EATING DISORDERS,SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS

 

        Today we have talked about eating disorders with our English teacher. First of all, we have analysed different factors responsible for obesity in children.

        Children are less and less interested  in physical exercice, They spend most of their time in front of  the screen, playing with a play station or with their mobiles. In the past, children went outdoors with their peers to play hide-and-seek or cops and robbers, ride bikes or build a cabin; nowadays, children stay at home and don't move enough.

        Children eat too many sweets, pastries and sugar-rich drinks. In the past, children ate more fruit, ham or cheese sandwiches and water. Today, parents allow their children to eat what they want for convinience.

     

        Another important cultural factor which prevents obesity is eating together. It is important that families gather around the table and have their meals at the same time. This prevents from eating  when and what you like. It is a good thing to wait for everybody to be seated before starting the meal. It's a bad thing to cook something different for your child only  because  they say  they don't like the food. Taste is something to be developped and it's advisable that children taste at least a bit of the food in order to get used to it.

      We cannot forget genetic factors, but since we are not doctors, it is difficult for us to intervene. Other factors have a psychological nature. Stress, low self- esteem or depression can go along with obesity. The act of eating implies some kind of pleasure which can momentarily compensate this uneasiness. As aconsequence, people put on weigh and at the end of the day, their obesity makes them sad and depression and low-esteem worsen. It is a full circle thing.

                                                      

        Consequences.

       Obesity is increasing. As a result other children will tease fat ones and  this will lead to low self-esteem.

        On the other hand, obesity is the first factor for other eating disorders such anorexia and bulimia to appear.

       In order of importance, anorexia is placed in the first place, followed by  bulimia and  in the third place binge eating disorder.

    In some cases, eating disorders can start at 6 years old and sometimes these disorders can last a whole life. So it is very important to be aware of their psychological and social impact and to take effective measures in order to prevent them.

        Solutions

       It is crucial to acquire healthy habits and to cut dramatically down on fats and sugars.

       If the children is put on a diet, the most important thing is not to skip the diet on no account; and afterwards, healthy habits will help to maintain the weight loss.

       It is a tricky issue to consider obesity a child abuse from the parents in the same way as sexual or physical abuse. But we cannot deny that it is a serious negligence that should be supervised by social workers.

       An easy measure to start with, would be to forbid the sale of sweets and pastries in the canteens and to sell a great variety of fruits  and nuts instead.

      It has been proved that healthy diet should be part of the contents at school and every teacher ought to give some good tips to their students order to increase the children awareness of what they eat.

                                          

SEX EDUCATION AT SCHOOL

Today we have talked about sexual education at schools and within the family.

It is a fact that children receive a lot of the sexual information from internet but most of the times it is  pornographic and biaised and what is worse, there is a great danger of finding sexual predators.

In Great Britain, the government has been trying to put into place some kind of compulsory sexual  education but so far there are only some recommendations for the primary and  secondary school which are only timid approaches to the real needs of our children.

For instance,  more contraception information is crucial to avoid unwanted pregnancies. And we  can't forget the importance of consent in a sexual relationship; a clear case of no valid consent is if the girl is drunk; another one is not to mix up a woman dressing in a "provocative" manner and giving consent.

So, the first problem we encounter is that some parents are against sexual education because of their religion or their traditional way of thinking. Catholic or Muslim families, old generations and rich tend to be more conservative and traditionalist. At school they can ask for their children of being "excused" from attending these sexual lessons.

The second one is related to what to teach. In Spain, for instance, the anatomy and fonction of  the  sexual organs and reproduction are studied in the subject of biology but there is no specification about sexual health and contraception. However, sexual education is more than that with more embarring topics such as sexual pleasure, free consent in sexual encounters, musturbation, how to use a condom, heterosexuality versus homosexuality or abortion.

In Spain, from time to time an expert is invited to give a session about practical sexual issues in the secondary school.

The third issue is if we would be embarrassed if we had to give sexual education to our students, if we would be well prepared to do so and if we would be unbiaised enough and not let our beliefs to  interfere with this task.

In the Scandinavian countries, sometimes a prostitute is engaged to give this kind of courses since  these people are in fact "experts of sex". How would Spanish people react if we did the same thing in Spain?

As you can see, sexual education is a complex topic and I firmly believe that we need more information and strategies of how to tackle this topic in class.

STAGES TO IDENTIFY STUDENTS WITH LEARNING DISORDERS AND SPECIAL NEEDS

In  England  there are four stages:

1. Assesment.
1. You are put in a waiting list.
2. A team of specialists will assess the child in order to find out what is the problem and to  make a correct diagnosis.
2. A plan
1.  A specific plan is made for the child
2. Which are their needs, and supports in the class. 
1. It must be decided if it is preferable to attend to a special school or  to attend  an  ordinary school with some extra supports such a speech therapist or a support teacher, a special computer, a braille machine or a microphone.
3. Determine which contents are more suitable for this person.
1. For example, if there is a person with a Down syndrome, there are some contents which must be prioritised such as to increase independent skills such as to take the bus or to dealing with money in a shop.
3. To carry out the plan
4. To  review the results

SENCO  means Special Educational Needs Coordinator.

In Spain, the process is similar. There is a first assessment before starting in a primary school. Sometimes the recommendation is to attend a special school but most of the time the preferable option is the choice of an ordinary school in order to facilitate social inclusion.

Then there is a counselor in primary and secondary schools who coordinates all the needs of these children. Most of the time these chilcren are in the classroom with their classmates, but sometimes  they attend special lessons with a support teacher in small groups.

But, talking about inclusion, the question which apears over and over again is: 

• Is a French or mathematics teacher, por instance, prepared to really teach these students?
• And even in this case, have they really the time to take care of them in a proper way without neglecting the rest of the class?

To end this post, click  here  to watch a little comic.

SOCIAL CLASS AND PROBLEMS OF SCHOOL ADAPTATION

   

     In our first session we have talked about sociological factors affecting the adaptation of our students. Apart from the importance of a good teacher, the influence of peers is an element to take seriously into consideration. If a student is surrounded by hard-working students, she will turn into a good student too; if a student is beeing constantly bullied because of her physical aspect, she will be depressed and her performance will decrease dramatically. Therefore, it will be crucial to create a good class environment.

      Another factor to take into account is the neigbourhood where a child lives. The possibility of access to libraries, museums and other cultural activities will increase the possibility of a better adaptation at school. But this is not all; if you live in a good neigbourhood, a calm place where middle and upper families live, without drug problems, you will certainly have access to a better education. Why is that possible? One example will be enough to understand it: imagine a good teacher in a school full of problems; this teacher will leave the school as soon as possible and she will look for a better place  to work; imagine now that all the teachers do the same thing and you will find  a concentration of good teachers in schools without conflicts. 

      Therefore, a child living in a good neibourghood is more likely to assist a good school, and as a result to receive a better education. It is the so-called "post-coded lottery" in reference to the post codes in which a city is divided to distribute the letters. (here you can find an interesting article about thi stopic)

       If we broaden the scoop to a country, we will easily see that an African country with poor facilities, where teachers are underpaid and where there is no transport to go to school, the likelihood  of "winning the lottery" has completely disappeared.

        The other factor is the type of family the child belongs to. Middle and upper classes are concerned about good education and can afford better studies. In addition, parents are usually better educated which means that they will be able to help their children with their homework and with their difficulties at school, preventing some problems of adaptation.

           What can the school do to lessen these differences?????

and the significance of the family, there are sociological factors which cannot be negliged.

DIFFERENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS; DIFFERENT PROBLEMS OF ADAPTATION

     

      The 16th of  January, we have been with our expert in sociology and we have talked about a great number of topics, all of them more or less related to the problems of adaptation at school.

    First of all, we have analysed some differences between English and Spanish educational systems. In England there is a strict plan to follow in every session of class, which in a simplified way consists on:

• First of all, teachers have to prepare three different levels to work in the class with the students, for the content to be available and understandable for everybody
• At the beginning of the class, the  teacher spends 5 minutes to introduce the topic to work with.
• Then the teacher sets the goals to achieve during this lesson; in this way students are certain to know what they are expected to learn.
• Afterwards, the teacher hands out the task to accomplish in their three different levels. The students work on it for about 20 or 25 minutes.
• Finally, there is a plenary activity to solve doubts and to sum up the learned contents for about  15 minutes.
• Specialised teachers enter the class to help students with SEN (special education needs) and foreign students whose level of English is still too poor to follow autonomously the lesson.

        The teachers are constantly required to follow this scheme and inspections of their work are frequent. Furthermore, teachers risk having their salary reduced if goodperformances are not achieved. For this, a league table has been created and every teacher is assessed according his students' performances. This generates a strong discontentment among the teaching staff  which in the end it is no good for the students.

        On the other hand, Spanish educational system is more flexible and allows teachers to follow the method they consider the most suitable. For instance, a typical secquence of steps are:

• The teacher starts with the homework of the previous day; if the students had any difficulties in doing them and if necessary  to correct them to solve any doubts.
• Then, the teacher explains new contents
• Afterwards, she asks some questions to check the comprehension ofthe new topic.
• Finally the students are required to do the homework for the next session in order to practice the contents studied in class.
• Specialised teachers usually fetch students with SEN and work with them for some hours outside the class.

     Some teachers follow a published textbook; others have produced their own material. 

     Diagnosted disabled students are usually given different work to do in class since they are not able to undersand the contents explained in class. 

    Some teachers work with small groups but most of them follow a traditional frontal method or in other words a teacher centred-instruction.

    Inspections of  the teacher's work seldom happen, and obviously there is no salary reduction if  the students don't reach the espected level.

      As we can see both methods have pros and cons. 

• To prepare a task with three levels of difficulty is a good idea; this will decrease the anxiety of some students and the instruction will be more adapted to them  and therefore they will learn more, they will be less disappointed and there will be less disruptive behaviour. However, this means time and therefore, it should not be compulsory but only highly recomended.
• Some research studies have shown that teacher centred-instruction is not as good as other methods where students adopt an active role in class. However more exhaustive scientific research needs to be done.
• If a educational system is too controlled, there is no option to creativity and this results in monotony. Creativity methods should be promoted and more freedom is needed in class in order to offer changes and different activities and to avoid  students' tediousness, 
• Frequent inspections are good as long as the goal is to improve the teacher's skills. In Spain, inspectors are usually more concerned about paperwork than about what really happens in class.
• League tables are an unfair idea. First of all, we have to take into account that not all schools and classes are similar; ther are sociological factors that the teacher can't control and which are the reason of different levels of performance, independently of the teacher's skills.

       In conclusion, we need to find better methods of teaching, more adapted to the diversity of students and more flexible to promote creativity and supervision is a good tool only if it aims to counsel and improve teacher's skills.