Ministry News

‘Manky’ bread teaches coughs & sneezes spread diseases

A “manky as” slice of mouldy bread was one innovative (and graphic) means to show how illness spreads for a Wellington teacher on the Science Teaching Leadership Programme.

Matt Boucher, a teacher at South Wellington Intermediate School, spent two terms last year following scientists around at work at the University of Otago’s Wellington campus, which is associated with Wellington Regional Hospital, as part of the programme.

After meeting scientists from the Infectious Diseases team who were passionate about informing the public about antibiotic resistance, he saw an opportunity to get the message out to students. Together they came up with the idea of a poster competition as the outcome of a learning topic on antibiotics and hygiene.

As part of the learning process, an experiment involving pieces of bread was used to graphically illustrate the mechanisms influencing the spread of illness. One slice was put in a sealed plastic bag while wearing sterile gloves; another was handled with washed hands before being sealed up; and the third slice was passed around and touched by everybody in the class.

After a week, the glove-handled piece looked untouched; the one touched by clean hands had some mould growing on it; and the third was “manky as”, Matt said.

The Science Teaching Leadership Programme, run by the Royal Society Te Apārangi, provides opportunities for teachers to enhance their knowledge, improve their confidence in teaching science, and build links to scientists in the community and the organisations they work for.

Kiwi and Aussie principals exchange experience and ideas

A school leaders’ exchange programme has provided two principals from either side of the Tasman the opportunity to develop and learn, and stay fresh in their thinking.

Janice Gulbransen from Nayland Primary School, Nelson, and Chris Roberts from Streaky Bay Area School, South Australia, who recently took part in the South Australia and New Zealand Principal Exchange, said it offered a unique professional development experience.

Janice and Chris spent four weeks observing each other at their own schools. According to Janice: “Shadowing Chris made me think about the decisions I make and why I make them, as well as being able to question Chris on how and why he makes his decisions.”

The impact of size and geography on school life was also one of many eye-openers. Nayland Primary School is in central Nelson and its Kāhui Ako schools are within 5km of each other. In Streaky Bay Area School, by contrast, some students come from a 60–80km radius and they take four buses to get to school; in addition, the Streaky Bay equivalent to Kāhui Ako are within 300km of each other.

For Janice, this provided “a better appreciation of the geographical challenges area schools face and what a long day it can be for a lot of students and staff.” Both Chris and Janice agreed that an open mind was critical to their learning experience and that the exchange provided excellent leadership development. They also said they would recommend other principals apply for the exchange.

Commitment to reducing child poverty lauded

The Government’s targets for reducing child poverty and hardship have been welcomed by teachers and others in the education system.

The proposed Child Poverty Reduction Bill will establish in law several measures of poverty and set future governments three- and ten-year targets to reduce it.

According to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the targets “will make a substantial difference for children”.

“Most significantly, by targeting reductions in the rate of children in low income households and hardship (not just the number) we are committing to keeping the rates low over time, rather than

achieving one-off benefits that could quickly erode.”

NZEI Te Riu Roa President Lynda Stuart said teachers saw the eff ects of poverty on children’s education and general well-being every day at school. National and global studies documented clear links between poverty and educational outcomes for children, Ms Stuart said, and any moves to reduce child poverty were “long overdue”.

The Ministry of Education would therefore be one of the crucial agencies involved in implementing the policy, whose ten-year targets included reducing the proportion of children:

• in low income households (before housing costs calculated) from roughly 15 percent of all children to 5 percent or from 160,000 children to 60,000

• in low income households (after housing costs calculated) from roughly 20 percent to 10 percent or from 210,000 children to 120,000

• in material hardship from 13-15 percent to 7 percent or from 150,000 children to 80,000.

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