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

Allison Ritchie fears school paedophiles inquiry whitewash

The Examiner reports that an inquiry into how Tasmania's Education Department dealt with child sexual abuse in schools could become a whitewash, a child safety advocate fears. Former Labor minister Allison Ritchie said that she and lawyer Sebastian Buscemi were seeking a meeting with Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff to address concerns about the process. Attorney-General Elise Archer announced two high-profile legal figures - professors Tim McCormack and Stephen Smallbone - would lead the inquiry. The terms of reference released in August said the inquiry would: limit findings or recommendations to matters of systems utilised by the Department of Education; not make any findings or recommendations about individual cases or circumstances of alleged child sexual abuse, including the identification of victims or perpetrators; not make any findings, recommendations or comments about any potential legal liability of the state of Tasmania; and not make any findings, recommendations or comments about the expenditure of state funds for the purposes of compensation or damages.

Australia “failing kids with disability” – Royal Commission

The Educator reports that students with a disability are experiencing systemic failures and human rights breaches, evidence presented at the Disability Royal Commission has found. The hearing, held last week, focused on the systemic neglect, abuse, and discrimination faced by students with disability across Australia – including the use of restraints and seclusion, suspension and expulsion, and the life-long impacts of this mistreatment. Reports by the Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) have revealed high levels of exclusion, bullying, and lack of supports for students with disability. CYDA, Family Advocacy NSW and Queensland Advocacy Incorporated, provided evidence of what they called “the ongoing failure” of education systems to comply with human rights obligations and national disability standards, and the failure of complaints processes to acknowledge or resolve issues.

New NSW schools policy will make it harder for children like Sam to be suspended

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that parents, teachers and principals have joined forces to fight a proposal that would reduce the length of school suspensions, arguing it would weaken schools’ ability to deal with violent students and blur standards of acceptable behaviour. Frank Potter, an executive director at the NSW Department of Education, was questioned about the department's draft suspension policy at the Disability Royal Commission's public hearing into inclusive education, which began on Monday last week. The Commission heard the case of five-year-old Sam, who had been suspended seven times in his first 13 months of school. Under the present policy, schools must suspend students who are physically violent, regardless of the student's intent. Disability advocates support plans that make it harder for schools to order young children home for bad behaviour or repeated disobedience, but principals have called the rules impractical.

“Get over it”: A NSW school's failure to protect students from a predator left this family broken

The ABC News reports that Kimberly, who was born with a moderate intellectual disability, was repeatedly raped and indecently assaulted at school when she was in years 7 and 8. Multiple students with disabilities attending the school's learning support unit were abused by the same student. Last year, the offender stood trial in a closed courtroom and was found guilty of more than 20 sexual assault charges involving four children, including Kimberly. He was jailed as a juvenile offender. In his sentencing remarks, the judge criticised the school. Both victims from the school, he said, were clearly vulnerable and deserving of "more protection than they were afforded". A Background Briefing investigation has discovered that the school received multiple clear warnings about the danger the offender posed to other students. The Department of Education's school performance deputy secretary, Cathy Brennan, told Background Briefing Kimberly's school fell short of the standard she expected.

New professional development program takes aim at Australia's equity gap

The Educator reports that in September, a new report by AITSL examined the evidence base of leadership required during the massive changes that principals have had to navigate over the past 12 months. Indeed, an important challenge of leaders during the pandemic has been to find ways of boosting the resilience, and effectiveness, of both students and teachers and ensure that those who are struggling don’t fall between the cracks. To help achieve this, the University of Newcastle has developed the Quality Teaching Academy (QTA), a ground-breaking new professional development program that all Australian teachers and principals can access. Led by Laureate Professor Jenny Gore, Associate Professor Jess Harris, and Dr Drew Miller of the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre (TTRC), the Academy will also provide teachers and principals support services, resources and networks to implement and evaluate professional development in their schools.

Cybersecurity tips to keep kids safe

The Educator reports that research from the Safety Commissioner shows that 85 per cent of Australian children see the internet as important to their lives and spend up to 19 hours a week on digital devices outside of school. However, many children are not aware of the dangers that exist online, including cyberbullying, fake news, unwanted contact by strangers and web threats. The start of October marked Term 4, and also National Cybersecurity Awareness Month, where the cybersecurity industry places a focus on educating the wider community on cybersecurity at home, school, and in the workplace. With children as young as six years old having to use technology to continue learning and keeping up with school curriculum, parents and teachers have a responsibility to educate them on ways to be safe online. In the article, Steve Manley, Regional Vice President, ANZ for Palo Alto Networks, provides some tips to help protect children from cybercrime and preserve their online privacy.

Lockdown forces schools to find new ways to welcome kinder kids

The Age reports that ordinarily, kinder kids and their parents would be touring the school they have enrolled in at this time of year, but Victoria’s coronavirus restrictions have up-ended those plans. Schools in Melbourne were told at the beginning of term four they cannot host next year’s crop of prep kids on-site as part of their transition plans. Restrictions in regional Victoria are less strict. There, groups of up to 10 people, including children, parents and teachers are permitted. It is possible that Melbourne schools will get the green light to do the same thing later in term four when the city advances to the third step of easing restrictions. The Education Department has given schools guidance on what to do this year in lieu of on-site visits, including having prep teachers visit childcare centres and kindergartens, and run virtual school tours and video conferences between principals, teachers and children. The State Government has also put in $4 million to assist transitions this year.

New research reveals the hidden danger of sweltering heat at Western Sydney schools

The ABC News reports that new research from Western Sydney University has revealed common surfaces used in central schoolyards, such as unshaded asphalt and artificial grass, recorded surface temperatures of more than 60C during days of extreme heat last year. That makes them the top heat traps in schools. The research marked the first time a public school's outdoor microclimate had been measured in detail, and revealed the extent of how poorly schools were designed to be heat sustainable as climate change endures. "The core of the research is that we're just not designing heat-smart schools. Otherwise I wouldn't be taking surface temperatures of 70 degrees Celsius at any school," research lead Sebastian Pfautsch said. Extreme heat kills more Australians than any other natural hazard combined, and young children are at particular risk because they sweat less, reducing their ability to cool down. Last summer, Western Sydney saw 37 days over 35C compared to just six recorded in the east.

NESA Official Notices

NESA has issued the following official notices:

• Applications from individual non-government schools and registration systems on behalf of member schools are due by Wednesday 31 March 2021 for:
   
  • renewal of registration and/or accreditation which expires at the end of 2021
  • renewal of exemption from registration where exemption expires at the end of 2021

• Applications for approval as a Teacher Accreditation Authority (TAA) are due by Wednesday 31 March 2021 for:
   
  • TAAs seeking renewal of approval where approval expires at the end of 2021
  • new TAAs of proposed non-government schools seeking to begin operating in 2022 or early childhood education centres

• Applications from NSW school providers delivering courses to overseas students are due by 31 March 2021 for:
   
  •  renewal of approval where approval expires at the end of 2021
  • initial approval to commence delivery of courses to overseas students in 2022.

“No student left behind”: Victorian government to deploy thousands of tutors

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Victorian Government announced it would spend $250 million to put 4100 tutors in every government school and some non-government schools next year. The Andrews Government is calling on final-year teaching students, teachers on leave and casual and retired teachers to work in small groups with the students who have been most disadvantaged by school closures. Under the package, each school will be funded to engage one or more tutors on a part- or full-time basis, depending on its size and level of need. More than 3500 tutors will be employed at state schools and 600 at non-government schools. The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria said the funding would deliver about $20 million to the Catholic system. Michelle Green, chief executive of Independent Schools Victoria, said about $5 million in funding would be allocated to 90 independent schools.

Music teachers vocal in protest at ban on singing, brass and woodwind

The Age reports that music classes involving singing and the playing of brass and woodwind instruments have been banned in all Victorian schools in term four, prompting an outcry from teachers who say the decision could lead more students to quit music lessons. Teachers have appealed to Premier Daniel Andrews to overturn the ban, arguing music classes should go ahead with physical distancing, in line with the government’s directive to schools to prioritise student mental health and wellbeing. The Australian Band and Orchestra Directors' Association has written to the Victorian government urging it to approve a COVID-safe way of teaching music, as has happened in Queensland and NSW. Separately, the Association for the Directors of Music in Independent Schools argued in a letter to the Premier that there had been no reported incidences of COVID-19 transmission in music classes in Australia.

INTERNATIONAL

Thousands rally across France in tribute to murdered schoolteacher (France)

The Guardian reports that tens of thousands of people have rallied in solidarity, in dozens of towns and cities across France, after a secondary schoolteacher was beheaded in an attack that has shocked a country already shaken by terrorist atrocities. Samuel Paty was killed outside his school on Friday after discussing caricatures of the prophet Muhammad with his class. The Prime Minister, Jean Castex, who attended the Paris rally along with opposition leaders and the city’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, said the government was working on a strategy to better protect teachers from similar threats. Earlier this month, as part of a class discussion on freedom of expression and alongside cartoons and caricatures of different subjects, Paty showed his pupils two of the caricatures of the prophet Muhammad published by Charlie Hebdo. According to parents and teachers, the teacher had given Muslim children in his class the option to leave the classroom or turn away before he showed the two cartoons, saying that he did not want their feelings hurt.

As school boards blend in-person and virtual classes, criticism emerges for hybrid model (Canada)

The CBC reports that Steven Ferracane, a teacher in Vaughan, Ontario, now simultaneously teaches 15 fifth-graders in a classroom at St Raphael the Archangel Catholic Elementary School, with seven more logging on live from home. Though Ferracane believes this new hybrid model lays the groundwork in case of another widespread school shutdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak, he said it requires juggling his attention between the live students and remote learners — to whom he connects through his dedicated laptop — and means more work for him. The hybrid scenario of teaching both in-person and remote students simultaneously hasn't typically been the format boards have adopted for their remote, elementary school learners this fall, with the majority establishing dedicated virtual classrooms. As challenges with online school staffing and class reorganisation continue in different regions, more could potentially opt for this hybrid approach, which has already earned some criticism from families and teachers.