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 Anthony Albanese has reiterated that Labor will respect religious schools’ right to select staff based on faith, after widespread backlash from religious groups to a proposal to limit their hiring and firing powers. On Monday, an alliance of religious leaders rejected a proposal by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to allow religious preference only where “the teaching, observance or practice of religion is a genuine occupational requirement”. In response to a question about the controversy on Tuesday, the Prime Minister told Labor’s caucus that “we made our position clear a long time ago that faith-based schools can employ people of their own faith”. The religious leaders said that the ALRC proposal would introduce an uncertain “new test into employment law” and put the onus “on the school to prove that it satisfied the test”, acting as a “deterrent” from giving preference to one candidate.
ABC News reports that new data released by the Productivity Commission shows that the rate of children staying home from school, whether for mental health or illness, is on the rise. The national primary school attendance rate was 87.8 per cent in 2022, a 4.5 per cent drop from 2021, after years of small declines. In high school, attendance sank to 84.7 per cent – a 4.1 per cent decrease from 2021. Australian Education Union president Correna Haythorpe said that a fall in school attendance had become more noticeable during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that the issue was "multi-layered", but that the growing trend of school refusal was also a factor. Labelled "anxiety-based school avoidance" by experts, school refusal is on the rise, with a Senate Inquiry launched into it last year. Ms Haythorpe said that a new look at ensuring the highest potential retention rates was needed.
The Age reports that Australia needs to follow New Zealand’s lead and appoint a Minister for Children focused on the wellbeing of kids to avoid a repeat of the suffering that many endured during the pandemic due to lockdowns and school closures. The call comes from Australia’s Children’s Commissioner, Anne Hollonds, who said that the needs of children were overlooked during the early years of Australia’s pandemic response, a situation she warned must never be repeated in future crises. She and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians are pushing for a child-centred COVID recovery taskforce to urgently respond to the complex pandemic-related problems many children are facing. Young people and children in Australia have sought support at record levels for mental health issues including anxiety, self-harm and depression since COVID-19 began. “Schools should be hubs of support for kids and families,” Hollonds said.
According to The Educator, a ground-breaking new project will see principals, teachers, learning support staff and parents in dozens of NSW schools take part in a world first pilot program aimed at reducing childhood anxiety. Developed over two years by the NSW Primary Principals’ Association (NSWPPA) in collaboration with Parentshop – Australia’s leading anxiety, child, teen and adult behaviour-change specialist organisation – ‘The Anxiety Project’ will help schools deliver “a whole of school community approach” in reducing anxiety of primary school age children. The project was motivated by the findings of an Australian Primary Principals’ Association (APPA) survey in 2020 in which nine out of ten primary school principals said that anxiety was placing strain on time and resources. Another key finding of the survey was that staff lacked training when it came to identifying and addressing anxiety in students.
According to The Conversation, the current US surgeon general, Vivek Murthy, has warned that 13 is too young to join social media. There is no doubt that social media may negatively affect some young people’s wellbeing. However, young people already experiencing low self-esteem and depression may use social media significantly more than others. Blanket bans and restrictions not only lead to family conflict, but are also more likely to lead to children using social media without parental consent or knowledge. Discussion about risks also tends to ignore the potential benefits of being online. The United Nations’ Committee on the Rights of the Child notes that children have the right to “meaningful access to digital technologies” as a way of realising the full range of their civil, political, cultural, economic and social rights. The article suggests that the best thing that parents can do is initiate conversations about social media and the internet early and often.
According to Bicycle Network, more than 350,000 students across the nation will ride, walk, scoot and skate to school on Friday 24 March 2023. National Ride2School Day is Australia’s biggest celebration of active travel and one of the best days on the school calendar. It is a day full of fun and colour where students, teachers and parents discover the joy of riding and kick-start healthy habits for the future. Teachers can register their school for National Ride2School Day and encourage their students to be active on their journey to school.
According to the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), bookings are now open for in-person SHAPE seminars at the Powerhouse, Sydney. Year 12 seminars will be held from Monday 13 March to 17 March. Year 11 seminars will run from Monday 8 May to 12 May. Students in Years 11 and 12 will hear from industry professionals, examine the marking guidelines and engage with markers to unpack projects in the exhibition. Online SHAPE packages will be available to schools that are unable to attend in-person. NESA will update schools when they are available.
According to 7news, a group of students was evacuated from a school bus when it caught fire recently in Sydney’s southwest. “When we got there, the bus was well alight and had 39 children on it, two teachers and a driver,” NSW Fire and Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry told 7news. He said that all passengers were safely evacuated from the bus. Paramedics attended and assessed the children, aged nine and 10, as a precaution, but no one was injured. The Year 4 students were on their way to a swimming carnival when smoke started pouring from the vehicle. Witness John Sheppard was enjoying a cup of tea outside when he spotted smoke coming from the bus as it drove up the street. “It just got to our driveway ... and I said, ‘there’s flames coming out the bottom’,” he told 7news. Leaping to action, Sheppard ran down the driveway and banged on the door. In a statement released by the school, the principal said that the bus had a mechanical failure that caused the fire.
VicHealth is calling for urgent government action on vaping, following claims of ambulance call outs to schools published in the Herald Sun. The article revealed that tobacconists and vaping retailers were witnessed selling e-cigarettes to underage children in school uniforms. The report also detailed the significant harm that vaping was having on Victorian school children. VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio said that the report highlighted the urgent need for regulation to protect young people from these harmful products. VicHealth is calling on actions to protect young people, including: stopping the importation of all e-cigarette products unless bound for smokers with a prescription or pharmacy wholesalers; banning the supply of all e-cigarette products at the national level (regardless of whether they contain nicotine), except by pharmacies to smokers with a prescription; and taking stronger enforcement action at the Australian border.
According to The Courier Mail, a heritage-listed Brisbane state school had to be closed at the weekend after asbestos was uncovered in debris during excavation works. The asbestos was found at Ashgrove State School on Thursday 9 February in construction works for an outdoor learning area, understood to be in proximity of classrooms. A Department of Education spokesperson said that asbestos could be commonly found in Queensland schools built prior to the 1990s. Asbestos was removed from nearly 200 state schools in Queensland across the 2020-21 financial year, not including the century-old Ashgrove State School, at a cost of more than $13 million. The Education Department did not respond to questions regarding the debris being close to classrooms but said that the material was “disposed of in line with asbestos protocols and the school community had been informed”. The spokesperson said that the incident was managed in accordance with the Department’s asbestos management plan.
According to The Advertiser, shocking videos have emerged of a series of assaults involving students at an Adelaide school, prompting the principal to address the escalation in violence. Mark Oliphant College is the latest education facility to face problems with school violence after confronting footage of a male student attacking a girl began circulating. The incidents have rocked the school’s community with principal Kerry Williams writing a letter to parents to address the escalating violence. “Over the past week we have had a number of incidents at the school that are unacceptable and that have been as a result of students making poor choices and not following Mark Oliphant College behaviour expectations,” Ms Williams said. She said that the incidents have been reported to the police and the Education Department, adding that the school would also review its mobile phone policy.
ABC News reports that a wellbeing dog named Murphy is set to join students and staff at a primary school in regional South Australia in a bid to boost engagement and connection in the education setting. The 11-week-old cobberdog is currently in training before joining the community of Stirling North Primary School in Port Augusta in Term 2. The school's assistant principal Ryan Morris said that Murphy was slowly being introduced to the school site. "He'll spend time in classrooms, he'll spend time in small intervention, he'll spend time in the office and on yard duty,” he said. Staff at the school spoke to another leader at a rural school who had a wellbeing dog, which sparked the idea to adopt one at their school. "I did a bit more research into how we could do that and after looking at it, it was an easy fit for our current overall wellbeing strategy," Mr Morris said.
According to stuff.co.nz, children as young as 10-year-olds are victims of “sextortion” in New Zealand, police say. Offenders target victims by tricking them into sending sexually explicit material before blackmailing them – threatening to share the content unless they pay money. Between 2020 and the end of 2022, the police received 618 reports of sextortion. Of these, 54 per cent of the victims were males under 25 and the youngest reported victims were two 10-year-old children. There have also been cases where organised criminal groups have recruited people to act as money mules for sextorted funds. The trend internationally is that young men are most likely to be the victim of sextortion, with a rise in offenders preying on the vulnerability of young gay men. “This has a real impact on a young boy who hasn’t decided to share his sexual preference yet and is being targeted online,” Detective Senior Sergeant Jodie Lyons previously told Stuff.
The Guardian reports that counter-extremism workers have warned of a rapid rise in the number of cases being referred to them by schools concerned about the influence of the self-styled misogynist influencer Andrew Tate. Incidents include the verbal harassment of female teachers or other pupils and outbursts echoing Tate’s views, which are disseminated and spread mainly on social platforms TikTok and Instagram despite him being banned from them. Tate was arrested in Romania in December on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organised crime group to exploit women. He denies wrongdoing. A government spokesperson said that the Online Safety Bill would require technology firms to protect young people from being exposed to harmful material online and enforce their age limits. The teaching of online safety is also being reviewed.
According to Global News Canada, Canada’s Federal Government is planning to roll out the country’s first-ever national school food policy in an effort to increase access to nutritious meals for children on campuses across the country. The initiative is part of the 2022 Federal budget, but it’s not clear yet when that plan will be unveiled, what it will include, or how much money will go into it. In November 2022, Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) launched month-long public consultations to get input from Canadians on what they would like to see in the national school food policy. And over the past six months, Ottawa has held conversations and roundtables with diverse stakeholders from across Canada, according to ESDC. School food programming falls under provincial and territorial jurisdiction, except for First Nations children on reserve.