Results of School Competence of Roma Children

The paper focuses on the school readiness of Roma children and the results in individual verified areas. In the first part we will briefly explain the basic monitored areas of school competence, in the second part we will evaluate the results we found by diagnosing preschool children, in the end, we will evaluate the results and point out the impact of identified difficulties on school success.

Peningkatan Daya Saing Madrasah Melalui Optimalisasi Program Ekstrakurikuler

This study aims to describe the optimization of extracurricular programs at MTs Qomarul Hidayah Gondang Tugu Trenggalek to improve the competitiveness of educational institutions. The research method used is a descriptive qualitative research approach and the data obtained were processed and analyzed interactively. Extracurricular management at MTS Qomarul Hidayah Gondang Tugu Trenggalek is a separate priority in improving school competence to compete with other educational institutions. Extracurricular activity planning which includes activity objectives, activity substance, and activity implementers and evaluation. The selection of supervisors for each activity apart from teachers who do have competence also involves professional coaches from outside the school. The achievement of extracurricular activities at MTS Qomarul Hidayah Gondang Tugu Trenggalek which is brilliant at both the regional and national levels has increased the popularity of the school and student satisfaction itself. Awards and recognition from the school for student achievement in extracurricular activities in addition to scholarships also provide value added for certain subjects.

Household and schooling rather than diet offset the adverse associations of height with school competence and emotional disturbance among Taiwanese girls

ABSTRACT Objective: Short stature may reflect health in early life and be an enduring disability. How birth weight, gender, household, elementary schooling, and diet play a role in associations between stature and overall school competence (OSC) have been assessed. Design: The 2001-2002 Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan for elementary school children (n = 2274, 52.1% boys) was linked to birth records. It provided sociodemographic, dietary quality, body compositional, and school performance (as Scale for Assessing Emotional Disturbance, SAED; OSC as an SAED subscale) data. Lower birth weight was ≤15th percentile: 2850 g for boys and 2700 g for girls, and stature as z-scores for Taiwanese. Multivariable linear regression was used for relationships between OSC and stature. Trends in OSC by stature and school grade were assessed. Setting: The 2001-2002 Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan for elementary school children. Participants: 2274 schoolchildren aged 6-13 years. Results: Compared to normal height (-2< height z-score (HAZ) <2), shorter girls (HAZ ≤ -2) had a lower OSC (8.87 vs. 10.5, p<0.05), and taller girls (HAZ ≥ 2) had a better OSC (12.3 vs. 10.5, p<0.001). Maternal education and household income each contributed more than 5% of OSC variance. OSC and HAZ among girls were positively associated; and emotional disturbance negatively associated. Shortness-associated lower OSC underwent remediation with advancing school-grade. Stature and OSC were not evidently related in boys. Conclusions: Shorter stature can compromise OSC among school girls. The major determinants in shorter girls are less household income and limited parental education.

Impact of school closures on the health and well-being of primary school children in Wales UK; a routine data linkage study using the HAPPEN survey (2018-2020)

IntroductionIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, school closures were implemented across the United Kingdom. This study aimed to explore the impact of school closures on children’s health by comparing health and wellbeing outcomes collected during school closures (April – June 2020) with data from the same period in 2019 and 2018.MethodsData were collected online via the ‘HAPPEN At Home’ survey, which captured the typical health behaviours of children aged 8 – 11 years between April - June 2020. These data were compared with data in 2018 and 2019 also collected between April-June, from HAPPEN. Free school meal (FSM) status was used as a proxy for socio-economic deprivation. Analyses were repeated stratifying by FSM.ResultsComparing responses between April – June in 2020 (n=1068), 2019 (n=1150) and 2018 (n=475), there were improvements in physical activity levels, sleep time, happiness and general wellbeing for children during school closures compared to previous years. However, children on FSM ate less fruit and vegetables (21% (95%CI (5.7% to 37%)) and had lower self-assessed school competence compared to 2019. Compared to those not on FSM they also spent less time doing physical activity (13.03% (95%CI: 3.3% to 21.7%) and consumed more takeaways (16.3% (95%CI: 2%-30%)) during school closures.ConclusionThis study suggests that schools play an important role in reducing inequalities in physical health. The physical health (e.g. physical activity and diet) of children eligible for FSM may be impacted by prolonged school closures.What is already known on this subject?In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, by mid-March 2020, 138 countries had implemented national school closures to reduce the number of social contacts between pupils, therefore interrupting the transmission of COVID-19 as part of pandemic plans. UNESCO warned that the global scale and speed of the educational disruption would be unparalleled. There is an ongoing debate with regard to the effectiveness of school’s closures on transmission rates, but the fact schools are closed for a long period of time could have detrimental impacts on pupil’s physical and mental health.This study provides evidence of any differences in the health and wellbeing of children prior to and during the COVID-19 enforced lockdown and school closures between March and June 2020. These findings could have a significant impact for the future and support schools to better understand their pupil’s physical, psychological, emotional and social health. It also contributes to a significant literature gap regarding the impact of school closures on school-aged children.What this study adds?Improvements in physical activity levels, sleep time, happiness and general wellbeing were observed in general for children during school closures compared to previous years. However, children on FSM reported eating less fruit and vegetables and had lower self-assessed school competence compared to 2019. Compared to those not on FSM they also spent less time doing physical activity and consumed more takeaways during school closures. These trends are not evident among children not on FSM. All children reported improvements in wellbeing during lockdown especially on the happiness with family measure.Overall, findings suggest schools help to reduce inequalities in physical health for socio-economically deprived children. During school closures children from deprived backgrounds are likely to have poorer physical health (e.g. less time spent doing physical activities and poorer diet) and this is not observed in children who are not in receipt of FSM. This research suggests that school closures will result in widening health inequalities and when schools return measures will need to be in place to readdress the widened gap in physical health.

The Correlation between School Burnout and School Engagement: The Mediating Role of Attitude toward Learning

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of attitude toward learning in correlation between school burnout and school competence. This study was administered on 471 students. Participants completed School Burnout Scale, School Engagement Scale and Scale of Attitude toward Learning. Data derived from regression analysis show that school engagement and attitude toward learning were predicted negatively and significantly by school burnout. School engagement was predicted positively by attitude toward learning. Furthermore, attitude toward learning was determined to partially mediate the relationship between school burnout and school engagement. Data present that attitude toward learning increased school engagement and it is a significant variable in decreasing school burnout.

GIFTEDNESS AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AS DETERMINANTS OF COMPETENCE SELF-PERCEPTION IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Conducting this research, we wanted to explore the competence self-perception in gifted elementary school students and to compare different aspects of gifted and non-gifted children’s self-perception. In addition to this, we investigated gender differences as well as the correlation between self-perception and academic achievement. The research sample comprised 62 participant, 31 gifted and 31 non-gifted children aged 10 to 15. A matched participant design was used and the controlling variables were: academic achievement in the current and previous grades, gender and a socio-economic status. All the participants were tested by two instruments: The Socio-Demographic instrument and the Self-Perception Profile for Children developed by Susan Harter (1985), which measures six aspects of self-perception (competencies): school competence, social competence, sports competence, physical competence, behavioral competence and general self-perception. The results showed that the highest level of students’ competence was observed for the school competence aspect, then behavioral one, followed by general self- concept, while a lower level of physical and sports competence was reached. Furthermore, there is a statistically significant correlation between most of the personal competence sub-scales, except between sports competence on the one hand, and school competence and behavioral competence, on the other hand. This implies that competence self- perception is the construct comprised of different interrelated aspects and if one shows a tendency for positive self-perception in one aspect; most probably that person will have positive self- perception in another as well. No statistically significant differences were found between the gifted and the non-gifted children, which means that giftedness is not an important factor of self-perception. Also, gender differences were significant only among the gifted children where the boys perceived themselves as more competent in the social and physical aspects.

INTERACTION BETWEEN PEDAGOGUE AND CHILD TO PROMOTE PLANNING SKILLS

The goal of the pre-school competence-based education lies in the promotion of all areas of development – physical, social, emotional and cognitive, as well as helping children to acquire core competencies, including the ability to plan own activities. The research aims at theoretical and empirical study of opportunity to promote planning skills within interaction between child and pedagogue.When dealing with both daily and teacher-created problem situations, children are involved in decision-making, are trusted to be co-responsible for the decision made. By working together with an adult, child acquires planning skills, ability to achieve the goal set. To reveal the pedagogical problem of the research in full, it is also important to look at it from the point of view of a preschool teacher. To find out opinion of pre-school pedagogues, surveying was conducted; it was aimed at studying principles of child development and upbringing taken into account in practice when organizing pedagogical process promoting planning skills of pre-schoolers. The experience of pre-school teachers was analysed by frequency and interpretation using descriptive and analytical statistics method (IBM SPSS Statistika-v19.0).