Further to recent reforms in the English National curriculum, parents may want to ask about new systems of assessment. There are fundamentally two different schools of measuring a child’s progress and Great Britain may be about to make a leap from one to another. To grade or not to grade, this has been the question […]
Special educational needs in Switzerland? Help is at hand across the Geneva region
For parents who have just discovered their child has learning differences or special educational needs, the key first step to coping successfully with the situation is to gather information. Knowledge empowers parents and prevents frustration. As soon as a problem is suspected, parents should arrange an assessment with a doctor, specialist or psychologist. The next […]
Douglas Kennedy interviewed at GEMS in Switzerland
Douglas Kennedy is the bestselling author of 14 books, three of which have been adapted to film. Last week Robyn Goss interviewed him at GEMS World Academy, where he was speaking at the inauguration of the Discovery World Library and World Language Learning Centre prior to attending the Morges Book Festival. RG: Your books are […]
Managing workplace burnout
The phenomenon of professional exhaustion, or burnout, has given rise to a number of coaching and counselling services in Switzerland seeking to educate employees and managers how to recognize symptoms and to jointly take preventive measures. Job burnout is defined as chronic stress that affects both physical and mental health. In extreme cases, it can […]
Geneva University submarine exploration
Geneva University and its partners have completed a two-week expedition – Terra Submersa – to explore Greece’s underwater past and the prehistoric landscapes in the Gulf of Nauplio. Operating from the MS Tûranor Planet Solar, the world’s largest solar catamaran, archeologists mapped the sea floor and uncovered Paleolithic and Neolithic remains dating back 36,000 years.
Back to school: Are your children excited or dreading it?
Summer is almost over and heading back to school is – for some – an exciting period to catch up with friends or get back into a familiar routine. For others, it will be a time of anxiety because they know that the bullying will start again. Shocking as it may sound, between 10% and […]
Are schools ready for the future?
As the world of business, science and technology is changing around us, school education must follow suit. But do our schools prepare the citizens of tomorrow’s world adequately? The question is all the more pertinent now that China is taking over as a leading economy with a completely different take on education from most Western […]
English threatening Swiss cohesion?
MARTIGNY Once again the can of worms has been reopened regarding whether English or a Swiss national language should be the first foreign tongue taught at primary-school level. Several German-speaking cantons continue to object to a federal requirement that two mandatory foreign languages must be taught at primary level. Many schools in Canton Zurich already […]
Games for Change: Another option
NEW YORK In last week’s edition of Le News, we featured the problems arising from excessive “screen” use among young people. Here is a more positive “gaming” approach. Entertaining millions around the world, online games are part of an industry worth billions of dollars drawing both young and old into ever-more virtual realities. Many families, […]
Let’s talk about sex
Sex education continues to be a delicate, if not difficult, issue in schools. At the same time, it is one that regularly appears on the political scene as it speaks to the public’s emotional, social, moral and religious mind-set. This year, it is Switzerland’s turn. Some of the conservative parties are seeking to make it […]
