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DISCIPLINE

Suspending students leads to other problems

Sheryl Hemphill, Sydney Morning Herald, 27 April 2009

ALTHOUGH school suspensions are an outdated and counterproductive mode of student discipline, they are surprisingly common. In 2007, 12 per cent of year 10 students in Victoria reported having been suspended at least once.

One of the most controversial and emotive issues facing schools is the effective management of violent, anti-social and disruptive student behaviour. The response is often framed as a choice between the interests of the suspended student and those of other students and staff at the school. The interests of the latter are often given priority.

It may seem paradoxical but the evidence is clear: school suspensions increase the risk of a number of adverse consequences for the student. These include worsening academic problems, school drop-out, disengagement from school, student alienation, crime and delinquency, and alcohol and drug use.

Read entire article: http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/suspending-belief-20090426-ajau.html?page=-1

Dr Sheryl Hemphill is a senior research fellow at the Centre for Adolescent Health, Royal Children's Hospital, Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the University of Melbourne's department of pediatrics.

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EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Building a better picture of Australian children’s development

Hon Julia Gillard MP, Minister for Education, 27 April 2009

The Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, today welcomed the implementation of a key election commitment, the national rollout of the Australian Early Development Index.

The Rudd Government committed $15.9 million towards the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) being rolled out to all primary schools.

The AEDI will help us paint a better picture of the health and development of Australian children by the time they start school.

The results of the AEDI will help the Government provide better targeted services and support for all children in their early years.

The AEDI, managed by the Centre for Community Child Health at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in partnership with the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, will measure how communities support and develop children in their early years.

Read entire release: http://www.deewr.gov.au/Ministers/Gillard/Pages/default.aspx

Read more about AEDI at http://www.aedi.org.au

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TECHNOLOGY & EDUCATION

Laptop 'magic' lures young back to school in remote WA & NT

Debbie Guest, The Australian, April 27, 2009

CHILDREN from remote communities in Western Australia and the Northern Territory are being introduced to the digital world with their very own laptops as part of an international program aimed at boosting school attendance.

Last week, students at Shepherdson College on Elcho Island, 640km northeast of Darwin, were among 400 children from three schools to receive a computer, thanks to not-for-profit organisation One Laptop per Child.

Principal Bryan Hughes said the program - originally designed to help children in developing countries - would instill responsibility.

"This is a bit of magic for kids, this is their own computer," he told The Australian.

"I'm 53 years of age and still don't have a computer ... These kids at 10, 11 and 12 own a computer and the likelihood of them owning one outside of this program is very little."

Read entire article: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25390394-2702,00.html

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HEALTH & WELL-BEING

Lunchbox treats a calorie overload for kids

Melanie Christiansen, Courier Mail, April 23, 2009

A SMALL packet of chips may seem a harmless lunchbox treat, but research shows an eight-year-old would have to run for an hour to burn that off.

Just one row of a chocolate block requires a similar level of exercise - an hour of vigorous playground activity or 48 minutes pedalling a bike.

The news is worse for children who make a meal of a burger, hot chips and a soft drink.

To use up that much energy, the Children's Nutrition Research Centre has found an eight-year-old would need to spend nearly five hours running around or three hours on a bike.

The centre's Helen Truby - a dietitian and childhood obesity expert - said many parents were shocked to hear the statistics.

"It's a really frightening amount," she said. "People don't understand necessarily how much you have to do, and for how long, to burn off all that energy from one small meal."

Read entire article: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,25371993-5016679,00.html

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AROUND THE STATES & TERRITORIES

NSW: Public schools closed due to an education department bungle

Rhett Watson & Tim Vollmer, Daily Telegraph, April 27, 2009

THE State Government knew nine months ago that a bureaucratic bungle that closed all public schools today would cause chaos for working families, yet chose to do nothing.

That decision has left the parents of 750,000 public school students clambering to find care for children today and tomorrow, a pupil-free day.

Many will be angered to discover the Government knew in August it had mistakenly given teachers a public holiday for Anzac Day, something no other workers received.

Even teachers were apparently bewildered by the Education Department's generosity, which The Daily Telegraph revealed in February.

Only then did the department make a decision, but instead of withdrawing the holiday it issued a memorandum saying teachers had April 27 off.

The mistake was made when the school calendar was gazetted back in 2003.

Public School Principals Forum chairwoman Cheryl McBride said yesterday many teachers were unaware of the extra day, would have been happy to work, and the Government could easily have fixed the mistake.

Read entire article: http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,27574,25389157-5006009,00.html

NSW school suspensions rise

Sydney Morning Herald, April 25, 2009 (AAP)

The number of students being suspended from NSW schools is rising sharply, with almost 400 being suspended for turning up with weapons including firearms and knives last year.

Data obtained by News Limited indicates that 14,405 students, ranging from those in kindergarten to Year 12, were suspended in 2008.

Of those, 6,500 students were suspended for physical violence including assaults or bullying, a 20 per cent increase on 2005 figures.

Another 970 students were suspended for serious criminal behaviour, up by 45% since 2005.

The number of suspensions given for "use or possession" of a gun, knife, or other prohibited weapon rose 17 per cent from 339 in 2005 to 398 last year.

The vast majority of misbehaving students were aged between 12 and 16.

Source: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/nsw-school-suspensions-rise-20090425-aivk.html

NSW: Churches oppose Islamic school – “incompatible with Australian way of life”

Elicia Murray, Sydney Morning Herald, April 22, 2009

CAMDEN'S Christian leaders have united to condemn the Quranic Society, which wants to build an Islamic school in Camden, for espousing views which are "incompatible with the Australian way of life".

The leaders of the St John's Anglican, Camden Presbyterian and Camden Baptist churches and the Evangelical Sisterhood of Mary signed a letter to Camden Council arguing that the proposal was not in the public interest.

"Camden is increasingly becoming a multicultural community, but when one part of the community seeks to dominate the public space, as we have seen in Auburn, Bankstown, Lakemba and more recently Liverpool, the social impact is unacceptable," says the letter, which was read at the Quranic Society's appeal to the Land and Environment Court yesterday.

"Our concern is the Quranic Society inevitably advocates a political ideological position that is incompatible with the Australian way of life. This includes promoting Quranic law as being superior to national laws and regarding followers of any rival religion as inevitably at enmity with it."

The school proposal has split the Camden community.

Read entire article: http://www.smh.com.au/national/churches-oppose-islamic-school-20090421-ae1i.html

NT: The silence epidemic: kids can't hear, can't learn

Margie Smithurst, ABC News, Apr 27, 2009

It is a constant challenge to get Indigenous children from remote communities to school. But then, when they do turn up, they often can't hear what the teacher is saying.

So many Aboriginal students in remote areas of the Northern Territory are partially deaf that schools have had to install special acoustic equipment in classrooms.

Their partial deafness is caused by untreated middle ear infections, which are estimated to affect up to 90 per cent of Indigenous students in remote communities.

At the Macfarlane Primary School in Katherine, about 300 kilometres south of Darwin, teachers say 55 of their 181 Aboriginal students have 'conductive hearing loss' from the infections.

The students can still hear, but only at a much lower volume than what other people with good hearing would pick up.

To overcome the problem, the school has installed amplifying sound systems in each of its classrooms, with teachers wearing microphones around their necks during class.

Read entire article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/27/2553507.htm

NT: Education Dept claims some success from welfare-truancy trial

ABC News, Apr 25, 2009

The Northern Territory Education Department says there has been a slight increase in school attendance since the welfare-truancy trial began.

Fourteen schools in the Territory are participating in a trial where parents who do not send their children to school could have their welfare payments stopped.

A spokesman for the Education Department, Alan Green, says since school began this year attendance is up slightly.

"We've got some initial figures now which show that there have been increases in attendance," he said.  "Whether or not we can put that down to the SEAM trial or not is another issue.

"But it is actually really important that they get it absolutely right, because one of the worst outcomes of this would be someone having their welfare payments stopped inappropriately or incorrectly."

Read entire article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/25/2552453.htm

NT:  Welfare policy 'forces kids to go without basics'

ABC News, Apr 24, 2009

The Northern Territory's peak Aboriginal health body says a policy aimed at encouraging Indigenous students to attend school could hurt the very children it is trying to help.

The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) wants the Federal Government to scrap its policy of stopping welfare payments to parents whose children do not attend school.

The group says the government should instead trial a program of quarantining welfare payments.

The organisation's chairwoman Stephanie Bell says scrapping payments altogether means that children may be forced to go without the basic necessities.

"Breaching people's basic human rights as a mechanism of getting kids to attend school will never work," she said.  "This is a policy environment gone berserk," she said.

Read entire article: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/04/24/2551356.htm

NT: New Education Chief Executive Appointed

Hon Paul Henderson MLA, NT Minister of Education, 24 April 2009

The Northern Territory Education Minister Paul Henderson announced the appointment of the Department of Education and Training’s new Chief Executive.

Mr Henderson said experienced educator Gary Barnes would begin in the job from May 18.

“Gary will bring experience, strong leadership and a determination to improve our education and training systems across the Territory,” Mr Henderson said.  “He is a former teacher with a significant career in senior positions in the Queensland Education Department.

Gary replaces Dr Kevin Gillan, who has been acting Chief Executive.

Read entire release: http://newsroom.nt.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewRelease&id=5441&d=5

QLD:  Visual arts teacher wins prestigious scholarship for US study

Westside news, 27 April 2009

A teacher will be the first Australian to study design in New York as part of a prestigious Smithsonian Fellowship.

Kelvin Grove State College head of visual art Les Hooper has received the fellowship to work with a team at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum.

Mr. Hooper will spend four months working on a City of Neighbourhoods program, aimed at youths in the urban renewal of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

“This is a fantastic opportunity,” the 59-year-old from Paddington said.

He believed he was the first teacher in the world to receive a fellowship for design, with most handed out in areas like science.

Source: http://westside-news.whereilive.com.au/lifestyle/story/teacher-wins-prestigious-scholarship-for-us-study/

QLD: Qld government fast-tracks school aid

Sydney Morning Herald, April 27, 2009 (AAP)

The Queensland government has amended state planning rules to allow more than 460 non-state schools to fast-track projects worth over $700 million under the Rudd government's schools stimulus package.
Non-state schools will be able to circumvent the usual government approval processes to build the new facilities.

Premier Anna Bligh announced the change after a meeting of state cabinet at Highfields, north of Toowoomba.

"It now means the same facility upgrade opportunities apply to all schools - Catholic, independent and state," Ms Bligh said.

Planning Minister Stirling Hinchliffe said schools will be issued with a checklist to prevent breaches of building height and heritage value rules.

Source: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/qld-government-fasttracks-school-aid-20090427-akd0.html

SA: Unruly adults on notice in schools

Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith, 27 April 2009

Sixty-one adults have been banned from South Australian schools for up to three-months over the past four years for violent, abusive or threatening behaviour on school grounds.

The Rann Government introduced new regulations in 2004, giving SA Police and school principals the power to refuse entry and evict people who behave in a disorderly manner.

In the worst cases, principals can recommend to the Chief Executive of the Department of Education and Children’s Services that a person is banned for up to three months.

People who breach the prohibition notice face a fine of $200.

Education Minister Jane Lomax-Smith says it stands as a warning to people that unruly behaviour will not be tolerated in the State’s schools.

Read more at http://www.premier.sa.gov.au/news.php?id=4680

SA: Teachers exposed to chemical

The Advertiser, April 23, 2009

TWO teachers have been taken to hospital after a suspected chemical spill at Seaford High School.

Police and fire crews were called to the school to investigate a caustic smell making staff ill. Two staff members were taken to Noarlunga hospital for observation.

Seven Metropolitan Fire Service and Country Fire Service crews are on scene.

The staff, working over the school holidays, have been evacuated from the school while fire crews determine the source of the smell, believed to be a cleaning chemical.

No children are at the school due to the mid-semester break.

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,27574,25374886-2682,00.html

TAS: Adult Education Celebrates 60 Years as State Icon

David Bartlett MP, Minister for Education and Skills, 28 April 2009

Adult Education is a cornerstone of Tasmania’s education system, the Minister for Education and Skills, David Bartlett, said today.

Speaking at the 60th birthday celebrations at the North Hobart centre today, Mr Bartlett said that the Adult Education brand will continue to be part of the Community Knowledge Network (CKN), which brings together libraries, Online Access Centres and Adult Education.

“On this very important occasion, Tasmanians can be reassured that Adult Education has an exciting, vibrant future,” Mr Bartlett said.

“The story of Adult Ed goes back to 1948, when the Tasmanian Adult Education Act was passed. On 21 February, 1949, a new statutory body – the Adult Education Board – met for the first time.

“Over the years, Adult Education has been a separate Institute; a state program within the Institute of TAFE; and a delivery unit within the former Office of Post Compulsory Education and Training (OPCET).

“Since 2006, Adult Ed has been an integral part of the CKN, and now attracts around 30,000 enrolments each year across the State.”

Mr Bartlett said that the Government’s commitment to Adult Education in terms of a direct payment of $1.8m per annum was unmatched by other states.

Read more at http://www.media.tas.gov.au/release.php?id=26524

VIC: BOX HILL HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, 24 April 2009

Box Hill High School students are seeing the benefits of the Brumby Government’s schools rebuilding program, the biggest in Victoria’s history, with the official opening of the school’s $8.3 million state-of-the-art facilities today.

Officially opening the new school buildings, Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the massive infrastructure investment was another example of the Victorian and Federal Governments working together to improve learning outcomes for Victorian students.

“Education is the Brumby Government’s number one priority and through new building projects such as this one at Box Hill High, we are taking action to deliver a quality education to Victorians while generating jobs and driving economic activity at the same time,” Ms Pike said.

Read more at http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/minister-for-education/box-hill-high-school-building-for-the-futur.html

VIC: SCHOOLS IN THE WEST START UPWARD SPIRAL OF SUCCESS

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, 22 April 2009

Schools in Melbourne’s western suburbs will be targeted by a $3 million Brumby Government education injection to tackle disadvantage and bridge the education gap.

Education Minister Bronwyn Pike said the western suburbs were leading the way in turning struggling schools around and the Brumby Government would build on that work with a suite of new interventions to take off in the west and then expand throughout the state.

“The Brumby Government is driving reforms in the education system to lift all schools to a higher standard because we want to give every child every opportunity to shine regardless of their postcode or socio-economic circumstances,” Ms Pike said.

“Education remains the Brumby Government’s number one priority and this investment in the west builds on our Education Blueprint reforms already underway to address disadvantage and reform school improvement across Victoria.”

Read more at http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/minister-for-education/schools-in-the-west-start-upward-spiral-of-success.html

WA: Students' chance to travel to the birthplace of the ANZAC legend 

Education Minister Liz Constable, 24 April 2009

Twelve Western Australian school students have the chance to travel to Gallipoli next year to learn more about the origins of the ANZAC legend.

On the eve of ANZAC Day, Education Minister Liz Constable today encouraged secondary school students in Years eight to eleven to apply for a place on the 2010 Premier’s ANZAC Student Tour.

“The selected students will play an important role in helping to keep the ANZAC spirit alive,” Dr Constable said.

“Applications have opened to secondary students across the State, and I would urge all those with a keen interest in Australian history, and the ANZAC story in particular, to apply before Friday, August 14.”

Applicants needed to write a 1,000 word essay on the impact of war on the Western Australian community.

Read more at http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Lists/Statements/DispForm.aspx?ID=131738

WA: WA curriculum being taught in Chinese schools

Education Minister Liz Constable, 23 April 2009

Four schools in China are currently offering the Western Australian curriculum to their senior students and another will start the program in 2010.

Education Minister Liz Constable, who is leading a delegation of Vice-Chancellors from four Perth universities to China, has this week signed Memorandums of Understanding with schools in Ghangzhou and Shanghai to teach the WA courses.

The curriculum is also taught in schools in Beijing, Zhengzhou and Chengdu.

Today, Dr Constable and the Vice-Chancellors visited the National Institute of Technology in Beijing, the first school to offer the WA curriculum in 2004.

There are currently 80 Year 12 and 240 Year 11 students at the school enrolled in the WA program.

Read more at http://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Lists/Statements/DispForm.aspx?ID=131734

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