Last Saturday, the Student Executive Advisory Committee met for their first formal meeting of 2023, following their previous meeting in November of last year.
The meeting opened with a reflection and awareness sharing around Indigenous education with many of the members expressing that honest and explicit conversations around the truths of Australian history were being shared in history classes, while other classes were analysing Indigenous authors such as Bruce Pascoe. This sharing is in line with one of VicSRC’s advocacy priorities outlined in the 2023 Advocacy Platform, our Inclusive Indigenous Initiative.
Following this, there was some reflection after the January Executive Advisory Committee planning days Anti-Racism Training which was delivered by Hue: Colour the Conversation with an action proposed to plan ways to meaningfully embed the anti-racism training into the organisation. VicSRC CEO, Julia also provided a ‘Policy 101’ discussion to provide further context about VicSRC’s advocacy for policy change in the Department of Education.
With many exciting changes happening in the organisation, Executive Advisory Committee member, Joseph, reflected on his experience with the previous year’s committee and the length of time it took for them to realise how involved they could be in important organisational decisions. He voiced his hope that this year’s Executive Advisory Committee realises sooner into their term to enact important and timely decisions that will further amplify student voice and spark change in the education system.
There was also much planning for upcoming meetings with plenty of exciting opportunities popping up on the calendar. Isabella, Billy, Anjali & Wesley will be meeting with the Deputy Secretaries of the Department of Education, while Sophia, Oak, Joseph & Sidd planned their upcoming meeting with Minister for Education The Hon. Natalie Hutchins MP about the Victoria Youth Strategy. Additionally, several of the Executive Advisory Committee members have been invited to The Age Schools Summit as panelists in an aim to convey to attendees how to teach and support student voice in their schools.
The next Executive Advisory Committee meeting will be held at the end of March.