Victorian government backflip on visiting teachers program cautiously welcomed

Three weeks ago the government announced it would slash positions from its visiting teacher program from 117 to 32, and shift support teaching responsibilities for disabled children to regular teachers.

On Tuesday, August 22, it backflipped, with Education Minister Natalie Hutchins saying, "All visiting teachers will be retained".

While Wodonga mum Cynthea Bohun told The Border Mail she "will now be able to sleep at night again" after the government reversed its decision, she said she was hesitant to describe the news as "a win".

"We had a Zoom meeting with the minister for education and the deputy minister and there were about 12 concerned parents in on the call," Ms Bohun, whose family was considering moving across the Border to Albury because of the earlier proposal, said.

"My seven-year-old daughter, Zoe who is legally blind, could hear the meeting and at the end she said, 'Is this for real Mum, or are they tricking?'

"While it's a win, it doesn't feel like it's a win, because we're just keeping the services that shouldn't have been touched to begin with.

"A win would have been actually giving more time with the visiting teachers or giving more additional funding for our children.

"They kind of make it sound like they're doing us a favour by keeping this but the best thing would have been actually trying to encourage more staff so we can have more hours with our kids."

After the Zoom meeting with Ms Bohun and the other parents, Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said all 80 visiting teachers would keep their jobs.

"Many students who currently receive support from the visiting teachers program will get the same extra assistance as part of our $1.6 billion disability inclusion reforms," she said.

"We'll also bring visiting teachers into the disability inclusion program as disability inclusion visiting teachers for schools and families who wish to keep using the service."

Ms Bohun said she was relieved at the decision but was still seeking an assurance that the service would not come under fire again.

"We don't want to see 12 months down the track that they looking at cutting the teachers again, the service needs to be always staying around," she said.

"Especially with the ageing population, our children are going to be the ones that are looking after us, so it's nice to know that we can look after them now by making sure they get the right education."

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