Experts are calling for more flexibility and individualisation within the Victorian public school system to help engage students in learning and meet their academic needs.
Federation University Primary Education Lecturer, Dr Agli Zavros-Orr, said the public school system lacked flexibility to facilitate unique differences in how individual students engaged in learning.
“It would be really good to see teachers understanding the needs of individual students and differentiating,” Dr Zavros-Orr said.
Dr Zavros-Orr said students gained greater academic success, self-esteem, and independence when they controlled their environments, communicated with their teachers, and tailored their education as in Virtual Schools Victoria (VSV).
“[T]here’s a lot that mainstream schools can learn from the way that virtual schools runs in allowing for flexibility. There’s no reason why they can’t do it. It’s just the will isn’t there to do it,” Dr Zavros-Orr said.
17-year-old VSV student, Alex Zavros-Orr, said mainstream schooling “was very black and white” in which students either “get it done or you fail.”
“I get confused and stuck if I’m just having to listen to a teacher all day, and it gets boring,” Mr Zavros-Orr said.
“At virtual school being able to go back, everything’s written down… I can re-read stuff 100 times if I want to. And that helps me actually learn it. … So it is helpful to have that flexibility.”
Senior Lecturer and Psychologist and Director of Psychology and Counselling Programs at Monash University, Dr Nicholas Gamble, said interest-led learning is only positive and could engage youth in education.
“Often that can come down to individual teachers and how flexible they can be … within the constructs of what’s possible within the school system,” Dr Gamble said.
Dr Gamble said there are huge advantages to home education.
“Just in the amount of time that a parent can spend individualising the learning,” he said.
18-year-old home-school graduate, Phebe Langlois, said her education was flexible and interest-led, allowing her to seek opportunities and be confident that learning at her own pace would reach her goals.
“I enjoyed it [homeschooling]. I felt very free and able-minded and there were many things I was like yeah, I don’t understand that but having the attitude that I will understand; I will get there; knowing I’ll get to be where I need to be,” Ms Langlois said.
“Having that ability to explore your own interests and pushing yourself to try new things on your own definitely helps you, as a kid growing up, learn who you are. And I think it was a very healthy [educational] approach.”
Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Melbourne in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Dr Melyssa Fuqua, said self-advocacy can increase students likelihood for success.
“It’s their future to take control of,” Dr Fuqua said, “If they are participating in that process, with their teachers, with … those sorts of people, they can make decisions that are going to be best for them.”
She said school curriculums that adapt to community context can engage students and improve their career opportunities.
“Schools, teachers, education systems, should be able to be flexible, and be bringing in that local knowledge, and be able to reflect local values and priorities, to help their students achieve the best for them, the individual students, and hopefully, that’s also the best for the community as well.”
Dr Fuqua said students can wonder “why are some of these things useful to me, if my local community, my local idea of what I want to do with my life after school doesn’t seem to be valued by the education system?”
“Looking at other education systems in different countries, Australia is pretty well placed to make some adjustments within our schools to bring in the local knowledge,” Dr Fuqua said.
The Victorian Department of Education did not respond to interview requests.
