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Weekly Wrap: November 26, 2020

25/11/20
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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

National Youth Survey: Racism and Gender Discrimination Top Concerns for Young People

SBS News reports that Mission Australia's 19th annual Youth Survey Report, for which more than 25,000 young people were surveyed between April and August this year, found equity and discrimination is not only the top national issue for young Australians but its importance has increased more than 60 per cent since 2019. The survey found that 27 per cent of young Australians reported being treated unfairly over the last year. The most common reason for discrimination cited in the research was gender, with 48 per cent of female respondents in the survey highlighting that as a concern, compared to only 22.5 per cent of their male counterparts. While 30.4 per cent of respondents in the survey cited race and cultural background as to why they felt they were treated unfairly. However, the Youth Survey Report found that more than half of the respondents were happy with their lives, and 48 percent were confident they would achieve their work and study goals.

 

Indigenous culture should be in Australian school curriculum, elder says

The ABC News reports that according to Darumbal elder Uncle Wade Mann, Indigenous Australian culture should become an independent subject in the national curriculum. Uncle Wade runs cultural awareness training for parents, teachers and other workplaces in Central Queensland. Uncle Wade helped Rockhampton's Lakes Creek State School (LCSS) launch its Reconciliation Action Plan during NAIDOC week. He said he hoped schools would continue to embrace Indigenous culture beyond NAIDOC celebrations. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories has been a "cross-curriculum priority" since a 2014 review of the national curriculum. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) said it meant the priority was embedded in other subjects but it did "not constitute curriculum" on its own. "They will have a strong but varying presence depending on their relevance to the learning area," the ACARA website stated. ACARA is conducting another review of the curriculum and it expects to publish the findings by 2022.

 

Neville Creen: Paedophile priest jailed again for historic Mt Isa abuse

The Courier-Mail reports that a notorious paedophile priest who terrorised young girls at a Catholic primary school in Mount Isa throughout the 1970s and early 1980s has been jailed for historical abuse of two further girls during that period. Neville Creen, who was one of the parish priests at the school, was forced to leave the church in 1994 when the whispers about his behaviour became a roar, but it was not until September 2003 he was held to account for the first time. Creen was sentenced to three-and-a-half years’ jail for 34 sexual offences against 18 young girls, to be suspended after serving 14 months. On Tuesday last week, he pleaded guilty to an additional seven charges, six of indecent treatment of girls under the age of 14 and one of indecent treatment of females. His offending against these two further women, who both came forward in the wake of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, occurred between 1977 – 1981, when he left the school.

 

Students exposed to risk of fraud and grooming while learning online

The Age reports that the rapid shift to online learning at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic led schools to use ‘‘non supported’’ digital platforms in ways that undermined children’s privacy and safety online, the Department of Education chief information officer Elizabeth Wilson said in a June 23 report, which has been released under freedom of information. ‘‘The most prevalent of these was Zoom,’’ Ms Wilson said in the report. The department assessed Zoom’s free version as a ‘‘Medium/High’’ privacy and security risk on March 27, but did not publish advice telling schools not to use the platform until April 14, the documents show. Victorian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said children’s login details and school work will have been ‘‘uploaded onto a server somewhere’’ and could be vulnerable to misuse if steps aren’t taken now to ‘‘mop up’’ by archiving or deleting this data. A department spokeswoman said schools were advised to use department-provided platform Webex for video conferencing. Mr Bluemmel said the use of digital platforms in remote learning has been ‘‘one of the biggest challenges to privacy in the Victorian public sector context’’.

 

International Baccalaureate accused of ignoring plight of Victorian students

The Age reports that many IB students are complaining that the International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) is failing to adequately recognise the disadvantage suffered by its Victorian students. The Victorian Government has announced various measures to support year 12 students who have spent months learning from home during the state's strict lockdowns. The support includes assessing every VCE student for special consideration, reducing course content and changing the exam timetable. But the special consideration does not extend to the more than 1000 year 12 students doing the IB graduate diploma across the state. Instead, the IBO is responsible for assessing the impact of COVID-19 on students. The Age understands the IBO wrote to the Victorian and Tasmanian IB Principals Association on Tuesday last week saying it would consider ways of recognising the adverse circumstances of students and it would increase communication to schools and their families. Another concern for some IB students is how their scores will convert to ATARs this year.

 

Handwriting makes kids smarter – study

The Educator reports that a new Norwegian study suggests that writing by hand improves children’s capacity to learn. The new research, published on Frontiers in Psychology and posted on the World Economic Forum website, comes amid a push by governments and education systems to improve students’ writing ability. The independent NAPLAN review, conducted by Victoria, NSW, Queensland and the ACT, found that, in the period between 2008 and 2019, writing performance among students plateaued between Years 3 and 5, before declining in Years 7 to 9. Earlier this year, Murdoch University researchers urged educators to teach skills such as handwriting and spelling – a call that aligns with the Federal Government’s renewed focus on the basics to lift students’ literacy outcomes. A study conducted by the University, which looked into how fast and easily can pre-school to Year 1 children can write, found substantial evidence that students who write with pen and paper often produce better learning outcomes later on.

 

No action on declining writing standards in NSW schools for two years

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the state government failed to act on a plan to fix NSW students’ deteriorating writing for two years after it was told there were major problems with the way the crucial skill was being addressed in schools. A NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) review, finished in mid 2018, found teachers lacked confidence in teaching writing, many had not been well trained in how to do it, and too many students were leaving school without fundamental skills. NESA proposed an action plan to then Education Minister Rob Stokes that would have involved two years of teacher training and resource development over 2019-20 so writing could become a priority for schools from term one in 2021. The report was not made public until it was obtained by the Herald under Freedom of Information laws in September this year. A spokesman for current Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the recommendations of the review have been incorporated into the implementation plan for the new NSW curriculum.

 

New teaching pathway created for aspiring educators

The Educator reports that many teachers are leaving the profession within the first five years of the role. Research from Monash University shows that as much as 71 per cent of Australia’s educators feel underappreciated in the classroom and struggle with excessive workloads. A new pathway, developed jointly between the NSW Government and Teach for Australia, aims to attract mid-career and high achieving professionals into teaching. Announcing the $40,000 investment, Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, said the partnership will incentivise would-be teachers into the profession by lessening the adverse financial impact of taking time out of the workforce to gain a teaching qualification. Under the plan, subject areas and schools with teacher shortages will be targeted – particularly science, maths and TAS (Technology and Applied Sciences), and rural and remote schools.

 

COVID-19 restrictions fail to scare away Australian parents from vaccinating kids

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that childhood vaccination rates have continued to climb in Australia, with parents bucking the international trend and keeping up to date with routine shots despite coronavirus restrictions. The number of children who were fully vaccinated at 12 months, 24 months and five years of age slightly increased between 2018 and 2019, according to the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance's Annual Immunisation Coverage Report. NCIRS public health physician Dr Frank Beard said Australia was performing "pretty well" by international standards, citing free catch-up vaccinations and the Federal Government's "no jab, no pay" tax benefit policy – as well as some states' "no jab, no play" childcare policies – as helping maintain high rates. The data covered vaccines due in July but administered until September. With Victorian coronavirus restrictions coming into effect in August, Dr Beard said the data showed no early indication that childhood vaccination rates may have been impacted by the state's second wave, although more analysis was needed.

 

Victorian students with disability to receive extra support in upcoming budget

The ABC News reports that the number of Victorian students with disability receiving extra support in government schools will be doubled as part of a $1.6 billion package to be included in the upcoming state budget. The Disability Inclusion package is expected to create up to 1,730 jobs across Victoria by 2025, and will increase the number of students getting extra support to 55,000, the State Government says. A program to help identify and respond to the needs of students with disability that was piloted in more than 100 Victorian schools will also be rolled out across the state. The funding will also include $102.8 million to support education staff, including hiring more than 100 extra staff to help deliver programs in schools. Mr Merlino said some students who narrowly missed out on personalised funding under the current criteria would get the help they need under the changes. Previously, students with autism, dyslexia or complex behaviours may not have been entitled to targeted support in the classroom.

 

INTERNATIONAL

Thai high school students lead thousands in latest protest, demanding education reforms (Thailand)

SBS News reports that thousands of people joined a protest led by high school students in Bangkok on Saturday to call for education reforms as well as the demands of a broader movement pushing to remove the government and curb the powers of the monarchy. It was the first major protest since Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Thursday that police would use all laws against protesters, who have become the biggest challenge to the establishment in years. Police said the protest by the Bad Student group could go ahead, although two of its teenage leaders were summoned on Friday for charges over a previous protest. Protests since July have three core demands: the removal of former junta leader Mr Prayuth as Prime Minister, a new constitution and reforms to the monarchy of King Maha Vajiralongkorn. But the high school students also seek greater freedom and fairer treatment within an education system they say is archaic and aimed primarily at inculcating obedience. Many spoke of the importance of gender equality.

 

Education policies and practices continue to fail girls over early pregnancy (Global)

According to the World Education Blog, early pregnancy has been identified as a critical driver of school dropout and exclusion, especially for girls. Twenty-five years ago, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark blueprint for women and girls’ rights, recognised this, calling upon governments to remove all barriers to accessing formal education for pregnant adolescents and young mothers. Globally, the prevalence of early pregnancy declined by one-third between 1995 and 2020, from some 60 to 40 births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 19. Yet, early pregnancy rates remain high in many countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where, despite an overall fall over the past 25 years, rates remain at levels higher than the 1995 regional average in countries including Chad, Mali and Niger. The GEM 2020 Gender Report released last month looked at progress on protecting young mothers’ right to education since 1995 in three countries, Argentina, Sierra Leone, and the United Kingdom.

 

“A very dangerous situation”: COVID restrictions spread across US (United States)

The Age reports that state and city leaders across the US are rapidly introducing new restrictions to stop the spread of COVID-19 as infections and hospitalisations spike nationwide. The head of New York City's education system announced that all schools there would close from last Friday (AEDT) and resume online-only learning after the city's test positivity rate hit 3 per cent. The announcement sparked immediate anger among parents given restaurants and gyms remain open for business in the city, albeit at reduced capacity, but pleased some teachers concerned about increased infection risks in the classroom. New York's decision to close all schools, after reopening them after the first lockdown, is strikingly different to the approach in many European countries. France, Germany and the United Kingdom have ordered many businesses to close but have made it a priority to keep schools open. Other US cities, such as Washington and San Francisco, have kept their schools closed for most of the year.

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