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Victoria's new lesson plan rollout delayed almost a year due to IT issues

Victoria's new lesson plan rollout delayed almost a year due to IT issues

The cost of rolling out explicit teaching plans across Victorian schools has blown out by $1.6 million, with some plans delayed by almost 12 months.
In June 2024, Victoria's Education Minister Ben Carroll announced high-quality lesson plans in English, maths, science, design and digital technologies that would place explicit teaching in every classroom.
But the digital platform used to host and distribute the lesson plans – called ARC 4.0 – has been delayed by almost 12 months as suppliers redesigned content to align with the Victorian Teaching and Learning 2.0 model.
Teaching plans for phonics, maths and English have been in use in classrooms for much of this year, and the science teaching plan was launched on Thursday, but the resources for design technology and digital technology have yet to be deployed.
According to documents seen by The Age, the cost of the software program has blown out from a budgeted $1.11 million to $2.7 million as the government contract reveals at least $248,800 was granted to White Rose Education to review and rewrite existing mathematics lesson plans.
The project, initially planned to be completed in 2024, is not due until December 31, 2025.
Carroll said the resources would help to reduce teacher workload as well as support the delivery of high-quality teaching in every classroom.
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