Menu Audit of Vegetable-Containing Food Offering in Primary School Canteens in Sydney, Australia: A Preliminary Study

Children’s vegetable intakes are too low, and school canteens could provide an equitable environment to improve their intake. This study aimed to develop and apply a systematic method to quantify the proportion and variety of vegetable-containing items on primary school canteen menus and examine differences between schools of different socio-economic statuses, sizes and types. Online canteen menus from 112 primary schools in Sydney, Australia, were collected, and data were extracted on a total number of items and vegetable-containing items across different menu categories. Further, data on preparation type and variety were extracted. Differences in the proportion of vegetable items between socio-economic status, school size and type were tested. On average, 80.4 ± 34.0 items were listed, with 30% of items containing vegetables. Most sandwiches (60%) and hot foods (54%) contained no vegetables. The variety of raw vegetables (4.9 ± 1.8 types) was greater than for cooked vegetables (1.3 ± 1.2 types; p < 0.01). Limited differences were observed by socio-economic status and school type. Small schools offered fewer vegetable-containing items than large schools. While primary school canteen menus listed a large variety of items, only one-third contained vegetables. Data from this study can be used to track changes and to develop new opportunities to increase the vegetable supply in schools.

Examining the General Perceptions of the Parents on the Concept and Implementation of Central Schools in Bhutan

This paper attempts to examine the general perceptions of the Parents on the Concept and Implementation of Central Schools in Bhutan. These days we have mixed feelings on the implementation of central schools in Bhutan. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the level of perceptions of the parents on the implementation of Central Schools in Bhutan. The first section is the statement of the problem on the introduction of central schools in Bhutan. This is followed by the general-purpose and specific objectives of carrying out this study. In the next section, this paper presents the significances of carrying out the study and finally concludes with the main guiding question and sub-questions. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods. The sample consisted of more than 100 parents from three Gewogs of Samdrupjongkhar. The finding of the study revealed that with the coming of the Central schools, the other small schools are deprived of the facilities. Therefore, it is recommended that the facility has to be equally distributed and the current system of the detachment of lower campus from upper campus has to be continued.

Plan of work of a social teacher in a school for suicide prevention

According to the suicidal state in the world, Kazakhstan ranks third after China and Russia. This situation among children and young people gives reason to think about the education of children in preschool age, especially in primary school. Starting from the youngest years, it is necessary to instill in their consciousness and sense of valuing their own life and the lives of others. In order to focus the attention of social educators on this problem, we offer a plan of work with students and their parents. An important way to overcome suicide and deviant behavior among adolescent children is, firstly, to provide preschool organizations with social teachers; secondly, to work with primary school students, to strengthen a separate social teacher; thirdly, to include an event on the prevention of suicide and deviant behavior among students in the work plan of a social teacher of small schools.

Combating the Coronavirus Pandemic in Small Schools

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of distance education in primary schools has become a much-discussed topic. It is therefore no surprise that the issues related to it have come to the forefront of many researchers. There is, however, at least one group that has stayed relatively unnoticed, and it is so-called small schools. Thus, we conducted a qualitative study based on the phenomenological approach, searching for answers to our research question: What has been the experience of the directors of small schools with distance education during the pandemic? Our findings offer an in-depth insight into the life of six schools through the eyes of their directors. Semi-structural interviews with school directors helped us reveal three key factors that, in our opinion, had the greatest influence on the form of distance education. These are (1) the factor of ICT competence of all actors, (2) the factor of organization of educational settings, and (3) the factor of the teaching methods and forms used in education. Furthermore, we conclude the result section with a subchapter that captures the positive aspects of distance education as perceived by the addressed school directors.

The Case for a Cost-Effective General-Purpose Computer Cluster for Small Colleges

The computational capabilities of commercial CPUs and GPUs reached a plateau but soft-ware applications are usually memory-intense tasks and they commonly need/utilize most recent hardware developments. Computer clusters are an expensive solution, although reliable and versatile, with a limited market share for small colleges. Small schools would typically rely on cloud-based systems because they are more afford-able (less expensive), manageable (no need to worry about the maintenance), and easier to implement (the burden is shifted into the datacenter). Here we provide arguments in favor of an on-campus hardware solution, which, while providing benefits for students, does not present the financial burden associated with larger and more powerful computer clus-ters. We think that instructors of engineering/computer science faculties might find this a viable and workable solution to improve the computing environment of their school without incurring the high cost of a ready-made solution. At the basis of this proposal is the acquisition of inexpensive refurbished hardware and of a type1 VMware hypervisor with a free licensing, as well as of a custom-made web plat-form to control the deployed hypervisors. VMware is a global leader in cloud infrastruc-ture and software-based solutions. In particular, the adoption of a customized "Elastic Sky X integrated" as hypervisor together with Virtual Operating Systems installed in the very same datastore, would constitute an interesting and working proof-of-concept achieving a computer cluster at a fraction of the market cost.

A kisiskolák és lehetőségeik

Összefoglaló. A tanulmány a kisiskolák magyarországi helyzetével foglalkozik, azok komplex társadalmi beágyazottságával, a hátrányos helyzet, a méltányosság és az inklúzió kérdéskörével, oktatáspolitikai és pedagógiai kérdésekkel. Területi és oktatás-statisztikai adatokra támaszkodva bemutatjuk az alacsony létszámmal működő baranyai iskolák egyes jellemzőit, az elmúlt másfél évtizedben lezajlott történéseket. Az intézményi kört érintők között hangsúlyosan jelenik meg az iskolabezárás, melynek folyamatát két iskola közelmúltban zajló megszűnésével foglalkozó esettanulmányunkra építve mutatjuk be. Működő gyakorlatokat keresünk arra, hogy a tanulók támogatásának, az inkluzív tanítási környezet kialakításának milyen lehetőségeit rejtik a – nem egy esetben összevont tanulócsoportos – kisiskolák. Summary. This study attempts to uncover and understand the many different factors of small schools in Hungary: the role of disadvantage, how and if equity and inclusion can be realised, and the complex ways in which society perceives these institutions. For these social determinants are multifaceted, further aspects of pedagogy and education policy will be discussed too. Based on regional and education statistics related data, the paper explores the main features and the recent history of those primary schools in Baranya which operate with a low number of students. In this recent history of small schools, there is a clear emphasis on school closures, a process that we will focus on through our case study of two contemporary school closures in the area. With this analysis, our goal is to present several examples of embedded, functioning practices in small schools – many of which operate with multigraded study groups – that aim to support pupils and create an inclusive environment.