Government to take control of NSW schools where bullying is an issue

Underperforming principals who fail to meet the standards on everything from HSC results to bullying will lose their power as part of sweeping reforms to the running of public schools.

Principals will be sidelined if they preside over schools where students feel bullied, neglected or shunned.

As part of an overhaul of the running of public schools, education department boffins will intervene at public schools failing to meet targets for HSC results, phonics, NAPLAN scores, attendance, real-world success of graduates and wellbeing.

The sweeping reforms are the government’s way of taking back control of schools and reducing the power of poor-performing principals.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell has conceded the Coalition’s 2012 Local Schools Local Decisions policy of giving principals ultimate control over their own schools meant the education department had lost the power to intervene in classrooms and keep track of school funding.

Woolooware High School Year 7 students Ava Zantiotis 12, Paige Bauer 12, Bear Strong 12, Sarah Davey 13, Isabella Karpik 13 and Clayton Walker. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Principals will now be forced to hand over control of their school budget if bureaucrats deem better expenditure could reverse sliding standards, such as employing more school counsellors, speech therapists, teachers aides or community liaison officers.

As part of the interventions, departmental staff may also implement strategies modelled on similar but better performing schools.

The change, which will apply from 2022, will mean departmental staff will be held directly responsible for students’ success for the first time instead of the onus falling solely on principals and teachers.

Principals’ immediate superiors, Directors of Educational Leadership, will stage interventions to implement best practice but the shared responsibility for student outcomes will travel up the chain to senior executives at the department.

Woolooware High School Year 12 students Jonah Newton 17, Lucy Dowell 17, Sophie Burns 17, Keira Danes 16, Tulley Lane 17 and Charlie Kennedy 17. Picture: Tim Hunter.

One of the greatest concerns is student wellbeing, which is tracked using biannual psychometric testing in the form of Tell Them From Me surveys devised by education research firm The Learning Bar.

This year’s survey data, obtained exclusively by The Sunday Telegraph, showed 25 per cent of primary and 23 per cent of secondary students reported being a victim of bullying at school.

Questions included “how often has someone called you names, teased, insulted or embarrassed you?” and “how often has someone teased, made threats or sent hurtful messages to you online using email, text message or social media?”.

Primary students decreasingly feel a sense of belonging at school, when asked whether they are able to make friends easily or if they feel accepted for who they are.

There is a widening gap in mental wellbeing between rich and poor secondary students, as well as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal secondary students.

The Tell Them From Me survey data is already used to devise school targets to lift student outcomes, but those targets will now become enforceable.

“Schools are receiving record funding, and many have used this funding to build truly incredible places to learn. These are the schools the system can learn from,” Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said.

“These are the schools whose teaching practices can be scaled across similar schools who are not meeting their targets.”

Woolooware High School principal Mardi Benson with Year 7 students Clayton Walker 13, Sarah Davey 13, Ava Zantiotis 12, Isabella Karpik 13, Bear Strong 12 and Paige Bauer 12. Picture: Tim Hunter.

Woolooware High School principal Mardi Benson said the Tell Them From Me survey data gave schools unparalleled insight into students’ mental wellbeing.

“It is not OK just to think everyone’s OK, which is why we use the data to make sure,” Ms Benson said.

“Through regular surveys we make sure we’re hearing everyone’s voice, not just the loudest voice in the room.

“The data allows us to make sure our interventions are working.”