The latest education news and opinions
In this news wrap, we’re concentrating on the big issues of the moment, because they’re too important to ignore.
Discrimination Bill
Religious Discrimination Bill shelved for now
The Age
The federal government will push for a Senate inquiry into key parts of its religious discrimination bills in a decision that avoids a vote in the upper house after NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told the government he was prepared to cross the floor to protect the rights of transgender children.
Religious Discrimination Bill passes lower house
The Age
The federal government’s contentious Religious Discrimination Bill has passed through the House of Representatives after a marathon session of Parliament.
Religious bill will harm workers – unions
Canberra Times
Unions have warned the federal government's proposed religious discrimination laws would make workplaces less safe for employees.
Editorial: Every child deserves protection
The Age
This is a compromise, driven by political expediency, that should never be accepted. This is a compromise that leaves the fate of some of our most vulnerable children to the whim of a school principal.
Catholic schools may use new laws to sack teachers
The Examiner
Catholic schools in Tasmania have not ruled out the possibility of sacking or not employing teachers who openly identify as LGBTIQ+ if proposed changes to the Religious Discrimination Bill are passed.
Only 19% of Australians agree religious schools should be able to ban LGBT+ teachers.
The Conversation
A new survey, soon to be published in the Journal of Sociology, shows a majority of Australians do not think religious organisations that provide government-funded public services should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.
What happens if the religious freedom bill passes?
AFR
Some business leaders are concerned that as the bill stands it would be hard for employers to create and maintain a productive and harmonious workplace, it would increase job insecurity in religious organisations, and undermine workers’ health and safety.
‘License to degrade or belittle’: Liberal MP breaks ranks on Religious Discrimination bill
news.com.au
A Liberal MP has sensationally broken ranks to speak out against “cruel and degrading” laws her government is desperate to introduce.
‘It’s appalling’: For trans student Miles, gender identity should have nothing to do with school
The Age
Transgender student Miles Wade struggles to comprehend how a faith-based school could be allowed to discriminate against a student because of their gender identity.
Workload
State schools to get 2000 more teachers in landmark deal to ease workload
The Age
Two thousand extra teachers will join the Victorian state school system, cutting face-to-face teaching hours and giving teachers more time to prepare lessons within their paid hours.
New Grattan Institute report receives mixed reception
Education HQ
A new Grattan Institute report that recommends bigger class sizes to create extra preparation time for teachers has been labelled as cost-cutting and fraught with complications.
COVID measures
Masks too big for kids, 'Facebook issues' plague Tasmania's school return
ABC News
The start of the Tasmanian public school year has been hampered by the provision of ill-fitting masks and communication issues
Children and schools the new flashpoint as experts do battle online
SMH
Polarising debates among health experts regularly erupt on social media in the face of the latest twists and turns in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teacher shortages
Return-to-school plans overlook chronic teacher shortages outside the big cities
The Conversation
Plans to counter workforce disruptions fail to consider the existing challenges of staffing rural and remote schools.
More male teachers dissatisfied with teaching than their female counterparts
Womens Agenda
In Australia, male teachers make up 22 percent of all teachers providing classroom teaching in schools, and more of them wish to leave the profession due to a greater level of dissatisfaction with conditions and pay.