The information in the Weekly Wrap is aggregated from other news sources to provide you with news that is relevant to the education sector across Australia and worldwide. Each paragraph is a summary of the subject matter covered in the particular news article. The information does not necessarily reflect the views of CompliSpace.
The ABC News reports that Australia's longest-serving judge, Kerry O'Brien, has presided over countless high-profile cases, but he says the most poignant of his career were those dealing with child sexual abuse. Chief Judge O'Brien is due to retire later this month after a 46-year career in criminal law — 31 of those as a judge. He served as president of the Children's Court from 2002 to 2007. In 2014, he was appointed to his current post: Chief Judge of Queensland's District Court. Chief Judge O'Brien said despite being involved in many well-publicised matters, it was not the cases that made headlines that left the biggest impression. "I would say that the cases that have made the biggest impression have been those that have involved the sexual abuse of young people. We deal with a very large number of those today — often they're historical matters. It's only when you hear their evidence, read their statements, and see their victims impact statements, that you truly appreciate the enormous impact that that sort of offending has on individuals, and young people in particular."
The New Daily reports that a young Queensland boy featured in a viral video about being bullied over his condition of dwarfism has launched a defamation lawsuit against News Corp columnist Miranda Devine and the media giant. Quaden Bayles, then 9, made global headlines in February when his mother posted a video of him crying after being bullied at school. He lives with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism, and reveals in the video – viewed by millions of people – his mental health struggles. In court filings seen by The New Daily, the statement of claim by Quaden and his mother Yarraka Bayles – who is separately suing the publisher and its columnist – allege tweets by Devine had “defamatory imputations”. Sydney barrister Sue Chrysanthou and law firm Centennial Lawyers will allege the social media posts had implied the boy had “dishonestly acted out being distressed in a video to obtain money from donors”. In court documents, the lawyers allege that Quaden’s mother was also defamed because the tweets suggested she engaged in “child abuse” by “dishonestly [coaching]” her son.
The Educator reports that according to University of South Australia bullying expert, Professor Barbara Spears, the issue of bullying needs to be addressed at a community level if society is to successfully reduce its prevalence. New research by the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has found that only a small number of parents can clearly describe what bullying is. While there is no universal definition of bullying, it is widely agreed amongst researchers that there are three essential elements: that the behaviour is ongoing, that it is intended to be harmful, and that there is a power imbalance. Dr Lesley-Anne Ey of UniSA and Professor Marilyn Campbell from QUT surveyed a total of 201 parents of young children between the ages of 5-10 to define bullying and fighting in their own words and identify the differences between the two behaviours. Their study, titled: “Do Parents of Young Children Understand What Bullying Means?”, found that only a minority (8 per cent) of parents mentioned all three characteristics of bullying when asked to define it in their own words.
The ABC News reports that Tangara School for Girls in Cherrybrook has now recorded 17 confirmed cases since the first infection was discovered in a student on Thursday last week. The ABC understands some students attended a camp, which has become a focus for contact tracers. The original source of the cluster remains unknown, but Ms Berejiklian reiterated a warning to non-government schools that they must stick to coronavirus restrictions. "Schools, in particular non-government schools, cannot undertake those extra-curricular activities that you do outside of a pandemic — and I can't make that message stronger." She said institutions needed to make sure there were no off-site gatherings where mingling could occur. "Every organisation, every entity needs to abide by the COVID-Safe plans, because otherwise we risk having a surge in numbers [and] new clusters, and no one wants to see that."
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic is taking its toll on children, with schools noticing increasing anxiety, misbehaviour and conflict with friends as students struggle to make sense of the masks, stress and disruption around them. Teachers, principals and support staff say many primary pupils have been restless and unsettled since remote learning ended, with reports of more frustration, outbursts and difficulties with peer interactions. Many kids have been resilient, but others have developed renewed separation anxiety and their ability to cope with challenges has gone backwards. Negative behaviour is also rising more quickly, say school staff canvassed by The Sun-Herald. Principals and teachers say there is less joy at school, exacerbated by the lack of assemblies to build school spirit, or excursions and camps to look forward to. Margo Ward, of the children’s mental health charity KidsXpress, said most of the focus during the pandemic has been on senior students, but primary-level kids were also suffering in ways they were too young to articulate.
AAP reports that the decision to resume face-to-face school learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic has been vindicated by fresh research showing children transmitted the disease at minimal rates during the “first wave”. The study, published in The Lancet Journal of Child and Adolescent Health on Tuesday last week, analysed the spread of COVID-19 in 15 NSW schools and 10 childcare centres between January and April 2020. It found that no COVID-19 transmissions occurred in 90 per cent of those schools and childcare centres in the term one period, and just five secondary transmissions at schools were recorded. There were some 1448 close contacts of 27 confirmed COVID-19 cases in schools and childcare centres over this period. Study lead author, the University of Sydney’s Professor Kristine Macartney, said the data confirmed COVID-19 was milder and less infectious in children. There were very few transmissions between children, or from children to adults.
According to an article in The Conversation, there is a theory that despite all the commotion, religious freedom faces no significant threat in Western democracies like Australia. A major international study challenges this idea. Bar-Ilan University’s Jonathan Fox has undertaken a painstaking analysis of the incidence of religious discrimination around the world. Fox, a professor of religion and politics, recently published the results in a new book, Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me. His conclusions are startling. They are also very concerning. And Australia is not exempt from his penetrating analysis. Fox writes that while many assume the liberal democracies of the West are the strongest bastions of religious freedom in the world, the evidence simply does not support this claim. Fox bases his conclusions on a data set recording the treatment of 771 religious minorities in 183 countries between 1990 and 2014. The data set distinguishes 35 types of government-based religious discrimination. He found that in 162 countries, government-based religious discrimination was perpetrated against 574 of the minorities at some point during the study period.
The Educator reports that respected educator and leader, Margery Evans, will head up Independent Schools Australia (ISA) after being appointed as the organisation’s new CEO. She has been a classroom teacher in rural, urban and disadvantaged settings, the principal of a primary school and a system leader with responsibility for some of Australia’s most remote schools. Independent Schools Australia Board Chair, Mr Michael Jones OAM, welcomed the appointment, saying Ms Evans is a highly respected leader within the national education community. The Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA) CEO, Beth Blackwood, said Ms Evans’ leadership of the development of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Australian Professional Standard for Principals has provided an important platform for ongoing development of the profession. Ms Evans will commence with Independent Schools Australia on 21 September 2020.
The Educator reports that in June, a report from the Grattan Institute found that Australian school students will have lost the equivalent of one month’s learning at the end of the school year due to the disruption caused by COVID-19, warning the greatest impacts would be felt by the most disadvantaged students. However, a new study reveals that a successful teacher professional development program is massively accelerating student learning outcomes, potentially reversing this disruption. The study, conducted by the University of Newcastle’s Teachers and Teaching Research Centre in 2019, constitutes the largest randomised controlled trial in Australian education research history. More than 5,000 students from 126 NSW government schools were involved, with researchers conducting 33,407 progressive achievement tests (PATs). Additionally, researchers conducted 791 whole lesson observations, as well as 11,924 surveys with students, and 803 surveys with teachers and school leaders. The Centre’s director, Laureate Professor Jenny Gore, said the Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) program’s impact on student outcomes were the equivalent to two months additional learning over the eight-month study period.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that last year, more than 15 per cent of year 7 students in NSW were at or below the national reading minimum standard, leaving them struggling to follow the high school curriculum. Principals say some year 7 students have the reading skills of an eight-or nine-year-old. Three organisations last Thursday launched the Primary Reading Pledge campaign, calling on Education Ministers and the heads of public school systems to commit to more rigorous intervention throughout primary school so that that number can be drastically reduced. Critics of the campaign say teachers are already working hard to help weak readers, but there is no magic bullet because students struggle for myriad reasons. The organisations behind the campaign are Five from Five, which advocates a phonics-focused approach to teaching students to read; AUSPELD, the Australian federation of SPELD (Specific Learning Difficulties) organisations; and Learning Difficulties Australia.
The ABC News reports that more than 60 ageing public schools across Western Australia will receive almost $500 million to upgrade facilities and cope with increased enrolments, the State Government has announced. One in two schools across WA are more than 50 years old, Education Minister Sue Ellery said, and some required a lot of work to be done. She said some schools would also be targeted to increase capacity as facilities had not kept up with rising student numbers. Ms Ellery said funding would also be allocated where necessary to meet demand in areas where the population was growing. Details of the projects already announced include new classrooms, sport ovals and halls and performing arts spaces. The investment is the latest in a series of funding announcements made by the WA Government as part of its COVID-19 economic recovery plan.
The ABC News reports that the South Australian Government's No Jab No Play laws came into effect last Friday, with children up to the age of six who have not been fully immunised now unable to attend early childcare services. The law attempts to ensure children and the people they encounter are protected against preventable diseases. In Australia, the vaccination schedule starts from the time a child is born and continues until they are four. The director of the State Government's Communicable Disease Control Branch said she was confident that in that time children could be immunised against most preventable diseases. The law will work in conjunction with the Federal Government's No Jab No Pay scheme, which withholds childcare benefits from parents of children who are not immunised. There is loud opposition to the Government's mandate to immunise, with anti-vaxxers launching legal action interstate and in SA. Exemptions will be available in rare cases, for example in children with severe allergies.
Scoop reports that state-integrated schools are the best value for money compared with private and state schools, according to a new report by The New Zealand Initiative. A state-integrated school generally has a special character. For instance, a religious belief (e.g. Catholic) or a specialist teaching method such as Montessori. State-integrated schools also charge much lower annual fees for students than private schools. This report pulled data from Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) – New Zealand’s largest research database. Policy analyst Joel Hernandez used the Initiative’s IDI school performance tool to reveal a schools' effect on a student's learning. There are about 42 private secondary schools in the country, 93 state-integrated and 330 state schools. On balance, New Zealand has more high-performing private schools (66.7 per cent) than state-integrated (45.2 per cent) and state schools (15.5 per cent). Hernandez will answer why state-integrated schools are doing so well in an upcoming report.
The CBC reports that Canada's federal public health agency last Friday released guidelines for slowing the spread of the coronavirus among students and staff when schools reopen in September. The guidelines for school administrators recommend that students over the age of 10 wear masks, that students and teachers stay two metres apart wherever possible, and that students and teachers be grouped together to reduce the number of people they come into close contact with. Schools should also postpone or cancel large group activities like assemblies, team sports and field trips and move classes outside if weather permits, the guidelines say. The recommendations come after many provinces and territories have already released their back-to-school plans, with many parents and teachers raising concerns about whether those plans do enough to keep children and staff safe. The federal guidelines, which are not prescriptive, are meant to supplement those provided by provincial and territorial governments and local public health authorities.
CTV reports that effective contact tracing and virus testing are essential for the safe reopening of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to two new studies. The studies, published on Monday last week in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health journal, found that there are low levels of coronavirus transmission in schools when public health measures are in place. The first study used modelling data to analyse whether a second wave of infections could be avoided in the UK if safety measures are enhanced in schools as they reopen. The second study analysed real-world data from the first wave of COVID-19 infections in New South Wales, Australia to understand virus transmission in schools and nurseries. Both studies concluded that schools can operate safely if effective virus control measures are in place. In a linked commentary discussing the studies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine professor W. John Edmunds said both studies provide other countries with potential options on how to keep schools open amid the pandemic.