In this edition of RSG News: Education State in Schools Forum, Inclusive Emergency Management, Network collaboration sites and new student assessments by Rosemary Roberts.


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Leadership Message
Message from the Deputy Secretary

A year ago yesterday I joined the Secretary and many staff from SWVR in the Coburg office to officially launch the Learning Places regional operating model. This event brought to a close a very intense year of design, business case development and consultation, a process that involved hundreds of people.


In the year since, we have brought the new model to life.


We have rearranged every regional staff member into new teams, recruited almost 200 new staff, many in brand new roles, and started to operate in a more place-based and multi-disciplinary way to provide greater support to schools, early childhood services and other key partners.


We have reinvigorated principal networks and introduced a Community of Practice approach. We have implemented a new governance framework, and introduced new communications channels for principals and staff.


This transformation of our regions has not been easy but we have made great strides. I am proud of the way each and every member of our teams has worked hard to embrace the new ways of working and make the most of the opportunities we have been provided.


Learning Places is not fully realised yet. Throughout 2017 we will focus on deepening and strengthening our multi-disciplinary approach, embedding place-based ways of working, establishing a physical presence in each Area and incorporating SSS staff into our Area teams.


As the previous edition of the RSG News was sent to you, I was at the Education State in Schools Forum with the Secretary and Education State Board members, school principals, education system leaders and stakeholders to discuss how we can work in partnership to progress the Education State in Schools agenda. We all agreed on the need to maintain a disciplined focus on a small number of priorities which improve the quality of teaching and learning in classrooms.


For a wrap-up of the forum, I encourage you to read the forum communique at:
Education State in Schools Forum on eduGate


As you wind down toward a well-earned break over the summer, reflect on the significant progress we have made as a Group over the last 12 months and how we can build on this success for 2017. Thank you for your extraordinary work and commitment.

 

 

Bruce Armstrong
Deputy Secretary
Regional Services Group

Division News

 
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Inclusive Emergency Management

 

This week we celebrate 2016 Human Rights Day in many ways, but here in the precinct we marked the day with a VPS seminar entitled 'Human Rights in a changing world'.

 

Guest speaker Kristen Hilton, Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commissioner, spoke about human rights and the important role they play in public policy and decision making processes.

 

She also highlighted how people's day-to-day experience is influenced by human rights education and compliance.

 

Kristen outlined some of the review and reform work that has been happening in Victoria to support human rights education and compliance in emergency services organisations.

 

As you are aware the Department is committed to diversity and inclusion, and to ensuring our services and practices meet the needs of LGBTI communities. 

 

I'm thrilled that the Department of Premier and Cabinet has commissioned research that aims to learn more about the needs of LGBTI communities in emergencies in Victoria. The findings will inform the development of emergency management policies and procedures that reflect LGBTI-inclusive practice. 

 

For more information including an online survey which forms the first part of this research, see:
Gender and Disaster website

 

Bushfire Season Preparedness and Weather Outlook

To see a copy of the latest Outlook, see:
Bushfire Season Preparedness and Weather Outlook
 

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State Schools' Relief – double for nothing and principal networks

 

State Schools' Relief (SSR) recently featured in Social Ventures Australia’s (SVA) Quarterly for their work with Toyota’s Production System Support Centre (TSSC) Australia.


The partnership saw SSR able to deliver uniform support to 40,000 children, instead of their target of 20,000, for the same cost.

SSR CEO, Stephen Iles hopes to keep the continuous improvement momentum going and is looking to hire someone for this.


To read the full article on SVA Quarterly, see: Process efficiencies help non-profits achieve more impact


To listen to the podcast on SVA soundcloud, see: Process efficiencies help non-profit achieve more impact podcast

 

Supporting principal networks

The reinvigoration of principal networks earlier this year aimed to assist school-to-school collaboration through a Community of Practice approach. Through networks, principals are exploring how to improve professional practice and, ultimately, enrich outcomes for all students.

 

To support such collaboration, network collaboration sites are being built on Sharepoint (DET’s intranet). These collaboration sites will enable network members and the regional staff who support them to share working documents, schedule events and remain in contact between meetings. Importantly, they also meet DET records management compliance in a way that other sharing websites don’t.

 

While a  collaboration site will be built for all 57 networks, requested sites will be prioritised as the first step.

 

For more information or to request a collaboration site for a network in your Area, email: regional.services@edumail.vic.gov.au

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Asking the right questions

 

In order to measure and monitor the performance of the Education State initiatives in improving the outcomes of children and young people in Victoria, we need to ask the right questions. In November, the Performance Division, with Strategy and Performance Group’s Performance and Evaluation Division (PED), rolled out Regional Performance Review (RPR) meetings across all regions.

 

Chaired by the Secretary, the meetings aimed to encourage executive leadership teams to think about the value that they add to supporting schools, and to develop additional measures on regional effort. They involved robust discussions around the Education State themes of learning for life; breaking the link; building pride and confidence in our schools; and developing happy, healthy and resilient kids.


Attendees were also presented with 10 questions based on a data dashboard provided by PED. The questions prompted vigorous discussion around the data and underlying issues, along with the actions required to improve the outcomes for all students.


Feedback from the RPR meetings will result in agreed actions and targets for senior leaders across DET to implement, report on and monitor through a Communities of Practice approach. In February 2017, RSG will conduct Implementation Assessment Meetings (IAM) with each of the four regions to discuss and track progress of the actions and targets. RPRs are bi-annual and each one will be followed up by an IAM.


For more information, email Maxine Trezise on: trezise.maxine.i@edumail.vic.gov.au

 

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Leadership Initiatives - reflecting on 2016

 

This year Bastow has delivered significant outcomes on four key leadership initiatives that are supporting the Education State Reform Agenda for school networks.

  1. Inspire: Local Leaders Program
  2. Unlocking Potential: Aspiring Principals
  3. WISE: Principals as System Leaders program
  4. Communities of Practice approach

One of the most significant outcomes for these initiatives is the opportunity to enhance the profession’s opportunities to connect. Through these facilitated programs and approaches teachers and principals are learning with and from each other. 

 

As the profession collaborates, teachers and principals share their experiences, ideas and practices, develop their knowledge about how to support school improvement, and collectively resolve school and network improvement challenges. Together the profession is building a strong education system that meets the needs of every student.


For more information on the four key leadership initiatives, see:

For more information about how you can become involved in Bastow’s Inspire, UP and WISE programs, and the Communities of Practice approach, see: www.bastow.vic.edu.au

Key Dates

 
 

Insight Assessment Platform Training

English Online Interview Multiple dates
 

 

 



Dec-Mar

 

Get familiar with how the new Insight Assessment Platform works

Insight Assessment Practice Space 
 

  Dec - Feb

Insight Assessment Platform Live

Assessment Tools on Insight
 

 

 

 

30 Jan 2017

 

 

 

Valuing our people

 
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Last week we welcomed Mark Brear as the new Executive Director of the Performance Division. I’m sure we will all benefit from his experience in education and public policy across DET, DPC and more recently in Ontario, Canada. Mark is happy to share a lesser known element of his personal story with us, that he grew-up in his mother's home town of Mexico City and speaks fluent Spanish!

 

Project spotlight

 
 

Do you book travel, or help process fleet and fuel cards for your team?

The Procurement Division is currently reviewing all travel related policies to identify and recommend improvements to better meet the regional travel needs of RSG staff.


RSG staff are encouraged to share their views and experiences of travel, fleet and fuel cards via two 10 minute surveys.

 

To complete a survey on fleet and fuel cards, see:
Fleet, Fuel Card Survey

To complete a survey on corporate and regional travel, see:
Corporate regional travel survey

 

The surveys are confidential and responses will be analysed as part of an aggregated group. Both surveys close at midnight on Friday 23 December.


For more information about the review or fleet and fuel card survey, contact Josephine Gonzalez, Project Manager, Procurement Division at procurement@edumail.vic.gov.au.


For more information about the corporate and regional travel survey, contact Caroline Gordon (Landell) on 0412 149 424 or at caroline.gordon@landell.com.au.
 

 

Our values

 
 

Focus on Integrity

As the Department’s largest corporate group, RSG staff have a significant role to play in responding to the DET Pulse Check Culture Survey. Baseline results from the survey help to measure our culture, including integrity and risk reform.

 

The results will be provided to our Division in early 2017 and will complement our People Matter Action Plan. I encourage you all to take 10-15 minutes to complete the confidential and anonymous survey.

 

To complete the survey by 5pm Tuesday 21 December, see:
Pulse Check Culture Survey

 

Jobs

 
 

Senior Project Officer
Performance Division
 

 

15 Dec

Project Manager
Performance Division
 

 

15 Dec

For all other employment opportunities see:

 

 

Stories from the field

 
 

Excitement builds as student assessments get new support

For NWVR Education Improvement Leader (EIL) Rosemary Roberts, it has been an exciting journey to see the forthcoming Insight Assessment Platform (Insight) take shape.
 

Rosemary has worked as part of the Insight team to provide guidance and support on assessment tools to be uploaded onto the space, including quality assuring support materials and usability of the practice space.


“The analytics that sit within Insight will not only inform teachers’ assessment and reporting practices but will identify next steps in the students’ learning. Teachers will be confident to plan their teaching and learning program at the students’ next point of learning from a strong evidence base,” Rosemary said.


“The opportunity for increased student engagement in all aspects of schooling will be a direct result of teachers’ more accurate and evidence-based knowledge of individual student achievement data. At the school level, data generated in Insight underpins the assessment and diagnostic aspects of the FISO improvement cycle and provides Professional Learning Teams with not only a common consistent language but also data sets to inform planning and teaching,” she said.


To ensure a smooth transition to the new platform, it is highly recommended that teachers, particularly those responsible for undertaking the mandatory English Online Interview, undertake training prior to assessing students.
 

For more information on Insight, contact: insight.support@edumail.vic.gov.au

For details on upcoming training opportunities, see: Eventbrite Insight Assessment Platform training

For other support materials, see: Insight Assessment Practice Space
 

 
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