The NSW and South Australia state governments are continuing their collaboration on initiatives to help improve the wellbeing of schoolkids with an agreement to work on measures to combat bullying.
Deputy Premier and NSW Minister for Education and Early Learning Ms Prue Car and SA Minister for Education, Training and Skills Mr Blair Boyer have signed a joint agreement to tackle the scourge of bullying.
The joint effort follows the success of last year’s groundbreaking Social Media Summit, organised jointly by the NSW and SA Premiers, to explore and address the impacts of social media on children and young people.
The MOU binds the two states to “undertake a coordinated approach to information sharing and collaboration to minimise the impacts of bullying in schools and support positive school environments”.
Work will commence immediately on the sharing of best practice prevention strategies that are already working in NSW and SA schools, curriculum materials and tools for educators to combat bullying, including cyberbullying, in schools.
Last year NSW Premier Mr Chris Minns and Deputy Premier Ms Car announced they would lead the development of a statewide bullying framework for all NSW schools.
The regulator of schools, the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA), has already convened its first meeting with the school sectors to progress the work on the anti-bullying framework.
The MOU is just part of a suite of measures the NSW Government has initiated to deal with challenges facing schools.
- Banned mobile phones in all NSW Public schools, with a recent survey showing that 86 per cent of principals believing socialising has improved since this came into effect.
- Implemented a new, stronger behaviour policy which provides teachers and principals with the authority they need to appropriately manage student behaviour.
- Introduced a revised school curriculum which includes lessons on bullying, respectful relationships and consent education.
- Hosted a Social Media Summit alongside the South Australian Government, and supported the Federal Government’s decision to raise the minimum age for social media to 16.
- Recruited 92 new school counsellors and psychologists since the beginning of this year.
- Launched the Spotlight on Cyberbullying Website which provides free and easily accessibly cyberbullying resources for parents, carers, teachers and schools.
“Bullying is a scourge that impacts children across all school sectors, states and territories, and we all have a crucial role to play in stamping it out,” Ms Car said. “NSW is leading the way nationally to address bullying and cyberbullying so children at all schools feel safe and supported to focus on their learning.”
“I am proud to work with South Australia in progressing this issue. There is much that we can share with each other to come up with the best approaches to prevention. We all want the same outcome – which is to keep our kids safe and happy so that they can get the best out of their education.
“As we progress this work in NSW, we look forward to working with our state and federal counterparts on a consistent national approach,” she said.
“Preventing bullying before it starts is the best action we can take to make sure every child can get the education they deserve,” Mr Boyer said.
“That’s why we’ve focused our efforts on training teachers to better respond to bullying and bolstering the respectful relationships curriculum.
“Prue Car and I have made tackling bullying a priority and our new partnership will give staff more tools to act and support students.
“This action builds on South Australia’s nation-leading mobile phone ban, the rollout of explicit teaching of behaviour in schools, and 100FTE mental health and learning specialists in schools.
“Bullying impacts all schools in all sectors. That’s why we’re sharing resources and training across all sectors to take action across all schools.”
