Convicted drug trafficker allowed to teach in Victorian schools
The Age reports that a woman convicted of trafficking cocaine and sentenced to nine years in a Spanish jail has been allowed to teach in Victorian schools by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. The Victorian Institute of Teaching initially rejected the woman’s application to teach, saying that it was not in the public interest to allow someone with such a conviction to work in schools. On appeal to the Tribunal, it was found that she would be a ‘great asset’ in rural Victorian schools. VIT chief executive Melanie Saba has said that she was disappointed that the VIT has be ordered to register the woman to teach.
Calls for teaching students to get paid for placements
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that more than 20,000 teachers and nurses fill Australia’s schools and hospitals on unpaid placements each year. There is consensus among industry groups that the funding for student income subsidies to take the financial pressure off these students would have to come from the Federal Government. Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham has said that a variety of university degrees often require students to undertake unpaid internships to gain valuable skills and the Government provides additional payments for certain degrees, like medicine, which is paid to universities, but it is up to the university how that money is spent.
Police respond to email bomb threat against school
The Age reports that police have responded to reports of a bomb threat at a school on the Mornington Peninsula this week. Staff and students at the school were evacuated after a threat was made against the school via email. A police spokesperson said that safety checks were being made at all three campuses of the school that had been evacuated. The school released a statement shortly afterwards that the safety of students and staff has been assured and normal daily timetables have resumed.
ACT government improves digital communication between schools and parents
The Canberra Times reports that the ACT Government have promised up to $10 million to build a new digital system for schools, allowing schools to ‘go digital’ for consent forms, payments and updating student details. The three-year project will also see class roles marked online, student reports digitalised and an improvement in school administration and parent communication. ACT Education Minister Shane Rattenbury said ‘parents and teachers are busy people and, as the work increasingly moves online, people expect to be able to perform routine administrative tasks quickly and efficiently from their computer or smartphone.’
Performance pay for teachers said to create a culture of fear and isolation
The Conversation has reported that following the Federal Government’s announcement of a series of education reforms in the recent budget, specifically linking pay to performance to teachers, there is great concern about the creation of a culture of accountability, performativity and commodification. Finnish scholar Pasi Sahlberg has described this culture as being part of the global education reform movement (GERM) that is “infecting” the world’s school systems. Education researcher, school leader and teacher Deborah M. Netolicky states that a more effective intervention from the Government in the education system would be to concentrate of how to make teachers better educators, and that teachers need support through coaching, mentoring, consultation, action research and collaboration in professional learning communities, rather than fear and competition.
Number of drug-related expulsions and teacher assaults in SA schools has more than doubled
The Advertiser has reported that the number of South Australian public school student excluded over drugs has more than doubled in two years, while teacher assault has more than doubled in three years. Education Department figures show 19 students were excluded in second term last year, up from 13 in 2014 and 7 in 2013. Similarly, incidents of violence against teachers have doubled from 231 in 2012 to 469 in 2014, and then rose again to 549 last year. The Department has said more schools were recording incidents since an electronic reporting system was made available in 2009 and this has ‘certainly contributed’ to the increases.
13-year-old student dies during tug-of-war game at school
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that during a game of tug-of-war at a school’s field day which included games such as sack races and water-balloon fights, a 13-year-old student slumped to ground. School nurses rushed to the girl’s side and performed CPR, however the girl was taken to a nearby hospital and died shortly after. A parent-volunteer at the event said that the student has been complaining of a headache and dizziness before passing out. Another parent has said that their child had said that water was not easily accessible at the event, and that students were only allowed to get water if they went to the rest room or bought a bottle of water.
English Islamic school trust investigated by charities regulator
The Guardian reports that the education trust behind an independent Islamic school in Luton, England has been criticised for segregating staff by gender and treating male and female pupils differently is now being investigated by the Charities Commission. During a recent inspection by the school standards regulator Ofsted, it was found that the school was treating the education of boys and girls differently, limited girls to sewing and knitting in technology classes. The Charities Commission’s remit does not include education matters, however there have been a number of adverse judgments by Ofsted that the Commission has been prompted to investigate concerns about the trust’s governance.