Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Senior Director of Education, Top End Region Miranda Watt says there are other places throughout Taminmin College where teachers can go for planning while airflow concerns in a refurbished building are addressed

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Senior Director of Education, Top End Region Miranda Watt says there are other places throughout Taminmin College where teachers can go for planning while airflow concerns in a refurbished building are addressed · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the senior director
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  Speaker 1: for the Top End Region for the Department of Education,
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  Speaker 1: Miranda What good morning to you, Miranda.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie.
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  Speaker 1: How are you Yeah, really good. Thank you so much
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  Speaker 1: for your time this morning. Miranda. I'm not sure if
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  Speaker 1: you've just heard the concerns that Beverly Ratahi, the chair
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  Speaker 1: of to Midman College, has raised about that new bloc
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  Speaker 1: fifteen to mid Men about the airflow out there and
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  Speaker 1: the safety of the teachers.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I did, thank you for that, So I'm aware
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  Speaker 2: of the concerns that have been raised by the school
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  Speaker 2: and the board as well the school's then we're working
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  Speaker 2: really hard with both the Department of Infrastructure and us
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  Speaker 2: AS Education to put in measures around fixing the problem.
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  Speaker 2: So I think Beverly mentioned that there has been some
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  Speaker 2: progress made with that. So the issue has been identified
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  Speaker 2: and there's a solution being worked on right at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of seeing the problem, which is great.
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  Speaker 1: Is it a safe situation for our teachers and how
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  Speaker 1: is it a situation? I guess where you know three
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  Speaker 1: weeks in that this is just being identified once the
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  Speaker 1: school year's already started.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think look in terms of it being a
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  Speaker 2: safe environment for teachers. It is a teacher planning area,
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  Speaker 2: so there are other places in the school where teachers
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  Speaker 2: can go and do that planning time. It's not ideal,
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  Speaker 2: but there are some other places where teachers can plan
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  Speaker 2: and that has been offered both while it was being
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  Speaker 2: investigated and again after. I understand today from the principle
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  Speaker 2: that some teachers have taken up that offer to work
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  Speaker 2: in a different location where it is air conditioned. It's
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  Speaker 2: obviously got some portable air conditioners in there at the
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  Speaker 2: moment that they can be noisy, so I think some
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  Speaker 2: of the teachers have decided to go and work in
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  Speaker 2: a different location. And it is really important to note,
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  Speaker 2: like Beverly just mentioned that it isn't affecting students and
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  Speaker 2: the teaching and learning that's happening between the teacher and student.
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  Speaker 2: It's just their planning time. Still really important and certainly
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  Speaker 2: something that we want to get on and fixed really quickly.
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  Speaker 1: How come that airflow though, wasn't factored in before the
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  Speaker 1: works commenced, Toll like, how come you know it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: sort of done beforehand.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm not obviously an expert in air conditioning, However,
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  Speaker 2: I understand it's a fault rather than a factor of
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  Speaker 2: the you know, the airflow. There's a fault being that's
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  Speaker 2: identified in the system and that's what's being worked on.
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  Speaker 2: But I'd have to double check that with the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Infrastructure because I'm obviously not the experting air conditioning.
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  Speaker 1: No fair enough, I don't expect you to be an
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  Speaker 1: expert in air conditioning. I guess the main concern here is,
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  Speaker 1: you know how the teachers have ended up in this situation,
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  Speaker 1: and you know why when you know, when sort of
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  Speaker 1: putting block fifteen in, we've now got this very serious
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  Speaker 1: situation with the airflow, and why it wasn't sort of
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  Speaker 1: sorted before school went back.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's definitely unfortunate, Katie. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't identified until school had gone back, so until
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  Speaker 2: the space was being used. So in that time, obviously
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  Speaker 2: it's been we've tried to identify the school that tried
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  Speaker 2: to identify what the actual issue was. They've now identified
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  Speaker 2: that and are trying to rexcite in terms of the
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  Speaker 2: safety of teachers. We absolutely take that extremely serious and
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  Speaker 2: I think that's why the school sort of straightaway implemented
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  Speaker 2: the opportunity to go and work in different spaces. There
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  Speaker 2: was no expectation for teachers to remain in that building
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  Speaker 2: and work.
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  Speaker 1: All right, But from your perspective, this is being worked
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  Speaker 1: on as a matter of urgency.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely all right.
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  Speaker 1: I want to move on and talk talk about this
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  Speaker 1: situation that we've got where students wishing to use the
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  Speaker 1: toilet during class time must now request to pass from
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  Speaker 1: their teacher. This is out to me, men, they've got
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  Speaker 1: to sign out to the next available bathroom to get
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  Speaker 1: that key from reception and return the key again before
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  Speaker 1: they then returned to class. Now, I know that from
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  Speaker 1: some of the feedback we're getting this morning on the
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  Speaker 1: text line, lots of peeople saying they think that this
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  Speaker 1: is a good thing. You've got to stop, you know,
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  Speaker 1: people from doing the wrong thing and they should be
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  Speaker 1: in class. What led to this situation from the Education
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  Speaker 1: Department's perspective, Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, great question, because I think that's really important
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  Speaker 2: in terms of how we've got here. So last year,
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  Speaker 2: I think it was in about term three, students raised
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  Speaker 2: their concerns around the use of toilets with school staff.
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  Speaker 2: So they raised concerns around how clean they were, how
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  Speaker 2: often they were being damaged and how safe they felt
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  Speaker 2: within that space. And so there was a survey that
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  Speaker 2: was conducted with both students and staff, and through that
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  Speaker 2: survey there was a plan created in terms of to
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  Speaker 2: trial a different approach, which was that the toilets were
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  Speaker 2: available for use before and after school, during recess and
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  Speaker 2: lunch breaks, and then between class changeover. Now, obviously classes
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  Speaker 2: in a secondary setting are around fifty minutes, so every
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  Speaker 2: fifty minutes they're opened up again, and the students wishing
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  Speaker 2: to use the toilet between during learning time during class times,
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  Speaker 2: they would obviously access the pass like you've described, which
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  Speaker 2: is not uncommon in any school. Most schools have a
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  Speaker 2: system where students are required to indicate through a pass
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  Speaker 2: or through a process that they are wishing to go
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  Speaker 2: to the toilet during class times for obviously bobbyous reasons,
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  Speaker 2: duty of care. We need to know where all students are.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, look, what kind of behavior was going on,
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  Speaker 1: what kind of thing was happening in the toilets to
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  Speaker 1: sort of warrant this band during those hours.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I'm not completely across examples of what that
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  Speaker 2: behavior would look like, but I think the main concerns
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  Speaker 2: were around, you know, how the toilets were being used
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  Speaker 2: in terms of the cleanliness of them and damage and
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  Speaker 2: those sorts of things, and students feeling safe in there.
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  Speaker 2: In terms of us I suppose sometimes you know that
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  Speaker 2: you know, if they weren't feeling safe in there. Are
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  Speaker 2: a number of reasons. The school did identify that vaping.
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  Speaker 2: I think in their communication out to families that vaping
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  Speaker 2: was also one of the concerns that students had, So
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  Speaker 2: that's obviously something that was a problem in there and
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  Speaker 2: that they're now hoping to reduce with the plan that
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  Speaker 2: they've got in place. The plan is obviously due for
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  Speaker 2: a reflection and some feedback, and there's lots of suggestions
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  Speaker 2: being provided through lots of different platforms at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: but the school will develop a servil. They've got a
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  Speaker 2: survey ready to go next week to students and families
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  Speaker 2: to seek that feedback and that'll help with all voices,
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  Speaker 2: so all voices of students being heard through that process
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  Speaker 2: to then look at what their next steps will be.
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  Speaker 1: Miranda, is it unfair on students who are doing the
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  Speaker 1: right scene.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think that all students need have the need
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  Speaker 2: to feel safe and if this is one of those
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  Speaker 2: ways that we can make all students feel safe. I
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  Speaker 2: think that's the important thing to focus on.
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  Speaker 1: Do you reckon, I mean, have you got a situation
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  Speaker 1: with this is a concern at other schools as well,
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  Speaker 1: like what's happening the likes of Darwin Middle School? Is
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  Speaker 1: it a similar process or does it need to be Look.
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  Speaker 2: I can't comment directly about Darwin Middle School because it's
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  Speaker 2: not in our region. However, you're concerned for all schools,
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  Speaker 2: not just in the Northern Territory, but across Australia. All
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  Speaker 2: jurisdictions have a similar problem around toilets and the use
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  Speaker 2: of them. And it's also not a new problem. So
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  Speaker 2: you know, toilets have been used in different ways over
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  Speaker 2: the years. You know, from time to time about different things,
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  Speaker 2: and schools will always look to look for ways to
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  Speaker 2: improve the way things are run within the schools. And
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  Speaker 2: at the moment that it can be me in they're
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  Speaker 2: focusing on their toilet.
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  Speaker 1: Well and I reckon fundamentally, you know, if it's about
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  Speaker 1: keeping all students safe and making sure that kids that
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  Speaker 1: too genuinely need to go to the toilet are able
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  Speaker 1: to go there without having to worry about any kind
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  Speaker 1: of other anti social behavior. I really don't have a
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  Speaker 1: problem with.
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  Speaker 2: It, yes, and I don't. Look Katie, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: have injury kids of my own, and it's certainly something
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  Speaker 2: that I would want for them each day, to be
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  Speaker 2: able to safely go to the toilet each day. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what obviously the school's trying to work with. And
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  Speaker 2: again it will look at ways to refine what they're doing.
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  Speaker 2: You know, nothing works out perfectly to start with, so
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  Speaker 2: finding the things to improve will be an important part
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  Speaker 2: of their reflection and refining process.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, Senior Director of Education for the Top End
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  Speaker 1: Region for the Department of Education, Miranda what. I appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your time this morning. Thank you for speaking with us.
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  Speaker 2: You're so welcome, Katie, have a great day you too,