Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Legal and Social Issues Committee

Inquiry into the State Education System in Victoria

Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:23): I rise to speak on the education report that was tabled in this place yesterday. The inquiry into the state education system in Victoria was sobering and eye-opening. We heard from burnt out teachers and we heard from kids that were experiencing chaos in the classroom and poor student outcomes. One teacher even said, ‘It’s a good day at work when you don’t get assaulted.’ We heard from students who found classrooms so chaotic and stressful that they had to find other options to get the education that they deserve. It is a well-known fact that over the past two decades there has been increased funding into education; however, it has been met with a decline in outcomes. Something has gone terribly wrong.

We have seen from reports that the education system in this state has continually failed and is failing children. The Grattan Institute published a report that said one in three Victorian children do not meet literacy standards, and devastatingly that number rises even further to one in two children in regional and rural areas. In Victoria our education system is failing to prepare the next generation of children for their futures, and it is especially failing country kids. Many have raised concerns about schools becoming a hub of indoctrination rather than a centre of education. This inquiry found that the curriculum in Victoria is overcrowded, and it recommends that the Victorian government should ensure that the curriculum is regularly reviewed and updated to reduce duplication and to ensure best practice. Children should have equality of opportunity, especially when it comes to education. Children should not have poorer outcomes based on the postcode that they live in. However, in Victoria that is their reality.

Another finding is that 2023 NAPLAN reading scores for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 were constantly lower for inner and outer regional Victoria compared to major cities. There is a recommendation – well, there are a lot of them, but this one in particular I certainly welcome – that the Victorian government set a long-term target that 90 per cent of students reach proficiency in reading and numeracy as measured by the proportion of students in the strong and exceeding categories in NAPLAN in those years and a short-term target to an increase of 10 percentage points over the next 10 years based on NAPLAN performance in 2023. These are targets that I welcome because we need to do better for the kids that are being educated in this state.

Many teachers said their workloads were so varied and so heavy that as little as 10 per cent of their workday was spent on actual teaching. They felt they were not equipped to deal with what each workday brings. Universities do not teach teachers how to teach, or they do not teach teachers how to manage a classroom, and students and teachers alike are fraying under this pressure. The committee found that there is a need for improvement in the depth of support and guidance provided to schools which support whole-school curriculum planning, and it recommended the Department of Education review the whole-school material and lesson plans for core subjects such as maths, English and science to ensure their aims of reducing the burden on schools planning and delivering their curriculum.

Recommendation 10 is that the Department of Education audit the existing literacy assessment and student diagnostic tools, ceasing those not consistent or complementary with the structured literacy approach.

Recommendation 11 is that the Department of Education introduces a 40-word phonics check in year 1 in all Victorian schools in line with the Commonwealth phonics check – that it sets a target that 90 per cent of students reach the expected levels in phonics in their checks by the end of year 2 and that phonics checks should adopt a national best practice in line with the national phonics checks. This is a strategy that is long overdue, and it is something that the coalition has long advocated for. I am excited to see this logical and obvious step be taken in this state.