Student voice is loud and clear at the VicSRC Congress 2019

On Thursday 11th July our Executive Officer, Rachel Saliba was invited to join students from VicSRC as they pitched their advocacy campaigns to other students.

Prior to the main part of the day, the students shared their pitch topics with key stakeholders from government, education and other organisations at Melbourne University. There were many and varied topics that the students were demonstrating much passion for, with a few interesting themes arising.

Many of the students discussed their concerns over a lack of consistency, not only in teaching of the curriculum but of schools in general, with some seeking equality and the same opportunities for all students, others seeking recognition of diversity and explicit teaching of the cross curricular priorities including sustainability and the environment and learning about indigenous culture.

Some students were calling for more focus on the teaching of life skills in schools. Great discussions were had with students about how to engage parents in the teaching of lifeskills, both encouraging it in the home but also drawing on parent professional knowledge to facilitate sessions with students - there are many parents who run their own businesses, work in various organisations, have had experience with basic skills such as banking, organising travel and a family, applying for home loans, buying their first car, renting etc. that could be easily utilised to share these skills and experiences with students. Exploring untapped resources such as these could be a good place to start. 

The overall concern of the students seemed to be that despite having so much information at their fingertips, they are seeking to be more informed by adults whom they trust to facilitate teaching that allows for discussion, debate and understanding of various perspectives on issues and major challenges in society, politics and the environment.

The final five advocacy areas chosen for VicSRC to focus on in 2019/20 are:

Politics 101 - Increasing awareness of the political system so students are well informed when it comes to voting in our democracy.
Students are seeking:
1. Consistency and focus on explicit teaching of the curriculum.
2. More PD for teachers and support from key stakeholders to provide a resource pack for teachers
3. Student led workshops to teach students about policy
Some questions were raised around unbiased teaching of political policy and providing both sides of political party policy.

Climate Crisis - Students expressed they feel they are not being heard in their concerns about climate change and there is a lack of education around climate change.
Some of the solutions included:
1. Student led projects
2. Practical goal setting
3. Promoting and educating students about climate change.

Sustainability Education - Students believe there is a lack of education around sustainability and particularly evidence of sustainability in schools.
Students cited a lack of consistency in this as a cross curriculum priority and called for:
1. Professional development for teachers
2. Mandatory reporting to principal and accountability to DET
3. Classes held for a set number of hours per semester including incursions and excursions.
4. School environment sustainability program - sourcing support from external organisations.

Real World Skills - 69% of Victorian parents surveyed by Monash University agree students are not taught life skills at school. Students believe they are not being prepared for real world issues and are seeking the subject to be explicitly taught from Prep-10, possibly similar to the inclusion of wellbeing in schools.
Solutions identified by the students include:
1. Identify methods for real life skills to be implemented in schools
2. Partner with external organisations to educate life skills
3. Linking schools to the organisations who can support lifeskills.

FUNDamental Equity - Fundamental equity for all students
Students are concerned about disparity and differences between schools and how funding is spent on education.
They listed their 3 solutions as:
1. Equal opportunity for all students
2. Statewide census for evidence of what schools are lacking to bridge the gap - state of facilities and teaching it the curriculum
3. Advocate for transparency in budgeting and finance decisions, streamlining budgeting process for more efficient spending.

Overall the experience of hearing from the students provided insight into their interests and passions and how to advocate for change on behalf of students across Victoria.