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Weekly Wrap: October 7, 2021

6/10/21
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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

Elbow bumps in, jabs done and masks on, students head back to class

The Australian Financial Review reports that while year 12 students in Victoria returned to school on Tuesday to sit the annual general achievement test – a precursor to their Victorian Certificate of Education, over the border in NSW, 140,000 students from 720 regional and rural schools returned to the classroom a week ahead of schedule. Also allowed back were year 12 students but only in “bubbles” of five. Over the next four weeks, school children in Victoria, NSW and the ACT will gradually return to the classroom accompanied by a long list of rules and restrictions. These include mandating vaccinations for school staff, mask wearing, social distancing, no visitors, fewer activities, smaller groups and the cancellation of end of year formals.

 

Teacher vaccine mandate challenge to go to trial

The Age reports that a legal challenge against the government’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate brought by a Victorian teacher has been listed to go to trial from October 25. Casual relief teacher Belinda Cetnar and her husband Jack Cetnar, a horticulturist at a school in Melbourne’s south-east, filed a lawsuit against the government claiming that they were adversely affected by the requirement that school and childcare staff must be vaccinated if they want to work. The Cetnars say they would lose their employment because of the mandate. The Victorian Government announced previously that vaccines would be compulsory for all staff at schools and early childhood centres, starting with first doses by October 18, and Mr Andrews last week widened the mandate to all authorised workers. Overseas, the United States Supreme Court declined to block New York City’s requirement that public school teachers receive vaccinations.

 

Unknown, uninvited strangers joining Victorian online classrooms

The Age reports that unknown and uninvited people have joined classrooms held on digital platform Webex at least 13 times during remote learning in Victoria. Education Department documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws reveal the incidents include strangers posting “images of a concerning sexual nature”, making racist comments and engaging in aggressive and threatening behaviour. Victorian Information Commissioner Sven Bluemmel said these types of incidents were concerning as “The intruder could, for example, use information obtained in the classroom to contact children either virtually or in person”.

Cyber-safety expert Susan McLean said teachers and students needed to be better trained in the respectful and responsible use of technology, including security settings as well as clear expectations for conduct. Cyber security expert Dr Teague said risks should be addressed with better password protection, using services with end-to-end encryption, and by making privacy education part of the curriculum. However, children were often pressured in the opposite direction, Dr Teague said, “by normalising surveillance and making them feel that they’re not participating in their class if they’re not showing a video of their bedroom”. “It’s up to all of us adults to ensure that kids are respected in choosing not to share information — video, audio, pictures, anything — about themselves online.”

 

Q&A: Racism and racial discrimination in schools

According to an article in Teacher Magazine, a recent report by the Australian National University found that 50 per cent of 10–15 year old Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth reported direct experiences of racial discrimination, and that between 58 and 68 per cent of 10–15 year olds from Pacific/Maori, Middle Eastern, African, South Asian, East Asian and Southeast Asian backgrounds reported direct racial discrimination. The report also identifies key actions that can be taken for effective anti-racism including improving racial literacy regarding race, racism and health; improved reporting and monitoring of racism and racialised inequalities; organisational audits with accountability for inaction; explicit policies addressing racism; senior leadership commitment and communication regarding anti-racism as a priority; and First Nations and ethnic minoritised peoples in leadership. Additionally, multi-level, multi-strategy programs that target structural, systemic and institutional change, and that are grounded in developmental and theory and evidence, such as the Speak out against Racism (SOAR) program, has shown promising effectiveness.

 

Sunshine Coast school students featured on Instagram page promoting white supremacy

ABC News reports that a cyber intelligence expert is urging parents to monitor their children's online activity after a Sunshine Coast high school student featured on a social media page spouting white supremacist propaganda. Federal Member for Fisher Andrew Wallace says he'll report the material to the Home Affairs Minister. Dr Dennis Desmond, a former FBI agent turned University of the Sunshine Coast cybercrime investigations lecturer, says white supremacist groups have become more active during the pandemic. Dr Desmond also said hate groups tended to try and recruit young people by veiling their true intentions, such as through seemingly innocuous memes containing undertones of anti-LGBTQ, anti-minority and white supremacy. Dr Desmond urged parents and schools to educate students on the risks of extremist groups. The Department of Education said the account had been reported to Instagram.

 

Perth Modern teachers call on WorkSafe to investigate workplace bullying

WAtoday reports that Western Australia’s highly prized scholarship school Perth Modern School has allegedly become a toxic work environment with complaints of workplace bullying being independently investigated by WorkSafe and almost half the staff looking for work elsewhere. WorkSafe launched an investigation into Perth Modern School’s “management of psychosocial hazards” after claims of inappropriate workplace behaviours and staff losing patience with the Department of Education’s handling of the matter. Accountability for Children in Education WA spokesperson Pamella Fink said complaints of bullying of students or staff in a public school setting were quite common, with people contacting them “almost daily”. “The Department of Education can stand behind their bullying policy all they want, but the fact is it isn’t working,” she said. “If there is no accountability for the bully, be it adult or child, then the policy is worth as much as the paper it is written on.”

 

The effectiveness of school boards

According to an article in Teacher Magazine, a new Monash University study has found that board diversity, board practices, and principal influence over board decisions, all impact board effectiveness. They also have a sizeable bearing on the school’s financial and academic wellbeing. It was found that having a diverse school board with varying levels of expertise is likely to enhance the board decision-making processes. The results also show that board practices are positively associated with board effectiveness in independent schools, and the engagement and participation of board members is crucial to board effectiveness. The authors suggest that providing professional development opportunities for members is likely to lead to more effective boards. The influence of the school principal over board-level decisions also impacts on the effectiveness of the board overall. The authors say findings from the study provide empirical evidence on the detrimental effect of a ‘power imbalance’ between boards and principals. The study also found that effective boards are associated with higher academic and financial performance.

 

Australia’s five most powerful education leaders in 2021

According to an article in the The Australian Financial Review, Alan Tudge, Phil Honeywood, David de Carvalho, Peter Coaldrake and Barney Glover are Australia’s five most powerful education leaders in 2021. Alan Tudge is Australia’s Federal Education Minister, with experience working for Noel Pearson’s Cape York Institute and as a founding board member of Teach for Australia. Phil Honeywood is convenor of the Council for International Education, responsible for setting the next decadal strategy for a sector that has crashed since the closing of borders. David de Carvalho is chief executive of the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority, responsible for Australia’s NAPLAN and the national curriculum. Peter Coaldrake is chief commissioner of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency, the national regulator for higher education. Barney Glover is a builder of campus infrastructure, communities and relationships. The footprint of Western Sydney University, of which he has been vice-chancellor since 2014, covers 14 federal and 28 state seats.

 

Teachers overworked, underpaid, and undervalued – global report

According to an article in The Educator, a new global report points to system wide conditions which are failing to attract a new generation of educators to the profession. The 2021 Education International report on the Global Status of Teachers and the Teaching Profession found that more than 42 per cent of respondents stated that there had been a deterioration in teachers’ working conditions over the last three years. A significant 84 per cent indicated that salaries had decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Teachers also expressed concerns about intensifying workloads, with over 55 per cent of respondents stated that workloads were “unmanageable”. David Edwards, General Secretary of Education International, said recently “Increasing teacher salaries and reducing workload is essential to recruit the best people into the profession and ensure quality education for all”. “Recent policy moves tend to shift responsibility, and blame, onto teachers for issues that systems should be providing support for. An intelligent professional agenda requires a collective, joint negotiated plan with the profession.” NSW Teachers Federation president, Angelo Gavrielatos has highlighted the urgency of the issue in NSW, with “a minimum of 11,000 more teachers required just to meet enrolment growth over the next decade.”

 

China's Sinovac, India's Covishield recognised in Australia, giving hope to international students

ABC News reports that Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has recognised China's Sinovac vaccine — and Covishield, an Indian-made version of AstraZeneca — for incoming international travellers. These vaccines have been used to inoculate much of the world. While not approved for use in Australia, Sinovac and Covishield will be considered "recognised vaccines" for "incoming international travellers to be regarded as appropriately vaccinated". The change in regulations comes as Australia prepares to lift its ban on international travel for states with 80 per cent vaccination some time next month, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced on Friday. Council of International Students Australia president Belle Lim said that, when NSW announced a pilot plan last week, she feared the vaccine requirement would exclude students from China and Nepal. However, she hoped the TGA's recognition of Sinovac and Covishield would help change that. "We think that this is great news for students [who] have been stuck overseas for 18 months," she said.

[Editorial note: The article does not specifically mention overseas students in schools.]

 

INTERNATIONAL

Beeban Kidron v Silicon Valley: one woman’s fight to protect children online (United Kingdom)

The Guardian reports that the Age Appropriate Design Code, an amendment to the 2018 Data Protection Act, came into effect this month. It requires online services to “put the best interests of the child first” when designing apps, games, websites and internet-connected toys that are “likely” to be used by kids. The world’s tech giants including Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Google have seemingly begun responding to the Code by rolling out worldwide changes to their products. Concerningly, privacy issues are noted to arise in verifying the age of users. However, “There is nothing that stops us having a very sophisticated age-check mechanism in which you don’t even know the identity of the person, you just know that that they’re 12,” children’s digital safety advocate Baroness Beeban Kidron argues, pointing to a report she recently contributed to entitled “But how do they know it is a child?”. After helping to introduce this new Code, Kidron is now working on a private member’s bill that sets minimum standards of age assurance, to prevent companies from choosing their own “intrusive, heavy handed or just terrible, lousy, and ineffective” techniques.

 

United States Announces Settlement of Civil Action Addressing Clean Air Act Violations at New York City Public Schools (United States of America)

According to a media release from the United States Department of Justice, the United States filed a suit under the Clean Air Act (CAA) against the City of New York and the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and lodged a proposed consent judgment to address their longstanding failure to properly manage harmful emissions from NYCDOE oil-fired boilers in hundreds of New York City public schools. Many of NYCDOE’s boilers are located in disadvantaged communities whose residents are exposed to disproportionately high pollution levels that result in adverse health and environmental impacts. The consent judgment, agreed upon by the parties and also filed on 27 September with the court, requires NYCDOE to regularly monitor and repair its boilers to control excess emissions, reduce its boiler emissions by transitioning seven of its largest oil-fired boilers to cleaner, natural gas boilers by 2023 and pay a civil penalty of $1 million to the United States.

 

Some 216,000 children abused by French Catholic clergy over 70-year period (France)

The Guardian reports that a two-and-a-half-year independent inquiry found that staggering numbers of children were subjected to sexual violence by priests and clergy while the crimes were covered up in a “systemic way” by a deliberate “veil of silence” in the French Catholic church. The report found an estimated 216,000 children were victims of sexual violence by French Catholic priests, deacons and other clergy from 1950 to 2020. When lay members of the Church, such as teachers and catechism supervisors, were included, the figure rose to at least 330,000 children sexually abused over 70 years. It said the “vast majority” of victims were boys, who were attacked at a young age before reaching adolescence. The report found the huge scale of sexual abuse in the Catholic church was higher than in other institutions such as state schools, holiday camps and sporting organisations. “The Catholic church is, after the circle of family and friends, the environment that has the highest prevalence of sexual violence,” the report said.

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