Weapons suspensions on rise at schools

MORE than 80 suspensions for violence with weapons or “objects” are handed out every week in Queensland state schools.

As the State Government vowed to crack down on student violence and bullying yesterday, figures obtained by The Courier-Mail highlighted the extent of the problem.

The figures, released by the Education Department, show more than 10,000 suspensions were handed out to state school students for “physical misconduct involving an object” over the past three financial years.

More than two students were expelled every school week last financial year for the violation, with 89 recorded, up from 65 in 2003 to 2004.

Yesterday, Premier Anna Bligh announced state, Catholic and independent school representatives would form the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence, which will make recommendations on the best ways to stamp out the growing problem.

It follows a recommendation from Professor Ken Rigby in his report on how the state is dealing with bullying, and the alleged fatal stabbing of 12-year-old Elliott Fletcher in his school’s toilets at Shorncliffe last week.

Premier Anna Bligh acknowledged there was an “alarming culture of school violence”, with the alliance set to address it.

But Opposition deputy leader Lawrence Springborg accused the Government of “more talk and no action”, saying it had established a youth violence taskforce in 2006 and claimed to have implemented its recommendations in 2009.

Education figures show there were 2797 short suspensions for “physical misconduct involving an object” in state schools last year, down from a six-year high in 2007 to 2008 when 3064 were recorded.

But long suspensions – between six and 20 days – have climbed annually over the past six years in the category, reaching 456 in 2008 to 2009.

Education deputy director-general Lyn McKenzie said the type of objects used in the suspensions could include pencils and sticks, as well as knives. Replica guns have also been wielded by students.

Ms Bligh said while bullying had always existed, the playground no longer ended at the school fence and had been radically changed by technology, including social networking sites.

She said the alliance would focus on preventative measures but also look at security and violent incidents in schools, including the use of weapons.

The group is expected to meet within the weeks and start delivering recommendations within months.

Source: Courier Mail

Schoolkids’ new identity numbers to be linked to My School program

GIVING every school child in Australia an identity number will allow a seamless tracking of their academic progress, federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said.

The “student identifier” will be annexed to the My School program which publishes the performance of individual schools on the internet.

“If we have a way of tracking, then we can, obviously, have better measures of how schools are going,” Ms Gillard told ABC Radio today.

The number would allow the literacy and numeracy performance of individual students to be monitored during their school life, especially as they moved from school to school.

“Being able to seamlessly track a child throughout education when they get to a new school is vitally important,” Ms Gillard said.

The identity of students would be covered by “proper privacy protections” but access would be given to parents and teachers.

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Ms Gillard will provide more details of the new program when she addresses the National Press Club later today.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he was concerned about any proposal that appeared to commodify children.

“Children should have names not numbers,” he said.

“People have names and I think that it ought to be possible to identify people’s performance based on their names, based on who they are.”

The public was always rightly suspicious of governments attempting to introduce some kind of identification card by the back door, Mr Abbott said.

Labor backbencher Sharon Bird said students in their final two years of school already had an identity number.

“It allows parents to have that information and follow it through and not have a shoe box where you have kept all the paper copies of their reports,” she said.

“It is just a sensible reform I think that parents and schools will very much welcome.”

Source: The Australian

Schools leaving students at the mercy of psychological bullying

QUEENSLAND schools are failing to properly deal with the two worst kinds of bullying and often don’t even check how their existing anti-bullying measures are working, the Government’s own expert has warned.

Current approaches to tackling bullying inside the education system are unlikely to stem the growing menace of cyber-bullying. They also are unlikely to curb the effects of children deliberately excluding others.

The stark warnings are contained in a highly anticipated report by Professor Ken Rigby, commissioned last year by the State Government.

The report says cyber-bullying and social exclusion are “now seen as the most damaging of all to the mental health of targeted children”.

After a review of the state’s schools, Prof Rigby has concluded they are failing to follow up on how well their existing anti-bullying measures are working.

“This needs to be remedied before schools can discover, with confidence, what works at their school,” his report said.

Prof Rigby also warned the Government that it needed to continually provide the best new advice to its education department.

He recommended every school be made to report annually on its anti-bullying tactics and then be encouraged to note them on their website.

One in three children are bullied in class almost daily, according to research released by Education Queensland last year.

The Rigby report, Enhancing Responses to Bullying in Queensland Schools, highlights a lack of education in schools about the range of anti-bullying measures available.

It wasn’t all bad, however, with Prof Rigby saying he was “much impressed” during his visits to state schools on their “dedication and sheer inventiveness on what was being done to address bullying”.

“I have worked with schools in every state in Australia, and it is not my impression that Queensland schools are less dedicated or less effective in dealing with bullying than any other state or territory,” he said.

“However, I do believe that a good deal of useful advice and guidance can and should be provided by the Department of Education and Training and by other educational jurisdictions.”

Prof Rigby acknowledged he only visited a small sample of schools, with only staff and stakeholders – not parents or students – interviewed.

Education Minister Geoff Wilson said he would “carefully consider” the recommendations.

Mr Wilson said the report was an important step in his commitment to dealing with bullying and behaviour in Queensland schools.

The report will be released today.

Source: Courier Mail

$5.1 million safeguard for international student course fees

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today announced funding of $5.1 million to further strengthen Australia’s international education industry.

The funding will be made available to top up the Education Services for Overseas Students Assurance Fund (ESOS Assurance Fund) if required.

The ESOS Assurance Fund is the cornerstone of Australia’s international student consumer protection framework which safeguards the course fees of international students. The fund was established in 2000 with a $1 million start amount provided by the Government.

As at 31 January 2010, the ESOS Assurance Fund had a positive cash balance in excess of $3.35 million.

Since it was established in 2000 the total call on the fund has been $5.3 million.

The funding is one of a number of measures the Australian Government has initiated to ensure we remain a world leader in providing international education services. These measures include:

* ESOS Amendment (Re-registration of Providers and Other Measures) Bill which will require all providers delivering education and training to international students to re register by 31 December 2010
* The review of the current ESOS Act by the Hon Bruce Baird AM, which is due to report to the Australian Government shortly
* A National International Student Strategy currently being developed through the Council Of Australian Governments
* The International Students Hotline set up in mid 2009
* The establishment of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency and a national regulator for the Vocational Education and Training sector.

The Government’s decision will provide additional certainty for students and underscores the Government’s determination to ensure that the international education sector remains both strong and vibrant into the future.

Source: Minister’s Media Centre

Professionals could be Queensland teachers in six weeks

People with professional qualifications will be sent to teach in disadvantaged schools to plug a shortage of specialist teachers under the Teach for Australia program.

But unions have slammed the strategy – which aims to attract high-performing professionals and graduates from fields including law, economics, engineering, science, mathematics and English – as disrespectful to teachers and a Band-Aid solution.

Teach for Australia chief executive Melodie Potts said research shows similar models overseas produce more effective teachers.

Education Queensland assistant director-general Craig Allen confirmed the program was being considered and talks were being held with Teach for Australia.

The program involves six weeks of intensive training for six days a week at university, with teachers then placed in disadvantaged secondary schools where it is hoped they will inspire children. Their university study continues part-time for two years and includes a mentor and adviser before they graduate with a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching.

Mr Allen said the department was “exploring the potential of Teach for Australia” to attract and retain “high quality individuals in teaching”.

The teachers are given a reduced workload to help concentrate on their part-time study.

Queensland has a shortage of some specialist high school teachers and a massive over-supply of primary school teaching graduates. Current graduates have to complete four years of study in Queensland to register as a teacher.

“The department has commenced discussions with key stakeholders, including the Queensland Teachers Union,” Mr Allen said.

But the union has already voted not to accept the program unless issues such as enterprise bargaining are addressed first.

QTU president Steve Ryan said six weeks was not long enough to prepare a teacher for the classroom.

“That is just a total lack of respect for teachers,” he said. “That’s the Band-Aid solution and all kids in the education system deserve better.

“Our view is that all students should be able to be taught by qualified teachers, and teachers with education qualifications.”

Queensland Independent Education Union general secretary Terry Burke said the course undermined the professional standard the community demanded of teachers.

But Teach for Australia’s Ms Potts said the course attracted highly talented individuals, many of whom had leadership roles, and would not otherwise have considered teaching as a career.

The Opposition’s education spokesman, Bruce Flegg, said he supported the strategy.

“It’s one small step in the right direction of attracting high-performing people into teaching,” he said.

Victoria is the first state to take on the initiative, with Teach for Australia teachers starting in classrooms there last month.

Nearly 800 graduates vied for 45 places in the program.

In Victoria they will be paid at one band below their beginning teacher counterparts, before they achieve their degree.

It is unknown what the pay conditions would be in Queensland schools.

Source:The Courier Mail

Curriculum boss seeks legal advice over $97 My School package

A PRIVATE company is selling data available on the government’s My School website to parents for $97 a copy in a move that has prompted the Australian Curriculum Assessment Authority to seek legal advice.

Education Minister Julia Gillard has argued the information on the popular website cannot be used to produce a simple league table ranking schools’ results on literacy and numeracy tests.

That’s because it compares schools with similar schools only using a complex ranking system of socio economic advantage.

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Labor is being coy about support for private schools

IN POLITICS, timing is everything. In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, Kevin Rudd and his education spokesman Stephen Smith endorsed the Howard government’s non-government school funding model and promised, if elected, that no Catholic or independent school would be financially worse off.

But now, with a federal election due before the end of the year and the Rudd Government ahead in the polls, Education Minister Julia Gillard refuses to repeat the promise and to guarantee proper funding to non-government schools.

Twice in the past six months, on being asked whether non-government schools would be financially better or worse off as a result of the imminent review of the current funding model due to expire in 2012, Gillard has refused to answer.

On the most recent occasion, at a press conference at Gumdale State School last month – after being asked twice whether Catholic and independent schools would suffer financially as a result of this year’s review – she evaded the question.

Her refusal to say whether Catholic and independent school will be better or worse off as a result of the proposed review is understandable. In the lead-up to the 2007 federal election, the ALP, to win, had to appear conservative and attract the votes of non-government school parents.

This is no longer the case. Ahead in the polls, Labor no longer feels the need to assure non-government schools and parents that their interests will be protected.

While nowhere near as blunt as former Labor leader Mark Latham’s hit list of “wealthy private schools”, there is mounting evidence Gillard and traditional ALP supporters such as the Australian Education Union are keen to undermine the success and independence of non-government schools and to restrict their growth.

One way to weaken non-government schools – even though their enrolments increased in the 10 years to 2008 by 21.9 per cent, compared to a rise in government school enrolments of only 1.1per cent – is to reduce funding.

Gillard describes the present socio-economic status funding model as “one of the most complex, opaque and confusing in the developed world”. The teachers union regularly attacks it as inequitable and unfair.

Ignored is the fact, based on a Productivity Commission 2007-08 figures, that whereas total government funding to state school students is $12,639 a head, non-government schools receive only $6606 a student. So every student who attends a non-government school saves the taxpayer about $6000.

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Residency lures foreign students

Almost a quarter of international students choose to study in Australia to become permanent residents, according to a survey which could heighten industry fears about the possible impact of recently announced changes to the skilled migration system.

The online survey of more than 1600 international students from more than 10 Australian universities shows that 24 per cent are studying overseas in the hope of gaining permanent residency, up from 5 per cent when the question was asked in a similar survey in 2005.

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Kevin Rudd faces pressure over digital education revolution

THEY were called the toolbox of the 21st century by Kevin Rudd in the 2007 election campaign as Labor launched its $1 billion digital education revolution.

Two and a half years on, students have been lumbered with “glorified typewriters” as the Government drags the chain on high-speed internet access in high schools.

Yesterday it was confirmed none of the $100 million budgeted to bring high-speed broadband to schools had been spent after more than two years of Labor in power.

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Trial to lift web safety as cyber bullying increases

STUDENTS will be taught how to ward off online predators and cope with cyber-bullying under a national trial to be announced today.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard will reveal schools will take unprecedented action to protect children inside the classroom and out.

The $3 million “world-first cyber safety initiative” will be trialled in 164 public and private schools, including 27 in Queensland.

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