Interpreting and Translation Services

Policy

This policy outlines the requirements and services available to Victorian government schools who need interpreting and translation assistance to communicate with parents and carers.

All department funded kindergarten services and eligible support services can also access interpreting and translation services. Please refer to Early Childhood Language Services for further details.

Summary

• Schools must offer interpreting and translation services to parents and carers who have limited or no English language skills to communicate key information about their child’s education.
• Schools must also offer Auslan interpreting services to parents and carers who are Deaf or hard of hearing.
• Schools must use the department’s provider, All Graduates, to access funded interpreting and translation services.
• Information on how to access this service is available on the Guidance tab.
• The department covers the cost of a range of interpreting and translation services, as detailed in this policy and the Guidance tab.
• The costs for interpreting and translation services for full fee-paying international students and their parents and carers are not met by the department and must be paid by the school.

Details

The department provides funding for interpreting and translation services to support communication with parents and carers of children and young people:

• who are enrolled in Victorian government schools
• whose parents are from a language background other than English and require communication to be undertaken in their first language
• whose parents are Deaf or hard of hearing.

Further details of the availability of interpreting and translating services are outlined in the Booking an interpreter guidance chapter.

Parents and carers can also use the free in-bound telephone interpreting service to contact schools in their preferred language. For more information, refer to: Telephone interpreting.

The department funding does not cover costs for interpreting and translation services for full fee-paying international students and their parents and carers. These costs must be paid by the school.

Offering interpreting and translation services

Schools must offer interpreting and translation services to parents and carers who have limited or no English language skills to communicate key information about their child’s education, such as for parent-teacher interviews or other one-to-one meetings.

Where possible, schools should also offer interpreting and translation services for other school communications such as consent forms, newsletters and letters to parents or carers.

For details on what is included, refer to the Translation assignments guidance chapter

Interpreting and translation services provider

Schools must use the department’s provider, All Graduates, to access department funded services – refer to the Guidance tab for information on how to access this service. The services can be used for:

• parent-teacher interviews
• information dissemination
• discussions about educational progress, integration, careers or pathways, wellbeing, student behaviour and engagement
• student support services. The nature of the service (for example, speech pathologist, psychologist, social worker, and visiting teacher) must be included in the booking
• Disability Inclusion Profile meetings
• discussions about transition to primary or secondary school
• discussions about student enrolment.

Requests not included in the categories listed above require approval from the department. The request must still align with the primary purpose of the service, which is to support parents and carers in communicating about their child’s education or wellbeing. All Graduates is responsible for determining whether department approval is required and will work with the department to obtain this approval.

Language services are not available to assist individual students in classrooms or to support curriculum-related activities. Refer to EAL Support and Funding for further information on supporting EAL students in the classroom. These services also do not cover group bookings, school staff or governance related meetings, or events such as assemblies, graduations or performances.

Any questions regarding this policy and the funded services should be directed to the department via email to language.services@education.gov.au

Privacy and records management

All personal information, including personally identifiable information, collected as part of interpreting services by staff and language service providers at Victorian schools must be handled in accordance with the schools' privacy policy and protecting personally identifiable information guideline. For further support, please contact privacy@education.vic.gov.au

All records created or kept as part of interpreting services, including any translated records, must be handled in accordance with the department's Records Management policy and guidance. Advice on records management is available from archives.records@education.vic.gov.au

Related policies

• Disability Inclusion Profile
• EAL – Provision for Newly Arrived Students
• EAL Support and Funding
• Privacy and Information Sharing
• Student Support Services

Contacts

Contact All Graduates Interpreting and Translating (All Graduates) to create an account for your school or make a booking at de.enquiries@allgraduates.com.au or 03 9605 3051.

For general queries or feedback in relation to this policy or guidance, contact the Targeted School Services Unit on language.services@education.vic.gov.au