We're very happy to invite you to become a friend of the Australian Parents Council. You can join us as an individual, a school or an organisation. You don't have to be part of a particular school sector and can come from anywhere in Australia. The single most important qualification for becoming a friend of the APC is that you are passionate about education.

As an organisation, we believe that active and empowered parents and carers can, and do, make a significant difference to children’s achievement.

We have a proud tradition of supporting and advocating for parents going back to 1962. We are not-for-profit, non-denominational and non-party political, funded by parents and supported by government. We are not controlled or appointed by a school sector, although we do work closely with government and education providers. We are fiercely independent, as we believe this enables us to provide an authentic parent voice. 

We provide a genuine parent perspective on education issues, and we are widely consulted.

We advocate at a national level for:

• school choice
• parent voice
• equity in access and funding
• quality education for all students.

Friends will go onto our mailing list to receive all our newsletters, and other publications like media releases and reports. We will also invite our friends to share their insights and feedback on a wide range of issues affecting school parents.

'Systemic educational neglect and its devastating consequences were laid bare recently at the disability royal commission, which is examining violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability,' writes Kate de Bruin senior lecturer in Inclusive Education at Monash University.

The specialist researcher in inclusive education in policy, systems, and schools says the hearings have shown that many children with disabilities are not getting the support they need or are promised under the law, and that parents have had to battle to get help for their children.

'At Public Hearing 7, focused on “barriers to accessing a safe, quality and inclusive school education and life course impacts”, the commission received submissions and heard raw and compelling oral testimony from young people and their families who described experiences of exclusion, violence and neglect.

'Collectively, their testimony painted a sobering picture of how the education system continues to fail many people with disability.'

'Direct-experience witnesses described the restrictions that schools place on the attendance and learning of students with disability, despite these being inconsistent with Australia’s Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and Disability Standards for Education 2005, and resulting clear educational neglect.'

Meanwhile the Royal Commission released it's report on the public hearing ‘Inclusive Education in Queensland – Preliminary Inquiry’ held from 4-7 November 2019. Key concerns identified in the report include:

• discouragement of families seeking to enrol students with disability in mainstream schools of their choice.
• a lack supports and adjustments for students with disability; and
• low expectations of students with disability leading to poor educational outcomes.

The Royal Commission heard evidence about the bullying and belittling of students with a disability; complicated and inconsistent processes for seeking adjustments, inappropriate exclusions including as suspensions; and use of restrictive practices, including physical restraints and confinement.

The hearing was the Royal Commission’s first opportunity to examine the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), including the obligation to ensure an inclusive education system.

Are you struggling to find out what options are available for your school leaver next year?

A School Leavers Information Kit and School Leavers Information Service designed to help 'school leavers navigate the changed labour market as a result of COVID-19' are now available.

Both come from the government's new National Careers Institute and can be found on the Your Career website: yourcareer.gov.au/school-leavers-support/

All school leavers should have received an information card or brochure in October  about the School Leavers Information Kit - Your Career: What’s next for you?.  The kit covers education, training and career options. It contains lots of information that's useful for parents and carers who are helping teens who are looking at what to do after school.

The School Leavers Information Service 1800 CAREER (1800 227 337) offers a triage service with guidance on how to use the School Leavers Information Kit and the Your Career website and can direct you to suitable government programs or support services.

Callers may be referred to a personalised career guidance session with a qualified career practitioner for up to 45 minutes, where needed.

Young people also have the option to text the Service by texting SLIS2020 to 0429 009 435 or they can email through schoolleavers.nci@dese.gov.au.

The Your Career website also has lots of information for adults on training and career options.

Our new Vocational Education and Training Mythbusters video is now available.

Our recent work-related education and training webinar for parents is also available to view via our website, where you will also find more information and our free VET Infographics, also designed to help inform you about the wide range of opportunites on offer to young people.

The webinar covered everything from how to talk to your teen about careers, to finding out more about the options available and what different training organisations do, including different courses and apprenticeships, and what support is provided, how to identify a quality training provider and how and when to apply. We covered a lot of ground!

If you'd prefer to listen to the webinar on the go, simply download it as an MP3 file direct from YouTube.

Or you can simple view the webinar here.

We have had some great feedback in our post-event survey.

The Australian Parents Council runs workshops for parents to help them understand how they can help their child transition to school and develop their literacy and numeracy skills.

The workshops can be delivered in person or online to groups of parents, and can be adapted to different parent audiences and settings.

They focus on the important role of parents in setting children up to become successful independent learners and are jam packed with useful information and practical tips for you to use at home to support what children are learning at school.

The workshops are ideal for parents at play groups, pre-schools and day care settings, as well as community groups. We work to tailor each workshop to meet your specific needs.

'Schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the way parents respond to educational programs,' according to an analysis that really digs into the changing home school relationship resulting from our COVID experience in the Monash Lens - We are with you: Parents share their teaching and learning lessons from the lockdown.

'In fact, stepping into the role of teacher, support staff and, in some cases, principal, during the lockdown through online learning provided most parents with a window into how their children learn, and the best methods of accommodating their individual needs.

'This information will be essential for teachers as schooling resumes in the post-COVID phase...

While remote learning 'created disruption and interruptions to individuals across sectors, it also created additional responsibilities for parents, who were forced to step in as surrogate teachers during pandemic schooling.

'There was an abundance of articles online reflecting on the dilemmas of schoolteachers as they adopted new methods of teaching, utilising video calling and online learning platforms.

'Fewer articles focused on the positions of parents – in fact, some adopted a mildly humorous view of home schooling. One amusing video circulating on social media targeted the complaints of a mother, as she juggled the schooling responsibilities of her children. Actually, she could not have said it better.

'Schools cannot proceed as normal post-pandemic. Instead, they’re likely to adopt this form of resilience, and incorporate suggestions from their most powerful allies – parents.'

For a balanced and informed look the impact of pandemic on the use of technology in schools, Neil Selwyn's piece in The Conversation is worth a read.

The Research Professor from Monash University writes that 'one of the few positive outcomes from this experience is an opportunity to rethink how digital technologies can be used to support teaching and learning in schools.'

But he argues the most interesting change is not that this is 'a tipping point after which schools will be pushed fully into digital education.

'On the contrary...the most compelling technology-related lessons to take from the pandemic involve the informal, improvised, scrappy digital practices that have helped teachers, students and parents get through school at home.

'All over the world, school shutdowns have seen teachers, students and families get together to achieve great things with relatively simple technologies.'

University of Southern Queensland researchers are looking for parents with a child in early years of school to take part in a new study investigating the impact of COVID-19 home learning on children and families.

The coronavirus outbreak sparked a massive home learning experiment as students, teachers and parents across the country rushed to adapt to remote schooling.

With the majority of students now back at school, the researchers are investigating the impact of COVID-19 home learning on children and families.

Principal investigator Michele Wright said there were many lessons to be learned from the recent experience.

“Everyone was caught off guard by how quickly COVID-19 impacted every aspect of our lives, but it also highlighted the importance of continuing education," she said.

“When schools started closing in March and remote learning was rolled out, parents were forced to take an expanded role in their child’s education while balancing work and other tasks

“It caused concerns for many who were unprepared to begin at-home schooling and struggled to adequately support their child’s learning needs at home.”

Mrs Wright said the study would initially focus on the home learning experiences of families with children in the early years of schooling, from kindergarten to Year 2.

“This period of a child’s life is arguably the most critical time for their development, not just for their academic literacy and numeracy skills, but also other important social and learning skills,” she said.