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Sickness or health: Healthy life split along gender, education lines

Australians are living and working longer than ever, but the number of healthy years they’re enjoying with this added longevity isn’t shared equally between the sexes, or by those who finished school before Year 12. <div class="copy"> A paper recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00129-9" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-type="URL" data-id="https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00129-9">published</a> in The Lancet Public Health from the Ageing Futures Institute at the University of New South Wales shows an increase in longevity in Australia. Other data in the publication reveal detail about “healthy years”. Men, and those with higher levels of education, worked about 2 years longer in good health. For women and those with lower education, the years of healthy life expectancy have gone backwards. The report, led by statistician Dr Kim Kiely who is now based at The University of Wollongong, compared representative cohorts of people aged 50-100 who participated in the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey (HILDA). Those cohorts were measured over decade long periods – the first from 2001-2010 and the second from 2011-2020. Men added an extra 11 months of healthy life between the cohorts, while women lost a month. Similarly those of any gender who had completed year 12 added about 10 months to their healthy life expectancy, while the same amount of time was lost by those who hadn’t. “Everyone’s increasing their working life expectancy, so the years they’re expected to be working,” Kiely says. “What is different is how long they’re expected to be living in good health: women and people with low education didn’t have an improvement in healthy life expectancy. “Everyone’s also living longer than ever before, but for women, those extra years seem to be years of poor health. People with lower education – they end up going backwards, they’re losing years of healthy life.” Australia’s working life trends are similar to those in Europe and the UK, though this research suggests the Australian labour force works longer in poor health than their antipodean counterparts. Kiely says the findings are important considerations for policymakers pondering questions of retirement and pension ages: the demands of some labour may not be evenly spread when it comes to considering health implications. “We have a pension age that has been rising steadily over the past couple of decades – it’s not rising anymore – but there is a strong expectation for people to be working longer,” Kiely says. “And if that is the case, then we need opportunities for work for mature age, older adults, and those work opportunities have to be suitable for their capacity to work. “We do need to address things like age and gender discrimination in the workforce. And we need to think about how we support people who are unable to work before they reach the pension age.” Kiely is extending his research into how the nature of work in Australia influences these high-level findings. He hopes this can explain why gender and education influence healthy working years. Further drilling down into other subgroups is important, say Dr Marty Lynch and Dr Ross Wilkie from Keele University, UK. They investigated healthy working life expectancy as part of Britain’s Independent State Pension Age Review last year. They too found Briton were working longer, but not at a rate that keeps pace with the national pension age. In a Lancet editorial accompanying the Australian research, they point out that the HILDA data evaluation only shows changes in average ages on gender and education lines. “The extent of HWLE [Healthy Working Life Expectancy] inequalities between subpopulations with multiple specific characteristics are likely to be even wider and will also indicate targets and interventions to increase the number of years that people can be healthy and in work,” they say. The impact of socioeconomic status on life expectancy and disease burden was recently highlighted in a large-scale review of Australia’s 30-year health data. <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/australias-life-expectancy-is-up-but-healthy-years-are-a-different-story/">It found</a> while Australians have added 6 years to their life expectancy since 1990, those with lower socioeconomic backgrounds had a higher risk of death-causing disease. Image credits: Getty Images <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/society/sickness-or-health-healthy-life-split-along-gender-education-lines/">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="null">Cosmos</a>. </div>

Retirement Life

Princess Mary's eldest son make surprising announcement about his future

The eldest son of Princess Mary and Prince Frederik has made a surprising announcement ahead of his 18th birthday. Denmark's Prince Christian has broken years of royal tradition, saying he has decided to forego his royal allowance and instead prioritise his education. One he turns 18 in October, Christian will be able to receive his royal allowance and government funding. However, he has decided to put his education first and postpone becoming a full-time royal until he turns 21. A statement posted on the Royal House’s Instagram page explained that his primary focus in the coming year will be completing his upper secondary education. The statement reads, "Prince Christian's main priority in the coming year will be completing high school education. Following this, the Royal House will orient Prince Christian's further youth and education course, when the time comes." "It has thus been agreed with the Ministry of State that support in the Danish Parliament for a law on annual pension will only be sought when the Prince turns 21 or by a possible change of the throne, if it takes place before." The statement further shared that Prince Christian intends to stay away from the spotlight for now, but he will eventually resume public appearances in an official capacity once he has completed his education. Image credits: Getty Images

Family & Pets

How traditional Indigenous education helped four lost children survive 40 days in the Amazon jungle

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/eliran-arazi-1447346">Eliran Arazi</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/hebrew-university-of-jerusalem-855">Hebrew University of Jerusalem</a> The discovery and rescue of <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/four-missing-colombian-children-found-alive-jungle-sources-2023-06-10/">four young Indigenous children</a>, 40 days after the aircraft they were travelling in crashed in the remote Colombian rainforest, was hailed in the international press as a “<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/06/11/miracle-in-the-jungle-colombia-celebrates-rescue-of-children-lost-in-amazon-rainforest_6030840_4.html">miracle in the jungle</a>”. But as an anthropologist who has spent more than a year living among the Andoque people in the region, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/100474974/Amazonian_visions_of_Visi%C3%B3n_Amazon%C3%ADa_Indigenous_Peoples_perspectives_on_a_forest_conservation_and_climate_programme_in_the_Colombian_Amazon">conducting ethnographic fieldwork</a>, I cannot simply label this as a miraculous event. At least, not a miracle in the conventional sense of the word. Rather, the survival and discovery of these children can be attributed to the profound knowledge of the intricate forest and the adaptive skills passed down through generations by Indigenous people. During the search for the children, I was in contact with Raquel Andoque, an elder maloquera (owner of a ceremonial longhouse), the sister of the children’s great-grandmother. She repeatedly expressed her unwavering belief the children would be found alive, citing the autonomy, astuteness and physical resilience of children in the region. Even before starting elementary school, children in this area accompany their parents and elder relatives in various activities such as gardening, fishing, navigating rivers, hunting and gathering honey and wild fruits. In this way the children acquire practical skills and knowledge, such as those demonstrated by Lesly, Soleiny, Tien and Cristin during their 40-day ordeal. Indigenous children typically learn from an early age how to open paths through dense vegetation, how to tell edible from non-edible fruits. They know how to find potable water, build rain shelters and set animal traps. They can identify animal footprints and scents – and avoid predators such as jaguars and snakes lurking in the woods. Amazonian children typically lack access to the sort of commercialised toys and games that children in the cities grow up with. So they become adept tree climbers and engage in play that teaches them about adult tools made from natural materials, such as oars or axes. This nurtures their understanding of physical activities and helps them learn which plants serve specific purposes. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532019/original/file-20230614-31-hrdd5z.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A youg girl holding up an insect as her family works alongside" /><figcaption>A local Indigenous girl on an excursion to gather edible larvae. Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi, Author provided</figcaption></figure> Activities that most western children would be shielded from – handling, skinning and butchering game animals, for example – provide invaluable zoology lessons and arguably foster emotional resilience. <h2>Survival skills</h2> When they accompany their parents and relatives on excursions in the jungle, Indigenous children learn how to navigate a forest’s dense vegetation by following the location of the sun in the sky. <figure class="align-left zoomable"><a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532012/original/file-20230614-29-ii5s0u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=692&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Map of the Middle Caqueta region of Colombia." /></a><figcaption>Map showing where in Colombia the four lost children are from. Gadiel Levi, Author provided</figcaption></figure> Since the large rivers in most parts of the Amazon flow in a direction opposite to that of the sun, people can orient themselves towards those main rivers. The trail of footprints and objects left by the four children revealed their general progression towards the Apaporis River, where they may have hoped to be spotted. The children would also have learned from their parents and elders about edible plans and flowers – where they can be found. And also the interrelationship between plants, so that where a certain tree is, you can find mushrooms, or small animals that can be trapped and eaten. <h2>Stories, songs and myths</h2> Knowledge embedded in mythic stories passed down by parents and grandparents is another invaluable resource for navigating the forest. These stories depict animals as fully sentient beings, engaging in seduction, mischief, providing sustenance, or even saving each other’s lives. While these episodes may seem incomprehensible to non-Indigenous audiences, they actually encapsulate the intricate interrelations among the forest’s countless non-human inhabitants. Indigenous knowledge focuses on the interrelationships between humans, plants and animals and how they can come together to preserve the environment and prevent irreversible ecological harm. This sophisticated knowledge has been developed over millennia during which Indigenous people not only adapted to their forest territories but actively shaped them. It is deeply ingrained knowledge that local indigenous people are taught from early childhood so that it becomes second nature to them. It has become part of the culture of cultivating and harvesting crops, something infants and children are introduced to, as well as knowledge of all sort of different food sources and types of bush meat. <h2>Looking after each other</h2> One of the aspects of this “miraculous” story that people in the west have marvelled over is how, after the death of the children’s mother, the 13-year-old Lesly managed to take care of her younger siblings, including Cristin, who was only 11 months old at the time the aircraft went down. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/532007/original/file-20230614-19-7q92j0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Three Indigenous people in western clothes stood under trees in front of a wide building." /><figcaption>Iris Andoque Macuna with her brother Nestor Andoque and brother-in-law Faustino Fiagama after the two men returned from the search team. Iris Andoque Macuna., Author provided</figcaption></figure> But in Indigenous families, elder sisters are expected to act as surrogate mothers to their younger relatives from an early age. Iris Andoke Macuna, a distant relative of the family, told me: <blockquote> To some whites [non-Indigenous people], it seems like a bad thing that we take our children to work in the garden, and that we let girls carry their brothers and take care of them. But for us, it’s a good thing, our children are independent, this is why Lesly could take care of her brothers during all this time. It toughened her, and she learned what her brothers need. </blockquote> <h2>The spiritual side</h2> For 40 days and nights, while the four children were lost, elders and shamans performed rituals based on traditional beliefs that involve human relationships with entities known as dueños (owners) in Spanish and by various names in native languages (such as i'bo ño̰e, meaning “persons of there” in Andoque). These owners are believed to be the protective spirits of the plants and animals that live in the forests. Children are introduced to these powerful owners in name-giving ceremonies, which ensure that these spirits recognise and acknowledge relationship to the territory and their entitlement to prosper on it. <figure class="align-center "><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531997/original/file-20230614-15389-7c6oly.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="Woman in pink t-shirt sat on chair inside." /><figcaption>Raquel Andoke, a relative of the missing children and friend of the author. Image courtesy of Eliran Arazi, Author provided</figcaption></figure> During the search for the missing children, elders conducted dialogues and negotiations with these entities in their ceremonial houses (malocas) throughout the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Middle-and-Lower-Caqueta-River-region-State-of-Amazonas-Colombia-Map-from_fig1_255580310">Middle Caquetá</a> and in other Indigenous communities that consider the crash site part of their ancestral territory. Raquel explained to me: <blockquote> The shamans communicate with the sacred sites. They offer coca and tobacco to the spirits and say: “Take this and give me my grandchildren back. They are mine, not yours.” </blockquote> These beliefs and practices hold significant meaning for my friends in the Middle Caquetá, who firmly attribute the children’s survival to these spiritual processes rather than the technological means employed by the Colombian army rescue teams. It may be challenging for non-Indigenous people to embrace these traditional ideas. But these beliefs would have instilled in the children the faith and emotional fortitude crucial for persevering in the struggle for survival. And it would have encouraged the Indigenous people searching for them not to give up hope. The children knew that their fate did not lie in dying in the forest, and that their grandparents and shamans would move heaven and earth to bring them back home alive. Regrettably, this traditional knowledge that has enabled Indigenous people to not only survive but thrive in the Amazon for millennia is under threat. Increasing land encroachment for agribusiness, mining, and illicit activities as well as state neglect and interventions without Indigenous consent have left these peoples vulnerable. It is jeopardising the very foundations of life where this knowledge is embedded, the territories that serve as its bedrock, and the people themselves who preserve, develop, and transmit this knowledge. Preserving this invaluable knowledge and the skills that bring miracles to life is imperative. We must not allow them to wither away.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207762/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/eliran-arazi-1447346">Eliran Arazi</a>, PhD researcher in Anthropology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (Paris)., <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/hebrew-university-of-jerusalem-855">Hebrew University of Jerusalem</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-traditional-indigenous-education-helped-four-lost-children-survive-40-days-in-the-amazon-jungle-207762">original article</a>. Images: Getty

Caring

9 ways to exercise your brain

While many people can say they are dedicated to keeping their bodies in shape, exercising applies to more than just the muscles, bones and fat in our bodies. We should all be working out the neural pathways and connections in our brains too. So whether you’re trying to get your brain back into shape or you just want to keep it as strong as it is now, below are some top tips on how to help exercise your mind to good health. 1. Read as much as you can Whether it’s a newspaper, magazine or book, reading is a fantastic basic brain exercise. Remember, the more challenging the reading material is the more of a workout you are giving your brain. Like with any new exercise regime, start small and work your way up to a level that you find challenging. 2. Learn new words Increasing your vocabulary is a great way to exercise the language portion of your brain. A word-of-the day calendar is a great way to ensure you keep on top of this throughout the year. 3. Put pen to paper (not fingers to a keyboard) From fictional stories to keeping a journal, writing is a good workout for the brain, as it requires lots of thinking. A study published in the Human Brain Mapping journal found that both planning and writing a story by hand combines handwriting and cognitive writing processes, which are predominantly associated with memory and integrating information from diverse sources. 4. Do puzzles Easy to fit into your daily schedule, simple puzzles like crosswords and Sudoku help to get your brain doing some basic work, while more complex puzzles will give your brain a stronger workout. So although more complicated puzzles may take days to solve and complete, they’re worth the effort as these types of games can help keep you sharp, as well as slow memory loss and mental decline. 5. Switch to your non-dominant hand While this might sound like an odd one, switching to your non-dominant hand from time to time has been shown to stimulate the parts of the brain that control your muscles. Experts also say that using your other hand helps your brain to better integrate its two hemispheres. 6. Get talking For a basic brain workout, get chatting! Next time you catch up with family or friends try talking about more challenging topics (such as politics, religion etc.) where you engage in deep discussion – without arguing. It’s a great way to keep your mind active while having fun, get to know others better and to share your thoughts. 7. Back to school Education has obvious benefits and going back to school is a great way to get your brain working again, to challenge yourself and to do something satisfying. You don’t have to sign up for a whole degree, there are many free short courses as well as certificate courses that you can do online. 8. Eat well Just like with the body, when you exercise you need to give your brain the right fuel so it operates at optimal health. The Open Training Institute says, “Skipping breakfast can reduce thinking skills by 40 per cent, as your brain is starved of that much needed sugar hit”. Furthermore, certain foods are good for improving brain function like dark chocolate, which increases blood flow to the brain increasing alertness and clarity. “Blueberries for example pack a powerful punch of antioxidants and can improve memory, while green leafy veggies and fresh herbs are full of vitamin K, which improves cognitive function.” 9. Exercise Being active doesn’t only keep your body healthy it can also make you more alert. The Open Training Institute says, “Low-intensity exercise like yoga or walking can dramatically reduce sleepiness, amp up energy levels and attention span.” And the benefits of keeping active don’t stop there. “More intensity can even improve cognitive function by five to 10 per cent.” Image credit: Shutterstock

Mind

Become a master record keeper

Whether you want to brush up your admin skills for your current job, seek new employment, or you’re simply keen to further your knowledge and become the master of your own personal admin, understanding the process of record keeping can be very rewarding. Take Over60 community member, Di Rieger, for example. “During my time [working and volunteering] I assisted with customer service, collection and data entry of statistics, brochure management, information research, ticket and retail sales, preparation of the volunteer roster, writing applications for grant funding and writing award submissions,” Di explains. From working in libraries to volunteering, her experience in research and administration tasks instilled her with the knowledge and know-how to start researching the genealogy of her family. An experience, which she says, changed her life. “Would you believe that while doing an Internet search for my husband’s great grandfather I found information that I did not already have – his parent’s birth and death dates and places, his siblings and all of their birth dates and places and quite a lot more information. One of my cousins had never seen a photograph of [our relative] Thomas Oscar Miller that I found. She is thrilled that I am able to send her a digital copy of the photo.” Whether you want to get a little more organised at home or take on a research project, learning the art of record keeping is a skill that is transferable to many fields. Here are some basic tips and tricks that will help get your personal affairs in order. 4 tips to become the master of your personal records 1. Divide and conquer Nearly all of your admin and financial papers can be divided into three categories: records that you need to keep only for the calendar year or less, papers that you need to save for several years, and papers that you should hang onto indefinitely. For example, you don’t really need to hang onto all of your ATM-withdrawal receipts, deposit slips or credit-card receipts do you? Once you’ve crosschecked receipts with your bank statement, you can throw them away. While it’s a good idea to keep receipts for major purchases, it isn’t necessary to hold onto sales receipts for minor purchases after you've satisfactorily used the item a few times or the warranty has expired. Shortly after the end of the calendar year, you should be able to throw out a slew of additional paper, including your monthly credit card and or other bank statements, utility bills (if they are not needed for business deductions), and monthly or quarterly reports for the previous year. 2. Paper place Designate a place – a desk, corner or room – as the place where you deal with paperwork. If you don’t have the space for this, a drawer, cabinet, or closet where you can store bills and current records, situated near a table on which you can write, will do. Stationery items such as manila folders will come in handy for filing the papers, as will a file cabinet or cardboard box to hold the records. Keep your will, birth and marriage certificates, insurance policies, property deeds, and other permanent records in a safe but accessible place near your other financial documents, so you and your heirs will always be able to get to them quickly, if they need to. 3. Organised systems Having a plan for how you process all records is key. A rudimentary filing system will do. The simplest method is to sort everything into categories – for example, tax related, financial or house. Each area should have it’s own folder or drawer. Then, when you sit down to either pay your bills or gather information, you'll have all the paperwork you need in one spot. 4. Stay in front Once you have a system in place, you’ll want to make sure you stay on top of things and don’t have a backlog of unsorted paperwork. Set aside a half an hour a day to sift through old papers, perhaps while watching the news or listening to music. You'll be amazed at the difference a little organisation makes. Image credit: Shutterstock

Mind

Why study is the key to keeping your brain healthy as you age

Two Over60 community members talk about studying later in life, how it keeps their mind healthy and why they keep going back for more. The word study for many people conjures up memories of restless school days, strict teachers and homework you had to force yourself to complete. However, education isn’t just limited to schools – if you think about our everyday lives, we are constantly learning new things. Whether it’s trying out a new recipe, learning about historic events through a film or attempting to remember algebra so we can help our grandkids, it’s clear learning is a lifelong process. Research consistently shows that keeping your mind active has many health benefits. For over-60s, it helps to keep your mind stimulated and mental faculties in top condition as well as improving your overall wellbeing. It is why there are increasingly more seniors who are seeking to study later in life – and they’re finding they not only love it, but that it’s rewarding in so many ways. For Bernard Macdougall, 73, from Maryborough, Queensland, taking courses and learning new things has been crucial in keeping his mind astute. It was after searching online that Bernard stumbled across the free Open2Study courses. “A couple of year ago I was starting to get a bit anxious about whether I had any brain damage. I had a bit of numbness on the right side of my body and I felt I had a slight impediment in my speech,” he reveals, continuing, “but when I found I could get high marks in these courses I thought well I don’t have to worry, my brain is working, there hasn’t been any deterioration.” Bernard found there was a great variety in courses offered and the option of short one-month timeframes could be easily managed. He ended up taking three courses through Open2Study and another online course through Charles Darwin University. It was a similar case for Peter Keyes, 78, from Albion Park Rail, New South Wales, who has completed four courses through Open2Study. Peter has worked in education all his life so when retirement came around he wasn’t about to stop learning. “You can’t sit around in retirement and twiddle your thumbs,” he laughs, adding, “I live in a retirement village and I encourage all of [the residents] to do some study rather than sit around and watch TV all day! It keeps the brain kicking.” As well as keeping him busy, Peter also found the courses were helpful and informative. “During my career in education I ended up being an administrator looking after buildings so I was interested in one of the courses ‘Project Management’. It gave me a further insight into the processes that I used in setting up the buildings of school buildings,” he explains, continuing, “In [my] retirement village, management occasionally ask me to go into planning meetings and talk about what things [to consider] in terms of buildings and older people.” Studying is not only about learning new things but as Bernard found, it can be personally fulfilling too. “Back in the 70s, I did an arts degree with major studies in anthropology. I saw that Open2Study had a course called ‘<a href="https://www.open2study.com/courses/becoming-human-anthropology-090913%20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Becoming Human</a>’. I thought, ‘Right I will have a go at that’,” explains Bernard. He soon found he was not only learning about new theories but about what it means to become human. “I was very emotionally involved as it was about human evolution,” he says. Both Bernard and Peter found the online courses easy to manage – all that was needed was a computer and an internet connection to access the course that you could do in the convenience and comfort of your own home. Lectures were presented through short videos, which Peter found convenient: “You can stop it at any time, make a note and then catch up,” he explains. And for those who are worried that studying means taking exams or doing assessments again, Peter advises you not to worry. “When people hear that they’ve got exams or test or assessment to do, they get a bit frightened. But you teach them there’s nothing to it, you can always stop and go back and have another read,” says Peter. While there are assessments – mainly multiple choice – throughout most courses, it’s not about being competitive but having a barometer for your individual progress. It is simply there so you know how much knowledge you have learnt during the course. Bernard found that although he felt apprehensive sometimes, there was a greatly fulfilling feeling of not only accomplishing the assessment but gaining some high marks. “I put a lot of work into study and when you have to press the final submit button, sometimes I was extremely apprehensive because I was anxious to get good marks,” Bernard explains, adding, “I think one has to devote time to it but it’s time I’m happy to spend.” Both Peter and Bernard are quick to reveal that they are not going to stop studying anytime soon. Peter has just signed up to Open2Study’s ‘Innovation for Powerful Outcomes’ course while Bernard is still half way through the ‘User Experience for the Web’ course. “The course is self-paced so I can start again and there’s no deadline for me, thank goodness,” Bernard smiles. After each completing a number of courses, they can’t speak highly enough about how beneficial studying has been for them. “It keeps the little grey cells going,” states Peter, because as he know only too well, “the pool of knowledge, skill, understanding and wisdom is enormous” in the over-60 community. “For me it is very, very important to keep learning as you age. Partly so that I know my brain is still good and not fading away,” Bernard chuckles, continuing, “it is also just a matter of curiosity. I’m just interested in learning new topics.” Images: Getty

Mind

School principal forced out after parents complain statue of David is too rude

Hope Carrasquilla, a US charter school principal, has been forced to resign from her position after a parent decreed an art lesson to be “pornographic”. Carrasquilla was given an ultimatum - either she stepped down, or she would face termination from the Tallahassee Classical School - according to the Tallahassee Democrat. “It saddens me that my time here had to end this way,” she told the publication. Carrasquilla also explained that she had been informed of her options by the school’s board chair, Barney Bishop. While Bishop has confirmed that he did hand down the ultimatum, he did not expand on why. However, Carrasquilla believes a Renaissance art lesson to be the main contributing factor. The lesson in question saw students study Michelgangelo’s classic David, as well as his Creation of Adam fresco painting, and Boticelli’s Birth of Venus. Apparently, the school is required to educate students about Renaissance art in their 6th grade. But for three parents this wasn’t reason enough, with each of them voicing their concerns about the lesson plan, while claiming that it had caused their children upset. Two of the parents simply wanted to have been notified about the content before it reached their children, but one had stronger feelings, branding the situation “pornographic”. Carrasquilla said that one of them was “point-blank upset”, and “felt her child should not be viewing those pieces.” But as she informed HuffPost, things were “a little more complicated than that”, before sharing that the school’s usual protocol would be to inform parents before their children are presented with classical art, such as David. According to the now-former principal, a “breakdown in communication” between herself, the direction of operations, and the art teacher has brought upon a kind of administrative oversight, and the parents had never received a letter about the lesson. This came after a new rule was passed in February, with the school board mandating that parents must be notified a fortnight before any “potentially controversial” was taught to students. Parents would also be presented with the option to review their child’s curriculum, as well as any related media, with a reminder to be sent a week ahead. “Parental rights are supreme,” Bishop explained, “and that means protecting the interests of all parents, whether it’s one, 10, 20, or 50.” As her story began to circulate around the globe, Carrasquilla went on to explain in a statement that for a year, Bishop had “expressed his displeasure with my leadership when parents became upset about policies or procedures not being followed to the T. “He was more concerned about litigation and appeasing a small minority of parents, rather than trusting my expertise as an educator for more than 25 years.” Images: Getty

Art

A rare glimpse into the Depression-era

Yale University recently released 170,000 historic photos of the Great Depression to the public. These photos were commissioned by the US government in the 1930s to capture America “at her most vulnerable”. Shot over a 10 year period from 1935 to 1945, these pictures offer a rare and fascinating glimpse into the daily life of ordinary people simply trying to get by. A selection of some of the most captivating images are in the gallery above, but if you’re interested in browsing all the photos, <a href="http://photogrammar.yale.edu/" target="_blank">head over to their interactive website here. </a> Related links: <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/15-things-kids-of-today-are-missing-out-on/">15 things kids of today are missing out on</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/inside-a-1950s-tea-factory/">Inside a tea factory from the 50s</a> <a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/01/5-types-of-grandparents/">There are 5 different types of grandparents – which one are you?</a>

Family & Pets

6 tips to negotiate your way to what you want

Whether you’re haggling at the markets, dealing with a sales person or trying to buy a car, we negotiate all the time in our lives. Knowing how to get what you want is one of those skills worth learning so here are six ways to help your next negotiation go your way. 1. Do your homework Learn as much as you can before your negotiation. When you have information it gives you a stronger chance in a negotiation as well as knowing how to deal with any objections. Even in the case of wanting to return some clothes or shoes to a store, a sales person might refuse you but if you have researched the policy beforehand you would know you’re not being treated fairly. 2. Listen more than you talk It might seem like you should talk more as you need to convince the other side of what you need but in fact, you’ll make more ground if you listen. You will not only be able to learn more about what the other person needs or wants but most importantly it builds trust - the other party now feels respected and understood. It will lead you both to want to find a mutually satisfying agreement. 3. Look for shared interests You want to establish a rapport with the person so look for things you have a shared interest in. When you find common ground with someone it builds familiarity and a trust that will help you in a negotiation. If you’ve ever haggled at the markets you’ll know striking up a friendly conversation with the seller might persuade them to be a tad more generous in their pricing. 4. Address objections We’ve all been stopped at the shopping centres with people trying to sell us creams or raffles. When you try and walk away they are just too persuasive. Why? They address any objection you have and respond with empathy and understanding. It will just take a “quick minute” or “it’s very cheap” so you feel obliged to stick around. If they use it in sales, you can use it in your negotiations. 5. Seek a win-win outcome Don’t just focus on what you want and need. It’s a negotiation so the other party needs to leave with their interests met as well. If you’re thinking “win-win” you’ll already be considering the other person so most outcomes will be beneficial to both. It doesn’t mean “giving in” but simply finding that solution where both sides can walk away satisfied. For example if you’re selling anything, you might offer a discount if someone purchases multiple item rather than just one. In this situation, you sell more items and the other side gets a reduced price. 6. Aim high Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. You don’t get what you don’t ask. And if you don’t get it, you’ll be closer. Just say you’re buying some classic furniture, you would start well below your rock bottom because you know the seller is going to aim high.

Mind

The secret to taking the most amazing photos you’ve ever shot

If you are an aspiring photographer you may have heard of RAW. It is a common term bandied in digital photography, but what is often not explained is why it is important and what it means for your images. We sort out fact from fiction so you can see what RAW can do for your photographs. What is RAW? RAW is a file format comparable to a negative in the digital world. As we know from the time before we all went digital, negatives possess all the necessary information to create a photo. When you use RAW, you capture your images like a negative – meaning the image you capture in not yet processed. This is different to shooting in the common JPEG format where the camera processes and compresses the image for you. Information is lost in the JPEG process, which results in a lower-quality image that is harder to edit. For professionals, using RAW is preferable as you can decide how you want to edit a photo and thus produce what you had in mind, rather than letting the camera decide for you. Why is it good? As the RAW format provides you with the most information possible when capturing an image, the quality of the photograph is going to be higher and better than any other format. The greatest benefit, however, lies in the editing process. As no information has been processed or compressed, you will be able to correct problems you see in your photos – this would not be possible if shot in JPEG format. With RAW capture you also have control over the white balance, contrast, highlights, shadows, colours and saturation. You can easily correct both over- or under-exposed images without a reduction in quality, which is particularly useful if you shoot under difficult lighting circumstances like at night-time. You can also adjust the white balance of photos which helps you achieve the proper colour balance, crucial in creating great photos. What are the downsides? <div> RAW is the best option for photographers who want to take control over their images but as so much information is captured in the image; the file size is much larger than its JPEG relative which could mean complications with storing your images. If you are shooting a lot of images with little need to edit then RAW format is not necessarily for you. However, if you are looking to take your photography to the next level then you should learn to start shooting like the professional do: with RAW capture. As any professional will tell you, RAW is one of the best tools for a photographer. The editing capabilities in RAW far outweigh any other form and creating great photos is just as much about editing as it is about shooting the perfect picture. And if you are aspiring to take your photography further, looking into a photography course to develop your skills and techniques could be beneficial. Image: Getty Images </div>

Mind

Tips for studying later in life

Studying when you’re 60 and beyond is beneficial for many reasons, not only for improving the skills needed in today’s workplace. Learning in your older years keeps your brain active and is an effective way to tackle isolation, loneliness and depression, which can accompany old age. By making the decision to study during this stage in life is a positive thing in itself and is something that you should be proud of. Rather than putting too much pressure on yourself to be the top of your class, just have fun! Here are some tips and things to consider if you’ve decided to keep your mind active with study. Make a commitment As it is with any major life decision or change, deciding to study requires an investment of your time, energy and resources. Sit down and have a think about your priorities, weekly schedule and how studying will fit into your life. Work out what you can and cannot manage and set yourself a new schedule including your study commitments. This way you will know from the outset what is achievable within your current lifestyle so you’ll be better able to make a commitment to study. Time management Just as you would with food shopping, exercise and any childcare responsibilities you have looking after your grandchildren, you'll need to schedule class time and study time. Be firm with yourself and others in your life about making sure you don’t get distracted. Get social Studying later in life might be a daunting experience for some, especially if this is your first time doing any form of tertiary education. Seeking support is always a good idea. Many institutions have both online and virtual spaces where you can interact with other students. Otherwise there is always Facebook, online forums or meet up groups in your local area. Seek out like-minded people in similar situations and see if they want to be study partners or even just catch up for coffee once in a while to swap study stories. Tech savvy There’s no doubt technology has come a long in recent times with a number of new tools and clever devices now available. Find out what’s required in terms of technology skills and tools for any study you wish to undertake. If you are a little technology shy, consider brushing up on your skills. Some local councils or state governments offer free technology courses for seniors. For example, the New South Wales government runs the very popular Tech Savvy Seniors program. Stay positive Don’t get discouraged if you feel a little shy or out of your depth when returning to study. This is a sentiment mirrored by many students of all ages. Just focus on the fact that keeping your mind active is so good for you and anything after that is a bonus. Have fun Don’t pressure yourself to achieve a long list of goals. Take each day as it comes, enjoy the experience and just have fun with it. Image: Getty

Caring

8 surprising facts you probably didn’t know about your brain

The brain is one of, if not, the most vital part of our bodies yet it’s also one of the most mysterious. Here are 8 amazing facts about that grey matter in between our ears that will make you appreciate it a whole lot more. 1. The brain is a hog The brain accounts for only two per cent of your weight but it uses 20 per cent of the oxygen you breathe and 25 per cent of the glucose circulating in your bloodstream. A continuous supply of oxygen is essential for the brain’s survival with just 10 minutes of lost oxygen causing significant neutral damage. 2. Brain tissue feels like tofu According to neurosurgeon Katrina Firlik, the texture and consistency of the brain is similar to “tofu – the soft variety,” she writes in her memoir Another Day in the Frontal Lobe: A Brain Surgeon Exposes Life on the Inside. 3. Night vision is different to day vision When it is dark outside your peripheral vision actually works better than your front-on vision. This is because our rod cells – the photoreceptors that respond best to dim light – are located in the periphery. Take a page from pilots who look for traffic out the side of their eyes next time you’re driving at night. 4. Your brain doesn’t feel pain If you like watching your medical dramas on TV you might have wondered why patients undergo open brain surgery without being sedated. Surprisingly, it’s not because the medical dramas are wrong, it’s because the brain itself doesn’t feel pain. This allows doctors to probe areas of the brain while the patient is conscious. 5. You use more than 10 per cent of your brain Thanks to Hollywood, there is a common myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brains. However, there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this. It is true that scientist still do not completely understand how the brain functions but brain mapping suggests all areas of the brain have a function and are used. 6. The brain is big The average adult brain weighs around 1.3 to 1.4 kilograms and has 100,000 miles worth of blood vessels (enough to circle the Earth four times) and 100 billion neurons. 7. Size doesn’t matter Having a bigger brain doesn’t necessarily mean you are smarter. In fact, Albert Einstein had a relatively small brain. His weighed 1,230 grams whereas the average male brain weighs 1,360 grams. 8. There is no left brain/right brain divide Another common myth that says logical, methodical and analytical people are left-brain dominant while the creative and artistic types are right-brain dominant. Scientists at the University of Utah have disproved this with their analysis of 1,000 brains. They found no evidence that people use their left or right brain more but that participants used their entire brain. Image credits: Getty Images

Mind

Unusual car seat mistake that leaves your child in danger

With winter just around the corner, parents have been warned to not strap their child into a baby seat if they’re wearing a puffy jacket. Tiny Hearts Education founder, former paramedic and mum Nikki Jurcutz explained that the puffy jacket leaves space between the child and the seat belt which makes it dangerous. “As the temperature outside drops, we start to rug up. One of the best things I've found to keep my little ones warm is puff jackets, and I see so many kids wearing the same thing,” she wrote in an informative post on Facebook. “But if you're going to use a thick jacket like that, there's something that it doesn't go well with: A car seat.” She went on to explain how despite thinking you have strapped your child in safely, the space is dangerous when in an accident. “When your bub is wearing a thick jacket and put in the car seat, you'll tighten the strap to remove the slack,” she continued. “Thick jackets often trap air amongst the layers and feathers inside the jacket, so in an accident, the jacket compresses, creating excessive space between bub and their car seat straps. “This excessive space means they may not be held securely in the car seat, which increases their risk of injury in a crash.” Nikki went on to offer suggestions on how to ensure children are safely seated and strapped in the seat while wearing a jacket. “To test if a jacket is too thick to wear in a car seat, put bub in while wearing the jacket and tighten the slack like you normally would [remember: to check your harness is tight enough, you shouldn't be able to pinch any of the strap between your thumb and pointer finger]. “Then take bub out of their car seat without loosening the harness, then put bub back in the car seat. If you need to tighten it, the jacket shouldn't be worn in the car seat.” Otherwise, some alternatives to a puffy jacket can be: pre-warming the car before putting bub in, dressing bub in long-sleeve, using socks and singlets for extra layers, add blankets on the outside of the car seat. For older kids, try putting them in the car seat first, then put the jacket on backwards over their arms on the outside of the car seat straps. Image: Shutterstock

Caring

A failure at 6? Data-driven assessment isn’t helping young children’s learning

Children’s <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/providers/edcare/veyldframework.pdf">early years</a> from birth to the age of eight are crucial for their social, emotional and intellectual development. However, early years education in Australia is fragmented. It operates across two spaces, the pre-compulsory period, often called early childhood education, and the first three years of compulsory schooling. In recent times the focus in these three years has been on assessment that produces numerical data. Teachers need to demonstrate children are meeting standards. In contrast, in the pre-compulsory years the focus is on observing and interacting with the child. Practices are based on the belief that all children have agency and are capable learners. A chasm has opened up between these <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Early-Childhood-and-Compulsory-Education-Reconceptualising-the-relationship/Moss/p/book/9780415687744">separate education systems</a>. Children go from playing to being tested in the blink of an eye. This abrupt change in young children’s education is problematic. <h2>What does research tell us about the early years?</h2> A <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/391647/Dunn356707Accepted.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y">2015 review</a> of research on best practices in the early years identified key factors in successful teaching and learning. The review noted the importance of: <ul> <li> a smooth transition between pre-school education and compulsory school education </li> <li> play-based learning </li> <li> seeing children as capable and having agency in their learning </li> <li> <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/speakinglistening/Pages/teachingpracdialogic.aspx">dialogic interactions</a> involving <a href="https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/earlyYears/Documents/language-dialogic-in-action.pdf">rich discussions</a> between children and between children and teachers. </li> </ul> Australia has introduced a mandated curriculum and a national assessment program in primary schools. The review noted this meant many early years teachers have adopted a more formalised and narrow approach to learning in schools. It isn’t appropriate for young children. We can see the resulting <a href="https://researchnow.flinders.edu.au/en/publications/where-are-the-early-years-of-school-in-contemporary-early-childho">divide between non-compulsory and compulsory</a> early years education in Victoria. On the one hand, teachers need to acknowledge the needs of children from birth to eight years. On the other hand, for those between the ages of five and 12, the <a href="https://victoriancurriculum.vcaa.vic.edu.au/">Victorian Curriculum</a> requires teachers to assess and report against curriculum standards. The focus on formal assessment and numerical data in the early years of schooling means children as young as six can be labelled as failing. In countries like Finland and Singapore, which have been <a href="https://www.oecd.org/pisa/pisaproducts/strongperformers/">identified</a> as <a href="http://timssandpirls.bc.edu/pirls2016/international-results/pirls/student-achievement/pirls-achievement-results/">high-performing</a>, children do not even <a href="https://expatchild.com/school-starting-ages-around-world/">begin formal schooling</a> before the age of six or seven. <iframe src="https://data.worldbank.org/share/widget?indicators=SE.PRM.AGES&type=shaded&view=map" width="100%" height="380" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.2304/ciec.2014.15.2.185">One study</a> has described the early years in countries like the United Kingdom, America and Australia as being at the mercy of top-down policy development, leading to “a highly prescriptive and assessment-driven early years climate”. <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Datafication-of-Primary-and-Early-Years-Education-Playing-with-Numbers/Bradbury-Roberts-Holmes/p/book/9781138242173">UK researchers</a> have identified the “datafication” of early years education and its impacts on children and teachers. And <a href="https://researchoutput.csu.edu.au/en/publications/a-sociological-analysis-of-australias-naplan-and-my-school-senate">Australian researchers</a> used the term “adultification” to describe the unrealistic expectations placed on young children. <h2>So what happens in our schools?</h2> My doctoral <a href="https://minerva-access.unimelb.edu.au/handle/11343/268186">research</a> found “datafication” and “adultification” defined the early years of schooling in Victoria. I engaged with more than 100 early-years teachers to explore their literacy teaching and assessment practices. The recurring theme was these teachers were expected to frequently assess young children in formal ways that provided numerical data. Teachers voiced frustration. One described the early years as “death by assessment”. Another lamented that community expectations were unreasonable, saying “people are hung up on data, numbers”. There was an overwhelming sense that the teachers knew their children best and should be given the agency to assess and plan for literacy teaching rather than being required to use a suite of commercially produced assessment tools. The Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (<a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/childhood/providers/edcare/veyldframework.pdf">VEYLDF</a>) is designed to support early years teachers working with children and families. Its premise is that children have the greatest opportunities to develop neural pathways for learning and are also most vulnerable to negative experiences from birth to eight years. The framework is based on research into best practice for children in these years. Rather than formal assessment based on numbers, the VEYLDF advocates for assessment that is authentic and responsive to how all children can best demonstrate their learning and development. The Victorian Education Department <a href="https://www.education.vic.gov.au/childhood/professionals/learning/Pages/veyldf.aspx">encourages</a> teachers in schools to use the framework. However, little is known about how many actually use the framework to inform teaching and learning. Making it mandatory to report against curriculum standards from the time children begin compulsory schooling sets the boundaries for how many teachers operate. It is hard to have a foot in both camps when reporting against these standards is mandatory and you feel compelled to prepare children for what comes next – which includes <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/">NAPLAN</a>, the national assessment program. <img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/432555/original/file-20211118-18-1xgrfo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Group of laughing and smiling children together among trees" /> ‘Death by assessment’ threatens the joy young children find in learning. Shutterstock <h2>Schools can still let children be children</h2> However, some schools are turning their backs on the relentless measuring of young children’s attainments. <a href="https://www.sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au/">St John’s</a>, a multicultural primary school in Melbourne’s inner west, is one example. You only need to look at the school <a href="https://www.sjfootscray.catholic.edu.au/learning/">website</a> to see its philosophy differs from many others. <blockquote> “St John’s Horizon [a school community-developed vision] clearly states ‘KIDS AT THE HEART’ which encapsulates our focus and belief in the image of the child – the child who is capable, curious, full of wonder, rich in knowledge, able to construct and co-construct his or her own learning. We believe in JOY – Joy in learning.” </blockquote> A conversation with the then principal, Gemma Goodyear, gave me an insight into these beliefs, which are inspired by teaching and learning in schools in <a href="https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/">Reggio Emilia</a>, Italy. Goodyear said children do not come to school to be “fixed”, and the teachers engage them by providing meaningful, contextualised learning experiences. And, yes, through their focus on rich learning they still get great results without relentless testing. It is time to revisit the early years of schooling and ensure teachers have the skills and understandings they need to support learners in this phase. These years should be a time when children become engaged and excited about learning, a time of great joy, and a time when children are allowed to be children.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169463/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/martina-tassone-1270226">Martina Tassone</a>, Early Childhood and Primary Course Coordinator and Language and Literacy Lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/the-university-of-melbourne-722">The University of Melbourne</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-failure-at-6-data-driven-assessment-isnt-helping-young-childrens-learning-169463">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

‘They’re really keen for us to do better than they did’: how refugee parents motivate their kids’ learning

Refugees struggle to find meaningful employment in Australia. In 2010, the <a href="https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/what-works-report/">Refugee Council of Australia </a> found people who came to Australia on refugee or humanitarian visas remained “the worst off of the migrant visa groups” when it came to employment. Around 12% were unemployed 18 months after arrival, compared to 8% of those who came on family visas. Education – and particularly opportunities for university education – gives people with a refugee background the <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2F978-981-13-0420-0">means to significantly improve</a> their lives and socioeconomic status. People with refugee backgrounds hope for a better life for their children than the one they had, and they see education as crucial step in this journey. But we know little about the role refugee parents play in influencing their children’s educational and long-term success. My research focused on refugee families whose children performed well in school and university. We interviewed 50 refugee parents, children and their teachers to find out whether particular values of refugee families influenced the children educationally. We found parents who took the refugee journey to secure a good life for their family indirectly influenced their children to work hard like they did, and to strive for the kind of life denied to them. <h2>‘They wanted us to make something of ourselves’</h2> The parents who participated in the research varied in their levels of education – from no formal schooling to having a PhD. Most parents did the interview in their first language with either a professional interpreter, a bilingual school services officer or an adult child interpreting. Their cultural backgrounds varied widely too: interviewees included refugees from Afghanistan, Nepal, Rwanda, Syria, Vietnam and Bhutan. While all parents were first-generation refugees, the time their children had spent in Australia varied too: some had been born here, others came here as a child, while some arrived more recently as an adolescent. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437681/original/file-20211215-17-1gn2lix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437681/original/file-20211215-17-1gn2lix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Girl taking care of baby sister at refugee camp in Bangladesh." /></a> Refugee families have the shared understanding they can’t take their life in Australia for granted. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/coxs-bazar-bangladesh-october-10-2017-735839761" class="source">Shutterstock</a> The refugee parents generally had high hopes for the opportunities education could provide for their children because they were denied the right to it in their home country or in refugee camps. From the interviews with the children, we found the parents’ high values around education motivated their children to put more effort into learning. Interpreter for Afghanistan-born parent Ahmad told us: <blockquote> The main inspiration for [the parent] is that no one in his family had an opportunity to have a higher education. So, his children will be the first one in his family that […] will be educated enough […] with a higher qualification […] They can’t help them with their [child’s] learning, but the only thing that they provide is to care about them. They advise them about their education, how you can be successful through education […] </blockquote> The children, both at a younger age and as adults, were very aware of their parents’ impact on their ability to achieve well academically. But the parental motivation didn’t cross over into pressure. Alayna, who is 12 years old, was born in Iran to Hazara parents. She said she was confident her parents would still be proud of her chasing her own dreams, even if they didn’t align with theirs. <blockquote> My mum really wants me to be a doctor because doctor is a good job, and […] if I don’t choose to be a dentist or a doctor or a teacher (I can still be) a useful person for the world, they will be totally proud of me. </blockquote> Shipa in her 20s, born in Nepal to Bhutanese parents of Nepalese ethnicity, told us: <blockquote> A strong message from my family that I have to study (because) without education, there’s nothing […] but they also have trust (that) I can do it. It’s really positive and very exciting to be […] at the university as a refugee with uneducated parents […] I just wanted to be an educated girl. </blockquote> Ester, who is 18 years old, was born in Tanzania to Burundian parents. She said: <blockquote> They just wanted us to focus on school […] they’re really keen for us to do better than they did […] because we’ve got an opportunity to come to Australia […] they didn’t want us to waste it. They wanted us to […] make something of ourselves. </blockquote> <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5bZR7UDWVk8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> <h2>Parents don’t need to be directly involved</h2> Refugee parents have barriers to getting <a href="https://www.education.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/towards-best-practice-parent-involvement.pdf?acsf_files_redirect">involved in their child’s education</a> in the same way local parents do. For instance, some local parents volunteer in learning activities or attend informal meetings about school-related issues. They may help with homework and regularly meet with their child’s teacher. Refugee parents often face cultural and language barriers when it comes to these ways of offering support. But they act as indirect influences in their children’s lives. They do so through raising a child in a family with a history of taking risks for a more secure and better life, and one that regularly communicates this shared history and the aspirations that come from it with their children. In this way, children are more likely to confidently pursue their own aspirations while valuing those of their parents. They are intrinsically self-motivated with a strong belief in their own abilities.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172308/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/hannah-soong-161771">Hannah Soong</a>, Senior Lecturer and Socio-cultural researcher, UniSA Education Futures, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-south-australia-1180">University of South Australia</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/theyre-really-keen-for-us-to-do-better-than-they-did-how-refugee-parents-motivate-their-kids-learning-172308">original article</a>. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

Netflix’s Sex Education is doing sex education better than most schools

Netflix’s comedy <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7767422/">Sex Education</a>, now in its third season, is set among a group of students and teachers at a British high school. In depicting sex education, it teaches viewers about sex and sexuality – often doing a better job than school-based sex ed classes. In the first episode of season three, Dr Jean Milburn (Gillian Anderson) is interviewed on the radio about her new book, Uneducated Nation: A Sex Education Manifesto for Our Youth. When the host asks her to tell him about the book, she replies she was “shocked at the ineptitude” of school sex ed classes. So she created <blockquote> this easy-to-read manual to help empower our teenagers, and their parents, as they become sexually active young adults. </blockquote> <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zmgYlYw7Uwk?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> He responds, “Sounds a bit racy”. Jean retorts, <blockquote> Well, if, by racy, you mean highly researched and completely essential to the health and well-being of our children, then, yes, I suppose it is. </blockquote> Jean’s response could easily be applied to the television series itself – racy but essential. It could also be seen as a comment about how school-based sexual education programs could improve their communication of relevant information to curious teenagers. We are part of an international research team working with scholars from Greece, Ireland and Norway to interview adolescents and their parents about their <a href="https://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/arts-and-humanities/research-and-creative-activity/communication-media-and-cultural-studies/adolescents-perceptions-of-harm-from-accessing-online-content">perceptions of harm in accessing sexual content</a>. As researchers with expertise in the fields of sexology, communication and media studies, we value the knowledge young people share about their own needs and desires. Our research with teens – and into stories that represent their experiences – illustrates they are sexual beings who want and deserve sex-positive information. Too often, this positive side of sex is left out of the classroom. <h2>Sexually provocative, but educational</h2> Sex Education is one example of how stories in popular culture can portray teen sexuality positively. For instance, the opening scene of this first episode of season three is upbeat, playful and sexy. It cuts between at least 13 different moments of sexual pleasure: heterosexual sex, gay sex between young men, gay role-playing sex between young women, masturbating while watching porn, online sex, virtual reality sex – and the pleasure of reading a book while eating cheese puffs. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430938/original/file-20211108-15-144mlop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430938/original/file-20211108-15-144mlop.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson as mother and son" /></a>This sequence is sexually provocative, but it also educational. It shows a range of desires across ages (yes, teachers and parents have sex, too), races, sexualities and body sizes. There are none of the messages about abstinence and fear often associated with representations of teen sex, and no coy curtain-wafting standing in for sex. The premise of the show is the teenagers at Moordale High do not receive adequate sex education classes, so Jean’s son Otis (Asa Butterfield) and his classmate Maeve (Emma Mackey) set up a sex therapy service for their peers. These young people seek information about how to overcome sexual difficulties and become better lovers. They find (usually) correct – and always frank – information from Otis and Maeve, who offer resources and advice. <h2>Teenagers and porn</h2> As we argue in a recent <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1369118X.2021.1988130">essay</a>, this TV show complicates the idea that pornography is only harmful to teens. Watching porn can be “a bit of fun”, to quote one character, but also a source of misinformation about sex. Sex Education debunks this misinformation, such as when one character mistakenly believes a large penis is required for sexual satisfaction, and another thinks her labia should be tucked in. Teenagers as consumers and producers of pornographic and erotic narratives can use these stories, and the stories in Sex Education, to develop an understanding of sex and sexuality and supplement the information provided in school curriculum. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430939/original/file-20211109-13-5cfbav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430939/original/file-20211109-13-5cfbav.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Production still" /></a> This seeming contradiction about pornography aligns with a <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/publications/effects-pornography-children-and-young-people">report</a> written by the Australian Institute of Family Studies about the effects of porn on young people. This report highlights the lack of information about how young people access sexual content (unintentionally or intentionally); about the content of pornography they view; and about teenagers’ ability to distinguish between the fantasy pornography represents and the reality of their sexual experiences. The report also found very few accounts from teens themselves about their experiences accessing sexual content online and any perceived harm from it. It points to a need for further research, which includes the voices of adolescents. <h2>Teaching pleasure</h2> Dr Jacqui Hendriks, who coordinates Curtin University’s sexology courses, believes sex ed should include <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-27/sex-education-lgbt-sexuality-young-high-school-pleasure-respect/12960062">discussions of pleasure rather than focusing primarily on reproduction</a>. At present, the quality of sex education varies widely across the nation, but in Western Australia, a group of researchers have <a href="https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e026657#xref-ref-8-1">identified</a> the “need for a greater focus on positive sexuality and relevant contemporary issues” in the classroom. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431191/original/file-20211109-15-uycjqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/431191/original/file-20211109-15-uycjqf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Production image, two black men lean in to kiss" /></a> Sex Education challenges a commonly-held perception teenagers should be protected from the harms of sex and sexual material. The stories told by teens and about teens can be crucial tools to open conversations between children and adults about sex. The conversation started by shows like Sex Education highlights the need for more comprehensive sexual education not only in schools but in communities and in the family home itself.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170776/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/debra-dudek-176691">Debra Dudek</a>, Associate professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/giselle-natassia-woodley-930025">Giselle Natassia Woodley</a>, Researcher and Phd Candidate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/netflixs-sex-education-is-doing-sex-education-better-than-most-schools-170776">original article</a>. Image: Netflix

Young people learn about relationships from media.

Chanel Contos’ <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/hundreds-of-sydney-students-claim-they-were-sexually-assaulted-and-call-for-better-consent-education-20210219-p57449.html">recent petition</a> called for an overhaul of sexual education at schools and for consent to be taught earlier on, and better. Adequate, formal sexual education is important for young people, but discussions about consent can take place in many situations outside the sex education classroom and outside of school. Novels, films and plays create a unique way of engaging with and learning about different issues. But children’s literature <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/247395/summary">includes ideas and beliefs</a> young people may absorb subconsciously. This can be dangerous if readers don’t actively engage with, or interrogate actions on the page. In this way, they are passive and may just come to believe the book’s message — be it appropriate or not. In a <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-07532-002">2006 study</a>, researchers interviewed 272 teenagers and found they internalised “scripts” about relationships and sexuality. The researchers wrote dynamics between characters “become so internalised and automatic that adolescents may become quite non-reflective about behaviours”. This suggests some audiences fail to critique the messages they are consuming. The researchers also found young women in particular became involved in narratives. Because teenagers <a href="https://theconversation.com/honest-and-subtle-writing-about-sex-in-young-adult-literature-48002">are learning about sexuality and relationships from the texts they consume</a> — whether they be books, plays or movies — equipping parents and teachers to tackle these topics is essential. The <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vce/vce-study-designs/english-and-eal/Pages/index.aspx">Victoria Curriculum and Assessment Authority</a> produces <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/vce/english/2020_Text_List_EnglishEAL.docx">a list</a> of books teachers can select from for English in year 12. Two texts from the list — Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and the 1954 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/">Rear Window</a> — are great examples to show how teachers and parents can begin conversations with young people about consent. Each text provides an opportunity to interact with these issues without reading or viewing explicit scenes. <h2>Pride and Prejudice and a woman’s agency</h2> It’s important for young people to see real life sexual situations and to learn from them. But the topics of consent and power imbalances still appear in books and movies that don’t use explicit sex scenes. Seeing the broader context of consent in real life allows for exploring some of the more nuanced issues such as cultural pressures and gender expectations. For instance, English teachers and parents can use Jane Austen’s <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1885.Pride_and_Prejudice">Pride and Prejudice</a> to launch a discussion around consent. A key aspect of consent is a person’s ability to actually say yes or no, and be believed. When a person’s agency is limited, their ability to actively consent is compromised. In some cases, a person’s gender can negatively impact their agency. This is the case with Elizabeth Bennett. <a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396696/original/file-20210423-21-1tmfe7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/396696/original/file-20210423-21-1tmfe7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" alt="Keira Knightley and Tom Hollander in Pride and Prejudice" /></a> Mr Collins doesn’t trust Elizabeth Bennett when she says no. <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414387/mediaviewer/rm1141155328/" class="source">IMDB</a> Let’s take the scene between William Collins and Elizabeth. As he proposes marriage and she refuses, Collins claims it is “the established custom of [her] sex to reject a man”, implying her refusal is customary rather than one of will. Lizzie responds by saying: “You must give me leave to judge for myself, and pay me the compliment of believing what I say”. In other words, why won’t you take no for an answer? Collins says he will not be “discouraged” by her clear refusal, and Lizzie again requests the “compliment of being believed sincere”. Collins then states that the “express authority” of her “excellent parents” will result in their marriage. Collins does not trust Lizzie’s word because she is a woman, and he believes her father will force her to comply. Her ability to say no is complicated by the fact she is a woman. <hr /> Read more: <a href="https://theconversation.com/four-in-ten-australians-think-women-lie-about-being-victims-of-sexual-assault-107363">Four in ten Australians think women lie about being victims of sexual assault</a> <hr /> Teachers and parents could begin to interrogate this scene by asking: <ul> <li> why does Mr Collins not believe in Lizzie’s right to say no? </li> <li> do you think our modern society encourages similar views? </li> <li> what gives Lizzie’s father the right to say yes on her behalf? </li> <li> do you think we value particular voices over others? </li> <li> do you believe women when they say yes, or no? </li> </ul> This one moment in the text could begin conversations around society’s view on female agency and believing women. <h2>Rear Window and the male gaze</h2> <a href="https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Documents/exams/english/2020/2020VCEEnglishexaminationreport.docx">The most popular text in the 2020 English exam</a>, Rear Window, is told from the perspective of Jeff — a man in a wheelchair. Everything is viewed through his apartment window. The film <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-the-male-gaze-mean-and-what-about-a-female-gaze-52486">raises questions about the male gaze</a>. Critics of the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock film have <a href="https://sites.psu.edu/comm150honors/2016/02/27/rear-window-violating-women-one-gaze-at-a-time/">discussed the many ways</a> Jeff violates women’s agency, especially in his treatment of Miss Torso. To begin conversations about consent in Rear Window, I would discuss the film’s portrayal of Miss Torso. As her nickname would suggest, Miss Torso is characterised almost entirely by her appearance. Jeff sees her dancing often and entertaining men. He sexualises Miss Torso even though he does not know her, and has never spoken to her. <iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I3uo8sd_xBc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> Miss Torso is characterised almost entirely by her appearance. Interestingly, when Jeff catches Detective Doyle leering at Miss Torso, he asks “How’s your wife?” Jeff identifies the inappropriateness of Doyle’s gaze, but not his own. Teachers or parents could ask students: <ul> <li> does Jeff have a right to watch Miss Torso? </li> <li> who is responsible for the way he views her? </li> <li> although Jeff does not assault Miss Torso, how is she a victim? </li> <li> how might Miss Torso react to knowing she was being watched? </li> <li> what does our society think about victim blaming? </li> </ul> These two texts can be used to start discussions in school classrooms and around dining tables. The <a href="https://www.whatworks.co.za/resources/evidence-reviews/item/664-community-activism-approaches-to-shift-harmful-gender-attitudes-roles-and-social-norms">evidence</a> shows entrenched ideas that contribute to violence and sexual assault need to be tackled through critical reflections about gender, relationships and sexuality. Literature includes a rich array of ways to get teens talking about the tough issues. <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/elizabeth-little-855383">Elizabeth Little</a>, PhD Candidate, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-people-learn-about-relationships-from-media-you-can-use-books-and-movies-to-start-discussions-158784">original article</a>.

Books

Genius Aussie app idea you'll wish you'd thought of first

When it comes to screen-time, the amount of time that kids spend on their phone has parents worried. So the idea to force kids to do maths and English problems in order to unlock apps on their phones seems like an obvious solution, now that someone has thought of it. Sydney entrepreneurs Isaac and Ann Elnekave have turned that idea into a reality through the app 1Question, which they trialled on their 13-year-old daughter Alyssa. Of the trial, Alyssa said, ‘At first I wasn’t too sure about it.’ ‘I didn’t want my friends to blame me if their parents made them get it,’ she continued. ‘But, once I started using it I realised it doesn’t take that long to answer a question and it’s actually pretty cool.’ Research has found that almost half of kids between six and 13 either own a phone or can access one. With the majority playing phone games or using apps like YouTube for an average of five hours a day, the Elnekaves hope to use that time for good. ‘Much like sneaking veggies into cake, the 1Question app seamlessly leverages screen habits to create micro learning moments,’ Mrs Elnekave said. ‘Engagement is the holy grail of educators - if only kids were as motivated to learn their times tables as they are their TikTok moves.’ <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> How many times does your child open an app each day? 5.. 10.. 20.. 50? 🥴 If you can capture even some of that energy and put it to use, imagine the impact it can have on their education. Turn screen time habits 👎 into opportunities 👍 with 1Question! <a href="https://t.co/HviU4TetLP">pic.twitter.com/HviU4TetLP</a> — 1Question (@1QuestionApp) <a href="https://twitter.com/1QuestionApp/status/1379643563311435776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2021</a></blockquote> ‘We created a solution that blends screen time and study to maximise your child’s valuable engagement,’ she explained. With a monthly $2.99 subscription, parents can download the app onto their child’s phone, choose their grade and curriculum subjects, and monitor their progress on a dashboard, showing each correct answer they answer to open a game or app such as YouTube. Mr Elnekave said, ‘We designed the user experience to be really simple, but underneath the hood is our incredibly intelligent AI engine.’ ‘As your child learns, so does the AI, which seamlessly deciphers each child’s area of strength and weakness and autonomously charts a customised path for their learning.’ With a base of 12,000 questions developed using the Australian, British, and American primary school curriculums, there are plans to expand the app to cater to high school students, including those taking the HSC. Since the trial launched, Mr Elnekave said they had been ‘inundated with requests for more topics almost daily.’ The potential global growth of the app helped the entrepreneurs secure support from the Australian Tax Office, which granted the app Early Stage Innovation Company status. To help the app take off on a global scale, the couple are looking to crowdfund $1.5 million on the OnMarket website. Their target? To emulate the success of language learning app Duolingo, which has been downloaded 300 million times and is valued at $US 2.4 billion. The Rozelle couple have also garnered support from their neighbours including actor Gary Sweet. Echoing the thoughts of many parents, he said, ‘Bloody oath. Where was this app a few years back!’

Technology

Can milkshakes and sharks teach kids consent?

Criticism over the government’s ‘bizarre’ new campaign designed to educate school kids on consent have come from sex educators and advertising bodies alike. In the campaign, actors discuss respectful relationships with the help of a milkshake, taco and a shark. The videos, made by The Good Society, Morrison government’s Respect Matters organisation, discuss topics involving consent and relationships across the different school groups. In the videos aimed at senior high-school students (Years 11-12), actors act out the process of gaining consent through a discussion of ‘trying milkshakes’ and other activities. The ‘Moving the Line’ campaign also features a man trying to convince a woman to swim in shark-infested waters, reassuring her that they’ll be fine with his spear gun. Another depicts a man eating tacos to discuss sexual assault, saying that people have desires and objects such as tacos do not. According to <a rel="noopener" href="https://thegoodsociety.gov.au/about/what-is-the-good-society" target="_blank">The Good Society website</a>, all content has been developed to align with the Australian curriculum, but rape prevention advocates have criticised the resources, saying that they fail to meet national education standards. Fair Agenda and End Rape on Campus on Australia (EROCA) called for a complete review of the content featured on the website. In a statement, the two groups said the videos are often “confusing” for teens trying to navigate the behaviours the videos try to address. Caitlin Roper of Collective Shout, a national body campaigning against the objectification in media and advertising, agreed and <a rel="noopener" href="https://honey.nine.com.au/latest/governments-sex-and-consent-education-video-slammed/1b924691-c64e-4b1d-b1a8-a313eabd8357" target="_blank">told 9Honey</a> the videos are “confusing and awkward”. “They underestimate young people’s ability to comprehend sexual assault completely,” Roper said. “It’s important to have a national dialogue, but the content widely missed the mark.” The Good Society launched last week with 350 online materials about safe and respectful relationships for schools and families. As part of the government’s Respect Matters program, the program aims to support respectful relationships education in Australian schools and change attitudes of young people around domestic, sexual, and family violence. The push for better consent education came after Sydney activist Chanel Contos’ petition to teach consent earlier, which received 4,000 testimonies detailing school-aged sexual assault. These include allegations of violent rapes, coerced drinking, and sexual harassment, mostly perpetrated by young male students. Roper says the new videos, including the one depicting a woman rubbing a milkshake in a man’s face, avoid ‘real, honest, and meaningful conversations’ and neglect to acknowledge the ‘highly gendered’ nature of sexual assault. Depicting a woman as the perpetrator, “didn’t acknowledge the fact it is overwhelmingly women and girls enduring sexual assault and rape by men and boys,” Roper said. “Kids are open to having these tough conversations, but the concept of consent alone is quite limited.” “Better education around sex and consent is largely meaningless without looking at the wider culture and male sexual entitlement,” she said. A recent report by UN Women found that 97 percent of women experienced some form of sexual assault or harassment before they turn 24, and 97 percent of men who experienced sexual assault were assaulted by men. The videos also drew criticism for downplaying the experience of the victim and for offering more support to the perpetrator. In a narration over an infographic likening sharing milkshakes to consent, the narrator said, ‘In a respectful relationship, if someone moves the line, you might be upset but ultimately want to repair the situation.’ In the video, the woman, named Veronica, smears a milkshake in the face of her visibly unhappy male counterpart, Bailey. ‘It’s just a funny game, Bailey. I know you really like my milkshake,’ Veronica tells him. <img class="post_image_group" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/NbkEtQQ1DhxyN-_fHZdBJtzjHFE6jV1y3mcHCgnH6ieGUiwgwIbEbzrjkbEGBPEXnD8VyY0q_jo-ywiCptX8h6KEiUbx6ROzUet4N_IwlT-pPHPZdaHm8d2ZM1-2JM82N2CCtaU_" alt="" width="396" height="214" /> ‘Maintaining any relationship is hard work, but handling a disrespectful relationship can be upsetting, lonely, even dangerous. In fact, it can be one of the hardest things we do in our lives,” the narrator continues. Brandon Friedman, co-founder of sex education program Elephant Ed, told 9Honey, ‘Any engagement with young people around consent and respectful relationships needs that balance between humour and clear and concise messaging.’ <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMwCOXfDlZh/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="13"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CMwCOXfDlZh/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Elephant Ed 🐘 (@elephant.ed)</a> </div> </blockquote> ‘Historically there has been taboo and shame that surrounds these issues and often people will side step around them without tackling them. But young people are crying out for educators to tackle them head on.’ Social media was filled with criticism of the campaign, as many slammed how the videos approached teaching consent. EROCA wrote, ‘Yes the videos are weird. They trivialise what is a very serious issue. But they’re just one small part of what’s wrong with this resource. We need the government to start listening to actual experts in violence prevention.’ <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> I spent three days digging through the government's website. I watched every video. I read all of the accompanying materials. I cannot work out what the milkshakes, tacos or sharks are supposed to represent. And I run an org called "End Rape on Campus Australia". <a href="https://t.co/sshajJPAkk">https://t.co/sshajJPAkk</a> — Sharna Bremner (@sharnatweets) <a href="https://twitter.com/sharnatweets/status/1383943321345613825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2021</a></blockquote> When the program launched last week, Federal Education and Youth Minister Alan Tudge said the program would be a ‘vital role’ in informing young Australians on consent and sex education. ‘These materials will provide additional support to better educate young Australians on these issues and have been designed to complement programs already being offered by states and territories,’ he said. ‘I will be discussing these matters further with my state and territory counterparts when we meet later this month.’ Consent education on the Australian curriculum will be publicly reviewed on April 29.

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Don’t be afraid to pass your first language, and accent, to your kids. It could be their superpower

Australia is a multicultural society. There are different traditions, cultures, accents and languages all over the country. The latest Census data show almost 30% of Australians speak a language other than English, or English and another language, at home. In our latest survey, we have had responses from 281 multilingual families across Australia, who speak a variety of languages at home. They include Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Teo Chew and Spanish. We found many first-generation migrant parents are hesitant to pass on their first language to their children. This is because they believe a different language at home will give their children a foreign accent. Yet some parents also feel if they speak English to their children, their children will pick up their own accented English. This can leave some parents in somewhat of a catch-22, feeling that no matter what, their children will be faced with the same discrimination as them. But it’s important to speak to your children in your own language, and your own accent. By being exposed to multiple ways of communicating, children learn multiple ways of thinking. They learn to understand that everyone plays different roles, has different identities; and that others may speak or look different. Bias against foreign languages Research suggests people are highly biased in their preferences for certain accents and languages. According to the linguistic stereotyping hypothesis, hearing just a few seconds of an accent associated with a lower-prestige group can activate a host of associations. Hearing a stereotypical “foreign accent”, for example, can lead people to immediately think of that person as being uneducated, inarticulate or untrustworthy. These kinds of biases develop early in life. In a 2009 study, five-year-old children chose to be friends with native speakers of their native language rather than those who spoke a foreign language or had an accent. One hypothesis is that this is due to our broader survival mechanism. Babies learn early to tune in more to the voice of their caregiver rather than a stranger’s voice. This means they are better able to detect when they are in a dangerous situation. However, over time, these stranger-danger associations become stereotypes, which can lead us to hear or see what we expect. When we get older, we need to unlearn our biases that once kept us safe to become more accepting of others.In Australia, there is systematic discrimination towards speakers of Australian Aboriginal English, as well as towards speakers of “ethnolects”, which are a way of speaking characteristic of a particular ethnic group — such as Greek, Italian or Lebanese. <a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/arabian-family-portrait-park-792334939" class="source"></a>When people hear these accents, they may think that person does not speak English well. But having an accent is special: it signals you are multilingual and you have the experience of having grown up with multiple cultural influences. Accentuate the positive Many of the parents we surveyed felt hesitant to speak multiple languages at home, or felt their efforts were not being supported at school. One parent told us: <blockquote> Instead of helping her (my daughter) develop the language, all primary teachers assessed her language in comparison with the monolinguals and demanded to cut the other languages “to improve” the school language. I would not have dared to experiment here in Australia with the kid’s second language. The peer pressure, the teacher’s pressure and the lack of language schools are main factors. </blockquote> But over the centuries, some of the world’s brightest people, such as author Joseph Conrad spoke with a strong accent. Many others, such as Vladimir Nabokov, Gustavo Pérez-Firmat and Eva Hoffman (who wrote Lost in Translation in her second language) harnessed the benefits of being bilingual to produce astounding literary works, drawing on the different “voices” in their heads to act out different characters. In this way, a second language can be a superpower. Children who can speak several languages tend to have higher levels of empathy. They also find it easier to learn languages later in life. Multilingual exposure facilitates interpersonal understanding among babies and young children. This social advantage appears to emerge from merely being exposed to multiple languages, rather than being bilingual per se. Being multilingual is also an amazing workout for the brain: speaking multiple languages throughout your life can help delay the onset of dementia and cognitive decline. Parents’ confidence translates to children Research shows migrant parents who feel pressured to speak to their children in their non-native language feel less secure in their role as parents. But if they feel supported in using their first language, they feel more confident as parents, which in turn has a positive effect on children’s well-being. We found migrant parents who do raise their children in more than one language report feeling good about passing on their culture to their children, and feel they have given them an advantage in life. They also feel as though their children are more connected to their extended family. So, what could you do? Here are some ways you could help your children keep their native language, and accent, alive: <ul> <li> check out your local library or BorrowBox for books or audiobooks in different languages </li> <li> connect with other multilingual families on social media for virtual or face-to-face playdates </li> <li> schedule video chats with grandparents and extended family members. Encourage them to speak their language with your child </li> <li> find out if your child’s preschool has a program for learning a new language, or check out Little Multilingual Minds. If your child is older, encourage them to take up a language in primary or high school. It’s never too late. </li> </ul> One parent shared their strategy for helping their child speak in different languages and accents: <blockquote> I play games with accents, one child is learning French, the other Italian, so I play games with them about the pronunciation of words and get them to teach me words in the language they are learning and emphasise the accent. </blockquote> We hope linguistic diversity becomes the status quo. This way, all children will gain cultural awareness and sensitivity. They will become more attuned to their evolving identities, and accept others may have identities different to their own. Written by Chloé Diskin-Holdaway and Paola Escudero. This article first appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-be-afraid-to-pass-your-first-language-and-accent-to-your-kids-it-could-be-their-superpower-143093">The Conversation</a>.

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