{"href":"http://player.captivate.fm/services/oembed?url=http%3A%2F%2Fplayer.captivate.fm%2Fepisode%2Ff835ac8a-c9bb-4fe5-b65e-2788ab8cdc43","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Captivate.FM","provider_url":"https://www.captivate.fm","width":600,"height":200,"type":"rich","html":"","title":"Episode 206 \u2013 Religion in Qld Schools and 1984 in 2019","description":"Everything you need to know about religion in Queensland schools plus Orwellian AFP raids.
\nAlison Courtice from Queensland Parents for Secular State Schools
\nWe last spoke to Alison on episode 104 on the 13th of July 2017.
\nAlison gave us a great explanation of the latest news and developments regarding religious instruction in Qld state schools?
\nAlison has initiated a petition basically calling for RI to be replaced with an academic study of religions.
\nWhat is involved in starting a petition and what effect do they have? How many signatures do you need to have an influence?
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\n59:08 Selective Schools
\nGladys Berejiklian\u2019s decision to establish a new selective school in Sydney\u2019s south-west has set new precedents. Few people seem to support it, even fewer will benefit.
\nFor premiers and anyone else who needs to be reminded, which students who walk in through the school gate each day really matters. Schools which select students end up with those who are more advantaged. Such schools accumulate the social, cultural and even financial capital of the students and their supportive and resourceful parents.
\nSchools which enrol an increasing proportion of disadvantaged students gradually lose the resource of higher-performers and role models … Apparently all by herself, Gladys Berejiklian has decided to turn an existing disadvantage for so many young people into an ongoing disaster.
\nA stark contrast’: the ethnic divides across Sydney’s schools.
\nWealthy migrant and Anglo families are “self-segregating” when they choose schools, with migrants shunning private schools in favour of the selective system and Anglo families doing the opposite, a leading researcher says.
\nThese decisions were indicative of a wider problem across Sydney, with many schools more ethnically divided than the suburbs in which they were located, said University of Technology social scientist Christina Ho.
\nIn NSW, 83 per cent of students in fully selective schools came from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE), while more than half of the 99 schools with fewer than 10 per cent LBOTE students were private and in wealthy areas.
\nThe trend was concerning because schools had a vital role to play in developing inter-cultural understanding in the community, Dr Ho said. “The increasing diversity of our communities is not reflected in our education system.”
\n1:10:19 George Orwell’s prescient novel 1984 is turning 70 and only growing more relevant with age
\nThe AFP raids.
\nFirst to recount:
\nNews Corp political editor Annika Smethurst had her home raided by the AFP over a 2018 story about the possibility of the ultra-secretive Australian Signals Directorate gaining powers to monitor Australian citizens.
\nThe ABC had their offices raided over a 2017 story on the alleged problematic behaviour of some Australian SAS soldiers in Afghanistan.
\nBoth stories were based on leaked documents. Any difference to Julian Assange?
\nPrime Minister Scott Morrison\u2019s initial reaction was arrogant. Asked if he was bothered by the look of police raiding journalists homes, he replied: \u201cIt never troubles me that our laws are being upheld\u201d.","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300,"thumbnail_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/085762e2-797c-4ef4-9b10-434ecde61c07/logo2018v2.jpg"}