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 Ideagen.

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AUSTRALIA

Revealed: Australian Education Award 2023 winners

The Educator reports that on Friday night the best of what Australia’s education system has to offer was recognised and celebrated when more than 800 principals, deputies, department heads and teachers converged at the Australian Education Awards 2023. The nation’s top educators and schools were recognised across 28 award categories, including the national awards of Education Perfect Australian School Principal of the Year and the Education Perfect Australian School of the Year. The gala event was held at the Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. Partnering with The Educator for the second year in a row was Education Perfect, a curriculum aligned teaching and learning platform for Years 5-12 students, teachers and parents. The Educator also thanked all premium partners and Award sponsors – Education Perfect, Grok Academy, Ideagen CompliSpace, AFL Schools, Soprano Design, A Team Tuition, and Prime Super. Your support is greatly valued and appreciated. Ideagen Complispace sponsored the Best First Nations Education Program Award.

Parents and teachers alerted over chatbot child abuse

According to The Australian, paedophiles could use artificial intelligence chatbots to groom children for sexual abuse, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant has warned schools and parents. Grant called for tough rules over the use of generative AI, which can mimic human speech and writing and generate deep fake photos and videos. Grant warned that children using AI chatbots can be exposed to sexual or violent content and said that “this demonstrates the need for action in the design of platforms, to anticipate, detect and eliminate the risk upfront, and to build the understanding of children and young people to identify and respond appropriately to grooming behaviours”. The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) said that “any generative AI tools being used in an educational setting should be subject to strict requirements relating to privacy, data security”. The AHRC says children and teachers must be trained to detect fake or manipulated content.

‘Anxiety is a very real thing’: Spike in school refusal sparks call for national plan

According to The Age, a Senate inquiry into school refusal and related matters, launched in October last year found there had been a decline in attendance rates nationally between 2021 and 2022 for year 1 to 10. Attendance dropped from 90.9 per cent to 86.5 per cent in that year. East Bentleigh mother Rebecca Dell said that “we found all of our kids lost their confidence and ability to deal with peers”. The report, released on Thursday, recommended education ministers develop a national action plan to tackle school refusal, to be undertaken by the Australian Education and Research Organisation over 12 months, and for the development of a nationally accepted definition of school refusal, as well as a nationally consistent way of recording the reasons for absences. School Refusal Clinic’s John Chellew welcomed the recommendations, saying they highlighted the importance of increasing mental health care for students with school refusal.

For parents, school choice comes down to student wellbeing - study

According to The Educator, student wellbeing tops the list of reasons why Australian private school parents would consider leaving or choosing a school, a new nationwide survey shows. The data based on the responses of 1,545 parents in all states and territories, found that 69 per cent indicated they would consider changing schools if they felt that their children are unhappy or not well looked after. This was compared to just 20 per cent of parents who would move their kids to a different school due to its reputation for strong academic performance, and 16 per cent to pursue specialised pathways. When asked what they want their school to provide more support on, the top three factors again highlight the focus on their children’s wellbeing and fulfilment. Edstart CEO, Jack Stevens said that schools could prioritise wellbeing support further especially for parents who are looking for more than just academic outcomes when it comes to their children’s education.

What is equity in education and how do we achieve it?

According to ABC News, the important role that out-of-school factors such as family and community play in student achievement is undermined in efforts to improve education. Equity in education means that children from different social groups achieve a similar level and range of learning outcomes, and that every child succeeds above minimum standards of education. According to internationally comparable data, our school education system is one of the most socially segregated. One in five Australian children start school developmentally vulnerable in terms of physical health and wellbeing, communication skills and social competence. Schools are important community centres, which can effectively meet children's educational and health needs through partnerships between other community services. If the core purpose of school would be expanded from academic intelligence to holistic learning, wellbeing and health, making equity really happen would be easier.

Beyond condoms and bananas: The questions kids ask show the changing reality of sex education

According to ABC News, Rowena Thomas, a sex and relationships educator who runs workshops in primary schools across New South Wales, is well acquainted with kids' curly questions regarding sex education, but widespread access to the internet and the terabytes of graphic and often violent pornography it hosts has given rise to a fresh set of concerns. While parental controls are available to limit what apps and websites young people can access, they aren't fail-safe. Not only are increasingly tech-literate young people adept at bypassing them, it just takes one student with lenient controls for information to spread through school grounds. Curtin University sexologist Jacqueline Hendriks said that teachers are often also not specifically trained in delivering sex education and when looking internationally Australia is about middle-of-the-road when it comes to the delivery of quality sex education but adds that any efforts at improvement are an uphill battle.

Why schools need to normalise live captions

According to The Educator, more than 20,000 school students live with a level of hearing loss that requires the wearing of hearing aids or cochlear implants. These young people all require support to reach their educational potential, yet a shortage of Auslan interpreters and other supports has meant that schools still have significant gaps when it comes to assisting deaf students. According to Dr Elizabeth Levesque, from the Victorian Deaf Education Institute, tools such as real-time captions are hugely beneficial to deaf and hard-of-hearing students. However, “astronomical” costs have largely kept these tools out of the classroom. The dawn of AI has sparked some hope, particularly with the rise of speech-to-text technology. One of the schools trialling the technology CaptionConnect, is Rosanna Golf Links Primary School. Part of the challenge for the school was figuring out privacy and recording concerns and addressing any anxiety about that among teachers.

School leadership in the age of AI: A conversation with Andrew Pierpoint

The Educator reports that in July, the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association (ASPA) president Andrew Pierpoint made the difficult decision to retire, with his duties coming to a formal end in mid-September 2023. Pierpoint talks to The Educator to draw from his 39 years in education to discuss the rapid advancements in education technology. An increasingly evident challenge for school leaders is that technology products change on average every 36 months, which does not leave enough time for schools to evaluate them before the next one comes along. Pierpoint said that “the first part is that principals don’t know what they don’t know when it comes to generative AI like ChatGPT”. Perpoint also made a point that “we need to be in control over AI not the other way around. Everyone I talk to isn’t nervous about it, they just want to know what it is and how they can utilise it in school, because it’s going to be in the community”.

NSW government announces vaping roundtable in ‘priority’ crackdown on school kids vaping

According to news.com.au, the Education and Early Learning Minister Prue Car announced that both health and education departments will initiate a community campaign on the dangers of vaping, and convene an expert roundtable in order to tackle the issue. Ms Car said the campaign would focus on the “very dangerous” ingredients in vapes, and feared children weren’t aware of the potential dangers associated with their use. “We want to support schools with disciplinary methods to deal with our children who are vaping in schools”, she said. The roundtable will focus on coming up with strategies to reduce the amount of children vaping and strategies to support schools manage the issue. Ms Car encouraged schools to report incidents of vaping, so the government is aware of the degree of the problem. Ms Car said that “it’s not just public schools, it’s Catholic, (and) independent schools… all the sectors are reporting to me, that they’re facing a challenge with this”.

Queenslanders to have say on keeping children safe

According to a statement made by the Queensland Government, Queensland is stepping up the fight against child sex predators with a swathe of proposed new measures to further protect children from abuse and better detect paedophiles in organisations working with children. Thousands of organisations across the state from schools to churches and sports clubs are being asked for public input on a proposal to implement nationally consistent Child Safe Standards and a Reportable Conduct Scheme in Queensland. Child Safety Minister Craig Crawford today publicly released the 140-page “Growing Child Safe Organisations in Queensland” report and consultation paper for feedback on the impact of the proposed regulation. Under the preferred model, a single, independent oversight body would be established to help organisations implement 10 new child safe standards and handle child abuse complaints and allegations as part of a reportable conduct scheme.

Queensland Teachers uncomfortable hiding student’s name, gender, pronoun change from parents

According to The Courier Mail, a leaked state school email reveals teachers are being told to use a student’s preferred name, pronoun or gender in the classroom without parental consent, a move that is making them uneasy.  The leaked email concerned a student who wanted to change their name and pronouns, but did not want their parents to be told. It is understood school staff and parents across the state have raised concerns around navigating the issue. When questioned about its relevant policies, the Department of Education did not address concerns around teachers caught between the student’s wishes and a parent’s right to know. However, the Department said it advises schools and principals to assess each case individually, including considering the child’s age and capacity to make these decisions. Australian Association of Psychologists director Carly Dober said that “we don’t want the school to be handling this on their own, they aren’t gender experts”.

INTERNATIONAL

The National Party will ban cell phone use at school (New Zealand)

According to 1News, The National Party is promising to ban cell phones in schools to help lift students' declining achievement levels, National Party leader Christopher Luxon said. Luxon said that "I am here to improve academic achievement for our kids so they are set up for a much better future. Phones are a massive disturbance and distraction and we're going to take it off the table”. He dismissed concerns around potential problem behaviour from students unable to access their phones, or hiding them on their person or in bags, saying there are "many schools in New Zealand that already ban phones" successfully.

Targeting trans kids, Florida school board requires parental approval for nicknames (United States)

According to The Intercept, if a child in Florida’s Orange County Public Schools system wants to use a name that deviates in any way from their legal name, they must now submit a signed parental permission form. According to a memo released recently, the new rule, while transparently targeted at trans kids, applies to all students, including cis students using common nicknames. “As an example, if the student is named Robert, but likes to be called the nickname Rob, the form must be filled out authorising teachers and other personnel to call Robert the nickname Rob”, the new guidelines state. Teachers must use pronouns and titles that align with their assigned sex at birth and the guidance brings the school board’s policy into alignment with a the recently adopted House Bill 1069, which was passed in May. Hundreds of thousands of students have protested and continue to protest school board meetings, staging walkouts against anti-trans laws and policies, including in Orange County.

Christian schools president gets death threats over gender policy (United States)

According to Vision Christian Media, a California schools leader has received death threats because her board agreed to advise parents if their child showed any signs of gender dysphoria, in defiance of the head of all the state’s schools who preferred to keep parents in the dark. Sonja Shaw was targeted after the Chino Valley Unified School District board adopted a new policy to inform parents of any concerns within three days. Ms Shaw said that “It’s not like anybody is stopping anybody from doing anything in their lifestyle. All we’re saying is a parent needs to be notified because we have incidents where teachers have inappropriate conversations (with students)”.