Vulnerable students are being manipulated for political ends, ex-principal says

Greg Cudmore

By Greg Cudmore
Community contribution / February 4, 2020

We rightfully recoil from the likes of ISIS, where children are indoctrinated and used as weapons or chattels, even assisting with the barbaric beheading of infidels.

13-year-old protester Izzy Raj-Seppings poses for a photograph outside of Kirribilli House in December.

We must be vigilant in democratic societies that we do not fall into the same trap, albeit in far less ...

Cover Supervisor

Veritas Bradford

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 01, 2026

Policy Coordinator

Story House Early Learning Stones Corner QLD

Help shape the foundations behind great services. Join Story House on a 6-month contract to review and uplift policies, ensuring they’re clear, compliant and truly sup...

Non Teaching Positions/Roles / Apr 01, 2026

Head Teacher Technological and Applied Studies - North Sydney Boys High School

North Sydney Boys High School Crows Nest

Teaching - Secondary / Apr 01, 2026

By Greg Cudmore

Community

Greg Cudmore is a retired teacher with 45 years experience working in Australian Schools. He recently published 'Even More Elephants in our Classrooms (2026) ' (amazon.com), the third in his 'Elephants in the Classroom' trilogy, which critiques contemporary Australian education, a primer for aspiring and practising teachers and for those, like Mark Twain, who never let schooling interfere with their education.

Similar news

Opinion / This is why being vulnerable in debriefs is a powerful teaching tool School news / Education's being poisoned by popularist politics: researcher Opinion / Student climate strike marches are futile, ex-principal argues

Latest comments

Great article Sarah. So important to shine a spotlight on the outrageous and problematic influence these misogynistic...

— Tim Perkins on Australian Boys Groomed Into Despising ‘Woke’ School System

Top events

School news / ‘Riddled with defects’: social media ban for under-16s faces scrutiny with new findings

The success of Australia’s social media ban for under-16s has been called into question, with a new eSafety report confirming a ‘substantial number’ of children are still using accounts or can easily create new ones.

School news / Big privacy shift for kids as sites face age-ban probe

Game developers and streaming platforms could be forced to tighten how they handle children's data as social media companies face allegations of lax age-verification measures.

School news / ‘Constellation of deep concern’: Burnt out and fed up Aussie principals eye the exit door

Dedicated and resilient Australian principals are grappling with the growing enormity of their job, putting in ‘dangerously long’ hours every week as many risk marching towards breaking point, a prominent national study has warned.

School news / ‘Accountability has arrived’: Meta, Google lose US trial over social media addiction

A Los Angeles ‌jury has found Alphabet's Google and Meta liable for damages in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit that will influence thousands of ‌similar cases against the tech companies.

School news / ‘Astounding’: violence against Australian school principals nearly doubles in 15 years

Australian school principals are enduring offensive behaviours at ‘unacceptably high’ rates, with an alarming percentage reporting they endured physical violence and threats last year, new national data has revealed.

School news / There are ways we can stem growing school principal turnover: new research

Education departments need to introduce workload reduction policies for principals that streamline administrative requirements and shift non-instructional tasks away from them if we are to stem growing school leader turnover concerns.

Leadership / Principal’s shift to top-down leadership brings remarkable results

Top-down decision making in schools has got a bad reputation, but doing away with a majority buy-in approach has allowed one Victorian school to seriously bolster its improvement agenda.

School news / ‘Struggling’: teachers strike in second capital city

Fed-up and burned out teachers have walked off the job, campaigning for better pay and conditions in the second capital city strike in as many days.

Leadership / Catholic school principals to lead parish communities under new Vision

A new vision for school leadership has been unveiled by Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) which aims to strengthen parish communities and re-engage families that have lost connection with the Church.

School news / Robot 'Figure 03' joins Melania Trump to tout AI teachers

A humanoid robot has walked down a red-carpeted White House hallway, accompanying US first lady Melania Trump into an event where she ‌urged greater use of artificial intelligence in education.

Comments