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 Guardian reports that Federal, state and territory ministers are wasting no time adapting the new national cabinet process to other portfolios, with workers soon to have their occupational licences recognised nationwide. Under the reforms a uniform scheme will be created that will allow workers to move from one jurisdiction to another without the need to apply for another licence. While the announcement follows a recent trend of focusing on tradies, the move will also apply to teachers and real estate agents. The Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, said the Council on Federal Financial Relations, the new treasurer’s body to emerge from the national cabinet system which has replaced the Council of Australian Governments system, would prioritise implementation of the scheme. It aims to have it take effect from January next year.
According to an article in Teacher, most Australian teachers believe the advantages of being a teacher outweigh any disadvantages, but fewer than half feel that they are valued by society for the job they do, according to a new report. Australian data from the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 show 88 per cent of Australian teachers agreed that the advantages of being a teacher clearly outweighed the disadvantages, and 83 per cent said that they would choose to work as a teacher if given the choice again. Fewer than half of Australian teachers (45 per cent) feel that they are valued in society for the work they do, compared to 26 per cent of teachers across the OECD. In Australia, a nationally representative sample of 4000 teachers and principals from 200 lower secondary schools was randomly selected to participate in the study. The new report focuses on the responses of the 3573 lower secondary teachers and 230 lower secondary principals that participated.
The Educator reports that evidence across the globe is emerging of the critical role that leadership plays in steering communities through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) recently released a major report summarising the evidence base of leadership required during this difficult and challenging time. Spotlight: “The role of school leadership in challenging times” report examines the practices of successful leadership through uncertainty and highlights learnings from previous crises. AITSL CEO, Mark Grant, said teachers and school leaders across Australia should be congratulated for the tremendous job they’ve done rising to the challenges that the bushfires, drought and pandemic have presented to their schools. The Spotlight report pointed to evidence showing that the “triage, transition and transform” process provides a useful framework for helping principals understand and respond to the challenges that they face.
The ABC News reports that sixty per cent of churchgoers in Australia are women, yet in the decision-making ranks of the Catholic Church, female voices are largely absent. The lack of women in leadership roles is a point of contention for many theologians — not just for equity reasons. According to Robyn Horner, from the Australian Catholic University's school of theology, the church's sexual abuse crisis demonstrated the failings of a male-only leadership structure. "I think the church has protected itself for a long time with patriarchal attitudes and the exclusion of women from decision-making roles, even if they're not ordained roles," she says. As of this month, changes are being made. Last Thursday, Pope Francis appointed six women to a group overseeing the Vatican's finances. These positions are thought to be the most senior female appointments in the Church's leadership structure. But reformers in the Catholic Church are pushing for greater structural change.
The ABC News reports that the shut-down of schools because of COVID-19 earlier this year has robbed year 12 students of a complete year in the classroom. It's also robbed them of a voice on important matters affecting their lives, like COVID-19. In response, NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell is setting up a formal student council that she'll meet several times a year to discuss not just COVID-19, but education policy. The Education Department will start calling for representatives next term from all areas of the state. Ms Mitchell is keen to hear how students have adapted to challenges like remote learning. "It's become really clear to me, particularly this year during the pandemic, while I get to meet with a range of stakeholders in education, our teachers, our principals and also parents, what's been missing is that student voice," the Minister said.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that private schools are bringing their scholarship exams forward to year 5, amid increasing competition between independent and selective schools for top students and more scholarship shopping by parents. Students traditionally sit tests for high school scholarships at the beginning of year six, but about 20 schools across NSW and the ACT will hold their exams for 2022 entry this year. "There is some movement to testing in year 5 for year 7 entry," said Robert Allwell from Academic Assessment Services, which runs scholarship exams for independent schools across the country. Many private schools use the Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) test, which is due to be sat by year 6 students on February 27 next year, ahead of the NSW selective school examination on March 11. Principals report that some families use scholarship offers from different private schools to negotiate a better deal, such as a 75 per cent rather than a 50 per cent scholarship.
According to an article in The Conversation, to fix inequality in Australian education, governments should fully fund all non-government primary schools, according to former NSW Education Minister and now head of the UNSW Gonski Institute, Adrian Piccoli. In an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Professor Piccoli suggests government funding be dependent on non-government schools no longer collecting fees from parents and agreeing to abide by the same enrolment and accountability rules as public schools. The fully-funded non-government primary private schools would still be run by the same organisations as before, and abide by the same educational philosophy. But no student would be turned away. Fully funding primary schools would enable parents to access neighbourhood non-government schools at no cost. It would provide welcome relief for parents who now send their children to non-government primary schools, but who are facing difficulties paying fees due to the COVID-19 recession.
The Educator reports that there are calls for Australian governments to reduce the focus on bureaucracy and devote more resources towards support of student learning after a new study revealed that teacher and principal workloads are rising despite an increase in administrative staff. The new research paper by public education advocate group Save Our Schools (SOS) has analysed what it calls a “huge increase in bureaucracy” in public education since the turn of the century. The SOS paper, titled: “The Bureaucratisation of Public Education in Australia” revealed that between 2002 to 2019, the increase in administrative staff at the system and school levels was far greater than the increase in teachers and students. For example, non-teaching staff in schools and out of school increased by much more than teachers in both primary and secondary public schools since 2002. Total non-teaching staff in primary schools increased by 68.9 per cent and by 67.2 per cent in secondary schools compared to increases in teachers of 25.3 per cent and 12.4 per cent respectively.
The Educator reports that, earlier this month, Victorian Education Minister James Merlino announced that every Victorian VCE student will now be individually assessed, with any adverse impacts from COVID-19 reflected in their ATAR ranking. The Minister said the “extraordinary change” will factor in school closures, long absences, significant increases in family responsibilities and mental health issues during the pandemic. However, Berwick Lodge Primary School principal, Henry Grossek – prominent Victorian school leader with more than 50 years of experience in the profession – has strong doubts that the initiative will be fair and equitable. Mr Grossek said several fairness and equity issues spring to mind. “One is teacher judgement across three sectors with 50,000 students – and by the way, these sectors don't really speak to each other,” he said. Also high on the list, said Mr Grossek, is the challenge facing all VCE teachers – having to anticipate what they think will have been the impact of the pandemic on each and every student individually.
The Educator reports that, over the past few years, more and more teachers have found themselves in hot water thanks to their inappropriate online activity – but can you really fire someone for what they’ve done in the virtual world? To put it bluntly, yes. “Every school’s [social media] policy should state that breaches of the policy could result in disciplinary action, including dismissal,” says Nathan Croot, a senior associate with Emil Ford Lawyers. “However, as with any disciplinary action, schools need to act lawfully when disciplining or dismissing an employee,” he adds. So, what exactly constitutes unacceptable behaviour? According to Mr Croot, this can vary greatly depending on each school’s policy but there are a number of things which are likely to be considered objectionable across the board. “There are some obvious behaviours, such as criticising the school or other teachers and engaging in sexual misconduct with students, which are universally considered to be inappropriate,” he told The Educator.
The ABC News reports that figures provided to the ABC show more teachers have had WorkCover claims approved for conditions, such as mental injury, related to the pandemic than people in any other profession in Victoria. Fewer health professionals who have actually contracted coronavirus at work have had claims approved than teachers who have not contracted the virus, figures show. That is despite the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) reporting about 1,200 Victorian health professionals have tested positive. As of July 30, there were 111 people who had had claims relating to coronavirus approved. Almost three quarters of the claims relate to people who have not contracted the virus. Justin Mullaly, the Victorian deputy president of the Australian Education Union, said it was also possible some teachers who had contracted the virus at work had not put in WorkCover claims because they could access three months of specific infectious disease leave under their agreement.
The VRQA has announced that the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 (Vic) were amended to temporarily modify the minimum standard for recording attendance during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It is now sufficient compliance for schools to record students' attendance in the register at least once a day for as long as public health directions limit student attendance at school. In practice, this should not change anything for schools. School attendance monitoring was relaxed under a Ministerial Direction issued in April 2020. The amended regulations recognise the continued challenges schools face delivering remote learning and relax attendance monitoring until 31 December 2020.
CBS News reports that there has been a dramatic increase in coronavirus cases among children in the United States, according to a report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The association noted a 90 per cent increase in paediatric cases over four weeks. From July 9 to August 6, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in children across the country went from 200,184 to 380,174 – an increase of 179,990 new cases, according to the paediatrics group. The academy found the overall rate of paediatric cases in the United States as of August 6 was 501 per 100,000 children in the population. More than 25 children died of the coronavirus in July. Severe illness due to COVID-19, however, still appears to be rare among kids, according to the association. Paediatrician Dr. Dyan Hes told CBSN on Tuesday the rate of virus spread should be less than 3 per cent for schools to reopen in an area.
The Guardian reports that Gavin Williamson and Ofqual [Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation] have apologised to students and their parents, as they announced that all A-level and GCSE results in England will be based on teacher-assessed grades. In a spectacular U-turn, the Education Secretary announced the Government would scrap the controversial standardisation model drawn up by the exams regulator to award grades in lieu of exams. “We worked with Ofqual to construct the fairest possible model, but it is clear that the process of allocating grades has resulted in more significant inconsistencies than can be resolved through an appeals process,” Williamson said, in remarks released by his department. The climbdown comes after days of turmoil triggered by the publication of A-level results last Thursday, when almost 40 per cent of predicted results were downgraded, with some students marked down two or even three grades, which resulted in many losing university places.