Damage caused by DET restructure revealed

ANGELO GAVRIELATOS condemns the level of consultancy support available to schools.

When the Department of Education and Training (DET) restructure was announced by the former Minister Dr Andrew Refshauge, he said that the restructure was about "cutting back on administration and getting more frontline support for our schools". He went on to say that "our frontline teachers need and deserve better support from the department" and "we are ensuring that our schools get the best access to senior expertise", that is, consultancy support.

A DET letter responding to schools seeking consultancy support reveals the extent to which the consultancy has been slashed and therefore the drastic reduction in support for schools: "I refer to your submission for regional curriculum consultancy support.

"An extensive process was used to allocate the resource... "Regional focused support has been negotiated, planned and is now beginning implementation in 37 schools across the region. 105 schools requested support and an allocation has been made to 47 schools in the first cycle. This means that 31 per cent of schools will receive either focussed or requested support in this initial cycle.

"Clearly, all school requests could not be met at this time, including your school."

The restructure announced some 12 months ago was driven by a $70 million budget cut which resulted in the loss of 1000 positions.

When all the spin was stripped away, 25 per cent of "frontline" support, that is consultants, were lost from the system.

The Government stands condemned.

Angelo Gavrielatos is the Senior Vice President.

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