AEU Journal Vol 45 No. 2

Official publication of the Australian Education Union (SA Branch)

Vol 45 I No.2

March 2013

AEUJOURNAL SA

Teacher Quality ...why they are never satisfied

Inside: u Academies

and Lies: The privatisation of public education u TAFE:

Organised, Active and Strong

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Features President’s View

AEU Union Journal Training

Teacher Quality

‘Academies and Lies’

...why they are never satisfied

page 8 The privatisation of public schools

Inside: u Academies

and Lies: The privatisation of public education u TAFE:

Organised, Active and Strong

Teacher Quality

TAFE Focus

pages 12 – 13 Gender stereotypes have led to the maligning of the teaching profession

pages 10 – 11 ELS sub-branch shows the way

Letters to the Editor

*Winner of top letter!

Dear Editor, “Welcome to Term 1, 2013!” was the headline from the AEU President’s article in the last Journal. As a contract teacher this is not the feeling I get from the Education Department.

wrong that you don’t know about. When no contract comes, you start contacting lots of schools to see if you can get some TRT work.

As a Maths/Science teacher I find this hard to reconcile with the oftenheard mantra that there is a shortage in these areas. When you haven’t been paid since the last day of the previous school year, you wonder at what point you give up the hope of teaching and look for another job.

Like many contract teachers, each year I’m left waiting by the phone in the hope I’ll get a position. The feeling of dread increases daily as the start date looms. That date passes and you hope something will come your way in the first week of school. You are also left wondering if you haven’t got a contract because you have done something

As a contract teacher I am really just a second-class teacher. I can have rolling contracts within a school and therefore be in front of the same students all year, just like a permanent teacher.

So why am I unemployed through the school holidays? n

Best letter in each issue of the AEU Journal will receive two tickets to either Palace Nova Cinemas or the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.

Email to:

Keep your sanity – join the AEU

journal@aeusa.asn.au

Australian Education Union | SA Branch 163 Greenhill Road, Parkside SA 5063 Telephone: 8272 1399 Facsimile: 8373 1254 Email: journal@aeusa.asn.au Editor: Craig Greer AEU Journal is published seven times annually by the South Australian Branch of the Australian Education Union.

Deadline Dates Publication Dates #3 April 26 May 15 #4 May 31 June 19 #5 July 19 August 7 #6 August 30 September 18 #7 October 18 November 6 Subscriptions: Free for AEU members. Nonmembers may subscribe for $33 per year.

Print Post approved PP 531629/0025 ISSN 1440-2971 Cover: Craig Greer Printing: Lane Print Advertise in the AEU Journal. Reach over 13,500 members across South Australia.

8272 1399 journal@aeusa.asn.au

AEU, I suggest you join if you want support through such a process.

Depending on your injuries you could be sent to see doctors, lawyers and psychiatrists. You might end up before a judge or the Workers Compensation Tribunal and you will sit through countless meetings with rehabilitation coordinators and case managers, to name a few.

I have now received a redemption settlement and I can get on with the rest of my life. I reiterate that teachers should join the union – you will need their assistance on WorkCover matters if you want to maintain your sanity. n Christine Joyce Retired Teacher

Contract teacher Name withheld at member’s request

I have been on a long journey with WorkCover and Shared Services, which began way back in 2001. If you’re reading this and are not a member of the

AEU Journal is carbon neutral If you currently receive a hard copy of the Journal and would prefer to read the Journal online, please let us know by emailing: journal@aeusa.asn.au

The AEU Journal is online at: www.aeusa.asn.au/journals.html

3

Letters to the Editor Cont.

Implementing the Arts subjects in the Australian Curriculum

riculum. The Australian Curriculum in the Arts will mandate Arts skills to be delivered in the Primary Years – that is The ‘savings’ to State Governments arts technical skills, defined content via reduced arts funding in public eduand knowledge. cation, is showing up in the loss of Falling student standards in various teachers skilled and confident in these tests and benchmarks can, among other subjects – there are now too few to things, be attributed to reduced access properly implement the Australian Curto Arts Education.

Arts subjects teach Work Health and inherent skills and Safety Training for values that intelHealth and Safety lectually, emotionally and physically Representatives develop students.

And we know that SA Unions is an approved provider of WHS training for Arts Education has Health and Safety Representatives in South Australia. a major impact on Our specialist trainers and facilitators have many years experience student confidence in providing the highest quality training and are committed to delivering best practice through the design, delivery and content and outlook. in a continual improvement cycle.

The Federal SA Unions courses are delivered in a relaxed friendly atmosphere Government has with particular attention to participant interaction and acquiring intervened to hands-on-skills.

As a HSR you have the right to choose your preferred training establish the Ausprovider in consultation with your employer. tralian Curriculum in order for AusContact SA Unions for registration details: tralian students to 08 82792248 or email saunions@saunions.org.au have a fair go in Visit our website www.saunions.org.au/hsrtraining their education – for the 2013 training schedule and registration form.

the Melbourne Declaration. But the lack of breadth and depth in teacher pre-service education continues – we know this as there are considerably less Arts specialists delivering at tertiary training level.

I know of no intended investment in teacher support for the Arts implementation. I am concerned for primary teachers who will be delivering mandated content and knowledge – especially with the music curriculum. Without substantial investment to support primary teacher upskilling in these subjects, current Arts teachers’ workloads will be further increased by peer training on top of their full teaching loads.

And for Music Education, the Australian Curriculum sounds remarkably like the “Minister’s (Jane Lomax-Smith) New Music Plan of 2007,” it will further reduce student access to quality instrumental music education and lead to the loss of more music teachers from our system. n Anne-Marie Meegan-Turner Instrumental Music Service

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Have you retired or are about to retire? Are you seeking opportunities to maintain or increase your level of fitness and want to learn more about your city and surrounding hills and bushland? Are you seeking companionship with other retired teachers and their partners as well as other walkers from a range of backgrounds (not just teaching!)?

Walks are organised at several levels. Rovers walk from 14–18 kms, Walkers from 8–10 kms, Ramblers from 6–7 kms and Amblers up to 5 kms. The R.T.A. Walking Group is a sub-group of the Retired Teachers Association and is affiliated with The Walking Federation of SA. We walk in conservation parks, national parks and forestry reserves within the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula, suburban beaches and along the six creeks of the Adelaide Plains, the River Torrens Linear Park and other suburban trails. It’s a great way to get to know your city and surroundings! A camp is also organised each year in country areas within South Australia or Victoria.

If you are interested in finding out more about our walking group, you are invited to contact: our Secretary, Roger Tagg email: rogertag@internode.on.net or our Convener: Tony Nichol T: 8396 1682

President’s View

Union Training

South Australians want more funding for public schools AEU SA President Correna Haythorpe says public education funding is high on voters’ wish lists “...there is a very real opportunity for the major political parties to take the lead in the Gonski debate.”

J

ohn Dewey, American Philosopher and American Federation of Teachers member once wrote, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself”.

At the beginning of this term, the AEU asked the South Australian community what they thought about education and school funding via a survey by polling company Auspoll. The results reinforce the importance of public education, strong school communities and additional resources for our students.

Some of the key findings are: • 92% said that Public Education was important to them or to South Australia, when asked to rate issues of importance • When asked to rate in order of importance which services government should fund from the following list, this was the result: • Public Hospitals • Public Schools • Water supply and security • Regional Services • Public Transport • Roads • The environment • Private Schools • Private Hospitals

• 62% of South Australians believe that the level of resourcing for the public school system is too low and that they were concerned about the level of resources in their local public schools.

to the costs of implementing the Gonski recommendations.

• 76% of South Australians are opposed to a two-year delay in acting on the recommendations of the Gonski Review, such as that foreshadowed by the Coalition and Opposition Education Spokesperson Christopher Pyne.

• 46% of swinging voters say they would be more likely to vote for a party which increases funding for public schools.

• Greater autonomy for principals to run schools the way they want to was considered to be a low priority

Given the high level of interest in education and funding, there is a very real opportunity for the major political parties to take the lead in the Gonski debate. In particular, Premier Jay Weatherill and his Cabinet need to understand that not only is this issue important to those of us working in education but it is important to families and communities right across South Australia.

• More than 4 out of 5 people believe it is important for the state and federal government to increase the level of resourcing in the public school system.

For education to be “life itself”, our schools must have the resources to address disadvantage and our students must have the learning opportunities to achieve their full potential.

• Respondents who had heard about the Gonski Review said the lack of adequate funding for public schools was concerning.

The main concerns identified were that gaps in student achievement are growing, students from disadvantaged areas can be three years behind others in literacy, and schools across the country are not getting enough funding to ensure every child is getting a high quality education.

There is currently a vacuum in political commentary about Gonski in South Australia and our members are calling on the Premier to step up and give a commitment on behalf of the state. If you use facebook or twitter, please let the Premier know we need him to get on with Gonski. You can send an email to him via the I give a Gonski website (see website link below).

One small action could be worth a significant share of $6.5 billion for our n students and your school.

• 81% of South Australians believe the state government should contribute

In solidarity, Correna Haythorpe

• When asked to indicate which changes to Australian public schools were important, smaller class sizes and more individual attention for students were the most important changes South Australians want to see.

8: www.igiveagonski.com.au/get-on-with-it 5

New Educators

Beginning teachers say let’s get on with Gonski Beginning teachers from around the state had plenty to say about the need for a new schools funding model at the recent New Educators State Conference.

Linda Brown Hincks Avenue PS The Gonski reforms are vital to all our schools.

It’s important that all kids get the same opportunities to reach their potential. We have a high number of Indigenous children and children with special needs, so for them to get lots of extra support it will mean they don’t miss out. Extra resources will allow us to work one-onone with more kids and provide much needed SSO support.

Liam Fetherstonhaugh Port Augusta Secondary School Our school is definitely one of the places extra funding is most needed. We have very low literacy levels and a lot of Aboriginal students who require a lot of 6

support. Our current students are our future and I believe they are the primary area for investment – take care of them before you take care of anything else and our future will be better. I also think we need to make teaching a more attractive job; it isn’t valued as it should be.

Cynthia Wang Gladstone HS We need more funding so we can have smaller class sizes. We also need more money so we can purchase resources.

Some of our text books need updating but the school struggles to afford this extra cost. I teach Maths and Science and practical classes in Sci-

ence need to be reduced, not just for educational reasons but also safety; if we have more support we can make sure students are safe.

Leanne Wheaton TRT The thing I’ve noticed most is the inequity across schools. I’ve got children of my own in a ‘leafy green’ public school and we’re lucky, I think all their needs are met. But there are many children I’ve come across in not so well off areas who I would expect would have access to the same sorts of learning opportunities as my kids and I see that they don’t have those opportunities. Due to a lack of resources and a lack of specialist teachers in those schools to provide literacy support, kids with special needs that need more oneon-one teaching time are missing out.

Richanda Tiley Compton PS Gonski will help provide equality in education in public schools and reduce continued over page 3

Leaders’ Focus 7 Members show support for Gonski at the

recent New Educators Conference by sending a campaign postcard to Premier Weatherill.

class size numbers and help support students with learning difficulties – not just those who are on Negotiated Education Plans but also those that don’t quite qualify but also need some extra SSO or teacher support. There are a lot of unemployed and contract teachers around the place so to have more permanent teaching positions and smaller class sizes will provide more consistency in schools.

James Paterson Mulga Street PS More funding would be good across the system because I think as teachers these days we feel poor and I think with some extra funding from the Gonski Review it could make a big difference to students’ lives. The money could be directed to all sorts of different learning opportunities and programs for kids with special needs. There would be a lot of benefits to come from extra funding.

Amy Grant Risdon Park PS I really think that with smaller class sizes I’d be able to give more attention to the students in my class. I’ve had a day when a few students were away at a sporting event and with five less students the classroom was more orderly; I could work with each student individually and all of them felt they had more attention from me and gained a better understanding of the work we’d covered that day. n

Tell Premier Weatherill it’s time SA got on board with Gonski:

www.igiveagonski.com.au/ get-on-with-it

AEU Leadership Development program a success Two former principals support AEU leader members

L

ast year in school terms 2 and 3, the AEU in collaboration with DECD ran an extremely successful program for school leadership teams.

The purpose of the program was to support leadership teams in developing their understandings about successful leadership and the characteristics and practices of such leaders.

One intention was that the program learning outcomes would be the subject of ongoing collaborative application at the school level. The second intention was to assist leaders with the opportunity to “lift their eyes above the daily grind” and to link these broader understandings with their daily practice.

The expectation was that the participating leadership teams would commit to attend two sessions each of 3 hours duration as well as actively reflect on the content of the sessions between each session.

Nine sites (and 61 individual leaders) attended the two sessions which were led by David Tonkin (formerly Principal at Seaton High School) together with Garry Costello (DECD Head of Schools and a former Principal at Mount Gambier High School).

Garry and David built the sessions around input of ideas, reflections and acquired knowledge through public conversations. Participants then reflected on and discussed the input, constructed their understandings according to their own situations, discussed these with colleagues from other schools and then drafted tentative conclusions.

These tentative conclusions were taken back and tested in their respective schools between the two sessions.

At the second session, the leadership teams reflected on their experiences and new ideas generated. They received further structured input and further refined their conclusions for testing at

1 From left: Garry Costello and David Tonkin

their school after the second session.

Key organising questions of the program were: • What do you want your school to be?

• What is school culture?

• How do we build a positive learning culture?

• What leadership is required to build a successful school culture?

• What are the characteristics of a successful leader?

• What are the characteristics of successful school leaders?

Two further Leadership Development Programs are being held this year.

The first is in the metro on 3 April and 21 August. The second is in Port Augusta on 22 November and 23 November at the Arid Lands Botanic n Gardens.

For further information about registration for both these programs please email Ken Drury | Organiser Leaders Focus on:

8: ken.drury@aeusa.asn.au 7

Running Head International 7 Members of Downhills PS school community in Tottenham protest its forced academisation.

‘Academies and Lies’ AEU SA President Correna Haythorpe says we should be concerned about what’s taking place in the UK.

G

oogle “Downhills Primary School” in Haringey, Tottenham, London, and you will be sent to a website for Harris Primary Academy.

There you will find the following welcome message: “Harris Primary Academy Philip Lane opened in September 2012. If you visit, you will find a happy, caring and supportive school that is raising standards and expectations.

You will find lively, enthusiastic children who are immersed in the fun and joy of learning. And you will find a vibrant community in which children with many different faiths and backgrounds respect and constantly learn from each other.”

This may all be true, however what you won’t find on the website is Downhills Primary School – shut and reopened as an Academy; the Principal – sacked; the Governing Council – sacked.

Downhills Primary School was a typi8

“...there is no requirement to comply with national industrial conditions or curriculum in these academies.” cal inner London School with a very diverse and multicultural student body and a passionate parent community.

70% of students were taught English as a second language and 43 other languages made up the school community.

In 2012, the UK government began forcing some schools that had been graded satisfactory by OFSTED into

becoming academies. OFSTED is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. They inspect and regulate schools and report directly to Parliament. Downhills PS had just received a satisfactory assessment but was subsequently informed they would taken out of local authority control and turned into a Harris Academy. The Head Teacher and governing body opposed this move and were subsequently removed and replaced with a government appointed board, despite strong opposition from parents and the community. The government then required OFSTED to do a re-inspection. It came as no surprise to the school community that the next inspection deemed them a “failing school” and as such, opened the door to Harris Academies.

The parents and local community embarked on an intensive campaign to stop the Academy conversion, and when I was in the UK recently, I was able to attend the opening night of a documentary which followed their fight from school to the High Court.

Academies and Lies: The Parents, the Politician and the Carpetbagger tells a powerful story of a passionate community standing up for their school, their teachers and their children. It challenges the claims by the Department of Education that academies outperform nonacademies and it reveals the pressure that is put on local councils to sign up schools to become academies.

The Politician in the story is Secretary of State Michael Gove, who now has the power to force a school to convert to an academy. Academies are state funded independent schools and number over 2000 in England thanks to a fast track program implemented by the Coalition Government since 2010.

Gove has also declared that if the Tory continued over page 3

For further information on this topic go to:

8: www.academiesandlies.org.uk

Vice President’s Report

Are we there yet?

AEU Vice President David Smith laments the re-emergence of conservatism “...these schools can now be run ‘for profit’, which further advances the privatisation of public education in England.”

government is re-elected, he wants all schools to be academies. Also, due to the cost of the Academy programme, these schools can now be run “for profit”, which further advances the privatisation of public education in England.

The Carpetbagger is Lord Harris of Peckham, owner of the Carpetright chain of 500 stores in the UK and Europe. He has been a major donor to the election campaign of Prime Minister David Cameron, and is a conservative party (Tory) Member of the House of Lords. The Harris Federation, which runs the Academies, had an annual turnover of 130 million pounds in 2010. One company director took home 243,000 pounds that year, which is almost twice that earned by the British PM. This raises serious questions about how a registered “charity” can make this sort of money out of state funded independent schools. Of interest is that there is no requirement to comply with national industrial conditions or even curriculum in these academies.

The sad news is that the parents lost their fight and Downhills is now Harris Primary Academy. However, as one parent said, “We have to fight every conversion because even if we can’t save our school we may save other schools from being converted.”

If you are concerned about Independent Public Schools, devolution and system restructures, I encourage you to watch the documentary Academies and Lies; I think it’s the best warning South Australians could have about the agenda for the privatisation of public education.

It’s being driven hard in the UK and may n yet find its way to our shores.

From the 1940s to mid 60s Australian education lived in a secure cocoon.

By and large the curriculum was limited and predictable, classes were strictly streamed, students and teachers behaved and looked like compliant conservatives, corporal punishment was universal, and most students left school at the age of 14. In short, there was a sense of control. There were paradoxical exceptions, of course, but the norm was the norm.

Much changed from the end of the 1960s. Many of society’s values were challenged and those challenges were taken into our schools. The impact of Hair, Oh Calcutta, the Paris student / worker protests, Moratorium marches, free love, Women’s Lib and associated phenomena, was wide and deep. It gave rise, among other things to the liberation and democratisation of decisionmaking in many of our social structures, including schools and education systems.

It was an exciting time and a number of the achievements are with us yet.

Noble industrial legacies of those days are many of the hard-won rights of education workers, especially in South Australia. The Industrial Relations Commission of SA continues to be the arena in which those rights are refined. Recent magnificent examples are the landmark 2010 Award in which face-to-face teaching and NIT were defined and guaranteed. Another is the continued refinement of the Personnel Advisory Committee which gives rightful credit to the judgement, experience and educational knowledge of a range of staff members.

The 70s and 80s also brought free university courses and a larger number of flamboyant and inventive characters into teaching ranks. It was now acceptable to be so, and those people were often genuinely innovative and exciting educators. They didn’t, as I recall, abandon the curriculum, but had much autonomy in interpreting it. Curriculum negotiation, along with assessment and reporting, reached a point where some

schools put their own distinctive stamp on the processes, including for a time in some secondary schools, doing away with the constraint of grades. Instead, those teachers and students had individual programmes with detailed descriptive reports. It was also (dare we mention?) fun and engaging.

It may have been the extremity of a pendulum swing, but it still produced literate, numerate members of society who also asked the hard questions of their teachers and governments. That’s how a society progresses. But the trend was short-lived.

Now we are creeping, possibly even hurtling, the other way. Conservative Australian politicians are eagerly embracing the concept of independent public schools which have been shown elsewhere not to be the answer to any of the big educational questions. Nevertheless, it has become the mantra in many parts of the globe. England, USA, New Zealand and some Australian States are rushing in that direction, despite mounting evidence that the promised improvements in student results are without foundation. Conservative political movements, along with plenty of businesses eager to turn a profit from investing in education, are pushing that barrow hard. And in their worst manifestations the very curriculum, freed from some pesky district, state or national standards, can be fashioned by the new school owners. At the same time that mis-named independence often leads to a proliferation of gratuitous anti-union phrases. That is no doubt connected to the fact that in many jurisdictions such schools are not compelled to employ trained teachers to run their courses.

I recall the outrage when in the 1970s a teacher was sent home to change clothes because, despite wearing the accustomed slacks, sports coat and tie, his shirt was not white but mustard. It’s a petty example, perhaps, but is symbolic of the attitude of the time. If that were to happen today, what would be the reaction? n 9

TAFE Focus

Organised, Active and Strong English Language Services members at the Adelaide Campus (Renaissance Centre) are winning through local action.

Recently, the AEU Journal attended a sub-branch meeting at English Language Services (ELS) Adelaide Renaissance Centre campus. With the massive reforms taking place in TAFE and stories of low morale and disillusionment filtering through on a regular basis, it would be understandable if the mood in the room was less than vibrant. What we encountered gave cause for great optimism.

The ELS sub-branch (pictured above) is a proactive, organised group that has been actively campaigning in a number of areas with much success. Two issues that have recently been a focus for the 10

sub-branch are staff ratios and conditions for Hourly Paid Instuctors (HPIs).

Through ongoing negotiations at the local level, ELS union reps have been able to secure the agreement of local management to a specific ratio of permanent, contract and HPI teachers and counsellors. They now have agreement that the employment ratio at the worksite should be 60% permanent, 20% contract and 20% HPI, maintaining current ratios. Previously management have tried to reduce the percentage of permanent employees in favour of a more “flexible” staffing profile.

Also, through local consultation with management, the sub-branch’s face-toface teaching time has remained at 20 hours per week, which enables staff the required number of hours to complete their necessary non-teaching duties.

On HPI pay and hours, the sub-branch has shown exemplary solidarity with the most vulnerable members of staff – they have negotiated successfully with local management to ensure all HPIs are able

to earn a living wage; will be paid for compulsory meetings and professional development; and paid a meeting rate based on their normal hourly rate – management had tried to cut their meeting pay to a much lower rate.

TAFE

W

as there ever a time when more was happening in TAFE? While there have been a multitude of reforms over the years, the last couple of years have seen it all. With campus closures, job cuts, restructures and free market reforms taking place as we speak, TAFE members have more than enough reasons to be united and organised.

While these may seem like small wins in the bigger scheme of things, it’s local action like this that can make all the difference. Sub-branch Secretary John Wishart (pictured back row 3rd from left) explains how the group has managed to get runs on the board.

“We’ve improved our membership by 38 percent over the last two years and we’re reasonably well organised. Simple things like calling a meeting when there’s an issue, consulting with members, setting up a workplace reps committee to support the Sub-branch Secretary, having regular local bulletins going out to members, encouraging members to take some initiative themselves in the workplace rather than thinking the union office can do it all – it all makes a big difference,” he says. n

Running Tafe opinion Head

TA FE SA

Report calls for increased VET funding

When stronger means less

With thousands of TAFE workers losing their jobs and campuses closing, AEU Federal TAFE Secretary Pat Forward says the government must act.

The Australian Workforce Productivity Agency (AWPA), the Federal Government’s VET advisory body, has joined the chorus of criticism regarding cuts to Australia’s TAFE system. In its recently released report, Future Focus – 2013 National Workforce Development Strategy, AWPA calls on the Federal Government to increase funding to the VET sector, saying that while recurrent funding since 2009 has increased 31 per cent for public primary schools and 20 per cent for secondary schools, it’s fallen 25 per cent for vocational education and training.

The AWPA Report should focus government attention on what was a grim year for the TAFE system in 2012. It underlines the damage being done to decades of investment in public vocational education by belligerent state governments. More than two thousand TAFE workers have lost their jobs in Victoria, and many hundreds more face the bleak prospect of unemployment in Queensland, NSW and South Australia. On February 28, TAFE SA acting chief executive, David Royle, announced that 150 jobs would go from SA TAFE as it “begins a restructure to compete with the private sector for government funds.”

Employers have joined the chorus of dissent, lamenting the impact of cuts to TAFE budgets, and the resultant course cuts and campus closures. On March 5, National Australia Bank chairman Michael Chaney said “We’ve got one of the best training systems in the world through the TAFE system.” And yet, this is what is currently under threat as a result of government budget cuts.

Small regional and rural communities across the country face the prospect of losing their TAFE campus, large metro-

“The Australian community has not sanctioned the wholesale closure of TAFE campuses.” politan TAFEs are shutting courses which have served industry and the community well as they face severe budget cuts.

The Federal Government is withholding National Partnership funding to Queensland, Victoria and NSW as a result of the cuts to TAFE budgets in those states. What will the Federal Minister will make of the recent TAFE SA announcement of significant job losses and budget cuts stemming from the implementation of Skills for All? Will the Federal Government be reviewing its approach to South Australia?

The Australian VET system is being debased by fly-by-night, for profit, private providers. They have trashed the vocational education brand, creating uncertainty amongst students and employers and undermining confidence in vocational qualifications and standards. No government can guarantee the quality of vocational education that a student will receive at any of the 5,000 private RTOs currently accessing public funding to deliver national accredited training across the country.

The Australian community has not sanctioned the wholesale closure of TAFE campuses. Our TAFE system is a phenomenon of which most nations would be justifiably proud. The AEU will be campaigning hard in this crucial election year to stop the cuts to TAFE budgets, and to defend the public TAFE system. The Federal Government must heed the calls of the Australian community, and hold an inquiry into the future of TAFE. n

T

he announcement of the “Stronger As One” reform by TAFE Board Chair Peter Vaughan and TAFE SA Acting Chief Executive Officer David Royle on February 27 came as no surprise to TAFE staff.

Rumours had been abuzz throughout TAFE networks since the formation of TAFE as a Statutory Authority in November 2012. In fact, many staff questioned why TAFE didn’t originally merge into one instead of three institutes. Many members would agree this is a logical move, although staff, students, industry and communities will watch the impact on regional campuses closely.

In his presentation to staff, Mr Vaughan went to great lengths to explain the business credentials of his board, highlighting that TAFE is now a statutory body competing for funds against another 300 registered providers. He reinforced the need of supplying a service to clients and the requirement to be profit motivated. Apparently staff must embrace these changes.

Unfortunately the “Stronger As One” model loses sight of TAFE’s core role – public education and training. The focus should be on the resources needed to deliver a range of high quality learner focussed programs not on how to make profits.

To ensure “profitability”, Mr Vaughan announced that 150 jobs would need to go. This is in addition to those already lost since the announcement of Skills for All. Worryingly, it’s already sounding like a race to the bottom in order to compete with private RTOs. A reduction in administration staff as proposed can only result in more work for lecturers who are already struggling with excessive workload.

The development of standardised teaching resources across TAFE SA, one of the supposed major benefits of the new structure, will reduce the ability of lecturers to be innovative and creative in delivery to a range of individual learners. n Tony Sutherland Organiser, TAFE Focus 11

Teacher Quality

1 33 years experience: classroom teacher Cathy Linke reads to students at Burnside Primary School

Why they are never satisfied with teachers Catherine Lomas Scott and Stephen Dinham argue that gender stereotypes play a major role in the devaluing of teachers.

C

oncern about teacher competence has been around for several decades. Recently, there has been a concerted push by state and federal governments to enact policies to improve “teacher quality”. Last year, state and federal education ministers agreed that all teachers will have to undergo annual performance reviews.

Others have suggested teacher education is the area needing most improvement, and lifting university entrance scores or establishing other barriers to 12

“That women do teaching makes it immediately prey to suspicions that the work is low level” a teaching degree is the answer.

“Teacher quality”, the favoured term in all of this talk, represents a push to create not just competent teachers but great teachers – defined variously as those who are highly qualified, highly

effective or highly accomplished.

Interestingly though, other professions do not find themselves similarly pressed for greatness. You can see this easily when you search on the internet for “improving teacher quality” (it gets around 3,180 results). While there are barely any results for “improving doctor quality”, “improving plumber quality” or “improving lawyer quality”.

And yet many see outstanding teaching practice as a vital policy area.

Indeed so strident are the claims that teaching must not just be competent but superlative that it can be difficult to step back and ask why the profession is regarded as “broken” in the first place.

And, further, why “good” is just not good enough when it comes to teaching.

The hidden issue of gender While those who say the teaching profession needs to be fixed claim a variety of supporting evidence for action, continued over page 3

Teacher Quality there is one important factor that does not make it into public debates – the influence of gender stereotypes.

The assumption is often that men are regarded as more competent than women.

When we judge women’s performance, the expected standard is lower than that expected of men. Women are not judged as equal in competence to men unless their performance is exceptional and well above the male norm.

These shifting standards apply not only to women when compared to men but to any stigmatised group compared to a group regarded as more competent.

Research has proven this empirically.

And when women are seen as not competent when compared to men, jobs which are dominated by women are seen as requiring less skill than “male jobs”. Work that is performed mainly by women is then regarded as low skill and is accordingly undervalued and underpaid.

To most, a skilled trade is being a plumber or electrician, but not a hairdresser.

Not only are women’s jobs undervalued, but they are given less status in society and so are more often the subjects of complaints.

Teaching stereotypes Teaching is a highly feminised profession and becoming more so. That women do teaching makes it immediately prey to suspicions that the work is low level – on a par with perceptions of childcare – and probably not being performed well. That entry into teaching requires a university education does not prove that practitioners are competent.

Even opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne has publicly described a teaching degree as an “easy option”.

After all, we “go easy on ladies” and probably let them through even though they have not done very well; that, or the courses are not very taxing or high level.

Obsession with teacher inquiries Unease that degrees graduating large numbers of women must be, by their nature, not up to scratch is manifested by the sheer number of inquiries there have been into teacher education programs.

In Australia there has been, on aver-

“Only teachers are stigmatised for failing to achieve superhuman feats of professional performance.” age, one major state or national inquiry into teacher education every year for the past 30 years. No other program of professional preparation has been thought to warrant such scrutiny.

Looked at dispassionately, these concerns look to be irrational. These low level degrees, so the thinking goes, carries on to the next stage, where we expect the average level of teaching is bound to be insufficient. What is good enough when done by a woman is, well, really just not good enough.

Super teachers In this context, merely being suspected of incompetence is sufficient proof that women and teachers are incompetent. So in order for teachers to prove themselves the equal of other professionals they can’t just be proficient, they need to be atypical superstars.

Members of other professions – dominated by men – are expected to be able to do their jobs. Because of this expectation the level of evidence required to prove incompetence is very high (the reverse of the situation for women, where lack of evidence of exceptional performance equates to proof of incompetence).

Because there is little to suggest that most professionals are unable to fulfil their duties they are not repeatedly accused of incapacity. In addition, the relevant programs of professional preparation are not subject to repeated rounds of inquiry.

Some students don’t do well at school, lawyers lose cases, doctors treat patients who fail to recover or even die, psychiatrists work with distressed people who may not recover their mental health.

Only teachers are stigmatised for failing to achieve superhuman feats of professional performance.

What about other female professions?

The case of nursing may be seen to test the theory that gender beliefs under-

pin attitudes towards teaching. Nursing is even more feminised than teaching but there have been no recurrent panics about the quality of nursing or nurse education.

But nurses are safely nestled into a hierarchy controlled by (mostly) male doctors. That they are under the supervision of men renders their supposed lack of competence less of a threat.

Teachers, in comparison, work in classrooms away from scrutiny and overt supervision. It is instructive that “remedies” for the “poor standard” of teaching frequently involve increasing formal performance management, as had been agreed to under the new system of performance reviews.

Advocates call for more supervision and oversight of teaching practice, usually by (presumably male) principals, which includes direct observation of teaching. Frequently included in the remedy is insistence that principals should be able to hire and fire, with this exercise of power presumably guaranteeing better performance.

Thus safely under the supervision of (male) principals teachers’ innate womanish incompetence can be contained and controlled.

A strange fixation If an individual is obsessed with an idea for which there is dubious or no evidence along with compulsive repetition, many would diagnose a disturbed mind.

Our societal obsession with the inadequacy of the teaching force and the repetitive nature of the remedies proposed to fix this unproven deficit are accepted as right and necessary, however.

If our argument is correct, obsessions with teacher quality will continue until the gender stereotypes are acknowledged and we discuss fully the groundless belief that teachers are incompetent. n This piece was co-authored by Catherine Lomas Scott and Stephen Dinham.

Catherine Lomas Scott is a freelance researcher and writer.

Stephen Dinham is Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne.

First published at The Conversation – www.theconversation.edu.au 13

Enterprise Agreement Austral ian

sub-branch actions to assist members in making the most of the new Award.

Educatio SA SCH n Union | SA Bran OOL AN ch D PRES STAFF CHOOL ENTER EDUCA PRISE A TION GREEM ENT 20 FACT S 12 HEE

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EB2012

Make the Award work for you

Members must be strong and united to capitalise on hard-fought wins

“T

he union is only as strong as its members,” is a refrain heard so often it has become cliché.

However, it holds just as true now as it did when the first trade unions appeared in Australia back in the 1830s. In those harsh pioneering years it was solidarity and local activism that built the union movement from the ground up. Success didn’t come easy and required a high level of discipline and commitment from workers who were subjected to 60-hour weeks in often punishing conditions.

We have a lot to thank our predecessors for, not the least the lessons we’ve learned about what it takes to achieve success. Thanks to strong member commitment, the AEU has had a number of successes in recent years, in particular, the massive campaign that resulted in the 2010 Arbitrated Award. That was a long and hard-fought campaign in which members stuck together and took action, 14

finally resulting in a favourable decision in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Thankfully, a vastly improved government approach, along with efficient and savvy negotiating from the AEU team meant our 2012 EB process was wrapped up in less than half the time. While members were, in the main, spared the inconvenience of a protracted dispute, the outcome still produced a number of excellent wins on both salaries and conditions.

So, how do we turn these victories into workplace strength? After all, there’s no point winning a campaign if we don’t make it count in our worksites. The AEU sub-branch is the most significant cog in the wheel, that’s why we’ve started producing a range of fact sheets and

The fact sheets are being made available to AEU members via the EB2012 section of our website and cover topics such as: • Class size • Workload • Non-Instruction Time • Face-to-face teaching • New leadership structure • Permanency after five years in leadership • Contact and non-contact time • Meetings • Students with special needs • Permanency • Provision of meal breaks • Locality allowances/allowances • Other duties • SSO support hours • New contract of employment definitions for ECWs • Overtime and time bank for ECWs • ECW, SSO and AEW additional criteria based increment The fact sheets are the result of a recent member survey on important EA issues and spell out member rights in the workplace. But more importantly they list actions that AEU sub-branches must take if our wins in the Commission are to translate in the workplace. There are no short cuts. It’s up to AEU members to educate themselves about their rights and then act to ensure they materialise.

In the Personnel Advisory Committee (PAC), members have a body that operates democratically, in partnership with the Principal, and must consult with all staff about school-based decisions. The PAC will be less effective if members don’t press for their rights to be upheld.

We urge all members to read the fact sheets carefully and to take the actions described.

You may have heard it somewhere before – “the union is only as n strong as its members”.

EA Fact sheets and more on Enterprise Bargaining are at:

8: www.aeusa.asn.au>Issues>EB2012

Running HeadPublic Schools Independent

Will the GERM spread to SA? With QLD rolling out independent public schools and Labor governments toppling around the nation, we need to be on guard.

A

March 2013 Issues Paper prepared for Independent Schools Queensland contains the most radical proposals yet seen in this country for the complete privatisation of government schooling.

The paper, authored by Prof. Scott Prasser of the Australian Catholic University, represents an audacious grab for public education funds on the part of private schools.

It is tempting to dismiss the paper as irrelevant to South Australia, but it comes in the wake of Queensland’s change of government and may be an indicator of things to come under an Abbott-led government federally, or with someone like David Pisoni elevated to a position in charge of schools in South Australia.

Prasser’s ideas reflect a right-wing fringe viewpoint in the Australian context, yet they are becoming quite mainstream in countries like England and Sweden which have embraced GERM – the global education reform movement.

British Secretary of State Michael Gove not only wants all public schools to have Academy status, he wants Academy schools and Swedish-style “free schools” to be run as for-profit businesses. Parents would choose their child’s school. The Times Educational Supplement has described Gove’s plans as “controversial” and accused him of attempting to push them through at “breakneck speed”.

Sweden has led the way with for-profit schooling. There are a number of chains which are now spreading to the US, the UK and elsewhere such as the bare bones Kunskappskolen which media mogul Rupert Murdoch praised as an example of “IKEA schools”.

Prasser praises the Swedish and Danish experiments with autonomous for-profit schools, remarking that “Old nostrums like public monopolies of education are in retreat even in once big spending Nordic states…”

However, he is on shaky ground when he tries to justify such schools on the

“Public schools… would compete for government funds in the market place through a competitive tendering process, alongside private providers.” basis of improved quality of education.

He states that there is “a wealth of research… to show the benefits of choice to school effectiveness and achievement”. However, he is forced to admit that such benefits are limited to “the individuals exercising choice and the schools of choice”.

This actually confirms the evidence, acknowledged by the OECD, that school choice promotes inequity. The abstract from a key 2012 OECD report on school choice reads: “In the last 25 years, more than two-thirds of OECD countries have increased school choice opportunities for parents. The empirical evidence reviewed here reveals that providing full parental school choice results in further student segregation between schools, by ability, socio- economic and ethnic background, and in greater ineq-

uities across education systems.”

Prasser’s paper is not just about promotion of school choice and local school autonomy. He wants public education dismantled. His extreme prescription for Queensland is that the education department “divest itself of its service delivery provider components (schools)”…yes, that’s really what he called them!

“This is relatively easy to do – it means extending the current independent school model to all public schools within a specified timeframe and funded on the basis of enrolments and performance… ’privatisation’ of schools in terms of their operations while remaining under government ownership”.

Public schools, like TAFE institutions, would compete for government funds in the market place through a competitive tendering process, alongside private providers.

Tweety may not have been a miner’s canary, but he was very good at spotting puddy tats.

Prasser’s paper is a warning to all supporters of public education of possible future battles that will have to be fought. n Mike Williss | AEU Research Officer 15

SSO: FAQs

Secure Jobs

Union win: improvements to casual loadings Hourly Paid Instructors and Swimming and Aquatics Instructors see increase in pay

SSO: did you know?

Special Leave As a result of AEU negotiations, SSOs in receipt of the 16% loading are now eligible for up to 15 days of special leave (pro rata), up from the previous entitlement of three days.

Special Leave enables employees to meet individual needs and responsibilities that can’t be attended to outside of working hours. It is defined as any type of leave to which other leave categories do not apply. VL 197 is the form used to lodge an application.

Replacement of SSOs on leave or absent from duty SSOs are not normally replaced for short periods of absence. However, in the past some support has been provided through DECD Human Resources for schools where there has been an SSO on extended leave.

Schools can put in a request for supplementation to the DECD Superintendent, Site Human Resources. Requests for supplementation are considered for: • SSOs working in special schools or special classes providing child support in the classroom where student duty of care is essential • Finance Officers in schools for their finance component • Groundspersons for waste management, grass mowing • Laboratory Assistants where OHS&W concerns must be met • Community Library Assistants.

Where an SSO is on Long Service Leave, replacement should be sought. A separate budget exists for the payment of Long Service Leave and the SSO salary remains with the school to finance their replacement. n

T

he AEU joined with SA Unions in a case before the Industrial Relations Commission to increase the loadings of casual teachers and instructors from 20% to 25% in order to ensure SA teachers and instructors working conditions were in line with national standards and to reflect the decision of the Casual Loadings Case 2010.

This action was part of the Union movement’s long-term campaign to improve the working conditions of the many workers employed on a casual basis, with our ultimate goal to increase the security of work. Through united action South Australian unions have been able to achieve improvements to the general conditions of workers in this state. This is having flow on effects to casual teachers and instructors in public education sites.

HPIs and SAIs In the decision, the Commission determined that an increase to the Hourly Paid Instructor (HPI) and Swimming and Aquatics Instructor (SAI) rates was warranted as they were not satisfied that the current rates recognise the disadvantages and lost benefits attached to this form of employment.

It was determined that there was currently a nominal 20% loading incorporated in their hourly rate and that this loading should be increased to 25%.

The 25% will be phased in.

It was also acknowledged that many instructors were required to have a significant number of qualifications and skills and that there was a degree of unpaid work. Unfortunately, while recognised, this was not within the scope of the arbitration, which focused on ensuring a 25% loading.

TRTs This was always going to be a hard argument for the union to run as Temporary Relief Teachers (TRTs) have had

a 25% loading since 1974. The reason for this loading has been lost in the mists of time. The AEU’s view was that the loading was being discounted by the complex formula that was used to apply it and it was not a true 25% loading.

Our concern was that the daily rate of a TRT was less than that of a Temporary Contract Teacher. This is because the formula used to calculate the contract teacher daily rate of pay is based on 207 duty days rather than 52 weeks.

The formula results in a Step 1 TRT being paid $277.40 per day, a permanent Step 1 teacher being paid $221.95 per day and a contract teacher being paid $283.29 per day.

The Industrial Commission was not in agreement with us on this matter and determined that there already was a 25% loading that met the standard.

The Commission did state: “It may be that the casual loading for relief teachers does not reflect the disadvantages they suffer relative to permanent teachers” but determining this matter and a loading in excess of 25% was outside the scope of the arbitration. n

Belling the cat on teacher job security

S

ecurity in work is something most of us take for granted. But an evergrowing number of our colleagues face job insecurity as DECD fails to act on the growing levels of casual and contract employment in schools.

A case in point is the permanency target in the recruitment and selection continued over page 3

[Source: DECD HR Update No 2 Supplementary Resources of SSO Absences]

See EA Fact sheet “Permanency” for more information at:

16

8: www.aeusa.asn.au>Issues>EB2012

President’s View

Teacher Registration Renewal Union Training

Anna Stewart New requirements Memorial for teacher registration Project 2008

policy which has not been met. The modest target of 87%, if achieved, wouldn’t even have returned us to the permanency levels of the early 2000s.

The cruel reality is that despite promises and assurances, permanency for teachers still languishes at 81.5%.

The figures indicate that a number of ongoing vacancies are being described as temporary, breaching both the policy and the spirit of the recruitment and selection policy.

The permanency figures quoted do not include TRT (Temporary Relief Teacher) and HPI (Hourly Paid Instructor) employment, which means that in reality the level of precarious employment could be worse.

For instance, after the introduction of the Arbitrated Award some schools employed TRTs to provide Non-Instruction Time (NIT) days rather than employing a NIT teacher. This increase in casual employment would not be captured in the figures.

It has also been observed that Hourly Paid Instructors have been employed to undertake teachers’ work. An example of this can be seen in instrumental music where qualified and registered teachers are being replaced with unregistered instructors. Just take a look at the number of music providers there are delivering lessons in schools.

While some work is better than none, for the majority who work under these conditions, casual and temporary contract employment, leads to financial and emotional stress.

As a union we have to: 1. Strive to improve the quality of casual and temporary workers conditions so that they are not disadvantaged.

2. Campaign to increase the levels of permanent employment.

AEU sub-branches in schools can take a proactive role in addressing this problem by questioning why positions in their school are temporary and taking a strong stand when they have been incorrectly described. n

AEU Vice President Jan Murphy writes about changes to registration requirements in SA

T

Body Copy eacher registration will continue to be state based and will not be identical across Australia but the processes and requirements will become more consistent. The TRB website: www.trb.sa.edu.au contains detailed information on the changes.

A new Professional Learning requirement applies to teachers holding full and provisional registration and has caused some concern among members.

According to the TRB website: ‘Professional Learning means completion of a minimum of 60 hours of Professional Learning undertaken within the current term of registration and referenced directly to the National Professional Standards for Teachers.’

The 60-hour requirement applies to all teachers whether full time, part time or TRT and is being introduced progressively in three-year registration cycles.

The TRB website has a timeline detailing when you will need to meet the new requirements as this will depend on when your renewal is due.* The TRB website gives many examples of what is considered ‘Professional Learning’ including research, networking, mentoring, online learning, attendance at conferences and workshops including those conducted on student free days and at staff meetings. It also includes training that is required by DECD, such as Reporting Abuse and Neglect training.

Members will be pleased to know that Professional Learning can include ‘active participation in professional learning opportunities offered by or as a member of education unions’. All training and Professional Development that is provided by the AEU will now be referenced to the National Professional Standards.

This reference will be included when the PD is advertised on the AEU website and also on certificates issued.

Body Copy Once the changes apply, upon application for renewal of your registration you will need to sign a declaration stating that you have completed the Professional Learning requirement. You do not have to provide evidence at this stage but you will need to keep documentation as a sample of applicants will be audited.

The TRB website has a simple ‘Summary Record’ template that can be saved onto your computer and used to keep a record of Professional Learning activities.

If your application is audited, in the first instance this completed document is all you will need to provide to the TRB. Of those applicants audited, a further sample will also be asked to provide copies of the actual evidence listed on their records - the certificates, conference notes, journals etc.

The TRB website lists many examples of the types of evidence you can keep. These need only be brief and the intention is that this will not increase your workload, the conference notes or certificate you would keep anyway will be sufficient.

It is your responsibility to collect the evidence and collate these records.

They are for your own personal use and the TRB, if you are requested to produce them. n

*The timeline can be found at:

www.trb.sa.edu.au>Professional Learning for Renewal of Registration 17

Women’s Focus Public Education Week

8

Email Tish Champion on Bargaining : tchampion@aeusa.asn.au Update: Enterprise 2008

Heading-2 March Against Misogyny Body Copy

Intro AEU Women’s Officer Tish Champion reports on the International Women’s Day march in Adelaide this year.

W

hen we hear the term ‘Misogyny’ many Australians instantly think “Tony Abbott” because of the media that surrounded him over alleged misogynist comments. Whether Tony is or isn’t a misogynist is not really relevant to this year’s IWD theme. It isn’t all about you Tony!!

By definition, misogyny is the hatred or dislike of women or girls and can be manifested in numerous ways, including sexual discrimination, denigration of women, violence against women, and 18

Photos: Jo Frost

sexual objectification of women. Did you know, the antonym of misogyny is philogyny which is the love or fondness of women?

No matter where you go in the world, you will find examples of misogynist behaviour towards women – some countries obviously have worse reputations when it comes to the valuing and respect of women than others but all levels of misogyny are unacceptable.

International Women’s Day 2013 along with other recent collective actions (e.g. One Billion Rising) is a fantastic

Check out our Women’s Focus online

opportunity for philogynists to speak out, up and against any form of discrimination against women. This year over 2000 people attended the UN Women’s breakfast at the Convention Centre and several hundred attended the very successful IWD march in the city. The AEU supported both of these events with a table at the breakfast and a contingent at the march.

The ill treatment or discrimination of others is everyone’s business. If we don’t take a stand against misogyny we can’t make a difference. n

8: www.aeusa.asn.au/interest_women.html

Upcoming Project

Anna Stewart Memorial Project (ASMP)

1 From left: AEU Vice President David Smith, Women’s Studies Teacher Sharon Morrison and 2013 Jean Pavy award recipient Natalie Lewis

Jean Pavy Awards 2013 2012 was the 17th year that the AEU has honoured all public school students who received a merit in Women’s Studies 2 in year 12. This tradition began as a way to honour past female unionist and activist Jean Pavy who was extremely instrumental during the Equal Pay campaign back in the 1950’s.

This year Natalie Lewis was the only public school student who received a merit in Women’s Studies 2, which she studied at the Open Access College.

The AEU congratulates Natalie on her achievement. Below – Natalie explains why she studied Women’s Studies and what she gained from it.

“I first learnt of Women’s Studies from my teacher, Sharon Morrison, who recommended I undertake the subject when I was considering which Stage Two subjects to complete. After reading the course overview I discovered that the curriculum coincided with my already strong feminist views and this cemented my decision to pursue the subject. I found Women’s Studies opened my eyes to how women can be negatively portrayed in society. I was particularly astounded how I had become desensitised to the sexual, demeaning and often stereotypical depiction of

To view more or to download photos of the IWD march in Adelaide 8 March 2013 go to our facebook site at:

www.facebook.com/aeusa

women in advertising and media. I especially enjoyed learning about women in different countries and cultures such as Sudan and Afghanistan, which allowed me to appreciate how lucky I was to live in a Western society where women have rights, independence and access to education. I found the final 2000 word research essay to be both interesting and empowering and this provided me with the opportunity to analyse the role women play as peace-builders in conflict prevention, resolution and reconstruction in war torn countries.

Women’s Studies was invaluable in providing me with an unbiased and informed perspective of my place as a woman in society and equipped me with in-depth skills of analysis that I will readily use in the future.” n

Rosemary Richards Scholarship This federally funded scholarship is in recognition of the significant contribution Rosemary made to the AEU and its members, women in particular.

The successful applicant will be entitled to a scholarship valued up to $10,000 per year.

For further information contact Tish Champion (details right) 3333 or visit the Federal AEU website at:

www.aeufederal.org.au/Women/ RRad2013.pdf

The Anna Stewart Memorial Project is held annually over a two week period. The first Anna Stewart Memorial Project was held in Victoria in 1984. SA Unions held its first program in 1985. In 2013 the SA project will run from May 20 to May 31 (Week 4 and week 5 of term 2).

The program is designed specifically to give women an insight into how unions operate and how women can be more active in their union.

This is an opportunity for women from different unions in SA to participate together in information, training and cross union activities over the two weeks.

Participants are able to learn how other unions are organised, what their focus is and the overall relationships that exist between all unions in SA. There are opportunities for participating women to have cross union visits as well as time spent in their own union where they are able to become involved in the issues which are important to members, participate in union activities with members, officials, and other trade unions.

The ASMP aims to increase women’s active union involvement and to increase the union movement’s acceptance and understanding of women members and their specific issues and needs.

Nominations for the Anna Stewart Memorial Program for 2013 are now open and will close on April 12.

Women wishing to nominate for the Anna Stewart Memorial Project need to email a page expression of interest to AEU Women’s Officer Tish Champion (details below). Expressions of interest should outline your reasons for wanting to take part in the ASMP including what you hope to gain from the experience.

Please also outline your level of participation in AEU events, committees and activities. n Tish Champion | AEU Women’s Officer

T: 8272 1399 E: tchampion@aeusa.asn.au 19

WHS

Opinion

Mourning tea for those killed at work

Brighter futures … devolution derby

A

pril 29 is this years date for the international trade union movement’s annual remembrance of those killed or injured at work.

AEU members are unable to attend the annual event held in Adelaide – usually a 10.30am weekday church service where unionists, family members and friends of South Australians who have been killed at work, and representatives of the safety regulator SafeWork, remember lost ones and commit to fighting for better workplace health and safety.

However, AEU member HSRs are still encouraged to mark this date in some way with those they represent.

It could be as simple as a short awareness-raising presentation based on some research such as looking up “workers memorial day” on Wikipedia.

Another idea to emphasise the international nature of our struggle for better work health and safety could be to lead a recess-time chat about the work of the Thin Green Line foundation:

www.thingreenline.org.au

This organisation was started by an Australian to support the safety and wellbeing of park rangers who risk their lives protecting endangered species from poachers in countries such as Uganda and the Congo. More than 1000 rangers have been killed at work (and not by animals!) in the last 10 years.

You could even hold a Thin Green Line fund raising “mourning tea” to help raise money for the families of those killed, or to help buy them basic safety items such as mosquito nets.

If you hold a mourning tea, please send in your photos so we can publish them in the AEU Journal.

HSR Training New dates have been added to the SA Unions training schedule for Level 1 DECD HSRs:

May 6 – 10 and June 17 – 21 Health and Safety reps are not able to use their powers unless they have been trained. An extra 1-day Bridging course (to the new Act) is on May 23.

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The impending DECD restructure “In October 2011 the Department of Education and Child Development (DECD) was formed, for the first time bringing together education and care, child protection services through Families SA and Child and Family Health Service through the Women’s and Children’s Health Network. There are now about 28,000 people in DECD’s workforce across more than 1,200 sites… … This means our multi-disciplinary staffs are now working towards the common goal of improving outcomes for all young South Australians, regardless of socio-economic circumstance, culture or disability … … International and national research and world experts tell us that as an agency we can be doing together to better meet the needs of children young people, their families and communities.

We believe that we need to do things differently.”

[Brighter Futures, Leading Locally, DECD, 2013]

The Advertiser of March 15 reported on where the two major Parties stand on Education: Labor – Early Childhood Education is among the Weatherill Government’s seven priorities. Early childhood, child protection and education all under one super-department. Student-centred model for schools.

Liberal – Would allow principals to manage school budgets and give them the power of hire and fire. Would reduce the education bureaucracy but unclear by how much.

On Tuesday 12 March I attended one of twenty community consultations being held across the state. It brought together agency personnel, students and community representatives to listen to and respond to a series of what were essentially ‘motherhood statements’. The blueprint for the reform, which begins in 2014, will go out for further consultation in July.

The elephant in the room was of course DECD’s response to the mandated treasury savings across the public sector.

We know that Health, for example, which has a savings target of $949 million over four years, plans to cut between 350 and 1200 jobs. It is reported (Advertiser, March 15) that Labor plans to cut around 4000 public service jobs by 2015. The Liberal Party apparently has “no such strategy to take an axe to the public service” but is yet to put a figure on cuts they would make.

Given recent statements by former Opposition Leader Isobel Redmond, it’s hard to imagine the Liberal’s won’t also cut a significant number of jobs.

Rumours abound in DECD about impending reorganisations involving the removal of regional shop fronts that provide support and resources directly to schools, and of budgets cuts over successive years.

So we have the Brighter Futures Road show, a quasi-consultative process that really only seeks a soft response from the community; it appears there is a predetermined savings roll out waiting in the elephant enclosure.

So you bring together agencies to better serve children. From past experience we know that this is code for reducing staffing and funding, creating more middle management positions and functions, and developing a preoccupation with monitoring and excessive accountability.

But will the lofty rhetoric be achieved through this performance piece? “Consultations” such as these have a dismal record in delivering social inclusion.

Genuine reform must sit outside the square, find ways to do things differently and must genuinely involve educators in decision-making. It shouldn’t take place under a cloak of forced savings and empty rhetoric.

Doing things differently by forging cohesive strategies that genuinely empower students, parents and professionals will ensure Brighter Futures for all. n Bob Woodbury AEU Branch Executive Member

AEU Training and Development Program 2013

Union Education Courses 2013 New Workplace Reps: Metro Areas 3-Day Courses These workplace reps courses are designed to build and strengthen the sub-branch and assist members to work together to resolve workplace issues effectively through various decision making structures and consultative processes. Participants will also apply the new Agreement and the new PAC procedures to their work situations. The final day will focus on resolving issues through formal grievance procedures.

Open to: AEU reps who have not attended AEU 2-day union education courses. Strongly recommended for newly elected workplace reps/SBS and members of WOCs. Participants must attend all three days.

[Register for one course only]

Course 1

Day 1: Thurs 21 Mar 9.15am – 3.30pm Day 2: Tues 21 May 9.15am – 3.30pm Day 3: Wed 22 May 9.15am – 3.30pm

Course 2

Day 1: Thurs 9 May 9.15am – 3.30pm Day 2: Fri 10 May 9.15am – 3.30pm Day 3: Wed 19 June 9.15am – 3.30pm Support: Relief, country travel and accommodation.

Open to: Members and newly elected delegates to AEU Branch Council.

Support: Relief, country travel and accommodation.

This course has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Proficient Teachers: 7.4

Fri 14 June

9.15am – 3:30pm

Non-teaching Staff and SSO Contact Officers

A 1-day course for AEU SSO Contact Officers and non-teaching PAC reps on resolving workplace issues effectively through various school decision making structures and Departmental processes. Participants will also better understand their role and conditions of work so they can support non-teaching members.

Open to: Non-teaching staff reps on PAC and SSO Contact Officers.

Support: Relief, country travel and accommodation.

Mon 24 June

9.15am – 3:30pm

Women’s Contact Officers A 1-day course for women members on the role of the AEU Women’s Contact Officer and how to support women in their workplace.

Open to: All AEU Women’s Contact Officers who have not attended this course.

Support: Relief, country travel and accommodation.

* Upcoming Ev ent Mon. 15 April

9:15am – 12:30pm

An introduction to the AEU’s COO and how it can help members’ transition to the Australian Curriculum.

Open to: Everyone interested in finding out how COO can help them in their Curriculum preparation.

This professional learning has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Proficient Teachers: 2.2, 3.4

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* Upcoming Ev ent

TRT & Contract Teachers’ Conference Tues. 23 April

9.30am – 3.30pm

This course has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Accomplished Teachers: 4.4, 7.2, 7.4

This course has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Accomplished Teachers: 7.2, 7.4

A 1-day conference for TRT and Contract Teachers with workshops on current issues.

Day 1: Tues 16 Apr 9.15am – 4:00pm Day 2: Wed 17 Apr 9.15am – 4:00pm Day 3: Thurs 18 Apr 9.15am – 4:00pm

Day 1: Tues 9 July Day 2: Wed 10 July

Open to: Only financial AEU members who are TRT or Contract Teachers.

Conflict Resolution through Mediation – Part A A high demand 3-day course facilitated by Professor Dale Bagshaw and practising mediators covering the theory and practice of mediation.

Open to: All educators, particularly those in leadership positions.

Cost: Members $110, Non-members $330 This course has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Accomplished Teachers: 7.1, 7.3

Fri 31 May

9:15am – 3:30pm

New Branch Council Delegates

9.15am – 4:00pm 9.15am – 4:00pm

Conflict Resolution through Mediation – Part B “Culture, Gender and Power” A high demand 2-day course on considering issues of culture, gender and power when managing conflict situations. This workshop has been developed by Associate Professor Dale Bagshaw.

Open to: Educators who have completed the 3-day AEU ‘Conflict Resolution through Mediation’ course.

Cost: Members $110, Non-members $330 This course has been referenced to the National Professional Standards for Accomplished Teachers: 7.1, 7.3

To register or for further info, follow the links below 5

Upcoming Dates Thursday 18 April & Friday 19 April

Super Sa Seminars Wednesday 1 May

May Day Dinner Saturday 4 May

May Day Rally Friday 17 May

Idaho Day

The workshop includes practical sessions on developing confidence in public speaking and formal meeting procedures and will be valuable for any members involved in formal and site based meetings. The workshop provides essential knowledge and skill development to enable active participation in Branch Council by new Branch Council Delegates, Alternative Delegates and Proxies.

Thursday 23 May

National Public Education Day Sunday 26 May

National Sorry Day Monday 27 May – Monday 3 June

Reconciliation Week

For further info on any of the above events and courses email Saniya Sidhwani on

8: training@aeusa.asn.au

8: www.aeusa.asn.au>events & courses

or to register go to

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Council Dates for 2013

NOTICE BOARD

Branch Council Meetings

Attention TRTs or TRPs!

Seeking promotion?

‘Authority to Teach’

$135

Upcoming dates for 2013 are:

Saturday, June 1 Saturday, August 24 Saturday, November 23

TAFE Divisional Council Meetings Upcoming dates for 2013 are:

Friday, May 24 Friday, August 16 Friday, November 15

Fund still available for “Peace” Projects After decades promoting peace, human rights, justice, development and peace, the Australian Peace Committee (SA) has formally closed. Over the years the APC has focused on education programs in schools, involving many teachers, Indigenous groups, church organisations and trade unions, on issues of peace and justice, human rights and the environment.

Upon winding up the organisation, the APC has provided $8000 to the AEU for the purpose of setting up a fund that will grant money to teachers and schools for projects and resources which promote peace and social justice.

If you want to pursue “peace” as a topic or project in your classroom and would like to apply for an APC-sponsored grant, please make a written submission to the AEU outlining your proposed project, the activities your students will undertake, the resources you will require and the outcomes you aim to achieve.

Teachers seeking employment as a Temporary Relief Teacher (TRT) or a Temporary Relief Preschool Teacher (TRP)

must complete the online Register Interest for Teaching via DECD jobs in order to be included on the Employable Teacher Register.

The start of the new school year can be a stressful time for teachers, particularly employable teachers seeking employment with the department. If this is you, it is important to remember that you need to have a current “Authority to Teach” letter in order to start teaching in any capacity. At the end of 2012 the department were inundated with over 2000 registrations of Interest to Teach application forms. This caused a back log and resulted in some teachers waiting until after the school year had begun before they got their letter confirming their Authority to Teach.

To avoid these lengthy delays, teachers should apply for their Authority to Teach as soon as the applications open in April each school year or when they have the necessary documentation and updated certificates to apply, rather than wait until the end of the school year.

Aspiring Principals, DPs, Senior Leaders, Coordinators

Announcing our new

ONLINE PACKAGE

FOR APPLICATION WRITING AND INTERVIEW for all promotion positions in SA government schools Full school site licence $399 Tailored to DECD’s NEW MERIT SELECTION processes, this detailed 65 page booklet and PowerPoint shows you how to develop a dynamic résumé and cover letter, as well as many valuable ideas and hints to help you prepare for a powerful interview performance!

Available for immediate download at:

www.teachers–resumes.com.au WE ALSO PROVIDE INDIVIDUAL ASSISTANCE

Teachers’ Professional Résumés T: 0411 245 415 E: teachers-resumes@bigpond.com Serving Australia’s teachers since 1990.

ABN: 40 833 718 673

The Authority to Teach application process for the 2014 school year will open on 2 April 2013 and the form can be found on the DECD website at:

www.decd.sa.gov.au/hr/pages/ jobscareers/schooljobssearch/

Submissions for funding can be made to the Branch Secretary at: aeusa@aeusa. asn.au or by regular post to Australian

Education Union (SA Branch), 163 Greenhill Rd, Parkside, 5063.

SALARY INCREASE & SUBSCRIPTION ADJUSTMENT

Use your QR app to “like us” on facebook.

AEU subscription rates will be adjusted to reflect the new DECD and TAFE Enterprise Agreement salary rates from 1 April 2013.

Please advise AEU Membership staff of any change to your classification, fraction of time, workplace or home address by phone: 8272 1399 fax: 8373 1254 or email: updates@aeusa.asn.au

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We need your preferred Email to

email address

8: membership@aeusa.asn.au

or call Membership on:

8272 1399

NOTICE BOARD

Member’s Market In order to cater for extra editorial space, the AEU Members Market now has a reduced space allocation in the Journal.

Advertisements will be printed at the discretion of the Editor and will not run in more than three issues in succession.

ALDINGA BEACH HOUSE: Fully equipped, BBQ, aircon, TV, double bed & 4 singles. 2 mins from beach, near Aldinga Scrub.

Beach, restaurants, cafes, wineries all close. Relax for weekend or longer. Avail. wkdays, wkends, Easter and school hols.

T: Philip – 0434 825 972 E: kittophilip@gmail.com

Kensington Town House: Quiet, private, comfortable 2 BR with QB’s. 5-min stroll to historic Rising Sun, Robin Hood, short walk to Parade and great parks.

BBQ, fully equipped, all linen supplied. From $130/night.

T: 0407 744820 E: dover.farm@bigpond.com

OUTBACK TAGALONG TOURS Guided tours in your 4 wheel drive, with your gear loaded on the ‘Big

Red Truck’. Hassle Free Outback Touring. Book now for our Spring Tour – Innaminka Races, Coward Springs, Warren Gorge.

T: David Connell – 02 8885 4620 or Lyn Rowe – 0403 594 406 www.brtoutback.com.au

WORKSHOP: Stress management, personal goals and learning difficulties. Brain Gym – an introductory workshop. Movements to ‘switch on’ the brain.

T or Fax: (08) 8768 2537 E: gibbons@seol.net.au

Holiday House – 2nd Valley Sleeps 9, Q/S x2, Singles x3, Double x 1, 2 storey, 2 bath, 3 toilets, 2 living, main BRM with ensuite, TV, DVD, Ducted RCAC, UP, RCAC split D/S M/Wave.

E: info@sfrealty.com.au PROPERTY CODE D30

FOR SALE: Nintendo DS lite. white. Hardly used, 2x stylus, original instruction bks, charger + 3 games – Agatha Christie: the ABC Murders, Brain Training, Tomb Raider. $120 o.n.o.

E: hannah@iyouth.com.au

ALDINGA BEACH RETREAT: Peaceful location, wood fire, R/C air con, cosy accommodation for 2 – 8 guests, 5 mins from beach, opp National Park, LCD TV, fully equipped kitchen, BBQ, kid friendly facilities.

Wkends from $290. Email for pamphlet. T: 0418 843 711 (Mike) E: acaciahouse@optusnet.com.au

Lifestyle of Choices: Invitation to how to create more of what you want in life. Create great health and become more of the person you want to be. No cost to chat. T: (Linda) 0410 654 657 E: lindanew@tpg.com.au

STREAKY BAY HOLIDAY HSE: 5-min walk to beach, in town, close to shops. Sleeps 13. Fish & boat facilities. New bath & kit; BBQ entertaining area and private spa suite avail. Starting rate $140 p/ night. T: (08) 8626 1539 E: ascaines@hotmail.com

Australian certified organic products: Keep

Healthy. For personal use & gifts. www.bodytune.mionegroup.com

The Mobile Muso Mechanic The long break is looming, I’ll come to you – and setup/repair, restring your guitar/bass and even tackle simple amp maintenance.

This new service is also available for school music rooms.

Frank Lang: T: 8248 0824

STRESS, WEIGHT, HABITS?– RELAX! Hypnotherapy, Counsel-

ling, NLP, Relationships, Career, Smoking, Anxiety, Performance, etc. 15% Discount AEU Members.

Reg Chapman: T: 0419 829 378 E: nlpchanges.com.au Wanted: Primary class sets of readers for developing world education. Best if as relevant as possible to non urban, non western students (Bougainville). Contact Ian on: T: 0400 303 300 E: ir211057@bigpond.net.au

Advertise in Members’ Market for FREE! Rent, sell, buy or offer goods and services. Send ads to:

journal@aeusa.asn.au

SAIT Conveyancers

We offer AEU members: Free advice on real estate queries.

Expert advice and professional experience with: • Mortgages, • Private Contract Transfers, • Strata Plan and Plan of Division Lodgments, • Caveats, Discharges of Mortgages, • All facets of conveyancing work.

If you are buying or selling or are involved in any real estate matter, either through a land agent or privately, consult us.

Contact us on:

Anne Walker

(: (08) 8410 6788

Simon Willcox

8410 6799 Email: anne@saitconveyancers.com.au SAIT Conveyancers

Fax: (08)

located at Credit Union SA

Level 3, 400 King William Street, Adelaide, SA 5000

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