50 Steps latest - Weight of school bags and school furniture

[Green Party Education]

The latest Green Party steps 20 and 21 of 50 Steps to a Better Education System are aimed at reducing the weight of school bags and improving the standards of chairs and desks in schools to minimise increasing incidences of back and respiratory problems among young children and teenagers.

50 Steps to a Better Education System www.50steps.com

Step 20: Measures to reduce the weight of school bags

In Government the Green Party will review the 1998 Working Group Report on the Weight of Schoolbags to see what practical measures have been implemented to reduce the weights carried by school children and examine what additional supports are now required. Areas examined will include:

- Feasibility study into the introduction of a maximum school textbook weight for various ages, phased in over time

- The uses and applications of IT in reducing bag weight

- The provision where needed of storage tables and lockers in primary and second level schools, starting with new and refurbished schools*

- Further measures to educate children regarding the correct types of bags and how to wear them

- The identification of 'approved' school bag types with the possible introduction of a rebate scheme for parents who purchase these bags for their children

A total of €200,000 will be set aside in Year 1 towards research, with the implementation of necessary measures being provided for in subsequent years by the continuation of this allocation.

[size=7]*Funding provision for lockers in new and refurbished schools will be considered in the context of the school building programme, where an additional €269 million has been allocated under Step 5.[/size]



Step 21: Audit of school furniture and introduction of new standards for chairs and desks

In Government the Green Party will undertake an audit of all school furniture, examine best practice worldwide and will introduce guidelines and possibly standards for chairs and desks in all new schools as well in all schools undergoing refurbishment/maintenance programmes. Such guidelines/standards will look at achieving the following objectives:

- Furniture that is adjustable and can cater for the wide variation in height in a given age group

- Furniture that is ergonomically sound and conducive to a good sitting posture

- Furniture that can provide storage space for text books and lunches to assist in the reduction in the weight of school bags (see Step 20)

A total of €200,000 will be set aside in Year 1 towards research. Funding provision for furniture in new and refurbished schools will be considered in the context of the school building programme, where an additional €269 million has been allocated under Step 5.

[Jim84]

People have been talking about it for years, remember when I was in school there were plans to bringing special chairs and tables.

[jjcarroll]

- Further measures to educate children regarding the correct types of bags and how to wear them

Whilst laudable, does anyone really, really think that pupils are going to wear their bags better, because they had a class on it ?

- Furniture that is adjustable and can cater for the wide variation in height in a given age group

Is this a real issue? I would have been a fairly tall student, and can say that this was never an issue.

[rockofcashel]

Hippies

[alonso]

yeh damn hippies addressing real issues 8)

I see kids today with ludicrous weights on their back. It's highlighted every september and promptly ignored for the next 11 months. I think this is inextricably linked to the school run, as I'm sure the DTO will find out in their survey. We need to have a serious look at what kids are learning in their daily environments.

They're driven there in congestion, with ridiculous amounts of baggage, especially in the age of the online library, sit in cramped conditions, have generally poor facilities, not enough teachers, then get driven home...

Gone are the days of the satchel and the bicycle....

http://www.dto.ie/web2006/srts.htm
http://www.antaisce.org/projects/greenschools.html

[rockofcashel]

yeh damn hippies addressing real issues 8)

I see kids today with ludicrous weights on their back. It's highlighted every september and promptly ignored for the next 11 months. I think this is inextricably linked to the school run, as I'm sure the DTO will find out in their survey. We need to have a serious look at what kids are learning in their daily environments.

They're driven there in congestion, with ridiculous amounts of baggage, especially in the age of the online library, sit in cramped conditions, have generally poor facilities, not enough teachers, then get driven home...

Gone are the days of the satchel and the bicycle....

http://www.dto.ie/web2006/srts.htm
http://www.antaisce.org/projects/greenschools.html

Satchel ?

Who in the name of sweet Jebus calls a school bag a stachel

[alonso]

nobody, but it gives one a nice nostalgic sepia-tinted image, rather than a fcking suitcase in the boot of an SUV stuck behind another...

[stripey cat]

Has anything happened about this?

I was telling a friend about the 1998 Working Group Report on the Weight of Schoolbags and they didn't believe that such a thing had ever existed.


It seems such an obvious thing to keep books in the schools instead of getting little kids to carry them there and back every day on their backs, I wonder if any changes have been made.

[spidermom]

NOPE....the weight of school books persists....as does the cra**y desks mentioned in the OP...

As for the scolosis check for teenage kids...involves the PE teacher getting the kids to pull up their t-shirt and looking at their backs!!!

[hammer]

Has anything happened about this?

I was telling a friend about the 1998 Working Group Report on the Weight of Schoolbags and they didn't believe that such a thing had ever existed.


It seems such an obvious thing to keep books in the schools instead of getting little kids to carry them there and back every day on their backs, I wonder if any changes have been made.

Poor kids, carrying heavy bags and getting lifts to the front door of the class room

As if the kids aren`t spoiled enough.

Make them walk !!!!