Is 'Teach for All' knocking on your door?

Over the past few decades there has been a rapid expansion in alternative 18fast track 19 routes for teacher preparation. Among the most aggressive of these are Teach for All (TFA) schemes characterized not only by their ultra fast entry to teaching (6 - 7 week course) but also by their underlying philosophy that the so called 18crisis 19 in poor rural and urban schools can be solved by attracting the 18best and brightest 19 university graduates for a two year appointment in 18difficult to staff 19 schools. With its missionary zeal TFA is heralded by some as one way to solve socio- -educational problems that governments cannot. Others condemn such schemes as not only patronizing, but also as part of an ideologically driven and deliberate neoliberal attack on public education, teachers, teacher professionalism and working class or 18other 19 communities. Recently Teach for All came knocking on New Zealand 19s door. Concerned about the possible implications of this for the teaching profession and education more generally, the New Zealand Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua commissioned a review of the international literature on TFA schemes. This paper synthesizes some of the key findings of this review with particular focus on TFA 19s marketing strategies and the connections TFA schemes have with so called social entrepreneurs or venture philanthropists, many of whom are actively and aggressively engaged in shaping educational reforms in line with neoliberal agendas

The State of the Upper Bay of Panama Wetlands: Ecological Significance, Environmental Policy, Urbanization, and Social Justice

I conducted this research while studying abroad with SIT Panama: Tropical Ecology, Marine Ecosystems, and Biodiversity Conservation. This is a multidisciplinary investigation of the Upper Bay of Panama wetlands, a 49,000 hectare region east of Panama City that features mangrove, intertidal mudflat, and grassland habitat internationally recognized as a stopover site for two million shorebirds every migration season. However, with economic pressure to increase urban development in the area, this land’s protected status under the Ramsar convention was suspended for a year in April 2012. By compiling scientific studies, news articles, photographs, and interviews with local conservationists and community members, this project describes the ecological, political, and social conditions surrounding this area today. I found that this ecosystem contains plentiful nutrients from both seasonal upwelling and mangrove detritus, supporting a thriving aquatic food chain, including major fisheries, but also experiences garbage, agrochemical, and heavy metal inputs from human activities. Because of reduced infiltration caused by new developments, plus ongoing construction, much of the eastern Panama City district of Juan Díaz is now regularly subject to flooding too severe for its current drainage system to control, for which I provided photographic evidence, and receives little compensation. By law, though, Panama’s government is obligated to protect these people’s right to live in a healthy environment. Strategies for ecosystem management should be planned for the long-term and include economic incentives, citizen involvement, and government support. There is also a need to promote education of wetlands ecosystem benefits and the repercussions of their removal

Do hotel guests act according to their intentions as it relates to sustainability in a hotel setting?

As humans continue to use our planet’s resources at a rapid pace, we must act quickly to implement solutions and strategies that will create a positive impact on our environment. The hotel industry represents a huge opportunity for increasing sustainability practices, as these establishments tend to consume tremendous amounts of natural resources through energy and water usage; thus creating quite a bit of waste. For this customer-centric industry, change starts with consumer expectations and intentions to act. The purpose of this study was to assess hotel guests’ values and intentions for sustainable hotels, and compare how this aligns with their actual behavior during check-in. Although the overall results shed light on consumer behavior, there were no significant differences