Federation of Parents and Citizens' Associations of New South Wales

Ph: 1300 885 982 Fax: 1800 655 866

Social Context

A: HEALTH

PREMISE 5

No child's educational progress should be impeded through lack of proper health care and preventative care. Diagnosis and treatment should be readily available to all school students. Co-ordinated services are essential to provide this care and should be available in all areas, metropolitan and country. Furthermore, every effort should be made to ensure the safety of children in the school environment.

POLICY

5.1 It is the right of every child and young person within the New South Wales public school system to undertake their education in an environment which is occupationally safe and healthy in all aspects of daily school life. Furthermore, all teachers and other school staff, educational authorities and parent bodies have a duty of care to the young people of New South Wales to ensure that an awareness of, and a positive attitude towards, good occupational health and safety practices become features of both our public schools and the teaching of the curriculum within them.

5.2 The needs of school students will be best served by properly integrated and expanded school medical and dental services within either the DET and Training or the Health Commission. Such services must have adequate career structures, advanced planning and adequate funding, including research finance.

5.3 The DET, in conjunction with the Department of Health, should:

(a) conduct annual medical examinations of all students, commencing with their first year of schooling, to identify any disability, particularly of hearing or vision;

(b) establish adequate and appropriate recording and reporting systems so that no child inadvertently misses these medical examinations;

(c) pay to have children tested by a specialist in children's vision or hearing in the case of children who do not show as having problems in the initial screening but who, in the opinion of parents and educators, may well have a visual or hearing problem;

(d) carry out screenings for the early detection of scoliosis in Year 6 or 7 and again in Year 9 or 10; and

(e) conduct regular dental examinations of all students. Parents should be informed of the outcome of all medical and dental examinations and follow-up should be undertaken to ensure that treatment takes place.

5.4 Priority should always be given to the most advantageous placement of students with special medical or welfare needs. Free travel and accommodation should be made available to students seeking treatment if their home is remote from suitable facilities. Students in isolated areas should be catered for by mobile medical and dental units or, when more specialised care is needed, by the transport of the student and a parent to the nearest centre with suitable facilities. P&C Federation should seek tax deductibility for any expenses incurred by isolated parents in seeking such specialised treatment.

5.5 Medical and dental treatment should be available to all children. Where school dental and medical services are not provided, the local dentists and doctors should be requested to carry out the work and should be subsidized by the Department of Health. A child must not be denied treatment through the lack of family finance or for the want of parents' awareness of the need.

5.6 The maintenance and expansion of Community Health Services should be treated as a matter of high priority as comprehensive preventative facilities are essential for sound child care at all stages of development.

5.7 Publication of preventative dentistry literature by the Dental Health Service is most important, as is the explanation of preventative measures to parents.

5.8 Qualified nurses should be appointed to all schools. All schools should have a suitable number of staff trained in First-Aid and all schools should have adequate First-Aid equipment. First-Aid equipment should be provided to all schools by the DET in accordance with appropriate regulations of the Department of Labour and Industry. All school staff should be encouraged by the Department to undertake recognised First-Aid courses.

5.9 As the incidence of emotional disturbances among students appears to be increasing, P&C Federation should press for the appointment of qualified social workers to Regional Offices to be available to work within schools as required. The duties of these officers would be different from, but complementary to, those of School Counsellors. P&C Federation also recommends expansion of psychological/psychiatric counselling and early remedial services in schools.

5.10 School-leavers seeking government employment should be able to undergo the necessary medical examinations in country centres to avoid the time and cost involved in travel to Sydney.

5.11 The DET should provide soap and hygienic hand-drying facilities in all school toilet and ablution blocks.

5.12 The DET should actively encourage the immunisation of all children before school entry for polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, measles, and rubella (except where a medical certificate is provided); and for hepatitis B where recommended by the Department of Health. All advertisements for, and advice on, immunisation should be conducted in the media in the ethnic languages of parents in that area.

5.13 All members of the school community should be instructed in the appropriate procedures for handling blood and other body fluids in order to prevent transmission of the HIV virus and Hepatitis A, B or C. They should be regularly reminded of the procedures.

5.14 Any student who is bleeding, resulting from an accident or injury or by natural or other causes, must be treated by a staff member qualified in first aid, until the bleeding is stopped or has been controlled. All personnel who attend blood or other bodily fluid spills should wear disposable gloves. In the absence of disposable gloves, blood and body fluids should be managed in order to minimise or avoid direct contact. Careful hand-washing should always be practiced after attending a person or area affected by blood or body fluid spills. Contaminated clothing and equipment should be replaced and affected surfaces cleaned in the following way: soiled surfaces should be cleaned with a 1:10 dilution of 5 per cent bleach (0.5 per cent available chlorine) prepared fresh daily; mops, rags and other re-useable materials used in the cleaning process should be soaked in the solution for 30 minutes after use; soiled paper products and other disposables should be disposed of in a covered refuse container. The protection of health of all members of the school community by the correct management of blood or body fluid spills should be ensured at all times.

5.15 Where a student or staff member has or is alleged to have the HIV virus, they should be protected from discrimination and ridicule. Neither their condition nor their identity should be disclosed to any person, except at the request of the sufferer or his/her next of kin.

5.16 Parents of children who suffer from chronic conditions should be encouraged to provide them with a bracelet or other identification symbol indicating their condition.

5.17 P&C Federation should liaise with the Department of Health in its attempts to improve the quality of foods sold at school canteens. The recommendations of the Department on matters of nutrition, meal planning and food preparation hygiene should be given maximum publicity to both improve the nutritional value of canteen food and to improve the general diets of students.

5.18 P&C Federation opposes the reintroduction of free school milk, but favours it being subsidised for sale through school canteens.

5.19 That the Department of Education and Training ensures that all schools are made aware of the existence of Food Anaphylactic Children Training and Support Association Incorporated (FACTS). Further, that the P&C Federation may look towards supporting FACTS in their endeavour to help make the lives of children with allergies safer and easier, particularly whilst at school.

5.20 Legislation should be introduced making it compulsory for manufacturers to list the percentage contents of all ingredients of food.

5.21 P&C Federation should seek to have the Department of Education and Training provide accident insurance for all children attending State Schools. Ambulance fees for such children while at school should also be paid by the Department.

5.22 P&C Federation opposes any extension of daylight saving in NSW, requesting the Government to consider the detrimental effect any extension might have on the health and education of children living west of the Blue Mountains.

5.23 That parents, students and staff should be continually made aware of the dangers of exposure to the sun and that an effective Sun Safety Strategies Program must be implemented in all government schools and steps should be taken by example, by school rules and other means to alleviate these dangers.

B: PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS

PREMISE 5B

The main defense against the misuse of drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, is for students to have the skills and knowledge to make informed decisions in situations of potential harm involving drug use, misuse and abuse. Programs of AIDS Education and Child Abuse Education suitable for each applicable level from K to 12 should be available in all schools. P&C Federation is in agreement with the philosophy of Aims of Education which states: "The aims of education, to which schools make a major contribution, is to guide the individual development towards perceptive understanding, mature judgment, responsible self-direction and moral autonomy."

POLICY

5.24 Personal Development and Health Education programs should be instituted in all government schools with parents involved in all phases of planning and implementation. Such programs should include family development, drug and AIDS education, child abuse awareness and sex education. The program should begin in pre-school and continue throughout primary and secondary schooling, integrated where possible into regular syllabi.

5.25 Personal Development and Health Education are ideally presented within the school where the teachers concerned:

(a) have received the fullest possible training in the Personal Development and Health Education field;

(b) possess personal maturity; and

(c) take particular care not to replace ignorance with bias, but to develop in students the ability to make decisions based on considered values.

5.26 The importance of parents, teachers, peer groups, community groups and the media in the formation of moral and ethical values is vital and planners and teachers of Personal Development programs should acknowledge this at all times.

5.27 P&C Federation supports the rights of parents to decide whether or not their children should be involved in all or part of the Personal Development and Health Education programs. Such parental decisions will be better informed if courses specifically tailored for parents are available to facilitate their understanding of the programs.

5.28 P&C Federation emphasises the desirability of a harm minimisation approach, which includes abstinence, to Drug Education as an integral part of the general K-12 curriculum and specifically part of the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education Syllabus K-12. School communities are to be committed to the prevention and early detection of drug problems as part of the school welfare policy, and to ensuring that any interventions needed to support students with drug problems are appropriate to their needs.

5.29 P&C Federation supports AIDS Education for all students and believes students from a pre-pubescent age should have knowledge of their sexuality, of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, and of other relevant aspects of sex education. P&C Federation urges the DET to:

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(a) ensure that all students have access to a continuing program of AIDS Education; and

(b) encourage primary schools to develop Personal Development and Health Programs with a Sex Education component so that they may commence AIDS Education.

C: MEDIA

PREMISE 5C

Television, radio and the printed media are the most effective means of mass communication available and exert a profound influence on society. Television and radio should be used as tools to enrich the quality of life. They are public utilities which should act in the interest of, and be accountable to, the consumer, particularly in reference to children's entertainment and educational programs. The printed media should be used to inform, entertain and educate. Publishers of printed media should exercise responsibility in their choice and use of editorial material, particularly in the field of education. All media have an important role to play in reporting educational matters and presenting educational programs and articles: there is a need to make facilities available solely for the purpose of education.

POLICY

5.30 It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to

(a) develop and maintain facilities for national sound and television broadcast systems;

(b) provide television coverage for remote areas having due regard to its likely impact;

(c) provide the Australian Broadcasting Corporation with the necessary funds to provide quality programs which promote personal growth of individuals and improve the quality of life;

(d) provide the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal with sufficient funds to carry out its functions, including publicising the structures for interested parties to be kept up to date with the deliberations and decision of all facets of the Tribunal;

(e) ensure the continuation of the Children's Program Committee and to support its role in advising the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal on areas of public concern relating to children and television;

(f) provide audio-visual resources, including VTR material, for schools outside the normal range; and

(g) establish as soon as possible community and public access to television and radio stations in as many centres as is practicable.

5.31 All broadcasters have a responsibility to provide programs:

(a) of an informative, stimulating and entertaining nature for children;

(b) which promote personal growth by ensuring quality and diversity in the available choice of children's programs;

(c) for all children, especially those in early primary years, which reflect experiences they will encounter in the Australian environment;

(d) which are sensitive to the multicultural nature of the Australian community;

(e) which reflect the needs and sensitivities of the family viewing audience;

(f) which give special consideration to the ages and interests of intended audiences; and

(g) which pay particular attention to the time schedule of children's programs.

5.32 It is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal to be ever mindful that it is the guardian of the airways and the servant of the public. It is not, and should never be seen to be, the promoter of the licensees. Until licensees show an intention to produce, purchase and schedule quality programs especially for children, self-regulation is unacceptable. Included in the functions of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal should be the responsibility to:

(a) ensure programs are presented in a non-sexist manner;

(b) systematically monitor programs and advertising and exercise authority in this respect;

(c) form a committee for the purpose of keeping an overview of quality and balance on behalf of the viewing public. This committee's terms of reference to include the investigation of breaches of standards under which licenses are renewed;

(d) have station-produced and contracted productions subject to the same scrutiny of classification and censorship as imported and non-station productions;

(e) establish and maintain standards for advertising directed to children which show due regard and protection for developing children and their abilities and which prevent their exploitation through the use of techniques which they are unable to handle;

(f) examine and publicise all reports on the effects of large amounts of viewing on children's development;

(g) research the advisability of Children's Viewing Time commencing at 4.00 pm;

(h) increase Children's Viewing Time from one to two hours daily, Monday to Friday, and ensure replaced Children's Viewing Time is allocated as an addition to the normal program allocation;

(i) provide and promote effective and accessible sources of information to the public with regard to broadcasting practices and to public rights in this respect;

(j) establish and maintain effective procedures for facilitating public participation in license renewal hearings;

(k) systematically gather, through its own resources and throughout license periods, information relating to the actual performances of commercial radio and television licensees; and

(l) ensure children's drama and magazine-style programs are regulated to encourage diversity and stimulating experiences for 6-13 year old children.

5.33 The Australian Broadcasting Tribunal should ensure that regulations concerning Children's Viewing Time will:

(a) ensure that sexist representations, language or inferences are not used;

(b) abolish advertising during Children's Viewing Time and during programs for pre-school children;

(d) ensure advertising directed at children includes the appropriate age, depicts a child of that age and includes the recommended retail price, particularly in reference to toys;

(e) ensure that items deemed to be harmful, e.g. alcohol, non-prescription medicine, is not advertised in General Viewing Time;

(f) ensure that children's comperes, characters and sporting and well known television personalities do not endorse or promote products considered as harmful within a "G" program or within General Viewing Time;

(g) ensure that the content of advertisements for goods and services be strictly vetted and restructured for scheduling according to content;

(h) ensure that station promotions of material unsuitable for children are not shown immediately prior to or immediately after Children's Viewing Time or during General Viewing Time;

(i) ensure that comments with respect to prizes and gifts, their description and brand name, are counted as advertisements and their time included in the advertising allocation; and

(j) ensure that advertising does not imply disadvantage in non-ownership of featured items.

5.34 All publishers of print media have a responsibility to:

(a) present educational news in a responsible and balanced manner;

(b) provide on a regular basis more feature articles which will inform the general public accurately about educational issues without resorting to sensationalism;

(d) exercise all possible care in the presentation of news in a responsible and balanced manner.

5.35 Legislation should be introduced and then enforced to ensure that 'X'-rated videos are not available to minors.

D: YOUTH POLICY

PREMISE 5D

P&C Federation shall foster, support and implement policy that will assist the development of the talents of young people to enable them to take an active and informed role in Australian society. For plans and strategies in Youth Policy to be successful, a new climate of public opinion is needed and attitudes to youth should be ones of encouragement and assistance. Parents and families should take the initiative to support and advise teenagers in their formative years to cope with a choice of vocation and the pressures involved in achieving that goal.

POLICY

5.36 P&C Federation believes that new and differing approaches to youth policy are needed and that they should include:

(a) pursuit of an integrated National Youth Policy which emphasises the inter-relationships between education, work and leisure;

(b) restructuring of school curricula through continuing improvements in relations between students, teachers, parents and the community and creation of a total-school development program to complete the circle of communication; and

(c) supply of current, accurate information, especially at the local level, regarding the current state of youth unemployment and opportunities.

5.37 If young people are to play an active role in society, it is important that leadership qualities be developed through normal schooling, recreational and sporting activities and peer group activities. To assist in this development, courses should be made available at National Fitness Camps throughout NSW and a close relationship should be fostered between each school and its community. Full information on, and application forms for, National Fitness Camps should be made readily available through school Principals.

5.38 The DET, in conjunction with other agencies, should encourage programs in which young people gather in small groups within schools to learn self-expression in mutually respectful, and non-adversarial, means of debate. The organisation of such programs should involve the participants, their parents and their teachers.

5.39 P&C Federation acknowledges the initiatives of the NSW Sport and Recreation Service in its provision of camps and courses for youth throughout the State. P&C Federation also supports the work of other organizations and programs with the interest of youth at heart, including the NSW Youth Advisory Council, Youth Education Seminars, and the association of Youth Organisations.

5.40 Youth unemployment is a major problem which must be addressed by State and Federal Governments, unions, employer groups and a wide range of government and non-government agencies. All members of the community have the right to work if they so wish. The high level of youth unemployment is due to changing employment structures, economic conditions and, in some cases, discriminatory attitudes by employers towards youth. Society in general and governments in particular, should give a very high priority to reducing the level of unemployment and to ameliorating the social consequences of unemployment.

5.41 Higher retention rates in Years 11-12 must not be seen as a quick and simple solution, but will only become meaningful if school structures and curricula are altered to cater for the interests and needs of the extra students staying on at school.

E: GENDER EQUITY

PREMISE 5E

Gender does not determine the capacity to learn. Girls and boys should be valued equally in all aspects of schooling. Providing a high quality education for both boys and girls is a mainstream professional responsibility for all educators. Schooling should reflect the entitlement of all men and women, in their own right, to personal respect, to economic security and to participation in and influence over decisions which will affect their lives.

POLICY

5.42 P&C Federation supports the development of gender equity strategies in all aspects of schooling, from early childhood through to post-compulsory, among teachers and the wider community by:

(a) promoting awareness that girls and boys have equal rights in all aspects of schooling;

(b) promoting awareness of the changing roles of men and women in society in terms of their economic, civic and domestic responsibilities;

(c) taking into consideration parents, carers and students real lived experiences and promoting school-based research on their needs and concerns;

(d) understanding gender beyond biological definitions and sex role socialisation and recognising the interweaving of gender with culture, age, Aboriginality, class, race, ethnicity, sexuality and disability;

(e) acknowledging gender as a social construction where people are actively engaged in constructing their own femininity and masculinity;

(f) encouraging people to explore a range of masculinities and femininities, that is, gender in relation to social expectations, pressures, constraints, power, and resistances;

(g) critically analysing gender construction in curriculum, teaching and learning strategies, and assessment and reporting as well as the school's management structures;

(h) promoting equal and respectful relationships between boys and boys, girls and girls, boys and girls, and between men and men, women and women, men and women, as well as adults and children.

P&C Federation encourages parents and carers, teachers and others to have a commitment to both boys and girls in gender reform work;

P&C Federation supports the promotion of gender reforms which contribute to improvements in girls’ and boys’ opportunities not only in education, but in life.

5.43 Providing for equality of outcomes in education for girls and boys may require differential provision, at least for a time.

5.44 The DET should recognise the need for gender equity initiatives for both boys and girls in the education system, and by developing a Boys' Education Strategy and extending the present Girls' Education Strategy to identify these needs at both primary and secondary levels and assist schools to develop appropriate strategies:

(a) for teaching and learning suited to the different needs of boys and girls;

(b) to break down stereotypes in male, as well as female roles;

5.45 Strategies to improve the quality of education for girls should be based on an understanding that girls are not a homogeneous group. Priority should be given to meeting the specific needs of those groups most requiring support to benefit from schooling; such as Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, girls from LBOTE (Language Backgrounds Other Than English), those who live in remote areas and girls who may be at risk of not completing their secondary education.

5.46 Schools should educate girls and boys for satisfying, responsible and productive living, including work inside and outside the home.

F: LINKS WITH BODIES EXTERNAL TO THE EDUCATION SYSTEM

PREMISE 5F

Any links between schools and bodies external to the school education system should be designed so as to improve the education the system can provide and the understanding of education by the external bodies. Curriculum content and school policies must not be determined by the interests of external bodies, nor must external bodies obtain undue influence on a school or the system as a result of sponsorship or other links. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that no school becomes dependent on an external body for money for its operations, and that the distribution of resources between schools is just.

POLICY

5.47 P&C Federation insists that the Government must ensure that the whole of public education is fully funded, so that government schools are not made dependent on sponsors for any part of their curriculum or educational functions.

5.48 P&C Federation recognises that schools have benefited in many ways from resources provided by industry and service clubs, as well as by individuals-teacher/industry exchange programs, assistance with work experience programs for students, and the provision of awards for students and schools but P&C Federation does not support:

(a) the linking of schools with commercial enterprises in a way which would undermine the principles of public education;

(b) activities which would cause tensions in a community because of the school's identification with a particular commercial interest;

(d) naming of sporting events.

5.49 P&C Federation strongly opposes:

(a) the changing of a name of any government school to incorporate the name of a sponsor;

(b) the inclusion of the name of a commercial enterprise on school stationery or the sign indicating the name of the school;

(d) the use of school students to promote a particular product or service and, in particular, the use of advertising on uniforms or letterhead;

(e) activities which involve students in commercial promotions; and

(f) acceptance by schools of resources which may have the effect of compromising the school's policies, programs and strategies.

5.50 P&C Federation would accept public acknowledgment of sponsors, for example, on speech days and in newsletters or at sports events.

5.51 P&C Federation believes that it is the responsibility of school councils and parent organisations to:

(a) critically consider all proposals for school/industry links; and

(b) authorise activities and/or linkages which fall within the guidelines in clauses 5.46 to 5.49 and are consistent with school policy, if they are in the interests of students in all schools.

5.52 P&C Federation believes that it is the responsibility of the government system to develop system-wide guidelines which incorporate the principles and practices outlined above for both the system and schools.

Action Items

1. That P&C Federation make representation to Senator Richard Alston, Minister for Communications and the Arts through the Minister of Education and Training to include in the federal telecommunications legislation, determination code of practice or otherwise, a provision stating that the beam of greatest intensity from a mobile phone base installation should not fall upon any grounds within a school or community sensitive location as recommended by the authoritative UK Stewart Report 2000. The simplest method of implementing this would be to prohibit antenna within 300m of a school boundary or community sensitive location (as defined in Chapter 5 of the ACIF code). (2003)

2. That P&C Federation conduct an education and awareness campaign for canteens operated by affiliated P&C associations in relation to the risks faced by children with sever allergies to peanut and other nut products and their duty of care to these children. (2003)

3. That P&C Federation insist that high voltage lines in the vicinity of school and pre-schools be underground. (2003)

4. That P&C Federation respond appropriately to all future comments by the media about violence in schools which portray public schools in a bad light. (2003)

5. That P&C Federation immediately form a Working Party to investigate the issue of violence in schools, the working party to included interested Councillors and members of the Executive and an email group. The working party should formulate a report for Council which would be used to inform discussions with the NSW Teachers Federation and the DET as an invitation for further discussion with key stakeholders, and that this be referred to Council for implementation. (2003)

6. That P&C Federation calls upon the State Government to extend the mandatory implementation period, due to the Departments delay in providing sufficient information on the Fresh Taste NSW Healthy Canteen Strategy and the limited amount of consultation and guidance at a local P&C and parent level. (2004)

7. That P&C Federation discuss with the Department of Education and Training, as a matter of urgency, the development of appropriate hot weather policies to be implemented in all NSW schools. This discussion should include the development of school policies applicable in all public schools around sport and excursions during periods of extreme heat as well as procedures to occur if the cooling system in a school in unable to operate and temperatures in classrooms become unbearable. (2004)

8. That the P&C Federation urges the Department of Education and Training to immediately review its current First Aid procedures for, and management of, students who sustain a knock or blow to the head whilst involved in school activities. (2004)

9. That P&C Federation urges New South Wales Health to reintroduce screening for scoliosis in Years 7 and 9. (2004)

10. That P&C Federation urges the Department of Education and Training to embark upon a fully funded program for shade structures in existing schools so they are upgraded to current building codes. (2004)

11. That P&C Federation requests the Department of Education and Training to ensure that the wearing of suitable sun safe hats be compulsory for staff and students in all NSW government schools and that hats should be pursued as a health rather than as a uniform issue. (2004)

12. That P&C Federation request the Department of Education and Training to provide all government schools with a full-time school assistant, in accordance with Policy item 10.72. (2004)