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

How counselling teachers improves student outcomes

According to The Educator, while experts have highlighted the need for more research on the impact of student wellbeing on their academic achievement, there is also an increased focus on the connection between teacher wellbeing and student outcomes. The Federal Government, which has made recent interventions in this area, has promised to do more to improve teacher wellbeing amid alarming figures of young teachers leaving their careers after a few years in service due to burnout, experiencing violence, or simply feeling unprepared for the job. A common tactic used by institutions, however, is to provide counselling. Recently published research on South Australia’s Employee Assistance Program (EAP) found that providing counselling to staff has a range of benefits other than helping them feel supported: every dollar spent on the counselling service yields to over three dollars of benefits as absenteeism falls and job performance improves.

Push to get wellbeing counsellors into schools as mental health bill costs Australia billions

According to the ABC News, schools should employ "mental health and wellbeing" counsellors for children, according to a billion-dollar proposal put forward by the Federal Government's key economic advisory body. The idea is just one of many contained in the latest Productivity Commission report, which warns mental illness and suicide is costing the country an estimated $500 million per day. The Government last year asked the Commission to examine the effect of mental health on economic participation and productivity. In its draft report released today, it has documented long-standing problems in the system, including under-investment in prevention programs, an over-reliance on clinical services, difficulties in accessing support, and a lack of clarity between governments about their roles and responsibilities, leading to "persistent wasteful overlaps and yawning gaps in service provision". "Substantial reform of Australia's mental health system is needed and there is no quick fix", the report states.

Could this be the alternative to the ATAR?

According to The Educator, in October, a revolutionary plan to rethink Australia’s secondary education and move beyond the ATAR was unveiled by leading educators, academics and policy experts. The paper, titled: “Beyond ATAR: a proposal for change”, by the Australian Learning Lecture (ALL) proposes use of a document known as a “learner profile” to replace or supplement simple numerical results such as the ATAR, for all young Australian aged 15 to 19 years. One education expert says the learner profile outlined in the paper could be a way to provide a rich and detailed summary of what a student has learned, which is both flexible but enables comparison between students. Enterprise Professor Sandra Milligan is a director of the Assessment Research Centre at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. In an article published in Pursuit – a platform on the University of Melbourne’s website that shares expert discussion about cutting-edge research – Professor Milligan said that using evidence from the learner’s time in school would showcase students’ strengths, passions, patterns of capability and attainments.

Keep Commonwealth Bank out of schools, urges Barefoot Investor, Choice

The Australian reports that the Barefoot Investor has urged the corporate watchdog to get Australia’s biggest bank out of primary schools, as the popular personal finance author accused Commonwealth Bank of enriching itself off the back of children. As part of an ongoing review into school banking, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has found “limited evidence” to show school banking programs — such as CBA’s “Dollarmites” program — have a lasting impact on teaching children to save. A series of submissions to ASIC’s review, from consumer advocacy group Choice and from Scott Pape, author of the best-selling Barefoot Investor personal finance books, have recommended banning banks from using schools as “a marketing channel to sell products to our children”. Choice has urged ASIC to consider whether signing up children to bank accounts through school marketing schemes “is captured under laws prohibiting hawking”.

Commission for Children and Young People reveals 2697 alleged cases of institutional child abuse

According to the Herald Sun, more than 300 complaints of child abuse against teachers were made to Victoria’s new reportable conduct scheme, which has experts reminding everyone that violence, sexual misconduct and neglect are not issues of the past. Victoria’s new reportable conduct scheme has received 2697 allegations from organisations in its first two years, relating to 1502 children with an average age of 10. Teachers were the alleged perpetrator in 329 cases, prompting the incidents to be referred to the Victorian Institute of Teaching. The Department of Justice and Community Safety was called in to investigate another 221 individuals who had an approved Working with Children Check and were found to have engaged in child abuse. The Commission for Children and Young People, which oversees the scheme, also received 88 allegations from religious bodies but warned that those numbers remained “concerningly low”, given the level of child sexual abuse exposed by the royal commission.

Parents share concerns for working families over Queensland trial for three-year-olds to attend school

According to the ABC News, parents have said a Queensland Government trial to get three-year-old children into primary school classrooms from next year will pose a challenge for full-time working families. The State Government will spend $2.2 million rolling out a free pilot program called “KindyLinQ” across 40 schools which will see children prepare for kindy by attending lessons for six hours a week, focusing on “outdoor play experiences, shared storytelling, music and rhymes”. The children will need to be accompanied by a parent or carer. Education Minister Grace Grace said “KindyLinQ” would help young children get ready for school. It will be up to principals and teachers to decide when and how the program will run in each school. The State Government will fund an early education coordinator and teacher to lead the classes which will each have between 16 and 20 children. There will be 25 state schools starting the trial in Term 1, 2020, with an extra 15 schools to be added to the pilot by the end of the year.

Best NSW educator of 2019 named

According to The Educator, Dr Geoff Newcombe AM has been awarded the highest teaching accolade in NSW and named the state’s best educator. The NSW Sir Harold Wyndham Medal for 2019 is the highest award given by the Australian College of Educators NSW and recognises an outstanding contribution by an individual to the education of the state’s young people. After a background in teaching, Dr Newcombe gained extensive experience in school management and finance, holding positions of Head and Business Manager in several independent schools. Dr Newcombe, whose career in education spans more than 40 years, has sat on numerous educational boards, including the NESA, AITSL, ACER, as well as the NSW Government’s Study NSW International Education Advisory Board. In June 2017, Dr Newcombe was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to education and educational organisations in particular the independent school sector. AISNSW chairman, John Ralston, said the medal is “deserved recognition” for Dr Newcombe.

Besieged WA child protection minister now under fire over “working with children” failures

WA Today reports that Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk is under pressure to resign after the government revealed in Parliament seven people accused or convicted of sex crimes were able to work with children for on average six months before her department denied them Working with Children cards. Western Australia's Auditor General said that it had taken the Department of Communities more than 200 days to notify 53 people – including the seven accused or convicted of sex crimes – that they were unsuitable to work with children. This means they could work with children until their applications were rejected. The government revealed individuals had been employed in organisations such as an educational institution for children, an overnight camp, a religious organisation and for a children’s entertainment or party service. Ms McGurk said she accepted the auditor general's warning that the government needed to improve the department's Working with Children compliance capability.

Western Australia to ban phones in all public schools

According to 7news, public school students in WA will be banned from using mobile phones during school hours. The "off and away all day" policy will take effect during school hours, including at recess and lunch breaks, from 2020. Premier Mark McGowan and Education Minister Sue Ellery announced the policy on Wednesday. It follows the decision by Victoria in June to enact a ban. The WA move comes after all Australian states and territories were asked by Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan to implement a ban to tackle cyberbullying and distraction in the classroom. It’s a major change in policy from Ellery, who previously said she did not support a blanket ban and believed it should be a decision left to individual schools. Evidence from Canada has found that banning mobile phones in schools could increase performance by 6 per cent. For low-performing students, data showed that there was an increase in test scores when mobile phones were removed. But removing phones did not make a difference for high-achieving students, Carleton University professor Louis-Philippe Beland said.

Don't push God out of schools - bishop's plea

According to The Canberra Times, a woman is to become a Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn, breaking new ground for the Anglican church. Carol Wagner is to be the assistant bishop to the existing head of the diocese. Archdeacon Carol Wagner (as she now is before the promotion is formalised) said she "regretted" that the ACT government had decided to abolish chaplains in schools in its area. "There's a drive to push any whisper of Christian teaching out of schools," she said. "Chaplaincy is seen as being an intrusion." In March, the ACT's Education Minister, Yvette Berry, said religious chaplains were incompatible with the secular operation of public schools so the ACT would no longer accept federal funding for the positions. Instead, existing Christian chaplains in ACT schools would be turned into secular youth-workers at the territory's expense. Archdeacon Wagner views with dismay what she calls the "chasm" between entrenched views on both sides of a wider debate between secular groups and religious people. "The intolerance is on both sides," she said.

INTERNATIONAL

As countries look to raise the age of criminal responsibility, should NZ too? (New Zealand)

According to Stuff, at the age of 10, Kiwi kids can't drink, drive, buy cigarettes or even have their own Facebook page. But 10-year-olds can be convicted of murder or manslaughter - that's the current minimum age of criminal responsibility for those crimes in New Zealand. Internationally, the recommended minimum age is at least 12 or higher. A 2007 paper from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child committee states that a minimum age below 12 was not internationally acceptable. It says that 12 years of age is considered to be the absolute minimum, and that countries should be encouraged to continue to increase it to a higher age level. There's a lot of movement in this space globally. This year, Scotland's parliament unanimously voted to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 8 to 12. Currently in Australia, two backbench MPs are pushing for the minimum age to be increased from 10 to 14, arguing that the law isn't consistent with medical and social science evidence about children's mental capacity to understand what they are doing is a crime, AAP reported. In the Philippines, there was a proposal earlier this year to lower the age of criminal liability from 15 to 12.

New Zealand school data collected and on-sold to Google, Microsoft (New Zealand)

Newshub reports that a company with ties to the Chinese Government collected information on the budgets and cybersecurity of Kiwi schools, and the information was on-sold to Google and Microsoft, to the shock of some principals. "It's quite a shocking revelation to hear that school information, given in good faith, was being shared with companies for commercial on-selling," Berhampore School Principal Mark Potter told Newshub. Originally pitched as “multi-year”, the Ministry of Education-sanctioned survey was quietly canned in late 2018 after questions about the use of the information were asked by primary teachers union NZEI. Louise Francis, research director for IDC Australia and New Zealand, told Newshub that the final report was sent to Google and Microsoft under a non-disclosure agreement. In an acknowledgment that it got it wrong, the Ministry of Education said it canned the survey because it would gain more benefit if the data was under its own direct control.

Instagram to extend its ban on images of self-harm to cover cartoons (United Kingdom)

According to The Guardian, Instagram is to extend its ban on depictions of self-harm to cover cartoons and drawings, following an appeal from Ian Russell, whose 14-year-old daughter, Molly, killed herself in 2017. Molly had been looking at graphic content relating to suicide and self-harm before she died, her father discovered, prompting him to go public earlier this year and campaign against the platform’s rules that allowed that material. Instagram had already banned graphic images of self-harm in February, following Ian Russell’s protests, and the company says it will extend that ban to unrealistic yet explicit depictions of suicide, and images that “promote” self-harm. Andy Burrows, the head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC [National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children], said the move did not change the fact that the industry as a whole was irresponsible, and called on the government to progress legislation intended to impose a duty of care on social media platforms.