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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AUSTRALIA

Labor’s refusal to extend school chaplaincy tax deduction will cause cuts, Christian group says

The Guardian reports that Australia’s largest supplier of school chaplains has labelled the Albanese Government’s decision not to extend its eligibility to receive tax deductible gifts “disappointing and unexpected”. Scripture Union Australia has warned that the decision would probably result in cuts to chaplaincy services after Labor allowed its deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, previously granted by the Morrison Government, to lapse. The largest provider of school chaplains, Scripture Union Queensland, had been the subject of a complaint to the tax office questioning whether it had breached its tax deductibility status to collect $33 million in donations. The complaint noted that the deductible gift-recipient status of SUQ’s schools ministry fund depended on it being for the “furtherance of religious instruction in government schools in Australia”.

Why the ChatGPT ban in public schools is being reversed

According to The Educator, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare recently announced that the ban on public school students using generative AI tools such as ChatGPT may be reversed next year, pending the development of a draft framework addressing concerns of plagiarism, cheating and impacts on student learning. Another concern has been that the sector’s students could fall behind their peers in the private school sector, many of whom have been free to use the technology in the classroom as a way to examine AI-generated content against their own work, among other activities. South Australia – the only jurisdiction to not ban AI in schools – last week launched an eight-week trial in high schools to pilot an Australian-first ‘education-safe’ version of ChatGPT that has been created in conjunction with Microsoft.

Younger kids report cyberbullying in record numbers

According to The Educator, there are renewed concerns about whether enough is being done to combat cyberbullying after the eSafety Commissioner revealed May 2023 was the biggest reporting month on record since eSafety’s cyberbullying scheme started eight years ago. “Many parents are telling us they’ve found it hard to limit screen time since the pandemic,” Acting eSafety Commissioner Toby Dagg said. In 2019, eSafety received a little over 200 complaints from children aged eight to 13 years, jumping to almost 740 in 2022. Dagg said that nasty comments, offensive pictures or videos, and impersonation accounts are among the most reported issues. In situations where the child’s school has restricted mobile phone use, Dagg said that parents should maintain this level of vigilance and engagement outside of school hours.

Students suffered from NSW school closures

According to The Catholic Weekly, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a lasting negative effect on school attendance and student opportunity, with measures designed to protect students now confirmed to have had a “clear impact on mental health and wellbeing,” the CEO of Catholic Schools NSW, Dallas McInerney, said. Despite this, NSW Catholic schooling is experiencing its strongest enrolment growth in a decade, with more students in more schools than any other time in Australian history. In a wide-ranging address at the 2023 CSNSW education law symposium on 6 July, Mr McInerney said that student absenteeism is “running above long-term averages” and that recent academic studies have described school closures and student isolation as a “collectively traumatising event” producing a “wave of youth mental health crises”.

Preventing spread of influenza B a “priority” for authorities as NSW students return to classrooms

ABC News reports that cases of influenza B remain at concerning levels as New South Wales students begin to return from school holidays. Last week two children died after contracting influenza B – a Year 9 student from the NSW Central Coast and an 11-year-old in Queensland. The latest NSW Health respiratory surveillance report showed that influenza "continued to dominate respiratory virus activity in NSW". During the week ending 9 July, 3,976 of 7,202 reported cases of all influenza strains were people aged 19 and under. "Influenza activity continues to increase in NSW," a NSW Health spokesperson said. There are concerns that with students returning to school the rates of infection, and more serious cases, could rise with it. A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education acknowledged the risk and advised parents to keep children home if unwell.

“High-level betrayal”: NSW teacher jailed for secretly filming up students’ skirts in class

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that a Sydney high school teacher caught filming up the skirts of female students in his classroom using a hidden mobile phone has been jailed for 14 months with a magistrate describing his behaviour as a “high-level betrayal”. Eric Wong, 29, from Hornsby, appeared in Hornsby Local Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty to two charges of filming another person’s private parts without consent in his science classroom at Cammeraygal High School in Crows Nest on Sydney’s lower North Shore. The magistrate told Wong that he had “abused [his] position of trust and authority with multiple victims”. “These occurred in the confines of a school where the victims and their families are entitled to feel safe from predatory behaviour, which this can only be described as.” Wong will serve a minimum six months in jail. The magistrate said that, “protection of the community and girls at the school ... is paramount”.

Spike in Victorian child protection system abuse claims

According to the Illawarra Mercury, allegations of abuse on children living in Victorian state care have skyrocketed as the State Government awaits recommended changes to the troubled system. The latest figures show that 322 incidents of abuse, including 76 of a sexual nature, were reported within the state child protection and family services system from January to March. The quarterly data takes the number of abuse reports to 1277 over the year to March, compared with 801 during the same span three years earlier – a rise of almost 60 per cent. Some 2837 vulnerable children were also waiting for a case worker over the three-month period, including 906 in Victoria's west, 818 in the south and 613 in the north. Data provided by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing confirms that about 460 full-time equivalent child protection positions were vacant as of 30 May.

South Australian school fined $420k following tragic death of student

According to SafeWork SA, a private college in Adelaide has been fined $420,000 after one of its students drowned during a school excursion. In March 2021, a 16-year-old student drowned while rock fishing on a school excursion, after he jumped into the sea to rescue another student who had lost his balance and fallen off the rocks. The investigation found that the students of Pinnacle College were not provided with life jackets and that non-slip shoes were not considered necessary for the excursion. Teachers supervising students during the excursion did not have any work health or safety training even though the school had identified rock fishing as a risk identified on the excursion permission slip. In sentencing, His Honour Deputy President Judge Crawley noted that the risk of serious injury or death should have been obvious to the school.

Updated “action plan” on violence in Western Australian schools encourages principals to take decisive action

ABC News reports that students who share violent content on social media will be suspended as part of the Western Australian Government's attempt to quell aggressive behaviour against staff and between students. The punishment previously only applied to students who filmed the content. There were 2,275 reported incidents of assault or threatening behaviour against Western Australian public school staff in 2022, with widespread concerns that the issue is getting worse. The State Government has unveiled a campaign to address it, alongside an "updated action plan" that consists of setting "clear expectations" about how students and parents should behave. Education Minister Tony Buti has encouraged principals to exercise their powers, available to them by law, to order people off school grounds and prohibit them from entering for up to 60 days.

Victims worry early Tasmanian election would delay Commission of Inquiry into child abuse report

According to the Mercury, any delay to the release of the Commission of Inquiry’s final report on child abuse runs the risk of causing additional distress to victim-survivors, advocates say. Responding to speculation that an early election might be on the cards, two whistleblowing witnesses have written to the Government asking for reassurance. The Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings is due to hand its final report to the Government on 31 August. Ashley Youth Detention Centre whistleblower Alysha and fellow Commission witness Jack Davenport have written to the State’s political leaders asking them to recommit to releasing the report by the end of the year, to implement its recommendations and to provide additional support for witnesses in case of a delay.

INTERNATIONAL

Should a school driver be sacked after asking for police help? (New Zealand)

According to Human Resources Director, a former bus driver has won her case of unjustified dismissal against her employer who terminated her despite the termination "entirely lacking in procedural fairness". Beth Wolak had been a bus driver for Boss Transport Limited before she was terminated in December 2021 for serious misconduct. The case stems from an incident when she asked nearby police to talk to unruly children inside the bus. Parents complained and Wolak was later terminated. Wolak raised an unjustified dismissal claim to the Employment Relations Authority (ERA), but Boss maintained that their decision followed all necessary steps and was justified. The ERA ruled in favour of Wolak, stating that she was not involved in the process that led to her termination. Boss did not ask for her explanation of what had occurred, nor whether her action in involving the police was justified.

Principal: “No need” for so many specialist vape shops in south Invercargill (New Zealand)

According to stuff.co.nz, seven of Invercargill’s 10 specialist vape stores are located in south Invercargill, and a “concerned” school principal sees no need for so many. Aurora College principal Craig Taylor said that vaping was an issue at many schools around New Zealand, including Aurora, which has students as young as 12 vaping. Taylor said that the college, in south Invercargill, educated students about the potential hazards that vaping could cause. But with the ready supply of vapes and the popularity of vaping, it was difficult to make a change. “I do not see any need for seven in Invercargill, let alone south Invercargill. If vapes were more difficult to get, this would certainly help in our battle against vaping at Aurora College,” Taylor said. He was disappointed that there seemed to be no regulation regarding how many vape stores were in a community.