Footscray Primary slammed for ‘out of touch’ plan to ditch Vietnamese for Italian

A western suburbs school has been slammed for its “out of touch” plan to ditch its popular Vietnamese language program in favour of Italian. And the reason why will stagger you.

Footscray Primary School will have to learn Italian instead of Vietnamese as a second language starting from next year.

Furious Footscray Primary School parents have hit back at the school’s “out of touch” plan to dump its Vietnamese bilingual program and replace it with Italian.

The curriculum change, which families say is completely at odds with the suburb’s large Vietnamese community, is slated to start next year according to a newsletter sent to students’ families.

Vietnam is the second most common country of birth after Australia for Footscray residents, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data.

Vietnamese is also the most widely spoken language next to English.

More than 11 per cent of Footscray locals have Vietnamese ancestry compared to 4 per cent who have Italian heritage.

A Department of Education spokeswoman told the Leader the school was forced to switch its bilingual program to Italian because a suitable Vietnamese teacher could not be found.

Vietnamese had been taught at the school since 1997, according to information provided by the department, with about half of students’ class time, or between 7.5 to 12 hours, spent learning in Vietnamese and the rest in English.

A teacher could be sourced if students chose to learn Vietnamese through the school’s LOTE (language other than English) program, which runs for about two hours a week.

“We remain absolutely committed to providing students with the opportunity to learn about the history, culture and language of the Vietnamese people,” the spokeswoman said.

But Tony Bui, the creator of an online change.org petition demanding the school backdown on the change, rubbished the claim a Vietnamese teacher couldn’t be found.

“It is absolutely wrong … (our) Vietnamese community, with over 80,000 speakers in Victoria, is available to support and offer experienced and qualified Vietnamese teachers,” he wrote.

Almost 3000 people have signed the petition to block the curriculum change, with one angry commentator slamming the school’s decision as “out of touch”.

“To replace the bilingual program with Italian, which is not even in Footscray’s top five languages other than English, is Eurocentric and out-of-touch,” one woman wrote.

Parents also commented that learning Vietnamese was vital for students to preserve a strong connection with their cultural heritage.

“I’m signing because I want the kids with Vietnamese background growing (up) in Australia (to) have the chance to learn Vietnamese and understand Vietnamese culture,” one woman wrote.

Footscray Primary School has not responded directly to the Leader’s request for comment.

But the school’s July newsletter, seen by the Leader, notes Italian was chosen after extensive consultation, in part, because it was a “relatively easy language to learn”.

The newsletter, which was signed by the principal Jen Briggs and school council president Raylene Varone, also said learning Italian would facilitate an easier transition into Footscray High School’s language program.

Footscray High School teaches Japanese and Italian in its language program.

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