VCOSS

Education & Early Childhood Development

How well children and young people do at school continues to be linked to parental income – demonstrating that Victoria’s education and early childhood system reinforces, rather than addresses, disadvantage. High quality and integrated education, early childhood education and care, and other community services can successfully break intergenerational cycles of disadvantage. All Victorian children and young people, regardless of parental income or geographical location, have a right to access quality basic education and early childhood development services.

There are many barriers to different services working collaboratively to support children and young people, yet there is clear evidence that working together delivers improved outcomes. Integrated services play a crucial role in reducing the fragmentation of the service system, and provide a valuable mechanism to keep people linked in with their community. This is particularly true in relation to children, young people and their families. Services, such as children’s hubs, however need to evolve to ensure that they become coordinated centres of care, not just co-located services. Achieving truly integrated services requires schools, early childhood services, and a range of other community organisations to work in partnership.

Universal services, such as schools, playgroups, maternal and child health, kindergarten and child care, provide a strong foundation for the well-being of children and their families. These services also assist in combating disadvantage and improving health and well-being. However, many vulnerable children and families are unable to access these services, due to a range of factors including location, cost and availability. Children and young people who are vulnerable, who have complex and diverse needs, including students from low income families, who are Indigenous, from migrant or refugee families, who are in State care, and/or who have a disability have poorer education outcomes than those who do not experience disadvantage.

VCOSS campaigns for:

• the universal service system, including schools and early childhood services, to better respond to the diverse needs of all Victorian children and young people
• increased resources for schools and early childhood programs in areas of disadvantage
• increased resources to support individual disadvantaged students within schools

Contact:

Lauren Matthews at lauren.matthews@vcoss.org.au

For more information:

• Media Releases

  1 May 2012 Vulnerable children reforms a valuable step Reforms to ensure better supports for vulnerable children announced by the State Government today and recommended in the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Report have been welcomed by the Victorian Council of Social Service. 28 February 2012 VCOSS response to Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry Report Victorian Government now needs to act to better support vulnerable children and young people 20 January 2012 Supports for vulnerable Aboriginal children and young people will help Close the Gap The $8.8 million announced today by the Minister for Community Services, The Hon Mary Wooldridge, will help achieve better outcomes for vulnerable Aboriginal children and young people and contribute to Closing the Gap in outcomes for them. more...

• Reports

  Who’s carrying the can? A report into youth services gaps in Victoria This report presents the findings of research on gaps in youth support services in Victoria. Recommendations made to the Victorian Government based on this research include: developing a locally based, comprehensive youth services system structured along a prevention – early intervention– secondary – tertiary service continuum; dedicating new resources to creating more generalist youth support positions and services in Victoria; and improving collaboration across the youth and community sectors and government departments. Author: Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) and VCOSS Date: 2006 Response to the Children Bill and White Paper Provides a response to a number of the specific proposals outlined in the Children Bill and the Policy White Paper. VCOSS endorses the focus on best interests being paramount, the move to wellbeing and earlier intervention and an increased role for family support services, and views these as supporting the policy objectives outlined in the White Paper, however VCOSS also notes the lack of synergy between the Children Bill and the White Paper. Author: VCOSS Date: 2005 The rising cost of 'free' education Examines the growing level of demand by clients at Community Information Centres (CICs) for emergency relief funds to assist in meeting school costs. Twenty CICs – primarily in the greater metropolitan area – participated in the project, with agency staff and volunteers distributing surveys to clients presenting at their agencies for emergency relief assistance. Author: Emergency Relief Victoria and VCOSS Date: 2004 more...

• Submissions

  Statutory Minimum Sentences for Gross Violence Minimum sentences – VCOSS does not support the Victorian Government’s policy to introduce statutory minimum sentences for serious injury offences involving gross violence for juvenile offenders aged 16 and 17. Author: VCOSS Date: June 2011 Submission to: Statutory Minimum Sentences for Serious Injury Offences Involving Gross Violence Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry Author: Paula Grogan (VCOSS) Date: May 2011 Submission to: Protecting Victoria's Vulnerable Children Inquiry Flexible Learning Options Author: Lauren Matthews & Carolyn Atkins Date: June 2010 Submission to: DEECD 'Pathways to re-engagement through flexible learning options' discussion paper more...

• Blog posts

  When transport fails young people (21/12/2010 11:49 AM) The edges of Melbourne can be a hard place to live if you don’t drive a car. Young families often relocate to edge of Melbourne so they could afford a buy a home for their growing family. However, when those … Protecting children is about far more than child protection (17/11/2010 04:21 PM) Protecting Victoria’s most vulnerable and at-risk children is about far more than providing an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff to pick up the pieces of families in crisis – we need to keep families from falling over the ledge. Young people and law and order politics (11/11/2010 06:08 PM) Guest blog from Tiffany Overall from Youthlaw From Nunawading to Morwell Tomorrow Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) and Youthlaw are hosting a youth election forum in the marginal seat of Morwell in the lead up to the Victorian state … more...