Western Teacher - Volume 49.7 - September 2020

Volume 49.7 September 2020

The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.)

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Features

Volume 49.7 September 2020

In this edition Correspondence:

The Editor, PO Box 212 West Perth WA 6872 editor@sstuwa.org.au | Ph: 9210 6000 Ph: 9210 6060 memberassist@sstuwa.org.au Print post publication 100004470 | $4.95 ABN: 544 780 946 35 Authorised by Mary Franklyn, General Secretary, The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.) 1 West Street, West Perth WA. Printed by Vanguard Press, 26 James Street, Northbridge WA. September 2020.

Cover: Matilida Cornes, Eugene Cheong and Donna Wilson have their red books – look out for yours coming soon.

To access the digital copy of Western Teacher, visit: sstuwa.org.au/westernteacher

Find us on Facebook facebook.com/sstuwa

2020 Publishing Dates Deadline Distributed 25 November 17 January

Member Assist:

In this edition

28 January

21 February

3 March

4 May

25 May

5 June

8 June

17 July

13 July

7 August

17 August

11 September

21 September

16 October

19 October

27 November

Dates are subject to change

Teachers, school leaders reject NAPLAN...6 Report reveals public education inequity...7 Q&A with Member Assist............................8 We’ve got you covered.................................9 Starting out with full support...................10 Tears of joy as jobs secured.....................11 Review favours profit above TAFE’s future............................................12 Make time for play – in the right way.......15 Public education funding would help recovery............................................16 ANSA is wrong for NAPLAN question......17 Resisting the digital automation of teaching....................................................18 Stand up for your rights............................22

Regulars

From the President.....................................5 Education and Training.............................28 Member Benefits......................................30 Classifieds.................................................32 Noticeboard...............................................34

Advertisements in Western Teacher are the responsibility of advertisers. While Western Teacher makes reasonable efforts to ensure that no misleading claims are made by advertisers, responsibility is not accepted by The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.) for statements made or the failure of any product or service to give satisfaction. Inclusion of a product or service should not be construed as an endorsement or recommendation by The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.)

Western Teacher is the official publication of The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.)

Barrie Bennett reference books Effective Group Work BEYOND COOPERATIVE LEARNING n

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Instructional Intelligence Building Instructional Expertise for the Classroom

An SSTUWA project in collaboration with Barrie Bennett © B. Bennett, The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A. (Inc.)

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Effective Group Work

Classroom Management

Graphic Intelligence

Dr Barrie Bennett is an internationally renowned educational expert and emeritus professor at the University of Toronto. His books cover a range of interrelated topics that support effective teaching and learning. Members can access special pricing on the series.

Place your order at sstuwa.org.au/shop Western Teacher

September 2020

3

From the President

Much to look forward to in new Agreement

By Pat Byrne President

With the 2019 Schools General Agreement registered, the challenge before us is to now move forward with the gains secured in this agreement.

There are multiple wins that the union will proceed in implementing, and will do so in cooperation with the stakeholders involved, such as the Department of Education (DoE), and with the hard work of SSTUWA staff, members and union representatives in workplaces around the state.

With that in mind, here is a summary of some of the more prominent gains, along with updates on implementation.

School Leader Induction program There is a commitment to establish an advisory group to work with the union and the Principals’ Federation of WA on a centrally-funded induction program.

There has been ongoing feedback through meetings as to the content, with more to come.

Level 3 Classroom Teachers (L3CT) The DoE has committed to an audit of a sample of schools to review mental health, literacy and numeracy, teaching and learning initiatives. A draft survey has been produced, which is due for feedback before a planned survey delivery before the end of Term 3.

The intention is to discover whether existing initiatives have been effective, or whether teachers prefer the previous provision for time for teachers to focus on the actual role of the L3CT.

Performance Management There is an agreement to continue discussions on a review of the Employee 4

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Performance Policy and Procedures and the development of a standardised performance management template. It is important to note that the classroom observation component of performance management is unchanged from what was in the previous agreement.

Allowances for school psychologists and School of Special Education Needs teachers The DoE is awaiting a decision from the Executive Director of Public Labour Relations to continue payment of existing allowances for a further three-year period from 1 January 2020.

New Principal Class Salary Model The Principals and Deputy Principals Classification Working Group will aim to complete a review of the existing principal and deputy principal classification structure. Our understanding is that the review will begin soon, and over the next few months reviewers will be talking to people in the field, seeking input from a range of principals and deputies in the system, as well as from the SSTUWA.

Development of Collegiate Principal program There is general agreement that participants in this program will be referred to as collegiate (not lead) principals. They have been a number of meetings between the union and other associations to clarify what the role of this position will be and how it will operate.

The original intent from the union was about capacity building and professional development of principals across the system. This will have to be balanced with any other expectations, such as collegiate principals supporting schools that may be

in need of assistance. Other issues that are being worked through include how to select participants and which schools will be involved in the program. Those mechanisms are still being negotiated.

Behaviour management A Further consultation with the SSTUWA on the Let’s Take a Stand Together program, incorporating the review of the Behaviour Management Policy, is scheduled for later this year. The policy will aim to provide a holistic approach to behaviour in schools which incorporates prevention, management and response strategies for students, educators and school communities; include a renewed direction for the Positive Behaviours for Learning project, broadening access to all schools; incorporate learning behaviours and preventing and responding to bullying and violence, ensuring whole community buy-in.

From the President The minister has committed in the original plan to alternative learning settings and there is a need for more of those. We are also keen to see and discuss with the DoE a review of the current exclusion process to see how schools can be better supported.

Behaviour management B This is a commitment to develop a framework to support schools to meet the needs of students with disabilities who are demonstrating complex behaviour, and which places students, teachers or others at risk. We anticipate a draft framework for discussion from the DoE by the end of this term.

Quarterly education support meetings These will continue and will involve the union, relevant delegates, the Executive Director, Statewide Services, and other relevant DoE officers. This is the mechanism for developing the framework mentioned above.

Curriculum support and resources This item involves the development of a K-10 curriculum, planning and moderation support materials. This will provide a syllabus document that is designed to cover 32 weeks of learning, recognising that there are interruptions in a term that may prevent 40 weeks of lessons being delivered. This new curriculum will be developed by the School Curriculum and Standards Authority of WA and ensure that all of the requirements of the Australian Curriculum and the Early Years Learning Framework are met.

Institute of Professional Learning (IPL) The DoE, through the IPL, will continue to support teachers, school leaders, school administrators, school psychologists and other employees covered under the Agreement to access professional learning. The IPL will be focused on curriculum and pedagogy; provide assistance to schools identified as needing support; be the academic home for collegiate principals and support beginning teachers.

This is a significant gain which will provide professional learning and support to all DoE employees covered by the General Agreement. The SSTUWA is continuing to have regular meetings with the DoE to discuss how this major realignment of professional learning delivery will occur.

VET industry release time This pertains to consultation with the union regarding the specification of industry release time in the schools resourcing agreement, with a commitment to monitor and gather data in 2020 on the expenditure of all schools in relation to industry release time, and providing a breakdown of that data at the end of the 2020 school year. There will be a survey in Term 4 for secondary schools.

Management protocols and OSH issues The DoE has committed to maintain its meetings with the SSTUWA on a quarterly

basis to discuss which policies are scheduled to review and for the union to state which of these it wishes to be involved in the review process with. OSH issues will continue to be examined and addressed with union involvement, and a register of OSH representatives will be provided to the SSTUWA every six months.

There is a lot for SSTUWA members to look forward to – the revamp of the IPL signals a greater responsibility by the Department to ensure the provision of professional learning, while the new curriculum documents will be a fantastic ground-level resource for teachers.

Primary school members can also look forward to the increases in Duties Other Than Teaching (DOTT) time in 2021 and the union will be available to help teachers and school leaders implement this, with our organisers and school leader consultants happy to work with schools that encounter issues such as timetabling.

Implementing some of these gains will take time and we appreciate the hard work and patience of members as we work through these issues with the Department and other stakeholders. We will keep you informed as developments occur, so please continue to meet with your union representatives and organisers, as well as staying up to date through the SSTUWA’s communication channels.

The goal is to have the documents complete by the end of Semester 1, 2021.

Curriculum documents will be made available as they are ready. There will be ongoing professional learning throughout the 2021 school year.

Review of Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Policy Continued consultation with the DoE on the policy is necessary. A meeting is planned between parties in Term 4, with most of the review work taking place in early 2021.

Western Teacher

September 2020

5

Issues

Teachers, school leaders reject NAPLAN Three quarters of teachers say that NAPLAN is ineffective as a method of assessing students, according to a latest AEU survey.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) 2020 State of our Schools survey, with more than 12,000 responses from public school principals and teachers, has confirmed that NAPLAN is not effective, increases pressure on teachers, student stress and anxiety and too much class time is spent in preparation for the test.

The survey results found that amongst teachers: • 75 per cent did not believe NAPLAN was effective for school comparison.

• 74 per cent did not believe NAPLAN was effective for measuring school performance.

• 85 per cent did not believe NAPLAN improved student outcomes.

• 56 per cent did not believe NAPLAN was effective in helping to identify areas to focus to improve student outcomes.

• 94 per cent believed NAPLAN contributed to student stress and anxiety.

• 74 per cent said the publication of NAPLAN data had led to increased pressure on teachers.

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• 66 per cent said that NAPLAN increased their workload.

Amongst school principals, the State of our Schools survey found that: • 73 per cent did not believe NAPLAN was effective for school comparison.

• 87 per cent believed NAPLAN contributed to student stress and anxiety.

• 78 per cent believed NAPLAN increased teacher workload.

• 75 per cent did not believe NAPLAN improved student outcomes.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the survey clearly demonstrated the antipathy felt towards NAPLAN by the overwhelming majority of the teaching profession.

“The results of this survey are unequivocal. The vast majority of teachers and principals have indicated that NAPLAN is not fit for purpose in our schools,” she said.

“Teachers and principals regard NAPLAN as a major source of student stress and anxiety, not benefiting student outcomes, and wasting valuable face-to-face teaching time in the classroom.

“NAPLAN reduces student progress to a number on a spreadsheet – it does not take into account teachers’ informed judgement, or the daily learning that occurs in the classroom.

“There is no doubt that NAPLAN places pressure on students, families and teachers. Assessment must be holistic and connected to the teaching and learning which happens in schools every day.”

Ms Haythorpe said that no amount of restructuring or change would address the concerns that the teaching profession held about NAPLAN. “The AEU calls on the Education Council to take the lead by scrapping NAPLAN and developing a new assessment framework based on sample testing in comprehensive consultation with the teaching profession and its union, the AEU,” she said.

The AEU 2020 State of our Schools survey was held in May 2020 with staff from public schools across the country invited to participate. There were 12,307 respondents, including 9,733 teachers, 1,787 support staff and 787 principals.

Read more: ANSA is wrong for NAPLAN question, page 17.

Issues

Report reveals public education inequity The latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report on worldwide education indicators has confirmed that public investment into Australia’s public education system is below the OECD average.

According to the Education at a Glance report, Australia boasts the highest rates of return on investment in the OECD in terms of increased lifetime earnings, increased taxation revenues and lower social costs.

However, public investment is well below the OECD average, with Australia being 19th out of 37 countries and well below the OECD funding average per student.

At the same time, Australia has the thirdhighest level of private expenditure on education, more than 2.6 times the OECD average.

According to the report: • Australia spends significantly less per student in public education institutions than the US, UK, Canada and the EU23 average (EU23 is the 23 member states of the EU that are also OECD members).

• Australia has the third lowest level of public investment as a percentage of total educational expenditure in the OECD, behind only Columbia and Turkey.

• Australia has the third highest level of private expenditure on educational institutions, behind the US and UK, at US$4,505 per student. This is more than 2.6 times the OECD average.

• Australia is fourth-last in the OECD when it comes to vocational education spending per student, above only the Russian Federation, Mexico, Lithuania and Turkey.

• Australia spends on average 36 per cent less per student in vocational education than the OECD average.

on public education, at a time when investment into education should be a crucial source of economic stimulus.

• Australia has by far the highest return per public dollar invested in upper secondary education, with US$4.90 return per dollar invested for men (more than double the OECD average of US$2.20) and US$1.90 return per dollar invested for women (above the OECD average of US$1.40).

“A significant Commonwealth investment into a public school capital works program is one of the most effective ways that the Morrison Government could provide substantial stimulus across a number of sectors.

• Completing upper secondary study in Australia can mean an additional US$252,000 in post-tax lifetime income for men and US$173,900 for women.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said that the report provided further evidence of the inequity in education funding in Australia, inequity which has a deep impact on preschools, schools and TAFE. “The Education at a Glance report confirms what we know about the national economic and lifelong personal benefits of fully funding public education in terms of increased earnings for workers, increased tax revenues and lower social costs for governments,” she said.

“Additional funding to bring public schools up to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard is essential in providing additional teachers, support staff and learning programs for students.

“Public education is the bedrock on which we can build Australia’s economic recovery to secure a better future for all Australians.

“The Morrison Government must prioritise public education in the federal budget 2020-21 to help lift Australia out of its post-COVID recession and ensure that every child has access to a high-quality education.”

“The report also confirms that Australia continues to fall behind its OECD peers when it comes to investment into public education.

“This is a clear demonstration of the inequity in education funding in Australia. Under the Morrison Government, Australia currently languishes behind most other wealthy countries in terms of expenditure

Western Teacher

September 2020

7

QA Members’ matters

and

The team in Member Assist answers some of members’ most commonly asked questions

with Member Assist

Q

I work at a primary school full time. I have a preprimary class 0.6 of the time and a Year 1 class that is 0.4.

I currently get 240 minutes duties other than teaching (DOTT) time per week, is this correct?

A

No this is not correct. The Award states that a pre-primary teacher receives 320 minutes per week DOTT time while a primary teacher receives 240 minutes per week DOTT time. As you teach in both areas your DOTT time should be 0.6 of 320 minutes and 0.4 of 240 minutes.

This equates to 288 minutes of DOTT time per week. This time will increase to 300 minutes per week in 2021 due to an increase in primary DOTT time to 270 minutes per week.

Q

Know Your Rights

KYR

I have returned from parental leave after two years and finding this difficult.

Can I go back on parental leave for a third year?

8

A

The simple answer is no, you cannot go back on parental leave after returning from your initial parental leave period. You can request to go on leave without pay (LWOP) for up to one year.

LWOP is at the discretion of the employer and staff on LWOP cannot undertake relief teaching unless express permission is approved by the employer.

Q

My school administration calls various meetings at lunch time. Can they do this as I thought I was entitled to a break?

A

All teaching staff are entitled to a reasonable break during the school day under the occupational safety and health safe systems of work. Therefore, having a meeting during a lunch break does not constitute a break from work and can lead to medical issues for staff.

Staff do have a duty of care responsibility to students to undertake a duty roster at recess and lunch. Disputes about breaks can be dealt with as an occupational safety and health issue.

Have a question? A full compilation of Know Your Rights information sheets are available on the SSTUWA website and app.

Schools: sstuwa.org.au/schoolsKYR | TAFE: visit sstuwa.org.au/TAFEkyr You can also speak with your union rep and contact Member Assist: (08) 9210 6060 | 1800 106 683 | memberassist@sstuwa.org.au

Western Teacher

September 2020

Q

Can you tell me what the union’s Journey Cover insurance covers if I have an accident on the way to work or home from work?

A

Journey Cover (introduced by the SSTUWA) replaced government workers’ compensation when travel to and from work was excluded. If you have an accident whilst travelling to or from work, which results in your inability to work, you may be entitled to a benefit for lost income. The intention of the policy is to provide weekly salary compensation; any medical-related costs will fall within the cover provided by Medicare or a health insurance policy. Any vehicle-related costs will fall within the cover provided by a car insurance policy.

What to do in the event of a claim • Contact Member Assist: 9210 6060 | 1800 106 683 memberassist@sstuwa.org.au • See your doctor as soon as possible to obtain a medical certificate.

• If a vehicle is involved and you are injured, immediately lodge a claim with the Insurance Council of Western Australia (compulsory third party insurer).

Members’ matters

We’ve got you covered There are a number of reasons why people join and remain a member of the SSTUWA. Throughout this year, we have been highlighting some of the reasons why SSTUWA membership is so important. In this edition, we will be taking a closer look at where members can go for information, advice and support.

Union representatives We have SSTUWA reps in schools and TAFEs across the state. They are your first port of call for assistance. Reps have access to a range of support from the union experts and can often resolve local issues on the spot. Union reps get extensive training from the SSTUWA. In many schools we also have deputy reps, women’s contact officers and OSH reps.

Member Assist Three full-time Member Assist staff are supported by a team of organisers offering prompt and professional union advice to members. They are just a phone call or email away, providing information when you need it. The team can be contacted via email: memberassist@sstuwa.org.au or by phone: (08) 9210 6060/1800 106 683, Monday to Friday 8.30am-4.30pm.

Organisers Our organisers (some of whom are pictured above) cover all schools and TAFE colleges within allocated districts, offering support to union reps and members in schools and on campuses.

The next time your organiser visits your school or campus, introduce yourself and get to know them.

The union also has specialists for leaders, women and equity, TAFE, early childhood educators, new educators, and occupational safety and health. All specialists provide up-to-date sector specific information to members.

Case managers Case managers generally work with members over a period of time in matters such as fitness for work and performance management. If your issue is more complex, you may be referred to a case manager. Our experienced case managers will give your issue the attention it deserves, working with you every step of the way. With such a close level of

support, every member of this team works hard to ensure members receive the best possible outcome.

Advocates Our advocates specialise in advice and representation when formal proceedings may be required. Our advocates appear in the courts and in tribunals for the SSTUWA. This can be on issues for individual members, or cases which represent the interest of the membership as a whole. If necessary, the union’s Legal Services Team will refer you to our lawyers, Slater and Gordon, Tehan Legal or Eureka Lawyers, for legal advice.

Growth Team New to the teaching profession? Our Growth Team has all the information and support you need to make it through those difficult early years of your career.

This team also attends graduate modules and visits schools, so keep an eye out for them. They can be contacted at neweducator@sstuwa.org or you can connect with them on Facebook. Our New Educator Network offers an environment where you can talk to people who have been through, or are having, the same experiences as you.

Education and Training Centre The SSTUWA Education and Training Centre (ETC) is committed to providing high quality learning opportunities for educators at all stages of their careers.

All courses on offer through the ETC are developed and delivered by highly-skilled, passionate and experienced educators.

Whether you are a new graduate, an early career teacher, experienced teacher, aspiring leader or school leader you will find relevant, collaborative and empowering learning opportunities.

Industrial, professional, online learning or conferences, there really is something on offer to suit everyone. Haven’t checked out the training on offer yet? Head over to sstuwa.org.au/training to find out more.

Members in schools and TAFE colleges are eligible for five days of paid leave per year to attend Trade Union Training (TUT).

Make use of your TUT leave to build your knowledge, skills and understanding of your union.

It is comforting to know that as a member of the SSTUWA, we really do have you covered with information, advice and support when you need it.

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September 2020

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New educators

Starting out with full support The SSTUWA has early career teachers covered. From support, Journey Cover, professional development to entitlements, the union has worked hard to ensure a range of rights and entitlements are available for beginning teachers. If you are experiencing difficulty accessing any of the graduate entitlements, please contact our Member Assist Team at memberassist@sstuwa.org.au

Graduate Learning Program

Over the first 30 months of teaching, graduate teachers are required to participate in structured professional learning. These graduate modules are designed as a self-reflection and sharing tool for graduate teachers to learn and network in a safe environment.

Each module aligns to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers to build the skills and understandings needed to become a highly effective classroom teacher and help to become a fully registered teacher.

Modules one, two and three are completed sequentially, while the fourth module may be accessed at any time within the first 30 months of teaching. These modules are fully funded by the Department of Education (DoE) so seize these opportunities to sharpen and refine your skills, network and advance in your career.

Some of you may not have attended the fourth graduate module yet, even though you may be nearing the end of your first 30 months, or have exceeded this time frame. As COVID-19 required social distancing measures, this course was unable to be held due to the physical handling component. As restrictions have eased, this module is back on the calendar. If you have not been able to register for this module and are concerned about not being able to attend within the required time frame, please contact the team at Statewide Services to discuss your options. You

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can contact the team at graduateteacherprogram@ education.wa.edu.au To find out where and when these modules are being held, log onto IKON and locate the Professional Learning Information Systems (PLIS) quick link. By typing “graduate teacher modules” into the keyword search, you will find a list of modules that are occurring. Make sure you speak with your school leader or line manager first before registering to attend any of the modules as you may need to negotiate your release from school. Don’t forget to organise teacher relief for your class(es) as well prior to your attendance at the module, if attending during the school week.

The SSTUWA’s Growth Team attends graduate module one and the fourth graduate module. Utilise this opportunity to speak with them. Learn more about the benefits of membership for early career teachers, the New Educator Network, what training events or professional learning courses are on offer or even find out about social events that may be coming up in your area. You can also keep in contact with the team via email: neweducator@sstuwa.org.au or on Facebook: New Educator Network – WA

Curriculum materials allowance

If you are in your first year of teaching, don’t miss out on claiming your curriculum materials allowance. Primary and district high school graduate teachers have access to $150 and secondary graduate teachers have access to $78. You should use your own professional judgement to choose the materials suited to your needs and the materials purchased will belong to you.

You will need to produce receipts to your school for reimbursement so remember to check with your manager of corporate services/business manager before

spending your allowance as schools’ expenditure systems vary.

Graduate teacher release time A reminder to all first-year graduate teachers that you are entitled to 0.05FTE per week of additional non-contact time.

Funding for graduate release time is forwarded to your school as a targeted initiative so if you have not been receiving any additional release time, please speak with your school leader or line manager.

Graduate teacher allowance

Full-time graduate teachers will receive an allowance of $1,600 per year for each of their first two years. Part time teachers will receive this allowance pro rata. Each annual allowance is paid according to the term of employment and is paid as soon as practicable after commencement of employment.

If you have not received your payment after a reasonable period of time from your start date, contact the school administrator or line manager. Clarification of payment of this allowance can also be sought by contacting payroll at the DoE on 9264 4111.

Remember, if you are not sure about something, ask. You are not “rocking the boat” if you are seeking clarification.

Don’t forget as an SSTUWA member, you can also contact Member Assist, or get in contact with the union’s Growth Team for assistance.

TAFE

Tears of joy as jobs secured

By Minh Lam

SSTUWA TAFE members have broken into tears of joy upon hearing the news that the 2019 TAFE General Agreement has secured a provision that means that they do not have to reapply for their positions.

The provision, subclauses 18.9-18.10 states: “that if a lecturer has been employed through a merit selection process where the job was advertised with the possibility of further fixed term appointment, including a pool recruitment process, they will not be required to reapply for the same fixed term contract (FTC) position.”

This provision complements two others in the agreement which state that any fixed term lecturer can be considered for permanency regardless of the stated reason for contract, and that employees can be made permanent at any time from the date of the initial contract.

“One colleague actually resigned rather than continue to be re-interviewed time after time.

“In recent years the expectation and questions the members were forced to respond to increased, both in size and complexity.”

Janette, who was part of the union’s negotiating team for the 2019 TAFE General Agreement, said this win was vitally important for the mental health of members.

“The workload for many lecturers and members has increased four-fold due the requirements of the ASQA audit,” she said.

“To place more work on the shoulders of members who were having to reapply was untenable really, so it was vital that

we focused on items that would reduce workload and help mental health.”

Janette said the wins highlighted how important the union was in representing the interests of members and pushing for improved conditions.

“The union is the only place that I am aware of that has as its core business the safety and health of its members,” she said.

“It is not only a recruiting goal but a moral goal to belong to an organisation that seeks to improve workers’ health and safety.

“My members’ industrial conditions are vital to maintaining a healthy, happy workforce, which is why I work so hard to ensuring that we as a union work towards improving this.”

North Metropolitan TAFE union delegate Vivienne Scott said there were tears of relief and happiness shed by members at her college upon hearing this win had been secured in the new General Agreement.

Know Your Rights: Bulk leave bookings, Christmas closedown and LWOP

Vivienne said many members had been putting off decisions such as purchasing a car or refinancing their mortgage due to the continuous uncertainty of their positions.

However please note:

Colleges from time to time bulk book leave periods for lecturing staff. Lecturers must apply for leave as per Part 6 – Leave of Absence and Public Holidays of the Western Australian TAFE Lecturers’ General Agreement 2019.

•

Under no circumstances can a lecturer be placed on leave without pay (LWOP) during a bulk leave period, suggested college leave period or Christmas closedown, without the express permission of the lecturer.

•

If the lecturer does not have sufficient leave to cover the full leave period chosen or suggested by the employer then that lecturer cannot be placed on leave for that full leave period and cannot be required to take LWOP.

“They have also said that they love their jobs at TAFE and were scared they would lose them.

•

When a lecturer does not have sufficient leave to cover the full leave period chosen or suggested by the employer then that lecturer must be allowed to attend work, or an alternative place of work, or work from home must be negotiated.

“They did not have a sense of security before – now they have, and it means a lot. Especially in these times of COVID.”

•

A lecturer can opt to take less leave during suggested leave periods during the year to, for example, deal with workload, accommodate personal leave preferences or to ensure leave to cover other suggested leave periods.

•

All non-accrued entitlements should be utilised prior to taking annual leave.

Professional allowance leave, Easter Tuesday, accrued professional development time and time off in lieu (TOIL) hours should be taken prior to any annual leave being booked.

•

Lecturers should check any leave booking made on their behalf to ensure that the leave period booked and the type of leave booked is correct and according to the lecturer’s wishes.

“Lecturers have said they now feel valued,” she said.

Vivienne’s colleague and fellow North Metropolitan TAFE union delegate, Janette Bedwell, said the process of constant re-application for their positions caused horrendous ongoing stress to members.

“Many members had been through the process five times,” she said.

Western Teacher

September 2020

11

TAFE

Review favours profit above TAFE’s future The Productivity Commission National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development Review Interim Report into the future of skills and workforce development in Australia favours private providers, increasing contestability, student loans and vouchers and fundamentally fails to ensure TAFE’s future as the pre-eminent public provider of high-quality Vocational Education and Training (VET) across the nation.

The Australian Education Union’s (AEU) submission to the review process has highlighted the abject failure of a decade of VET marketisation, contestability and privatisation by governments at all levels, and the catastrophic damage it has wrought on this sector: • VET funding was cut by more than 15 per cent in the decade from 2007 to 2016 and government expenditure declined by 31.5 per cent over that time.

• As a result of this continual assault, TAFE enrolments have declined steadily in recent years, from nearly 800,000 in 2015 to 680,000 in 2017.

• There are now over 4,600 active registered training providers, but only 96 of these providers have more than 100 full time students.

• In 2018, states, territories and the Commonwealth spent a combined total of $6.1 billion on vocational education, a decrease of $135 million when compared to 2017.

• In 2018, the Commonwealth contribution to all vocational education fell by $326 million (10.6 per cent), while Commonwealth contributions to public VET delivery fell by more than double that total, by 23.2 per cent, in that year.

• The number of government-funded vocational education students has fallen by almost 17 per cent since 2012 across all jurisdictions, but in TAFE, 12

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student numbers have fallen by 25 per cent. Meanwhile, students enrolled in subjects not delivered as part of a nationally recognised program (private providers) increased by 4.9 per cent to 2.5 million people in 2018, compared with 2017.

• Overall VET student numbers have also decreased by 1.5 per cent to 4.1 million people in 2018, compared with 2017.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the interim report’s focus on giving profit-seeking private training providers more access to public VET funding was appalling and would make it more difficult for Australian workers and apprentices to access high-quality public vocational education at a time when they are most urgently needed to help rebuild the economy.

“The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the urgent need for qualified workers across all industries to be able to adapt quickly to new opportunities when they arise,” Ms Haythorpe said.

“TAFE is the only institution with the infrastructure, the workforce and the trusted reputation to be able to provide high quality VET qualifications across the country today.”

Ms Haythorpe said TAFE was Australia’s most trusted brand when it came to the

public provision of vocational education and training.

“The community knows, understands and values TAFE for what it is and what it offers. The Morrison Government has shown time and time again that it does not,” she said.

“Governments must prioritise investment in TAFE as the anchor institution of vocational education, to ensure that it is the centrepiece of rebuilding Australia’s economy.

“History has shown that private providers do not provide the skilled and highly qualified workforce to meet the needs of a changing economy.”

Ms Haythorpe said the Morrison Government should put TAFE at the forefront of the economic recovery process through immediate investment in infrastructure, equipment, staffing and programs.

“TAFE offers high quality vocational education at all levels, with nationally accredited programs, a highly qualified and experienced workforce, campuses across Australia, and it has the trust and respect of employers and the community,” she said.

“A strong, fully-funded TAFE sector must be at the centre of the Commonwealth’s response post COVID-19 so that Australia emerges in the best-possible social and economic condition.”

AEU submission into PC TAFE report The following is a summary of main points of the AEU’s submission to the Productivity Commission National Agreement for Skills and Workforce Development Review Interim Report (NASWD).

In its submission to the Productivity Commission’s review of the NASWD the AEU has challenged the commission’s core assumptions about the inherent superiority of markets and contestability.

The AEU says that throughout the interim report the commission demonstrates a clear preference for private providers operating in an unencumbered market, revealing the commission’s predetermined view of how vocational education should operate in Australia.

The AEU submission highlights the damage inflicted on the sector over the last decade as a result of competition and marketisation, which has flooded the market with inferior private providers, resulting in the chronic underfunding of TAFE and publicly delivered vocational education and in the TAFE sector being the lowest funded of all the education sectors in Australia.

The submission roundly condemns the review’s recommended options of shifting subsidies to individual students as vouchers. Vouchers cannot deliver value for money in the long term and do not represent a prudent, efficient and sensible way to invest in vocational education.

TAFE

courses, wrap around services and pastoral care that TAFE provides.

TAFE delivers a much higher level of provision, at a significantly larger cost than the offerings of most private providers and any attempt to introduce consistent pricing without accounting for these can only result in VET delivery declining to the lowest common denominator offered by profit seeking, for profit private providers.

In response to the interim report’s inherent bias towards rampant marketisation the AEU has strongly argued that the commission recommend a coordinated effort to put TAFE at the forefront of the recovery and potential future economic stimulus efforts through immediate increased federal funding support and investment in infrastructure, equipment, staffing and programs, including: • Restoration of the more than $3 billion funding cut from TAFE and training since 2013.

• Implementation of targeted support for the public VET provider, guaranteeing a minimum of 70 per cent of all government VET funding to TAFE. • A significant capital investment in TAFE infrastructure, both in terms of improvements to existing campuses and the redeployment of closed campuses in regions without sufficient provision.

• A significant reinvestment in the TAFE teaching workforce, to replace the many tens of thousands who have been driven out of the sector over the last 10 years, and to alleviate current workloads.

The AEU’s full submission can be viewed at bit.ly/2DvBRPz

Incredibly, the commission’s interim report has proposed an increase in income contingent loans despite the VET-FEE-HELP fiasco handing billions of dollars to dodgy private registered training organisations and causing unprecedented damage to Australia’s vocational education system, costing more than $7 billion in total – more than is spent on Australia’s entire VET system annually.

The AEU also strongly asserts that the review’s proposal of introducing a nationally consistent pricing mechanism fails as it takes no account of the superior Western Teacher

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Professional

Call for Reconciliation in Action Award nominees Nominations for the 2020 SSTUWA Reconciliation in Action Award are now open.

The award celebrates the work of our members who are making positive contributions towards reconciliation.

It’s given in recognition of an SSTUWA member who is committed to ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have the right to receive a high quality public education, and has shown exemplary practice in education with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, while working towards the elimination of racism in public education.

The Reconciliation in Action Award is open to any individual or group of financial members of the SSTUWA, who have been a member for at least 12 months.

Any public school or TAFE college with a project run by SSTUWA financial members is also eligible for the award.

The award is presented for:

• Exemplary practice in education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students that focuses on promoting cultural competency; and/or

The 2019 recipient of the inaugural Reconciliation in Action Award was Elisha Yarran-Roper from Carine Senior High School.

• Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and/or

Nominations forms for the 2020 Reconciliation in Action Award are available at sstuwa.org.au/ATSI

• Working towards the elimination of racism within public education.

This may be in one of the four following ways: 1. Through a whole school/TAFE approach.

2. Improving the outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

3. Improving the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and members of the broader community in school decision-making processes.

4. Developing and implementing an innovative product or program relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

Applications are due by Friday 16 October.

The recipient for the 2020 Reconciliation in Action Award will be announced at November State Council Conference and will automatically be nominated for the national AEU Arthur Hamilton Award.

Nominations for the Arthur Hamilton Award are also open to any SSTUWA member who has made a contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

For more information contact Colleen Mack at cmack@sstuwa.org.au or on 9210 6000.

Recognising and rewarding

Nominations open for the Arthur Hamilton Award

This is your chance to celebrate AEU members who are making an outstanding contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

The Arthur Hamilton Award commemorates the achievements of Arthur Hamilton, a Palawa man who was active in promoting cross-cultural awareness, recognition of Indigenous peoples and the right for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to access a high quality public education.

The winner will receive a $1500 prize and will be flown to Melbourne to accept the Award at the annual Federal Conference of the AEU in February 2021. All nominees will receive a certificate from the AEU.

Get nominating!

Download your nomination form at: aeufederal.org.au/our-work/indigenous or, request a nomination form from Suzanne Lowndes: (03) 9693 1800, slowndes@aeufederal.org.au Closing date for nominations is Friday 6 November 2020

Find out more

Visit aeufederal.org.au/our-work/indigenous or contact AEU Federal Secretary, Susan Hopgood: aeu@aeufederal.org.au

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The 2019 Arthur Hamilton Award went to the Port Augusta Children’s Centre.

The Award was presented by Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal President (left), to Mandy Dempsey, Director, Port Augusta Children’s Centre, at the 2020 AEU Federal Conference.

Early childhood education

Make time for play – in the right way

By Samantha Schofield Vice President

The reality of living through a pandemic which is unprecedented, unpredictable and global, presents a variety of challenges.

At the beginning of 2019, the Department of Education’s Focus documents highlighted the need for schools to “emphasise the role of play-based learning in a balanced curriculum for kindergarten and pre-primary students”, aligning to the SSTUWA’s campaign for greater recognition of the importance of play in a balanced curriculum rather than a heavy assessment-driven approach in the early years of education.

During 2019, the SSTUWA held seven Play is Learning forums across WA, where public school early childhood teachers and school leaders were able to share their experiences to inspire others and raise the awareness of including a playbased policy at the school level.

Eighteen months later, we are experiencing a global pandemic and considering lesson plans and activities that adhere to governmental health advice. And while some play-based learning activities have had to be suspended or heavily modified during this time, it is still important to reach a balance in the curriculum to support the educational and mental health needs of our students.

Like all teachers and school leaders, those in early childhood education have found it challenging to ensure the health and safety of staff and students in providing a full range of quality teaching and learning experiences to assist students in “Belonging, Being and Becoming” – the foundations of the Early Years Learning Framework – particularly as there is a need for young students to develop and explore – often through hands-on experiential learning.

The International Play Association states that it: “recognises playing as a basic and

vital part of the pleasure of childhood. We see it as an essential part of all aspects of children’s development. During times of crisis, play has a significant therapeutic role, helping children recover a sense of normality and joy.”

The speed of which this virus has spread has seen education departments and schools quickly reposition themselves during this pandemic, and look at alternative methods to reach and teach their students, with a significant focus of digital resources and platforms.

However, little time has been spent investigating which, if any, digital resources are the most appropriate or useful for education.

Quickly cobbled together digital resources or free programs offered by a multitude of companies promoting themselves as educational, may have provided some short term support during this pandemic to connect with students and families, but they must be seen in the context for which they arose and a cautious approach to their future use must be used, particularly for very young children.

These cannot and should not replace experienced teachers or quality teaching and learning pedagogies.

While we all continue to navigate through this unpredictable period in the coming months and years, it feels surreal to think about our classroom activities for next term, let alone next year.

For many teachers and school leaders, this may feel futile or further add to the anxiety and/or stress. For others,

the redirection to focus on future class activities gives a prospect of hope and stability.

Collectivism and collaboration during a crisis is important for us as a union to do.

Collectivism is at our core.

While it may not always be possible to meet face to face at the moment given health requirements and restrictions, as an SSTUWA member you are part of an expansive network of teachers and school leaders and TAFE lecturers across WA. If you are an SSTUWA early childhood school leader or teacher, and would like to share your experiences with the Early Years Learning Framework and how you utilise and promote quality teaching and learning experiences to assist students in Belonging, Being and Becoming, as part of a balanced curriculum, please contact us at: editor@sstuwa.org.au

Resources

WA Department of Education – Play Based Learning Resources: bit.ly/2CVlcVo WA Department of Education – Early Childhood Branch: bit.ly/3jaeXMN The International Play Association support for parents and carers: bit.ly/2YtSQsM Early Years Learning Framework: bit.ly/3jhhMMp

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Public education funding would help recovery A new Australian Education Union (AEU) submission to federal government has called for significant and ongoing investment into Australia’s public schools, preschools and TAFE system in October’s federal budget, to provide decades of equity, opportunity, security and future prosperity for all Australians.

The AEU’s 2020-21 pre-budget submission focuses on the important and urgent need for investment in public schools, preschools and TAFE to stimulate Australia’s economic recovery, and details the significant and lasting economic and social benefits that such an investment would bring.

The AEU submission outlines four crucial steps that the Morrison Government must take in its upcoming budget to drive Australia’s recovery through investment in public education. They are: • Lifting the 20 per cent cap on Commonwealth contributions to public schools and funding all public schools to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

• Implementing a significant program of capital works, including ongoing maintenance and new school building for public schools to accommodate enrolment growth and provide deep stimulus to manufacturing, construction and other industries.

• Restoring the billions of dollars cut from TAFE since 2013 and prioritising TAFE as the pre-eminent public provider of vocational education.

• Provide guaranteed ongoing funding to preschool for four-year-olds, extending this offering to three-yearolds nationally.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said public education was the bedrock on which Australia’s economic recovery could be built to secure a better future for all Australians.

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“The submission reveals how significant recurrent investment and a bold federal public school capital works program is one of the most effective ways that the Morrison Government could provide substantial stimulus across a number of sectors.

“The AEU’s submission asserts that this would improve equity in Australia’s education system and provide lasting economic and social benefits for decades to come.

“Additional investment in public education is required to cater for soaring public school enrolments, to provide guaranteed ongoing funding and certainty for preschools, their employees and parents, and to prepare TAFE to provide vocational education for the hundreds of thousands of workers who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 economic crisis.”

“By combining this with a significant public school capital investment program, the Morrison Government has a real opportunity to invest in Australia’s growth and prosperity.”

Ms Haythorpe said a recent report by the Centre for Future Work revealed that despite years of significant funding pressure and policy failure, the historic and current investment in the TAFE system contributed an estimated $92.5 billion each year to the Australian economy.

The AEU’s submission draws on recent economic analysis and the recommendations of government commissioned reviews to demonstrate that properly funding and resourcing public education, from the early years through schooling to post-secondary education, provides enormous economic benefit and is essential to fairness, equity, opportunity, security and future prosperity in this country.

“The review of federal preschools funding called for guaranteed ongoing funding for universal access to preschool for four-year-old children, saying that quality preschool not only makes a significant, long-term difference to educational and other developmental outcomes but also contributes to increased workforce participation and tax revenues, and reduces pressure on education, health and justice budgets,” she said.

“Investing in public schools, preschools and TAFE in the federal budget as a core component of the Commonwealth’s recovery strategy would have a profound impact not only for students but for the entire economy,” Ms Haythorpe said.

“The 2020-21 federal budget must provide funding for economic stimulus to help Australia’s post-COVID-19 recovery.

“Ensuring that every public school receives 100 per cent of the SRS is essential for achieving educational equity and improving achievement in Australia.

“This stimulus should be targeted where it can have the most immediate and long term impact – that is, investing in the future of our children by investing in public education.”

To read the AEU’s submission, visit bit.ly/2GcmXim

ANSA is wrong for NAPLAN question

Issues

The recommendations from a recent NAPLAN review provide little hope that the proposed new Australian National Standardised Assessment (ANSA) will be any better than the incredibly flawed and damaging NAPLAN system it is proposed to replace.

The review of NAPLAN, commissioned by the Queensland, NSW, Victorian and ACT governments and presented to the Education Council, recommended an overhaul to NAPLAN, but re-endorsed the concept of national census testing of school students.

However Australian Education Union Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the review recommendations failed to address the fundamental problems inherent in NAPLAN. “The NAPLAN review presented to the Education Council has failed teachers and students by recommending the continuation and indeed the expansion of mass census testing,” she said.

“This review recognises that for more than a decade NAPLAN has failed as an assessment, but it doesn’t take the next logical step of calling for a new samplebased assessment strategy that has students and teachers at its heart.

“This means that the NAPLAN dataset cannot be relied upon by education departments, schools, parents or the broader community.

“The ANSA proposal fails to address the issues that concern teachers across the country with respect to NAPLAN,” she said.

“This review calls for a new time series in response to these ongoing issues with the NAPLAN dataset, but merely calls for a reset, rather than a comprehensive new national assessment strategy.”

“The Morrison Government must show leadership and act swiftly by scrapping NAPLAN, and engaging in comprehensive consultation with the teaching profession and its union, the AEU to develop a replacement.”

Ms Haythorpe said it now was time for NAPLAN to be scrapped.

The AEU will provide further comment once the full report has been analysed.

“The published recommendations provide little hope that any replacement national assessment structure being proposed will be any better than NAPLAN. “The recommendations tinker at the edges of the problem with a name change, and by slightly altering the schedule and year groups tested.

“However the review completely fails to address the structural problems with NAPLAN, problems that triggered the review in the first place.”

Ms Haythope said NAPLAN had been plagued by a lack of credibility with teachers and parents for years.

“ACARA’s own national report earlier this year admitted that NAPLAN results had been corrupted by connectivity issues which had prevented many students from having a fair attempt to do their best,” she said.

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Resisting the digital automation of teaching

By Professor Neil Selwyn Monash University

COVID-19 has certainly pushed teachers and technology into the headlines. In the short term, technologies such as Zoom, Google Docs and Microsoft Teams are proving invaluable ways for educators to continue doing their jobs as best as possible.

However, the sight of TAFE teachers, lecturers and tutors hastily turning to remote teaching methods has also triggered renewed calls for the longerterm radical rethinking of education.

As Frederick Hess observed in the initial weeks of the lockdown: “a few education analysts have started to sound positively giddy about this exciting opportunity to spitball ideas and try out nifty new programs”.

Since then, EdTech gurus have been quick to talk of the silver lining of COVID-19 and “the genie [being let] out of the bottle”.

Andrew Cuomo – state governor of New York – perhaps best encapsulated this sentiment when arguing for a permanent switch-over to sophisticated remote learning across the education system: “The old model of everybody goes and sits in a classroom and the teacher is in front of that classroom, and teaches that class, and you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms ... why, with all the technology you have? … It’s hard to change the status quo. But you get moments in history where people say, ‘OK I’m ready. I’m ready for change. I get it’. I think this is one of those moments.”

Reimagining teaching, again As with many aspects of the pandemic, these arguments for change are not new.

Technologists have long been calling for the radical digitisation and automation of teaching – especially across the tertiary sector.

These visions move well beyond what most teachers might currently understand as digital education (for example, managing student learning through the 18

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college learning management system).

Instead, the development of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, driven by powerful advances in computational processing and big data generation, continues to fuel arguments for a radical reboot of how teaching and learning takes place.

without coming into direct contact with human teachers.

Crucially, neither the expert teacher nor the bricks and mortar classroom tend to be central components of these reimaginings.

Facial recognition systems can be used to verify each students’ attendance as they study at home, as well as continuously monitor their attention and engagement. Powerful AI-driven systems can provide personalised learning provision – analysing each student’s past performance to calculate bespoke recommendations for what they should learn next.

Such arguments are certainly ambitious, but they are not without substance.

Indeed, the technology already exists for student cohorts to go through much of their college day working fully online and

Helpful software-based chat bots and conversational agents can appear at any time to answer queries, offer guidance and support. At the end of the day, students can be assessed through

Issues

automated marking systems and online proctored testing.

digital technology is a neutral tool rather than a threat.

While few people anticipate that these technologies will do away with the need for human supervision altogether, there is a growing feeling that the teacher-led classroom is no longer the ideal setting for teaching and learning.

Indeed, this new wave of AI-driven educational innovation has tended to be sold to teachers as a benign source of support and assistance.

Even when these technologies are deployed in a physical classroom, it is beginning to be reasoned that highly trained, costly professional teachers are no longer required to oversee proceedings.

Indeed, digital education systems are sometimes sold with the promise of being teacher-proof – i.e. guaranteeing high quality learning regardless of the individual teacher. The logical connotations of teacher-proof technology is straightforward.

If AI systems are doing most of the educational heavy-lifting, then it does not require a highly-trained professional educator to steward the technology and occasionally trouble-shoot any glitches.

At the moment, these powerful applications, platforms and systems are beginning to be introduced into Australian education with very little dissent from the education community.

This is perhaps unsurprising, given that we live in a world that is increasingly shaped by Silicon Valley and the idea that

We are assured that the AI-assisted teacher will be freed from repetitive tasks to work with individual students and utilise their pedagogic and industry expertise.

However, as many other professions are now finding, there is a fine line between being assisted and being told what to do.

Teachers working with personalised learning systems can quickly find themselves blindly following whatever the system directs them to do. What tech companies might be keen to market as empowering can easily be experienced as constraining. All told, we cannot assume that increased automation will result in increased autonomy.

Getting to grips with the harms Given all the above, tertiary educators need to quickly get to grips with the possible harms (as well as benefits) that these technologies might bring.

In particular, we need coordinated pushback against the implication that highly trained, expert professional teachers are no longer needed in face-to-face classrooms (or their online equivalents).

So, as the 2020s progress it will be increasingly necessary to restate the case for teachers, tutors and lecturers, and resist the excessive automation of the classroom.

Current TAFE educators might feel confident that their skills are irreplaceable, but employers are going to increasingly suspect that digital technology might be more efficient, reliable and cheaper than humans.

These claims are going to be made with increasing urgency as the post-COVID global economic downturn takes hold.

The logic of digital automation fits well with the enduring popularist suspicion that teachers have long been a conservative and over-unionised workforce that is stubbornly resistant to change.

Such thinking is reinforced by a general sense that all professional work that involves routine, structure and protocol is susceptible to automation. If journalists, accountants, lawyers, doctors and architects are now having to fear for their jobs, then why not teachers?

With all this in mind, it seems likely that the next few years will see highly trained expert teachers come under pressure to justify their existence.

Pessimistically, AI-driven educational technology could well usher in an era of de-professionalisation. (continued on page 20) Western Teacher

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Issues (continued from page 19) We might end up with a new generation of teachers in name only – poorly-trained and precariously-employed individuals acting primarily as non-specialised facilitators.

So how should the education community respond? There is clearly a need for teaching unions, professional associations and everyone else with an interest in teaching to stand up and be counted.

There needs to be concerted efforts to emphasise the value added of having professional teachers in face-to-face and online classrooms, and to better promote the idea of what expert teachers do.

What teachers and students have been doing over the ongoing college shutdowns is certainly not comparable with the sophisticated and deliberate forms of online education being spruiked by EdTech advocates.

Instead, the online education being deployed by colleges during the first half of 2020 is best described as a form of “temporary distance education”.

These are emergency measures – involving what Sean Michael Morris describes as people “who never expected – nor ever wanted – to use digital technology to communicate or work” forced into quickly developing ways of studying and teaching as best they can.

In short, educators need to talk loudly about how expert human teachers are able to support learning in ways that can never be replicated fully through technology.

If anything, then, COVID-19 has provided a stark reminder of the crucial (but often taken-for-granted) role that real-life classrooms, campuses and fully-present teachers play.

In the short term, we also need to be watchful that the ongoing COVID-19 disruptions are not misused to force radical education reforms by those who stand to profit directly from them.

In the aftermath of this crisis, there is a clear need to reframe ongoing debates about the future of tertiary education in ways that acknowledge – if not celebrate – the societal value of face-to-face

education led by expert educators.

No-one would claim that TAFE institutions are perfect – there is clearly much that can be improved, and substantial problems continue to blight our education systems.

Yet COVID-19 has demonstrated how campuses and classrooms are woven deeply into our shared experiences of what makes for good education – i.e. a communal, socially-driven and genuinely empowering process.

As the initial shock and panic around the virus begin to fade away, to now argue for the complete digitisation and automation of education seems an even more misguided argument than it did before the pandemic took hold.

Neil Selwyn is a professor in the Faculty of Education, Monash University. His latest book is titled Should Robots Replace Teachers? AI and the future of education.

This article was originally published in The Australian TAFE Teacher, Winter 2020.

38%

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38%

off ga s charg usage e 2 years for s*

%

The bureaucratisation of public education

Issues

By Trevor Cobbold Save our Schools convenor

Australia has long been infected by what world renowned Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg, currently professor of education at the Gonski Institute of Education in Sydney, coined as GERM (Global Education Reform Movement).

It is characterised by corporate management policies, test-based accountability of schools and fostering competition between schools to drive improvement in education outcomes.

One manifestation of GERM is a bloated bureaucracy to police compliance with regulations, collect and record information and monitor performance.

Public school systems in Australia have seen an enormous increase in bureaucracy since the turn of the century.

So-called school reforms beginning in the 1990s promised less bureaucratic control but instead have intensified bureaucracy at all levels of public education systems.

Both Coalition and Labor governments have adopted GERM and expanded bureaucracy in public education.

From 2002 to 2019, the increase in administrative staff at the system and school levels was far greater than the increase in teachers and students.

Administrative and clerical staff increased by 90.2 per cent in primary schools and 82.6 per cent in secondary schools.

The increase in primary schools was three and a half times the increase in teachers (25.3 per cent) and the increase in secondary schools nearly seven times the increase in teachers (12.4 per cent).

schools compared to 20 per cent in 2002.

Administrative staff in secondary schools increased from 17 per cent to 25 per cent of all staff.

The increase in central and regional office staff of 56 per cent was three times that for all teachers (19 per cent) and four times that of students (14 per cent).

Detailed figures for non-school staff are available only from 2015.

The number of executive (management) staff increased by 70 per cent to 2019.

This was over 10 times the increase in students and teachers over the period which increased by only 6.4 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively.

schools. As one principal told Save our Schools, central office is “micromanaging schools” and that “more and more accountability and evaluation become counter-productive” for teaching and learning.

Despite the increase in administrative staff in schools, the administrative load for principals and teachers has increased.

Data from the OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2018 show that principals and teachers are working longer hours on administration.

Total non-school staff increased by 23.5 per cent, nearly four times that of students and teachers.

Australian teachers spend the third highest number of hours on management and administration in the OECD.

Increased government accountability requirements and regulations have driven the huge increase in administrative staff in central and regional offices and in schools as well as placing increased administrative workloads on principals and teachers.

The bureaucratisation of public education has clearly failed. Moreover, the huge increase in administrative staff in schools and in central and regional offices appears to have soaked up the very small increase in government funding allocated to public schools since 2002.

The promise of more school autonomy and less bureaucratic control has turned into a monster of more bureaucracy at both the central and school levels.

Increasing bureaucratisation is not the way to improve school performance and student outcomes.

State education departments are focused primarily on administrative and compliance roles rather than curriculum, teaching and learning support.

Public schools continue to face large shortages in teachers in key subject areas with the result that many are teaching out-of-field.

Very few branches of state departments of education are directly involved in supporting teaching and learning.

Australian governments must eradicate GERM and focus on providing the necessary high-quality human and material resources for public schools to reduce the large achievement gaps.

The increases in administrative staff also far exceeded the increase in enrolments – six times the increase in students in primary (14.5 per cent) and secondary schools (13.6 per cent).

The vast majority are devoted to administration of finance, policing compliance to regulations, performance monitoring, human resource management and other corporate functions.

Administrative staff now comprise 27 per cent of school staff in primary

The system has resulted in a strengthening of central control over

The above article was first published on the Save our Schools Australia website (bit.ly/3idip99) and has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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Issues

Stand up for your rights Protecting our democratic systems means speaking out, engaging and standing up for your rights and for those of colleagues and students.

The most effective and sustainable means to improve the fate of students, the profession and communities remains collective action through democratic, independent trade unions.

Why did the Arab Spring succeed in Tunisia, but fail in Egypt? There was an explosion of information available in both places, people went to the streets, and social networking exploded, but little significant change has occurred in Egypt.

Why didn’t that happen in Tunisia? There were historical factors, among them that the dictatorship in Tunisia had educated its people, had relatively progressive laws on women’s rights, and was more secular than its neighbours.

The key difference was that in Tunisia workers had a legitimate, representative trade union organisation, the Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT).

During all the years of repression, which included greater or lesser attacks on the UGTT leadership, internal trade union democracy was maintained.

Members may not have known a political democracy, but they lived democracy in their trade unions.

The UGTT was an actor in the economy, respected by employers, and had a large enough base and enough power that even autocrats had to negotiate with them.

democratic legitimacy for the struggle.

When the fight moved to Tunis, the UGTT national headquarters was prepared to take the lead, but it was not necessary. It was all over.

Later, when liberty was endangered by Islamic fundamentalists, the UGTT helped save democracy because it was a large, democratic organisation representing workers from all sectors and regions. It was, with its partners, recognised with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015.

There are so many stories of courageous teachers standing up for their rights and for democracy. Some have paid a very high price for expressing their views, establishing independent organisations and mobilising their colleagues.

From Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria to Djibouti, Iraq, Yemen and Bahrain at the time of the Arab Spring. From Cambodia to Indonesia, from the stan countries to Turkey to the Balkans, from Chile to Brazil, to Venezuela, from South Africa and Zimbabwe to Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia, it is a very long list of countries and places where teachers, despite repression, stood up in defence of a democratic future for their nations.

The trade union challenge to repression is different from that of others in civil society. For example, the government of Iran understands that free trade unions are a threat to authoritarian rule.

When people went to the streets in Tunisia during the Arab Spring, region by region, they went to the UGTT regional structures.

When teachers, bus drivers, journalists and food workers formed independent unions, their leaders risked arrest, harassment, violence and years in prison.

Their struggle was adopted by the regions and they provided structures and

For more than a decade, leaders of the clandestine teachers’ organisations have

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September 2020

been arrested, tortured, sent to prison and some have even been sentenced to death.

The repression by Iran’s religious and military elite against trade union officers shows their understanding of the importance of legitimate trade unions, the appeal of democracy and the power of organised society.

Five names not to be forgotten, from the records of Education International: Farzad Kamangar, one of the founders of the Iranian teachers’ organisation, was charged with endangering national security and sentenced to death after a trial lasting less than five minutes. He was executed on 9 May 2010.

Abdolreza Ghanbari, teacher activist, arrested on 4 January 2010 for allegedly belonging to an armed opposition group, first sentenced to death in 2012 after an unfair trial, then, in June 2013 sentenced to 15 years in prison, but released in March 2016 after a global solidarity campaign.

Mahmoud Beheshti Langroudi, teacher activist, arrested on 24 April 2010, tortured, denied urgent medical care, and sentenced to six-years’ imprisonment on 22 February 2016.

Issues Mohammad Habibi, teacher activist, sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on 4 August 2018; the sentence also included prohibition of social and political activities for two years, a travel ban and 74 lashes.

Mokhtar Asadi, teacher activist, detained for 66 days in 2010, and again from September 2017 to July 2018 for “propaganda against the state”; arrested again on 14 February 2019 in Sanandaj, hours after he took part in a peaceful teachers’ protest, released on bail in March 2019 and awaiting trial.

Trade unions, because they are representative organisations, are often privileged targets of attacks from dictatorial regimes. But democratic governments too sometimes deliberately weaken trade union organisations, thus undermining institutions that are vital to democracy.

Standing up for your rights is not only a matter of defending one’s professional and trade union freedoms, but also about exposing weaknesses in democracy that undermine it.

This can be risky and thankless.

An example is the struggle against the scourge of corruption. Corruption not only violates the fundamentals of democratic governance and basic transparency, but it creates understandable public cynicism and may make the public willing to sacrifice democracy.

Corruption does not only take the form of outright thievery. In many countries, money to finance campaigns and to lobby elected officials has purchased access and, on occasion, decisions by elected officials. This is a form of democracy theft.

The influence of private money in politics, for example, seriously compromises democracy in the United States.

In the Philippines and Venezuela, people were willing to elect strongmen because of corruption.

The damage done to trade unions, the free press and other democratic institutions was enormous, but it was difficult to stand up against anti-democratic practices without looking like apologists for corruption.

In Brazil, false corruption charges against former president and trade union leader Lula helped catapult corrupt rightwingers into power, which, in turn, led to the election of nationalist populist Jair Bolsonaro as president, a serious threat to education and trade unions. Corruption is also common in many countries in Asia and Africa.

As 18th century English philosopher, jurist and social reformer Jeremy Bentham said, “Secrecy, being an instrument of conspiracy, ought never to be the system of a regular government”.

The defence of democracy requires finding ways to make sure that it is defensible, including fighting the diversion and misuse of public funds.

Shortcuts to traditional transparency procedures such as publishing documents on web sites and giving a deadline for public reactions by email cannot replace social dialogue, proper consultations and public discussion.

Governments that have steadily eroded rights and democratic institutions, like those in Hungary and Poland, were freely elected to power.

The post-Cold War policy focus in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union on rapid movement to market economies often failed to put in place the necessary institutions to guard against corruption and arbitrary governance. They embraced market economies without the regulatory infrastructure for it to function properly or protect consumers, workers or the environment.

In some countries, like Bulgaria and Romania, political parties campaigned against corruption, won and became corrupt themselves. The cycle repeats.

Countries that have mineral or fossil fuel wealth are particularly vulnerable. The “partnership” between public and private can be costly and dangerous. In fact, the liberalisation of the world economy, accommodated and facilitated by national governments, is moving the balance of power to unelected corporations and undermining national sovereignty and democracy.

Serious damage also is done to democracy by a lack of transparency in government, which not only keeps abuses secret from the public and prevents public accountability but undermines confidence in government.

For many decades, Transparency International has documented such abuses.

Transparency is an important ingredient in democracy even beyond the misuse or possible misuse of public money.

It also means open public meetings, hearings and other consultations instead of a few people discussing and making decisions in secrecy.

Transparency means that any policy, national or international, that affects the public is the business of the public.

Often the lack of transparency in public procedures links with complicity of government officials with vendors or other private parties.

The government of Liberia turned over so much of its public school system to an international private company, Bridge International Academies, that it became a governance scandal.

It has also caused distressing experiences for students and parents. Students were pushed out of school due to enrolment caps and 74 per cent of teachers lost positions in schools operated by that company.

Throughout the entire process, the Liberian government refused to release one single memorandum of understanding with the providers chosen as part of the school privatisation/ outsourcing arrangements.

They also refused to allow independent researchers to have access to the schools.

In other words, the lack of transparency led directly to other undemocratic practices (Tyler, 2017, p. 24; Education International, 2017).

The above text is an excerpt from On Education & Democracy (2019) by Susan Hopgood and Fred van Leeuwen. The book contains 25 lessons from the teaching profession for educators.

This is one of six lessons that have been identified by the SSTUWA as key organisational objectives following November State Council Conference 2019. This article has been edited for clarity and brevity. The full article and book can be read at: bit.ly/2w4kNvW

Western Teacher

September 2020

23

Seen around

Retired teacher members welcomed back

In addition to hosting members for education and training, the SSTUWA also hosts meetings of the Retired Teachers’ Association (RTA).

The RTA hosts weekly meetings at the SSTUWA building to conduct activities such as talks, choir practises, literature group meetings and other general social gatherings.

RTA: Clare Gartner and Angela Quinn.

RTA: Peter Edmonds.

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Western Teacher

The COVID-19 crisis forced the union and the RTA to cancel its meetings at the SSTUWA building from earlier this year, but recently its members were welcomed back with a special luncheon to celebrate the easing of social restrictions in WA and subsequent resumption of RTA events at the union.

members were appreciative of how they

The RTA’s Brian Lindberg thanked the union for organising the event and said

turn to page 34 of this issue of

were spoilt as a group, while SSTUWA President Pat Byrne said the union was delighted to have the RTA back meeting in the building.

For more information about the RTA’s activities and how to be involved, Western Teacher.

RTA: Nan Cahill.

RTA: Josephine Wright, Chris Preece and Shirley Gollagher.

September 2020

Seen around

RTA: Ann Strauss leads a literature group discussion.

RTA: Bert Berry and Terry McLaughlin.

RTA: Keith Davies and Pat Spillman.

RTA: Members tucking into their lunch.

RTA: Retired teachers enjoying being able to meet at the union building.

Western Teacher

September 2020

25

National education and union news

National education and union news TAFE investment equals $92 billion annual economic dividend A new report demonstrating TAFE’s role in Australia’s decades-long economic success story has warned that failing to invest in the sector will destroy one of the primary engines of economic growth, prosperity and equity in the Australian economy.

The report by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, An Investment in Productivity and Inclusion: The Economic and Social Benefits of the TAFE System, has revealed that despite years of significant funding pressure and policy failure, the TAFE system plays a huge and fundamentally important role in the Australian economy, contributing an estimated $92.5 billion each year.

According to the report, TAFE: • Creates $84.9 billion in annual productivity benefits, including $25 billion in taxation revenue, which alone is more than four times its annual funding.

• Has a $6.1 billion economic footprint, including purchases of goods and services, supply chain inputs and employment supporting 48,000 jobs.

• Is responsible for $1.5 billion in reduced social expenses annually, lowering unemployment and supporting a healthier workforce and society.

• Has created an increase in employment of around 486,000 positions.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe (pictured above) welcomed the report, saying it validated the critical role that TAFE plays in the Australian economy, as well as TAFE’s social purpose in providing high-quality vocational education for all 26

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September 2020

students and in particular, those at-risk and from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“TAFE has made a huge contribution to Australia’s economic prosperity, despite years of what can only be described as policy vandalism of the vocational education sector,” she said.

“For too long, governments have focused on marketisation, contestability of funding, student loans, reductions in public VET funding, and the direction of public funding towards privatised VET providers.

“These are policies which have been detrimental to a vibrant TAFE system, and have had a devastating impact on staffing and students with courses and campuses closing across the nation.

“Right now, what Australian workers need in a post-COVID economy is high-quality vocational education from the trusted public provider, TAFE.” Ms Haythorpe said that TAFE provided benefits that were critically important in addressing systemic inequality in Australia’s economy and society.

“TAFE has a strong social contract with our communities, and as such, must be supported by governments,” she said “It is TAFE teachers who deliver these annual economic and social benefits despite years of skyrocketing workloads and severe cuts to the TAFE workforce.

“For governments to jeopardise this by failing to recognise and invest in TAFE’s proven economic and societal benefits would be a mistake of historic proportions.”

Ms Haythorpe said TAFE was the only institution with the infrastructure, the workforce and the trusted reputation to be

able to provide the high-quality vocational education qualifications needed today to recover from the COVID crisis.

“The report shows that Australia is no longer replacing previous generations of highly-qualified TAFE graduates at the same rate, due to funding cuts over the last seven years, placing the flow of economic benefits generated by welltrained, better-paid TAFE graduates in jeopardy,” she said.

“The AEU welcomes the report’s recommendations including that there is an urgent need for a comprehensive public-led reconstruction program that invests in the skills and vocational education of workers and young people.

TAFE is ready to meet this need but needs the backing of all governments to do so.

“This is a historic opportunity to strengthen the essential role that TAFE institutes already play in labour market planning and coordination.

“This report shows that Australia’s historic investment in TAFE generates huge economic benefits every year.

National education and union news Australia’s post-COVID-19 response must start with revitalising TAFE as the trusted anchor institution of vocational education, and it must be funded accordingly with a

minimum 70 per cent of total government VET funding.

“The Morrison Government must support TAFE in the upcoming October federal

budget so that it can do what it does best – provide a high-quality vocational education for all.”

To read more visit bit.ly/3aNMBVS

ACTU provides plan for jobs in pre-budget submission The ACTU has urged the Morrison Government to expand its pandemic response and adopt a comprehensive jobs plan in a pre-budget submission it has submitted to the Treasurer.

Noting that the Morrison Government’s fiscal response has been smaller as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) than Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, USA, Hong Kong, Germany and the United Kingdom, the submission calls on the government to adopt a national economic reconstruction plan.

The ACTU has put forward five practical proposals in its job plan: • A national strategy for early childhood education and care including free, universal, accessible childcare. This will support women being able to work, grow the economy and give our kids at the very best start in life.

• A training for reconstruction plan which includes 150,000 free TAFE courses and a 50 per cent government wage subsidy that goes for the life of apprenticeship or traineeship and delivers a job at the end.

• A Rediscover Australia initiative to help out travel and hospitality sectors and regions recover and survive.

• A National Reconstruction Investment plan to significantly boost investment in public capital projects, which should start with short lead time projects like public and social housing. Boosting public capital spending back to 6.5 per cent of GDP. • A sustainable manufacturing strategy which will support and expand manufacturing, assist both its shift to low cost and sustainable renewable energy and the production of the hightech products of the future. Starting with governments own procurement as a powerful lever.

ACTU President Michele O’Neil (pictured above right) said throughout this pandemic the Morrison Government had been consistently slow to act and has put forward a smaller fiscal response than many other developed economies.

“The crisis has been made worse by persistent uncertainty about the economy and the lack of a national economic reconstruction plan from the Morrison

Government,” she said.

“We need a comprehensive jobs plan which will put working people first and ensure that we have better, stronger rights as we recover from this crisis than we did going into it.

“Our plan calls for the government to use its power to create secure jobs for the millions of Australians without a job, or reliant on government support to stay in work.

“We stand ready, as we have for months, to work with government to create jobs and support Australian industries.”

Wage growth slumps to historic low The wage price index has slumped to 1.8 per cent over the year, down from 2.1 per cent in the March quarter, and only 0.2 per cent over the last quarter – the lowest quarterly and yearly rates since the index was started in 1997.

In the private sector, wage growth was negative for the first time in the history of the index, at -0.1 per cent.

Wage growth is how the economy will be restarted. We cannot allow more than

seven years of near record-low wage growth to continue through this period.

This is also why JobKeeper and JobSeeker

The ACTU stands ready to work with the Morrison Government to implement its comprehensive jobs plan, submitted to the government.

“We are almost six months into this

ACTU Secretary Sally McManus said working people had to lead the recovery.

working people and give them the security

“Wage growth and domestic consumption are how the economy will be re-started.

should not be cut,” she said. pandemic and we have no jobs plan. This data shows one is desperately needed.

“We need to put money in the hands of they need to spend it. If we don’t support working people, they can’t support the economy.

Western Teacher

September 2020

27

Education and Training Centre

Education & Training Centre Face to face professional learning opportunities Join us at 1 West Street for some outstanding professional learning opportunities.

Tuesday 29 September – Friday 9 October Brain Based Strategies for Easier, Enjoyable and Effective Teaching/ Learning and Well-Being (K-12)

Play is the Way® Behaviour Education Using Wisdom Not Force (K-6)

Tuesday 29 September

Thursday 1 October

9am-3pm

9am-3pm

The research is clear; a young person’s education is enhanced by teachers having a clear understanding of brain-science and using this understanding in their daily teaching practice. As teachers use these solutions to improve staff and student well-being, they also drastically improve the ability of our students’ brains to learn successfully.

PLAY IS THE WAY games engage children’s emotions and call for mastery and control of those emotions to achieve success.

By being challenging, the games develop self-motivation and perseverance.

Writing a Competitive Job Application for Teaching Positions

Keeping Educators Skilled Up and Safe: One-day

Friday 2 October

Thursday 1 October

9am - 12.30pm

®

Free of PowerPoint presentations, this workshop is participatory and interactive. You don’t need to be sporty or fit to attend the workshop but simply be willing to play, enjoy and benefit. Just dress comfortably and reap the rewards.

9am-3pm

During this half-day session you will develop an awareness of current Department of Education job application techniques and requirements. You will learn to demonstrate competitiveness when applying to specific schools via a covering letter and curriculum vitae.

This Level One course is aimed at low-risk settings. You will learn valuable skills that will ensure you have the confidence to keep you and your students safe in the event of a verbal or physical encounter while at work.

Police and Nurses (P&N) – Pre-Retirement Seminar

Making Makers: The Design and Engineering Process (PP-6)

Tuesday 6 October

Thursday 8 October

9.30am -1.15pm

This free pre-retirement seminar will be hosted by P&N Financial Planning team. It will cover Super rules, Centrelink benefits, transition to retirement, portfolio construction, managing debts and a Q&A session.

Interview Skills for Teaching Positions Friday 9 October

9am - 1pm

Learn the key aspects of preparing for and performing effectively at interviews for teaching positions. You will explore key preparatory activities such as considering the needs of the school, as well as the specific role and interests of the panel members. The program will also cover considerations for making favourable first and final impressions and what to avoid during interviews.

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Western Teacher

September 2020

9am -12.30pm

Discover new ways to teach innovative thinking with hands-on creation at the core of this engineering workshop. Unpack and decode the Technologies learning area of the WA curriculum, including both Design and Digital Technologies.

Education and Training Centre

.

Online professional learning opportunities Join us online for some outstanding professional learning opportunities.

Tuesday 29 September – Friday 9 October

My Skills: Coding for Teachers Tuesday 29 September

Communicating as a Leader: Challenging Conversations with Students 8am-9am

Wednesday 30 September 8am-9.30pm

Coding in schools is now a regular part of the conversation about the skills that students will need for the future. In this session, we focus on supporting you to learn about coding. Together participants will explore plugged and unplugged coding with the aim of making it accessible to all teachers, including those who are confident with technology and those for whom technology remains a challenge.

This session will support new leaders in their approach to working with students. Being in a leadership role, teachers are faced with more complex decision-making processes that have a significant impact on students’ lives. They are often required to deal with students in very demanding situations. It is important that leaders learn skills and techniques to use when having difficult or challenging conversations with students.

Communicating as a Leader: Challenging Conversations with Colleagues

Communicating as a Leader: Challenging Conversations with Parents

Wednesday 30 September 10am-11.30pm

Wednesday 30 September 12-1.30pm

This session will support new leaders in their approach to managing challenging conversations with colleagues. In a formal leadership role, there is pressure to respond to, and resolve, conflict situations with colleagues with whom we also have a collegial relationship as teachers. It is important for new leaders to develop the social and emotional competencies required to move between their teaching role and their leadership role. The presenter will focus on practical conflict resolution skills to manage these challenging conversations. This session is one of a series of three.

This session will support new leaders in their approach to working effectively with parents. As leaders in schools we are often called to respond to difficult and challenging situations with parents and members of the community. This session will outline the social and emotional competencies needed to manage difficult conversations with parents and will explore proactive strategies to create a positive climate for interactions with parents. The presenter will focus on practical skills to manage these difficult conversations. This session is one of a series of three.

Sharp Reading Webinar: A Systematic Approach to Comprehension: Years 2-6

Sharp Reading Webinar: The Struggling Older Reader

Wednesday 7 October

Thursday 8 October

9am-1pm

Due to travel restrictions, the annual Sharp Reading professional learning events will be held via webinar. This is highly recommended for the experienced classroom teacher who is looking for a fresh approach to comprehension instruction, the beginning teacher who needs some structure to get an effective reading program up and running, as well as the relieving teacher who needs a stand-alone routine that can be quickly introduced as a one-off lesson.

9am-1pm

The webinar will get you off to a flying start with the Sharp Reading approach to assisting the struggling older reader and the ONLiNE course will give you ongoing access to the theory, video models, tips and suggestions for consolidating and reviewing your learning.

Visit sstuwa.org.au/training to register for events Western Teacher

September 2020

29

Member benefits

Member benefits Accountants and Financial Advisers Aston Accountants

10% discount on personal income tax returns for members.

sstuwa.org.au/aston

Industry Fund Services

Specialist financial products for union members.

sstuwa.org.au/ifs

LIFE Financial Planners

$1,200 off your statement of advice fee plus a free financial health check for members.

sstuwa.org.au/lifefinancial

Teacher Tax

$99 tax returns for members.

sstuwa.org.au/teachertax

TIPS Financial Services

$1,100 discount on your TIPS Transition to Retirement strategy or Retirement plan.

Exclusive to members.

sstuwa.org.au/tipsfs

Banking ME Bank

Special offers throughout the year for members. A bank built by, and for, union members.

sstuwa.org.au/mebank

Mortgages, Money and Me

Complimentary advice, property reports, finance tools and more for SSTUWA members.

sstuwa.org.au/mmme

OFX Money Transfers

When it matters, OFX it. Save with the experts in international money transfers.

sstuwa.org.au/ofx

Teachers Mutual Bank

Banking exclusively for the education community.

AutoBahn

Mechanical and electrical services.

Members receive $20 off any service or 5% off any repair.

PLE Computers Save on your IT with access to the PLE Computers academic portal.

sstuwa.org.au/autobahn

sstuwa.org.au/ple

Bayswater Mazda

The Good Guys Commercial

Exclusive offer including $500 fuel card, 4 years free service and more.

sstuwa.org.au/bayswatermazda

Bob Jane T-Marts

Online access to live discounted pricing on The Good Guys’ full range.

sstuwa.org.au/thegoodguys

National fleet pricing on a range of products and services.

Educational Resources

easifleet

A Thinking and Caring Approach. By Barrie Bennett and Peter Smilanich.

sstuwa.org.au/bobjane

Bose headphones or Bluetooth speaker, or a year’s worth of Magic Hand car washes with any easifleet procured novated lease.

sstuwa.org.au/easifleet

Fleet Network

Package your next car and save on tax.

Bonus Samsung 8” tablet or Dash Cam with vehicle delivery.

Classroom Management

sstuwa.org.au/classroommgmt

Effective Group Work Beyond Cooperative Learning. By Barrie Bennett.

sstuwa.org.au/effectivegroupwork

sstuwa.org.au/fleetnetwork

Graphic Intelligence

Hertz

Possibilities for Assessment and Instruction. By Barrie Bennett.

5-10% discount on vehicle hire in Australia, NZ, USA and Canada.

sstuwa.org.au/hertz

Motor Market by Union Shopper

You choose the car, then we find you the lowest price.

sstuwa.org.au/motormarket

Thrifty Car and Truck Rental

10% discount on vehicle hire in Australia.

sstuwa.org.au/thrifty

tyresales.com.au

sstuwa.org.au/graphicintelligence

Instructional Intelligence Building Instructional Expertise for the Classroom. An SSTUWA project in collaboration with Barrie Bennett.

sstuwa.org.au/instructionalintelligence

Teacher Superstore 5-10% discount, in store and online.

10% discount on tyres.

sstuwa.org.au/teachersuperstore

Western Motor Vehicle Consultants

Entertainment

sstuwa.org.au/tyresales We’ll find a car you’ll love. Save time and money when sourcing your next vehicle.

sstuwa.org.au/westernmotors

Computers Altronics

Adventure World Save up to $14.50 on Adventure World tickets with Westclub.

sstuwa.org.au/adventureworld

Movie tickets

sstuwa.org.au/tmbank

Build it yourself electronics centre. VIP trade discount in store and online.

Cars

sstuwa.org.au/altronics

Discounts on physical tickets (greater savings) and instant digital tickets.

Apple on Campus

sstuwa.org.au/movietickets

sstuwa.org.au/apple

Rockface

Allwest Fleet

Vehicle salary packaging – save time, money and tax. Receive a $300 gift card with your new car.

sstuwa.org.au/allwestfleet

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Massive discounts on products and services for SSTUWA members

Western Teacher September 2020

For details visit:

Dell

Indoor rock climbing in Balcatta. $15 all day climbing pass with harness hire.

sstuwa.org.au/dell

sstuwa.org.au/rockface

Save up to 15% off selected items.

Member benefits *Terms & conditions apply.

Please visit our website for full details.

For more information visit sstuwa.org.au/benefits and the benefits tab of the SSTUWA App Food and Wine Campbells

Access wholesale prices with a complimentary day pass.

sstuwa.org.au/campbells

Cellar d’Or

Best value winery tour in the Margaret River Region. 10% discount for members.

sstuwa.org.au/cellardor

Cracka Wines

7.5% off online wine orders.

sstuwa.org.au/cracka

Taste Bud Tours

Swan Valley “Speed Grazing” – 20% discount. Good Food, Wine & Cider (am) or Good Food, Wine & Beer (pm).

sstuwa.org.au/tastebudtours

Health and Wellbeing St John

SSTUWA Legal Services

Access to quality legal services for both work-related and personal matters.

sstuwa.org.au/legal

Teachers Health Fund

Join the thousands of teachers who have already made the switch.

sstuwa.org.au/teachershealth

Teachers Health – Travel

10% discount on travel insurance.

sstuwa.org.au/travelinsurance

STA Travel Insurance

$20 discount for members.

sstuwa.org.au/statravelinsurance

Shopping Abacus Educational Supplies

10% discount, in store and online.

sstuwa.org.au/abacus

First aid saves lives. Discounted first aid courses and kits for members.

Dot Mall

WA Opticians

sstuwa.org.au/dotmall

sstuwa.org.au/stjohn

20% discount on spectacle frames and lenses. Perth and East Perth.

sstuwa.org.au/waopticians

Housing

BBQs, heaters and backyard kitchens.

5% discount for members.

Electrical buying

Let Union Shopper find the best deal on your electrical purchases.

sstuwa.org.au/electricalbuying

Houspect

isubscribe

sstuwa.org.au/houspect

sstuwa.org.au/isubscribe

Buy, build and invest with confidence. $50 discount on building inspections.

Johns Building Supplies

Trade prices on paint and painters’ hardware. Builders prices on all other hardware lines.

sstuwa.org.au/jbs

Kleenheat

In appreciation of teachers’ support of the community, Kleenheat is offering SSTUWA members bigger savings on natural gas.

sstuwa.org.au/kleenheat

SkylightsWA

Specialising in skylights and roof ventilation, servicing all regions of WA. 7% discount off selected products.

sstuwa.org.au/skylightswa

Insurance and Legal ISinsured

Insurance for union members. Home, contents, car, landlords.

sstuwa.org.au/isinsured

Up to an extra 10% off any print and digital magazine subscription; over 4,000 titles.

Jackson’s Drawing Supplies

10% discount in Jackson’s 12 shops and online.

sstuwa.org.au/jacksons

Petals Flowers & Gifts

20% off flowers and gifts. World-wide delivery available.

sstuwa.org.au/petals

Retravision

Cost plus 5% on all products. Osborne Park location only; in store or via phone.

Nation-wide delivery available.

sstuwa.org.au/retravision

Teacher Superstore

5-10% discount, in store and online.

sstuwa.org.au/teachersuperstore

The Good Guys Commercial

Online access to live discounted pricing on The Good Guys’ full range.

sstuwa.org.au/thegoodguys

Vet Products Direct

10% discount on pet products, plus advice from professionals.

sstuwa.org.au/vetpro

Travel and Accommodation Accor Hotels

Great savings for teachers at Accor Hotels in the Asia Pacific region.

sstuwa.org.au/accorhotels

Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels welcomes SSTUWA members with exclusive rates at locations in Australia and NZ.

sstuwa.org.au/choicehotels

Comfort Hotel Perth City

Rooms from $145 per night including Light Start Breakfast for two. Located near the WACA in East Perth.

sstuwa.org.au/comfortperth

Experience Oz

Save 10% on over 3,000 experiences across Oz + NZ.

sstuwa.org.au/experienceoz

Inn the Tuarts Guest Lodge

Forest retreat, 4-star, with indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and BBQ. Adults (12 years+) only. Five minutes to Busselton.

Studios and rooms. 22.5% off rack rate or best available rate.

sstuwa.org.au/innthetuarts

Jarrah Grove Forest Retreat

Luxurious, self-contained accommodation in Margaret River.

Discounted rates for members.

sstuwa.org.au/jarrahgrove

Mandurah Houseboats

10% discount on houseboat holidays.

sstuwa.org.au/houseboats

Rottnest ferry tickets

Save up to $18 on Rottnest ferry tickets with WestClub.

sstuwa.org.au/rottnest

STA Travel

Exclusive discounts for members.

sstuwa.org.au/statravel

Western Teacher September 2020

31

Classifieds

Classifieds For sale: Cooloongup

3x2 plus large utility room, fully powered workshop set amongst a quiet street and bushland. Large patio area and backyard for entertaining and family time. Offers from $350,000.

EOI: 0401 847 317

For sale: Mandurah (Soldiers Cove)

$339,000. Sought after area, short walk to Mandurah Foreshore. A touch of art deco in this 1950s era 3x1 home on 809m2 block.

Featuring high ceilings, decorative cornice and jarrah floor boards. Private street frontage with bus stop to Mandurah station out front. 6x4m workshop, 30 fruit trees, PV solar panels and solar hot water. buymyplace.com.au (property 5181804) 0449 183 499

Blocks for sale: Williams

Two blocks of land, side-by-side, 1,000sqm each. Walking distance to shops, school and all amenities. Buy both or just one – your choice. Easy getaway, close to Perth and Boddington. $27,500 each or better deal if you snap up both.

0402 349 203

Albany (Little Grove)

Dunsborough (Quindalup)

Large 4x2 holiday home on Geographe Bay Rd. Swimming beach 30m away. Free use of private boat mooring. Room to park boats with boat ramp a minute away. Slow combustion wood heater and reversecycle air-con. Available all year except for leavers’ vacation. No pets.

0419 943 203 | 9448 5527 a_r_moore@bigpond.com

Silent Grove Cottage. Self-contained two bedroom (queen/two singles) on two hectares of bushland. Undercover parking. Close to yacht club, walking/ bike trails, national park and beaches.

Teachers’ rate: $150 per night. Stay seven, get one free. www.silentgrove.iinet.net.au 9844 4950 | merron@iinet.net

Dwellingup

Augusta

Floreat

3x1 spacious holiday rental. One double, one queen, five singles. 200m from the river and town. Magnificent river views. One large living area, three sided veranda and BBQ. Provide own linen and towels. $150 per night plus $50 cleaning fee. gregrowl@iinet.net.au

Cowaramup (Margaret River Region) Private B&B within newly built home.

Parkland setting. Private queen bedroom, bathroom and breakfast room. Private entry and dedicated parking. 10 mins to Margaret River, Gracetown, central to wineries/breweries and beaches. $120 per night per couple including breakfast.

Lee: 0412 902 932

Denmark

The Rise is a modern, comfortable, 3x2 fully equipped house close to town with elevated views. Located close to Scotsdale and Mt Shadforth drives and their many tourist attractions. Stay for 7 nights and pay for 6 nights.

Bookings.denmark.com.au (property The Rise) (08) 9848 2055, 9am to 5pm

Après Huit and Dwell Cottage provide luxury self-contained accommodation set in beautifully landscaped gardens. Can be rented separately or together. Après Huit: 2x2, main house. Dwell Cottage: 1x1, furnished in a French theme.

Robert: 0419 954 079 dwellcottage.com.au Studio B&B. New, stylish single room.

Fridge, kitchenette, TV, aircon in lovely peaceful Floreat house and garden. Linen, tea/coffee, continental/cooked breakfast ingredients supplied. Suit mature person wishing to enjoy quiet accommodation.

Close to city, buses, shops, hospitals and beaches. $85 per night, min two nights.

Weekly and monthly rates available.

SMS: 0422 333 057

France (South)

3x2 house located in quaint village adjacent to Canal du Midi - noted for having 300 days of sunshine per year and hence lots of vineyards. Spain is 1hr drive; Barcelona is 2hr drive. $700 per week.

0407 368 511 | craigrebecca@bigpond.com

Fremantle

Short term accommodation in central Fremantle. Recently refurbished with all conveniences for modern living.

Townhouse has three queen-sized bedrooms plus provision for two singles.

Enjoy time in the rear garden, complete with BBQ. Secure parking for two cars,

access controlled by electric gates.

9430 4458 | 0407 083 174 info@westerley.com.au

Kallaroo

Serenity Escape is a 2x1 apartment with full kitchen, offering comfort and convenience. 20 min walk to beach, 5 min drive to train station, walking distance to Whitfords Brewing Co, cinema and shops.

Toiletries, slippers and coffee machine provided. Min 2 nights. Sleeps 4, or 5 with mattress. No pets. $125/night for 3 people; $10/night per extra person.

Molly: 0428 166 559 mollysletters@gmail.com

Margaret River

Two bedrooms, private, comfortable, fully equipped stone cottage with fireplace, located amongst the forest opposite Boranup National Park, 17km south of Margaret River on Caves Road. Close to beaches, wineries, caves and galleries. $150 per night for two people, or provide own linen and towels for $120 per night.

Russell: 0418 933 270

Mt Lawley/Dianella

Newly built 1x1 self-contained extension, furnished, with laundry, dining, lounge, kitchen and one undercover parking bay.

Aircon, TV, fridge, washing machine and microwave included. Quiet residential area close to city, buses, Galleria Morley, Mt Lawley cafe strip and Northbridge. 10 min walk to Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre; golf course across the road. $80 per night, min two nights. $50 per night for weekly and monthly rentals.

0439 964 239 | cymbie.burgoyne@gmail.com

Northam

Renovated, self-contained 30s-style three bedroom house with beautiful river views.

Short walk across the bridges to town.

Sleeps six-eight.

Kevin: 0414 446 431

Email 50 words or fewer to editor@sstuwa.org.au with your phone and union membership numbers. Free for members.

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Western Teacher

September 2020

Classifieds

Classifieds Prevelly

One bedroom private spa apartment in quiet Prevelly cul-de-sac. Two minute walk from beach. Suits couples. $165 per night for Western Teacher readers.

Lucy: lcartell@iinet.net.au

Trigg

Self contained accommodation. Kitchen, laundry, queen sized bed plus fold out double couch in lounge. Free WiFi and Netflix. Own entrance. Find us on Facebook.

Kerry: 0409 884 330 | FB: @justriggin 67justriggin@gmail.com

Yallingup

Rammed earth cottage, 2x1, nestled amongst bushland. Well located, short walk to Studio Gallery Bistro, two-minute drive to Caves House. Beaches, galleries, wineries and restaurants close by. Sleeps six. No dogs. stayz.com.au (property 136151) Kirsty: 0419 927 660

Victoria (Jan Juc Beach)

Planning a holiday to Victoria? Stay on the beautiful Surf Coast, in between Torquay and the famous Bells Beach. Sleeps eight comfortably. Walking distance to the beach, golf club, shops and river mouth. Everything you need is already there. Large entertaining areas. Discount for Western Teacher readers.

0403 803 064

Discover the best of India

Bespoke guided tours. Choose: your itinerary; your dates; your inclusions; your ayurvedic/yoga retreat; your festivals; your budget. Your holiday, your way! Personalised information sessions – we come to you. H&M Luxury Tours ...creating memories!

0409 554 702 | support@luxetoursindia.com luxetoursindia.com

Tranquillity Counselling, Psychotherapy and Career Development

I provide holistic, confidential practical counselling to help you deal with an array of issues, some being: general relationship, mental health, anger issues/management,

anxiety, depression, self-harm, grief and trauma, addiction, abuse, palliative care.

Milica Robinson, MCnsig&Psychthpy, GradCertCareerDev, BEd. 0422 358 187

or without a partner. Melville (LeisureFit) Recreation Centre. Mondays 7.30-9pm. $118/8 weeks. Beginners’ course held every term. Term 4 starts 19 October.

Stan: 9330 6737 | stan@stansdancing.com

Retirement coach

First aid training for students

Are you recently retired or retiring soon?

You probably have a financial plan in place but developing a plan for the non-financial side of retirement can be as important as preparing financially. I offer support and guidance for the transition from work to retirement, helping you to find purpose and meaning in retirement. Contact me to arrange an obligation free chat. retirementcoaching01@gmail.com

Marriage celebrant

Marriage celebrant with 12 years of experience, working in the Peel, South West and Perth areas. Specialising in creating personalised ceremonies for couples at their chosen wedding location.

I’d love to help you plan your special day!

Meridith: 0400 312 535 meri.lake4@gmail.com

Marriage celebrant

Heart Centered Ceremonies for couples wanting a personalised wedding. Lee will help you design your dream wedding – a memorable occasion. Mention this ad to receive a discount.

Lee: 0404 655 567 leehalligancelebrant.com.au

Marriage celebrant

Experienced professional celebrant available, all areas. Formal or informal, large or small weddings. A Beautiful Ceremony will help you design an unforgettable and uniquely personal ceremony.

Mary: 0418 906 391 maryburke40@hotmail.com

Learn to social dance

Learn jive, waltz, rumba, samba, tango and other dances for social events (ball, wedding, cruise, etc). A fun and easy course with quality instruction. Join with

St John Ambulance WA offers free first aid training to all school aged students, ranging from Triple 000 Hero for kindergarten students to Road Trauma First Aid for secondary school students.

Courses are curriculum mapped.

9334 1259 | youth@stjohnambulance.com.au

MAWA

The Mathematical Association of Western Australia offers professional learning opportunities, conferences and consultancy services to teachers and schools and networks. MAWA members receive 10 per cent discount on MAWA shop resources. For more information: mawainc.org.au 9345 0388 | eo@mawainc.org.au

Calling all retired teachers!

Are you a retired teacher with a spirit of adventure and time to spare? Would you like to assist families in remote areas of WA? You may like to join REVISE WA as a tutor. For more info, visit www.revisewa.com.au

Belly Rubs Boarding Kennels

Personalised approach to boarding your canine companion. $25 per dog – mention you’re a teacher to receive a 10 per cent discount. Located in Southern River.

Elisa: 0417 620 766 | FB: @bellyrubsboarding

Macramé is the new yoga

I'm a teacher running small group macramé classes in a cosy home studio.

Join me and discover the power of mindfulness as you learn to engage your mind and your hands in a fun supportive environment. It's a powerful way to calm a busy mind. marcia@knotinlove.com.au

Western Teacher

September 2020

33

Noticeboard

Noticeboard

Email to editor@sstuwa.org.au

Retired Teachers’ Association

Enviroweek

The choir welcomes the return of conductor Keith Davies from a short break.

This year Enviroweek will take place from 19-25 October. Schools can partake in many activities during the year that help them to connect with the local environment and make positive everyday choices for the environment. These are showcased during Enviroweek. For more information visit enviroweek.org

On Monday 5 October Richard Le Serve will speak on the writings of Australia in the 1890s. On 19 October we will have a talk on George Johnston, the author of My Brother Jack and other Australian novels. The speaker on

2 November is yet to be finalised.

The RTA annual luncheon is due to take place at the Commonwealth League headquarters in Shenton Park on Monday 9 November at the cost of $25 for members and $35 for nonmembers.

Ann Strauss: 9387 2906

State Council Conference

Lynette Virgona Scholarship

Items for November State Council must be received by 5pm Friday 25 September.

Anti-Poverty Week Anti-Poverty Week will run 11-17 October. It aims to help the Australian community understand poverty and take collective action to end it. This year’s focus is to ensure all Australians have a home and that the rate of unemployment payment is kept above a minimum level in the midst of a pandemic crisis.

For more information visit antipovertyweek.org.au

Applications are now open for the Lynette Virgona Scholarship. The deadline for applications is Friday 25 September.

More info: sstuwa.org.au/scholarships

Claremont Teachers’ College 1963 graduates Annual reunion

COVID-19 has caused a rethink of our annual luncheon get-together at The Herdy. To allow social distancing this year’s gathering will be a BYO everything picnic lunch including chair/table.

Noon on Tuesday 27 October, near the Vietnam Memorial Pavilion, May Drive, Kings Park. BBQs and toilets available nearby.

Indication of numbers please/or enquires to:

SSTUWA committee meeting dates:

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Early Childhood Educators’ Committee

TAFE Committee

Time: 4.15pm 21 October

2020 meeting dates: Saturdays, 10.30am-12.30pm at the SSTUWA premises Term 4 28 November Venue subject to change. Visit www.l3cta.org.au for venue information and to confirm attendance, or email contact@l3cta.org.au

Clive: 9451 2950 | diplodocus46@bigpond.com, or Jardine: 9446 7375 | jardanne@bigpond.com

Level 3 Classroom Teachers’ Association

Venue: SSTUWA office | Contact: (08) 9210 6000 or contact@sstuwa.org.au Teleconference facilities are available

International Committee

LGBTIQ Committee

Time: 5pm

Time: 4.30pm

Time: 4pm

Dates to be confirmed

Dates to be confirmed

Dates to be confirmed

New Educator Committee

Women’s Committee

Psych Services Committee

ATSIE Committee

Time: 4.30pm

Time: 3.45pm

Time: 4.45pm

Time: 4pm

17 November

26 October

Dates to be confirmed

5 November

Western Teacher

September 2020

Transition to Retirement Specialists

Financial solutions and advice to help you transition

TTR and tax benefits will continue into 2021 & beyond!

Please see tipsfs.com.au

Are You Retiring or Reducing Hours in 2021?

What you will need to consider …

• • • •

Can I afford to drop a day?

How much will be enough to retire on?

How can I maximize my income & reduce tax?

When is it best to pay off my mortgage?