Education Minister Ben Carroll backs push to teach old-school discipline

Education Minister Ben Carroll believes Victoria’s schools are “overwhelmingly safe” but says kids must learn good behaviour as he backs a push for it to be part of the curriculum.

Education Minister Ben Carroll has endorsed the move to explicitly teach behaviour in schools as part of a national push to address disruptive and violent classrooms.

He said Victoria’s schools were “overwhelmingly safe and orderly places” but that “no child is born on their best behaviour — they have to learn”.

“We’re really pleased that more than 700 schools have already introduced explicit teaching of positive behaviours,” he said.

Welcoming the rollout of national behaviour management materials revealed by the Herald Sun this week, Mr Carroll said it was important to “keep treating it as an important part of the curriculum”.

Education Minister Ben Carroll has endorsed the move to explicitly teach behaviour in schools as part of a national push to address disruptive and violent classrooms. Picture: Brendan Beckett

In a wide-ranging one-on-one interview, Mr Carroll also said there will also be no backing down on mobile phone bans while he’s in charge.

“We were the first state to have a full ban. We started way back in 2020,” he said.

“We need to be vigilant and continue to rely on parents and carers to support the ban that is in the interests of their child as well,” he said.

Vaping is another issue of concern for Mr Carroll.

“We’re doing everything we can to make sure that students don’t begin these bad habits in the first place,” he said.

Mr Carroll, admits he’s still “in the weeds” six months after taking the role, but is committed to ensuring Victoria’s 2290 schools are the best they can be.

The Niddrie MP said education was “the most important portfolio in government”.

“And I am loving every minute”.

Ben Carroll, pictured with former 3AW host Neil Mitchell says the harder you work, the luckier you are. Picture: David Caird

It’s his 14th portfolio area in the past six years and his first stint at deputy premier.

A father-of-one, Mr Carroll has been recently involved in advocating for “a better deal from our federal government or education”.

He went to St Christopher’s Primary School and St Bernard’s College in Essendon. He was inspired by many teachers, including Greg Cusak, who is now a teaching fellow in the Department of Accounting at the University of Melbourne.

“He taught me that nothing comes easy. At the end of the day, the harder you work, the luckier you are. That always just resonated with me,” Mr Carroll said.

Another key figure was Tony Spanti, who’s now at Ave Maria College, who inspired his love of politics and global issues.

“Tony was just passionate about the subject of politics. And that passion wore off on us as well.”

Mr Carroll said he’d like his legacy act to be ensuring that Victorian children are taught to read by the phonics method, which he said was “the best way backed by all the literature and all the evidence”.

“It’s something I’m passionate about and becoming quite fixated on,” he said.

Since October, Mr Carroll has been visiting as many schools as he can.

“James Merlino told me whenever you’re feeling down, go to school. I think our future is in good hands. That’s why I think I’m lucky to have this portfolio,” he said.