WIMMERA principals and school councils are at odds over a State Government proposal to allow parents to rate principal performance and help shape the way classrooms run.
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Principals and school councils at Murtoa and Stawell colleges are wary about parts of the government’s plan to overhaul a ‘19th Century’ school governance system, citing a lack of transparency and accountability.
The proposals would give parents and school council presidents unprecedented power to formally assess principal performance.
Parents would also be able to help shape the curriculum.
The proposals also encourage schools to merge their councils to streamline the way they are run.
Murtoa College acting principal Tony Goodwin expressed support for some of the reforms, including school councils’ ability to assess principals.
“Anything that assists improving the performance of the principal and school is a healthy thing,” he said.
But Mr Goodwin took issue with parents’ ability to help shape the curriculum and provide feedback about the delivery of schools’ strategic plans.
“They could be interested in what’s best for their child and not what’s best for all of the children in the school,” he said.
“It might be difficult for parents to understand and provide useful feedback.
“They are fairly complex things.”
Mr Goodwin said the distances between schools in the Wimmera could make school council mergers problematic.
“How are you going to get together a group that can geographically run schools that are so far apart?” he said.
Murtoa school council president Peter Ballagh rejected having the ability to judge principals’ performance.
“Parents aren’t trained educators. We’re volunteers who are there to oversee governance of schools, not so much staff members and principals,” he said.
Mr Ballagh also said increasing school council workloads could turn some parents off joining.
“At some schools there’s a problem trying to get parents to volunteer as a school councillor. To increase the workload of school councillors could be a hindrance,” he said.
“Parents aren’t trained educators. We’re volunteers who are there to oversee governance of schools, not so much staff members and principals.”
- Murtoa school council president Peter Ballagh
Stawell Secondary College principal Colin Axup supported considering most proposals but is not in favour of parents becoming involved in shaping curriculum and assessing performance.
“I don’t agree with school councils making curriculum-based decisions in terms of content – it would require them to have knowledge of curriculum and curriculum development,” he said.
Stawell school council chairman Stephen Walker said the school implemented similar changes after an internal review three years ago.
“We changed the curriculum, the house groups and homes setup, the timetable and how the subjects were structured,” he said.
The school council used the review’s results to select the then-incoming principal Mr Axup.