Latest news with #JessWilson
Daily Mail
16-05-2025
- Daily Mail
How parents who whinge about their children's teachers could be slapped with a $1,000 fine
An outspoken public servant has called for a crackdown on parents who complain about their children's teachers online. Frank Handy, the chair of Victoria's Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution, has proposed a $1,000 fine for parents who defame school teachers. It comes after new research revealed a rise in rude and aggressive behaviour by parents and caregivers towards educators. 'The complaints that we are getting now, are more difficult to manage than they were a few years ago,' Mr Handy told 9News. The dispute resolution expert has called for a fine system to be introduced, along with a ban on internet use to act as a deterrent. 'It's not a restriction in speech, instead it's "how can I say this in a way where the system will hear, that I will be heard and we will resolve the problem",' he said. But Victoria's Education Minister Ben Carroll has ruled out introducing a hefty fine. 'We already have a school-wide positive behaviours initiative where there are issues at the school that we need to resolve,' he said. 'For the most difficult situations we always have a school community safety order system in place where authorised officers in the department of education can issue notices where parents are banned from attending a particular school. 'We are talking about a very, very small number of notices that get issued every year.' Victoria's Shadow Education Minister Jess Wilson said she was concerned about conditions for teachers across the state. 'This is a problem for teachers right across the state, I hear it time and time again from principals, particularly when they see new graduate teachers coming into the classroom,' she said. 'This has consequences, this means we're seeing teachers exit.' The 2024 Australian Principals' Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey, conducted by the Australian Catholic University, reveals a toxic workplace culture. Up to 55 per cent of principals reported being subjected to threats of violence, 57 per cent were targets of gossip and slander and 35 per cent said they were cyberbullied. When asked who was behind the bullying, 65 per cent of respondents identified 'parents and caregivers'. 'The major cause of distress are parents,' one teacher told the survey. 'Parents behave in an unreasonable manner, have ridiculous expectations, and think that because they went to school, they can therefore run a school. 'Principals are constantly defending staff from parents. Parents are rarely told to stop and desist by Education Support Offices.' Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Australian Education Union Victorian Branch and Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution for comment.
ABC News
12-05-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Premier denies Victoria is failing to meet its Gonski funding requirements for state schools
Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has denied her government has withdrawn from its funding commitment to state schools. It follows reports published in Nine newspapers, which claim the state government ripped out $2.4 billion from school budgets by delaying its commitment to the Gonski education reforms by three years. The Age reports the savings were signed off by the premier and buried in last year's state budget. Ms Allan said the reports were incorrect and her government had increased its funding towards school capital works and buildings by $17 billion. "Fifty per cent of all new schools that open up around Australia are found here in Victoria," she said. As part of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), the federal government reached an agreement with the state government to increase its funding share from 20 to 25 per cent. "In return, Victoria must reach and maintain at least 75 per cent of the SRS for its public schools, and reduce indirect expenditure currently counted towards its share from 4 per cent to zero by 2034," Federal Education Minister Jason Clare said. Under the SRS, each state set the year it would reach the 75 per cent commitment. Victoria and Western Australia were yet to sign the bilateral agreement setting out the time frame with their federal counterparts. However, Mr Clare said he spoke with Victoria's Education Minister Ben Carroll last week about progressing it. Victoria's Shadow Education Minister Jess Wilson likened the reports to cuts to the education sector. "These secret cuts have exposed Labor's utter hypocrisy on public school funding and their failure to provide Victorian students with the education they need and deserve," she said. "Whilst spending years demanding the Commonwealth lift their proportion of government school funding beyond agreed levels, the Allan Labor government was secretly cutting billions from public schools." The Australian Education Union's Victorian Branch also accused the state government of failing to deliver on its funding commitment. "The state Labor government likes to call Victoria the 'education state', but with billions of dollars of missing funding, every other state and territory are deserving of that mantle instead of Victoria," said branch president Justin Mullaly. "Without full funding delivered in a fair and timely way, it will be much harder for teachers, education support staff, and principals to properly and effectively meet the learning and wellbeing needs of students." The Victorian Greens said it was a disgrace that Labor had prioritised corporate interests over properly funding state education. "The fact that Labor can find hundreds of millions for a luxury playground for F1 sponsors, but won't properly fund our schools, says it all," said the party's state leader Ellen Sandell. "Labor seem to care more about champagne for corporates than schoolbooks for kids."
Scottish Sun
02-05-2025
- Automotive
- Scottish Sun
I tried new ‘AirBnB for cars' – it was less than HALF the cost of a normal hire car but that wasn't even the best part
The app is extremely easy to use and works just like AirBnB - it's a win win for both car owners and people without vehicles DRIVE TIME I tried new 'AirBnB for cars' – it was less than HALF the cost of a normal hire car but that wasn't even the best part Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) LIVING in the middle of a city makes owning a car impossible for most people my age - so whenever I need one, I'm forced to fork out hundreds of pounds to rent one. But I've discovered a new secret site which means Brits like me can rent cars for a fraction of the cost… and the best part? They drop it off at your front door. 5 The Sun's Jess Wilson with her Turo hire car 5 The hire car was less than £26 a day Welcome to the AirBnb for cars, otherwise known as Turo. The app is the world's largest car-sharing marketplace - meaning Brits can list their cars for rent when they are not using them, much like renting out your home on AirBnB. Over the last bank holiday weekend, I was quoted £80 a day to rent the cheapest car available at my local hire shop. It was 8 miles away from me - over an hour on public transport - and the fees and insurance made the grand total for a four-day trip over £500 - and that's not even considering the additional costs of petrol. It made the trip I was planning to do up to the Lake District for four days - a place where you really need a car - out of my budget. In a desperate Google search for cheaper alternatives outside London, I stumbled across Turo and after a quick search found countless options which were much closer to my house - and, more importantly, substantially cheaper. The app is extremely easy to use. Much like on AirBnB, you input the dates you want a car, the location and your budget and you are served a list of local cars which match your preferences. I immediately found a Fiat 500 for just £25.28 a day that was available for my dates. The terms stated that I could drive the car up to 200 miles per day - or 800 miles over a four-day window. But the best part was that for £80, I could have the car both delivered to me and picked up on my return - saving me carting my bags all over London. I was sold. To my delight, further discounts were added at the checkout - £17.36 for length of hire - but VAT of £41 was also added. Make over £6k a year renting out your car Listing your car on Turo is easily done in 4 simple steps... Sign up - Listing your car takes about ten minutes. There are no sign-up fees or monthly charges. All you need are your car's details to get the ball rolling. Set up your profile -Set your preferences, including when your car is available and your daily price. Add some photos and a description, and you're good to go. Welcome your guests - When a guest books your car, you'll get in touch with the details. The Turo app walks you through everything you need to do. Sit back and earn -You'll get paid by direct deposit within three days of each trip. You'll earn 65% or 75% of the trip price, based on the level of Turo protection you choose. 5 Hiring from Turo made the trip to the Lake District possible on a budget 5 The app is incredibly easy to use, with filters for price, distance and duration 5 The site offers everything - from cheap drives to fancy sports cars I chose the Premier Protection - but there were two cheaper tiers available too - and additional drivers are free to add. I popped in my preferred times and my car and host arrived bang on time a week later the night before my trip. The app allows both host and driver to upload photos of the car at that point, and on collection - meaning there are never any disputes on damage. I also loved that there was no time wasted at hire car counters - the entire pick-up took less than five minutes. My host explained how to use the car and told me to return it as it had been dropped off - with a full tank of fuel. The next morning I packed up my lovely red Fiat and set off on my road trip feeling totally at ease. The car was super efficient, using minimal fuel and I loved that the host had left me bottles of water and mints for the drive. Once you've set off, you have instant messaging access to the host - which was great for me when I couldn't work out how to open the fuel cap on my first refill stop. Turo: The facts Turo is available in over 16,000 cities across the US, UK, Canada, France, and Australia. Many Turo hosts offer delivery. Cars sit idle 95% of the time - the average host in the UK makes £414 a month per car. Turo has approximately 140,000 active hosts, 338,000 active vehicles and 3.5 million active guests from around the world. The car was perfect for me as I was looking for the lowest hire price possible. But there were absolutely loads of other models on offer - including a BMW for just £41 a day or a Lexus 200 for £63 a day if you wanted something much jazzier. The app also offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before - and the option to request an extension while you're away, which I ended up doing as I loved the experience so much. I genuinely couldn't fault it - and will be using Turo for many more trips in the future.
Herald Sun
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Herald Sun
Allan Government won't push for better results in NAPLAN testing
Don't miss out on the headlines from Education. Followed categories will be added to My News. The State Government has refused to aim for nine out of ten students reaching high standards in NAPLAN tests recommended by a key bipartisan parliamentary committee. The government's own targets are less than half as high, with educators instead working towards one third to one half of students reaching the top performance levels in numeracy and literacy. The number one recommendation from the Legislative Council's Legal and Social Issues Committee was for schools to aim for 90 per cent of students achieving the top two NAPLAN bands of 'exceeding' and 'strong'. The committee – which includes Labor figures such as Ryan Batchelor – received more than 270 submissions from experts, teachers and parents for its inquiry into the state education system. The government's response to the inquiry commits instead to reducing the proportion of students in the NAPLAN 'needs additional support category' by ten per cent and increasing the percentage of those in the 'exceeding' category by ten per cent. This follows the national adoption of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement which ties funding to lifting NAPLAN outcomes, among other goals. The government will also continue with its own NAPLAN benchmarks, which include aiming for 35 per cent of students to be in the top categories for year 5 numeracy, 45 per cent for year 5 reading and 46 per cent for year 3 numeracy. Despite claims about the high performance of Victorian pupils in NAPLAN, students consistently fail to meet the government's own benchmarks around half of the time. Victoria's latest NAPLAN results show up to one in three students are not proficient in reading or numeracy, with the committee's report noting that 'more work needs to be done to curtail the widening gaps between high and low performing cohorts'. The report said the 90 per cent target would 'encourage focused efforts on enhancing teaching quality, providing targeted support for students, and implementing evidence‑based educational strategies to ensure more students reach higher levels of proficiency'. It also noted that it is 'difficult to deduce from NAPLAN results how the state school system – the focus of this Inquiry – is performing'. NAPLAN scales changed from ten to four performance bands in 2023, making long-term comparisons difficult. A Department of Education spokesman said that in 2024, 'Victoria was the top performing jurisdiction in the primary sector, where we were the highest or second-highest performing jurisdiction in 8 out of the 10 measures'. 'We know there is more to be done, which is why we have introduced a new mandated teaching and learning model, including the use of systematic synthetic phonics to teach reading,' he said. Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the rejection of the key committee recommendation meant 'the Allan Labor Government is avoiding accountability and denying students the world-class education they deserve'. 'Labor cannot manage our education system and Victorian students are paying the price.' The 2025 NAPLAN test period ended on March 31, with more than 1.3 million students taking more than 4.5 million online tests.
