Australian Parents Council eNewsletter

Welcome to our latest newsletter.

Our thoughts are with all the all the families and students currently in lock down.

Personally, I'm trying to make the best of having three sporty teenage boys at home. We're in the ACT, so this is early days, but I am acutely aware of the millions of people who have been in lockdown for months now. (Don't forget we have Learning at home and activity tips for parents on our website.)

Parents are again under huge pressure, as are teachers and school leaders who have again had to pivot to online lessons. This is a momentous effort for everyone.

But it is young people who are being impacted most. Please read and share my blog It's time to rethink high stakes Year 12 exams and the ATAR included in this newsletter, because there are things we can do to take the pressure off the class of 2021 and prioritise their wellbeing.

We also include details of a recent UNICEF survey showing parent support for student vaccinations so schools can re-open.

On another note, APC invites you join our webinar this week - How to help your child find vocational education and training opportunities - 7.30pm AEST Thursday August 26 - to mark National Skills Week. It's a chance to look towards bright future possibilities for your teen (even if you are currently in lockdown).

Also in this newsletter:

Researchers from the University of Melbourne are looking for parents with children who have experienced mental health issues to help develop new guidelines.
And APC is inviting parents with a passion for education to consider joining our board. We're looking for new people with a range of skills to be part of our team. It'll be an interesting and rewarding role so, if you're interested, please contact me for a chat (before the September 30 deadline).
And lots more...

Stay healthy and safe,

Jenni Rickard,

APC President

president@austparents.edu.au

Here we are with roughly half the country currently in lockdown, many others just out of lockdown and none of us knowing what's going to happen next.

There is no doubt our kids are stressed, especially Year 12 students. There is plenty of research to tell us this but we know parents need look no further than their own home to see the evidence themselves. Two-thirds of parents are concerned that lockdowns are affecting the mental health of their children, with half worried about emerging behavioural problems, according to the latest Guardian Essential poll.

Year 12 students across the country have had a very disrupted senior secondary experience. Pushing them to perform to their very best under such conditions and with the preparation they have had is not right. Even students not subjected to the yoyo lockdowns or long periods of remote learning are stressed because we are living through a global pandemic. We are all experiencing a heightened feeling of threat. Teachers teaching are feeling it. Parents caring are feeling it. Kids going to school, or not as the case may be, in every grade level are feeling it. (With the younger ones not understanding it either).

Year 12 students are like elite athletes. If we want them to perform at their optimum we need to have provided the perfect opportunities to prepare, practice and train. 2020-2021 has not been that opportunity, and let's not forget that Year 11 for these students was also massively disrupted. We are not giving every student, every chance to achieve their peak by persisting with high stakes testing right now. Practical exams in creative and performance courses like music, dance and drama, have already been abandoned in NSW, there's been disruption to the VCE GAT assessments in Victoria and the ACT Scaling Test, which is required to get an ATAR for university entry, anyway.

We need to reduce the pressure and find alternative ways to assess and award credentials that reflect students' school performance and aptitude.

Some universities already offer alternatives to ATAR entry. The time is now for Education Ministers and Departments to catch up! Universities and admission bodies across the country need to pivot (there I said it!) now and create these options for students. Scores made on the basis of the culmination of work and assesment done during the year make sense right now. There are lots of suitable ways to select students for university admission other than the ATAR, which is a blunt instrument at the best of times. Things like school recommendation, university entrance interviews, aptitude testing for course suitability, written submissions by students all spring to mind.

The class of 2021 can still go on to university, work, training and whatever else 2022 holds for them if alternative measures are put in place and now is definitely the time to put the wellbeing of students at the forefront. It will likely to be a better investment in the long run.

If your young person is struggling with stress, feeling overwhelmed and you are worried about their mental health, there is professional support available. This is a list of helplines, online forums and mental health services: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/who-does-it-affect/young-people/helpful-contacts-and-websites.

Jenni Rickard
APC President
president@austparents.edu.au

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Australian parents want their children vaccinated against COVID-19 and back in the classroom for face-to-face learning due to their overwhelming concerns about learning loss caused by the extended periods of lockdown, a recent survey has found.

In a national poll conducted by leading children's charity UNICEF Australia, parents called on state governments to provide more support for home-schooling and want them to urgently make up lost ground with funded tutoring, extended school terms once lockdowns end and make up classes to be held in the holidays.

Parents have clear opinions on what measures should be taken to protect children when they return to school, including vaccination for school staff (64%), masks (50%), limited class numbers and vaccinations for students (43%).

Two thirds (65%) of the 1000 parents surveyed said they would vaccinate their children ‘tomorrow’ if they could, and that they would like their children to continue with face-to-face learning at school during lockdowns (53%).

The main reason parents cited for wanting children back at school was for socialisation and mental health (69%), followed by learning (68%). Home schooling is also clearly a stress on parents, with more than a third saying they want their children to return to school to take the pressure off at home.

Learning loss is a major concern for 63% of parents, with more than one in four (27%) saying they are concerned their child won’t be able to catch up and 69% saying they would like their child’s learning to be measured after lockdown.

Three in four parents (83%) said they would like to see more teaching support for learning at home and when asked how they would like learning loss to be managed, 42% said they would like to see more 1:1 teacher contact during lockdown, followed by government funded tutoring, and one in four said they were open to extended term dates after lockdown finishes (31%) and subject specific classes during the school holidays (23%).

Read the full UNICEF survey report here

Guardian Essential poll also found that two-thirds of parents are concerned that lockdowns are affecting the mental health of their children, with half worried about emerging behavioural problems.

'Poorly ventilated schools are a super-spreader event waiting to happen'

The risks to children and school staff in schools from the Delta variant was examined in a recent article in The Conversation - Poorly ventilated schools are a super-spreader event waiting to happen

The article outlines a number of measures that can be used in schools to improve ventilation.

It says: 'According to the US Centers for Disease Control, the Delta variant is about twice as infectious as the earlier strains. And preliminary data suggest children and adolescents are at greater risk of becoming infected with this variant, and transmitting it.

'The Australian Infection Control Expert Group (ICEG), which advises the federal government...have recently amended earlier advice that COVID-19 was only spread by contact and droplets:

'ICEG has also recognised broader circumstances in which there may be potential for aerosol transmission […] ICEG […] notes the risk may be higher under certain conditions, such as poorly ventilated indoor crowded environments.'

'“Poorly ventilated indoor crowded environments” accurately describes conditions at many schools. Even in lockdown, schools are still open for children of essential workers and classrooms in use can have relatively high occupancy.'

And this one about ventilation in schools

https://theconversation.com/poorly-ventilated-schools-are-a-super-spreader-event-waiting-to-happen-it-may-be-as-simple-as-opening-windows-165958

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Is your child looking for something different at school or beyond? There are lots of vocational education and training opportunities for young people that they can combine with their school studies, that can lead to careers, further training, work and university, including things like school based apprenticeships in everything from agriculture to IT. They offer young people something different to the usual school subjects and a chance to broaden their horizons.

This webinar offers practical advice to parents and carers on not just how to find out what's available, but also how you can create opportunities and secure a life changing experience with your child using the magic of parent power!

The webinar will be available via our Facebook page on Thursday 26 August 7.30pm AEST.

Sign up via our Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/363465035353099

The webinar is part of our project with the National Careers Institute to provide events and information for parents so they can help their young people explore their options, and is part of National Skills Week 2021.

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The Your Career Parents and Guardians' Guide for School Leavers summarises the resources and information available to help you explore all the education, training and work options available to your child.

Parents and Guardian’s Guide for School Leavers (PDF 851KB)

Parents and Guardian’s Guide for School Leavers (Word 426KB)

The Parents and Guardians' Guide has also been translated into additional languages.

The School Leavers Information Kit contains more detail and is designed for your child to help them navigate their post school options.

If you have a child with a disability or special education need who is a school leaver, you can also contact the School Leavers Information Service for tailored support or guidance for your child. Call 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) to speak with an Information Officer.

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APC has produced a number of videos as part of our ongoing project with the National Careers Institute - nci.dese.gov.au

We are very proud to have two of our case study videos included on the Storylines website.

All the videos are a free resource for parents, teachers, schools, careers advisors and community groups. They aim to make parents more aware of all the options open to young people and especially highlight the unexpected opportunities offered by vocational education and training (VET), as well as give general advice about talking careers with teens and helping them find work and training options. They have already been shared at a number of parent information evenings and have been very popular on our social media channels.

Contact media@austparents.edu.au if you would like the videos in a different format, or share them direct from the YouTube links below or via our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/watch/AustParentsCouncil/

Case studies

Kade is combining a School-based apprenticeship Year 11 with his HSC studies, working on a cattle property at Nowra Hill in NSW, and hopes to go on to study Veterinary Sciences at uni.

Luke is taking an Australian School-based Apprenticeship as part of his Year 11 and 12 program, working on an oyster farm at Pambula in NSW and gaining a Cert II in Aquaculture. He loves the freedom of working on the water and says it simply ‘feels right’. He hopes to go into business with his brother in the future.

Darby’s combining a School-based Apprenticeship in Year 11 and 12 with her HSC. She will also gain a Certificate II in Agriculture. One of her rotations is at a dairy Farm at Candelo on the Far NSW South Coast. She hopes to manage her own farm in the future.

Cebita is an IT apprentice with the Australian Government working four days and studying one day a week at Canberra Institute of Technology where she is completing a Cert IV in Cyber Security. Cebita was offered her apprenticeship after taking a school based apprenticeship in Years 11 and 12 at school. She decided not to go straight to uni in favour of the option to earn while she learns.

Career planning

Parent tips on career planning with teens

We asked lots of different parents for their advice for other parents on career planning. This is what they told us.

Why parents recommend vocational education and training in school

We asked parents who know kids who have taken part in vocational education and training (VET) in school why they'd recommend it to other parents. This is what they said.

Top 10 tips for parents from a careers advisor

Chontel Green, an experienced careers officer from Hawker College in the ACT, shares her top ten tips for parents when talking careers with their kids. Chontel spends her whole time helping kids and parents chart their path from school to work, training and further study. This is what she'd like every parent to know.

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Can you help? A research project from The University of Melbourne is looking for parent input.

See https://tinyurl.com/hj7yampz for details.

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According to recent findings, praise can have a positive impact on improving a child's academic performance.

"It is also just an orientation towards being positive towards your kids," according to Professor Philip Parker, one of the authors of the study that looked at the impact of positive reinforcement on a child's success and confidence.

"We now know, for instance, that teachers' expectations of kids, the kids will live up to them. And it's the same with parents. So, if you expect your kid to do poorly, they end up doing poorly. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Professor Parker is the deputy director of the Institute for Positive Psychology and Education at the Australian Catholic University.

Want to know more? You can listen to an ABC Life Matters podcast here: https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/lifematters/good-job-mate:-how-to-praise-your-child-towards-success/13428556

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This webinar will help parents and carers to understand online sexual harassment and image-based abuse, (non-consensual sharing of intimate images).

It is designed for parents and carers of young people aged 13-18.

It will cover:

the difference between online sexual harassment and image-based abuse
how to report online sexual harassment to social media companies
how to report image-based abuse to eSafety and when to report to police
where to get support if you feel upset or worried about something that has happened online.

You can choose to attend the webinar with your teen or share resources with them afterwards from the webinar package.

Tuesday 24 August 12.30 to 1.30 pm

Tuesday 7 September 12.30 to 1.30 pm

Thursday 9 September 12.30 to 1.30 pm

(All AEST)

Register here

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The latest Growing up in Australia snapshot - Alcohol use among teens allowed to drink at home - has just been released.

You can check it out here...https://growingupinaustralia.gov.au/research-findings/snapshots/alcohol

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APC is inviting people interested in joining our board to contact us by 30 September 2021, ahead of our October AGM.

We are looking for individuals with a wide range of skills and experience, so please don't hesitate to talk to us if you'd like to know mmore and explore the possibilities with us.

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