The Public Education Foundation's new campaign features Australian household names, like Deborah Mailmain, scroll down to find out more.

What does it take to get national support for families learning from home? 

Hello friends,

As we head towards the end of Term 3 and holidays for some, the impacts of COVID are still being felt across our nation. We are mindful of our Victorian communities, and other respective school community lockdowns that have resulted in even more learning from home.

Our learning continuity has never been tested as it has been this year, and not all of our jurisdictions are able to address it. A national assistance program is limited given the current relationships between the federal and state/territory education systems.

At what point is an issue great enough that a national approach to continue learning from home is desirable? At what point can we be assured that we have other national contingencies beyond, “get back to the classroom”. Sure, education is a state and territory responsibility. Sure, the Commonwealth's hands are tied constitutionally. But surely, too, the commonality between Australians is strong enough to find national options to help.

Violence in schools

Within this past month there have been many other national education reviews into existing standards, emerging strategies, and pathways. As your national peak body, ACSSO participates in each of these as best we can with the time and resources we have available.

These interactions have included participating in a renewed national focus on violence in the school workplace, specifically against school staff. As mentioned in earlier newsletters, the desire for a holistic approach for all aspects of violence in the school community is needed. ACSSO, however, sees that while this focus is on school staff, there are definite crossovers with the other areas and we see value in identifying and supporting our school staff in this endeavour.

A core priority of this discussion regarded community engagement, which we see as the most important area in which to address violence. It is established that an understanding, engaging and respectful community generally results in reduced violence in schools. Many leaders provided input to these workshops and echoed this call.

At present a draft strategy is being reviewed to collate the different viewpoints, and ACSSO represents the government community/family sector.

Hearing and sharing  your voices

I am proud of all the submissions our organisation has responded to this past month, with significant reviews taking place within the Federal sphere.

ACSSO has significant experience on our board and more importantly, in our membership, and we are of vital importance to interactions with the federal government in representing the government school sector.

Thanks to all for your input over the course of these submissions. We hear you, and your contribution to the national voice is vital. 

Transparency would close the loopholes

Funding into the Australian education system remains a hot topic for ACSSO, and many other organisations concerned with social justice. The recent news that NSW Catholic schools redirect their government funding from lower SES schools to higher SES schools is nothing new.

When  organisations are given the opportunity to shift funds without transparency and accountability, why wouldn’t they?

ACSSO continues to call on governments at all levels to implement ways to support funding that is fair, simple and transparent that is based on true need without special deals.

While we understand this inequality experienced by families, this is nothing new for us, and ACSSO continually strives to address the federal funding inequalities at the sector level. Until there is greater public outcry, there will be limited implications for this deeply established business institution, let alone the federal funding concerns continually raised by ACSSO over many decades.

Evidence for fair funding

Education at a Glance 2020 has OECD indicators supporting Australia's ongoing funding into educational investments when compared to other OECD nations. Reports into Australia’s performance are compared to OECD nations and used to drive discussions. We call on our governments at all levels to equally consider this report.

These education indicators confirm that public investment into Australia’s public education system is below the OECD average, yet we have the third highest level of private expenditure on education, more than 2.6 times the OECD average.

Isn’t this imbalance worthy of a rethink? 

And finally...

The Australian Department of Education, Skills and Employment has some new members in the Partnerships and Engagement team, and we say farewell and particularly thank Nina Downes for her time as Director of Partnerships and Engagement. We look forward to continuing our strong, long-term relationship with both our new and continuing DESE colleagues.

Andrew Bidwell
Chair
Australian Council of State School Organisations

September 2020

Video celebrates Early Childhood Educators

This month we celebrated Early Childhood Educators Day 2020
ACSSO created a video to thank Australia's Early Childhood Educators for everything they do.

High quality early childhood education creates lifelong benefits for children.

The social, physical and emotional foundations built in excellent early years education also deliver huge benefits to the school teachers who receive those children as they grow.

Have you ever thanked an early childhood educator for helping to make your school a better place for learning and teaching?

Click here to view the video and leave a comment to tell us what you love about quality early childhood education.

2020 PEF Campaign

The Public Education Foundation’s amazing video campaign is continuing and provides some great insights for anyone with an interest in public education as the foundation of a civil society.

If you’d like to load the videos directly to your school’s website or social media channels, head to this cloud storage link and take your pick.

The videos feature Aussie icons such as Kurt Fearnley, Deborah Mailman and Juanita Phillips sharing how Australian #PublicEducation shaped their lives.

Together/apart at Footscray PS

We caught you being great Footscray Primary School in Victoria - we love your remote learning song! 

Footscray's school community is, of course, in lockdown in Melbourne but came together virtually and recorded a wonderful musical video with an original song all about remote learning.

Please follow this Facebook link to the video. We promise you won't be disappointed. 

*We love to hear your stories of schools and communities doing great things. 

Send your #caughtyoubeinggreat stories to comms@acsso.org.au and use the hashtag on Facebook to find other wonderful stories.

Thrive by Five

ACSSO is a great supporter of reform and a larger investment in the early years. The Minderoo Foundation co-ordinated a joint campaign with many other significant organisations to advocate for further support for the early years.  View the webinar from Thrive by Five

Along with universal access to early learning, and integrated services for children and families, the Thrive by Five campaign seeks the following outcomes:

• Quality early learning delivery standards with secure, appropriately paid employment for educators
• Place-based, community-driven centres
• Early childhood development system connected to the education system.

To add your support to the Thrive by Five campaign.

Click here to read the open letter.

2021 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards

This story was provided by the Award organisers:

Now more than ever, teachers deserve recognition for their dedication to their students.

Applications and nominations for the 2021 Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards are now open. After a year of challenges, this is a wonderful opportunity to recognise teachers and school leaders for their passion and commitment to education.

The Teaching Awards, an initiative Schools Plus runs in partnership with the Commonwealth Bank, celebrate great teaching and leadership in schools across Australia, recognising those innovate, inspire and create change for their students.

The selected 12 outstanding educators will each receive a $45,000 Teaching Fellowship, which includes $10,000 to support their professional development, $25,000 for a major school project, and a group visit to a high-performing education system.

We would greatly appreciate your support in sharing this news with your network. Please consider:

• publishing a story about the Awards in your next newsletter
• sharing a post on your social media channels
• forwarding this email to your education network 

Applications for the Awards are open from 14 September 2020 – 16 October 2020. For more information, visit teachingawards.com.au.

The value of a good educator’s work lasts a lifetime, but the chance for them to be recognised is today. Thank you for your support in sharing this news. If you have any questions, please contact the Schools Plus team on (02) 8880 0296 or awards@schoolsplus.org.au. 

Contribute to these research projects

1. RMIT asks how business ethically manages children's data online.

How should your child’s online information used – can you help us with this study?

A project in collaboration with the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology seeks understand how Australian businesses should ethically manage children’s online personal information.

Your participation will help researchers understand what the community expects from businesses in this area.

To participate, click here.
 

2. Growing Up Digital Australia survey - Gonski Institute

Provided by the Gonski Institute of Education. 

Are you a parent, carer or grandparent of children aged 5 to 17?
 
Do you wonder how digital media and technologies that they live with might affect their wellbeing, health and learning?
 
If your answer to these questions is ‘yes’, we would invite you to share your views with us here!
 
We at the Gonski Institute of Education at the University of NSW are working on a ground-breaking research project called Growing Up Digital Australia. This international research project that we partner with Harvard Medical School, the University of Alberta and Alberta Teachers Association seeks to understand the health, wellbeing and learning impacts of growing up in a digital world on our young people.

A number of Australian organisations are supporting this project, including Departments of Education, parent organisations and teacher associations. This longitudinal study will reframe issues surrounding children’s consumption of media and digital technologies moving into an evidence-based solutions to parents, educators and young people to live healthier, safer and happier lives here in Australia.
 
 The Growing Up Digital project Phase 1 saw us work with almost 2,000 educators from around the country and find out what is happening in classrooms through the eyes of teachers and principals. Now with this Phase 2 survey, it is your turn as parents and grandparents to have your say.
 
 This project has Ethics approval, and poses no risk to you. Participation is voluntary and you will never be identified at any stage. By completing the survey, you have the chance to be entered into the draw for one of four $100 Coles Myer gift cards.
 
 This Phase 2 survey will be open until 11 October, 2020. If you are a parent, carer or grandparent of any child aged 5-17, please complete the survey here. You may also share this invitation to take part in this research with others by sharing the link to the questionnaire. If you are a parent, we would be delighted if you would invite one of your child’s grandparents to take part in this survey.
 
To find out more about our project, and the results from Phase 1, visit us here. 

New Case Studies on Parent Engagement website

Australian Education Minister Dan Tehan has launched new Case Studies on the Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) Gearing up for parent engagement website.

The Case Studies, consisting of 25 videos and 18 vignettes, were compiled from interviews in Government, Independent and Catholic schools.

In his launch (view here), Minister Tehan encouraged parents, teachers and school leaders from all sectors, make use of the case studies to build stronger engagement.

CSPA Chair Karl Rodrigues thanked Minister Tehan for funding the project.

“I am pleased that CSPA is able to promote parent engagement by freely providing these resources to all schools nationwide,” Mr Rodrigues said.

Find the case studies here on the Gearing up for parent engagement website.

If that's the worst thing that happens to you...

Of all the impacts the Covid-19 pandemic has had on education and our communities, the change to traditions like end-of-school events has ranked highly.

Some commentators within and outside the education sector have described Year 12 students' experiences in terms of grief and mourning. Academic and thought leader, Lyndsay Connors (pictured) shares a different view in this article on the johnmenadue.com online public policy journal, Pearls and Irritations.

... whenever I hear or read laments about the cancelling of school formals, I hear my mother giving voice to her frequent message — “if that’s the worst thing that ever happens to you, you will have had a charmed life.”

Lyndsay reminds us this has been a global pandemic and while many of our usual celebrations and rituals can't follow tradition, we should take a glimpse at the bigger picture of the world and where this episode will fit in our children's life journeys.

This may seem an odd contribution to a public policy forum but the point is that one of the roles of our leaders and those making policy decisions is to help us citizens to keep a rational sense of proportion and priorities, while caring for each other in times of crisis. 

We recommend Lyndsay's article to you all!

Day for Daniel - 30 October, 2020

The Daniel Morcombe Foundation was established in honour of Daniel Morcombe to make Australia a safer place for children.

The Foundation was founded by parents Bruce and Denise after their son was abducted and murdered in December 2003 while waiting to catch a bus on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

The aims of the Foundation are to educate children and young people about how to stay safe in physical and online environments and to support young victims of crime.

Click here for more information

Money management for students

This article was provided by The Wealth Academy

Research by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission indicates:

people don’t always know what they don’t know. Studies show a significant mismatch between what people say they know and what they do know.

This is probably not surprising when we consider the complexity of the financial world.

How do we currently build our knowledge? From where do we get our information?

ASIC’s research indicates that the top five delivery channels for receiving financial information were:

• the internet (38%)
• books on finance (15%)
• newspaper or magazine articles (14%)
• television/radio advertising (8%); and
• personal face-to-face contact (7%).

Is it therefore surprising that we do not know as much as we think we know. While most people would say the most effective way to learn is through face-to-face interaction, in the current pandemic situation, online courses and resource access is emerging as the best way forward to learn financial concepts.  This aligns with ASIC's research from over 10 years ago. There is much to consider from such research. 

As a parent, how do you want your children to learn financial life skills? At this point in time the internet seems the best way forward, integrated with school and parent programs where possible. 

Contact Ken Swan at admin@thewealthacademy.com.au

Save the date

With continuing uncertainty around in-person gatherings we recommend subscribing to any information emails that conference organisers might be issuing or following the links below for advice.

• Parents Victoria – the virtual conference 19 October will still include participation of the Victorian Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, James Merlino. More details coming soon but put the date in your diary now and watch the PV website. 
• ACSSO AGM online – 31 October, watch our Facebook for details