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Australian

Lifting ParentsUp // Early childhood education reform

Climate policies // Where the major parties stand

AUTUMN 2022 // ISSUE 113 $9.95

Speaking out

// Election issues that matter to us

Fight for security // We must put a stop to insecure work

Election 2022

P RINT P OST A PP ROVED 10 000 8182

Vote to protect public schools How Scott Morrison sabotaged equity in education

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Contents ON THE COVER The stakes couldn't be higher for public schools in this federal election.

PHOTOGRAPHY Peter Fisher

A summary of the AEU financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2021 are available at aeufederal.org.au

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NEWS IN BRIEF

COMPARING CLIMATE POLICIES

SPEAKING OUT

• AEU federal secretary retires • New allergy guidelines released • Youth "invisible" in family violence • More PD needed to support gender and sexuality-diverse students

08 CHARTING INEQUALITY The Coalition government has overseen a significant shift in the way schools are funded and sabotaged equity in education.

12 CRISIS POINT Most states and territories are suffering chronic teacher shortages but there is no national plan to deal with the problem.

16 TIME TO LIFT PARENTSUP Why early childhood education and care reform is a long-overdue investment in our nation's future.

As massive storms and ferocious bushfires continue to signal the effects of global warming, the calls for Canberra to act are growing louder.

23 SOLVING THE SKILLS CRISIS How can we kickstart the economy with a skilled workforce ready to support growth? With a properly funded TAFE system.

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Eductators around the country weigh in on what's important to them this federal election.

34 HOME TRUTHS Students in some African countries finally have access to books that reflect their own cultures and experiences.

36 RAISING THE BAR Empowered Indigenous youth are a force to be reckoned with, writes Dr Marnee Shay.

FIGHTING FOR SECURE JOBS

REGULARS

ACTU secretary Sally McManus says we need to put a stop to insecure work.

04 From the president 05 Know your union 38 Recess

28 DEADLY COST OF INACTION The Morrison government’s failure to protect sick and vulnerable Australians, and the workers who look after them, is taking a tragic toll.

www.aeufederal.org.au

AUTUM N 2 0 2 2 // 3

From the president

Vote to protect public schools Public schools will not survive another three years of Scott Morrison and his attacks on public education. If we want to protect our public schools we have to change the government.

There’s a choice to be made at every federal election, whom do we trust with our biggest policy decisions – education, health, the economy, gender, climate and national security?

Not Morrison. He failed on every one of them.

He mishandled health and aged care with tragic consequences, he doesn’t know the price of a loaf of bread and he has no empathy for our rising cost of living or gender issues. He is abrogating responsibility for the climate emergency to “can-do capitalism” and bullishly created major diplomatic incidents with China and France.

When it came to education – he locked in deep inequality in school funding.

Over the last three years Morrison gifted extraordinary funding deals to wealthy private schools while systemically under funding public schools.

SOCIAL SEGREGATION Private school funding is now growing at five times the rate of public school funding and their students are benefiting from facilities that public school students can only dream of; learning precincts, Olympic-size swimming pools, orchestra pits and even organic cafés with on-site baristas.

It’s not hard to see why the achievement gaps in education are widening. It is nothing short of social segregation.

This disparity has been years in the making. The last nine years of successive Liberal governments have

Australian Educator

(ISSN: 0728-8387) is published for the Australian Education Union by Hardie Grant Media.

The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

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Heads & Tales

Ground Level, Building 1 658 Church St, Richmond 3121 Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Fax: (03) 8520 6422 Email: educator@hardiegrant.com

We need a government that puts public education first.

The alternative is three more years of neglect.

shared the same aim for school funding – protect the private schools and their continued access to growing public funding at all costs, while ignoring public schools and ignoring education reforms.

REFORM It’s now a decade since the Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling. Accepting the key recommendations of this ground-breaking policy would have seen a national approach to school funding through the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS): a base amount of funding per student and an additional loading for socio-economic background, disability, English language ability, First Nations students, and school size and location.

AEU and subscription enquiries Australian Education Union Federal Office, PO Box 1158 South Melbourne Victoria 3205 Tel: (03) 9693 1800 Fax: (03) 9693 1805 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au facebook.com/AEUfederal @AEUfederal

Editor Kevin Bates Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Hannah Louey Managing editor Jo Davy Commissioning editor Tracey Evans Subeditor Leanne Tolra Art director Dallas Budde Design Natalie Lachina

The SRS would have seen public money flow into public schools to directly tackle the impact of social disadvantage, particularly on educational opportunities and outcomes.

Instead Morrison has condemned public schools (with the exception of the ACT) to well below 90 per cent of this standard and the current funding agreements will lock in deep inequality for schools and students for years to come.

We urgently need the Schooling Resource Standard to be implemented in full so every student can gain the level of funding they need to reach their full potential.

BEST CHANCE The federal election is our best chance to reform public education. If we don’t change the government, they will continue to undermine and defund public education.

It’s the Liberal way: maximising the private sector by persuading people to pay for public services that should be fully provided by government, not left to the market.

It’s what they did with the public health system, aged care, the public TAFE system and what they are doing to early childhood education. We need to stop Morrison before he dismantles public education.

MISSING IN ACTION Morrison has ignored public schools, preschools and TAFE. He’s not likely to make any announcements or arrange any election campaign photo-opportunities at a public school. We won’t see him “try out” being a public-school teacher in the same way he dressed up in high-vis vest to try out being a welder, or turned up at a hairdresser’s to attract the media.

It’s up to all of us to once again get the message out and make public education a key election issue. We must ensure that our local federal MPs promise that every child in every public school will get the support they need.

We need a government that puts public education first. The alternative is three more years of neglect.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

Advertising manager Kerri Spillane Tel: (03) 8520 6444 Email: kerrispillane@ hardiegrant.com

Audited circulation: 119,252 (1 October 2020 _ 30 September 2021)

Printer Ovato 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

Copyright rests with the writers, the AEU and Hardie Grant Media. No part of this pub­lication may be reproduced without the prior permission of the copyright holders. The opinions expressed in the magazine are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU.

Know your union With a federal office and branches or associated bodies in every state and territory, the AEU represents more than 198,000 members industrially and professionally.

AEU FEDERAL 120 Clarendon St, Southbank, VIC, 3006 Phone: +61 3 9693 1800 Email: aeu@aeufederal.org.au Web: aeufederal.org.au

Federal president Correna Haythorpe Federal secretary Kevin Bates

AEU ACT BRANCH Branch president Angela Burroughs Branch secretary Patrick Judge 40 Brisbane Avenue Barton 2600 Phone: 02 6272 7900 Email: aeuact@aeuact.org.au Web: aeuact.org.au

AEU NT BRANCH Branch president Jarvis Ryan Branch secretary Adam Lampe 3/8 Totem Road Coconut Grove 0811 Phone: 08 8948 5399 Email: admin@aeunt.org.au Web: aeunt.org.au

AEU SA BRANCH Branch president Andrew Gohl Branch secretary Leah York 163 Greenhill Road Parkside 5063 Phone: 08 8172 6300 Email: aeusa@aeusa.asn.au Web: aeusa.asn.au

AEU TAS BRANCH Branch president David Genford Branch state manager Brian Wightman 1/32 Patrick Street Hobart 7000 Phone: 03 6234 9500 Email: support@aeutas.org.au Web: aeutas.org.au

AEU VIC BRANCH Branch president Meredith Peace Branch secretary Erin Aullich 126 Trenerry Crescent Abbotsford 3067 Phone: 03 9417 2822 Email: melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au Web: aeuvic.asn.au

QUEENSLAND TEACHERS UNION President Cresta Richardson General secretary Kate Ruttiman 21 Graham Street Milton 4064 Phone: 07 3512 9000 Email: qtu@qtu.asn.au Web: qtu.asn.au

NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION President Angelo Gavrielatos General secretary Maxine Sharkey 23-33 Mary Street Surry Hills 2010 Phone: 02 9217 2100 Email: mail@nswtf.org.au Web: nswtf.org.au

STATE SCHOOL TEACHERS UNION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA President Pat Byrne General secretary Mary Franklyn 1 West Street West Perth 6005 Phone: 08 9210 6000 Email: contact@sstuwa.org.au Web: sstuwa.org.au

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News

News in brief

Diversity support vital

AEU federal secretary Susan Hopgood has retired after a lifetime of dedication to public education and the AEU. She will continue to represent public educators internationally in her role as president of Education International, the worldwide federation of teachers' unions.

Former Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates has been elected AEU federal secretary.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the AEU has benefited greatly from Hopgood’s leadership, activism and initiative over the years.

“Susan was the first woman elected as AEU federal secretary in 2005 and she has helped shaped the union into one of the strongest in the country. Her commitment to public education, both nationally and internationally, has been outstanding and her legacy for our union is beyond compare.

“Susan’s passion and dedication to her work has had a lasting impact on those of us who have been privileged to work with her and her leadership in campaigning has changed the lives of so many across the world, particularly women and girls in education.

“On behalf of the AEU, we congratulate Susan on her retirement and wish her the very best for her future adventures.

“We are very pleased to welcome Kevin Bates to the role. Kevin is renowned for his leadership and dedication to our union and members and we look forward to working alongside him in this critical election year,” Haythorpe says.

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Gender and sexuality-diverse secondary school students say they hear homophobic language weekly at school, if not daily, a survey has found.

Transphobic language was slightly less prevalent (71 per cent compared with 93 per cent).

Almost 2400 young people were surveyed in the second national study by researchers at Western Sydney University of Australian secondary school students who identify as gender and sexuality-diverse.

The study, Free2Be… Yet?, found teachers’ and school leaders’ words and actions played an important role in students’ experience of school.

Students said they felt safer, less isolated and more likely to report that their schools respect diversity and student voice if their school is committed to the wellbeing of gender and sexuality-diverse students.

A more positive school environment also led to stronger reported academic outcomes and fewer cases of truancy.

The report recommends that all school-based adults receive professional development that addresses expectations for inclusivity of gender and sexuality diversity and provides guidelines for inclusive language and related curriculum resource integration.

A significant finding from the survey was that school-based adults should have a consistent approach to homophobia and transphobia.

Local school wellbeing and harassment policies should specifically include gender and sexuality diversity and all members of the school community should be aware of the policies and how they will be implemented, the report said.

New allergy guide The National Allergy Strategy has published bestpractice guidelines for anaphylaxis prevention and management in children’s education and care services.

The guidelines include recommendations for reducing risks including: • Anaphylaxis management policy and plans • Allergy documentation • Emergency responses • Staff training • Community and peer education • Post-incident management and incident reporting You can find resources such as templates and checklists at allergyaware.org.au

ILLUSTRATION OSLO DAVIS, ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

Susan Hopgood retires

This commitment includes inclusive policies and curriculum as well as general and informal positivity about gender and sexuality diversity, the report says.

Susan Hopgood was the first woman elected as AEU federal secretary in 2005 and she has helped shaped the union into one of the strongest in the country.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

EVENTS World Autism Awareness Day

2 April Education Support Personnel Day

16 May International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia

17 May National Reconciliation Week

27 May – 3 June National Public Education Day

28 May World Environment Day

5 June Thank you Young people and family violence Young people’s experiences as victim survivors are often invisible to the family violence system, a major study from Melbourne City Mission has found.

The report, Amplify: Turning up the volume on young people and family violence, found policy settings often classify “children and young people” as one group, so family violence services are not adapted to meet the developmental needs of young people specifically.

Schools often know more of the family context than others in the young person’s life and can play a critical role in identifying family violence and responding, according to the report.

“The ways disclosures and compulsory reports are managed can shape a young person’s trust or distrust of services," it says.

Implementing the Family Violence MultiAgency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) in schools is essential, as is recognition of the role that schools can play. The report recommends that schools and government develop referral mechanisms for support services to underpin MARAM.

A big thank you to the thousands of members who completed our recent State of our Schools survey, which provides valuable data about conditions in our schools.

The winner of the iPad for completing the survey is Russell Coulthard, an Aboriginal Educator Worker at Carlton School in Port Augusta, South Australia.

AUTUM N 2 0 2 2 // 7

Their futures at stake

T

he Coalition government has systematically dismantled the concept of equity in education since its election in 2013 and its attacks on public education have intensified during Scott Morrison’s time, first as treasurer and then prime minister.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the Coalition has consistently favoured private schools, beginning with its undermining of the Gonski funding model.

“It has been a systematic and deliberate attack by Morrison on public schools,” she says.

The Liberal Party, then led by Tony Abbott, promised during the 2013 election campaign to match Labor’s school funding

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“dollar for dollar” but went back on its word in its first budget, cutting $30 billion in school funding. The cuts, which largely targeted public schools, were made by abandoning signed funding agreements with the states and territories, which were part of the Gonski funding reforms, designed to improve equity in education.

By 2016, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was ready to end all federal funding for public schools, a move described at the time as “the antithesis of Gonski” by Dr Ken Boston, former NSW Education Department director-general and Gonski panel review member.

Marking the Gonski review’s 10th anniversary in February this year, Boston linked the failure to implement

the review’s recommendations with Australia’s continued decline in the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test results. The PISA test measures the achievement of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science in more than 80 countries.

“The Gonski review showed how to reduce the impact of social disadvantage on national education outcomes, so that Australia would become a high-quality, high-equity system. It proposed that schools with significant numbers of disadvantaged children should receive more public funding than other schools,” Boston wrote in an editorial for the schools funding conference: Why money does matter.

PHOTOGRAPHY PETER FISHER

The Morrison government has trashed equity in education by robbing public schools to pay the private sector. The federal election is our chance to give every child access to a properly funded education.

Election 2022

As we go to the polls, we need a government that will be true to the Gonski recommendations and address the inequity that has become deeply entrenched for public schools...

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

Turnbull did not succeed in abolishing funding for public schools, but the notion of equity in education became moot.

More than $22 billion was cut from planned public school funding for the decade to 2027 in then-treasurer Scott Morrison’s 2017 budget. (Later reduced to $17 billion during robust Senate negotiations.)

Next, the Turnbull government revoked signed agreements with five states and territories, and refused to deliver the final two years of school funding in 2018 and 2019.

It also decided to end funding for capital works in public schools.

MORRISON’S PRIVATE SCHOOLS HANDOUT Scott Morrison had barely warmed the seat in the prime minister’s office before he delivered an astounding windfall for private schools.

Less than one month after taking the top job in 2018, Morrison announced a $4.6 billion 10-year deal for private schools that included a $1.2 billion Choice and Affordability Fund designed to “address specific challenges in the non-government school sector, such as supporting schools in drought-affected areas, schools that need help to improve performance and to deliver choice in communities”.

A few months later, his government negotiated new funding agreements with states and territories that locked in disadvantage for public schools.

Each school’s level of funding is determined by the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS), a calculation that includes a base level of funding plus loadings for students with higher needs.

In theory, schools with higher numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds should receive more public funding. But very few public schools

Education inequality by numbers For

every $1 invested per child in a private school

a public school student would receive between

27 and 50 cents benefit in this way. By 2023, only one per cent of public schools will receive 100 per cent of SRS funding, while private schools will receive their full allocation, and in some cases much more.

The Coalition has legislated an SRS funding cap of 20 per cent for public schools, expecting states to make up the difference. Meanwhile it hands over 80 per cent of the SRS to private schools.

In a further blow for public schools, the agreements allow the states and territories to claim a 4 per cent capital depreciation tax on their funding to public schools, reducing effective funding by an extra $2 billion per year by 2027.

By the time the agreements expire at the end of 2023, the total recurrent

funding shortfall for public schools will total $19 billion over the four years from 2020, says Haythorpe.

“Scott Morrison has entirely failed public school students, their parents and staff with this shocking outcome,” she says.

THE BUILDING CRISIS Gross inequalities in public school funding for teaching and learning resources are exacerbated by the urgent need for high-quality school infrastructure to provide safe and comfortable learning environments for students.

The Morrison government’s blatant favouritism towards private schools was once again on display when it discontinued the provision of capital works funding for public schools in 2017, leaving the states to cover the cost. But it made sure that private schools had enough to fund their ambitious building programs – promising $1.9 billion from 2018 to 2027.

During Morrison’s almost four years as prime minister, his government has provided more than $560 million to private schools from this special building fund.

Private schools were already ahead in the funding stakes. Investment in private school facilities was at least double that of public schools per student per year in the decade to 2018 and, in some years, more than four times higher, according to a 2021 report by economist Adam Rorris, Investing in Schools Equals Funding the Future.

For every dollar invested per child in a private school, a public school student would receive between 27 and 50 cents, Rorris said.

In 2019, the federal budget included a few crumbs for public schools in the form of an election-campaign driven Local School Community Fund. The one-off allocation of $30.2 million to be shared

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The Coalition government has systematically dismantled the concept of equity in education since its election in 2013.

by all of Australia’s 9542 schools – public and private – was distributed by local MPs. Each school received just over $3000 to spend mainly on furniture, shade sails and playground equipment.

It was an “insulting and cynical” act, says Haythorpe, that had no chance of meeting schools’ needs.

Every school should be provided with the resources to ensure every child gets the best education, regardless of their background or circumstances.

THE PUBLIC DROUGHT A few months after winning the 2019 federal election, the Morrison government rewarded the private school sector with another special fund: $10 million to help schools facing financial hardship caused by the drought. Twelve months later the amount was doubled.

The then education minister Dan Tehan said the funding would address “the impact on parents of drought and worrying whether they’ll … be able to continue to afford to send their children to school” and “the toil and hardship parents suffer paying school fees”. No mention was made of helping parents of public school students who were also suffering because of the drought, nor of the public schools that serve those regional communities But the drought assistance fund was small change compared with what was to come.

2 Create a dedicated capital works

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1 Fund public schools to a minimum of 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard. fund to meet the need of increased public school enrolments.

3 Ensure students with disability receive additional funding to meet their educational needs.

In March 2020, the Morrison government introduced a law that included a new way of calculating what families could afford to contribute to private school fees and how much government funding a private school would receive. Most private schools will receive more government funding under this formula, but an estimated 59 schools are due to see a cut.

To lessen the blow, the government has set up a $3.4 billion fund to be distributed over 10 years. This means that some of Australia’s richest private schools, which

PRIVATE FUNDING GOES VIRAL The COVID-19 pandemic has seen an escalation in the Morrison government’s largesse to private schools.

In 2020 private schools were offered early part-payment of their annual funding, bringing forward 25 per cent of total annual recurrent funding in exchange for committing to reopening schools for physical on-site learning at the start of Term 2. The funding was paid whether or not the schools were experiencing liquidity issues and there was no monitoring to check that schools complied with the deal.

Since then, private schools have received even more funding: • $10 million to boost hygiene measures in private schools. No mention was made of the two-thirds of students who attend public schools.

• $750 million from the federal government’s JobKeeper wage subsidy program throughout 2020 and 2021.

Figures provided to Parliament by the Australian Taxation Office show that 700 private schools received JobKeeper payments despite reporting multimillion dollar profits during the period.

• $2 billion in December 2021 for "increased student enrolments and support for the needs-based disability loading”, according to the 2021-22

PHOTOGRAPHY PETER FISHER

What is the AEU demanding of political parties in this election?

hold hundreds of millions of dollars in assets and surpluses, will receive an additional $200 million from the federal government.

The law also includes provisions that enable the government to rule by regulation, allowing additional funds to be distributed to private schools at the discretion of the minister.

Election 2022

ALP and Greens promise more funds for public schools Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook.

This is despite enrolment data proving that the greatest need is in public schools, which educate the vast majority of students with disability and where enrolments are rising faster than in private schools.

WATCHDOG CALLS OUT FUNDING CHECKS The Morrison government’s dodgy funding deals for the private sector have not gone unnoticed.

An Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) review found that the education department had failed to adequately monitor whether school funding had been allocated, used and distributed in accordance with legislative requirements.

The ANAO report, published in June 2021, also concluded that the department’s approach to assessing the impact of school funding on educational outcomes was not fully effective.

The report found that many recommendations from a 2017 ANAO review of schools funding have either not been implemented or were partially implemented by the department.

Haythorpe says the ANAO report is evidence that the prime minister is not to be trusted.

“You can’t rely on him to nurture, protect and support public schools. He’s intent on bolstering the private sector at the expense of the public school sector,” she says.

“As we go to the polls, we need a government that will be true to the Gonski recommendations and address the inequity that has become deeply entrenched for public schools and their students under the Morrison government.”

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has committed to working with state and territory governments to ensure that schools receive “100 per cent of their fair funding level”.

“Labor sees education as about creating opportunity. Liberals see it as about entrenching privilege,” he told the National Press Club in January.

The Labor Party has promised a Schools Upgrade Fund to help improve ventilation in schools and to create outdoor learning areas.

An Albanese Labor government would also focus on early childhood development with an Early Years Strategy that aims for a co-ordinated approach across all government departments to improve accountability.

The commitment builds on Labor’s existing promises to reduce childcare costs and force large early childhood education and care providers to publicly report revenue and profit, provide real-time fee data and quality ratings to families and ban non-educational inducements.

The Greens have promised to make the largest investment in public education of any party.

Australian Greens education spokesperson Senator Mehreen Faruqi has described the federal government’s school funding policies as a “national disgrace”.

“Public schools are trying their best to navigate the impacts of COVID, inadequate and crumbling infrastructure, and provide suitable educational resourcing for students, all while enrolments tick up and funding remains stubbornly low.

“The Greens are taking to the federal election a fully costed plan to invest $32 billion in our public schools over the next decade and achieve 100 per cent funding of the Schooling Resource Standard for public schools by 2023,” Faruqi says.

Labor sees education as about creating opportunity. Liberals see it as about entrenching privilege.

Anthony Albanese Labor Party Leader

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Urgent action needed on workforce shortages The Morrison government’s education agenda is putting teaching and learning at risk.

M

RESPECT, REWARD AND RIGOUR AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says a national plan must provide fair measures of respect and reward for teachers’ unfailing professionalism and rigour in qualifications and registration processes.

Respecting teachers’ knowledge and skills, trusting their judgment and enabling their professional autonomy are

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ILLUSTRATION MARCUS BUTT / IKON IMAGES

ost states and territories are suffering chronic teacher shortages but there is no national plan to deal with the problem and there are fears there will not be enough new teachers to replace those who retire or leave the profession early.

A New South Wales Teachers Federation study has found that more than 18,000 extra full-time equivalent teachers will be needed in NSW alone by 2036 because of rising student numbers.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows enrolments in public schools increased by 5.9 per cent to more than 2.6 million in the five years to 2020. But enrolments in teaching degrees in the five years to 2019 dropped by 7000 or 8.7 per cent.

With rising enrolments and a shrinking workforce, federal government leadership is vital to attract and retain teachers. We need better pay and career prospects; improved induction and mentoring; ongoing professional support and protection from time-consuming administrative demands.

Fair and proper funding would underpin these strategies, ensuring the recruitment and retention of the teachers, specialists and support staff that schools need, and to provide buildings and resources that make quality teaching and learning possible.

Election 2022

essential elements, says Haythorpe. But the Coalition’s nine years in office have seen increasing political intervention in the classroom with continued attacks on the curriculum and pedagogy.

“That shows a lack of respect for what we do. Teachers are best placed to understand their students’ needs.”

Improved pay and conditions would help attract new entrants to the profession and reward teachers for the increasing complexity and demands of their work, she says.

Teachers’ pay, relative to other professions, has been falling for decades.

“Strong nationally competitive salary structures that appropriately reward teachers’ work would provide the recognition to attract new teachers into the profession,” she says.

SIGNIFICANT WORKLOADS Better pay is just one part of the equation.

Equally important is addressing the punishing workloads and stress that cause one in four teachers to leave the profession early.

Seventy per cent of teachers reported an increase in working hours in 2021 compared with 60 per cent in 2020, according to the AEU’s State of our Schools survey of almost 4000 teachers, principals and school support staff in December 2021.

Full-time teachers work 48.4 hours per week on average, the survey found, while early-career teachers and teachers in remote and under-resourced schools exceed this average.

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) analysis of teacher workforce data shows nine in 10 (87 per cent) of those intending to leave before retirement blame workload and stress for their early departure.

We have seen significant (and still ongoing) increases in the volume and complexity of work generated by government decisions and heavily influenced by the social, economic and technological environment.

NSW Gallop Inquiry

One-third said they were leaving because of low pay rates, while about one-quarter cited the challenges of managing student behaviour.

The survey predates the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has added an extra layer of workload and stress.

The 2021 report of the NSW Gallop Inquiry into the work of teachers and principals noted the “overwhelming changes” in teacher workloads.

“We have seen significant (and still ongoing) increases in the volume and complexity of work generated by government decisions and heavily influenced by the social, economic and technological environment,” the report says.

Administration, data collection and reporting are among the leading contributors to the burgeoning teacher workload. Others include constant policy changes, significant increases in student need, rapid changes in technology, the expansion and reform of the curriculum,

Pandemic toll on schools Two years of lockdowns, remote learning and daily COVID-19 headlines revealing infections, deaths and vaccination politics have taken a toll on students and their teachers.

More than two-thirds of teachers report that student wellbeing (65 per cent) and engagement (69 per cent) have declined, according to the AEU’s 2021 State of our Schools survey.

Almost all teachers said that teaching wellbeing and morale also declined (84 per cent) as workloads increased.

Many schools are dipping into their own funds to support students and teachers. Almost two-thirds of principals did not receive any extra funding for remote teaching and almost onethird said their schools did not have sufficient resources to deal with the effects of the pandemic.

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new compliance, and higher community expectations of what schools and teachers can do, the report says.

SUBJECT TO CHANGE The rise in out-of-field teaching – brought about by the teacher shortages – is also adding to teacher workloads and stress.

Senior lecturer in education at Griffith University Dr Anna Elizabeth Du Plessis told Australian Educator about the far-reaching implications of out-of-field teaching including the effects on school stability, quality teaching, and teacher and student wellbeing.

Du Plessis says she has observed many teachers in out-of-field positions dealing with significant classroom challenges and stress because of the “emotional rollercoaster” of teaching content or age levels outside of their training and expertise, and managing student behaviour with an unfamiliar group of students.

Out-of-field teaching occurs in high rates

across all subjects, the AITSL report says: “There is no subject with low rates of outof-field teaching, which suggests that there are supply challenges across all subjects.”

Lowest rates for out-of-field teaching are in English (28 per cent), science (29 per cent) and creative arts (31 per cent). Teachers of subjects in the humanities, languages other than English, mathematics, special education and personal development, health and physical education were out-of-field between 36 per cent and 46 per cent of the time.

ATTRACTING NEW RECRUITS While the teaching workforce must grow quickly, fast-tracking teacher training is not the answer, says Haythorpe.

The federal government has spent $80 million dollars since 2009 supporting the controversial Teach For Australia (TFA) program, which provides 13 weeks of intensive training to graduates from nonteaching backgrounds.

The program has been criticised for its high cost and low results. A review found that more than one-third of TFA hires had left the classroom within a year of completing their placement. After three years, less than half of all participants were still employed.

Haythorpe says government policies should ensure high-quality qualifications, including a two-year postgraduate masters degree, and new students should meet ATAR-equivalent minimum entry requirements. After graduating, beginning teachers must receive ongoing mentoring and professional development, she says.

One-third of new teachers in the State of our Schools survey said their training did not prepare them well for the classroom, particularly in teaching students whose first language is not English; dealing with difficult behaviour and teaching students with disability.

Just under half did not receive an

Transform student writing Learn it one day.

Teach it the next. sevenstepswriting.com SS_2022_AustralianEducatorMag_124x183.indd 1 1 4 // AU T UMN 2 0 2 2

20/1/22 11:25 am

Election 2022 induction program designed for new teachers or have a reduced workload to help them settle into their new positions. Only five per cent of new teachers received any follow up from their university.

“We want a properly qualified, wellsupported profession and that starts with initial teacher education,” Haythorpe says.

“You don’t fill workforce shortages by lowering the qualifications. You fill them by proper planning to address supply and demand issues and by governments committing to strong attraction and retention provisions for the workforce.”

THE WORKERS AND POLICY MAKERS DIVIDE It’s time to listen to teachers, write Meghan Stacey, lecturer in education at University of NSW and Mihajla Gavin, a lecturer in the business school at the University of Technology, Sydney, in the EduResearch matters blog.

You don’t fill workforce shortages by lowering the qualifications. You fill them by proper planning to address supply and demand issues and by governments committing to strong attraction and retention provisions for the workforce.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

AUSTRALI A

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There’s a disconnect between teacher workforces across Australia and the policy makers with power over their conditions, Stacey and Gavin write.

This workload and intensification of work has occurred at a time when governments are promoting devolutionary, market-inspired policy, they say. “Policies that devolve increased decision-making power to schools have contributed to the intensification of teachers’ work, resembling a ‘tsunami’ of paperwork.

“As we look upon the dawn of another new, uncertain, and likely difficult year in schools, it is high time that we listen to and support our teachers – or soon there may no longer be any qualified professionals left in our schools to listen to,” write Stacey and Gavin.

The incoming federal government must make it a priority to address these issues, says Haythorpe. “Teachers need to be at the heart of education and school policy.”

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AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 15

Time to lift ParentsUp Early childhood education and care and its role in women’s economic security is shaping up to be an important election issue.

BY CY ND I T E B B E L

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A commitment to free ECEC by the Morrison government would mean 475,000 women could participate in the labour market.

Michele O’Neil ACTU president

The United Workers Union goes a step further, accusing some providers of “ripping off employees and taxpayers” by taking exorbitant executive bonuses, paying staff too little and using offshore havens to minimise tax bills. It’s calling for more regulation of the sector.

“Parents and taxpayers have a right to know how their fees and public funding is being spent: not on quality early learning for their children, but on obscene salaries, payouts and profit margins of overseas companies,” says UWU early education director, Helen Gibbons.

“If the federal government continues to wash its hands of responsibility for the way

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

A

new report says the “motherhood penalty” conspires against women and children, eroding women’s economic security and their capacity to participate and progress at work in the same way as men.

It’s a costly gap that consigns many women and children to poverty, entrenches gender inequity and hampers national productivity, says Back of the Pack, a report

by Equity Economics, commissioned by lobby group The Parenthood.

The report shows Australian mothers are behind their global peers in workforce participation, despite starting at the top of global standings on education levels. And they never catch up.

In 2006, Australia ranked at number 12 for women’s workforce participation according to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index, but by 2021 we had plummeted to 70.

Reforming the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector and extending paid parental leave would “transform our nation”, says The Parenthood.

The organisation has kicked off a campaign, known as #ParentsUp, that calls on candidates and parties to commit to universal access to quality, inclusive ECEC and outside school hours care along with one year of paid parental leave to be shared between parents.

Georgie Dent, The Parenthood’s executive director, says that reforming ECEC would improve outcomes for children and women, and it would pay for itself.

“Australia is already spending in excess of $10 billion a year on the childcare subsidy, which is an inefficient use of money,” says Dent.

Election 2022

If the federal government continues to wash its hands of responsibility for the way in which childcare subsidies are used, they are endorsing a model that sees parents and taxpayers paying for super-yachts instead of education.

Helen Gibbons United Workers Union

in which childcare subsidies are used, they are endorsing a model that sees parents and taxpayers paying for super-yachts instead of education.”

ACTU president Michele O’Neil lays out the rationale for public investments in ECEC. “A commitment to free ECEC by the Morrison government would mean 475,000 women could participate in the labour market,” she says.

“That would increase Australia’s GDP by $70 billion a year and family incomes by $30 billion a year. Working people with money in their pockets drive economic growth and ensure pay equity, which is an enormous boost to millions of workers and therefore the entire economy.”

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Two years of preschool for every child is international best practice and the Morrison government’s failure to provide that puts children at risk of falling behind in obtaining the critical skills and play-based learning they need to reach their full potential.

AEU president Correna Haythorpe says states such as Victoria and the ACT have stepped up, “but such an investment must be backed by proper workforce attraction and retention mechanisms to ensure that we have enough teachers and early childhood educators”.

Close to 200,000 early childhood educators and teachers work in preschool, long day care, family day care, and schoolage care. But reforming the sector means looking at how we train, treat and pay educators and teachers in the system.

Dent wants Australians to approach ECEC the same way we do the first year at the local public primary.

“We don’t charge parents to cover the wages of teachers and educators, or the cost of the land and the building development works because we’re comfortable that whether the parents are millionaires or unemployed, there’s a spot for their child at the local primary school,” she says.

“But parents are being asked to foot the bill for the entire cost of operating the

ECEC system. That’s unaffordable and it creates a system where educators aren’t being paid appropriately, not being valued appropriately, and they’re leaving the sector in droves.”

The first five years of a child’s life are the most richly formative for development, and quality ECEC helps ensure they arrive at school ready and able to learn.

“We’re already losing far too many early educators, far too many children aren’t attending, and far too many children arriving at school developmentally vulnerable, and they rarely catch up,” says Dent.

Even if parents aren’t working, children still benefit from ECEC says Dent. And children with any type of disadvantage benefit exponentially more.

“The return on investment is phenomenal: we get around two dollars in return for every dollar we invest in ECEC the year before school; for children with disadvantage, that return is upwards of seven dollars.”

HOW OTHER COUNTRIES SUPPORT PARENTS MATERNITY LEAVE

PATERNITY LEAVE

AVERAGE CHILDCARE COSTS

ADDITIONAL UNPAID WORK BY FEMALES

Australia

18 weeks

2 weeks

24% of earnings

1.8 times

Canada

15 weeks

35 weeks

16% of earnings*

1.5 times

Germany**

30 weeks

30 weeks

1% of earnings

1.6 times

Sweden**

34 weeks

34 weeks

5% of earnings

1.4 times

*reforms recently introduced in Canada will reduce childcare costs to $10 per day from 2025. **up to 22 weeks can be transferred to other parent.

Source: Equity Economics, Back of the Pack, 2021 AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 17

Call for 2022 nominations

Rosemary Richards Scholarship Rosemary Richards was a proud feminist, unionist and educator.

A trailblazing leader, she was committed to advancing gender equality across the AEU. In her memory, the Rosemary Richards Scholarship continues her legacy by building the capacity of women as activists and leaders.

This scholarship is an opportunity for an AEU woman member with an idea for an innovative project, research or study experience that will increase her skills and experience in the union’s work at state/ territory, national or international level. By extension, it should also support the AEU’s women members.

The scholarship is valued at $10,000 and is intended to cover all project expenses including, but not limited to, travel, attendance at conferences, workplace visits, training and developmental opportunities, work-shadowing, research project design and implementation.

All women AEU Branch or Associated Body members are strongly encouraged to apply.

Contact your local women’s officer for more information.

Application forms and further information is available on the AEU website: aeufederal.org.au/noticeboard The submission deadline for application forms is Friday 6 May 2022.

Election 2022 WOMEN’S WORKFORCE PARTICIPATION RATE 82 80 78 76 74 72 70 68 66 Australia

64 2010

2011

2012

Canada 2013

2014

Germany 2015

2016

Sweden

2017

2018

2019

2020

Source: OECD, 2021

Dent supports the Starting Better guarantee, an initiative from the Centre for Policy Development which proposes a 10-year roadmap for universal access to high quality ECEC, starting with an annual investment of $2 billion, rising to $20 billion by 2030 to provide benefits including: • Increased access to the workforce for mothers • An increased number of secure, higher-paying jobs in the growing early childhood education sector.

• Higher educational attainment for children, and greater workforce participation when they grow up • Happier, healthier and more prosperous lives for children who experience the guarantee • Higher tax revenues and lower health, crisis and policing costs for governments.

Thrive By Five is another group advocating for ECEC reform. CEO Jay Weatherill believes it’s “the most significant educational, social and economic reform of our era” and key to “economic reform that will drive workforce participation, productivity, GDP and government revenue”.

The ALP has pledged to maintain universal access to preschool programs

Parents are being asked to foot the bill for the entire cost of operating the ECEC system. That’s unaffordable and it creates a system where educators aren’t being paid appropriately ...

Georgie Dent The Parenthood

and will explore improvements in line with world’s best practice, including expanding funding to cover two years of preschool before school.

Leader Anthony Albanese says Australians pay some of the highest ECEC costs in the world. And he points out that fees have increased more than 35 per

cent under the Liberals, locking out more than 100,000 families.

To reduce the cost, the ALP will: • Scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap, which often sees women losing money from an extra day’s work • Lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent • Increase childcare subsidy rates for families earning less than $530,000.

In addition, the ALP would call on the Productivity Commission to review the sector and the ACCC to design a price regulation mechanism to shed light on costs and fees and drive them down. The ACCC will also be called on to examine the relationship between funding, fees, profits and educators’ salaries.

Dent says ECEC reform is a long overdue investment in the economic and social wellbeing of women, children and the nation’s future.

“We don’t want women doing unpaid care work to retire in poverty,” says Dent.

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 19

Climate policy:

how the parties compare As massive storms and ferocious bushfires continue to signal the effects of global warming, the calls for Canberra to act are growing louder.

T

he urgent need for action to arrest and reverse the effects of climate change is expected to be a key issue in the coming federal election.

An Australian Conservation Foundation poll showed that 61 per cent of voters thought Australia should cut emissions by 50 to 75 per cent by 2030, and a majority in every seat want to see more climate action.

Former ACTU climate and energy

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The bushfires ... were a profound moment where people had an insight into what our future looks like ...

Mark Wakeham Climate campaigner

policy advisor and climate campaigner Mark Wakeham says the results show that Australians are “experiencing climate change”.

“The bushfires a couple of years ago were a profound moment where people had an insight into what our future looks like if we don’t get our act together,” he says.

In addition, he says, the international student strike movement has acted as a powerful conversation starter.

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

BY CHRI S T I N E LO NG

Election 2022

We could be seeing visionary policies from political parties to put solar panels on every school around the country.

Mark Wakeham Climate campaigner

How that translates on election day depends on how closely Australians are following the climate policies being proposed by the parties.

COALITION RELIES ON TECH The Coalition has committed to zero net emissions by 2050, but it has not shifted from its target of a 26 to 28 per cent reduction in emissions by 2030.

Wakeham describes the government’s zero net emissions target as “aspirational”, adding: “It doesn’t have a plan to get there, and it is not planning on legislating that target.”

Instead, it is simply hoping technology will help Australia reach the target.

“The reality is the technologies have already been invented that will reduce emissions, it’s just a matter of deploying them at scale.”

ALP OFFERS FUNDED PLAN At the end of 2021 the ALP committed to reducing emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and reach zero net emissions by 2050.

“It’s essentially a funded plan with policy. The party is promising to legislate the 43 per cent reduction target and has new policies that will deliver those emissions reductions.

“There is a very significant fund for building new electricity transmission infrastructure that would allow a lot more renewable energy to get built and connect to the grid and there’s also significant incentives for electric vehicles,” Wakeham says.

The question is whether the ALP would raise the target further as technological change accelerates.

“The science roughly requires that globally we halve emissions by 2030,

Voters demand action

61% of voters thought Australia should cut emissions by

50 – 75% by 2030 and a majority in every seat want to see more climate action.

Source: Australian Conservation Foundation

which means that wealthy countries such as Australia need to be doing at least as much and probably more than that by 2030.”

The ALP could guarantee new renewable energy projects or set emissions standards for all vehicles, he says.

SMALLER PARTIES HAVE INFLUENCE The Greens have set the most ambitious target, aiming for a 75 per cent reduction by 2030 and zero net emissions by 2035.

“It’s a very strong policy on intention.

How deliverable it is, particularly by a party that is likely to hold a relatively small number of seats, is another question.

What the Greens can do is use their parliamentary numbers to push for more ambition from the ALP and the Coalition.”

Other players, such as Clive Palmer and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, with its long track record of attempting to weaken climate ambition, could also influence Australia’s position.

Wakeham points out that Palmer is seeking to build new coal-fired power stations, a backwards step that is happening in very few places in the world.

Political parties have an opportunity, too, to introduce policies that tackle climate change in a positive way, he says.

Wakeham says one example is to climate-proof schools. “We could be seeing visionary policies from political parties to put solar panels on every school around the country.”

Christine Long is a freelance writer.

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 21

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Election 2022

Solving the skills crisis Kickstarting Australia’s economy depends on providing a skilled workforce ready to support business and industry. A properly funded TAFE system is the answer.

BY MARG ARE T PATO N

A

ustralia’s skills shortage was already real. Then COVID-19 made it much worse.

The National Skills Commission (NSC) has declared shortages in almost 20 per cent of 799 occupations. Teachers, engineers and roles in the healthcare sector, chefs, trades, shearers and hairdressers are among those jobs for which employers are finding it impossible to fill positions.

While this picture is grim enough, the future’s not looking rosy either. Demand for these and many other jobs is forecast to increase.

Before the funding cuts, TAFE employed senior educators who were closely involved in futureproofing industries.

Demand is growing rapidly for the 153 occupations that Australia needs to fill most urgently. And, of the 646 jobs for which there is currently no shortage, 93 per cent are also expected to face rapid demand, says the NSC’s report, The State of Australia’s Skills 2021: now and into the future.

The report says the path forward for Australia’s economy is a workforce skilled in care, computing, cognitive ability and communication.

Maxine Sharkey AEU federal TAFE secretary

FUNDING CUTS HAVE FAILED TAFE The skills crisis affects every industry, so it makes sense that Australia’s national

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 23

Election 2022

Rebuild with TAFE rebuildwithtafe.org.au

publicly funded vocational and training infrastructure is supported.

But major funding cuts have damaged TAFE’s ability to respond. Since 2013, more than $3 billion has been cut from VET (Vocation l Education and Training) funding and the Coalition government has channelled some of the money to poor-quality private training colleges.

The Coalition government has failed TAFE, says AEU federal TAFE secretary Maxine Sharkey.

“Before the funding cuts, TAFE employed senior educators who were closely involved in future-proofing industries,” says Sharkey.

“Those educators would liaise with industry to help predict skill shortages up to 10 years ahead.

“We need a proactive VET (Vocational Education and Training system) and a proactive public education system to rebuild our economy and reskill people,” says Sharkey.

To understand the effect of the Coalition’s funding cuts, the AEU surveyed 1000 TAFE staff last year.

More than 80 per cent of respondents said budgets in their departments had decreased, while nearly half of those in teaching roles said class sizes had increased.

More than two-thirds of those surveyed also said their institution had cut courses in the previous three years. Respondents also reported inadequate investment in capital works and equipment.

The ALP has promised that, if elected, it will provide 465,000 free TAFE places, $50 million for new equipment and facilities and a guarantee of 70 per cent of total government funding for TAFE.

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AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe welcomed the announcement saying “the AEU has been calling for the restoration of funding and proper support for TAFE for a long time, culminating in our #RebuildWithTAFE launched earlier this year. These commitments will restore TAFE as the anchor institution of vocational education”.

A POSITIVE CYCLE Apart from TAFE’s role in helping to rebuild the economy, it’s a “major economic industry in its own right”, according to analysis by the Centre for Future Work.

The Centre’s 2020 report, An Investment in Productivity and Inclusion: The Economic and Social Benefits of the TAFE System, calculated $92.5 billion in annual economic benefits from TAFE’s economic footprint, the higher earnings and productivity achieved by TAFE

graduates and the fiscal savings from social benefits.

And there are the benefits that are more difficult to put a dollar figure on. For example, says Sharkey, TAFE helped to revive communities after the summer 2019-20 bushfires on the NSW South Coast.

“Unionists walked in and said let’s rebuild your community with TAFE by running some free basic courses such as in fencing and maintenance. It gave the community a morale boost and they had new skills they could use immediately.

“When we rebuild TAFE, we rebuild our communities and the economy. It’s an ongoing positive cycle,” Sharkey says.

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and a casual teacher.

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Election 2022

Secure jobs are worth fighting for The Morrison government has overseen attacks on job security and the lowest levels of wage growth in decades, and we need to put a stop to it, writes Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus.

T

he Morrison government’s approach to insecure work is perfectly encapsulated in its recent announcements on aged care. It has ignored calls from workers and employers to act on the recommendations of the royal commission, to lift wages and to improve job security for workers in the sector. The prime minister instead chose to throw workers a few hundred dollars in the months before an election.

We have seen this pattern repeated throughout the pandemic. A government more than willing to claim credit for declining unemployment but neglecting to discuss the fact that more than 60 per cent of new jobs created have been casual, without basic rights and security. Australia now has record numbers of people who need multiple jobs to survive. Workers who hold multiple jobs earn less in total than those with a single, full-time role.

Under the Coalition, the last nine years have seen the lowest levels of wage growth since the Great Depression. Prospects are worsening: the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook confirms that real wages will go backwards this financial year and wages will be outpaced by inflation.

Insecure work is hollowing out the Australian workforce. It gives all the power to employers and makes it difficult for workers to bargain for better rights and pay. It also keeps workers in a cycle of constant financial stress, living week-toweek and unable to plan ahead.

The stress of insecure work can have significant and long-lasting impacts on the mental and physical health of workers and their families.

Over the last 25 years, employers have found more and more ways to convert on-going permanent jobs into insecure

jobs with very few rights. Gig work, labour hire, casual or fixed term work are all forms of insecure work that are being misused by employers. Employers are doing this because it’s cheaper and because our workplace laws allow them to.

We need to put a stop to it.

The only way to make a big impact and turn the situation around is for the federal government to change the law. Put simply, we need our laws to be updated, to make it unlawful for employers to convert once secure jobs into insecure jobs.

The union movement knows what laws need to be changed, we just need a federal government willing to step up and do it.

In the last year the Morrison government had the opportunity to legislate against the overuse of insecure work. Instead, it legislated that any worker could be labelled a casual, irrespective of the true nature of their work. This is exactly what the big employers were demanding, and this is what Scott Morrison did.

Unfortunately, when it comes to stepping up to help people, the Morrison government is always missing in action – whether it be bushfires, the treatment of women, ordering vaccines or supplying rapid antigen tests in time.

The ACTU wants to make job security an election issue. We need a government that will act when there’s a crisis – because we have a crisis of insecure work. But we all know that in a crisis our current prime minister doesn’t hold a hose. We know there is no hope he will act to fix this problem.

You would have thought the pandemic was a big wakeup call, that things needed to change as one-in-three working people were forced to try to survive a global health crisis with no sick leave. This lack of

The stress of insecure work can have significant and longlasting impacts on the mental and physical health of workers and their families.

response has repeatedly led to outbreaks caused by workers with no choice but to continue to work while sick.

Some political parties have responded.

Both the Labor Party and The Greens have announced good policies to finally address the job security crisis. The Morrison Government has not.

Working people – and our country – deserve so much better.

Unions will always campaign for rights at work, job security and better living standards. We will do this all the time. This election is an opportunity to make once-ina-generation change for the better.

Secure jobs are worth fighting for.

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 27

Deadly cost of government inaction The Morrison government’s failure to protect sick and vulnerable Australians, and the workers who look after them, is taking a tragic toll.

2 8 // AU T UMN 2 0 2 2

respect. And the workers who are looking after them are the good humans in the world, they're the ones who care. They are doing it for low pay, and this government is just not showing them any respect.

“We’re seeing preventable deaths and it sits squarely on the Morrison government.

They’ve just completely failed.”

The COVID-19 vaccine booster roll-out has been too slow, says Sharp. “The access to RATs [rapid antigen tests] has been inadequate and shambolic, and the supply of PPE [personal protective equipment] has been inconsistent. So many flaws.”

BEYOND BREAKING POINT The government’s lack of preparation has been “shocking”, says Jo Schofield, national president of the United Workers Union (UWU).

It was clear the aged system was at breaking point, particularly after the royal commission, she says.

“But not only has the government failed to act comprehensively on the findings of the royal commission; they've done nothing to prepare the sector for waves of COVID. And all of the issues that were there before COVID – understaffing, low pay and high turnover – have just been exacerbated by what's been happening over the last two years.”

“Our members are fed up and exhausted. And now there are the additional issues of people having to work double shifts, they can’t access testing because of the spread of COVID in the community, there's no paid pandemic leave and there's been no response to the staffing crisis.”

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

T

he aged care sector was already in crisis before COVID-19 hit.

Now it’s a catastrophe. Federal government inaction and mismanagement has led to an alarming escalation of deaths in aged care facilities. The total number of deaths from COVID-19 in January this year was double the number for all of 2021.

Aged care is in “complete disarray”, and it has been made worse by the surge in cases with Omicron, says Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) assistant federal secretary Lori-Anne Sharp.

The Morrison government should have had a plan, she says.

“They were warned. We had a royal commission that found chronic understaffing in the sector. They've done nothing in two years to address any of that,” says Sharp.

The Morrison government’s failure to plan has placed staff under increasing pressure, directly affecting the people in their care.

Staffing levels are so low that just three staff are often left to manage as many as 120 aged care residents at night.

That means there’s not enough time to get everything done. Medications are being delayed or missed, and residents are being left in soiled bed linen for extended periods.

Urinary tract infections – which can cause delirium – have increased because residents aren’t getting enough to drink. Sharp says this often leads to residents wandering around facilities, increasing their risk of falls.

One of the royal commission’s most crucial recommendations, she says, was for a mandated safe minimum level of staffing in aged care, but the Morrison government failed to act on it.

“These are our elderly citizens who deserve so much more dignity and

Election 2022

We need a government that will make life fairer, support public education and health, and ensure working people have more secure jobs and improved rights.

Michele O’Neil ACTU president

The prime minister’s two-stage retention bonus for aged care workers is a “political gimmick”, says Schofield.

“Aged care workers need a pay rise that recognises the value of their work and their skills, not political gestures.

Their commitment and passion for the caring work they do just continues to be exploited through low pay.”

Already low wages have failed to keep up with the cost of living, such as skyrocketing petrol, power, housing and grocery costs, she says.

A joint statement by the ANMF, UWU, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and other organisations representing the sector called on the Morrison government to provide an ongoing COVID-19 payment for each shift worked.

The statement says the two-stage bonus payment is “grossly inadequate” and questions whether it would prevent the exodus of frontline staff.

“Resignations due to fatigue and feeling undervalued continue to devastate the sector,” the statement says.

It also says that the federal government needs to fund more aged care staff with better pay and improved skills and qualifications, and provide adequate funding for infection protection measures.

Pay for the mostly female workforce in the aged care sector “absolutely needs to increase” to help retain and attract workers, says Sharp.

“If we provide an environment where people are remunerated well, and there are safe staffing levels where people feel supported and can give the care that the residents deserve, workers will come back to the sector,” she says.

“But they won't come back if they have huge work stress and don't get paid enough.”

A vote for fairness and equality A change of government is needed to protect workers and the community. ACTU president Michele O’Neil says the Coalition government’s nine years in office has been catastrophic for workers.

“Even before the pandemic, wages were stagnant,” she says.

“Now we have the lowest levels of wage growth since the Great Depression. This financial year, wages will actually go backwards and be outpaced by inflation.

“Insecure work is a permanent feature of the Morrison government’s economic structure, and over 60 per cent of post-pandemic jobs have been casual. Scott Morrison knows that insecure workers find it harder to bargain for higher pay and more rights, and that’s exactly what his supporters in big business want.”

O’Neil also criticises the Morrison government’s botched response to COVID-19.

“At every opportunity during this pandemic, Scott Morrison has passed responsibility onto the states and tried to divert

responsibility. It is because of his failure to build adequate quarantine centres, order vaccines and RATs in time, and make RATs free and accessible, that we are now seeing tens of thousands of cases a day, with supply chains across the nation disrupted.”

As we head to the polls, O’Neil urges voters to remember that the Morrison government has fostered inequality by overseeing a drop in wages, an increase in the gender pay gap and a rise in the number of insecure jobs.

“The decision at election time is about having a government in power that takes responsibility and acts in peoples’ interests,” she says. “We need a government that will make life fairer, support public education and health, and ensure working people have more secure jobs and improved rights.”

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 29

What matters to me?

Australian Educator spoke to teachers, principals and education support staff around the country to find out about the election issues that are most important to them.

SUE HILL Kaurna Country, SA

EARLY CHILDHOOD FUNDING “I’d like to see the political parties really acknowledge that early childhood is important to the future of our country,” says early childhood worker Sue Hill from Bains Road Preschool in Morphett Vale, Adelaide.

they provide capital works funding to private schools is blatantly unequal. Public schools are left with whatever the states can provide. In New South Wales there’s a massive backlog of works that need to be done in schools.”

The federal government’s incompetence in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened the safe operation of schools, says Loades.

TRYSTAN LOADES Dharawal Country, NSW

SECURE SCHOOLS FUNDING School funding is one of the top election issues for Trystan Loades, deputy principal at Keira High School in Wollongong.

“COVID has shown that you need really capable government and bureaucracies, but our government is woefully adrift in terms of managing anything whether it’s vaccines or, just as we were starting a new school year, the availability of rapid antigen testing, which could become critical for the safe management of a school site.”

“The National School Reform Agreement between the states and the federal government comes to an end next year and my school, and schools like mine, are set to fall off a cliff if that funding doesn’t continue and improve,” says Loades.

Loades says leadership on public health systems is another big issue. “Surely, in a country as wealthy as Australia, there should be a public health system with real capacity and resources to deal with unforeseen crises. Stripping health to the bare bones is not good enough."

“The Coalition has done nothing but sabotage the agreements since they were put in place and mitigated their impact by increasing funding to private schools, particularly for capital works. The way

On other issues, Loades says Australia is out of step with the rest of the world on energy policy. “The obsession with fossil fuels and the power of the mining lobby is anti-democratic.”

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Too many preschools are underfunded and struggle to purchase even basic resources, says Hill, who works in the school’s Inclusive Preschool Program for children with severe and multiple disabilities.

“Preschools need to be funded in a better way. We’re not giving kids the opportunities they deserve to reach their potential due to the lack of funding,” she says.

Hill also wants more consistent laws across the country. She says ordinary people have been overlooked in the pandemic response.

“Changing definitions of close contacts and special rules for elite sports people are not good enough. The average person has had to make the biggest sacrifices throughout all of this, that’s what worries me the most.

Ordinary people have just been forgotten.”

The rising cost of living is also a concern.

“Everything is going up anyway, but we’ve found that household costs have further increased with my partner working at home full time,” says Hill.

But early childhood education remains her burning issue. “I don’t think politicians really understand that early childhood is where the passion for learning begins.”

She invites candidates to visit early childhood centres. “And don't come in your suit, put on a t-shirt and jeans and be prepared to get involved and see how our kids are beginning their education.”

Election 2022

ANNAMARIA ZUFFO Ngunnawal Country, ACT

STRONG LEADERSHIP Strong and united leadership for Australia is essential for Annamaria Zuffo, principal at Throsby P-6 School, the Australian Capital Territory’s 90th and newest school, which will open this year.

Zuffo says powerful leadership is necessary to help deal with the pandemic and to ensure equity for those facing financial and mental health challenges.

She wants to see education policies that address the gap in funding, resources shared between public and private schools, and better support provided to students and staff, especially in dealing with occupational violence.

The public health system also needs more funding and support, not just to deal with the extra strain caused by the pandemic but to provide better facilities and resources into the future, says Zuffo.

“For example, we need to seriously address young people’s mental health needs and make sure they have all the support they need into the long term.”

Zuffo says homelessness is another area that needs urgent attention and funding.

“It breaks my heart to see young people homeless – the effects of it are so far reaching. It’s unbelievable that people are forced to set up their homes in freeway tunnels and under bridges. What is this country doing?”

TRAVIS TUNSTALL Larrakia Country, NT

CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION

DENISE CASEY Arrernte Country, NT

JOB SECURITY

More action to combat the effects of climate change is top of Travis Tunstall’s election wish list.

While Denise Casey plans to retire in two years, she is concerned for the teachers still working and those just beginning.

“Our students need to see that Australia’s leaders really care about their future,” says Tunstall, a teacher at Taminmin College, in Humpty Doo in the Northern Territory.

“They need job security and to be fairly paid. And there needs to be enough funding for schools to look after our young people,” says Casey, a home liaison office at Centralian Middle School in Alice Springs.

Tunstall wants a government committed to worthwhile future projects such as smart technologies, electric vehicles and renewable energy rather than promises of tax cuts. And, as a teacher at a school with a strong vocational education and training program, he believes there is a need to kickstart Australia’s manufacturing capability.

“It’d be great to see more manufacturing jobs for our students. They love this work but we’re losing so many jobs in that area.

We need to actually build things in this country,” he says.

The federal government could also play a big role in building recognition, reward and respect for teachers’ work, says Tunstall. “I know pay and conditions is a state issue but attracting and retaining teachers is one of the country’s biggest problems right now and it affects us all.”

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voice to federal parliament is also essential for a new government, says Tunstall. “Our students need to see that they have a say in Canberra,” he says.

Casey says a lack of proper funding is leading to teacher burnout and difficulty in managing students with challenging behaviours who find a mainstream classroom difficult.

She says funding for youth mental health services also urgently needs to improve. “I deal with a lot of young people with mental health issues and sometimes they’re forced to wait quite some time to see a counsellor or to have an assessment. In the meantime, there’s no extra funding to help them and that can impact right across the school. Early intervention is essential to help provide a stable future for them,” she says.

COVID-19 had largely bypassed the Northern Territory until December last year when the first cases of the Omicron variant were discovered. Casey says more thought is needed about how to create a safe environment for teachers.

“We need to protect teachers, not just from catching the virus, but also from the additional stress and workload of dealing with larger classes to cover for colleagues who are off sick,” she says.

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SALLYANN GEALE Palanwina lurini kanamaluka Country, TAS

ENDING INEQUALITY Candidates in this election need to understand that students are not getting the quality education they’re entitled to because of the deeply entrenched inequality in school resourcing,” says Sallyann Geale, an English and humanities and social sciences teacher at Riverside High School in Launceston, Tasmania.

Every year, the divide between our public schools and our private schools is increasing and the gaps between high and low socioeducational groups are widening. And it is really appalling.

At the same time, teacher workload is out of hand as expectations continue to grow “at a ridiculous rate”, says Geale. “That's not only turning potential teachers away from the profession but, importantly, it’s also limiting access to the support that students need and deserve.

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Michael Stoetzer, an English and global studies teacher at Reynella East College in Adelaide says needs-based schools funding and the size of the teacher workforce are the most important election issues for him.

Stoetzer, who spent six years working in a regional school says country areas are particularly hard hit by the lack of relief teachers and health workers. “Relief teachers in country areas are pretty much non-existent.”

“In Tasmanian public schools, students can wait as long as 18 months. That’s no exaggeration,” she says.

“Every year, the divide between our public schools and our private schools is increasing and the gaps between high and low socio-educational groups are widening. And it is really appalling.”

SOLVE TEACHER SHORTAGE

“The pandemic has highlighted that we don’t have enough teachers to replace those who become ill. It’s the same with the health workforce,” he says.

Geale is frustrated by the long (“like, really long”) waiting lists for students to see psychologists, social workers or other specialists at schools.

“We have an increasing demand because of both the huge rise in mental health issues and a higher level of disadvantage in the state, yet the supports in schools – such as the psychologists, social workers, literacy and numeracy specialists and speech pathologists – are really thin on the ground. That puts kids way behind,” says Geale.

MICHAEL STOETZER Kuarna Country, SA

Stoetzer believes the incentives for working in rural and regional areas need to be improved to attract more professionals.

Sallyann Geale Palanwina lurini kanamaluka Country, TAS

“These are the issues we need to be focusing on around education in Australia, this election.”

Aged care policy is also important to Geale who’s concerned about supporting her parents who still live in their own home. “I’m a key support, but working in a school places me at an increased risk of contracting COVID. If I can't help my parents then that will significantly reduce their level of support.”

He would also like to see an increase in the number of permanent teachers to help fill relief positions as needed. “That provides job security for those teachers and more consistency for teaching and learning when relief teachers are required to fill longer-term assignments.”

Climate change is also a major concern for Stoetzer. “The Coalition government hasn’t done enough – they’ve been hamstrung by a minority who seem to control the government. We need more ambitious targets to combat climate change and solid forward planning,” he says.

Election 2022

TRINA CLEARY Ngunnawal Country, ACT

CHILDREN'S WELLBEING “We urgently need to vote in a government that prioritises caring for our children, invests in their education and respects the teaching workforce,” says Trina Cleary, an EAL/D (English as an additional language or dialect) teacher, at Torrens Primary School in the Australian Capital Territory.

Cleary believes that children’s wellbeing is “hanging by a thread” because the systems that support them are falling apart.

The Morrison government scores a complete fail in providing a positive future for our kids.

Words can’t be scathing enough to condemn the short sightedness, ignorance and stupidity we’ve seen at the federal level.

“Public schools have long been held together by the dedication of educators, but we’re on our last legs with teacher shortages, pandemic challenges and ongoing resourcing problems,” she says.

FAIR POLICIES “I’m really concerned about the Coalition’s complete mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s their passingthe-buck on things like vaccinations and testing that’s really a worry when it’s clearly a federal responsibility, says Rob Samuels.

Samuels, an RFF (release from face-to face) teacher of classes at Blackwell Public School in St Clair, Sydney, says the federal government’s handling of migrants and refugees has been “embarrassingly cruel”.

“Our lack of empathy and humanity, particularly to people from situations that have been partially of our making such as Iraq and Afghanistan, are appalling.

It’s affecting my students, their families and our community because we have a number of students from those areas.”

“The Morrison government scores a complete fail in providing a positive future for our kids. Words can’t be scathing enough to condemn the short sightedness, ignorance and stupidity we’ve seen at the federal level. That’s been obvious through mismanagement of the pandemic and natural disasters, but we need to remember also the longer-term erosion of our schools.”

Schools funding is "absolutely frustrating" and another example of the federal government trying to pass the buck to the states, says Samuels.

“There’s also the overfunding of the nonpublic sector, the so-called private sector.

I know that some might accuse us of the politics of envy. But it’s very difficult to think about fairness when I’ve got so many of my students in leaky demountables trying to avoid bird lice while private schools are using their federal funding to build a new library that looks like a Scottish castle or to get Dick Smith’s helicopter into their atrium,” he says.

Hospitals and the health systems are in a similar mess, says Cleary.

“Their services have been run down for decades too. The desperate pleas of nurses and doctors for some kind of back up and better planning have also been ignored and now they’re facing a longoverdue burnout that threatens us all.

“COVID has just made reality more obvious. I believe this is our final warning and we have to turn the tide right now,” Cleary says.

ROB SAMUELS Darug Country, NSW

Trina Cleary Ngunnawal Country, ACT

“I’m really proud of our public education system and what we achieve for our students but the Coalition’s funding policies are demonstrably unfair.”

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Keeping it local Students in some African countries finally have access to books that reflect their own cultures, languages and experiences.

Students in Ghana are benefitting from new textbooks that have been written and produced locally.

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for children to relate to the languages and experiences.

That can have several knock-on effects: children are less engaged in reading and learning; they are potentially being influenced by a different set of values; and they are disconnected from their historical context.

Susan Hopgood, AEU federal secretary and Education International president, says the Australian experience for First Nations students and those from migrant backgrounds shows the importance of developing and using culturally relevant learning materials.

IN SHORT // An initiative to write and publish local textbooks for African students is addressing the scarcity of learning materials in the region. // The program is run by Education International and supported by the AEU's International Trust Fund. // The books also help young people to reconnect with cultural values.

PHOTOGRAPHY GETTY IMAGES

L

ocal stories and values are at the heart of new textbooks being published for students in a number of African countries, thanks to funding provided by the AEU’s International Trust Fund.

The books are written and produced by locals in several African countries from Ghana to Burkina Faso via the Pan African Teachers’ Centre, a department of Education International’s Africa region office.

It’s an important initiative in a region where many children don’t have access to books or must use books that come from Western countries, which makes it difficult

World view

... Most of the books in schools highlight foreign, imported situations and cultures.

But these are not our realities.

Anatole Zongo National Union of Secondary and Superior Teachers

“We know that learning materials must be culturally relevant and appropriate to the context,” she says.

The AEU’s decision in 2021 to continue to support the development cooperation program in Africa reflects its aim of building organisations and supporting the development of education unions.

“We see it as important for education unions to work in partnership with each other,” says Hopgood.

The International Trust Fund is funded through a percentage of union fees and aims to promote the global development of independent, sustainable teacher organisations.

“We always look for ways in which we can achieve quality public education for all around the world,” says Hopgood.

IMPROVED RESOURCES Education International’s Dennis Sinyolo says the program is helping to address the scarcity of learning materials, particularly in some disadvantaged areas.

“In some schools, the storybook is the only textbook available to teachers,” says Sinyolo, director of the Africa Region Office.

The program is delivering benefits for students and equipping teachers with new skills.

“The program includes a professional training component, enabling teachers to be trained in writing and using the book.”

RECONNECTION WITH CULTURAL VALUES In the West African country of Burkina Faso, Souleymane Badiel, General Secretary of the Fédération des Syndicats Nationaux des Travailleurs de l’Education et de la Recherche (F-SYNTER), says the professional development program pinpointed another issue: the loss of local values.

In cities, new technology is replacing the traditional role played by women in telling stories to their grandchildren. Badiel says it’s a shift that is contributing to the erosion of traditional values in youth.

“It is a problem our society is facing,” he says, adding some of the consequences of that shift include poor discipline; juvenile delinquency and the use of narcotic substances; and difficulties in relationships between youth and the elderly.

Badiel is concerned that students, particularly younger children, no longer have a desire to read. He sees the home-grown textbooks as one way to help promote a love of reading among the country’s youth.

“It can be through stories like the ones developed thanks to this program, rather than the classic textbook, which is seen as being imposed on the school.”

The books also offer an alternative way to connect the students with traditional values.

“We must be able to put this in writing, audio, or visual media to allow children to learn about it,” he says.

and Fatou are not first names from Burkina Faso.”

At a two-day training workshop attended by representatives from all four Education International member organisations teachers were taught to write a booklet that enshrined local customs, tales, and legends. The best stories were then selected and published.

LOCAL DIALECTS Language is another important aspect in ensuring the learning materials are relevant and effective.

Thomas Mussa, Ghana National Association of Teachers’ general secretary, says the development program has an important role in introducing books written in local dialects to students.

During the school break, selected unionmember teachers were trained in literacy, storytelling, and writing.

They then used these skills to write simple stories in their local dialects, which were introduced to students.

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER TEACHERS APPROPRIATE HISTORICAL The program provides another important CONTEXT benefit beyond professional development The books are also an opportunity to create for teacher unions in Africa, says Hopgood. learning materials that reflect the country’s “It also offers opportunities for teacher historical context. activists to gather and learn from one Anatole Zongo, general secretary of another, providing learning material the National Union of Secondary and and developing materials to be used in Superior Teachers, says some of the history the classroom.” textbooks used in Burkina Faso still focus on More broadly, the program is an France or Europe. opportunity to demonstrate how trade “In the last 10 years or so, some of these unions are carrying out activities that books have been replaced, but not all contribute to the development of the of them. education system, says Badiel.

“Teachers therefore use books from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, or France, and most This is an edited extract of a story first published of the books in schools highlight foreign, on Education International’s website ei-ie.org imported situations and cultures.

“But these are not our realities. Doudou

AUTUM N 20 2 2 // 35

Raising the bar Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth are taking the lead on their own education and futures, but educators have a vital role to play in their success.

E

mpowered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are a force to be reckoned with, says Dr Marnee Shay, a senior research fellow and author from the University of Queensland. And education systems need to recognise the value of strength-based approaches to achieving excellence in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

Shay and a team of researchers spent three years listening to more than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary school students in six urban, regional and remote communities across Queensland and Western Australia.

The project, Cultural Identity, Health and Wellbeing of Indigenous Young People in Schools (funded by the Lowitja Institute), involved students who were disengaged and attending school inconsistently. “Yet, when they were engaged in our project, their attendance rate increased to almost 100 per cent,” says Shay, a Wagiman woman whose family is from Daly River in the Northern Territory but who was born and raised in South East Queensland.

Shay and her co-researchers, Professors Grace Sarra and Annette Woods, also contributed a chapter to the book Indigenous Education in Australia: Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures, which Shay co-edited with Rhonda Oliver.

She says the book is an edited collection of articles from diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, educators and practitioners and is widely used in Australian teacher education programs.

“The topics covered are highly relevant to the AITSL standards 1.4 and 2.4. Its content is based on evidence and scholarship and complemented by practitioner stories and experiences, supported with resources and tools that

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Indigenous Education in Australia: Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures is edited By Marnee Shay and Rhonda Oliver and published by Routledge.

teachers can contextualise for their own school settings,” Shay says.

In the chapter, Strong Identities, Strong Futures, which was based on their research, Shay, Sarra and Woods write about the resilience and tenacity shown

by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in dealing with racism and media representations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They also share their concerns about the under representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as educators and leaders in Australian schools.

“Change starts with schools employing more Indigenous people, at all levels, not just as teachers’ aides. And ensuring local Indigenous community members are present in schools and provided with meaningful ways of contributing to decision making,” she says.

Teachers can affirm the identities and future opportunities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people through strengths-based approaches and high-expectations student relationships.

“If teachers are not using a strengthsbased approach, they are at risk of developing low expectations for all their students, including their Indigenous students,” Shay and her co-authors write.

Now, several years after the Cultural Identity project, the researchers “get to hear lots of anecdotes about the impact of listening to their students and pushing them forward as potential leaders”.

“The young people we have worked with have gone on to do some pretty amazing things after participating in that study,” she says. “One remote school has had two Indigenous school captains since the project was delivered in their school – and they had never had any Indigenous school leaders in their history.”

Shay, who has a background as a youth worker, teacher and school leader says: “We believe some of the success was because our research framed Indigenous young people as being important agents in their own lives, who had their own opinions and their own imaginings for their futures.”

“The other important key to success on this particular project was that we employed local Indigenous researchers in every community we worked with.

Even though Grace (Sarra) and I are Indigenous, we ensured local protocols were honoured and that local knowledge holders led the process. We engaged local Elders to speak about the country that we were on, the history of the community, and to guide the research.

The project would not have been as successful if the young people involved

PHOTOGRAPHY AUSTOCK PHOTO

BY L E AN N E T O L RA

Toolkit

Podcast series A free podcast series includes interviews with authors of each of the chapters in Indigenous Education in Australia: Learning and Teaching for Deadly Futures.

Go to Apple podcasts or Spotify.

hadn’t seen their own local Elders, their own community members, as part of the process. Young people told us very clearly that they have strengths and capabilities, in terms of their Indigenous identities, and they want to be able to showcase them in a school setting.

They also told us that they want to see themselves in the curriculum and in the school environment.

“They want to see Aboriginal interests and knowledge embedded throughout different key learning areas, not just in one discrete program. They want to see it regularly featured in classrooms and lessons and in the everyday practices of their schools.”

Shay says The Imagination Declaration, a statement launched by a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people at the Garma Festival in 2019, challenging our leaders to involve young people, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, in policies that affect their future, reflected her own research. She says it struck a chord and she was prompted to write about it in an article in The Conversation, which has since gained a wide readership.

The young people were supported

by AIME Mentoring, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mentoring project established in 2004, and their voices have continued to be heard in schools and classrooms around the country.

“The declaration reflected the findings from our research and has continued to illustrate the power of listening to and empowering young people,” she says.

Shay says the Cultural Identity study showed the importance of acknowledging that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people have strengths, capabilities and dignities.

We need to shift away from thinking about Indigenous education as a gap to close and see it as a framework of excellence for the future.

Dr Marnee Shay University of Queensland

“We need to shift away from thinking about Indigenous education as a gap to close and see it as a framework of excellence for the future.”

“COVID obviously caused a massive disruption to anything proactive in education, understandably, but I think we will pick up some of those really important messages that came from the study and The Imagination Declaration around ensuring that we are creating space to listen to young people.

“Young people are our future. They are our future leaders. And really, we should be making explicit space for them to be heard; and to lead.”

Leanne Tolra is a freelance writer and Australian Educator’s sub-editor.

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Recess

A new direction Emily Webster’s shift from legal aid lawyer to teacher means she no longer deals with problems after they emerge, but works proactively with young people to make positive changes in their lives.

BY CY ND I T E B B E L

T [Young people] see the writing on the wall in terms of climate change and they see adults doing nothing about it. I didn’t want to be another one of those adults.

Emily Webster Centralian Middle School, NT

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he law brought Emily Webster to Alice Springs in 2009, but the “reactionary nature” of her job as a legal aid lawyer made her reassess her career. She decided she would be better suited to a profession in which she could work with young people to help shape their future.

After completing her teaching degree online with La Trobe University, Webster began her new career as a secondary school teacher. She’s been a member of the staff at Centralian Middle School (CMS) since 2017, teaching English and Humanities to Year 9s and representing the AEU as a branch co-representative.

Webster is also very active in her local community, involving herself in groups focusing on the environment, women’s workplace rights, the arts and First Nations issues.

Last year, she ran as the Greens candidate for Alice Springs Council, narrowly missing out on a seat. She was moved to run by the young people she teaches, and her own two children, who she says are “desperately fearful for their future”.

“They see the writing on the wall in terms of climate change and they see adults doing nothing about it,” says Webster.

“I didn’t want to be another one of those adults. They’re not old enough to vote but they’re the ones who are going to really suffer from the effects of global warming and it’s not OK for us as adults to stand by and let it happen without doing something.”

EMOTIONAL SUPPORT Webster sees her role as teacher as being a facilitator and a mentor, someone who’s there to help young

Why do you teach?

We want to hear your tips for engaging young minds. Email educator@hardiegrant.com if you have something to share. You can provide a written piece or we’d love to interview you.

people academically, as well as “just being a safe adult who’s making school a safe place”.

Of the approximately 350 students at CMS – a mix that includes children from First Nations, Maori, Pacific Islander, Sudanese and Filipino backgrounds – Webster teaches two classes of Year 9s, each with around 25 students.

She’s learned that Year 9 is an emotionally tumultuous time, so she works to build relationships with her students, which she says is “a million times more important than what some bureaucrats decide might need to be in the curriculum”.

“This school – like all public schools in the Northern Territory – is chronically underfunded,” says Webster.

More money would mean more teachers and smaller class sizes, intensive literacy and numeracy programs for every student who needed them, one-to-one laptops and much greater support for students with additional needs.

“Proper funding would also give students opportunities and experiences that kids in other parts of Australia take for granted,” she says.

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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