Within our operating environment, challenges and opportunities influence the department’s planning, implementation and delivery of services and system reform.
The economy
Throughout 2025, global economic markets have fluctuated significantly, driven by international tariffs and trade policy uncertainty and rising geopolitical tensions.
Locally, the Victorian economy continues to grow, and the government continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to investing in the early childhood and education portfolios.
Given the rising costs of goods, services, and construction, the department will continue to seek efficiencies in how it delivers its infrastructure programs and provides high-quality services, and give cost-of-living relief to families through a range of education and early learning programs.
Climate change
Victoria’s climate is changing, which means we will continue to experience rising temperatures and more frequent and intense extreme weather events that present risks to our infrastructure, service delivery and people.
Our experience with responding to extreme weather events has improved our ability to minimise disruption to learning and support staff, children and students, and to recover from these events. We will continue to take action to ensure our infrastructure can withstand climate impacts and protect our people from the impacts of climate extremes.
The department and all schools and early childhood education settings have a role to play in delivering on the Victorian target of net zero emissions by 2045 through improving energy efficiency, transitioning away from fossil fuels and using more electricity generated from renewable sources.
The department will support Victoria’s commitment to building a clean economy workforce by strengthening clean energy career pathways through expanding the core offering of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in schools, providing vocational explorer and VET taster experiences in the clean economy and investing in clean energy equipment and programs in Tech Schools.
Self-determination
The Victorian Government is committed to delivering on truth, Treaty and self-determination, providing the opportunity for significant positive change, including accelerating our actions to improve learning and social and emotional wellbeing outcomes of First Nations children and young people.
On average, First Nations students achieve lower National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy results, report lower connectedness with school, and attend school less regularly than their non-First Nations peers. Cultural safety and access to targeted supports are critical to ensure First Nations learners achieve their potential, succeed in life, and feel strong in their cultural identity.
The department is prioritising self-determination in education to improve learning and wellbeing outcomes for First Nations learners. We will continue to work with First Nations people and communities, building on our successes to realise the ambition of Marrung: Aboriginal Education Plan 2016–2026 and the objectives of Dhelk Wukang 2022–2026: Aboriginal Inclusion Plan. We will also develop a new First Nations education plan, informed by the evaluation of Marrung.
Digital security, transformation and disruption
How technology can be used within schools, early learning centres and at home is evolving quickly. Children and young people have greater access to internet-connected devices and social media. These are parts of contemporary life and present significant learning and teaching opportunities. However, they can also have negative consequences, such as online bullying and diminishing conflict resolution skills, which can impact mental health. Protections, instruction and monitoring are required to help keep children safe online.
The widespread take-up of generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications, such as ChatGPT, has sparked concern and debate about AI’s productive potential and associated risks. Understanding how educators can best use AI, with instruction, supervision and critical assessment of AI-generated outputs, is important. The department is developing a clear AI strategy to support the existing Generative AI policy for schools, that sets out the requirements and advice around using AI tools in a safe and responsible way, complementing the Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools.
Population and societal change
Our state is expected to continue to grow, with Victoria’s population forecast to reach 10.3 million by 2051. Over the long term, net overseas migration is expected to add more than 80,000 people to the population each year. Most of this projected growth is concentrated in the inner and outer growth areas of metropolitan Melbourne. In regional Victoria, the strongest growth is expected in Greater Geelong and Ballarat.
The Victorian Government’s Housing Statement and Plan for Victoria seek to fast-track and concentrate housing development in priority precincts to accommodate the growing population. Such rapid growth creates a need for additional schools and expansions of existing schools, new and expanded kindergartens and early learning centres, and additional staff to cater for more children and young people. Identifying shifting growth patterns quickly and planning effectively for future needs will be critical to keep pace with increasing demand.
Changes in behavioural norms, since the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to increased student absenteeism: parents and carers are continuing to follow health advice to keep children with COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms at home. These absences are further enabled by the ability of carers to work from home. This interruption to consistent learning and engagement with the school environment poses challenges to student achievement and wellbeing.
Workforce availability and capability
Victoria needs to attract, recruit and retain more teachers, educators and staff to address the significant demand within our schools and early learning settings. There is significant growth projected in early childhood and school education enrolments for Victoria. By 2029, Victoria is projected to require 118,565 teachers across the early childhood education, primary school and secondary school settings. Supporting this growth will require more highly skilled teachers and educators to deliver quality education to children and students.
There is an additional challenge to attract and retain teachers and educators in rural and regional areas, in specialist schools and in Melbourne’s urban growth corridors. There are also specific subject areas such as technology, science, mathematics and languages where demand is high.
The Best Start, Best Life reforms are significantly increasing the demand for early childhood professionals across the state. The department is implementing a comprehensive strategy to attract and retain this workforce, in partnership with the early childhood sector. We will ensure that all people involved in the provision of early childhood care and services have the appropriate training and support to maximise child safety.
Addressing school workforce supply challenges also requires departmental efforts on multiple fronts and key initiatives are already underway. We have invested in comprehensive supports to address key areas of staff concern, including workload management, and improving career development and progression. Targeted teaching scholarships, paid placements, early career support and improved support for school staff mental health and wellbeing are already making a difference and having a positive impact on workforce supply, with further improvements expected in coming years.
Information security and privacy
Information security and privacy vulnerabilities can affect all areas of society with significant implications for organisations large and small. High-profile data breaches are occurring more frequently, and this presents critical challenges for the school and early childhood education sectors to protect sensitive private information and ensure the safety of children in the online environment.
The department has built the capability to effectively prevent, detect and respond to inappropriate access to and use of information and technology. This includes establishing robust security protocols and protections, and the technology platforms needed to support schools and early learning centres to manage the complexity of information security and child safety online. We require that third parties who provide technology or information management services to schools, early learning centres and the department provide the same level of protection for education systems, student and family data and children’s safety.
All staff are trained on the appropriate handling of personal information, and accurate and timely notifications of issues and breaches to and from affected services and suppliers.
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