Education

The Coalition Government is implementing a comprehensive program to restore the standards, quality and reputation of Victoria’s education system.  Major new investments in student support and welfare services, curriculum and educational standards will be rolled out across the state. As part of the program, the Coalition Government is also beginning to wind back the red tape which has progressively hampered the progress of Victorian schools over the last decade.

The Government is focused on providing safe and caring schools for young Victorians through a series of measures including:

• investing more than $100 million to provide Primary Welfare Officers in over 800 primary schools across Victoria;
• providing 100 maths and science specialists to work in primary schools;
• investing in capital works to upgrade and modernise schools across Victoria;
• cutting red tape and bureaucracy in schools;
• giving principals back the power to suspend and expel students; and
• investing in professional development for teachers to respond to bullying and better manage student behaviour.

The Coalition Government is rolling out a program for education in Victoria that will lift standards in teaching, curriculum, student behaviour and support for students, to put Victoria back on top of the education system ladder.

Achievements and policies implemented in the first year of Coalition Government

Schooling

• Made largest single investment in special and autistic school capital works in more than a decade, with $78.3 million of funding provided for 11 schools – together with an additional $156 million invested in the Program for Students with Disabilities to meet growth in demand
• Funded major investments in safe schools including $124 million for 150 additional Primary Welfare Officers, $14.4 million to stamp out bullying including rolling out the eSmart cyber bullying program across schools, increasing principal powers over discipline and safety in schools including the power to ban, search for and remove dangerous items, and overhauling the system of alternative settings including $1 million for pilot models and a new system to free up student funding for alternative settings providers
• Invested in languages education including increasing the investment in students in Community Language Schools, piloting cluster and online language education provision and researching international best practice in using languages education to benefit first language and other core curriculum studies
• Invested in diversity in education and higher standards through grants for government schools to develop areas of specialisation, support for schools like Werribee Secondary College to become the first government school to offer the International Baccalaureate, investment in the new Bio21 science school in Parkville and increasing support for parents in non-government schools to 25 per cent of the cost of educating a child in a government school
• In terms of the teaching profession the Coalition Government is recruiting an extra 100 maths and science specialists at a cost of $24.3 million over five years who will work with teachers in primary schools to build their maths and science teaching skills
• Established 400 scholarships over four years – worth a total of $5 million – for university science graduates who want to become teachers in Victorian government schools, particularly in physics and chemistry
• Committed to a new cohort of Teach for Australia graduates, to provide a pathway for the best and the brightest to enter the teaching profession
• Provided $1.8 million for the School Centres for Teaching Excellence project that will set the bar in teacher training, putting greater emphasis on practical experience

Skills and Higher Education

• Invested $1.2 billion in Victoria's training system this year which will rise to over $1.3 billion next year
• Commissioned an independent review of fees and funding in the VET sector by the Essential Services Commission (ESC)
• Implemented changes to VET funding, consistent with the recommendations of the ESC, to better manage the much needed growth in training
• Provided additional funding for exemptions and concessions to support more people to access training
• Engaged with the community and the sector to review the Government's industry engagement arrangements to ensure the needs of business are ably being met by the system
• Established a $20 million Regional Partnerships Facilitation Fund to support providers to work together to increase access to tertiary education opportunities
• Conducted significant tertiary education provision planning in South East Melbourne and Gippsland – two areas of relatively low participation – to ensure that the needs of these communities for higher education and skills are being met

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