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Weekly Wrap: March 12, 2020

11/03/20
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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.


 

AUSTRALIA

Wide discretion for private schools to spend special $1.2 billion fund

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Catholic and private school systems will have significant discretion over how they spend a special $1.2 billion fund, with newly released rules for the "choice and affordability fund" giving them wide flexibility on what the money is used for. The fund was announced by the Morrison government in September 2018 to assist non-government schools to transition to a new funding model as part of a $4.6 billion package. Following negotiations with the sectors, the education department has quietly released guidelines shedding light on how the fund will work. The details have come to light just as the government moves to legislate on the other $3.4 billion of extra spending, to be allocated under the funding model based on a new measure of parents' taxable income. The legislation has been backed by the Catholic sector but has already sparked fears from regional independent schools. The choice and affordability fund guidelines have attracted concerns about the level of discretion the school systems will have to dole out the funding, a "doubling up" with ordinary school spending and a potential funding cliff for the schools in 2029 because the value of the fund will grow every year rather than tapering off.

 

Does your school have a whistleblowing policy?

According to The Educator, for any principal, leading a culture of transparency and integrity is critical in avoiding serious scandals that can put their school’s name on the front pages of newspapers. While most school leaders understand the implications of covering up serious allegations, it is not always the case that schools are equipped with the right systems and policies to handle reports of misconduct. Your Call – an independent provider of whistleblowing programs – works with a number of educational institutions to help develop whistleblowing policies and disclosure pathways, and to embed “speak up” cultures among students and staff. Nathan Luker, Your Call’s CEO, pointed out that when schools don’t create speak up cultures, individuals, including students, teachers, contractors, and parents, don’t feel safe or heard reporting misconduct. “They may fear that speaking up means that they will be negatively targeted, or that they will be ignored. Therefore, they’re more likely to not say anything, which can have devastating consequences,” he said.

 

OPINION: Are Australian students receiving the school education they deserve?

According to an opinion piece for the ABC News by Pasi Sahlberg, Professor of Educational Policy and Deputy Director at the Gonski Institute for Education in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, international reviews have proved that the Australian school system is one of the most unequal and socially segregated among the rich countries of the world. This is not a recent finding. The question is: why do we continue to believe that schools will get better by doing things that all successful education systems have found to be ineffective? The reason for Australian education to drop from world class to the second league in international outlook is not because of declined student achievement in reading, mathematics and science in PISA and other comparative studies. A more important reason is a steady decline in social equality and growing inequity in school education.

 

Call for more ‘father figures’ in schools and kindy

According to The Courier Mail, more men should work in schools and daycare centres as “father figures’’ for kids with single mothers, the National Children’s Commissioner declared. Megan Mitchell said “good blokes” are needed as role models for a generation of stressed-out kids. “Boys need role models to look up to,’’ she told The Sunday Mail in an exclusive interview to mark the end of her seven-year term as the Australian Human Rights Commission’s voice for children. Ms Mitchell said it was a pity that public concern about child abuse had discouraged some men from taking up teaching and caring roles for fear of being falsely accused. “There are good guys out there working in an educational setting and we should be supporting them,’’ she said. “They can have different caring styles and behaviours that would benefit children.” Education is dominated by women –men make up just 10 per cent of daycare workers, 20 per cent of primary school teachers and 40 per cent of high school teachers.

 

Children could be carriers of COVID-19 without even knowing it

According to The New Daily, Australian public health experts have a warning: children could be unknowingly spreading the novel coronavirus COVID-19 without showing any major symptoms. So far, not one child under the age of 10 has died from the killer virus – not even in China where the outbreak first began. Of more than 44,000 confirmed cases from China, only 416 (less than one per cent) were aged nine years or younger. In Australia, only one child has so far had confirmed COVID-19 infection. That’s unusual for a widespread sickness, with the usual expectation that children and the elderly would be among the most vulnerable. But although it’s too early to tell how exactly the virus is affecting children, infectious disease specialists have confirmed it could be stealthily travelling through them without detection. So far, the New South Wales and Western Australian state governments have introduced a ban on all overseas school excursions until further notice. That means no school camps or study courses outside of Australia.

 

Schools to go digital for virus emergency

The Herald Sun reports that the NSW education system has been urgently digitalised so that students can “attend” virtual classes and even school assemblies from home if the coronavirus forces a mass shutdown of the system. Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has also ordered her department to prepare to deploy technology such as iPads or computers to the homes of school students who don’t have access to one, so they can study and learn from home. It comes as the state braces for more schools to be shut down for quarantine measures. Final server upgrades were occurring last weekend to ensure the technology was ready for widespread remote learning, which would include live streaming, chatrooms and courses online for both primary and high schools. NSW also already has a special online school for remote students, Aurora College, which broadcasts recorded lessons and can be scaled up under a pandemic scenario. According to the United Nations, there are currently school closures in 13 countries.

 

Inquiry into suspension, exclusion and expulsion processes in SA government schools

In 2019, Terms of Reference were established to guide an independent Inquiry into whether the South Australian Department for Education is complying with international conventions, legislative requirements, and governmental and departmental policies and procedures in its use of suspensions, exclusions and expulsions. A team of researchers, led by Professor Linda Graham, from The Centre for Inclusive Education in the Faculty of Education at Queensland University of Technology has been appointed to conduct the Inquiry. The Inquiry wants to hear views and experiences from: current and recent past students of SA government schools who have experienced take-homes, suspensions, exclusions or expulsion; parents/carers of these students; principals, teachers and other school staff; child advocates and advocacy groups; parent and professional associations; representatives from government and non-government agencies; interested members of the public. The closing date is Friday 27 March 2020 at 5.00 pm. The Inquiry will provide a report with recommendations to the Minister for Education in late 2020.

 

Victims of paedophile school gardener John Bodey take legal action against WA Education Department

According to the ABC News, victims of a former school gardener who systematically abused children over a period of more than 15 years are taking legal action against Western Australia's Education Department. John Melverne Bodey, 78, pleaded guilty to 57 historic child abuse offences stemming from his abuse of 13 boys in Derby, 2,400km north of Perth, between 1970 and 1986. He had been expected to face trial in the Perth District Court but entered the guilty plea prior to the start of proceedings. While Bodey is due back in court for sentencing, the victims of his abuse have turned their attention to WA's Education Department. In a civil claim lodged by Sydney firm Artemis Legal in 2017, and separate to the criminal proceedings against Bodey, the victims allege that the Department failed to protect them from Bodey's predatory behaviour. In response to questions from the ABC, the Department's executive director for professional standards and conduct Fiona Hunt said the Department only became aware of Bodey's offending when the case was lodged.

 

Shocking student violence caught on camera

According to 9news, two Year 11 students have been suspended from a Perth high school after they attacked a fellow student in front of the principal. 9news understands students filmed the attack outside Eastern Hills Senior High School on Tuesday afternoon. The video shows the victim, who is also a Year 11 student, being thrown to the ground and repeatedly punched. The school principal John Dunning, along with other students, can be seen trying to stop the fight. 9news understands the victim had been consistently bullied at the school, his attackers even threatening him the day the video was taken, so that he required staff supervision as he left school. Stephen Baxter from the Department of Education has since condemned the violence. Mr Baxter said that this sort of violence was simply not acceptable, and that he would fully support any principal who recommended a student to be excluded from school over such behaviour. Police are investigating the attack. Nobody has been charged.

 

We all contributed to the bullying of Quaden Bayles

According to Pro Bono Australia, Australia and others around the world were rightly saddened and disgusted by the bullying of Quaden Bayles. Fundraising for him and his family to have a trip to Disneyland was a kind and heartfelt response. But a holiday was never going to be the life-changing response needed. His family have said “no thanks” to the holiday and requested the donated funds be redirected to not-for-profit organisations who work in related areas to rightly address the broader systemic issues. It is long overdue that we reflect on our own attitudes and systems which perpetuate the abuse and discrimination of people with disability. Disability should be viewed as a valued aspect of diversity that in turn enriches communities. It is a far cry from this view being a lived reality for people with disability in Australia today, despite the commitments and obligations we have as a country through being a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. There were absolutely horrific experiences of abuse shared at the hearings of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability which focused on health care and people with intellectual disability.

 

Year 9 NAPLAN stars to be rewarded with certificates of achievement

The Age reports that year 9 students whose numeracy and literacy NAPLAN scores put them in the top band in the country, or who significantly improve on their year 7 scores, will this year be recognised with a certificate of achievement. The Andrews government will introduce the certificates this year in an attempt to give year 9 students a reason to care about NAPLAN and lift flagging results. Students are due to sit the NAPLAN test in May and receive their results in August and September. Certificates will be given to those whose results put them in band 10 – the highest achievement band – or who improve on their year 7 scores by at least two bands. Education Minister James Merlino said it was important to celebrate students who are making progress in their learning, not just those who achieve the best results. But he said Victorian year 9 students were underachieving in NAPLAN.

 

Tensions rise over principal accountability

The Educator reports that primary and secondary principals have united against the NSW Government’s plan to centralise control over schools. At the centre of the issue is the Coalition’s Local Schools, Local Decisions (LSLD) reforms, launched in 2012 to provide the state’s principals with more autonomy over how their schools are run. NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell recently voiced concern with the way that the reforms are working, telling The Sydney Morning Herald that the government wanted to wrest back some of that control to ensure greater accountability over the way Gonski 2.0 money is being spent. However, in the joint statement, the NSW Primary Principals Association (PPA) and the NSW Secondary Principals Council (SPC) rebuked the plan, saying “education has been a political football for too long”. “There have been too many changes in direction and policy as a result of ill-informed commentary,” acting SPC president, Craig Petersen said.

 

INTERNATIONAL

Canadian health officials warn schools of potentially critical role in slowing coronavirus spread (Canada)

According to The Globe and Mail, from stocking up on hand sanitiser and wipes to cancelling overseas trips, school boards are preparing for COVID-19 as public health officials warn of the potentially critical role schools will play in slowing the spread of the virus. While research shows that children generally fare well if they are infected with coronavirus, they are also able to spread the illness to others. That means schools will become a focal point when the disease starts to spread more freely in Canada in the coming days or weeks, infectious disease experts say. Children are “generally less compliant with effective hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette practices,” the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) wrote in its new guidelines for schools and child-care facilities to manage the risks of the virus. The guidelines ask schools to boost the availability of hand sanitisers, do away with perfect attendance awards, monitor students for signs of illness and restrict children from sharing food.

 

Gender gap in primary school enrolment has halved over past 25 years (Global)

According to the World Education Blog, the year 2020 is also the 25-year anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing in 1995), which culminated with the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a key global policy document on gender equality and the most ambitious roadmap for the empowerment of girls and women. To mark the occasion, a new fact sheet on girls’ education has been released, looking at progress achieved over the past 25 years. Using UIS [UNESCO Institute for Statistics] data, it shows that girls’ enrolment rates in primary and secondary education have almost doubled in low-income countries, and that the gender gap in primary enrolment was halved. But it also shows that the pace of change is not fast enough. GEM Report calculations show that, at the present rate, getting every girl into primary school will only happen in 2050. These figures will be built on even further in the GEM [Global Education Monitoring] 2020 Gender Report due out this September.

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