AUSTRALIA

Opera singer pleads guilty to historic child sex offences

The Sydney Morning Herald has reported that a former longstanding member of the nation's principal opera company, Opera Australia, has pleaded guilty to historic child sex offences involving a 14-year-old girl. Revealed last November (2017), the offences occurred in the mid-1990s, when the then 14-year-old girl was in the children's chorus of an Opera Australia production and Mr Lewis was a chorister in his mid-30s. He will be sentenced later this year.

State, Federal leaders at odds on national redress scheme

The West Australian reported about State and Federal governments being at odds over whether the national redress scheme for victims of child sexual abuse should pay up to $150,000 in compensation to people with serious criminal histories. The exclusion, designed to “give integrity and public confidence” to the scheme, has emerged as a major roadblock to WA signing up as the Turnbull Government scrambles to get WA and QLD onboard before 1 July 2018.

Cambridge Analytica: Facebook 'outraged' by misuse of data

In a whistleblowing and privacy case, ABC News reported that the Australian Privacy Commissioner is investigating whether any Facebook information of Australians was used. As background, political research firm Cambridge Analytica is accused of mining the data of 50 million users around the world, and using it to target people with political advertising aimed at helping Donald Trump's 2016 US election campaign. More information about the whistleblower case can be found here.

Charity Compliance Report 2017 released and reveals a jump in concerns

The Governance Institute reported about the release of the Charity Compliance Report 2017 and revealed that the number of concerns about Australian charities reported to the national charities regulator jumped 42 per cent in 2017, with governance breaches, fraud, lack of transparency and mismanagement topping the list.

Smartphones out when school is in

The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Willoughby Girls High school in NSW banning the use of smart phones during school hours. Since late 2016 Willoughby Girls has imposed restrictions on smartphone use.  From the time students walk in the gate they are expected to switch off their phones and put them in their pockets, where they must be left until they walk out the gates at the end of classes. The principal says the restrictions balance the reality of prolific smartphone use among teenagers while ensuring students are cyber safe within school time.

Teachers under attack from students in WA school classrooms

According to Perth Now, physical attacks by students against teachers surged to nearly 600 incidents last year, prompting veteran South West educator Bill Kilner to describe teachers at low socio-economic schools as student “punching bags”. Education Department acting deputy director general schools Stephen Baxter acknowledged that a small proportion of students resorted to aggressive behaviour but said teachers received training on how to prevent and defuse situations where possible, stating “Teachers are absolutely backed under the law to take reasonable action to protect themselves and others…Equally we will not tolerate teachers going beyond what is reasonable and disproportionately lashing out physically in retaliation against students.”

Eddie Woo and his rise from anonymous teacher to maths Rockstar

The ABC News did a feature report on Eddie Woo, a Maths teacher from Sydney, whose profile has skyrocketed thanks to the huge popularity of his YouTube channel, "Wootube", and a string of awards. Earlier this month, Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced Eddie's new role as a 'master teacher' with the New South Wales Department of Education. As leader of innovation for maths teaching, he travels across the state, mentoring students and other teachers. He retains his job as a maths teacher at Cherrybrook Technology High School in Sydney's north-western suburbs, taking his year 12 extension class every morning before school.

INTERNATIONAL

Teacher suspended after reprimanding students for cross-dressing

CBC News reported that a Southeast Kootenay teacher in Canada has been suspended after reprimanding students for cross-dressing. According to a decision from the B.C. Commissioner for Teacher Regulations, in December 2016 a group of grade 11 and 12 students decided to dress as members of the opposite sex, in support of another student who identifies as LGBT. The teacher questioned the motives of students, and likened their actions to cultural appropriation, saying “their actions were disrespectful and offensive, like painting your face black or wearing a feather headdress.”

Gunman shoots two fellow students at Maryland high school, dies after shootout with officer

According to the ABC News and Fox2Now, an armed student who injured two other students in the shooting at Great Mills High School in Maryland at 8am on Tuesday morning has died. The sheriff said the school resource officer engaged the shooter and ended the threat, which occurred in a hallway just before classes began. The officer fired a round at the shooter, and the shooter fired a round as well. This is the 17^th school shooting in the United States since 1 January 2018.

Gym coach: Child abuse images convict former Perth mentor in US

The West Australian reported that a Perth gymnastics coach who admitted to child pornography offences in the USA this week, has a previous criminal history of similar offences in Perth. He was sentenced to three years’ jail for possessing nearly 7000 child porn images as well as videos and stories on computers and storage devices found by WA Police, which included elements of “incest, bestiality and child rape”. Australian authorities approved Godfrey’s extradition back to the US in 2016 to face the further charges.