PROGRAM OFFICER- ONGOING/FULL TIME

About the Department
The Department of Education (DE) leads the delivery of education and development services to children and students both directly through government schools, government early learning centres and indirectly through the regulation and funding of early childhood services and non-government schools.
About the Division
The Conduct and Integrity Division provides expert advice and support to Victorian government school principals and other people managers in the Department of Education on managing employee conduct and performance including child safety concerns and fraud and corruption. The Division has been expanding and it’s an exciting time to join.

There are four branches within the Division:

• Child Safety and Integrity (Policy and Operations) Branch
• Preliminary Investigations Branch
• Child Safety Investigations Branch
• Child Safety and Fraud Investigations Branch.

The Division leads critical functions with respect to both school and corporate employees and operations, including:

• child safety misconduct and reportable conduct investigations, including notifications to the Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) under the Reportable Conduct Scheme in relation to departmental employees and others engaged in departmental workplaces and notifications to the Disability Worker Regulation Commission
• pre-employment screening, and expert advice on suitability for employment and management of the department’s Employment Limitation policy fraud and corruption investigations, including mandatory reporting to the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) and public interest disclosures
• developing and maintaining the department’s guidelines on managing complaints, misconduct and unsatisfactory performance for the government teaching service and the public service
• providing expert advice and support to principals and people managers to manage allegations of misconduct, unsatisfactory performance, fitness for duty
• expert advice and management of fraud and corruption, conflict of interest, and integrity performance monitoring and reporting
• managing relationships with oversight and integrity bodies (including the Victorian Institute of Teaching, CCYP, IBAC, Victorian Ombudsman and the Victorian Public Sector Commission)
• capability building and training activities aimed at increasing staff confidence to prevent, speak up, identify and respond to inappropriate behaviour, reportable conduct and misconduct
• strengthening avenues for staff to speak up about inappropriate behaviour and misconduct
• driving behavioural and system change to build a stronger culture of integrity in the department.

Reporting to the Manager of the Child Safety Compliance and Operations Team, the Program Officer manages record entry and directs incoming enquiries to the appropriate teams. The role requires resilience, accountability, and a dedication to high-quality service.

Key duties include:

• Handling enquiries professionally
• Maintaining accurate records
• Using case management systems
• Administrative support
• Building stakeholder relationships
• Supporting the operations team and branch functions
• Contributing to reporting and improvements
• Drafting communications, and
• Adhering to Public Sector Values and departmental policies.