Koorie Engagement Support Officer |KESO| | North Western Melbourne Area |20002861|

Job Description
Location: North West Region

Job type: Full time / From 07/10/2024 - 0+/08/2025

Organisation: Schools (Government)

Salary: Salary not specified

Occupation: Education and Training

Reference: 1432077

Selection Criteria
Criteria 1: '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 DE'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
Role
The purpose of the KESO position is to:

1. Work with education and family service providers, key stakeholders, and the Koorie Community to improve:

a) Early years participation

b) Student engagement and wellbeing

c) Retention and achievement

d) Access to higher education and further training pathways as well as interfacing with TAFE Koorie Liaison Officers and VAEAI Wurreker Brokers.

2. Work systemically with departments and agencies to improve outcomes for Koorie children and young people

3. Work with education providers to provide advice on the establishment of cultural inclusive learning environments

4. 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 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.

EEO AND OHS Commitment
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.

The Department of Education 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. It is our policy to provide reasonable adjustments for persons with a disability (see Workplace adjustment guidelines).

Additional support and advice on the recruitment process is available to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders from the Koorie Outcomes Division (KOD) via marrung@education.vic.gov.au

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:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/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:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/values-department-vps-school-employees/overview

Other Information
Current Valid Working With Children Check

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 considers these positions to be a special measure for the purposes of section 12 of the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic).

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 http://www.education.vic.gov.au/hrweb/Pages/default.aspx
Location Profile
The KESO role supports the Department of Education (DE) in supporting Koorie students and families in Schools and Early Years with a focus on attendance, participation and Closing the Gap initiatives.

The Victorian Government has established 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 Department of Education's responsibilities cover three overlapping stages of life:

Early childhood development (birth to eight) - covering health, learning and development services
School education (five to eighteen) - covering primary, secondary and special school services for children and young people from Prep to Year 12
Higher education and skills (fifteen and over) - covering higher education, vocational education and training, apprenticeships and traineeships, and adult, community and further education.

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; Health and Wellbeing.


The Department has 17 Education Areas within the existing four Departmental regions to be the primary point of contact on a day-to-day basis for services. This position is within the North-Western Victoria Region and will be based out of North East Melbourne Area that services the local government areas of Nilumbik, Banyule, Yarra, Darebin and Whittlesea. The Area-based regional operating model is designed to:

Provide greater responsiveness, innovation and joined-up responses to local needs
Enable a focus on place as an organising structure for schools and other services
Enable regional staff to engage more effectively with our service providers, schools, students and learners, families and local communities, and to understand what they need
Facilitate better relationships and collaborative networks that more effectively support learners to move more seamlessly through our education system and beyond
Enable complex issues to be addressed through more targeted, integrated and coordinated responses.

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Victoria
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