Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Legal and Social Issues Committee

Inquiry into the State Education System in Victoria

Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:28): I also rise to speak on the report of the Legal and Social Issues Committee, that being the report into the state education system in Victoria. I did share some brief remarks just yesterday when this report was tabled, but I will use this opportunity to expand and elaborate ever so slightly on them. I think it is important in doing so that I first acknowledge the immense hard work that goes in day in, day out from our teaching staff, from our teachers and our principals but also our support staff, our admin staff, our student welfare officers and all the other people who come together to make the education system what it is for young Victorians. We do have, as this report indeed shows, some very encouraging results. We have consistently high levels shown for reading and maths. There is lots more to do, and that is where it is also very exciting to see the announcement which came partway through the inquiry of the implementation of the phonics approach to teaching in schools, where again there was leadership shown by the Minister for Education, Minister Carroll, in doing that. It was extremely well received. Dr Heath will no doubt agree with me that it was enthusiastically endorsed, this approach, by many people.

Richard Welch interjected.

Michael GALEA: By the masses, even – yes, Mr Welch. It was enthusiastically endorsed by those experts and teachers who came before us.

We did get lots of great insight from teachers, indeed from parents and students themselves, from right across the state of Victoria. On our very first day of hearings – I know this will excite you, Ms Lovell – we were in Shepparton, and we heard from some local teachers. We also – in fact not in this inquiry but in the vaping and tobacco inquiry that Mr Batchelor was referring to earlier, also in Shepparton – had some fantastic student leaders from Greater Shepparton Secondary College come and speak to us about vaping and some of the challenges faced by school students right across Victoria when it comes to that issue. Indeed on the very first day of this inquiry I took the opportunity to ask a primary school teacher from the region about the trends that she had observed with vaping when it came to her students, and the answer was quite alarming for me – that it was virtually universally accepted from grade 4 and above. She said it was very rare to see someone in prep or grade 1, but apart from that, vaping was not all that uncommon. That was a very interesting perspective to hear from that teacher, which of course also led into informing us on the other committee as well.

When it comes to the education system we do have a very proud record in this state of investing in our schools, especially under this government. This is a government that has built or is in the process of building 100 new schools, which will be opened within a couple of years time, many of them in my region, in the south-east. On top of that we are upgrading countless schools as well, because in order to have the best education possible you need to do so in the best environment possible. Whether it is Mirniyan Primary or Wulerrp Secondary College opening next year or whether it is Topirum Primary School, which opened this year as well – just a few small examples in my region – these new capital schools and indeed the take-up of these new schools as they are opening really goes to show the need for good education services in all parts of Victoria, whether it is inner Melbourne, outer Melbourne or indeed the regions.

Another point that is worth touching on of course is with regard to funding. This is a government that is unashamedly funding and supporting our schoolkids. One of the most significant investments for cost of living for busy Victorian working families as well is that $400 school savings bonus, which is able to be taken up for use from term 4 this year. Every government school student in the state of Victoria has the ability to have $400 in their account for school camps, for excursions, for uniforms and for other incidental costs of schooling that so often do add up for busy working Victorian families. It is great to see this initiative rolling out and indeed many others as we continue to build Victoria as the Education State.

In order to do so of course we really need to continue with getting that full swathe of support from all levels of government when it comes to education funding too, which is why I also reiterate my support for recommendation 54 of this report, which calls on the Victorian government to continue its advocacy for Victorian students to get our fair share of Commonwealth funding. I will leave my remarks there on this report for now.