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Introduction

This chapter provides a detailed background to the 2019-20 workforce census, including questionnaire development, consultation, delivery and methodology.

Background

In March 2016, the Royal Commission into Family Violence (RCFV) delivered a multi-volume report with 227 recommendations directed at improving the foundations of the system, seizing opportunities to transform the way that the Victorian Government responds to family violence, and building the structures that will guide and oversee a long-term reform program that deals with all aspects of family violence.

The recommendations of the RCFV highlighted the lack of detailed knowledge and systematic collection of data about family violence and related workforces in Victoria, which has made effective industry and workforce planning challenging. The RCFV recommendations also confirmed the important role that these workforces play in identifying and addressing family violence.

In response to these findings, a commitment was made to undertake a family violence workforce census (the Census) every two years in a continued effort to address this gap. The first Census was conducted in 2017, and in July 2019, Family Safety Victoria (FSV) commissioned ORIMA Research to design and deliver the 2019-20 Census.

Research objectives

The overarching aim of the 2019-20 Census was to assist in deepening the Victorian Government’s understanding of a range of issues in the context of reforms recommended by the RCFV.

More specifically, the Census aimed to:

  • provide an evidence base for the analysis required to inform the Victorian Government’s decisions relating to industry planning and associated workforce reforms
  • enable a more nuanced understanding of specialist family violence and primary prevention workforces through targeted consultation, surveying, and regional analyses of these workforces.

The findings of this Census will help the Victorian Government to better understand the breadth and nature of workforces that come into contact with family violence; identify opportunities to build on knowledge, support and capability; as well as build on what is known in order to maintain its commitment to keep improving family violence prevention and response in Victoria.

Target groups

Three target groups (workforces) were identified for the Census, as detailed in Table 1. This report presents the 2019-20 Census findings for the first target group listed – those who completed the Census in a specialist family violence response capacity1.

Table 1: Target groups for the workforce census (workforces)

Table 1: Target groups for the Census (workforces)
Workforce Definition and example roles

Specialist family violence response

  • Those who work directly with victim survivors, perpetrators, or cases of family violence as a family violence response specialist; or
  • Those who work directly with family violence response specialists as a manager, supervisor or trainer; or in a capacity building, policy or practice development role.
Example roles: family violence or justice case manager, family violence outreach, refuge worker, counsellor / phone support, crisis worker, men’s behaviour change practitioner or case manager, RAMP Coordinator, intake or enhanced intake, sexual assault worker, family violence court practitioner or family violence court registrar, etc.

Primary prevention of family violence

  • Those who work to prevent family violence through systemic / organisational / community-level initiatives.
Example roles: family violence primary prevention officer or practitioner, family violence or respectful relationships educator, gender equity officer, prevention of violence against women officer, family violence health promotion officer, manager or trainer of primary prevention officers or practitioners, etc.

Broader workforces that intersect with family violence

  • Those who are sometimes in contact with victim survivors or perpetrators of family violence and required to deal with the impacts of family violence, despite this not being a significant focus of their role.
  • This includes all types of workforces who work with women, families and children (or the broader community) as part of their day-to-day role even though it is not directly related to family violence.
Example roles: police officer, court registrar, ambulance officer, teacher, nurse, disability services worker, community services or social worker, prison officer, youth worker, residential home worker, developmental support officer, student support, Child & Family Wellbeing / Integrated Family Services worker, etc.

Project development

Footnotes

  1. Where respondents indicated that they held paid roles across multiple workforces, the initial screening questions directed them to complete the Census in the capacity of only one of these workforces. Please request the full questionnaire by emailing the Centre for Workforce Excellence at cwe@familysafety.vic.gov.au

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