July 2019

NEWSLETTER ARTICLES

THE DEBATE ON MOBILE DEVICES IN SCHOOLS HEATS UP

On 26 June, the Victorian Minister for Education James Merlino announced that mobile phones will be banned for all students at Victorian state primary and secondary schools from Term 1 2020, to help reduce distraction, tackle cyber bullying and improve learning outcomes for students.

“This will remove a major distraction from our classrooms, so that teachers can teach, and students can learn in a more focused, positive and supported environment.

“Half of all young people have experienced cyberbullying. By banning mobiles we can stop it at the school gate,” he said.

Now, Federal Education Minister, Dan Tehan is calling on other states and territories and non-government schools to follow suit and ban devices in primary and secondary schools.

Where does CCSP stand on the issue?

In October last year, CCSP provided a submission to the Review into the non-educational use of mobile devices in NSW schools. In its submission, CCSP supported the banning of mobile devices in primary schools. However, CCSP maintained that there is a place for mobile devices in secondary schools, the key is to ensuring that parents and teachers work together to ensure that students become responsible users of technology and know and obey the school’s policy on the acceptable use of devices on school grounds.

In terms of whether a secondary school should ban the use of devices on school grounds or not, CCSP reinforced that this decision is one that should be made at the school community level with parent input. CCSP’s submission can view viewed on the CCSP website.

New data released recently from headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation reveals more than half of young Australians (53%) have experienced cyberbullying, indicating bullying in a digital context is prevalent among young people. This is extremely concerning and an urgent issue that needs addressing. In 2019, social media is something that is part of everyday life for young people and whether phones are outlawed or not, kids will continue to connect with social media. It is important that parents and schools work together to educate our next generation about how to be socially responsible users of technology and about the right and wrong ways to engage with people online. We are all responsible for protecting our children – both in the physical world and in the digital world – and it is important that parents and teachers take a joint proactive approach in keeping children safe online.

For more information about keeping children safe online visit the Office of the eSafety Commissioner’s website.

MEETING WITH YOUR MINISTER

On Tuesday 25 June, CCSP Chair Narelle Burke and Executive Director Peter Grace met with the new NSW Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, the Hon. Sarah Mitchell MLC and her Senior Adviser, David Cross. This was an opportunity for CCSP to advise the Minister of our objectives and to outline the various activities of CCSP including:

• advocating for Catholic school parents in the political arena
• leading NESA-accredited professional learning on parent engagement for current and pre-service teachers

• supporting the work of Diocesan parent organisations
• providing tips and items of interest to our parents through our newsletters, website and social media platforms.

The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the recent NSW Budget. We explained to the Minister that, for many years, parents have borne 90% of the cost of capital expenditure to build and upgrade schools, which is increasingly unsustainable. In this respect, we acknowledged the NSW commitment to provide an extra $500 million in capital funding to NSW non-government schools over the next four years. CCSP also pointed out areas of the Budget in which allocated funding is only of benefit to students in public schools.

Minister Mitchell said that she is looking forward to a positive and collaborative relationship with CCSP and is keen for us to work closely with the NSW Government in advancing the best interests of children and young people in Catholic schools. As a parent of a school-aged child herself, and with another child of pre-school age, the Minister needed no reminding of the important role parents pay in the education and formation of their children. CCSP is eager to work closely with Minister Mitchell and her team in providing all parents and carers of students in Catholic schools with the support they need to work with schools and the wider community to optimise students’ educational and social outcomes.

REVIEW OF THE MELBOURNE DECLARTION

In December 2018, The Conversation published an interesting article on what the Melbourne Declaration is and why it needs reviewing.

According to the article, as the overarching vision for Australian education, the document articulates two main goals:

• the promotion of equity and excellence in Australian schools
• that all young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens.

These two goals are intended to ensure all students get high-quality schooling free from discrimination so they develop into knowledgeable, capable and articulate citizens.

A number of education experts have criticised the Melbourne Declaration. One, for example, argues a main driver behind the Melbourne Declaration is the promotion of education as a commodity, competing with other commodities in a global market. As a result, other important aims related to the development of students’ personal attributes as communicative, respectful and thoughtful individuals are not fully targeted in the document.

Similarly, other experts argue the document advocates a new type of education promoted by the OECD, which requires creative thinking, the ability to work flexibly and the ability to adapt to changes in the workplace and wider society. They argue the document is couched in language that promotes the economic aims of education and the economic prosperity of the nation over student well-being, environmental sustainability and democratic participation.

You can read the article in full on The Conversation’s website.

CCSP provided a submission to the review and highlighted that the Melbourne Declaration needs to address explicitly areas of educational disadvantage (for example, students with disability, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, students in remote locations). CCSP also highlighted that any national declaration needs to acknowledge that students have a spiritual dimension and that student wellbeing needs to be addressed more adequately. Further, CCSP recommended an acknowledgement that education occurs both pre- and post-school. You can view CCSP’s submission online.

NAIDOC WEEK 2019

This year’s theme for NAIDOC Week promotes three fundamental elements that have been stolen from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Let’s break them down.

1. VOICE

As Aboriginal people, we have been stripped of our voice by colonisation for over 200 years. Our voice is our key, just like all of our Non-Indigenous Brothers and Sisters. Over the past 50-60 years, our Elders have fought very hard to reinstate our voice in this country and inch by inch we are getting our voice back and speaking up about the injustices that our people have endured.

2. TREATY

Treaty is another word for Reconciliation. Sovereignty was never ceded and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the traditional owners of this land. This is important to understand and acknowledge, for ours is the longest living identity. Generational trauma will never be addressed while Australia choses to ignore this.

3. TRUTH

As the saying goes in the bible, “The truth shall set you free” and as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we are still arguing the true treatment and oppression inflicted on our people to this day. It is vital that the truth of what has happened to our ancestors be spoken and not continually concealed. It is only through speaking our truth that we can move forward as a nation.

The 2019 NAIDOC theme has been confusing for some people, which is a good thing because it has prompted questions and conversations. All three elements of the theme have great power and hurt attached, but as a whole they have a massive impact, because you can’t have one without the other – they are all interconnected.

Selina Walker
CCSP ATSI Committee Chairperson

THE NSW BUDGET – WHAT WE LIKE AND WHAT WE WOULD LIKE CHANGED

On 18 June 2019, Catholic school alumnus and NSW treasurer, the Hon. Dominic Perrottet MP, released the NSW Budget for the 2019-20 financial year. He called it a “budget for the bush,” with almost half of the 8300 new medical staff being allocated to the country and $800 million worth of drought assistance giving farmers some much-needed relief, including funding to help build drought resilience and preparedness.

Educationally, the NSW Government re-stated its commitment from earlier this year to provide $500 million in capital funding to support the building, expansion and upgrading of non-government schools in NSW. This will be of some benefit to parents in the Catholic school sector who currently bear 90% of the cost of NSW Catholic school capital works. We at CCSP urge the NSW Government to find more ways to alleviate this increasingly unsustainable burden placed on parents of children in Catholic schools.

Other features of the Budget that potentially impact on families include:

• $70m allocated to free dental care for up to 136,000 primary school students via new mobile dental clinics in Western Sydney, the Mid North Coast and the Central Coast
• an extra 500 schools to participate in the School Breakfast 4 Health Program.

However, it is not clear whether these initiatives apply to students enrolled in Catholic schools. CCSP has sought advice from the Education Minister’s Office regarding whether either or both of these initiatives are limited to students in public schools only, or, whether they also include students in Catholic schools. CCSP would like to see these programs available to Catholic schools in need as well.

Unfortunately, we do know that the following announcements apply only to public schools:

• $88.4m for an additional 100 school counsellors or psychologists and 350 student support officers and dedicated services for rural and remote students
• $120 million to expand before and after school care.

It is crucial that funding for this kind of support is needs-based and is not merely limited to the public school sector alone. Parents of children in Catholic schools need and are deserving of such support from the Government.

Likely to be of benefit to the Catholic sector is the $18.5m to provide 300 new school crossing supervisors across NSW primary schools by 2022 and the expansion of the Active Kids program, which now sees parents of children participating in organised sport provided with two $100 vouchers per year rather than just one.

To support people in gaining vocational education qualifications, the Budget also provides an additional 100,000 fee-free TAFE and VET courses, including 70,000 fee-free courses for young job-seekers combining work and study through a traineeship, and 30,000 free TAFE places for mature-aged workers seeking to retrain or re-enter the workforce.

Finally, CCSP commends the NSW Government for its infrastructure spending that will enable parents to return home to their families sooner and more easily.

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING – CCSP TALKS PARENT ENGAGEMENT

On Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 June, the Australian Catholic University (ACU) held its annual Ready, Steady Teach: What makes a good teacher? program for pre-service teachers of secondary school in their final year of training. CCSP was again there to present a workshop that will help these emerging teachers to work closely and productively with the parents of the children they teach. Called Engaging with Parents: Communication and Conflict, the workshop looked at parent-teacher relationships and explored how to best address the learning needs of children in the classroom and at home.

It is crucial for children’s education that teachers and parents are on the same page when it comes to a young person’s educational needs and the best approaches to be taken to achieve optimal educational outcomes. Participants considered the different but complementary themes of parent involvement and parent engagement as well as the characteristics of strong teacher-parent relationships.

The workshop also investigated sources of home-school conflict and, through a set of scenarios, explored ways of dealing with situations in which teachers and parents do not initially see things the same way. The importance of awareness of self and the other, the necessity for open channels of clear and respectful communication, and always keeping the student as the focus of the conversation were key messages that these emergent teachers were able to take away.

Finally, some tips were provided on successful parent-teacher interviews, which will be useful for these pre-service teachers when they are exercising their ministry of teaching post-graduation.

CCSP is grateful to ACU for the opportunity to deliver these important workshops and to continue the fine collaboration we share with ACU in serving the educational mission of the Church. Later in the year we will have the opportunity to present to pre-service teachers who are primary school-bound.

SCHOOL FUNDING – STILL MAKING THE CASE FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOL PARENTS

Recently, CCSP Executive Director, Peter Grace, spoke to The Australian about the significant costs that Catholic school parents save state and federal governments.

CSNSW released a Report, The Case for Catholic Schools, explaining the benefits of the Catholic schools sector in NSW. Financial modelling that forms the basis of the report was independently prepared by Ernst & Young and it found that under current funding arrangements, the operation of NSW Catholic schools resulted in a net saving in recurrent government expenditure of $480 million in 2018. In the five years from 2018 to 2022, savings will reach a cumulative total of $2.56 billion. It also found that if the NSW Government were required to educate all students currently at NSW Catholic schools, it would require up to $7.91 billion in additional capital expenditure to develop the necessary school capital. So, Catholic school parents save state and federal governments close to $8 billion in capital funding that would be necessary to accommodate all current Catholic school students if Catholic schools ceased to exist.

In his comment in The Australian, CCSP’s Executive Director acknowledged the financial benefits of Catholic schools, but also reinforced that faith-based schools provide positives for society and focus on developing the whole student through social justice programs and other initiatives.

Through CSNSW’s Report, The Case for Catholic Schools, the sector continues to highlight the vital role that Catholic schools play in Australia’s education landscape. The Report has three volumes that will provide an evidence-based explanation of the benefits of Catholic schools. The research is intended to contribute to public understanding of the many benefits of Catholic schools in NSW for taxpayers, families and students. You can read Volume 1 on the CSNSW website.

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