WARRNAMBOOL College principal Michael Fitzgerald will soon begin a new government role designed to support senior staff at western district schools.
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Mr Fitzgerald will vacate his leadership position on January 28 after two-and-a-half years with the school.
Assistant principal David Clift will take on an acting principal role as Mr Fitzgerald begins work for Victoria’s Department of Education.
Mr Fitzgerald is set to fill one of 17 new regional support positions.
The roles were designed as part of an $82 million program to help principals and teachers focus on students by relieving them from administrative burdens.
“The position I’m taking as an executive officer will oversee 90 or 100 schools in the Western District,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“It has never existed before and has just been developed as part of a new improvement process and investment in education.
“The Victorian state government has invested a lot of money into state education and one part of that improvement is creating 17 new positions for regions across Victoria to support schools.
“Over the past few years, principals in schools have become more autonomous but the government is acknowledging the need to help the schools more and put in a little more support through the region.”
Mr Fitzgerald said the new program was part of the government’s response to studies revealing the mounting pressure facing school principals, which has been shown to make the role increasingly stressful.
“It’s a tough job being principal of a school. It’s very rewarding but it can be very isolating,” he said.
“There’s millions of dollars put into supporting schools but the important thing I’m noticing is that not since the 1980s have we had such a strong investment in supporting regional schools.”
Mr Fitzgerald said he was pleased to be staying in the south-west after enjoying his time at Warrnambool College.
“The school is just a great place to be at the moment. I’ve had a very good experience here. It’s a really great place to be,” Mr Fitzgerald said.
“The teaching staff and students are all pretty happy and certainly year 12 results have improved each year over the past three years.
“The numbers ultimately have led to our largest intake of year sevens ever.
“There are about 230 students coming in, so we’re going from eight classes of year seven students to 10 classes.
“I’ll continue to support Warrnambool College and all other schools in the area. I’m committed to Warrnambool and the western district.”
Mr Fitzgerald will remain in Warrnambool for the new position.