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'

• 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 t 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'

• 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'

• 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 flexibility adapt and change when appropriate.

Criteria 5: 'Communication'

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

Criteria 6: '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.

Criteria 7: '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

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.

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.

Current Valid Working With Children Check

The Department of Education and Training 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).

The Department of Education and Training is committed to the principles of equal opportunity, and diversity and inclusion for all. We value diversity and inclusion in all forms – gender, religion, ethnicity, LGBTIQ+, 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 family friendly, supportive, safe and harassment free workplaces is essential to high performance and promotes flexible work, diversity and safety across all schools and Department workplaces.

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 http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/health/protect/Pages/childsafestandards.aspx

The Department’s employees commit to upholding DET’s Values: Responsiveness, Integrity, Impartiality, Accountability, Respect, Leadership and Human Rights. DET’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 DET values is available at http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/workm/Pages/Public-Sector-Values.aspx

A person is not eligible for employment in the Teaching Service unless that person meets the vaccination requirements on commencement in the position.

The KESO role supports the Department of Education and Training (DET) 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.

The Victorian Government is establishing Victoria as the Education State. The vision for the Education State is about educational excellence, equity and the opportunity to engage in lifelong learning.

The Education State: Schools agenda sets out the government’s plans to reach a set of ambitious but achievable system-wide targets

Learning for life; Happy, healthy and resilient kids; Breaking the link; Pride and confidence in our schools.

The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO) has been developed to assist schools to focus on key strategies that are known to have the greatest impact on school improvement and support the achievement of the targets. These include: Positive climate for learning; Excellence in teaching and learning; Professional leadership; Community engagement in learning.

A new regional structure, Learning Places, was implemented in March 2016. It establishes 17 Education Areas within the existing four Departmental regions to be the primary point of contact on a day-to-day basis for services. Additional executive and VPS staff in the regions facilitate the creation of multi-disciplinary, dedicated teams within these areas. This stronger, more place-based system of support, coupled with more effective application of new and existing resources, allows our regions to better undertake their role and meet the needs of all children and their families.  Each region also includes two Divisions - Early Childhood and School Support Division, and School Improvement Division.