Safe Schools program to be dumped by NSW Government
THE controversial Safe Schools program is set to be axed with the NSW government replacing it with a broader anti-bullying program.
NSW
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THE controversial Safe Schools program is set to be axed with the NSW government replacing it with a broader anti-bullying program.
To be implemented in the third term, the proposed new resource will equip teachers with tools to target all kinds of bullying and discrimination, while also empowering vulnerable students from becoming radicalised.
State Education Minister Rob Stokes has already sounded out stakeholders, including in the Catholic Schools sector, about the design of the new program that will be peer reviewed over the coming weeks.
Unlike the sexual diversity and gender fluidity focus of the Safe Schools program, the new resource will aim to equip teachers with tools to target all kinds of bullying.
A government source said the shift to a broader-based program was being done in recognition that homophobia was not the sole cause of bullying in the playground.
“The new program is about stopping all kinds of bullying,” the source said.
“It could be bullying because someone is overweight, or wears glasses, or is transitioning sex, but the overwhelming message is that it is not OK (to bully). The program will include lesson plans and material that can be tailored by teachers as required.”
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Dedicated funding for the anti-bullying strategy is expected to be put aside in the next state Budget, with federal funding for Safe Schools due to run out on June 30.
Still in draft form, the NSW program will be peer reviewed by child psychology experts such as Dr Michael Carr-Gregg, retired school principals and various education stakeholders.
However, the State government faces a battle with the Commonwealth government, with federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham understood to have refused to decommission the Safe Schools website.
The move to a broader anti-bullying program in NSW comes as the Victorian government expands on the existing Safe Schools models for continued use in its schools.
The Victorian model retains the focus of the original program of ensuring schools are safe places for all students, “including LGBTI students”, and are “free of homophobia and transphobia”.
The Safe Schools program was widely condemned for the appropriateness of its teaching material, such as The Gender Fairy story where primary schoolchildren as young as four were advised that only they could know whether they were a boy or a girl.
Supporters of the Safe Schools program accused its critics of being “homophobic” and “transphobic”.
Mr Stokes declined to comment last week.
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