AUSTRALIA

Former Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson avoids jail over abuse cover up

According to The New Daily, former Adelaide archbishop Philip Wilson has avoided jail for covering up child sex abuse by a priest. Newcastle Local Court magistrate Robert Stone decided Wilson, 67, should serve his 12-month custodial sentence in home detention, not jail. Mr Stone said a report by the Gosford Community Corrections office found Wilson was suitable for home detention. He ordered Wilson be detained at his sister’s home near Newcastle for at least six months, after which he will be eligible for parole. At the time, Magistrate Stone said he took into account Wilson’s age and failing health in his sentencing. However, he also stressed the seriousness of the conviction, saying the sentence reflected the “criminality of the concealment and recognised the harm done to the community”.

Former Canberra Anglican priest jailed for historic rapes

The Age reported that a former Anglican priest who raped a young girl on the pew of a Canberra church had a long-history of molesting children. Justice Michael Elkaim sentenced John Philip Aitchison, 67, to nine years jail on five charges of sexual intercourse with a young person and seven counts of acts of indecency on a young person. The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court heard he had been previously convicted of offences against children in the United Kingdom, New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT.

Dying WA victim takes alleged historic child sex abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers to court

According to The West, a dying man will next week become the first under Western Australia’s new laws to go to court to claim damages for alleged historic child sexual abuse at the hands of the Christian Brothers. Paul Bradshaw, 74, has only weeks to live and will spend some of that time describing in court how he was the victim of horrific treatment as a boy at Castledare Junior Orphanage and then St Vincent’s Orphanage at Clontarf. His case against the Trustees of the Christian Brothers will be the first to be heard since WA lifted the time restriction on claims for damages against child abuse perpetrators. It has been fast-tracked because of Mr Bradshaw’s prostate cancer. Before he dies, he is determined to finally get justice for the treatment allegedly meted out by three Christian Brothers — brothers Lawrence Murphy, Bruno Doyle and Christopher Angus — in the 1950s and 60s.

Draft External Conduct Standards for Registered Charities

As reported by BrightLaw, Treasury is seeking submissions on draft regulations for the proposed external conduct standards that charities registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission will need to comply with when operating outside Australia. There are four external conduct standards - a standard on the activities and control of resources (including funds), a standard on the annual review of overseas activities and record keeping, a standard on anti-fraud and anti-corruption and a standard on the protection of vulnerable individuals. The Federal Government is aiming to have the regulations introducing the standards made this year and operational by 1 July 2019.

Primary schools ditch homework for students in favour of play, reading and downtime

According to ABC News, a small but potentially growing number of WA public schools are banning homework for primary students so they can spend more time relaxing, reading and playing. At least four schools have introduced official ‘no homework’ policies — all they ask of students is to read a little each night, preferably with their parents. They argue homework is of no benefit to younger children and can even be detrimental because it gets in the way of important family and recreation time, which allows children to recharge their batteries after a busy day of learning at school. The WA Education Department does not take sides in what can be a controversial debate. It only requires schools to document their approach, taking into account the needs of students, their age and the context of the school. Departmental guidelines stipulate that homework should not require unreasonable levels of parent help, should not impinge on family, recreational or cultural time, should not be given as a form of punishment, and should be directly linked to learning.

Canberra to fall short on school psychologists, despite three-year hiring effort

ABC News reported that Canberra will not have enough school psychologists to meet the demand of students with mental health issues by the time it has finished hiring in 2020. Last year, the ACT Government committed to employ an additional 20 school psychologists over three years — one of the recommendations made in the Shaddock review, the report launched after the discovery that a boy with autism had been kept in a cage at a Canberra primary school. That review determined there were not enough psychologists to help the growing number of students with challenging behaviours or mental health issues. It recommended the number of psychologists needed to be "substantially" increased, so that there was at least one school psychologist for every 500 students in Canberra.

INTERNATIONAL

Catholic Church in Pennsylvania lists 300 'predator' priests

According to SBS News, a sweeping grand jury report has found credible allegations against more than 300 predator priests and identified over 1,000 victims in decades of child sex abuse covered up by the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania. The report is thought to be the most comprehensive to date into abuse in the United States Catholic Church, but while prosecutors have filed charges against two priests, the vast majority of crimes happened too long ago to prosecute under current laws. The report said testimony from dozens of witnesses and half a million pages of internal church documents contained credible allegations against more than 300 predator priests and more than 1,000 child victims were identifiable. The vast majority of victims were boys and many were pre-pubescent, some manipulated with alcohol or pornography, and some were raped and groped, the report summarised.

Lunch lady sisters accused of nicking over half a million from school cafeterias

News.com.au has reported that lunch ladies at two US schools allegedly siphoned off more than half a million dollars from cafeteria cash registers in five years. When they weren’t serving meals to students at Saxe Middle School and New Canaan High School, respectively, sisters Joanne Pascarelli and Marie Wilson swiped $AU687,000 ($US478,588) between 2012 and 2017, according to police. Cafeteria cashiers told police that the duo, who oversaw the lunch rooms at the schools, ordered them not to tally each day’s take in the register, and instead let them count up and log the funds. It’s alleged the sisters would then underreport the earnings and pocket the difference. The heist — uncovered by school officials probing an unrelated accounting discrepancy — may actually run as far back as 15 years, but the sisters were only charged in relation to a five-year period due to the statute of limitations, police said. Around the same time the school found an accounting issue, a fellow cafeteria worker came to the New Canaan Board of Education to accuse Wilson, then the “assistant food director” at NCHS, and Pascarelli, head of the Saxe Middle School cafeteria, of having sticky fingers, according to Pascarelli’s arrest warrant.

Do smart technologies in education boost learning outcomes?

According to SciTech Europa, SMART Technologies commissioned a global survey of 481 education leaders to investigate the link between their reported EdTech capabilities and learning outcomes. Education leaders from 10 countries participated, including the US, China, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, the Netherlands and Spain. The survey asked participants to rate themselves in 22 evidence-based capabilities identified through an extensive literature review of EdTech best practices from around the world. It also asked them to rate their success in achieving and advancing learning outcomes like better test scores, greater career readiness, and higher teacher satisfaction. The survey found that schools who reported higher development in the 22 capabilities also reported better learning outcomes. While the average stage of development worldwide was at 62 on a scale of 100, 16% of respondents reported significantly higher learning outcomes. These 16% of respondents who identified themselves as high-outcomes schools showed some differences in the way they approach technology. The 16% of respondents who reported high learning outcomes were more likely to have detailed technology visions and plans; involve teachers and students in technology planning; and formally and regularly evaluate the effectiveness of their technology.