Public schools

All around the world, students attend schools which have an astonishing degree of similarity.

• Children are required to attend.
• It runs from kindergarten to grade 12.
• Students are divided by age, not by what they need or want to learn, nor by what they’ve already learned.
• The teacher is the authority. The children provide heads which the teacher is supposed to fill.
• There is little or no opportunity for students to explore a subject in depth, to develop a passion, to hone a skill. There’s an hour for one subject, then an hour for another.
• Teachers are considered qualified if, and only if, they have the required certificate.
• Whether they can teach well is irrelevant.
• Whether they love or hate children is irrelevant.
• Whether childhood is a happy time for anybody, is irrelevant. That’s not on the spreadsheet.
• Curriculum is fixed, and taught at a fixed rate, even if that doesn’t work for some students… even if it doesn’t work for anybody at all.
• It centers around a standardized curriculum and lesson plans, not real-life experiences.
• Students and teachers alike believe that the main purpose of school is preparing students to pass the exam.

If you were starting from scratch, and wanted to help children become contributing, well-rounded members of society, would you have invented this plan? Surely not. Nobody else did. With one exception.

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For many centuries, the favorite pastime of European rulers was invading one another to win more territory. The King of Prussia encountered a problem: Most of his troops were farmers who had been drafted to serve him. When the enemy shot at them, they had an annoying tendency to go home to their family and farm. He wouldn’t win more land with that army! He wanted soldiers who, if ordered to make a suicidal charge, would blindly obey — not soldiers who might shoot their captain and go home.

To create them, he instituted a system of schools that focused on making students respect and obey the authority figure — a teacher. When young men arrived for their first day in uniform, they already knew how to stand in a straight line. Prussia became a military powerhouse by following the king’s plan. It expanded its territory, and today we call it Germany.

But the king couldn’t tell parents, “Send us your children so we can teach them to be cannon fodder.” Schools also taught reading and arithmetic. History does not tell us if the king’s primary goal was to mold obedient soldiers or obedient citizens. He got both. Students did not, however, learn to think independently. The teacher had the answer; the students’ job was to memorize it.

This, alone, would have been enough to persuade other rulers to adopt what became known as the Prussian System. Soon another incentive appeared: The Industrial Revolution. Previously, most Europeans lived in the countryside and worked for themselves — typically as farmers, shopkeepers, blacksmiths, or carpenters.

The invention of the steam engine changed all that. Within a few decades, urban factories sprang up. Farmers — sometimes seeking a better life, other times forced off their land — moved to the city. But they weren’t reliable factory workers. Owners needed workers who would show up on time, follow orders, and accept boredom as their fate in life. Prussian-style schools churned them out.

More support came from a different direction. Horace Mann, an American reformer, thought the Prussian school system could improve the lives of poor people in the United States. He got Massachusetts to adopt it and other states soon followed.

European nations introduced the Prussian system in their colonies. It created the docile, low-level workforce that they needed, while appearing to benefit the local population. In most countries today, school enrollment has increased but the Prussian system still predominates.

Today, further support for this Prussian system comes from a new source: The education industry. A vast network — administrators, teachers, and government officials; textbook and curriculum publishers; teacher training colleges; aid workers in developing countries; and the inevitable consultants — all derive their income from the public school system that has evolved. Many of them genuinely care about children and education. But they also care about their income and job security. That shapes their thinking, and limits their enthusiasm for deep change.

And so here we are today, with a model of schooling intended to mold soldiers who wouldn’t run away when the enemy started shooting, and which evolved to meet the needs of factory owners, but also to make everyone feel good about sending their children into it. The origins of this system are still in evidence.

A never-ending stream of critics, in the global South and North alike, see plainly that the system doesn’t work, and think this is so obvious, it shouldn’t be hard to improve it.

But the system does work — for many people. And so, it continues to thrive.

Surely this doesn’t come as a surprise.

Leaked documents seen exclusively by the ABC suggest hundreds of NSW Catholic schools are missing out under a scheme that will have diverted more than $300 million in public funding from the system’s poorer to richer primary schools by 2023.

Administered by Catholic school authorities and approved by the state’s bishops, the scheme aims to keep fees low for families in wealthy parts of Sydney, according to the documents. 

It comes at a hefty cost for low- and middle-income families in the system, who are asked to pay much higher fees to make up the shortfall.

School closures again

Victorian state school students from prep to year 10 in lockdown zones will return to remote learning from July 20 as coronavirus cases continue to climb.

Key points:

• The Premier says returning to home learning in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will stop movement around the community
• Specialist school and VCE students will return to the classroom as normal from next week
• Those returning to school will not be required to wear masks in the classroom

The state's total number of active cases stands at 1,484 and the newest cases include hospital workers and public housing residents.

Premier Daniel Andrews acknowledged the return to home learning would be challenging for many parents but said there was "simply no alternative".

"We can't have the best part of 700,000 students as well as parents moving to and from school, moving around the community, as if there wasn't a stay-at-home order, as if there wasn't a lockdown," he said.

Prep to year 10 students who attend school in Metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire will go back to home learning until at least August 19, Mr Andrews said.

Year 11 and 12 students, year 10 students doing VCE subjects and children at specialist schools will resume face-to-face learning for term three from tomorrow.

Schools outside the restricted areas will operate normally, and students will be able to attend regardless of where they live.

While the Government's decision only directly affects state schools, it is expected most private schools will follow suit.

Independent Schools Victoria, representing more than 200 member schools, has encouraged its members to follow the advice of the Chief Health Officer.

Free kindergarten for eligible families and extra support

Children of essential workers and vulnerable children will have the option to return to school, as they did during the last lockdown.

This time, parents of children with a disability will also have the option of sending their kids to school for face-to-face learning when required.

"It could be five days a week, it could be two days a week, it could be half a day a week, to provide a bit of respite," Education Minister James Merlino said.

Mr Merlino said students with a disability who did not receive the Program for Students with Disabilities funding would be eligible.

"There are tens of thousands of kids who have additional needs that at the moment don't receive that funding," he said.

"So we've got the broadest step possible — all students with a disability, parents will have the option of sending their child to school for on-site learning."

The Government will also offer extra funding to eligible kindergarten services in the locked-down areas to let them offer free kinder to children during term three.

Other resources available include video or phone counselling for secondary school students.

"These settings, learning the lessons from the past, but keeping more than 700,000 students and their parents and carers not moving around metropolitan Melbourne or the Mitchell Shire will go a long way to the goal that we all have," he said.

'Irresponsible' to have kids going back, Chief Health Officer says

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said students returning to school next week would not be required to wear masks, but would be welcome to wear them if they wanted to.

"Teaching is pretty tough with a mask on," he said.

"They require those facial expressions; they require the ability to be understood and heard clearly."

During the last lockdown, Victoria's child safety watchdog raised concerns about how some of the state's most vulnerable students would access education.

Professor Sutton said reintroducing home learning was a difficult decision to make, but the pandemic had not yet reached its peak and authorities were throwing "absolutely everything at it".

"It would have been irresponsible of me to have gone into a phase where we might have had increasing numbers day on day, to have kids going back to school."

Greater prevalence

Victoria's Chief Health Officer has warned that extensive testing in the state is revealing that child-to-child transmission of COVID-19 is "more apparent" than first thought.

Professor Brett Sutton said while the instances of transmission among children was not a significant risk, the data was showing that it had a greater prevalence in the community.

"Child to child transmission has become more apparent as we have tested more kids," Professor Sutton said.

Lockdown concerns

From the ABC

Victorian schools turned away children living in high-risk homes during the height of coronavirus lockdowns, while other students suffered potentially catastrophic disruptions to their education because of a failure to provide them with adequate technology, according to the state's child-safety watchdog.

Key points:

• The concerns follow a reduction in child protection visits due to coronavirus restrictions
• Children in residential care were also fined for breaching social distancing laws
• Victoria is deciding whether to return to remote learning for some students

Commissioner for Children and Young People, Liana Buchanan, confirmed that serious concerns had been raised with her office about access to education for some of the state's most vulnerable students, calling into question repeated assurances from the State Government that no children would be disadvantaged by remote learning.

In some cases, students known to Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) child protection workers, because their parents had histories of neglecting them or abusing drugs, were not permitted to attend school.

Some children with disabilities and Indigenous children at risk of disengaging from school were also turned away.

"We've had accounts during this period of children in care being turned away by their school, of children who are involved with the family violence service not being allowed to attend school, children with a disability who just can't get the level of support and learning support they need at home, not able to attend on site."

The concerns raised by the commissioner come as Victoria grapples with a decision about whether to return to remote learning for some students when term three resumes on Monday week.

While she would not comment on individual cases or schools, Ms Buchanan said remote learning also created another significant issue within the child protection system — teachers were no longer able to pick up signs of injury or abuse on students which could then be reported to authorities.

This was compounded by a reduction in visits to the homes of children from child protection workers, due to coronavirus restrictions.

It was too early to say whether some of those children had suffered harm while they were isolated from school and child protection.

"My worry is that we're going to see more of that in coming weeks and months, because some of these things take a while for children to disclose," she said.

Children who required laptops and internet access only received it, in some cases, when they returned back to school, Ms Buchanan said.

In a statement, a Department of Education spokeswoman said that schools had worked hard to meet the needs of vulnerable children during remote learning.

What She confirmed specialist schools would open as normal during term three.

"Any move to remote learning in government schools in term three will be based on the health advice," she said.

"In the event this occurs, every student will get the support they need, especially children and young people facing disadvantage."

Children fined for social distancing breaches

The commission has also been told children in residential care, including Indigenous children, received fines of more than $1,600 for breaching social distancing laws during the previous lockdown.

Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People Justin Mohamed said those fined included children as young as 12.

"They're the responsibility of the state, and the state are then fining them," he said.

He said it would have been better if police had used the opportunity to educate young people about the importance of social distancing, rather than giving them a fine they would never be able to pay.

Mr Mohamed said cases of Indigenous youth being fined came as the global Black Lives Matter movement left many of them reflecting on their relationship with police.

"In many cases you wouldn't see a police officer in a positive view if you were an Aboriginal young person, especially in out-of-home care," he said.

"Sometimes, there's a lot of contact with police, through no fault of their own, but it could have been the police who removed them … when they were in harm's way.

"As a young person, you still see … that's the side of society that took me away from my parents."

Mr Mohamed said another key issue for Indigenous young people in state care or youth detention was being prevented from seeing their parents and relatives during lockdown, as these visits were considered vital to maintaining their identity.

Survey gauges pandemic's impact on young Victorians

Since late March, the Commission for Children and Young People has spoken to more than 200 young people in group sessions, about 70 in one-on-one sessions, and about 450 more have completed a survey.

The pandemic forced the commission to move quickly to hear from young people who would no longer have the same level of support as before lockdown.

There are a lot of children living in less than ideal situations, either because … they're living with a degree of neglect or violence at home, or because they've got mental health issues or other support needs," Ms Buchanan said.

"So the prospect of COVID … was really alarming to us.

"We decided the only way that we could really track what was happening for children and young people, as well as getting the data and working with departments like we normally do, was to speak to children and young people."

Highlands Youth Advisory Board member Zach Eaton said he had passed on to the commission the fears of his friends; that the economic downturn created by the response to the pandemic would disproportionately affect them.

But she said more must be done if Victoria again moved to shift students online.

"I need to be fair: no one predicted this pandemic," she said.

"No-one predicted that schools would suddenly have to move to online learning.

"My hope is that … if we need to move to home learning again that there's much stronger guidance from the department to really make sure that schools are encouraged and indeed required to do what they need to for these vulnerable kids."

Lockdowns in Melbourne

Early  research on remote learning from the Grattan Institute suggested students from disadvantaged backgrounds lost about a month of learning during term two, learning at about 50 per cent of their regular rate.

"If you’ve got family members who are illiterate, for whom English is not their first language, or who have addiction problems, they can’t provide the levels of support that other families might be able to provide," Professor Wilkinson said.

"Teachers can provide some level of support, but it's not like the level of support they can get when they’re actually in school, face to face with a teacher all day."

Meanwhile, Independent Schools Victoria has told its schools they can implement remote learning from the start of term three, but advised them to wait until the state government announces a formal return to learning from home.

Uni debacle

Second-year university student Emily Johnston failed her first online exam this semester "miserably", she says. She'd usually have lab classes every week at Sydney University, examining brain specimens and cadavers. But these have been replaced by demonstrations over blurry Zoom sessions, where other students have hijacked meetings and blared music.

"We're just so unengaged, to the point where we can't be bothered to get out of bed," she says. "I know in three weeks I will forget everything. I'm not learning - just reading notes, hearing what they're saying in pre-recorded lectures from years ago and copying it down. When I inevitably fail the semester, I'll have to redo the entire unit. That would cost me $1200."

For thousands of university students, a semester of online learning was not what they paid for. Motivation has dropped and many fear they haven't learnt content they need to progress their degrees. Some are disgruntled they must pay full fees for what they see as a lesser service and have been disturbed by online exam technology.