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 New Daily reports that the Federal Government has given institutions named and shamed in the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse an extra eight years to sign up to the National Redress Scheme. It is the second time the deadline has been extended, this time until 2028, a transcript of the Parliamentary inquiry into the operation of the scheme shows. An independent review of the scheme is due to be finished by the end of February which should canvass issues that include further ways to ensure institutions join the scheme. Of the 158 institutions mentioned at the Royal Commission, three have not flagged their intention to join. A further 16 have said they are intending to join but have not yet signed up, and there are 11 institutions that have been assessed as “unable to meet the legislative requirements”. The Jehovah’s Witnesses is the only national organisation to declare they will not be joining. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has previously said he intends to strip organisations of their charitable status if they do not sign up.
The Educator reports that, as nearly four million students flow back into schools to begin Term 1, educators are juggling the twin responsibilities of ensuring that students are not only equipped to thrive in their learning but also supported emotionally. After all, 2020 was a traumatising year for many young people. The effects of lockdown have laboured a toll on financial distress, employment, housing security, relationship and social connections or breakdowns. Latest modelling predicts the potential increases in suicide over the next 3-5 years due to COVID-19 and the flow on ramifications it has created. Some experts are now predicting a “second epidemic” as the effects of the pandemic linger and more complex mental health issues begin to surface. In NSW, the Education Department will be training more than 300 people to join its school counselling workforce between 2020 and 2023. Physical health is also a significant wellbeing factor on the radar of schools as Term 1 progresses.
The Educator reports that international comparisons of test results, such as PISA, are considered to be “false idols of educational excellence for the world to worship” according to some education experts. An education policy brief, released by public school advocates Save Our Schools (SOS), summarises a new paper published in the Educational Research Review that collated results from 28 studies of test taking effort and test performance conducted between 2005 and 2018. Most of the studies were conducted using low stakes tests, and nearly all found a statistically significant positive effect between test taking effort and test results. SOS national convenor Trevor Cobbold says the new study adds to a growing research literature showing that test-taking motivation has a profound effect on student results in low-stakes test. “A primary assumption is that all students always try their best. A growing literature shows this to be false,” Cobbold said. He points to the latest OECD PISA report, which found high variability between countries in the extent to which students fully tried in PISA 2018.
Farm Weekly reports that the Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year, with the organisation's annual conference to be held in Longreach, Queensland, in July. ICPA Federal president Alana Moller said the ICPA had continued to advocate for geographically isolated families throughout its existence, with its membership standing at about 2500 families. The ICPA has been advocating for decentralisation of Australia's regional education system, submitting a collaborative document with combined statements from ICPA State councils in November last year. ICPA WA president Sally Brindal said the pandemic had heightened people's awareness of the daily struggles faced by those living in geographically-isolated locations. The ICPA WA branch is campaigning for the State Government to increase its boarding away from home allowance. ICPA's WA branch state conference is scheduled for Friday, March 19 at the Ingot Hotel in Belmont.
The Age reports that lawyers for more than 10 news outlets, including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, told the Supreme Court in Melbourne on Monday last week that their corporate clients would plead guilty to breaching a suppression order. However, as part of a plea deal with prosecutors, other charges against the news outlets and against 15 individual journalists, including the editors of some of the nation’s biggest newspapers, would be dismissed. The charges relate to the way some sections of the Australian media reported Cardinal Pell’s conviction in December 2018 after a County Court trial. The reports did not name Cardinal Pell or detail his charges but referred to a high-profile person being found guilty of serious charges, when the Cardinal was still awaiting another trial. Other media companies include radio station 2GB, Channel Nine for segments aired on the Today program and websites Mamamia and Business Insider. The companies are to face a two-day plea hearing before Justice John Dixon this week.
The Age reports that gay conversion therapy has been outlawed in Victoria following a marathon debate in the upper house last Thursday. The Bill passed the Victorian Parliament 27 votes to nine after a 12-hour sitting in the Legislative Council. Under the reforms, anyone found trying to suppress or change another person’s sexuality or gender identity faces up to 10 years’ jail or fines of almost $10,000 if it can be proved beyond reasonable doubt that their actions caused serious injury. The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission will also get new powers to deal with complaints that do not meet the criminal threshold, and to launch own-motion investigations into systemic issues as part of a new civil scheme for victims. The Family Violence Protection Act will also be amended to make gay conversion therapy a form of domestic violence. The debate came after the Law Institute of Victoria wrote to the government about concerns it had received from members.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that parents have accused education officials of lax oversight and poor supervision at a Sydney primary school after troubled year 3 students took kindergarten kids from their classroom during lesson time, led them to the toilet block and ordered them to mimic sexual acts. The school serves a cross-section of the community that includes disadvantaged groups in which there is a higher rate of child trauma. For parents, the incident raised red flags about their right to information about serious issues that potentially affected their children and the accountability of principals. But it also highlights the challenge facing schools to balance the needs, behaviour and privacy of traumatised, high-needs and vulnerable children with the right to safety and information of other children and their families. A spokesman for the Department of Education said complaints from parents at the school were managed by an independent officer, and several agencies were involved. Staff at the school were given extra training, and all children involved were given ongoing counselling.
The Age reports that every child who presents to an emergency department with a head injury should be re-examined by a doctor within two weeks of their initial treatment according to new national guidelines developed by a Melbourne-led research team. The guidelines – the product of a collaboration between emergency medicine physicians, GPs, neurosurgeons, radiologists, paramedics and nurses in Australia and New Zealand – are the first nationally consistent protocols for treating children with head injuries. The guidelines are primarily targeted at emergency department staff but lead researcher Professor Franz Babl from the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) said they could also help team doctors and school nurses in their initial response to children who injure their heads playing sport or at school. Professor Babl said recent studies suggested some children recovering from head injuries benefited from an earlier return to school and sport than doctors previously advised.
The ABC News reports that lead paint has been discovered in a fourth Canberra school in less than a year, but the ACT's Education Minister says a system-wide review of hazardous materials in schools is already underway. Unsafe levels of lead in a heating system were found at Richardson Primary School, in the ACT's south, over the school holidays. Lead specialist and environmental scientist Professor Mark Taylor said elevated levels of lead were commonly found near older buildings, and urged a "sensible" response to the Richardson discovery. "It appears to me from the information I have seen that there is a lead hazard, as there would be in many people's homes … it only becomes a risk when somebody ingests the lead paint or lead dust," Professor Taylor said on ABC Radio Canberra. "So for the children and for the mums and dads who are going to that school, there is a very limited risk. Education Minister Yvette Berry said the directorate already knows which schools are affected by lead paint.
The Age reports that Victoria’s 25,000 Catholic school teachers and staff have demanded the right to take protected industrial action in a push for more leave, smaller class sizes and less teaching time. The union for non-government school teachers says the recent overhaul of governance in Melbourne’s roughly 300 Catholic schools – taking authority away from the local parish priest and into the hands of the archdiocese – gives staff legitimate claims to bargain collectively for better working conditions. The governance change took effect on 1 January, in response to a recommendation in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Billions of dollars in annual government funding for Catholic schools would have been put at risk without the change. The overhaul has reduced the number of employers in Victoria’s Catholic school system from more than 500 to fewer than 30.
The Educator reports that health, finance and education were the most breached sectors in Australia when it came to cyber attacks in 2020, a new report shows. The “Notifiable Data Breaches Report July – December 2020”, released by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), found that from July to December 2020, health service providers reported 123 data breaches, or 23 per cent of the total. The second largest source of notifications was the finance sector (15 per cent), followed by education (7 per cent). James Bergl is the regional vice president ANZ at Datto, an American cybersecurity and data backup company founded in 2007. He says education providers across the country must review their cybersecurity strategies and aim to improve cyber-hygiene as a matter of priority. The OAIC’s Notifiable Data Breaches Report also found that 58 per cent of data breaches are a result of malicious or criminal attack, while 38 per cent are due to human error.
The Advocate reports that the state and federal governments spent less per child in early education services in Tasmania in 2019/20 than anywhere else in Australia, a new report has shown. The final section of the Productivity Commission's annual Report on Government Services 2021 has been released on how each state is delivering educational services to the community. It looked at child care, education and training up until 2020. It showed the two governments spent $5717 per child in child care and preschool services in the state last financial year, compared to the national average expenditure of $7173. Tasmania spent the less and the Northern Territory spent the most at $10,387 per child. Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the state recognised the importance of early learning. "The data shows Tasmania has the highest portion of children enrolled in a preschool program the year before full time schooling for 15 hours per week or more”, he said.
The CBC reports that hundreds of international students are studying at Ottawa's English public and Catholic schools this term despite tightening restrictions on international travel and growing fears of the spread of new, more transmissible variants of the coronavirus. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) will welcome 79 new international students from 17 countries this semester to its high schools, spokesperson Darcy Knoll confirmed to CBC. They will join over 300 existing international students. The Ottawa Catholic School Board's (OCSB) manager for international recruitment, Jenny Perla, said 100 elementary and secondary students from 20 countries are currently participating in the board's international student program. International students with study permits are exempt from a federal travel ban that restricts the arrival of foreign citizens and non-residents, and have been since March 2020. Both school boards say incoming international students are subject to several layers of measures to ensure they don't have COVID-19 when they travel to Canada.
SBS News reports that a robotics company has developed robots that disinfect classrooms using ultraviolet light to kill COVID-19 and allow parents and students back to school. With many parents and students across the US longing for a return to in-person learning, a robotics company thinks it has the answer - disinfecting robots that use ultraviolet light to kill COVID-19 in classrooms and school common areas.