- Published:
- Thursday 31 August 2017
The Andrews Labor Government has today released the Shepparton Education Plan What We Heard report detailing findings from the first phase of community engagement.
The report found young people in the area face issues that are varied and complex, including basic literacy and numeracy skills, wellbeing, facilities needing improvement and low aspirations.
Independent Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed is the co-chair of the strategic advisory committee and has been clear in her passion to lead this process and see real change within the community.
While the education plan will look at learning from birth to post-secondary, many of the key findings relate to how Shepparton and Mooroopna’s secondary schools are structured and operate.
This includes the need for improved pathways to tertiary education and local industry, increasing the limited breadth and depth of subject choice, fostering the need to share information and resources across schools, and reducing competition between schools for enrolments. Other key findings of the engagement included:
- A call for local schools to improve student learning by enhancing teacher capabilities, upgrading physical learning spaces, and rethinking current provisions
- A desire to address the needs of every young person, particularly those who have experienced trauma or have a disability, and a greater emphasis on individualised learning
- Ensuring that our best and brightest have every opportunity to excel
- An opportunity to give students a broader range of skills, experiences and options for the
future, and to make learning more engaging, raise aspirations and improve pathways for life after school.
Since announcing $1 million to kickstart the Shepparton Education Plan in April, the first community engagement phase in June and July saw more than 200 people attending nine workshops, 185 people completing the survey and more than 4750 individual comments analysed.
The Shepparton Education Plan will be delivered over three stages – this first stage focusing on the town’s secondary schools. The report can be viewed at www.engage.vic.gov.au/SheppartonEducationPlan.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Education James Merlino
"It is clear that the Shepparton and Mooroopna communities believe its young people deserve access to the best possible educational opportunities to reach their full potential.”
“It is not okay that a person’s educational opportunities differ based on their postcode.”
“Over coming weeks the community will be presented with a range of options on where we could go from here. Some of these options are minor, others are transformational.”
Quotes attributable to the Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp
“It is important that we continue to hear from the community as the Shepparton Education Plan is developed.”
“We know how important this issue is to the community and that is why we are taking the action we are.”