Principals, teachers, parents and students are being encouraged to have their say on remote and flexible learning, to gain insights into how our education system can be improved from this unprecedented experience.
Minister for Education James Merlino today opened a community consultation survey ahead of a summit, to be held in July, to discuss lessons learnt and investigate what improvements can be made to the education system as a result of the remote teaching and learning period.
The summit will be held in July to allow time for Victorians to contribute their experiences.
The summit will follow an independent analysis of remote learning at schools across the state, and bring together education leaders from the government, Catholic and independent school sectors.
Victorian government primary, secondary and specialist schools moved to remote and flexible learning and teaching at the start of Term 2 to slow the spread of coronavirus, following advice from the Victorian Chief Health Officer.
Parliamentary Secretary for Schools Tim Richardson and Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education Sonya Kilkenny are also producing reports on the remote learning experience.
The community survey, independent analysis and the Parliamentary Secretary reports will all contribute to the findings from the summit.
Students returned to school from 26 May, when around 391,000 Prep, Grade 1, Grade 2, specialist school students and VCE and VCAL students transitioned back to face-to-face learning, with Grade 3-Year 10 students returning to classrooms today.
While remote learning presented challenges, a significant number of schools reported benefits during remote learning for students who have previously been disengaged or distracted in the classroom, and for high-ability students who have been able to learn at their own pace.
Some students whose learning has been affected by anxiety or other mental health conditions have also shown significant benefits from remote learning.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino
“I encourage all Victorian teachers, students and their families to have their say. This is a real opportunity to improve our education system and learn from the remote teaching and learning experience.”
“This summit will bring our school sectors together to report back about the benefits and challenges of remote learning.”
“We know that there have been many positives from this experience, and we have a responsibility to learn from them.”
Reviewed 26 June 2020