Daily News Roundup

 

MONDAY MAY 11

A new study has found Queensland’s principals are the most stressed, depressed and burnt out in the nation, with many reporting workloads have grown drastically in recent years.

The results came from responses to the Australian Catholic University’s (ACU) 2019 Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey, reports the ABC.

Queensland principals had the highest scores for burnout, sleeping trouble, stress and depressive symptoms.

The study also showed the quantity of work was at its highest in nine years, with the main causes of stress attributed to teacher shortages and issues surrounding the mental health of students and staff.

Parent-related issues were also high on the list of causes for stress.

Brisbane’s Mansfield State High School executive principal, Karen Tanks, has called for more administrative support for school leaders.

“Just the extra [human resources] in the school structure, that is the biggest thing that we are fighting for,” Ms Tanks said.

Her school has 3,157 students and she said she had to use money out of her school budget to appoint two associate principals to share the workload.

“If I didn’t have them, I don’t know what I would do.”

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The number of confirmed coronavirus cases worldwide has passed the 4 million mark, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

And it has done so without slowing on a global scale.

While the numbers of cases have dropped significantly in Australia and New Zealand — and even in virus hot spots Spain and Italy — others such as Russia and Brazil have recorded large increases in new cases.

Worldwide cases hit 3 million on April 28, 2 million on April 15 and 1 million on April 3, meaning it has taken 12 or 13 days to increase by each million cases.

Nearly 280,000 people worldwide have died from COVID-19, with the United States accounting for almost a third of confirmed cases and over a quarter of deaths.

Experts have warned the true number of infections worldwide is likely to be far higher, with low testing rates in many countries skewing the data.

In Australia, 6,941 cases have been confirmed, resulting in 97 deaths

In other COVID-19 news, US President Donald Trump has hit back at fresh criticism from Barack Obama by saying he “didn’t have a clue” while handling the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Mr Trump returned fire after former president Mr Obama branded his response to the coronavirus pandemic an “absolute chaotic disaster” at the weekend.

Trump also took aim at Mr Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, who is his Democratic rival in November’s 2020 presidential election. Mr Trump said his administration was “getting great marks” for its handling of the pandemic, citing the travel ban imposed on people entering the US from China, where the coronavirus first emerged. The US has the highest coronavirus-related death toll in the world, with more than 79,000 deaths recorded.