Ombudsman, Mr Bruce Barbours, letter to me cont……As it appears that you are unwilling to accept any view that does not accord with your conclusions, I can see no value in providing further detailed responses for my decision.

In some circumstances, complainants to this office simply have to rely on the fact that an independent authority has made an accurate assessment of the matters complained of, has made diligent and full inquiries and reached its own decision on the merits of the complaint. Our role is to act in the public interest.

I believe that Mr. Morse has dealt with your complaint fairly and with all due attention. I confirm that I agree with his reasons for declining further investigation of that complaint, even after considering the further comments you have made and the documentation you have provided. I appreciate that you will be disappointed by my decision but I cannot assist you any further with this matter. I emphasise that my decision in this case is final”’

Of course the documents that we provided were documents produced under the FOI Act, and included an internal data file that they accidentally sent me. These documents clearly supported our allegations and showed an alarming amount of instances and entries that indicated bias against my family and many entries showing omissions, deletions, manipulation of test scores and tampering of documents.

The system believes it is not required by any relevant legislation to protect our children from being educationally neglected, victimized, targeted and/or bullied! However, surely permitting children, through of lack of action, to be systemically victimized, neglected and bullied constitutes a failure to provide adequate supervision and is therefore neglect! How can the protection and welfare of children not be in the Public interest!

The homeschooling option has to be a supported and respected option. It should be supported by all adults so that parents can take their children out of school to protect them if necessary. The relevant legislation is not required to protect the Children - its too busy protecting the bullies and criminals..

Something must be done to make governments more accountable for their actions (or non-actions). I despair with the bureaucracy in government where there is no effective method of complaint. As Jolanda said complaints are usually dealt with by those responsible for the problems.

In schools the private system is more accountable to parents and has the ability to pick and choose teachers and principals based on merit rather than a lottery system as in public schools. Private schools also have a Board of Directors or something similar who are personally liable if anything goes wrong. Few people realise that in some states (eg. NSW but not WA) school principals and teachers are PERSONALLY responsible under OHS laws for children’s safety and health. It is not just a part of the job description. I think if this was more widely known we wouldn’t have so many problems with teachers and principals ignoring bullying.

If a ‘private’ not-for-profit system where schools are independently managed was equally available to everyone, for example if government were to subsidise individuals for a reasonable and capped fee instead of the schools directly, then maybe we would see some improvements. A bit like bulk-billing for Medicare. I am sure there are lots of problems with this too but I think it could work. I will vote for anyone who can make it happen. I will also be keeping a close eye on anyone who wants to make the homeschooling option difficult. We must be able to take our children out of school quickly and easily even if only for a short time.

Jolanda – you have me worried. You are right about year 2 being when everyone else catches up while the bright kids just get bored. My daughter and others I know were put into a composite class in year 1 where they steamed ahead then the following year just did the same stuff again in a standard class! I was counting on year 3 to sort things out. I will know better in the next few weeks

Sajo believe it or not, I actually agree with your last post 100%!
Actually your last few posts have been very good, and I have had to revise my opinion entirely. Unfortunately a couple of your posts did touch a nerve, however I have very much enjoyed your recent comments, and have found some quite helpful.

Jolanda, like you my family has suffered at the hands of the school system. The racism that my children have had to suffer through has actually been worse than what I experienced 20 odd years ago when I was at school.

I am married to an Anglo Saxon Australian, and the amount of times I am referred to as a mail order bride is shocking, I was once asked if I was a mail order bride by my son’s teacher! (I was actually born here). My children are very gentle and quiet, and are often targeted by bullies (teachers, parents and children alike). Because of this their school work often suffers, we are then told our children should be good at school, because they are of Asian heritage!

This debate on homeschooling is the first glimmer of light I have had. This has been the first time I have known that it even exists in this country. I have since read much about it, and it may solve our problems, even if only for the short term.
Thankfully this option is there for families who schools have let down.

However schools should be improved. Maybe if everyone in every state sent their stories of how the school system has let them down to newspapers, Governments may start taking some notice

Thanks Maya. I have been fortunate not to have really experienced racism either for myself or for my friends who are not Anglo-Saxon or are in mixed marriages. I sometimes forget that it exists. I have however noticed a tendency for some people to accuse others of racism for no reason except that they do not agree with something – so you touched a nerve too! It is something that is very difficult to defend against and usually has the effect of halting communication. One of the things I do like about my children’s school is the mix of nationalities. I have friends from all over the world because of this.

My interest in this article comes mainly from my experience as an OHS consultant with workplace bullying. However, I have thought about homeschooling before and my interest was reignited.

I am glad that homeschooling is a possibility. However it is wrong if it becomes the only effective solution to serious bullying. It is no different from someone being forced out of a job because of harrassment. It cannot be allowed to continue.

Obviously there are lots of people who love homeschooling – more than I would have previously thought – but there are a large number for whom it just would not be either possible or desirable and they should not be forced into it. It is also important to assess the pros and cons before embarking on it. It has been great getting some feedback from actual homeschoolers rather relying on Departmental manuals!

It would be good if one of the major newspapers would take up the issue of accountability in schools – an improvement would help solve lots of issues including bullying, and not least the mass exodus to the private schools. I think that writing to one of the opinion writers or editor of a major newspaper might be worthwhile. In fact I shall do so.

Something needs to be done about the complaint handling systems!. They are designed to protect those in Power who are failing in their duty of care - not there victims!

I even took our complaint one step further and wrote to the Office of the Ombudsman & Police Integrity Commission about the way the Ombudsman had dealt with the complaint, as he took the word of those responsible on face value and refused to give me explanations for the questions brought up in our review request and for which we had documentary evidence to support. I alleged a conspiracy to cover up.

Their reply went in part like this:

Under Section 31B(2) of the Ombudsman Act, the Committee is prohibited from:

1. Investigating a matter relating to particular conduct
2. reconsidering a decision to investigate, not to investigate or discontinue investigation of a particular complaint; or
3. reconsidering the findings, recommendations, determinations or other decisions of the Ombudsman, or of any other person, in relation to a particular investigation or complaint.

The Committee is therefore unable to comment on any particular detail of your complaints about the Department of Education and Training. Any further correspondence on this matter will be noted and filed, but will not be responded to unless new information within the Committee’s jurisdiction is received.”…..

When I rang to enquire about “particular conduct”, as it was not defined in the Act, I was advised that it was the conduct that I was referring to, being of course, victimization, bullying, harassment, misconduct, corruption and a conspiracy to cover up!.

Children are NOT protected by any relevant Legislation from being abused in Education. However some adults with power, have put Legislation in place that protects them from being investigated in relation to allegations of serious abuse of power. They don’t have to answer to anyone.

It’s no wonder the culture of bullying and crime has been impossible to change!

Bullies are protected by Legislation – children aren’t!

maya I do think that it is hard for those of Asian background. The education system has been set up in a manner that creates the problems and attitudes that Asians face. I feel for the children because there is such a negative attitude towards them in Education and it is overt and it alienates them, embarrasses them, humiliates them and affects their feelings of self worth. It can very much affect their performance. It even makes some of them want to rebel.

It’s the Governments fault as they have created this problem and environment. The system seems to be set up to turn people against each other. You shouldn’t need to compete in academic competition to get a higher level education; all students should have equal access! They need to get rid of the Selective School tests as that is what is causing this unhealthy competition. All schools should be able to cater for all children!. High level education shouldn’t just be available to a select few, especially when the selection procedures are so grossly unfair and, what students are required to do in order to be competitive, causes so much resentment and hostility.

Sajo. The problem with the media is that there is too much left wing bias.. I tried to have my children’s matter taken up by the media. They are not interested. Only the local paper did an article. The major newspapers didn’t want to get involved. They didn’t care.

Public Schools are a State matter in NSW. If the newspapers were to take on a story like this it would have the affect of pretty much ruining the Labor party and the media would rather sacrifice a few children than do anything to damage the reputation of the Labor Party. They worry that Liberal might win the next State Election!

What I also found was that so many people in positions of power have a teaching background or connection! It always made me wonder how many teachers kids that apply for OC and Selective Schools are offered a place?