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.
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According to The Educator, the education sector experienced the highest rate of ransomware attacks in 2022, new research shows. The State of Ransomware in Education 2023 report, released by Sophos, found that 80 per cent of K-12 schools reported that they were targets of these types of attacks – an increase from 56 per cent in 2021. “Although not a particularly financially rewarding target for cybercriminals, K-12 schools hold a plethora of valuable data such as student addresses, parent emails and bank account details and therefore are becoming increasingly targeted,” Aaron Bugal, Field CTO APJ, at Sophos told The Educator. Bugal said that one weak link is all it takes to give hackers the opportunity to secure access to all of a school system’s data. “Schools must focus on both cybersecurity education and implement the right processes and technical controls to effect a positive security outcome,” Bugal said.
According to a press release from the Minister of Education, the next step in developing a framework to guide the safe and effective use of artificial intelligence in the nation’s schools is underway with the draft being released for consultation. Education Ministers agreed in March to establish a National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Taskforce to develop a draft framework for using AI in schools. The draft framework was presented to Education Ministers earlier this month and Ministers agreed to release this draft to get advice, feedback and ideas from teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders. Outcomes from the consultation will support the development of the final Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools to ensure that schools, teachers and students enjoy the benefits of generative AI while safeguarding against potential risks.
ABC News reports that Australia's failure to outlaw the smacking of children is a United Nations human rights violation, a team of legal scholars and psychologists has found. Their research says that none of the states or territories meet the minimum standards of the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child treaty. And Australia's failure to abolish disciplinary violence against children has prompted "severe rebukes" from the international community, they say. The paper highlighted the fact that it was legal for Australian parents and guardians to use corporal punishment, but the laws between states are different in outside-the-home contexts. Corporal punishment is banned in all government schools. New South Wales and Victoria have no direct legal prohibition in non-government schools, but they are required to ban it as an internal school policy. It is illegal to use corporal punishment against children in the care of child protective services only in Queensland and NSW.
According to the Brisbane Times, rising numbers of adolescents are picking up dangerous self-harming trends on popular social media apps, say mental health experts, who are pushing for Australia to strengthen its online content moderation policies. Monash Health child psychiatrist, associate professor Michael Gordon, said that TikTok was the standout app of concern and that usage in teenagers had soared during the pandemic. Gordon said that there was a trend on TikTok where people filmed themselves being injured, while others were “showing off” wounds inflicted through self-harm. Anne Hollonds, Australia’s Children’s Commissioner, wants the Australian Government to enforce tighter regulations around social media apps, pointing to the UK where a children’s code was enforced that requires platforms to adhere to strict rules in the best interests of young people.
According to The Educator, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to be felt by young people for years to come, demanding urgent, targeted action by governments to tackle what has become a rapidly worsening physical and mental health crisis, a new report says. The study, conducted by the University of the Sunshine Coast, found that despite many existing school health promotion resources, there has been a glaring lack of tailored guidance to specifically aid schools in navigating physical and mental health needs for young people during and after the pandemic. To address this, researchers from the University, led by lead author and chief investigator Dr Joseph Scott, have created an International Framework for School Health Promotion. Dr Scott said that worldwide restrictions to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus precipitated a growing and long-term educational and health crisis among children and adolescents.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that students will be taught about Indigenous Australians’ experience of European colonisation under a proposed overhaul to the mandatory content included in the Year 7 to 10 history syllabus. In a draft syllabus released by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), a new unit on the era of colonisation would be introduced to deepen high school students’ knowledge about Aboriginal culture and past, and to present “a more balanced view” of Australian history. Paul Martin, the chief executive of NESA, said that new compulsory content on Aboriginal cultures and history gives students a thorough understanding of the Australian experience and heritage, “but is not at the expense of European history.” Historian at the University of Technology, Anna Clark, said that the proposed revisions to the NSW syllabus represent a powerful inclusion about understanding Australian history and how it is taught in schools.
According to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), new instructional videos are available to support teachers to complete applications for HSC Disability Provisions. Log in to Schools Online and go to Downloads > Memos and Documents > Instructional Videos Disability Provisions.
The Age reports that more private schools will be added to the Victorian Government’s payroll tax hit list if they make more than $15,000 in income per student, after the State reversed a decision that would have meant some schools would avoid paying the tax despite already crossing the threshold. The change comes after The Age revealed that schools were already breaching the threshold for the payroll tax, but would not have to pay because they were left off the initial list released by the Andrews Government of 60 schools to be hit with the tax. After questions from the sector about the arbitrary and unfair nature of the operation of the policy, Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said that while the income threshold of $15,000 per student would remain in place, schools would be assessed annually on their inclusion on the list. “The threshold has been set at $15,000 and will remain in place until at least January 1, 2029, when it will be reviewed,” Hutchins said.
According to Lens, the conviction of Malka Leifer of 18 sexual offences against two female students resulted in police reopening an investigation into actions allegedly taken by members of the Adass Israel School board and other community members to facilitate Leifer’s sudden flight from Australia to Israel in March 2008. This raises questions as to what legal breaches might be applicable in such a case. The authors discuss the options of mandatory reporting of child abuse and the possibility that the Adass Israel School board and/or community members breached mandatory reporting laws; a potential breach of criminal laws pertaining to a duty to report a crime; and accessorial liability – assisting an offender to escape prosecution.
According to the Herald Sun, disability advocates have slammed the State Government’s decision to prohibit students with disability from reporting abuse by teachers and principals to an independent investigator. Students reporting serious cases of abuse and neglect will no longer go through the disability watchdog. The independent body, Victorian Disability Worker Commission, was set up in 2020 to investigate any worker that engages with a person with disability. Students with disability who claim abuse will now be required to report to the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Senior Lecturer in Special and Inclusive Education at RMIT University Dr David Armstrong said that there should be no practices where kids are being restrained or secluded. “Schools are currently in crisis – they don’t have sufficient resources and staff and are facing massive burnout,” he said. “But this space needs to be strictly regulated and staff always need to do the right thing by disabled kids.”
According to The Courier Mail, Queensland’s weapons legislation barring Sikhs from carrying religious knives on school grounds is racial discrimination and is therefore invalid, the State’s highest court has found. Sikh man Kamaljit Kaur Athwal has won a fight against the State of Queensland over a provision in the weapons act prohibiting the possession of a knife on school grounds for genuine religious purposes. Initiated Sikhs are required to wear or possess five articles of faith at all times, including a ceremonial sword known as a kirpan, typically worn sheathed and concealed beneath clothing. Under Queensland law, there is a reasonable excuse to possess a knife for genuine religious purposes, such as the Sikh faith. But that does not extend to schools. The Court of Appeal has this week found that the provision directed at Sikhs affected “their exercise of freedom of movement and freedom of religion in a significant way”.
ABC News reports that the Northern Territory has become the last jurisdiction in the country to remove the word "relationship" from child sexual abuse legislation, in a move welcomed by former Australian of the Year Grace Tame. Parliament has passed an Amendment Bill with bipartisan support to remove the word "relationship" from the Sexual Offences Act. The change is in line with recommendations from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Speaking in Darwin, Ms Tame, who is a survivor of child sexual abuse, said that she was proud to be in the Territory on the "historic" day the laws were debated. "When you have the language in the law itself, we have the community able to better understand what it is," she said. Other changes in the Bill include introducing a new offence of grooming a child, criminalising stealthing, and removing the ability for child sex offenders to rely on good character references during sentencing.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the number of students stood down (removed from school for a short period) or suspended for physically assaulting staff or students has increased 66 per cent in the past 11 years – and teachers are reporting dealing with more instances of violence than in the past. Ministry of Education data shows that 8251 students were stood down or suspended for attacking their peers in 2022 compared with 4935 in 2012. Of those suspended, 314 were excluded or expelled last year – a 50 per cent increase since 2012. The same figures show that 993 students were stood down or suspended for physically assaulting staff in 2022 compared with 642 in 2012. The largest increase was in the number of stand-downs, which went up 71 per cent over the time period. The Ministry of Education said that it was important to note that the data was not a measure of student behaviour but a measure of a school’s reaction to such behaviours. “What one school may choose to suspend for, another may not.”
The Guardian reports that the largest school district in Texas has announced that its libraries will be eliminated and replaced with discipline centres in the new school year. Houston independent school district recently announced that librarian and media-specialist positions in 28 schools will be eliminated as part of superintendent Mike Miles’s “new education system” initiative. Teachers at these schools will soon have the option to send misbehaving students to these discipline centres, or “team centers” – designated areas where they will continue to learn remotely. News of the library removals comes after the State announced that it would be taking over the district, effective in the 2023-24 school year, due to poor academic performance. Houston’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, condemned the district’s move and said that the solution to the problem of behavioural conduct was not to revoke access to books, especially in these underserved communities.