Greek distance education might be a thing of the past as the only school offering it in Victoria has put it on the cutting room floor.
Management at the Victorian School of Languages (VSL) is seeking to reduce classes and cut full time staff hours as a cost saving mechanism, despite student numbers remaining steady for years.
In Victoria, the VSL distance education course is the only way for rural students to pick up Greek and has been a lifeline for the Victorian Greek community.
The program has been declared by the school as “in excess”, meaning that it is on notice thanks to the perception of low numbers.
The Greek program, which has been in operation for forty years, is now left with only one full time staff member, Maria Foscolos. She has managed the course for over 10 years, classes and students of six different levels without any of the consular assistance that other languages at the school receive.
During the year, the class size for distance education in Greek started with 35 students, and eventually ballooned to close to sixty, a healthy size for a language. Over the years the course numbers have remained steady, something other Victorian Greek schools haven’t been able to achieve.
Now, the sole teacher is being asked to relinquish a full time position to be reduced to part time, while keeping the same student numbers and workload.
Assistant principal Joe Tosic denied to speak to Neos Kosmos about the fate of the program and its ‘in excess’ status.
“There are a lot of people that this matter affects, but due to confidentiality matters we can’t discuss that,” he said to Neos Kosmos.
Already the Greek distance education program has been called before the merit protection board this year and asked to plead its case.
The outcome ended favourably for the Greek program and it was given a reprieve. But a question mark still remains above the longevity of distance education.
The VSL says low numbers have become a “concern” for them and for the future of the Greek distance education program.
“We’ve obviously had lower numbers than what we would have liked in that area,” Mr Tosic says. “That is something of concern for us.”
Sustaining Greek language programs has been a challenge in Victoria, with many schools and universities investing more in more profitable faculties and cutting those without much demand.
For the VSL, Greek holds the lowest number of students in distance education, but that number has not dropped, thanks to the external promotion of the course by the Greek department.
The VSL says it has taken action to help the department, but stopped short of saying what it had done specifically.
“We have a set approach in those matters, we don’t distinguish between any faculties, whether it be Greek, Italian or French,” Mr Tosic says.
“We look at our enrolment numbers, we look at who is teaching the program and provide them with any kind of support.”
Yet, when pressed to explain what specific support staff receives, Mr Tosic deflected the question saying helping teachers boost enrolments was the most important thing.
At the moment, the promotion of the Greek program has been the task of the Greek department, but with only one staff member having to juggle teaching, writing a course and liaising with distance education students, it’s amazing numbers haven’t dropped.
Mr Tosic says area managers at their Melbourne branches who just happen to have a Greek background have been trying to help, but didn’t mention there was any other formal assistance in promoting the program.
New demand might be on the cards from recent Greek migrants, who are looking to enrol their children into Greek classes.
A few in the VSL distance education course are adult students wanting to come back to their Greek studies, showing hope is still there.
The program is unique in Victoria and is one of the few that teaches students one-on-one, complementing their existing knowledge and not giving them stock coursework for a determined level.
The loss of such a course would be felt for years to come.