Ambition Statement

Ambition:
VATE is a not-for-profit subject association committed to a vision of subject English that is equitable, inclusive, robust, creative, responsive, and critical. Through collaboration and community, VATE serves its members and their students from all sectors and regions across the state of Victoria.

Purpose:
VATE exists to support its members at all stages of their English teaching career in the continuous process of renewal necessary to engage with the dynamic nature of both the profession and subject English. Through professional networks, advocacy, research, journals, professional learning, and resources, VATE leads and nurtures a community of teachers of secondary English committed to their students and the advancement of the profession.

Commitments:
VATE is committed to Makarrata and Truth-telling. VATE acknowledges that we work, teach and learn on unceded land. Our work will recognise and celebrate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia as the first teachers and storytellers. For a fair and just society, we will promote and advocate for truth-telling in the English curriculum and collaborate with First Nations people and organisations to co-create programs and resources.

VATE will advocate for the English teaching profession and our students in a range of educational contexts and the wider community. We will develop and provide policies and programs that underpin our advocacy work.

VATE will strengthen and nurture learning communities, professional networks, collaborative inquiry communities, and other professional learning contexts which allow teachers to reflect collaboratively, creatively, and critically on current practices and future directions for English teaching.

VATE will continue to develop effective professional learning programs for teachers to ensure continued development in the learning and teaching of English at all secondary levels. We will strengthen our commitment to equity of access for all members by delivering professional learning through a range of modes.

VATE will initiate, support, identify, and disseminate research to our members through our journal, Idiom, and other publications and resources.

VATE will strengthen and expand our suite of publications. We will commit to developing new resources that are freely available to our members.

To benefit its members, VATE will develop strategic partnerships at state and national levels with other teaching and subject associations, bureaucracies, statutory bodies and organisations.

To respond to the challenges of climate change, VATE will develop environmentally sustainable practices to minimise our carbon footprint at all VATE events, through our publications, and in all aspects of our work.