The week’s best education and union reads
NSW school parents brace for three months of remote learning
From dailytelegraph.com.au, 28 July, 2021
With lockdown likely to continue, fatigued parents are bracing for news that schools will not reopen at all this term.
Victorian kids’ mental health hit hardest during 2020
From Pursuit, 28 July, 2021
The pandemic affected the mental health of young Victorian children more than those in other states during 2020, largely due to their state’s prolonged second lockdown, finds new survey
Facing the realities of insecure work
From australianunions.org.au, 23 July, 2021
The latest round of lockdowns across Australia have hit without the wage subsidies that helped insulate the economy throughout 2020. Policies have failed to account for one key feature of our economic landscape – the extent and breadth of insecure work.
Workers in Australia Launched a Strike Against General Mills and won
From jacobinmag.com, 28 June, 2021
Australia's General Mills strikers have showed us how to fight back — and win — during a "recovery" that's benefiting the superrich far more than ordinary workers.
Support for single-sex schools still strong
From EducationHQ, 22 July, 2021
Despite talks of their demise and in the face of highly publicised scandals, single-sex schools are standing the test of time, with student enrolment numbers remaining steady over the last decade.
Students should be getting the Pfizer vaccine at school: expert
From Education HQ, 23 July, 2021
A biosecurity experts says Australia should roll out the Pfizer vaccine to school students and transform campuses into large-scale vaccination sites as soon as possible.
Harnessing education’s power for positive climate action
From educationinternational.org, 22 July, 2021
Rachel Bolstad wants global educators to be excited and energized because there is so much that we can do to play a constructive, positive role in environmental solutions.
Aboriginal educator creates new resource teaching Victorian students about Indigenous change makers
From ABC News, 23 July, 2021
Dr Lois Peeler, principal of Australia's only Aboriginal girls' boarding school, has created a resource for the Victorian curriculum called 'Aboriginal Change Makers'.
‘Essential worker hero’ shelf stackers in pay dispute with Woolworths
From The Age, 27 July, 2021
Supermarket giant Woolworths has significantly cut the take-home pay of up to 1800 nightfill workers in a move that has prompted ongoing workplace disputes at its Victorian stores.
Dear Comrade: Can My Boss Make me Keep a Disciplinary Meeting Secret?
From Megaphone Journal, 26 July, 2021
Dear Comrade is Megaphone's advice column, where union members and officials respond to your questions about work, activism, and the world.
When workers held their own Olympics
From jacobinmag.com, 23 July, 2021
From July 19 to 26, 1931, the Socialist Workers’ Sports International (SASI) held the second Workers’ Olympiad in "Red" Vienna, featuring thousands of athletes from eighteen countries. Some of its mass gymnastics exercises and parades brought together eighty thousand participants.
Restoring our lives to normality after Covid is not the solution, it’s the problem
From The Guardian, 21 July
As Australians have been preoccupied by coronavirus, a wider environmental calamity has unfurled, says Jeff Sparrow. He says the emergency isn’t over, it’s only just beginning.
Elders’ Voice to lay solid foundation for Victorian Treaty
From nit.com.au, 23 July, 2021
The First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria has announced an interim Elders’ Voice which will provide a "solid cultural base" for Treaty, with Elders urged to take part in community consultations to shape the permanent Elders’ Voice.
Scientists demand urgent action after Covid-19 did little to slow climate emergency
From reneweconomy.com.au, 28 July
A group of the world’s leading scientists have renewed their plea to governments to take meaningful action on climate change, saying the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic had shown the level of transformational change needed to avoid the devastating consequences of climate change.