vigorous exception to this conclusion, arguing that the evidence does not support Chubb and Moe's conclusions about the efficacy of market forces. Dennis Riley directly attacks the virtues of market control of institutional choices in educational policy making. Chubb and Moe find their critics unconvincing.


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