The delegation of the Australian Hellenic Council (AHC) that traveled to Canberra last week to meet Education Minister Julia Gillard, has learnt that Modern Greek can still make the cut.
They were disappointed however, when Ms Gillard was called away to an emergency cabinet meeting and the delegation was instead left to discuss education policy with the Minister’s advisor Rondah Rietveld.
The meeting was also attended by MPs Steve Georganas and Maria Vamvakinou, as well as Senator Nick Xenophon.
“As far as meetings go it was very positive, there’s no doubt about that. The disappointment for us was that Gillard herself wasn’t there,” AHC National Convenor Patricia Drivas said. “But I wouldn’t call it a slap in the face, under no circumstances,” she said.
The meeting is believed to have been productive, with the AHC leaving confident due to three key pieces of information gained from Ms Rietveld.
The delegation was told that Modern Greek is in the top ten languages being considered for inclusion in the national curriculum, that up to a dozen languages could be included and that the decision does not rest solely with Minister Gillard.
The final determination will be a joint decision between Ms Gillard, ACARA and the council of state education ministers, who will make the final call.
Ms Drivas considered the information gained a positive outcome.
“We’re on a good foot because we have recommendations from other states already. I think there’s only two that we don’t have yet and we’re working on those at the moment,” she said. The AHC’s next step will be to continue to seek further endorsements from state and federal ministers.
A final decision on the list of languages included in the national curriculum is expected in 2011, with schools to start teaching the languages in 2012.