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.
According to an article in The Australian, high school maths enrolments have collapsed to unprecedented low levels, sabotaging Australia’s shift to a “clever country” of tech-savvy workers. The proportion of year 12 students studying the highest level of mathematics has fallen below 10 per cent for the first time, a new analysis by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute reveals in a “wake-up call” for educators and industry. AMSI director Tim Marchant called for better quality teaching, noting that up to 40 per cent of maths teachers were not qualified to teach the subject, with the schoolteacher shortage exacerbated by competition for maths graduates to work in other industries. Professor Marchant said Australia must produce more maths graduates to build a modern economy. Professor Marchant also called for more girls to study advanced maths in high school. “I think it’s really important that the states and territories and the federal government work on increasing that to 50:50,” Professor Marchant said. “We want gender equity in the various kinds of STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) occupations.”
The Guardian reports that speakers at a truth-telling panel on the Myall Creek massacre, hosted on Saturday by the Arts and Cultural Exchange at Parramatta, criticised an “ignorance” among many Australians about our frontier history, calling for more education of teachers and students, as well as greater Indigenous self-determination of the terms on which historical truths can be told. Panellist Chapman-Burgess, a Ngarrabul/Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaray/Kooma woman – and a descendant of the same language group as the Wirrayaraay – called on universities to “step up” by expanding their “tokenistic” Aboriginal histories modules so that teachers can “feel comfortable talking about Aboriginal history, culture and telling the truth”. Whichever political party forms federal government after the 21 May election, Myall Creek committee member Kelvin Brown said it must be Indigenous people, not governments, that set the terms of reference for truth-telling.
According to an article in 7 News, Catholic school staff backed this week's strike by teachers in NSW public schools and have said they could follow suit. The union representing teachers and staff from Catholic schools endorsed the planned 24-hour strike on Wednesday by the NSW Teachers Federation for improved pay and conditions. The Independent Education Union of Australia says if it gets the formal support of its members, they will take their own industrial action in May. The NSW Teachers Federation has also authorised public school teachers to walk out if NSW government MPs arrive on campus and ban the implementation of new government policies or initiatives. Public school teachers are seeking a pay rise of between five and 7.5 per cent, as well as two extra hours of planning time. Premier Dominic Perrottet maintained the issue was being resolved, indicating it would be dealt with in the June budget "in a fair and reasonable way". The IEU is negotiating an enterprise agreement for 18,000 members in Catholic schools.
The Brisbane Times reports that teachers say students have been more distracted, disobedient and unsettled in their friendships since last year’s lockdown, raising concerns that the protracted isolation has had a lingering effect on children’s development and social maturity. The most serious impact has been at the high school level, with teachers saying they face more disciplinary issues and have observed students displaying behaviour usually seen in younger years, leading experts to call on the government to study the widespread effects of having two years of disrupted learning. Data from the Australian Early Development Census, released in April, showed the number of children in Australia who were developmentally “on track” across five key areas in 2021 had decreased from 2018, the first national fall since 2009.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that universities have welcomed back international students, but Australia’s largest states are yet to lift a ban on secondary-student exchange programs, putting at risk the travel plans of scores of local and overseas students. Exchange programs, which allow students to attend schools abroad for up to a year, came to a halt when Australia shut its international border in early 2020 as COVID-19 spread. But while full-fee paying international students can now fly back into Australia, teenagers in Victoria and NSW are still waiting on government approval to study overseas. The Council of Australian Student Exchange Organisations, which represents groups that facilitated thousands of trips each year before the pandemic, have called on the states to dump the ban, in line with the ACT, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania. The NSW Department of Education said it was working to complete health and safety arrangements for incoming and outgoing exchange students before the program recommences. The Victorian Department of Education and Training did not respond to requests to comment.
The Age reports that a pandemic-induced dip in Victoria’s population has not slowed the state’s school building boom, with $1.8 billion committed to building 13 schools in Melbourne’s outer suburbs, acquiring land for future schools in growth areas and upgrading dozens of existing schools across the state. Students with disability have come in for special attention, with 36 special schools to receive $326 million for upgrades, roughly half of the total funding in the budget for school upgrades in 2022-23. The cost of the government’s recent three-year agreement with the teachers’ union to give teachers more time for lesson planning over face-to-face class time has also been budgeted at $779 million, which will go to recruiting 1900 new state school teachers. The budget also seeks to lift student literacy and numeracy levels, with $131 million to lift more students into higher NAPLAN bands. The merger of the VCE and its applied learning alternative, VCAL, into a single certificate will cost $277.5 million, and will expand the availability of vocational and subjects in many schools that do not currently have a strong VCAL program.
According to an article in The Herald Sun, teenage boys at state schools will be taught about consensual sex and how to express their emotions in a bid to combat toxic masculinity. Male students from 12 to 16 will undergo compulsory daylong workshops to learn how to be respectful in relationships with girls and to talk about their mental health. The “healthy masculinity” initiative, which specifically educates boys, is split into two parts under the state government’s $82m Respectful Relationships school programdesigned to promote gender equality and respect. Education Minister James Merlino said the trial scheme would help show where the curriculum on masculinity could be improved. 100 state schools will initially participate in the program, with the aim it may expand to all schools. Meanwhile, 378 non-government schools have signed up for boys to be taught about healthy masculinity.
The Canberra Times reports that the ACT Government will drop COVID-19 vaccine mandates for health workers and teachers from next week. It comes as the ACT recorded another COVID death and new case numbers rose back over 1000 for Monday. Vaccine mandates will remain in place for aged care and disability workers in the Territory. The changes will come into effect at 11.59pm on May 13. Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith flagged the changes in a ministerial statement to the ACT Legislative Assembly on Tuesday morning. Ms Stephen-Smith said the change came following advice from the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee, which updated its advice on mandatory vaccinations for high-risk settings. She said that chief health officer Kerryn Coleman was satisfied that there was a high level of vaccination coverage in the eligible population over five, meaning this had reduced the risks of outbreaks and poor health outcomes in school settings. Dr Coleman's report said that employers will now need to consider whether to implement COVID vaccine requirements, similar to policies that exist for flu vaccines.
ABC News reports that the Commission of Inquiry examining the Tasmanian Government's responses to child sexual abuse in state institutions will hold public hearings this week. Allegations related to the Education Department, the Launceston General Hospital (LGH), the Ashley Youth Detention Centre, and out-of-home care, will be the four key focus areas of the commission. Apart from the opening hearing, the commissioners have also been consulting and holding private sessions. So far, six weeks of public hearings are scheduled in Hobart and Launceston. The first two weeks of hearings start in Hobart on Monday. The first week will set the commission up, with hearings to focus on, among other aspects, the nature and effect of child sexual abuse, the Tasmanian context and opportunities for change. The second week of hearings will focus on the Education Department. The commission may schedule more hearings if there is demand. It is expected to hand down its final report and recommendations by May 1, 2023. The state government has said it intends to adopt all recommendations.
According to an article in The Goulburn Post, Pope Francis has asked for an annual audit evaluating how Catholic Churches in different countries are implementing measures to protect children from clergy sexual abuse, saying that without more transparency the faithful will continue to lose trust. "Abuse in any form is unacceptable," Pope Francis told members of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was established in 2014 to promote best practices and a culture of safeguarding worldwide. Pope Francis said he wanted a yearly "reliable account on what is presently being done and what needs to change" to protect children and vulnerable adults from predator clergy. "This report will be a factor of transparency and accountability and - I hope - will provide a clear audit of our progress in this effort," the Pope said. "Without that progress, the faithful will continue to lose trust in their pastors, and preaching and witnessing to the Gospel will become increasingly difficult" he said. The worldwide sexual abuse crisis has cost the Church massive damage to its credibility and billions of dollars in settlements, with some dioceses declaring bankruptcy.
The Guardian reports that Harvard University is setting aside $100m for an endowment fund and other measures to close the educational, social and economic gaps that are legacies of slavery and racism, according to an email to the University’s president sent to all students, faculty and staff on Tuesday. The email from Harvard’s president, Lawrence Bacow, included a link to a 100-page report by his University’s 14-member committee on Harvard and the legacy of slavery and acknowledged that the elite institution “helped to perpetuate … racial oppression and exploitation”. The move comes amid a wider conversation about redressing the impacts of centuries of slavery, discrimination and racism. In his email, Bacow said a committee would explore transforming the report’s recommendations into action and that a University governing board had authorised $100m for implementation, with some of the funds held in an endowment. Other US institutions of higher learning have created funds in recent years to address legacies of slavery.
According to an article in stuff.co.nz, a Hamilton high school has avoided a WorkSafe prosecution after a student drowned while on a school trip, but has paid his family more than $100,000 in compensation. WorkSafe launched an investigation after Melville High School student Jaden Chhayrann, 17, drowned on a class geography trip in Waihī Beach two years ago. Jaden was caught in a rip and pulled out to sea on February 21, 2020. His body was located 10 days later near Whiritoa Beach, 28 kilometres north of Waihī. While WorkSafe initially filed charges, it has since accepted Melville High School’s suggestion of an enforceable undertaking - requiring the school to complete a series of tasks as an alternative to prosecution. The school has paid a total of $111,087 to the family and made various improvements to its processes and education around water safety. In a special newsletter sent to parents and caregivers, principal Clive Hamill said the school appreciates the WorkSafe decision to accept the enforceable undertaking. Melville High School accepted that, while it had safety procedures in place, they were out of date and more thought should have gone into the minimisation of open water swimming risks. Carrying out the tasks in the enforceable undertaking would cost the school at least $260,000, WorkSafe said. The agreement included making financial amends to Jaden’s family – something the school had done, targeted water safety initiatives that would benefit the community, and a support package to assist Education Outdoors NZ.