Department of Education Victoria – Central Highlands QLD

23h ago , from Department of Education & Training Victoria

Are you interested in working in the Department of Education as a Koorie Engagement Support Officer? Do you have a passion for education and First Nations student success? An exciting opportunity exists for a highly self‑motivated Koorie Engagement Support Officer in the Central Highlands Area, South‑West Victorian Region (SWVR).

The KESO role supports the Department of Education (DE) priorities in Early Years, schools and the strategic priorities set by the Council of Australia Governments (COAG), the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework (VAAF) and Closing the Gap initiatives.

Schools and Regional Services comprises 17 Areas within four regions across the state, as well as five central Divisions. The responsibilities of Regional Services include:

- Service delivery including performance, contract management, funding delivery and acquittal
- Program implementation including detailed implementation planning and delivery
- Local area engagement, advice, support and partnerships
- Workforce capability development, professional practice leadership and delivery
- Emergency management including critical incident response.

The regional model supports our regions to:

- connect between central government policy and the delivery of high‑quality services to Victorians
- drive outcomes across all stages of learning through expert advice and support
- connect with families, service providers, schools and communities
- lead, collaborate and partner at a local level to overcome social and economic challenges facing our communities, towns and cities
- deliver health, wellbeing and support services to children, young people and their families to assist them in their learning and development
- improve connectedness and transitions between important points in a child¿s life,such as between early childhood, kindergarten, school and tertiary education
- assist and support children and young people who are vulnerable, disengaged, and those with disabilities or challenging behaviour.

Selection Criteria

Criteria 1: 'Specialist Expertise - Koorie Engagement & Culture'

Specialist Expertise Koorie Engagement & Culture

- Identifies relevant referral agencies and support services to support educational success of Koorie children and young people.
- Engages with key stakeholders in government and community for a common educational purpose.
- Works with community and key stakeholders, including Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Groups (LAECGs), to share educational values and responsibility for achievement, engagement, education related wellbeing programs, and activities for Koorie children, young people and their families engaged in education.
- Promotes community awareness of educational issues and services through a range of formal and informal settings, as appropriate in local communities.
- Uses diverse approaches, activities, and partnerships to link services and stakeholders, to increase involvement of Koorie families and community with service providers and their staff.
- Can identify and communicate local Koorie community priorities and issues to education service providers.
- Has a comprehensive understanding and awareness of local Koorie history and cultural protocols.
- Can appropriately promote and facilitate the understanding and observance of local Koorie culture and protocols.

Criteria 2: 'Project Management'

Project Management

- Develops project plans that clearly describe program/service objectives, actions required and progress made.
- Organises and coordinates regular meetings that support other members of the regional Koorie Education Workforce team.
- Anticipates potential issues and facilitates solutions to ensure program objectives are met.
- Implements projects in a planned way identifying risks and planning to minimise their impact on project.
- Monitors the progress of projects, adapts and updates plans and tasks to keep project results successful and achieve objectives.

Criteria 3: 'Relationship Building'

Relationship Building

- Establishes and maintains effective relationships with people at all Departmental levels, stakeholder groups, organisations and communities.
- Builds trust through consistent action, communication and implementation.
- Promotes harmony and consensus through diplomatic handling of disagreements.
- Communicates and relates well to people from a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds and sees issues from other perspectives.
- Provides professional support to colleagues within the workplace.

Criteria 4: 'Initiative & Accountability'





Initiative & Accountability

- Is proactive, initiates action and follows DET's referral and reporting processes.
- Identifies opportunities and acts on them.
- Takes responsibility for own actions and behaviours.
- Works to an action plan and can adapt and change when appropriate.

Criteria 5: 'Communication'

Communication

- Written communication: ensures any written communication contains necessary information to achieve its purpose and intent.
- Verbal communication: effectively conveys information in a explicit and engaging way recognising the diversity of audiences, and uses active listening skills

Resilience

- Remains calm and copes effectively in times of conflict or difficulty.
- Accepts and responds appropriately to constructive feedback.
- Sets and maintains appropriate boundaries between personal and professional relationships and responsibilities.
- Maintains a professional demeanour and represents employer and education system positively.

Problem Solving

- Bases solutions to problems on facts and evidence.
- Listens to and acknowledges others¿ viewpoints.
- Reasons and clarifies issues when dealing with problems, then identifies workable solutions and agreed actions.
- Responds to concerns appropriately.
- Negotiates and implements planned actions to achieve agreed outcomes

Role

The Koorie Engagement Support Officer role works with education and family service providers, key stakeholders and the Koorie community to improve early years participation, school student engagement, wellbeing, retention and achievement. This role works systemically with departments and agencies, providing advice to assist the coordination of services to Koorie students at their point of need, including support for re‑engagement of at‑risk children and young people. To be successful in this role you will need to work in a multidisciplinary team approach, establish and maintain good working relationships with colleagues, school staff and early childhood staff, and network effectively with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, young people and families/carers.

This role is an identified position and is available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants only. A current Working with Children Check is required for this position. Current Victorian Drivers Licence. Confirmation of the Indigenous status of applicants may be requested.

The purpose of the KESO position is to:

- Work with education and family service providers, key stakeholders and the Koorie Community to improve:
- Early years participation
- Student engagement and wellbeing
- Retention and achievement
- Access to higher education and further training pathways as well as interfacing with TAFE Koorie Liaison Officers and VAEAI Wurreker Brokers.
- Work systemically with departments and agencies to improve outcomes for Koorie children and young people
- Work with education providers to provide advice on the establishment of cultural inclusive learning environments
- Provide advice to assist the coordination of services to support re‑engagement of at‑risk Koorie children and young people.

Responsibilities

Stakeholder Engagement

- Build constructive, professional relationships with a range of key stakeholders to work in partnership to improve engagement, wellbeing and achievement for Koorie children and young people.
- Facilitate improved access to universal and targeted educational services for Koorie families and communities.
- Negotiate with and influence key stakeholders to improve access to more culturally responsive educational services to ensure that services provide culturally appropriate programs.
- Establish and maintain partnerships with government departments, community agencies and local communities to promote the development of collaborative programs and initiatives related to improving achievements for Koorie children and young people.
- Facilitate local Koorie input into the delivery of culturally appropriate educational services.
- Support information sharing as per the Child Information and Sharing Scheme and follow‑up between educational services and families about educational issues and local and regional priorities.

Expert Advice and Support





- Provide expert Koorie specific advice to a range of education services about culturally inclusive and appropriate strategies, and contribute to the regional responses to increase engagement, achievement and wellbeing of Koorie children and young people.
- Access and analyse relevant quantitative and qualitative data, to provide strategic advice on the successful implementation of DE's Koorie education strategic priorities, including relevant regional and local place‑based initiatives.

Program and Strategy Delivery

- Coordinate and implement initiatives for Koorie children and young people:
- Provide high level strategic advice to stakeholders in the facilitation of programs/services that deliver improved achievement for Koorie children and young people.
- Facilitate the implementation of local and regional strategies aimed at improving the capacity of educational services to deliver culturally inclusive and appropriate programs.
- Contribute to the provision and implementation of programs and initiatives aimed at improving Koorie engagement, achievement and wellbeing in a range of educational services.
- Support the implementation and monitoring of targeted programs and strategies aimed at increasing engagement, wellbeing and achievement of Koorie children and young people.

Who May Apply

These roles are identified positions and are available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants only. Confirmation of the Indigenous status of applicants may be requested.

The Department of Education is committed to taking positive action to eliminate discrimination to the greatest possible extent. It recognises that discrimination can cause social and economic disadvantage, and the achievement of substantive equality may require the taking of special measures. To this end, the Department of Education and Training considers these positions to be a special measure for the purposes of section 12 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).

Diversity and Inclusion

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 (seeWorkplace 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*******@education.vic.gov.au

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.

Child Safe Standards

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:

pal/child-safe-standards/policy

DE Values

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:

pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview

Other Information

No job description available

Conditions of Employment

- All staff employed by the Department and schools have access to a broad range of employment conditions and working arrangements.
- Appointment of successful applicants will be made subject to a satisfactory pre‑employment conditions check.
- A probationary period may apply during the first year of employment and induction and support programs provided.
- Detailed information on all terms and conditions of employment is available on the Department's Human Resources website at

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📌 Koorie Engagement Support Officer (KESO) Central Highlands Area - SWVR 20003440 (Central Highlands Regional)
🏢 Department of Education Victoria
📍 Central Highlands Regional