Submission to the Inquiry into the State Education System in Victoria

Our submission focuses on the current state of student mental health and wellbeing, as well as best practice models and innovative approaches to support young people at school, including those who have disengaged. To build on the current evidence-base, we conducted four online consultations with representatives from youth sector organisations who work with or in schools. We also drew on recent YACVic and YDAS work, including surveys and consultations with young people.ⁱ

Our work tells us the Victorian Government must invest in trauma-informed and student-centred learning environments, so schools can identify and support high-need students early to stay engaged and thrive. To do this, we recommend increased funding for embedding specialist services and youth workers in high-need schools, providing trauma-informed professional development to teachers and other school staff, expanding flexible learning options, and supporting schools to build positive relationships with families, parents and carers.

Recommendations

Poor mental health, school disengagement and ‘school can’t’

Recommendation 1

Shift the language of ‘school refusal’ to ‘school can’t’. The term ‘school refusal’ misrepresents a student’s absence from school as an individual choice, rather than the result of multiple external and systemic factors.

Recommendation 2

Redefine attendance mandates to consider the young person’s mental health and wellbeing and other presenting issues, such as homelessness, family violence, experiences of trauma and AOD use dependence.

Recommendation 3

Mainstream flexible in-school learning options to support students with diverse learning needs to remain supported and engaged in school. Flexible learning options to be individualised, student-centred and student-led to ensure they are appropriate and accessible for all young people.

School suspension and expulsion

Recommendation 4

Invest in place-based collaboration to support trauma-informed, early intervention and prevention initiatives for young people in schools, rather than reactive punitive responses. The Inquiry to note TARGET ZERO as a model for further exploration and scale.

Impact of COVID-19 and disasters on student wellbeing

Recommendation 5

Ensure education is inclusive and accessible to all young people, including those who do not benefit from mainstream school settings.

Recommendation 6

Increase funding and access to flexible and remote learning models.

Recommendation 7

Schools, supported by their community, to develop long-term, preventative and student co-designed plans for future disasters, to include:

Planning for school closures;
Supporting students to remain engaged with school or take time off; and,
Supporting schools to distribute accurate and timely information to student, families and carers about the disaster, including supports available.

Alcohol and other drug use, including vaping

Recommendation 8

Schools to provide health-based responses first to young people in schools who use AOD, with a focus on prevention, harm reduction, and service support.

Recommendation 9

Implement a comprehensive state-wide AOD teaching and welfare staff AOD education package, to include:

The function of drug use in young people, the impact of stigma and co-occurring mental health and AOD use;
Best-practice responses to vaping, including integrating vaping education within broader alcohol and other drug school’s education program; and,

Best-practice policy and procedure support.

Recommendation 10

Increase funding for youth workers in schools who are skilled in having conversations around AOD, to support young people who use AOD (including vaping) to access support when and if they need it.

Embedded services in schools

Recommendation 11

Increase funding and scale up the embedded services model in high-need schools, to support and respond to young people’s co-occurring issues – such as mental health and AOD. Models to use a generalist youth work model and be based on best-practice principles including strength-based, person-centred, trauma-informed, family inclusive and intersectional.

Recommendation 12

Ensure all youth workers in schools are paid at Social Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) award level, to increase job attractiveness, retention and workforce capacity.

Community-based support services

Recommendation 13

Fund schools adequately to have capacity to build relationships and collaborate with local youth and family support services and programs.

Recommendation 14

Increase investment and resources to youth and community services to:

Ensure staff are provided with manageable caseloads and secure contracts; and,
Scale up existing place-based programs to connect schools with community.

Recommendation 15

Invest in upstream support to identify and provide wrap-around support to children in early years of school at risk of educational disengagement.

Support for teachers and school staff

Recommendation 16

Provide regular and ongoing trauma-informed professional development to teachers and other school staff to better understand:

The impacts of trauma on child brain development and its effect on behaviour; and,
How to identify and respond to students impacted by trauma, such as adjusting their learning, having conversations about mental health and suicide, and linking them in with relevant services and supports.

Support for families, parents, and carers

Recommendation 17

Provide dedicated funding for schools to build positive and supportive relationships with parents, families, and/or carers. To strengthen:

Provision of information, education, and support on key adolescent-related issues – such as mental health, eating disorders, alcohol and other drugs and accessing support.
Partnerships with health promotion agencies to ensure widespread delivery of evidence-based information.

Support for Priority groups

Recommendation 18

Consider the different and unique learning, wellbeing, and accessibility needs of young people from priority groups. This requires ongoing consultation with community organisations with specialist expertise and lived experience in each priority group.

Recommendation 19

Co-design resources and training with young people in priority groups for teachers and other school staff to improve the school environment and reduce instances of bullying and harassment.

Disabled students

Recommendation 20

Use co-design methods with disabled students and ensure their voices and expertise are meaningfully included when developing educational policy or designing services.

Recommendation 21

Co-design and embed principles of disability inclusion and neurodiversity into Resilience, Rights and Respectful relationships curriculum to promote a meaningful, whole-of-school approach to address disability-related bullying and exclusion.

Recommendation 22

Ensure implementation of all recommendations regarding inclusive education from the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability’s Final Report,ⁱⁱ including recommendations 7.1 – 7.15.

Support for middle years

Recommendation 23

Increase the availability of mental health and other support services for children in their middle years (8 to 12 years old).

Recommendation 24

Improve consistency of student information sharing between schools, particularly the flow of information from primary school to secondary school.

Youth voice in schools

Recommendation 25

Establish a student mental health taskforce to consult with students about their experiences and report back to government.

References

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78. Victorian Student Representative Council (VicSRC), Advocacy Platform 2023. VicSRC; 2022. Accessed September 25, 2023. https://files.vicsrc.org.au/shared/VicSRC%20Advocacy%20Platform%202022- 23.pdf?_gl=1*12ndcyy*_ga*MTA1NzI4NjUyNS4xNjkzODc5OTAw*_ga_M9BSSRXZY3*MTY5NzA3MjA3Mi4 3LjEuMTY5NzA3MjA4OC4wLjAuMA..

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