In today’s talking points: Micro online lessons becoming popular in Chinese countryside; Finnish Expert believes Australian Schools are exerting ‘too much control’; Xinjiang organises education programs for impoverished people; NSW education minister advocates for a more ‘inclusive’ education system
Micro online lessons becoming popular in Chinese countryside
Online study in small time slots is trending among rural Chinese as education entrepreneurs ventures into e-learning. Huang Wei from Jingken Jiangxi does a 10 minute economic course every day and likens it to practicing a martial art – ‘every day, you become more capable’. Xue Zhaofeng of Peking University uploads his 10 minute column on iGetm a mobile application now with 10 million users. Charging 199 yuan a year, Xue’s column has over 170,000 subscribers. Purchasers of e-learning programs more than doubled from 2016 to the end of 2017 from 98 to 188 million. iiMedia research expects the figure to increase to 292 million in 2018.
Read more at: China Daily
Finnish Expert believes Australian Schools are exerting ‘too much control’
Expectations on young Australian school students are too high offers a Finnish education expert. Pasi Sahlberg believes that Australian politicians have placed too much emphasis on competition between schools and students in their pursuit for results. Joining The University of New South Wales’ Gonski Institute for Education in 2018, Sahlberg says that the government should make sure ‘every child has enough time to play before the come to school’. Australian students start formal schooling earlier and spend longer in the classroom than developed nation peers. By contrast, Finland does not introduce children to formal schooling until the age of 7 and is one of the top performers under the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (Pisa).
Read more at: The Guardian
Xinjiang organises education programs for impoverished people
As 2020 is approaching, China is pacing up its way to achieve the national objective of eliminating absolute poverty and to create a “moderately prosperous society”. Xinjiang’s regional government announced that it would organize skill training programs to help 40,000 laborers in 22 impoverish countries to find jobs. In 2017, Xinjiang has already set up occupational education programs where 1.26 million people in Kashgar and Hotan were covered and 40,000 of them found jobs to support themselves. It is reported that most of the destitute countries are located in southern Xinjiang due to a poor living environment, insufficient infrastructure and a lack of public services.
Read more at: China Daily
NSW education minister advocates for a more ‘inclusive’ education system
The Education Minister of NSW suggests to open up selective schools to local students in order to create a more equitable education system. He blamed the decades-old system for separating children on the basis of certain talents. For years’, these schools became increasingly selective not merely in academic terms but also in social terms. The rigid entry tests for selective schools also raise concerns that wealthy families may take advantage of the system by engaging in expensive tutoring services. Labor’s spokesman for education supports the Minister’s idea and welcomes more selective streams in comprehensive schools.
Read more at: Sydney Morning Herald