The 2026 Australian Education Awards celebrate excellence in education and shine a national spotlight on the remarkable educators, leaders, and innovators who are shaping the future of Australian education. These prestigious national awards recognise outstanding achievement across all sectors, celebrating individuals and teams who demonstrate excellence, commitment, and positive impact within their school communities.

I have had the privilege of serving as a judge across several award categories this year and I am continually impressed by the calibre of talent and dedication on display. Victorian educators continue to set a national benchmark for excellence, leading the way in delivering high-quality, inclusive, and innovative education. I was privileged to attend the event in Sydney last week to help celebrate and present awards to this year’s outstanding recipients.

We congratulate and are proud to acknowledge APF state councillor Aaron Cox and his staff from Kingswood Primary who are Victorian nominees for this year’s awards.

New offer

On Monday the APF received a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement offer from the Department of Education as negotiations continue.

Key additions to the offer include:

A $2,000 lump sum payment for all full-time employees on pay, with pro-rata arrangements applying for part-time employees.
Assistant Principals who have been at the top of their salary subdivision for at least 12 months will receive a Top of Range Allowance equivalent to 1.0% of their substantive salary.

The APF welcomes further movement in the offer, particularly the recognition of Assistant Principals who have reached the top of their current salary range.

Importantly, discussions with both the Department and the Minister’s Office remain ongoing. The APF continues to advocate strongly for our members and to raise the outstanding issues affecting principals and assistant principals, including the significant workload implications arising from changes to meeting arrangements.

New Education Minister

The APF welcomes Minister Williams to the Education portfolio and looks forward to establishing a strong and constructive working relationship. Pleasingly, communication and discussions with the Minister’s Office have already commenced, with meetings underway and further opportunities for engagement being scheduled. These early conversations provide an important opportunity for the APF to ensure the experiences, concerns and priorities of principals and assistant principals are heard directly at the highest levels of government. We look forward to working collaboratively with Minister Williams and her office, while continuing to advocate strongly for the conditions, resources and support school leaders need to lead Victoria’s schools effectively.

Full Funding

The APF welcomes the announcement by Premier Ben Carroll that the Victorian Government intends to fully fund Victorian government schools to the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

Victoria currently contributes 70 per cent of the agreed SRS, with the Commonwealth contributing a further 20 per cent. Under the national agreement, an additional 5 per cent contribution from Victoria would unlock a matching 5 per cent from the Commonwealth, bringing government schools to the full funding benchmark.

For too long, Victorian government schools have been expected to deliver increasingly complex educational, wellbeing and inclusion outcomes without receiving the level of funding identified as necessary to do the job.

For the APF, the commitment is an important and welcome step. However, the detail will matter. Additional funding must translate into genuine additional capacity within schools - supporting staffing, student wellbeing, inclusion, intervention and the growing complexity of school operations. It must also recognise the significant workload pressures currently being carried by principals and assistant principals.

The Premier has indicated his intention to complete an agreement with the Commonwealth before the November state election.

The APF will continue to advocate strongly to ensure that school leaders have a voice in how additional investment is structured and delivered. Full and fair funding should not simply mean more programs and initiatives for principals to administer.

Read the ABC News announcement

Meetings change

As I informed members last week last week we wrote to the Minister for Education outlining our serious concerns regarding the recently announced changes to school meeting arrangements.

The APF supports genuine initiatives that reduce unnecessary workload for Principals and teachers. We recognise the importance of providing teachers with more time for planning, collaboration and teaching. However, our concern is that the current changes do not reduce workload across the system—they simply transfer much of that work to principals and assistant principals. Our letter highlights a number of significant unintended consequences that we believe have not been fully considered.

The reports of the APF view was also picked up by the media seen below -

Herald Sun

The Age

AAP

Principal's Day

It was great to receive some photos from Principals being celebrated for Principals Day last Friday. I hope all of our members enjoyed the day and were rightly celebrated by their staff, community and colleagues.

DE staffing changes

As you would be aware from Department communications last week, Tony Bates is taking a period of leave. David Howes has been asked to step in as Acting Secretary during this time. Jeanette Nagorka will be Acting Deputy Secretary replacing David. We looking forward to working with David and Jeanette in these roles.

Melbourne University Study EOI: Principals of Victorian Government Schools