ADVERTISEMENTThis edition of Learning World looks at how the educational landscape in Saudi Arabia, Canada and New Zealand is changing. Three schemes in these countries have won awards at WISE, the World Innovation Summit for Education.
In Saudi Arabia creating a fun environment for scientific experiments is a key element of a programme called “STEM” – that’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. Making these subjects engaging and interesting is important and even more so when it comes to gender parity. Already it’s proving a success and aims to inspire two million students by 2020.
In Canada a programme called “Pathways to Education” is helping to turn the educational tide for those students who drop out of school with little prospects ahead of them.
In some areas over 70 percent of children leave school without any qualifications. The scheme is now helping 4,500 students across four provinces in Canada. One of the main features of the project is the “Student Parent Support Worker” who is a friend, a teacher, a counsellor to the pupils.
Challenging the perceptions of Maori children who have a history of failing at school is part of a scheme in New Zealand. It is a project which has been rolled out in 50 North Island secondary schools.
The system believes that the relationships in the classroom with the teacher is the corner stone of learning. Such has been the success the Ministry of Education has promised to boost funding for the scheme and it is set to be adapted for schools in Australia.