BBC documentary reveals schoolchildren rude and idle
Chinese teachers give instruction for 12 hours a day and Chinese schools are at the top of international ratings in maths, sciences and literacy. Recently, five Chinese teachers spent a month teaching in a Hampshire school analysing teaching methods in the UK. The teachers found their group of 50 children, aged 13 and 14, were disruptive and unable to concentrate. Li Aiyun said, ‘When I gave out homework sheets, I expected everybody to be concentrated on the homework. But when I returned to the classroom students were chatting, some were eating and somebody was even putting make-up on her face.’ The Chinese teachers blamed ‘lack of motivation’ on poor performances. Science teacher Yang Jun said, ‘In China we don’t need classroom management skills because everyone is disciplined by nature, by families, by society - whereas here it is the most challenging part of teaching.’ The Chinese methods are to be screened in a BBC Two documentary, Are Our Kids Tough Enough?
David Cameron accused by some of lack of compassion over asylum crisis
Speaking with the backing of the Church, the bishop of Dover accused the Government of forgetting their humanity and attacked the media for propagating a ‘toxicity’ that spread hostility towards migrants. The Right Rev Trevor Willmott urged Mr Cameron to upgrade his rhetoric after he described migrants as a ‘swarm’ and promised to introduce strong-arm tactics in Calais. Willmott said, ‘When we become harsh with each other and forget our humanity we end up in stand-off positions. To put migrants and refugees in that very unhelpful phrase categorises people.’ Save the Children echoed Willmott’s call to remember that the migrants were humans and many were refugees fleeing horrific abuse or extreme danger. The deputy mayor of Calais called the prime minister ‘racist’ and the UN special representative on migration said Britain’s attitude towards the crisis suggested the lessons of Nazism had not been learnt.
Catholic Church – pro-active approach to clerical sexual abuse
The Catholic Church will apply nationally a project that pro-actively approaches sexual abuse by clergy. A recent pilot of the system resulted in doubling the number of people reporting abuse in a nine-month period. A Survivors’ Advisory Panel will assist the National Catholic Safeguarding Commission in England and Wales. A ‘Minister and Clergy Sexual Abuse Survivors’ spokesperson said allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church and the Church of England should be dealt with independently. ‘Whilst both Churches have improved their policies and guidance there are really strong concerns about how policies are implemented. It’s down to individual bishops to decide when to report allegations to the police and what action to take. The increased number of prosecutions of clergy for abuse suggests this is an ongoing problem and the response of the Churches in the past leads us to believe they cannot be trusted to police themselves.’ See also http://www.worldprayer.org.uk/pa-british-isles-ireland/item/6803-statement-from-the-mill-gathering.
Probe over ex PM, devout Christian Ted Heath
The handling of a child sex abuse claim involving former Prime Minister and devout Christian Sir Edward Heath is to be investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Police are to be probed after allegations made by a retired senior officer were referred to the IPCC. It is alleged that a criminal prosecution was not pursued, when a person threatened to expose Sir Edward Heath’s possible involvement in offences concerning children. Sir Edward was the editor of the Church Times between 1948 and 1949 before his election as Member of Parliament in 1950. Police say they would like to hear from anyone who has any relevant information that may assist them in their enquiries. The NSPCC said, ‘Whether abuse happened in the past, or is occurring today, whether those being accused are authority figures or not, allegations of crimes against children must be investigated thoroughly.’
