In this week’s top story, Federal Education Department data shows that some private schools are receiving taxpayer funding almost three times greater than their entitlements. However, Peter Goss, school education program director at the Grattan Institute, told The Educator that equal attention should be paid to overfunded schools in the public and Catholic system. “The data won’t show this, because government and Catholic schools are treated as a system, but the point holds,” he said. “The principle is that schools should be funded on the basis of need, regardless where they are. Every dollar spent on a school that is over-funded compared to need is a dollar that can’t be spent on a school that needs it more.”
In other news, alarming new figures reveal that just 3% of 500 child protection complaints in the past four years have resulted in disciplinary action against teachers or school employees. The data, obtained by The Daily Telegraph, showed that there were 498 allegations of a child protection nature relating to how students with a disability of special needs have been managed over the past four years. Of the 450 now finalised, 219 were not upheld and 207 were found to involve an incident that “did not amount to misconduct”. Ten were deemed reportable conduct to the NSW Ombudsman but not serious enough for any disciplinary action. However, just 14 led to remedial action.
Finally, a new website has been added to the list of the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC) educational resources, in a push to introduce Year 5 and Year 6 students to the concept of human rights. The Commission's series of education resources - RightsED - are designed to help students gain a critical understanding of human rights and responsibilities, and to develop the attitudes, behaviours and skills to apply human rights in everyday life.