Labor ‘report card’ – PV media comment

The Herald-Sun published an article today marking Labor’s 10 years in government in Victoria, focusing on its record in education.

The article begins:

Shortly after the Daniel ­Andrews government was elected, the new premier changed Victoria’s number plate slogan from “Stay Alert, Stay Alive” to “The Education State”.
Now, after a decade in power, education experts have delivered their report card, praising some actions but giving others a fail grade.
Initiatives worthy of an A+ include the government’s investment in school infrastructure, getting doctors into secondary schools, and its successful collaboration with Catholic and private schools.
However, several education bodies say teachers aren’t paid enough, the private school payroll tax should be scrapped, and government schools are underfunded.

Parents Victoria CEO Gail McHardy is quoted in the article:

Parents Victoria (PV) chief executive Gail McHardy said the association continued to call for family engagement officers in government schools to ensure parents felt supported and to relieve workforce pressures on teaching staff.
“PV believes there is more to be done with family engagement … We can’t assume everyone is connected via the internet and harmonious communities rely on quality of relationships,” she said. “We all can do better in this space.”

(Gail’s comments in full, as supplied to the Herald-Sun, are below.)

Read the full article (subscription only)

Gail’s full comments

On what has the Labor government has done well in the education space over the past 10 years:

• Independent Office for School Dispute Resolution (IOSDR) after PV campaigned 11 years with Labor and Liberal for assistance with school dispute resolution, Labor did deliver.
• Capital investment to build, upgrade and maintain government schools (source).
• 2025 School Savings Bonus.
• School Mental Health initiatives (i.e. MH funding/menu, MH practitioners in Primary Schools).
• Doctors in Secondary Schools (rural/regional appreciated this program)
• Improved consultation with parents and community education stakeholders especially in the last couple of years (notably more opportunities for conversations with roundtables) -in our experience more active listening
• We acknowledge the Govt/Dept will do better with future communications with school communities with more visibility to the why of what they do to schools in regard to state education.

On what the Labor government has struggled with in the education space over the past 10 years:

• Finalise the Federal Better & Fairer School funding agreement (BFSA) but that relies on the Federal Government to come to the party, nothing better or fairer for Victorian public schools yet,  we have to wait until 2029 to get to 100% SRS!
• Workforce  – retention and attraction post pandemic (but note this was predicted some years back that there would be workforce shortages), they’ve implemented a number of initiatives that have helped but will take time for our State to reap the full benefit. (Noting the Federal Govt have passed legislation this week for early childhood educators to get a pay rise and practicums for teachers will be paid too.)
• PV believes there is more to be done with family engagement, technology changes rapidly and that brings challenges. We can’t assume everyone is connected (via the internet) and harmonious communities rely on quality of relationships, we all can do better in this space.
• The Victorian Government has had to work through a world event (pandemic) that impacted greatly on schools and their communities here and globally so this has other consequences that it often out of any governments control, it’s how we all manage and engage with those challenges.  We ALL have a responsibility to lead by example, to be constructive or destructive.

On what improvements or new policies PV would like to see going forward in the education space?

• PV is seeking to have Family Engagement Officers in Vic Govt schools (this would relieve some workforce pressures), it’s been our objective since they were elected to government.
• You can check out our last State Election requests here.
• Family Engagement is essential, when you enrol a child to a school you enrol the family (whatever that looks like i.e. foster parent, sibling support, single parent, etc).
• Review the policies impacting on parent volunteers in schools and supporting the Parent Clubs/Associations.
• Any State Government (or Federal, whoever is in power) needs to lead with a “care” intention and this is why any inter government decisions, policy, programs, reforms and initiatives have to be carefully considered, be it big builds, public transport or roadworks. At any point in time these can have unintended consequences (funding blowouts/failures) that can impact other sectors negatively i.e. budget cuts or cost restraints when school and hospital budgets are already struggling. This directly impacts on the Victorian community and how they wake up and show up for school and work everyday!

• Whatever Government is in power not all Victorians are happy with what they do.
• PV wants to work with everyone to prioritise student learning and well-being to make sure they all reach their potential and are happy and safe.