Australian Parents Council eNewsletter

The return to face to face teaching has brought some welcome semblance of normality back to the lives of most students, parents, teachers and schools. Even though it feels like no sooner are we back than we're home again for the holidays. The extra freedoms most of us now have are still a novelty to be enjoyed, but the outbreaks in Victoria are a sharp reminder that we are not out of the woods yet.

At schools across the country, the impact of the pandemic is now being assessed and we can see that many students have been adversely affected.

The Mitchell Institute says it's likely that the number of students at risk of poorer health, education and life outcomes due to employment stress in the family has doubled and the Grattan Institute says that disadvantaged students have fallen further behind. You can read more details on these reports in this newsletter.

Many students have thankfully done well though, thanks to the combined efforts of educators, families and the students themselves.

The focus now needs to be on supporting students and helping them settle after all the emotional and educational upheaval of the past few months.

It's also time to build on the lessons of COVID.

From our perspective as a parent organisation, perhaps the most important takeout has been that education works well when all the educators in a child's life - teachers and parents - work in partnership. School at home has given parents a huge insight into what and how our children learn. Many parents have a clearer appreciation of teachers and are more engaged in their child's education than ever before. Communication between home and school has been key to the success of remote learning, and the dividends for students when teachers and parents collaborate have been obvious.

Just a year ago we were writing in this newsletter about the need for parents not to be treated as 'a problem' in education. The pandemic has changed that and shown that parent capacity has been underused and is a resource that can and should be developed.

We are seeing many more examples of partnerships coming out of COVID. One school in NSW for example has even invited parents to contribute to their child's school report, recognising their role during the pandemic. The stronger relationships that have been forged, the engagement of and support for families should be a central element of education going forward, because working together benefits students. Now is a great time to build on the positives.

In the meantime we hope you all enjoy the school holidays and stay safe. Let's hope Term 3 2020 goes more smoothly...

Jenni Rickard, APC President

'Life has changed for all of us due to COVID-19 restrictions. Some people have enjoyed these changes, others have found it challenging and many of us will have experienced a mixture of these things.'

Headspace has put together some tips for young people, and also for families and friends, on getting back into life and where to get help if you need it.

The number of Australian children considered at risk of poorer health, education and life outcomes due to employment stress in the family has likely doubled to 1.4 million children this quarter, according to modelling published by the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University.

The COVID-19, Employment stress and student vulnerability in Australia report estimates an extra three quarters of a million children are now living in families experiencing employment stress.

Report author Kate Noble said governments at all levels needed to act swiftly to prevent children having their long-term educational, health and life outcomes damaged by the economic impact of COVID-19 related job loss.

“There is a strong correlation between children’s learning and development outcomes, and parental employment status,” she said.

Grattan Institute recommends 'tutoring blitz'

The Grattan Institute is recommending a $1b, six-month tutoring blitz for disadvantaged students to help them recover ground lost during Covid restrictions.,

The COVID catch-up: helping disadvantaged students close the equity gap report by Peter Goss and Julie Sonnerman says that while many students will recover without too much trouble, disadvantaged students will need extra help to regain the learning lost due to COVID-19, even with the best efforts of their teachers.

'We believe Australia should launch a $1 billion, six-month tutoring blitz to give 1 million disadvantaged students an extra boost.

'Our new report...uses a rigorous new analysis to examine the “gap” – the difference in achievement between disadvantaged students and their more advantaged peers. We find that the equity gap widened three times as quickly during the COVID-19 shutdown compared to during regular classes. Disadvantaged students lost a month or more of learning in a two-month period. Some will even have gone backwards, forgetting some of what they had previously learnt.'

The report outlines that disadvantaged students lost ground because they 'did it tougher' during the lockdown and recommends that governments adopt a highly targeted strategy to help them catch up across Australia.

'The best way to deliver this extra support is with a massive one-off tutoring blitz between now and Christmas. Done well, these sessions could boost student learning by five months between now and the end of the year – not just recovering the learning lost due to COVID-19 but closing some of the pre-existing gap.'

Read Less

New research from eSafety confirms the importance of online safety support for Australian families. The COVID-19 impact on Australian adults’ online activities and attitudes report found there has been a significant increase in online activity.

It also found that during COVID-19 parents were twice as likely to rely on the internet for key activities – and three times as likely to find using the internet stressful.

The federal government announced a further $10m in funding for eSafety Commissioner on June 28.

Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, the Hon Paul Fletcher MP, said: 'This funding will help eSafety continue the important work it does educating people – from young children all the way up to older Australians – equipping them with practical tips on how to stay safe online.

“eSafety does a remarkable job developing world-leading educational resources for parents. I’m very pleased that the funding announced today will, amongst other things, mean eSafety can continue to deliver its successful Early Years program, which helps young children navigate the web safely from their earliest interactions online.'

Read the COVID-19 impact report

New online safety education framework

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner has also developed a new framework for online safety education in Australian schools, from K-12, following research into identified gaps in current provision.

The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, explains in her blog: 'It is timely to reflect on the importance of online safety education and the lessons learnt from our recent time in lockdown — particularly around 21st century education. Lockdown saw schools pivot in a remarkable, and remarkably rapid, manner, changing the classroom model to 100% tech-supported remote learning in a matter of weeks.

'In moving national education online, schools faced significant challenges — including how to transition daily classroom activities while protecting students and the school community from online dangers. Online safety issues were paramount, ranging from how to engage with students, to limits for time online and the best tools to prevent or respond to incidents.

'COVID-19 has clarified just how important it is for schools to have defined strategies that they can use to prevent and respond to online harms — especially in the most challenging circumstances. Emerging from these uncertain times, what’s clear is that educators need comprehensive frameworks and guidance to enable them to make informed, and positive, decisions for students and broader school communities.'

Key findings from the e-Safety Online Safety Education report:

Several online safety education frameworks exist but none are comprehensive enough to be adopted as a national standard.
There is a need for greater efforts to improve the quality of educational programs for children.
A sound online safety education framework should cover the full range of potential issues, risks and harms that children may encounter, as well as consider the issues of greatest parental concern.
The framework should be based on concepts found in digital citizenship and social and emotional learning programs, augmented with content addressing common risk and protective factors. This would be underpinned by evidence, guided by principles of effective prevention and delivered in supportive school systems with strong partnerships with other agencies.
Online safety initiatives, both in Australia and internationally, must be assessed for their effectiveness. This is needed as high-quality prevention initiatives must be underpinned by recent, rigorous and reliable process and outcome evaluations.

Read eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant's blog

Read Less

Are you talking to your teen about study or career options? Do you know much about work-related education and skills training (aka Vocational Education and Training or VET)? Any idea what's available for your child at school or beyond? Wondering what is going to work best for your child in a challenging and unpredictable future?

Need help? Then sign up for our free parent webinar - VET Myth Busters - 7.30 - 9.30 pm AEST 27 August. It'll also be available via our facebook page if you can't join us on the night.

Our panel includes:

Karyn Hunter- Account Manager Australian Training Company
Dianne Dayhew - National Apprentice Network
Sinead McKenna of PwC, a VET for School Students specialist and former industry manager within PwC's Skills for Australia, who led the review of the Foundation Skills (FSK) training package that concluded in 2019.
Robert Munday, a higher apprentice with PwC undertaking a Diploma in Business

Register for our free online webinar

There's a huge range of courses available out there, some of which kids can do at school - not just apprenticeships. Kids can leave with work related qualifications in a wide range of industries and professions that they can use to get a job or go on to further study, including university in many cases. They can try something they think they might be interested in, build their own flexible career at their own pace, and work out what they want to do as they go along with vocational education and training. It can also be a lot more flexible and less expensive than university.

There's also more support out there for VET students than you realise.

If you specific questions you'd like to submit in advance - and you can ask anything and everything about VET - please email them to media@austparents.edu.au.

Read Less

The review of senior secondary pathways is reporting to the Education Council, which is made up of Australian state, territory and federal education ministers, in June.

The review looked at how to integrate Vocational Education and Training with academic pathways for school leavers.

Ahead of the report's submission, chair of the review and NSW Education Standards Authority chair Professor Peter Shergold outlined the idea of an "education passport that you then take with you through your life" to a webinar held by the Centre for Social Impact at the University of NSW, according to a recent report in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"In chairing that review, it has become increasingly obvious to me that the way ATAR is presently used in schools is distorting, profoundly distorting, the educational experience," he told the webinar.

"We are the only country I have found in the world which brings it down to a single number, and the difficulty is that is distorting what is happening in the final years of education at schools, and is distorting choices."

APC made a number of points in our submission to the review, including:

Lack of parent knowledge and understanding of modern education pathways is a barrier to students accessing vocational education and training
Increasingly students are self-seeking education so the education system needs to accommodate this
A single numerical ranking does not speak to the holistic achievement of 13 years of schooling.

APC also proposed that ‘the use of a Unique Student Identifier or a Student portfolio where they could collect their qualification, course and achievements would be beneficial.’

Read the full APC submission. https://austparents.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2019-APC-Submission-Review-into-Senior-Secondary-Pathways.pdf

Read Less

The Gonski Institute at the University of New South Wales has developed a set of parent guides on a range of issues related to their child’s education.

These guides, developed by Dr Amy Graham (Gonski Institute for Education Research Fellow), are designed 'to provide quality, up-to-date information for parents and carers.'

They combine 'research with practical tips for parents and carers to use with their own child. Topics range from digital device use, social and emotional skills, play and transitioning to high school, among others.'

The guides are available to download from the Gonski Institute parent resources page or APC's Supporting children's learning page, where you'll also find a wide range of information and useful resources.

Read Less

APC's new Parent hacks for successful learning videos are jam packed with practical tips on what parents can do to support children, and encourage them to learn and develop into independent learners.

Here's a taster of the series - part 5 explains the difference between praise and encouragement and why one is better than the other in helping kids learn.

The videos are based on our Successful Learning workshops, which were created by education experts and are usually delivered as face to face group sessions to parents of children transitioning into or in the early years of school.

We have expanded the video series to include advice for parents with older children, and tips for managing home learning. A sign of the times.

There are nine videos in the series now available. Please share them with your networks.

You can find out more about our programs via our Successful Learning webpage or get regular updates by following our Successful Learning facebook page.

View all our parent hacks for successful learning videos

Read Less

Education ministers decided the timeline for full transition to NAPLAN Online will be put back to 2022, when they met in June. All schools were meant to transition online in 2021. The decision to defer it another year was made as a result of the cancellation of NAPLAN 2020 and the impacts on schooling due to COVID-19.

Have you visited the MySchool website? What do you think of it? Is it easy for parents to understand? It's recently been revamped to make it simpler and to make sure it focuses more on school progress. ACARA would really like to know what you think about the changes.

Have your say via ACARA's survey

A review of the Australian Curriculum will look at 'decluttering'.

Education ministers agreed to terms of reference for a review OF the Foundation – Year 10 (F–10) Australian Curriculum, with the review to be completed by the start of 2022, at their meeting on 12 June.

“We welcome the opportunity to ensure the national curriculum continues to meet the needs of students. The Australian Curriculum is well regarded, however, as it has been in place for some years now, it is timely that it be reviewed,” said Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA) CEO, David de Carvalho.

“Teachers have told us that, particularly in primary years, the Australian Curriculum is overcrowded and does not allow enough time to teach for deep understanding of core concepts or application of knowledge in the learning areas.

“Schools and teachers want a less crowded curriculum, one that provides flexibility and scope for greater depth of learning – and a more helpful curriculum, one that provides more meaningful connections within and across its three dimensions,” said Mr de Carvalho

For more information visit the ACARA's 'Review of the Australian Curriculum'

Read Less

The NSW curriculum is to get a major overhaul. There will be a new focus on basic skills for younger students, de-cluttering, and better preparation for work for older students.

Announcing the reform package Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said: 'Every student must be able to read, write and understand mathematical concepts. Mastering literacy and numeracy in the early years is vital. This mastery of knowledge is important, not just because these are the building blocks for all further learning, but also to ensure that students can develop advanced skills using that knowledge: critical and creative thinking, collaboration and communication skills. We need to ensure that every student is improving every year, able to fulfil their own potential, develop skills and talents and explore their creativity. We need a system that meets the needs of every child, no matter where they live or which school they attend. Our commitment must be to ensure that every school is a safe and supportive place, where every student can improve and thrive.

'The NSW Government is reforming the curriculum that will be taught in every NSW classroom to ensure that we focus on the key areas of learning to successfully prepare our students for a complex and fast-changing world. We are reforming the NSW education system, one of the largest in the world, with a clear focus on making sure our schools and teachers are supported to deliver improved student outcomes. This includes the opportunity for students to engage in further education and employment when they leave school.'

The NSW government's reforms are based on the recommendations of a review of the curriculum conducted by Professor Geoff Masters, but details of their implementation are not yet clear.

'The review recognises that there is too much clutter in most syllabuses. The new curriculum will give teachers and students more time to focus on the key learning areas necessary for a deeper understanding of core concepts. The new curriculum will also ensure every student develops strong foundations for learning, life and work,' said Minister Mitchell.

The new curriculum will start across all years by 2024.
A fifth of high school electives will be cut and students will be required to meet an acceptable standard in every subject before finishing school.
Fewer HSC courses will be developed and there will be more opportunities for senior students to gain credits for qualifications in apprenticeships.
"The feasibility of not calculating and reporting the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR)" maybe reviewed.

Professor Masters also proposed requiring every HSC student undertake a major investigative project.

During consultation for the review, 94 per cent of teachers agreed that existing syllabuses were overcrowded and content needed to be reduced, and 90 per cent of parents wanted their child to move at their own pace. Nine out of 10 parents agreed minimum standards were necessary to establish where students were in their learning progression.

Read Less