Work Type: Fixed-term - Full-time
Salary: Salary not specified
Grade: Education Support - Level 1, Range 3
Occupation: Education and training
Location: Melbourne - Western suburbs
Reference: 1526685
As part of the Victorian African Communities Action Plan, education is identified as a key focus area and funding is available to employ School Community Liaison Officers in school communities with high populations of African young people to improve their connection to education and provide tailored support.
The School Community Liaison Officer at Truganina will support your school community and a cluster of neighbouring schools with high populations of African young people to increase school engagement, strengthen partnerships with families and community and facilitate activities to increase retention and school completion.
This role will be one of eight School Community Liaison Officers appointed to school communities with high populations of African young people across the State and supported by a Senior Program Officer appointed by the Department of Education Training (DET) and operating from the DET central office in Melbourne.
Location
The School Community Liaison Officer will be located at Truganina College and will work in partnership with two ¿ three neighbouring schools that have high populations of African young people.
Truganina College places its learners at the centre of all that we do. The college caters for the educational and personal needs of each learner by providing an environment that inspires learning, promotes positive relationships, security, a sense of belonging and a culture of respect and pride. The College motto of; Inspiring Excellence in Learning to Believe, Achieve and Succeed underpins all decisions that are made.
The College operates using an F-9 Sub school model. The role will see the successful applicant drive, in an unrelenting manner, achievement of the goals and targets in the College Strategic Plan with outstanding student achievement through the use of evidence based, high impact teaching strategies.
The specifics of the role are detailed below.
Officially opened in 2015 Truganina College is located within the City of Wyndham on the corner of Clearwood and Brigalow Drives, Truganina, MEL 203 B3. The area is believed to be named after Truganini, an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman who spent a short time in the area.
The College is organised around the primary and middle years stages of schooling. The school has a strong focus on effective transition from Early Learning Centres and to Senior Secondary education.
The College has a culture of high expectations and a clear focus on visible learning with strong learning growth for every student.
The key components of the teaching curriculum at Truganina College are the effective teaching of literacy and numeracy, using evidence informed, high impact strategies. The College provides high quality learning experiences ensuring breadth and depth in all curriculum areas. Staff work together to share responsibility for and cater to the individual learning needs of all students.
The design of learning environments reflects the specific requirements of all disciplines and supports a diverse range of active, student centred approaches that are based around the idea of `learning to learn¿, emphasising such cross-disciplinary skills as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and team work whilst using information technology to support the learning.
The College culture is one of shared practice, distributed leadership and the development of differentiated learning that are age, stage and ability appropriate.
The learning environment is developing to allow students to make decisions about their learning. Effective learning environments create these opportunities by making learners responsible for their choices and empowering them with the spaces and options that can make those choices work. Student input into decision making is developing.
Truganina College engages in partnerships which support the learning and wellbeing needs of students at different developmental stages and the needs of families. Partnerships involve maternal health centres, kindergartens, local schools, and tertiary providers. The college is building strong links with the community. The learning process is a joint effort between the college and the families. The language of learning is used in all interactions with the community.
People with a strong passion for, and interest in further developing a new school and an understanding of the commitment required are encouraged to apply. The staff work closely with the Principal and the wider school community to establish the vision and strategic direction of the school.
SC1 Experience working with school communities, families and community involving individuals of culturally and linguistic diverse backgrounds.
SC2 Excellent stakeholder management and relationship building skills including the ability to partner with and broker support from local community organisations.
SC3 Ability to build strong working relationships with staff, students, parents and local community organisations to identify best practice and areas for improvement to support student and parent engagement.
SC4 Excellent time management, communication and organisational skills.
SC 5 Ability to work as part of a statewide team and embrace a community of practice approach.
The School Community Liaison Officer will be paid Ed Support Level 1 - Range 3.5 and is required to support school communities to focus on increasing school engagement, strengthening partnerships with families and community and facilitating activities to increase retention and school completion.
The School Community Liaison Officer will be expected to work in collaboration with School Community Liaison Officers appointed to other schools across the North West, South West and South East Victorian regions through membership of an established community of practice. The School Community Liaison Officers will be supported by a centrally based program officer and provide regular reports to support the implementation, evaluation and ongoing monitoring of the project. There is an expectation that this role will require travel to other sites of delivery and to the DET Central Office in Melbourne CBD.
Individuals with the aptitude, experience and/or qualifications to fulfill the specific requirements of the position.
The department is committed to diversity and inclusion and developing a workforce that is representative of the community we service. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms - culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQA+, disability and neurodiversity. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for roles within the Department. The Department recognises that the provision of safe, respectful and inclusive workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work and diversity across all schools and Department workplaces. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for staff with disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).
Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander candidates from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via [email protected]
Applicants seeking part-time employment are encouraged to apply for any teaching service position and, if they are the successful candidate, request a reduced time fraction. Such requests will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis and will be subject to the operational requirements of the school.
Victorian government schools are child safe environments. Our schools actively promote the safety and wellbeing of all students, and all school staff are committed to protecting students from abuse or harm in the school environment, in accordance with their legal obligations including child safe standards. All schools have a Child Safety Code of Conduct consistent with the department's exemplar available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/child-safe-standards/policy
The department's employees commit to upholding the department's Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. The department's Values complement each school's own values and underpin the behaviours the community expects of Victorian public sector employees, including those who work in Victorian Government Schools. Information on the department values is available at:
https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview