Polwarth MP Richard Riordan claims regional education system 'failing'

Liberal Polwarth MP Richard Riordan says country schools overall have fallen far behind metro schools in attendance and results.

But Victoria's Education Department says it's taking action to "bridge the divide" particularly through plans to give rural and remote areas access to every VCE subject.

Mr Riordan, using data he collected on median study scores, claims just 37 out of 265 schools with median study scores in the top 50 per cent statewide were regional schools.

He says the data shows that of the regional schools with study scores in the bottom 20, five of which are in south-west Victoria, attendance is a key issue.

Publicly available My Schools data on south-west schools shows some have just 58 per cent of students reaching a 90 per cent attendance rate in 2019, Mr Riordan points out.

"If you are going to have a school in the top 30 per cent they all have attendance between 95 and 80 per cent," he said.

"Kids in our country towns are going to school up to 30 per cent less than our top performing schools."

But Brauer College principal Jane Boyle, whose school was not a specific focus for Mr Riordan, said schools in Warrnambool had addressed attendance since 2017 and had seen "significant improvement".

"Some years ago I believe attendance was a problem, but schools have done an enormous amount of work in this area," Ms Boyle said.

"We have found with parental support we have increased our attendance to being very high."

South West Local Learning and Employment Network 's Emily Lee-Ack said there was "no doubt that the rate of education attainment rate for rural schools continues to be a challenge" but would take "time and collaboration to address".

"The disruption of education for students, schools and families as a result of COVID-19 restrictions is both a challenge and an opportunity," she said.

"Anecdotally we know that for some students a more flexible mode of learning has worked positively to re engage them with their leaning, while for others it has been more difficult."

Mr Riordan said students' engagement, motivation and the relevance of what was taught should be central to any changes.

"In a working class conservative town, kids like to have jobs, like to be kept engaged, there used to be a technical school, it doesn't offer that now," he said.

Mr Riordan said tight labour markets in south-west Victoria could also encourage young people away from school work.

"If school's no fun, you're not doing the subjects you want to do, and you can go and work and get $30 an hour; our labour shortage is part of the problem," he said.

Mr Riordan called for an "instant review" into the challenges in regional settings and what improvements are required.

"I am looking to fund my own private review because we have people concerned that this is holding back growth in the community and we need to look at why. We are not hearing about from it by our department, universities, yet the statistics are bold," he said.

"For close to 20 years Labor has controlled education in Victoria, we drive around with education on our numbers plates, but absentees have been increasing as regular as night follows day."

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An Education Department spokeswoman said the government was working to improve rural and regional education outcomes.

"The Victorian government is taking action to bridge the divide between regional and metropolitan schools, to give students better access to a wide range of subjects and provide better training and development opportunities for rural and regional teachers," she said.

"Research shows that students who have access to subjects of their choice are more likely to complete their schooling, so we're investing $22.7 million to implement initiatives to give students in rural and remote areas access to every VCE subject.

"The rollout of the Navigator program, which provides direct support to young people aged 12 to 17 years' old to re-engage with school and reach their potential, will be complete statewide from term one this year, having already supported around 4,000 students since it began in 2015.

"The Victorian government has accepted in principle the recommendations of the Review into Vocational and Applied Learning Pathways in Senior Secondary Schooling, which represent a transformative agenda to improve senior secondary outcomes.

"Key to this agenda is work to lift the quality and perception of vocational and applied learning though the creation of a new vocational specialist pathway within the VCE."