The Le Mana Pasifika Project helps Pasifika young people and families in Melbourne’s south-east and north-west. Run by the Centre for Multicultural Youth with funding from DFFH, this program aims to improve education and create more opportunities for Pasifika young people aged 12 to 25. The project also helps local services better support these young people. In 2023–24, the project supported more than 1,000 Pasifika young people through culturally appropriate service referrals, mentoring, leadership, employment, education and cultural activities that kept them engaged (DFFH: funded as part of the $10.2 million 2023–24 State Budget’s Investing Early Where It Matters package).
The Early Childhood Language Program from the Department of Education (DE) supported around 7,000 4-year-old children in kindergartens to learn in a language other than English. Children in around 176 kindergartens spent 3 hours each week learning another language. In 21 bilingual kindergartens, children spent 12 hours each week learning in another language. The program employed around 200 language teachers and offered 22 languages including Arabic, Auslan, Cantonese, Mandarin, French, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese (DE: $7.6 million in 2023–24).
In partnership with DE and local Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) providers, the Brotherhood of St Laurence Family Learning Support Program continued to help families and children from vulnerable CALD backgrounds living in public housing in Melbourne, Moonee Valley, Maribyrnong and Yarra. The program supported families to participate in ECEC and transition to school through one-on-one home learning sessions and multicultural playgroups (DE: $0.4 million in 2023–24).
As part of the Place Based Partnerships to Support School Engagement and Completion Initiative, DE funded 26 government and Catholic school communities with high numbers of students from African heritage and Pasifika backgrounds. These schools worked together to design and deliver place-based approaches to increase school participation and completion rates for these communities. DE also partnered with North Melbourne Football Club and Melbourne Victory to run in-person school holiday programs for culturally diverse young people. These holiday programs focused on sport and skills development (DE: $2.8 million in 2023–24).
The Victorian Government’s 10-year Victorian African Communities Action Plan (action plan) continued to improve social and economic outcomes for Victoria’s diverse African communities (DPC: $4.4 million in 2023–24).
In 2023–24, the action plan delivered these initiatives and outcomes:
- The Employment Brokers program assisted over 680 people to access support and training and placed over 270 people into employment ($1.069 million).
- Project Sunrise is an alcohol and other drugs initiative. It provided targeted support to more than 60 young people and over 40 family members ($0.646 million).
- Homework clubs across Victoria supported 1,355 students of African heritage. School Community Liaison Officers in 28 Victorian schools supported 2,179 students and 927 families ($2.693 million, led by DE).
Case study
Women in School Leadership (WISL) – Empowering girls in Victorian and Indian schools
Through DE’s Women in School Leadership program, Aintree Primary School (in Victoria, Australia),
and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Mehta Vidyalaya (a K–12 public school in New Delhi, India) established the Girlosophy program. The program helped Grade 6 girls to gain confidence in maths while working together across cultures.
The students explored different ways to learn maths, shared their learning experiences and improved their intercultural skills.
Kim Mitchell, principal of Aintree Primary School, said:
Professional learning programs like WISL that support impactful international school collaborations contribute to improved student learning outcomes and cultural knowledge exchange.
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