Minnis Journals

ET News Digest

Your Weekly Education Newsletter

Research in – educators are terrible with money
You might have suspected this but the education community are not the world’s best with money, 17% of people who work in the education industry have no savings at all and over half (53%) regularly dip into their savings account.
It gets better, or worse, one in five education workers aren’t saving any of their monthly income and over a quarter (27%) of education workers have less than $1000 in savings.
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Should phones be banned from Vic schools? Academics say 'no'
Victoria will ban phones from schools but is it a good thing? There are benefits be children being contactable but also the opportunity for distraction and mischief, but perhaps the ban is more knee jerk and political than practical.
Experts on the subject generally think that the ban will make little difference when it comes to cyberbullying and lacking data about phone use in schools challenge the idea that phone bans will improve student attention.
Associate Professor Amanda Third of WSU thinks the focus should instead be on responsible use. Read more

School for kids in prison can be ‘circuit-breaker’
The right education delivered in the right way can be a ‘circuit breaker’ for the hundreds of young people currently in custody in Victoria a new Victoria University-led report reveals.
The study is the first to put a spotlight on education for incarcerated young people at Parkville and Malmsbury Youth Justice Precincts, highlighting what works well, and what key issues need to be considered for improvement. Read more

Education and support helps young refugees thrive
South Australia has received many young refugees and research into their lives has revealed much about how to help these people, education is crucial as it turns out.
In the report Demographic Profile of SA Refugee Youth Population, 2019, released as part of an Australian Research Council-funded research project looking at refugees’ transition from school to further education, training and employment, researchers have shown that positive education experiences can be the vital key to future success, professionally and personally for refugees. Read more

30K Canon grants program open for applications
Canon Oceania’s 2019 Grants Program is open for submissions, this year, over $30,000 worth of grants made up of both cash and Canon equipment is up for grabs across Australia and New Zealand.
Each winning grant recipient will receive $5000 in total made up of $4000 worth of product and $1000 of cash in their local currency.
Over the last 13 years the program has supported nearly 80 schools and not-for-profit groups to further their causes, with almost $400,000. Read more

Teachers unprepared for traumatised migrant and refugee students
Refugee children can present educators with unique challenges and given the number of displaced people in the world specific training in how to contend with refugees is needed particularly with psychosocial support.
UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report says the number of migrant and refugee school-age children around the world has grown by 26% since 2000 and with them have come an unforeseen range of challenges. Read more

Dysfunctional Leadership
We have a good sense of what leadership is supposed to be and of the importance of trust to effective leadership. The literature often promotes 'transformational, 'participative,' 'authentic,' and other related conceptions of leadership. Whether in education or in other fields, the image is of leaders behaving ethically to serve some greater good. Yet there are infamous historical, political, and industry examples of leaders who have exerted strong influence with great clarity of purpose but whose leadership could not be described as 'good'.
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