Victoria has recently updated their registration guidelines and made other changes that affect schools. Here are the key points that schools in Victoria need to know.
The VRQA has published a new version of the Guidelines to the Minimum Standards and Requirements for School Registration (Guidelines). The new version was published on 3 February 2022 but backdated so that it applies to “new and existing schools from 1 January 2022”.
The Guidelines have been updated to include references to the Guidelines to the Minimum Standards and Requirements for School Boarding Premises Registration (Boarding Guidelines), which were introduced in 2021. The Boarding Guidelines contain references to the Guidelines. They state that, where a registered school and its boarding premises have the same legal entity or proprietor, the school does not have to create or maintain two separate sets of documents to meet the requirements of the Guidelines and the Boarding Guidelines.
As part of this update, the Guidelines now include corresponding references to the Boarding Guidelines. The revised Guidelines also note that Ministerial Orders No. 706 (anaphylaxis management) and 870 (Child Safe Standards) have been amended to refer to school boarding premises. As noted above, Ministerial Order No. 870 will be replaced by new Ministerial Order No. 1359. The VRQA has indicated that before 1 July 2022, it will publish guidance material about the requirements of Ministerial Order No. 1359.
The Guidelines now specify that schools can only use third-party providers that are registered with the VRQA. In this context, a “third-party provider” is an entity separate from the school that is engaged to provide education services to the school’s students. For example: another registered school or a non-school senior secondary provider (NSSSP), a TAFE or Registered Training Organisation (RTO).
The revised Guidelines outline the requirements that a third-party provider must meet before they can be registered. These include requirements under the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 (Vic) and the Education and Training Reform Regulations 2017 (Vic) (Education and Training Legislation) and, for third-party providers who aren’t schools, the requirements in the VRQA’s Guidelines for Non-school Senior Secondary Education Providers: Minimum Standards for Registration to Provide an Accredited Senior Secondary Course.
The governance requirements have not changed under the revised Guidelines – schools are still required to “structure the governance of a school to allow it to effectively manage the school’s finances and development of strategic direction and fulfil its legal obligations”.
However, the new Guidelines introduce two additional pieces of evidence that schools must now provide when demonstrating compliance with the governance requirements:
The curriculum requirements have not changed under the revised Guidelines – schools are still required to provide all students with “a planned and structured curriculum to equip them with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to complete their schooling and to make a successful transition from school to work, training or further education”.
However, the revised Guidelines introduce two additional pieces of evidence that schools must now provide when demonstrating compliance with the curriculum requirements:
The revised Guidelines state that “A school must have policies and procedures in place to enable it to comply with pandemic orders made by the Minister for Health under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 relating to coronavirus (COVID-19).”
Under the new “evidence requirements” for this section, a school must have:
As the Explanatory Notes to this section indicate, all schools already have a COVIDSafe plan. What has changed is that they must now provide a copy of it to the VRQA at review or as requested by the VRQA.
Corresponding requirements have been included in a revised version of the Boarding Guidelines. All school boarding premises already have in place a COVIDSafe Plan.
The Victorian Parliament has amended the Education and Training Legislation. The amendments have not yet commenced. They will commence on 2 May 2022.
One of the stated purposes of the amendments is to “provide for new foundation secondary courses and foundation secondary qualifications”. This includes replacing the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) with a new Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) and vocational major within the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).