Curios of the week #32

Clippings, endnotes and other ephemera

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As the mercury begins to rise in the thermometer, I decided it would be a good time to plant some herbs. There’s a shady spot on the front porch that faces South, so I did a little research into what herbs I could grow there. The consensus was that dill and mint would work well. I also selected some coriander. I always have a problem with coriander bolting so I am hoping the shade keeps it in check.

Next week our Year 12 students officially leave school. They will, of course, return to complete there exams, but there is much ceremony around next week and we have a number of rituals to work through. It is a busy few days that ends with me heading to Perth for researchED. There’s a chance that Curios may not come out as usual next Saturday but we shall see.

This week’s Curios include meta-analysis, two cool findings on maths facts, two different takes on specialist schools (well, sort of) and much more.

Parents of the week

There has been much discussion of specialist schools since Australia’s Disability Royal Commission published its long anticipated report and three of the commissioners recommended their eventual abolition. The claim is that inclusive education is a human right and leads to better outcomes. Inclusive education is where disabled students, whatever their disability, are educated alongside their non-disabled peers in mainstream settings.

One key voice has been missing from this discussion — the parents who have chosen to send their children to specialist schools. Inclusion campaigners tend to suggest that parents only do this as a last resort because they have been essentially turned away by mainstream principals. A new article in The Conversation casts doubt on this.

The article by Tania Aspland reports on research into the views of these parents. These parents were overwhelmingly pleased with their child’s school:

“91% of those surveyed were ‘extremely satisfied’ or ‘slightly satisfied’ with the educational support their child received

90% said there were ‘extremely satisfied’ or ‘slightly satisfied’ with the school’s overall understanding of their child’s strengths and needs.”

They reported that their children felt safe at specialist schools and found it easier to make friends. They were impressed with the individual attention teachers could afford to students in specialist settings.

Non-sequitur of the week

The same topic led to an academic to pen a quite different article for The Conversation. This article contains perhaps one of the most compelling non-sequitur’s of the week.