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August 4: School Governance Weekly Wrap

3/08/16

AUSTRALIA

2016 NAPLAN results not good enough, say Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham

Sydney Morning Herald reports that data from this year's NAPLAN does not reveal any real improvement. The Federal Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, is disappointed by the results. The performance of students in literacy and numeracy has plateaued over the last three years. This, despite a significant increase in government spending in education. According to the figures, reading scores have only improved by 0.4 per cent since 2013. Writing scores have declined by 0.2 per cent. Numeracy scores have faired a little better, with a 1.26 per cent improvement. According to the Minister, over this time period the government has boosted funding by 23.7 per cent. Birmingham has called for a 'fresh perspective'.

NAPLAN results improve in SA, but state remains behind national average

ABC Online reports that latest NAPLAN figures show that South Australia is below the national average in almost all of the test categories. The State has, however, made some positive gains, making improvements in 13 of 20 key areas of testing. Susan Close, the South Australian Education Minister, has insisted that progress is being made. She believes Victoria and New South Wales, being the most heavily populated states, have focussed on funding their education systems and have 'inflated the average'. Most impressive for SA are the Year Three results, topping the country in writing testing. Now, she believes South Australia needs to look into how the government is spending money in education, and how she can close in on the national average.

Melb school pays over dodgy contracts

9 News reports that an independent school in Melbourne will be forced to foot the $440,000 bill in penalties and legal costs for its illegal hiring practices. The school employed teachers on unlawful fixed-term contracts and when questioned, obstructed the investigation. The Independent Education Union and the Australian International Academy of Education were in the Federal Court for the trial in late 2015. The Court determined that these acts - hiring too many teachers on fixed-term contracts and later altering the contracts when the union was investigating, as well as refusing the Independent Education Union access to electronic copies contravened the Fair Work Act.  Refer to our earlier article.

Queensland teachers pay deal reached with government

Brisbane Times reports that Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk announced an in-principle agreement with the Queensland Teachers Union on Wednesday. New teachers in the State system will now command one of the highest teaching salaries in the country. Although the Union was fighting for a 4.5 per cent annual pay rise, the Government has accepted a 2.5 per cent increase for the next three years. These figures mean teachers will be on par with Catholic school system tedachers. Kate Jones, the Queensland Education Minister believes this reform will reign in excellent talent in the coming years.

Why you should send your daughters to an all-girls school

The Age reports that the debate over same-sex schools has reared its head again. Now the focus is on all-girls schools. The Age reporter, Timna Jacks, cites a recent study out of Melbourne University that states girls at single-sex schools are more confident in key learning areas, specifically, maths. This comes in the wake of OECD figures suggesting that girls are turning away from maths and science, with only 6.7 per cent of Year 12 students taking up advanced mathematics classes. The paper's author, Dr Chris Ryan, found that in Year Four, boys were slightly more confident in their maths skills than girls in a co-ed environment. This gap widened significantly by Year Eight. But this trend was reversed in all-girls schools. He said that a negative attitude towards maths was a product of co-ed classes and was not intrinsic.

Spotlight on supporting Newcastle students with a disability successfully transition out of school

ABC Online reports that finding a job for young people with a disability is exceptionally hard. Newcastle has a high rate of youth unemployment, particularly when contrasted with unemployment rates in the rest of New South Wales. There to help, is the School Leavers expo, which puts together around 60 disability service providers who assist young people with a disability in their school to work transition. ABC Journalist Robert Virtue interviewed Wade Wall, a 17 year old student with autism spectrum disorder. Wade, in the hopes of snagging a retail job, has undergone training courses to prepare himself for the industry demands. He said that students are 'heartbroken' that they can't find a position. According to Chris Gibson, the service manager of Response Services, a disability support organisation in the region, 'statistically they [people with a disability] tend to stay in their positions for longer, they're generally quite reliable, and often too they really need that opportunity.'

INTERNATIONAL

For Schools, Addressing Social Media Mishaps is Complex

US News reports that earlier this month, in a wealthy Massachusetts school district, students were found to have disseminated racial and homophobic slurs via Facebook messages. School officials and law enforcement responded to the incident. This raises the question - what role does the school have in monitoring students' social media use?  According to Eric Eshbach, superintendent of Pennsylvania's Northern York County School District, in their school's policy, they have the responsibility over off-campus activity that has a direct nexus back to school or an impact on the educational day. Steven Stone, superintendent at Dracut public schools near Boston says that interceding has to be issue by issue.

School reforms widen poverty gap, new research finds

The Guardian reports that new British Prime Minister, Theresa May, and Education Secretary, Justine Greening, have a challenge ahead for education, May has stated she wants to fight inequality in the sector. Changes that May and Greening need to assess have only resulted in reinforcing inequality and widening the gap between excelling schools and those lagging behind. According to Professor Stephen Gorard of Durham University, who is keenly involved in education reform, analysing the performance resulting from the 1988 Education Act, 'there has always been a degree of social segregation in the English school system.' Anne West, Professor of social policy at the London School of Economics, believes that “It needs to be easier for parents to understand, and managed so that no school can get a specially advantaged intake.''

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