The
sMAG (School Music Action Group) Victoria welcomes the Victorian State Budget’s
focus on making Victoria ‘The Education State’.
Building infrastructure will provide assets to the Victorian people for
decades to come and support student, teacher and school leadership aspirations
in all subject areas. As a matter of
providing for high class learning outcomes and student efficacy, we agree that
the buildings and maintenance budget needs immediate attention to ensure equity
and access is delivered – and we welcome your announcements.
We
welcome;
“The Victorian Budget 2016-17 invests
$924 million in new and upgraded schools. This includes:
•
$385 million for upgrades to
schools in poor condition
•
$287 million to construct new
schools and buy land, including many in growth areas
•
$92 million to establish Tech
Schools in the Ballarat, Banyule, Bendigo, Casey, Geelong, Gippsland, Monash,
Whittlesea, Wyndham and Yarra Ranges regions
•
$63.6 million for relocatable
classrooms to alleviate immediate pressure in overcrowded schools”
Design
will be a key success factor, particularly in our focus area - Music
Education. Building design has a great impact on the successful
delivery of Music Education and it’s impact on surrounding quiet learning
areas. Delivering buildings with
efficiency to maximise output on any budget, will also be welcomed by
communities. Successful designs take into
account the particular needs of creating noise, and ensuring noise transfer is
minimised. Some successful implementations
include:
- · Various SPORTS CENTRES including a ‘stage’ at one end of the building.
- Music spaces in a separate building to any quiet learning area.
- Features that include large instrument storage and small rooms for instrumental music tuition. Further, sufficient electrical power points are installed to enable keyboard decks, computer systems and amplifiers to be adequately serviced by large groups of students.
- · Providing garden/courtyard spaces adjacent to any music room allows for students to spread out, reducing noise impact on one another in any one class time.
With
clear guidelines provided to principals around Music Education space design, we
are more likely to see success and see efficiency of space use particularly in sports hall design. Should schools have no choice but to make
their music room adjacent to a quiet classroom, sound proofing needs to be
considered. With accountability
structures in place to ensure the building works are implemented appropriately
in every setting, equity and access in all aspects of Education are more likely
to be delivered. We believe it is
essential for appropriate buildings for Music Education be planned and designed
to support delivery of the recommendations from the Victorian Inquiry into the
Extent, Benefits and Potential of Music Education (2013). http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/Music_Education_Final_041113_FJWsJhBy.pdf. We welcome the Victorian Budget 2016 -17 as a
great opportunity to improve delivery in Education, and particularly Music
Education across the State.
Further,
developing designs around ‘community hubs’ where music and performing arts
buildings can be best used by groups will only assist in building Victoria:
•
$50 million to create community
hubs in growth areas to enable greater use of school assets outside of school
hours
Design strategy in buildings, as previously mentioned,
would enable local council bands, dance clubs, drama groups and other performing
arts businesses to maximise use of facilities.
Not only that, but any collaboration between private business and Music
education providers would be facilitated.
Examples exist where the performing arts spaces have enabled daytime students to collaborate with the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra and feeder high schools, as well as hire the purpose design
space out to drama and dance companies after hours. Collaborations across communities both inside
and outside school hours, will only be supported by such efficient use of
infrastructure.
•
A further $28 million to remove
asbestos in schools
•
$18 million for up to 100
secondary schools in disadvantaged areas across Victoria to deliver
purpose-built consultation rooms for general practitioner doctors services
”
We
welcome all these measures, as it will build Victoria as The Education State.
In
Early Years development, we welcome the budget provisions for improving
services, building learning facilities and for small rural kindergartens:
The Education State vision
includes giving
every child the best start in life, with quality early
childhood development, and support to learn, play and grow. The Budget invests
$151 million in these services. This includes:
•
$133 million for maternal and
child health services that provide advice and support on a range of parenting,
child and family health, and development and early learning issues
•
$10 million to build and plan
for new early learning facilities in growth areas
•
$4.4 million for small rural
kindergartens across the State
As stated in our response to the Early Years Learning Development, we
welcome all measures to improve the Birth to Year 2 delivery: http://smag-schoolmusicactiongroup.blogspot.com.au/. Within the context of these new
provisions, we would call upon the government to ensure that physical spaces
and materials for learning spaces that support the delivery of Music Education
as per the VEYLD and the Victorian Curriculum is delivered. Building models that include Early Years
Centres and Kindergartens on the same property as Primary and Secondary
Colleges would allow for efficient delivery and sharing of resources. We see examples of good practice in building such
facilities in new estates across Melbourne.
In building the Victorian Secondary Technical Schools
and TAFE system, we welcome all measures to improve education delivery in these
sectors. Trade based learning has been
lagging in Victoria for some decades, and the announcements from the Andrews’
government is welcomed. VET and VCAL
programs in Music Education have produced some of the Music industry’s top
earners in both performance and audio technicians. Skills delivery to young people wishing to
enter an Australian $1.2 billion Music Industry needs Tech school and TAFE
support: http://musicaustralia.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Australian-Music-Industry-Statistical-Snapshot.pdf “Live music injects over $1.2 billion into
the Australian economy annually, and the broader Australian entertainment
sector is valued at $ 3 billion.”
So we applaud the Victorian government budget
investing an extra $49 million to support higher education, training and
skills. We call upon the Victorian government to ensure the Music Industry
grows further by delivering on Music Education in these key sectors. Students attracted to Secondary Tafe Colleges
often thrive with a solid practical music program. Amongst others, Box Hill TAFE is an
outstanding example of Music Education delivery for this sector. Swinburne Senior Secondary College, Hawthorn
is a success story in the VET/VCAL delivery: http://sssc.vic.edu.au/.
As we move towards hearing about further announcements - “Using funding allocated last Budget, we are investing $747 million from
the start of the 2016 school year to provide additional support to schools,
students, principals and teachers. The Government will make further announcements
about additional investment for the 2017 school year.”- we welcome any further consultation and conversation around ensuring Music is a key focus,
supported by The Education State white paper http://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/about/educationstate/launch.pdf and the Victorian Inquiry
into the Extent, Benefits and Potential of Music Education (2013). http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/Music_Education_Final_041113_FJWsJhBy.pdf .
Attention now needs to be drawn towards
Chapter 5 of the Victorian Inquiry findings http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/Music_Education_Final_041113_FJWsJhBy.pdf where clear recommendations and evidence is presented to call for
improvements within pre service teacher training in music education. Further, a clear promotion plan as outlined
by Recommendation 5, to ensure all stakeholders and principals implement and
embrace the vision.
Once again
applaud the critical contribution to Education announced in the Victorian 2016 -
17 budget. We look forward to an ongoing conversation and consultation process
as stakeholders to see ongoing improvements into the future.
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