Page 1502 - Week 04 - Thursday, 4 April 2019
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The rollout of Sentral, the School Administration System (SAS), continues to improve data collection at each ACT public school. In addition, the Directorate provides ongoing support and training to schools to support accurate and timely reporting of incidents. Currently to view data at a system level, data must be manually extracted from each school. The full implementation of Sentral is expected towards the end of this year and will unlike MAZE, allow users in the Directorate visibility of data at ACT public schools.
Schools—bullying
Ms Berry (in reply to a supplementary question by Ms Lee on Wednesday, 13 February 2019):
Bullying is a serious issue and it is recognised that continued or severe bullying can contribute to long-term problem as well as immediate unhappiness. However, research also demonstrates that supportive and inclusive schools can make a significant and positive difference. At a universal tier Education Directorate has a safe and supportive school policy that provides guidance for Canberra public schools on promoting, safe, and respectful and supportive school environment.
All schools implement a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program to directly address bullying, including cyber bullying. The Education Directorate also works with community organisations such as Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT to provide support to schools build their capacity in ensuring an inclusive school environment for all students.
At a more targeted level, schools have access to a model of counselling and welfare services. This service includes a range of professionals working together to support students, with psychologists in schools forming a key aspect of support. The Network Student Engagement Teams (NSETs) multidisciplinary teams also work with schools, to identify students with complex needs and challenging behaviours and to address their learning and support needs through a holistic and inclusive model. Collectively, this service provision aims at prevention and early intervention for students who are needing assistance.
Given the multitude of avenues that exist for students in schools, collection of data that would accurately capture the service provision imposes challenges. Information that is collected on individual cases as part of the school psychology intervention is not held centrally as it is governed by health records and privacy legislation.
The Directorate does collect de-identified data on the primary reason a student may be referred or self-refers to their school psychologist on an annual basis. In 2018, data was received from 82 schools. This information captured that 245 students or 0.83% of the total referrals received by school psychologists across these schools were in relation to bullying.
Education—teacher exit surveys
Ms Berry (in reply to a supplementary question by Ms Lawder on Wednesday, 13 February 2019):
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video