Reopening the schools will let kids learn and get parents back to work

By Dallas McInerney, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Schools NSW

First published in Financial Review 17/4/2020

In pushing for schools to reopen, Scott Morrison rightly struck a note of caution forthe educational prospects of Australian students. Few would disagree with the goal of having our schools fully engaged with learning, though the timing must be right for school communities.

The COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest interruption to school delivery in humanhistory. UNESCO reports that  191 countries have implemented some form of school restriction or closure regime, with almost 1.6 billion students (91% of the world’s enrolled student population) either presently out of school or under-schooled. Only in a globalpandemic would we consider this at all acceptable – but for how long?

The interruption to schooling has also created a massive disruption for ourworkforce, on which our economy depends. This has consequences for the overallwellbeing of the community.

The COVID-19 experience has reminded the community of a key economic and social reality—that labour market participation, particularly for frontline workers responding to COVID-19, is tightly connected with the normal operation of our schools.

The discussion has focused on the role of the workforce in supporting the economy, and this is true for many households – their livelihoods and the welfare of their families depend on children being at school and parents being attached to the workforce.

This relationship between schools and workforce participation is neither new norunique to Australia. The long summer vacation in the United States is a partiallegacy of agrarian cycles coinciding with harvests and the need for children towork during that period.

In Australia today, that relationship is inverted. Here, school attendance now supports parental participation in the workforce. Similarly, childcare has played a key role in boosting Australia’s productivity via higher female participation in the workforce.

Recognising the critical role schools have in the nation’s broader prosperity does not dilute their core educational purpose, and the social costs of a prolonged economic slowdown need to be avoided. History shows that the costs include high levels of unemployment and underemployment that can stretch years into the future, which can reflect intergenerational disadvantage for the families affected.

If there is a gift of sorts to be found in COVID-19, it’s that school-age children are not the vectors or “super spreaders” as they were in previous pandemics, such as the Spanish flu. Their risk profile makes them obvious candidates for an earlier return to “normal life” than, say, the elderly or those with pre-existing health conditions.

In the absence of a vaccine or mass testing, we must ask: How do we make our schools safe enough to allow our students to walk through the front gates in these second term and for lessons to resume with well-supported staff?

There are targeted measures that can be considered.

“Take your distance!” is an instruction many would recall from their primary school days. The teacher, standing at the front of messy lines of students, would repeat this call until students lined up straight, in single-fi le rows, “taking their distance” from the student in front by the length of their arms. It was a simple way of imposing order on a rabble of students.

While students might otherwise “take their distance” at assemblies for behavioural reasons, now the aim should be to minimise the per capita contact rate inside schools. Options include anchoring year groups in a single classroom to minimise student movement, no mass gatherings such as assemblies or carnivals, no canteen, no bubblers, no library visits or excursions, enhanced cleaning protocols for the school settings (and school buses!) and longer drop-off and pick-up periods to minimise parent-to-parent contact.

Children from households with at-risk family members might need to continue out-of-school learning for a while longer. Similarly, vulnerable school staff will need to be carefully supported, and testing (and, as necessary, improved protective equipment) for school staff should be considered.

A path back to normal school operations should incorporate recent innovations in digital and online learning; what has been born from necessity can be a vision for the future. There is an opportunity for a framework to emerge that ushers in an era of school-led creativity for 21st-century learning.

Now is the time to move past policy options that offer a false choice between safeguarding public health and a functioning economy. For our dedicated staff and students, term two awaits.

Best place for the contest of ideas is in the classroom

Catholic school students would receive a more balanced view of important social and political issues in class than at unregulated, non-educational events, Catholic Schools NSW (Catholic Schools New South Wales) said today. Catholic Schools New South Wales Chief Executive Officer Dallas McInerney says Catholic education supported students becoming more informed about the world and their role in its future but noted the expectation of the NSW Government that during school hours all students should be at school.

“While we are pleased to see our students passionate about the environment, the best way for young people to really make a difference is to receive a quality education in the classroom – inquiry through scholarship. This will provide them with the skills and knowledge to positively change the world as adults,” Mr McInerney said.

“Skipping school doesn’t change the world, and we don’t accept there needs to be a clash between attending class and caring about global issues.”

“We believe students should learn about and discuss these issues in class where there is a responsibility on teachers to present information on important, contentious issues in a balanced and factual way.”

Council of Catholic School Parents Executive Director, Peter Grace, added that while it is encouraging to see young people care about global issues, the best way to learn about these issues is from teachers and peers at school, and from their families at home.

“Our Church has a long tradition of Catholic social teaching, at the centre of which is the dignity of the human person and the common good. This tradition is best served by school students receiving a sound education in which they discuss topical issues in the classroom setting,” Mr Grace said.

New report shows path to more diverse school leadership

School authorities must deliberately target their diverse teaching ranks to identify and foster potential leaders from all cultural backgrounds and genders, a new report recommended today.

Kelly Humphrey – an Education Officer in the Wagga Wagga Catholic Schools Office and the recipient of the 2018 Brother John Taylor Fellowship – recently researched initiatives in the UK and Fortune 500 companies in the USA to develop more diverse leaders.

Her report, Diversity in Educational Leadership: Lessons from the Corporate World, found school bodies needed to identify and nurture capable women and people of culturally diverse backgrounds, and create a more supportive workplace for them if they wanted to diversify their leadership profile.
“There is great diversity among teachers, but it is not translating to leadership under the current systems and structures,” said Mrs Humphrey, a Gamilaroi woman who has held Assistant and Acting Principal roles.

“Almost three-quarters of Australia’s school teachers are female and the highest proportion of female primary school teachers in NSW is in the Catholic sector, at 85.8%.

“Despite this, the proportion of female principals in NSW Catholic schools – which are predominantly primary schools – is just over 50%.”
Mrs Humphrey cited research by Victoria’s Department of Education that found males aspired to be principals while females tended to settle for assistant principal roles.

“The situation is more acute among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff; while 5.3% of students identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, only 1% of the teaching workforce identifies as such. Of this 1%, only 7% are deputy principals and 3% are principals.”

Mrs Humphrey said similar cultural barriers existed in the US and UK, where deliberate strategies are now used to address long-held perceptions and activate talented, diverse staff to become leaders.

“Many US companies, for example, have appointed a Head of Diversity & Inclusion or similar role to pro-actively address the under-representation of diversity in their senior ranks.

“Mentoring and networking opportunities are available, as well as access to information and resources that help employees from more diverse backgrounds have the confidence to improve their skills and accomplish more in their careers, thereby benefiting the organisation as a whole.
“When these conditions are provided, research has found there was increased employee satisfaction, involvement and retention, trust and a significant decrease in burnout.”

Catholic schools recognised all things come from God and we are therefore all connected, she said.

“A positive way to embrace the connectedness of people is to support diverse leadership in education that reflects today’s society.”

The Brother John Taylor Fellowship is offered annually by Catholic Schools NSW to enable a Catholic educator to research an education-related challenge or issue.

NSW Government school funding should follow need, not sector

Catholic Schools NSW (Catholic Schools New South Wales) today welcomed increased education funding in the 2019-2020 NSW Budget but said programs to address disadvantage should be provided to all students who need them, not just those in government schools.

Catholic Schools New South Wales Chief Executive Officer Dallas McInerney welcomed confirmation that the capital funding increase for non-government schools – announced before the March 2019 election – has been included in the Budget over the next four years.

“This will help ease the pressure on our parents and school communities, who currently fund some 90% of the capital projects in Catholic schools,” Mr McInerney said.

“We also welcome programs that address student disadvantage and believe these should support all students who need help, not only those in government schools.

“It is not only government schools that have needy students; non-government schools educate one in three NSW students, the vast majority from low and middle income families where much of the disadvantage exists.

“The principle of needs-based support demands that initiatives be available to all schools where student need exists.”

Mr McInerney said the NSW Budget allocated $120 million over four years to expand before and after school care – but only for parents with children in public primary schools.

“It also includes $88.4 million for 100 new school counsellors and 350 extra support officers to provide mental health and wellbeing support – but only for students in public high schools.

“This support is also needed by parents and students in many Catholic schools.

“I call on the NSW Government to extend these and other targeted programs to all sectors so that needy students receive wherever they go to school.”
NSW’s 598 Catholic schools educate some 255,000 students and employ more 31,000 teachers and other staff.

Catholic schools educate one in five NSW students.

NSW Catholic schools saved taxpayers $480 million in 2018

Catholic Schools NSW (Catholic Schools New South Wales) has today released a report showing its schools saved taxpayers almost half a billion dollars last year and will save more than $2.5 billion by 2022.

The report is the first in a series of three volumes outlining the benefits of the NSW Catholic schools sector, Catholic Schools New South Wales Chief Executive Officer Dallas McInerney said.

“Ernst & Young (EY) has independently calculated that under current funding arrangements, the operation of almost 600 Catholic schools in NSW resulted in a net saving in recurrent government spending of $480 million in 2018.

“This would rise to $2.56 billion in cumulative savings in the five years to 2022,” Mr McInerney said.

“EY’s modelling also found that if the NSW Government were required to educate all students currently enrolled in NSW Catholic schools, it would need to spend up to $7.9 billion in capital to develop the necessary schools.”

Mr McInerney said some 90% of the funding used to build or upgrade Catholic schools – which educate one in five NSW students – currently comes from private contributions, parents and families.

“This report shows that rather than drawing funds away from government schools, NSW Catholic schools actually free up funding for governments to invest in public schools and other areas.”

Mr McInerney said governments partially fund Catholic schools to ensure they remain affordable to most NSW families and share the load of educating the state’s almost 1.3 million students.

The basic annual cost of a school education, estimated annually by the Federal Government, is more than $11,000 per primary student and more than $14,000 per secondary student in 2019.

“Without government funding support, many families could not afford the full cost of a Catholic education for their children and would need to enrol them in public schools, resulting in a significantly increased cost burden for taxpayers.

“The twin benefits of this funding model are that governments reduce their overall financial obligation while supporting the right of parents to choose an education that reflects the values they wish to instil in their children – a long settled bipartisan policy in Australia.”
Mr McInerney said the benefits of parallel school sectors are many and will be the subject of a three-volume series of reports, The Case for Catholic Schools.

“Volume 1 highlights the economic contribution made to NSW by Catholic education, while illustrating the scale of its operation across the state. The full report of Volume 1 is available online.”

There are almost 600 Catholic schools in NSW, educating more than a quarter of a million students and employing some 30,000 teaching and other staff.

Catholic education welcomes Sarah Mitchell and Kevin Conolly

Catholic Schools NSW (Catholic Schools New South Wales) today congratulated the Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC on her appointment as NSW Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning, saying it looks forward to working with her on important issues concerning the education sector.

“We also welcome Kevin Conolly MP as the new Parliamentary Secretary for Education,” Catholic Schools New South Wales Chief Executive Officer Dallas McInerney said.
Mr McInerney said Ms Mitchell has been entrusted with one of the biggest and most important portfolios in State Government.

“Minister Mitchell brings relevant experience both personally and professionally from her previous role as Assistant Minister for Childhood Education that will complement the education portfolio.

“Her knowledge of rural and regional challenges will be invaluable in supporting country schools; almost half of our 595 Catholic schools are outside the Sydney metropolitan area.

“We know from previous dealings with Ms Mitchell as Assistant Minister for Early Childhood Education that she is aware of the growth challenges schools face.

Mr McInerney said school education is a partnership between the state and federal governments and education providers such as the Catholic Church, which has educated Australian students for almost 200 years.

“We look forward to working closely with Ms Mitchell and Mr Conolly to deliver for the one in five students educated in Catholic schools.”

Mr McInerney also recognised the work carried out by Ms Mitchell’s predecessor, Rob Stokes, who returns to the planning portfolio.

“Mr Stokes’ time as Education Minister coincided with many significant events and issues in education including new recurrent funding arrangements, changes to Special Religious Education and the debate over religious freedom for faith-based schools.”

There were currently 595 Catholic schools in NSW, educating more than a quarter of a million students and employing some 27,000 teaching and other staff.