Centrepiece at Melbourne Park
30-31 October 2023
Featuring keynote speakers, workshops and educational sessions for professional development. Be part of the first national summit on equity in education where we explore what it will take to ensure that every child and young person has access to high quality public education.
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Mon 30th - Tue 31st Oct 2023
Centrepiece at Melbourne Park
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ON THE COVER The AEU launches its For Every Child campaign at Parliament House in August.
06
NEWS IN BRIEF
• New report finds online privacy and consent for data collection are hot topics for young people
• Survey reveals most Australians think more money should be spent on public schools
• UN group looks at crucial issues facing the teaching profession
08
The AEU's school funding campaign is demanding that all governments agree to properly fund public schools by 2028 to address rapidly evolving crises in learning, health and wellbeing and teacher shortages.
20
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
Reviews and reforms within Australia’s early childhood education sector o er hope for generational change.
32
24 GROUNDSWELL OF SUPPORT
Across the nation, Australians are taking up the invitation for a better future for all.
26
CONFIDENCE TO FACE CHALLENGES
Three early-stage educators reveal how activism and a shift in perspective motivate them through the middle of the year.
32
TEACHERS IN FLORIDA UNDER TREMENDOUS ATTACK
Teacher's rights in the US are threatened due to a rise in extreme right-wing policies.
34
LAMINGTONS AND LESSONS IN MELBOURNE
Understanding the education systems in other countries can inspire new ideas for action.
36 BACKPOCKET RESOURCES
Subscription-based professional learning courses designed to address common teacher pain points.
REGULARS
04 From the president
05 Know your union
38 Recess
www.aeufederal.org.au
Last week I visited a primary school that had set up a small classroom environment for students with complex needs such as anxiety, disability or trauma. Students who in the bustle of a large classroom, had engaged in violent and disruptive behaviour, placing their safety and that of their teachers and classmates at risk, were now receiving one-on-one intensive support and learning in a calm and positive manner. The six students in the classroom were each supported by a teacher or education support person. Yet, as I discussed the importance of the learning environment that had been set up by the school, the principal shared a few harsh facts. Three of the students received no funding for their complex needs, so the school had to find money from other parts of their budget to fund the additional sta ing required. Adding to that, the school had undertaken fundraising activities to pay for the conversion of an outside wet area into a suitable classroom. Both recurrent and capital funding shortfalls were highlighted in one conversation and it provided a deep reality check about the impact of the underfunding crisis in Australia’s public schools.
Prime minister Anthony Albanese talks about his vision of no one being held back and no one being left behind and yet 12 years on from the first Gonski report, that vision will not be realised without determined action from his government to address the inequality of school funding through upcoming negotiations with all governments.
For too long, principals and teachers have been asked to do too much with too little. A decade after governments adopted a Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) as a way of measuring what schools need to meet the needs of their students, only 1.3 per cent of public schools are funded at SRS minimums. At the same time, government funding for private schools has increased at double the rate of funding for public schools. When public schools are running sausage sizzles to pay for classrooms and teachers, there is something inherently wrong with government priorities. As of now, there is no agreement between governments to close the resources gap and bring every school to 100 per cent of the SRS. This must change.
The AEU has launched the For Every Child campaign to secure full funding of public schools by 2028 and we need your help to send a strong message to the Albanese government and all state and territory governments. It is time to fully fund all public schools across the nation and it is time to back the principals, teachers and education support personnel who deliver a high-quality education every day.
The reality is that education has never been more closely linked to the life chances of Australia’s children and the prosperity of our nation. Our future depends on what all children achieve and how well they are prepared for a rapidly changing world.
Editor Kevin Bates
Publisher Fiona Hardie
Account manager Christine Dixon
Managing editor Beth Wallace
Commissioning editor Tracey Evans
Subeditor Leanne Tolra
Design Dallas Budde & Geraldine Lanzarone
Every child has the right to learn and to be supported to reach their full potential. This can only be achieved through the provision of well-resourced public schools in every community.
Full funding is the only way to ensure every child has every opportunity to succeed.
It will enable teachers and principals to do the things they know will make a di erence: reduce class sizes, provide more individual support for students who need it and increase the number of specialist teachers and support sta in schools.
It will also give teachers more time to prepare high-quality lessons and collaborate on the best ways to meet students’ needs. Cutting workloads will pay o for students and is the best way to ensure we can recruit and retain the teachers we need.
When the Commonwealth and state and territory governments sign new bilateral agreements in the next year, they must ensure that public schools in every state and territory are resourced at a minimum of 100 per cent of the SRS by 2028.
Our children and teachers are giving 100 per cent. We need politicians to do the same.
Join us in campaigning For Every Child.
Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president
With a federal office and branches or associated bodies in every state and territory, the AEU represents more than 195,000 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
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 SA BRANCH
Branch president
Andrew Gohl
Branch secretary
Matthew Cherry
163 Greenhill Road
Parkside 5063
Phone: 08 8172 6300
Email: aeusa@aeusa.asn.au
Web: aeusa.asn.au
AEU VIC BRANCH
Branch president
Meredith Peace
Branch secretary
Erin Aullich
126 Trenerry Crescent
Abbotsford 3067
Phone: 03 9417 2822
For more information, resources and to get involved visit: ForEveryChild.au
Advertising manager
Kerri Spillane
Tel: (03) 8520 6444
Email: kerrispillane@ hardiegrant.com
Email: melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au
Web: aeuvic.asn.au
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
Federal president
Correna Haythorpe
Federal secretary
Kevin Bates
AEU NT BRANCH
Branch president
Michelle Ayres
Branch secretary
Rachael Metcalfe
3/8 Totem Road
Coconut Grove 0811
Phone: 08 8948 5399
Email: admin@aeunt.org.au
Web: aeunt.org.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
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
STATE SCHOOL
TEACHERS UNION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA
President Matthew Jarman
General secretary
Mary Franklyn
1 West Street West Perth 6005
Phone: 08 9210 6000
Email: contact@sstuwa.org.au
Web: sstuwa.org.au
It is time to fully fund all public schools across the nation and it is time to back the principals, teachers and education support personnel who deliver a highquality education every day.
Online privacy and consent for data collection are hot topics for young people, a new report has found.
The report, Young people and online privacy: realising young people’s rights in the digital environment, by Reset.Tech Australia and the Australian Child Rights Taskforce, documents findings of mixed methods research undertaken with young people across Australia aged 13-18, between 2022 and 2023.
It found that young people held nuanced and sophisticated understandings about what privacy meant in a digital context.
“They see online privacy as a right, but a right that is frequently and routinely violated. Despite this, online privacy is still understood as important and desirable,” the report says.
“Young people want to see fundamental changes to the policy landscape to ensure their rights are prioritised. This has implications for policy makers as they review the Privacy Act 1988.”
When it comes to consent for data collection (agreeing to accept cookies), the young people involved in the research said that to offer meaningful consent, you must be able to meaningfully decline.
“But young people’s lives are deeply digitally integrated in ways that cannot
be declined. For example, many digital platforms are now integrated into, or have replaced, essential services, such as educational tools used at school, to bushfire alerts or news services. In these instances there is very little to no choice to decline, because doing so means removing access to services that are now essential to everyday life,” the report says.
“Many products that older people may consider optional are not experienced as ‘nice to haves’ by younger people. For example, social media services were not seen as optional for young people.”
Most Australians (80.9 per cent) think more money should be spent on public schools and only 1.4 per cent think less should be spent, according to a paper produced by the ANU Centre for Social Research and Methods.
More than half of the Australian population (55.3 per cent) think less money should be spent on private schools and less than one in 10 (8.8 per cent) think more should be spent.
The paper, Attitudes towards education in Australia, uses data collected as part of the ANUpoll series of surveys. It focuses on data collected from 4469 Australian adults in April 2023 and includes data from surveys going back to 2008.
The April 2023 survey included people from all states and territories and varied demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Respondents were most supportive of schools providing additional funding for students with disability (64.7 per cent in 2023), followed by students from remote and regional communities (58.9 per cent), and those from a socioeconomically disadvantaged background (56.7 per cent).
Young people and online privacy: realising young people’s rights in the digital environment
The paper found that Australians had positive views towards education in Australia. Universities and schools were some of the more trusted institutions in the country.
But young people’s lives are deeply digitally integrated in ways that cannot be declined … doing so means removing access to services that are now essential to everyday life.
The United Nations has put together an expert group to consider crucial issues facing the teaching profession.
The aim of the UN High Panel on the Teaching Profession is to ensure that every learner has a professionally trained, qualified and supported teacher, who can flourish within a transformed education system.
In its second meeting, the panel discussed three essentials for the profession:
• DIGNITY – a focus on positive, supportive and decent working conditions that create and sustain a dignified professional environment
• HUMANITY – teacher wellbeing, including attention to teacher job satisfaction, sense of efficacy, sense of belonging within the profession
• EQUITY – ensuring that all learners have equitable access to diverse and high-quality teachers, and teachers promote inclusive teaching and learning experiences.
Key issues discussed included: raising the status of the profession and making teaching an attractive career for young people; improving teacher working conditions; ensuring a diverse and inclusive workforce; and guaranteeing human and trade union rights.
Education International (EI) president and former AEU federal secretary Susan Hopgood is representing teachers on the panel.
Hopgood says the panel provides an important opportunity for the profession to have its challenges recognised and acted on.
“It’s very important that the panel’s recommendations don’t just sit on a shelf somewhere. There must be reporting mechanisms to ensure national governments are held accountable,” she says.
The AEU’s school funding campaign is demanding that all governments agree to properly fund public schools by 2028 to address rapidly evolving crises in learning, health and wellbeing and teacher shortages.
BY TRACEY EVANS
Governments are due to decide the future funding of all public schools in the next 12 months.
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the current shortfall in funding means too many schools do not get the support they are entitled to.
“The needs of our children are growing but funding from governmentshasn’t kept up,” shesays.
The AEU’s campaign For Every Child, launched on 2 August, calls for public schools to be fully funded according to the formula agreed by Commonwealth, state and territory governments a decade ago – the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
The SRS is considered the minimum amount a school requires to operate but only 1.3 per cent of public schools currently receive the full SRS amount.
Meanwhile, the number of students with disability has increased by 29 per cent since 2015, and unsustainable workloads are a ecting teacher health and wellbeing.
Haythorpe says the crises in learning, health and wellbeing and teacher shortages means that proper funding is now urgently needed.
“With the bilateral school funding agreements between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments about to be signed, we have a once-in-ageneration opportunity to end the underfunding of public schools,” she says.
The needs-based funding system agreed to by the Commonwealth and state and territory governments uses a resource standard to determine how much money a school or school system needs to meet the needs of its students. That resource standard is called the Schooling Resource Standard.
But a decade after it was agreed upon, governments have failed to deliver the full SRS to public schools, leaving 98 per cent of public schools resourced below it, while 98 per cent of private schools are resourced at or above it.
In fact, governments have attempted to recast the SRS as an aspirational target, rather than the minimum funding it was established as.
In 2017, the Morrison government changed the Australian Education Act 2013 and capped the Commonwealth share of public school funding to 20 per cent of SRS. At the same time, the Morrison government locked in an 80 per cent Commonwealth share of the SRS for private schools.
In 2018, all jurisdictions signed bilateral school funding agreements with the Commonwealth through to 2023 that require states and territories to reach only 75 per cent of the SRS over various timeframes between 2027 and 2032 (except the ACT and NT).
These timelines and the Commonwealth cap limited public school funding to a maximum of 95 per cent of the SRS. These arrangements have now been extended by the Albanese government to 2024, further delaying the pathway to fair funding for public schools that the ALP promised before their election in 2022. That means that, on average, every public school student will miss out on around $2000 of the funding they need every year.
The Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) funding mechanism was proposed by the 2011 Gonski Review as a transparent standard for funding all schools based on the needs of their students. It was introduced by the Australian Education Act 2013.
It is a base funding amount per student, supplemented by additional needs-based
loadings targeted to address disadvantage. Gonski designed the SRS as the minimum required funding per student to give every child, regardless of background, the opportunity to achieve their potential.
The SRS is not an aspirational standard of school funding, nor is it a desirable level of funding that would give schools an ideal pool of resources.
For every child to reach their potential, all governments must commit to the full funding of public schools.
The Albanese government must negotiate new bilateral school funding agreements with each state and territory government in the next 12 months that ensure that all public schools are resourced at a minimum of 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) by 2028.
In each bilateral agreement the Albanese government must commit to the Commonwealth share of the SRS being a minimum of 25 per cent by 2028, with special consideration being made for the Northern Territory’s additional needs. This commitment must be legislated.
The new bilateral agreements must not allow states and territories to continue to count within their SRS share any costs that are unrelated to the provision of school education, such as capital depreciation, transport, regulatory authorities and early childhood education.
The Albanese government must create a permanent capital works fund for public schools to provide the states and territories with funding for new and upgraded schools and facilities. The fund should be at least $350 million annually and increase in linewith enrolment growth and rising costs.
How helpful would each of the following be for you as a teacher in improving student outcomes?
A. Additional support for students with a disability or behavioural issues
B. More time for lesson planning
C. More classroom assistance
D. Smaller class sizes
Haythorpe says teachers and principals know what is needed. “There is clear evidence that schools are in dire need of funding and support,” she says.
The AEU has conducted the State of ourSchools survey since 2011 to determine the most pressing issues for principals, teachers and support sta in public schools. Almost 8000 teachers, principals and support sta completed the 2023 survey in April and May.
Overwhelmingly, the prevailing theme in this year’s survey was the growing pressure on teachers and principals caused by the teacher shortage crisis.
Underfunding is also having a profound impact on sta wellbeing and morale.
Almost 40 per cent of principals reported a significant decline in the wellbeing and morale of teachers in the last year.
Most teachers also reported significant declines in teacher wellbeing (53 per cent) and morale (55 per cent).
And it’s not just teachers who are su ering. Student wellbeing has declined significantly, surpassing even the rate of decline in the 2021 survey at the height of COVID-19 disruption.
More than 70 per cent of principals report a decline in student wellbeing and engagement in the past 12 months, with 27 per cent saying there is a significant decline in wellbeing, compared to 17 per cent in 2021.
Principals and teachers say that smaller class sizes, more trained support sta in classrooms and intensive small groups or one-on-one support programs are needed for students at risk of falling behind in literacy and numeracy.
53%
39% of principals said there had been a significant decline in the wellbeing of teachers in the last year
Research supports the common-sense notion that children learn more and teachers are more effective in smaller classes.
Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Northwestern University
The For Every Child campaign also calls on the federal government to urgently provide resources to address the underrepresentation and educational inequity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Haythorpe says the government must commit to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers, principals, education support personnel, communities and policy experts to ensure high-quality public education for all communities.
This includes ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote areas have access to public secondary schools in their communities.
While the Albanese government has committed to full funding of public schools, the AEU wants a guarantee that it will be achieved within five years.
“The Albanese government must take the lead in upcoming negotiations with the states and territories and ensure all schools are fully funded by 2028. As part of that, the Commonwealth’s contribution to public schools needs to rise from 20 per cent of the SRS now, to a minimum of 25 per cent for all states and 40 per cent for the NT,” says Haythorpe.
Haythorpe says there is a risk that the quality of public education will su er unless workloads are reduced and additional time is provided for teaching and learning.
The For Every Child campaign calls for reduced class sizes, small group or individual tutoring programs permanently established in every school, increased access to specialist sta and more trained education support sta in every classroom.
“Full funding is the only way to ensure every child has every opportunity to succeed,” she says.
“Our children and teachers are giving 100 per cent. We need the politicians to do the same,” Haythorpe says.
The physical school environment also needs urgent attention. Four in 10 principals say they do not have enough classroom space to meet enrolment demands over the next three to five years, according to the AEU survey.
The AEU’s For Every Child campaign wants the Albanese government to create a permanent capital
works fund for public schools worth $350 million each year to provide new and upgraded buildings and facilities. The federal government made a oneo allocation in 2022, but teachers and educators say capital works are only e ective when they are provided on a consistent and long-term basis to allow schools to plan for the future.
“The Commonwealth needs to take the lead on this nation-building investment,” says Haythorpe.
Four in 10 principals say they do not have enough classroom space to meet enrolment demands over the next three to five years.
Do you believe you will have adequate classrooms to meet enrolment demands over the next five years?
More classrooms needed
Student outcomes are strongly influenced by the design of learning spaces and the facilities in a school.
Public schools are the primary educators of students with disability, and numbers have increased by 29 per cent, to around one in four students, since 2015.
Most students with disability are educated in mainstream schools where teachers and principals are committed to inclusive education.
Fewer than one in five principals say they receive enough funding to meet the needs of students with disability. Almost 90 per cent say they are taking money from other areas of the school budget to compensate for this and they report an average of more than $120,000 is redirected each year.
DO YOU HAVE SUFFICIENT RESOURCES TO MEET THE NEEDS OF STUDENTS WITH DISABILITY?
Yes No
17% 83%
Primary principal, New South Wales
We always offer support regardless of specific funding for disability. We had saved some funds to manage this, but it is not easy and we rely on support from the P&C.
The 2023 State of our Schools survey reveals the scale of the teacher shortage and its impact in schools. The survey found that 90 per cent of principals had experienced a shortage of teachers in the last year – more than triple the rate reported eight years ago.
Fifty-eight per cent of principals had unfilled teaching positions at the start of the 2023 school year, at an average of 3.1 vacant positions per school. Halfway through the year, 75 per cent of principals still reported an average of 2.9 vacant teaching posts at their school.
PRINCIPALS – HAS YOUR SCHOOL HAD TEACHER SHORTAGES IN THE LAST YEAR? Yes No
The AEU's State of our Schools survey found that teachers work 51.4 hours per week. Two-thirds report that their hours have increased over the last year and 85 per cent say administration is the main reason for their unsustainable workloads.
Excessive workloads are leading to higher attrition rates of teachers and growing shortages. One in five teachers are now leaving the profession within the first three years.
A Monash University survey last year found that less than 30 per cent of teachers were planning to stay until retirement, with one in five planning to leave in the next five years. In the 2023 State of our Schools survey, only 19 per cent of teachers said they would stay until retirement.
Teachers were asked which of eight policy changes would most help to retain teachers in the profession.
Delivering a high-quality education to every child in the Northern Territory is a unique challenge.
Public schools are spread across a vast and sparsely populated territory. More than 70 per cent are in remote and very remote areas and 27 per cent had less than 50 students enrolled in 2021.
Student needs in NT public schools are higher and more complex than in any other state or territory.
Half of all students are from a language background other than English and just under half are from the lowest quartile of socio-educational advantage. Thirty per cent of all students in the NT have a disability.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students make up 44 per cent of public school enrolments, compared to 6.3 per cent of all enrolments in Australian schools.
Despite these challenges, NT public schools receive a smaller proportion of the funding they require than public or private schools in any other state or territory.
This year, public schools are funded at only 80.6 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
An analysis of My School financial data shows that between 2012 and 2021, total government funding for NT public schools increased in real terms by only 7.7 per cent.
In contrast, government funding for NT private schools, where student needs are lower, increased by 43.3 per cent over the same period.
On average, NT private schools spent double the amount per student than NT public schools on capital works each year between 2012 and 2021.
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says the underfunding of NT public schools is forcing principals and teachers to take on unsustainable workloads to ensure all students receive a high-quality education.
“Teachers and principals are being asked to do too much with too little,” she says.
“We need a new agreement between the federal and NT governments that ensures all public schools are funded to 100 per cent of the SRS by 2028.
“As part of that the Albanese government needs to lift its SRS share for the NT from 21.6 per cent now to 40per cent of the SRS in 2028.”
AEU NT president Michelle Ayres said fully funding public schools wouldexpand the opportunities and support local children received and help in the attraction and retention of teachers.
40% chose reduced workloads as their top priority
E ectively that means there is no funding for one in five students.
Unless there is a change, NT public schools won’t even reach 95 per cent of the SRS until “sometime in the middle of the century”, education minister Jason Clare recently pointed out.
“The Territory has the most amazing teachers and principals and if we fully fund their schools they can do so much more,” she said.
“We need every NT school fully funded based on enrolment not attendance.”
21% chose fewer student management issues
On top of this, NT public schools are the only ones funded according to the number of students attending schools, rather than the number enrolled.
Fully funding NT public schools would allow schools to employ additional support sta to work withteachers in the classroom, run small group tutoring programs for children at risk of falling behind and give teachers more time to plan lessons and collaborate with their colleagues.
20% chose higher salaries for all teachers
The di iculties faced by teachers and principals in NT schools are compounded by the inequitable distribution of funding over the last decade.
It would also mean more funding for innovative and engaging programs to create pathways for students to become Aboriginal language teachers.
Five years ago, almost every second student at Para Hills High School in Adelaide did not complete their schooling. But in a remarkable turnaround, by last year almost all (97 per cent) finished Year 12. What’s made the di erence is a relentless focus on creating positive wellbeing for “every teacher, every student, every minute of the day”, says principal Alina Page.
Para Hills has worked hard to understand the school community’s needs and find strategies to address them.
“For example, lots of students arrive with negative perceptions of schooling that often come from home. So, we do a lot of work to build connections with the families.
“Before the students arrive in Year 7, we’ve already had multiple connections with them, and their families have had a positive engagement with school,” says Page.
Most of the students are from low socioeconomic backgrounds and many su er severe disadvantage that a ects their ability to learn. But funding for extra care and support is “meagre”, says Page. With more funds, Page could o er small group tuition, an evidence-based approach proven to have the highest impact on disengaged learners, and work more closely with parents to help them engage with their children’s education.
It’s an investment that would benefit students, families and the country.
“Our goal is to raise aspirations and break thecycle of poverty,” Page says.
Students with good social and emotional wellbeing are more engaged with learning and tend to have higher levels of academic achievement and attainment.
One of the most disengaged students at Colac Primary School in western Victoria has become one of its best performers in maths, thanks to an intensive program to help him pick up the skills he missed during the pandemic.
The student received the highest marks for Colac Primary in NAPLAN mathematics and has been invited into the Victorian High Ability Program along with five other maths students from the school.
Until last year, no student from the school had been o ered a position in the program.
Most Colac Primary students are from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Many of the children are developmentally vulnerable, particularly in language, and come to school with a high level of trauma. They need intensive support.
“Our funding has allowed sta to develop clearinstructional models in reading, writing, inquiry and mathematics,” says principal ShelbyPapadopoulos.
Nonetheless, finding the funds to give all the students the support they need is a struggle.
The school can a ord to provide targeted interventions to students who are 12 months or more behind and any remaining funding goes to early years students six months or more behind.
“We can make the most di erence in the early years. But it leaves our students in Years 3 to 6 identified as at-risk only if they’re 12 months or more behind because we don’t have the resources to give them the extra support.”
I don’t want us to be a country where your chances in life depend on your postcode, your parents, or the colour of your skin.
Full funding of public schools will be achieved with the support of school communities: principals, teachers, students, education support personnel and parents. We need the wider community and our local members of parliament to understand how important and urgent this issue is.
Reduce class sizes.
Establish a permanent small group or individual tutoring program in every school.
Increase access to qualified specialist staff in all schools including literacy and numeracy coaches, disability support, behaviour support and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers.
Increase the number of trained education support staff in the classroom.
Cut administration and compliance workloads.
Provide more time for teachers to plan lessons and collaborate with colleagues.
Increase system-wide support for teachers and principals to meet the needs of students with higher needs.
Ensure the wellbeing of principals and teachers is foremost in any workforce strategy and that all proposed policies and reforms are the subject of consultation with the teaching profession to minimise potential workload increases.
Ensure that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote communities have access to public secondary schools in their community.
Reinstate and provide funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education consultative bodies.
Give voice to and increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers, principals and education support personnel in the education workforce.
Give voice to and increase access to education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Resource the provision of cultural competencies and responsive teaching practices for the teaching workforce and education support personnel.
Sign up now to show your support and encourage other members of your school community to do the same.
Increase the number of school counsellors to a minimum of 1:500 students in primary schools and 1:250 in secondary schools.
Boost school wellbeing teams with qualified social workers, allied health professionals and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workers.
Provide greater guidance and support in implementing proven early intervention and wellbeing programs.
Increase the number of qualified teachers and education support personnel.
More time for teachers to consult with students and family/carers, develop and implement individual education plans and classroom adjustments. Give teachers time to collaborate with their colleagues, specialist teachers and allied health professionals and undertake professional learning.
Improve system-wide support and ongoing professional development to help principals, teachers and learning support teams.
Increase allied health support in schools to ensure rapid response to student needs.
Get your copy of Investing in Australia's Future to read more about why full funding of public schools is so important and the benefits it will have for children across Australia.
Increase the number of qualified educational support personnel and specialist staff (speech pathologists, psychologists and counsellors) in all schools.
Additional parent liaison and qualified support officers.
Additional wrap-around teaching and learning support and extracurricular services.
Provide a curriculum guarantee to ensure that rural, regional and remote students can learn the same wide range of subjects as their peers in urban settings.
Provide effective systemic support for regional, rural and remote schools.
Provide paid practicums, accommodation and relocation costs for pre-service teachers to support rural and remote placements.
Improve attraction and retention provisions and incentives via industrial agreements. Provide greater support for early career teachers with full resourcing of mentoring, induction and ongoing professional learning.
our children deserve
A permanent Commonwealth capital fund of $350 million a year indexed in line with rising costs and enrolments.
A commitment by all governments to invest in new, modernised and upgraded public schools.
Prioritise purpose-built learning spaces and school facilities such as modified bathrooms and playgrounds that are accessible for all students with disability.
Every
Reforms to Australia’s early childhood education sector are widespread and acknowledged, but reviews and reforms offer hope for generational change.
BY LEANNE TOLRAThe number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children enrolled in preschool has risen to 99.2 per cent, this year’s Closing the Gap report to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) reveals.
This exceeds the target of 95 per cent by 2025, but only 34.3 per cent of this cohort is reported to be on track developmentally when it starts school.
And, with ongoing teacher shortages, that puts pressure on already stretched teachers to provide additional time and resources to avert early disadvantage, say educators and childcare reform advocates.
Catherine Liddle, CEO of the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC), says the enrolment rise is a “fantastic thing”, but problems remain with accessibility, funding models and service delivery.
“The services so critically needed by our children don’t necessarily exist, particularly in regional and remote areas where we have childcare deserts," she says.
Liddle says there is significant evidence to show that children who start school with a developmental delay can expect that gap in life outcomes and educational outcomes to become larger at every stage of their learning journey.
AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe agrees and says children who come to school without the foundational skills for learning “are on a pathway to inequality of educational access”.
“This adds to the professional responsibility of teachers who must immediately undertake assessments and develop intervention strategies so these children can engage fully in the school curriculum,” she says.
Inequality and disadvantage are among the myriad big-picture problems acknowledged across early childhood education by experts, policymakers and educators.
Steps towards reform include the federal Department of Education Early Years Strategy and its national vision for early childhood education and care; the Productivity Commission’s review into early childhood education and care; the ACCC’s 2023 childcare inquiry into education and care pricing; the national strategy for the care and support economy; the national children’s education and care workforce strategy; and the national strategy to achieve gender equality.
Dr Stacey Fox, a policy fellow at the Mitchell Institute at Victoria University, told the AEU’s federal conference in February, that reforms in NSW and Victoria, which amount to a $25 billion commitment to early childhood education over the next 10 years, o er a once-in-a-generation opportunity for children and families, and will strengthen the foundations and impact of the early childhood education and care sector.
At an AEU webinar in June, 'Early learning matters for children, and it
matters for AEU members', Haythorpe said opportunities for the sector were strong and unprecedented:
The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children enrolled in preschool has risen to 99.2%
“I can’t remember a time in recent years where early childhood education and care and delivery of the provision of two years of public preschool for all children, and access to quality early childhood services for our members, has taken such a priority on the national stage.”
This exceeds the 2025 target of 95%
25B
A $25 billion commitment to early childhood education over the next 10 years, across NSW and Victoria, will positively impact the early childhood education and care sector
30 free hours
In NSW, 30 hours of free pre-kindergarten ispromised from 2030
Just 60% of children in South Australia are accessing three-year-old kindergarten
Haythorpe also shared some initial results of the AEU’s State of our Schools caring responsibilities survey, conducted between April and May, which revealed a ordability and accessibility to early learning and care remained one of the biggest career challenges for members and their families.
The webinar also heard from Kim Streitberger, principal of Mount Pleasant Road Primary School in Victoria, a state where the government has committed to two years of funded kindergarten and that new school builds will include a preschool.
The school, in Melbourne’s east, has a co-located kindergarten and its students are thriving, says Streitberger: “I think the power of having the kinder and the school together is really important. It minimises the change for families and students as they move through each of the learning centres.”
In NSW, 30 hours of free prekindergarten is promised from 2030.
Hope is high that South Australia will follow suit when the state’s Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care hands down its findings, AEU SA branch vice president Jan Murphy told the webinar.
Murphy says just 60 per cent of children in the state are accessing three-
Enrolment rise is a “fantastic thing”, but problems remain with accessibility, funding models and service delivery.
Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC)
year-old kindergarten, and the figures largely exclude children from the most disadvantaged families.
She says the branch conducted statewide member consultations earlier this year and the biggest concerns were equity for all children regardless of geography, the need for fit-for-purpose facilities, capacity in existing preschools and the pressure additional childcare places would put on a workforce already under strain.
The AEU’s federal early childhood committee chair and Victorian branch vice president, early childhood, Cara Nightingale, says teachers and educators need to be well supported and resourced to deliver high-quality educational outcomes for children, and that includes planning, programming, assessment and community engagement.
Work for the AEU continues with the Preschool Funding Now campaign, which calls on the federal government to commit to a high-quality, permanently funded preschool sector. The AEU launched an open letter campaign in June, calling on the Prime Minister to provide two years of free public preschool for every child in Australia. To add your name to the letter, visit tinyurl.com/ycxmsu2b
“When teachers go into kindergarten services they need access to mentors, who have time to actually mentor and coach and teach and further develop their skills, knowledge and expertise,” she says.
“And the workforce crisis is obviously exacerbated in remote, rural and regional areas so incentives are required to get teachers to consider working in these childcare deserts and in regional kindergartens.”
Nightingale says teachers who choose to work in kindergartens in remote, rural or regional areas often find they immediately become educational leader, nominated supervisor and mentor, with inadequate support structures.
“The accessibility is a lot harder for them, particularly if they have their own children, because there are limited childcare and kindergarten options, and it’s harder to assimilate into the community and feel that they belong, so retention becomes an issue, too,” she says.
“We plan to spend the next month or two collecting signatures. We don’t want the issue of two years of three-year-old preschool to get lost in the broader debate around childcare and early learning. We know how to win, we won for four year olds, and now it’s time to make sure we can turn the national attention to three year olds,” says Correna Haythorpe, AEU federal president.
The union, with Youth Development Australia, will also host the Bridging the Divide Summit in Melbourne on 30 and 31 October. The summit aims to highlight equity and equality in education and is open to educators from early childhood, primary, secondary and TAFE sectors.
bridgingthedivide.org.au
Reforms in NSW and Victoria ... offer a once-ina-generation opportunity for children and families.
StaceyFox Mitchell Institute, Victoria
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Across
BY LEANNE TOLRAMore than 20,000 Australians from all walks of life have volunteered their support for Yes23, a campaign championing the case for a Voice to Parliament.
These supporters are mostly people who have never volunteered in a political campaign, says Yes23 campaign director, Quandamooka man Dean Parkin.
“These are everyday Australians from all walks of life. They attend Saturday market stalls and have conversations; they talk to people at train stations, and they knock on people’s doors,” he says.
Parkin says Yes23 volunteers aim to reach the homes of more than half of the federal electorates across the country. The group, which is supported by charity organisation Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, has also launched an advertising campaign.
Parkin says the Yes23 campaign volunteers are gathering data about knowledge of and support for the referendum as they travel across the country.
Their research reveals that between 30 and 40 per cent of people remain undecided, and that many “haven’t really heard about it”.
“We are just asking people what they know, and what their views are. And then we talk about how this is about recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first peoples of our country. “And a lot of people are very excited about that. In fact, a lot of people are quite surprised that in 2023, we haven’t already done that.”
Parkin, from Minjerribah, now known as North Stradbroke Island in Queensland,
says the data is also showing strong support for change: “There are millions of Australians who are open to this conversation. There’s a lot of generosity and goodwill. And that’s where we are putting our focus.”
Organisations across Australia have publicly announced support for the Voice referendum in growing numbers, including the AEU, which endorsed the Yes case for a Voice to Parliament at the Annual Federal Conference in February.
Russell Honnery, AEU Yes for Voice campaign lead, says the Yes case “outlines the many ways in which a Voice can improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, in all spheres of life, especially education”.
“For far too long, First Nations Australians have been left out of the decision-making process, including on matters that most directly impact them, and this has led to a shameful gap in life outcomes for Indigenous peoples. This must change,” Honnery says.
The Yes23 advertising campaign features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples talking about “what happens when we give Indigenous people a voice and showcases the diversity of the Indigenous voices strongly in support of this”, says Parkin.
“The results are positive, strength-based outcomes and people will start to see the impact the yes vote can have on life outcomes.”
Parkin says “as teachers and educators know, education outcomes, housing outcomes and job outcomes just aren’t
good enough when it comes to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
“And we are telling Australian people that now is their opportunity to do something good, and practical, that will impact people’s lives in a really positive way,” he says.
He says the timing is right for change and the momentum is growing: “We are still the equivalent of two elections away from a normal election campaign, which goes for about 30 or 40 days. So, there’s quite a bit of time between now and then for us to reach many more millions of Australians, both in our on-the-ground campaign, but also through our advertising.
“With the way that the Constitution works, and the way that the referendum works, our job as voters is to agree to that very simple notion that we should
the nation, Australians are taking up the invitation for a better future for all.
The date has now been announced for the referendum. We will be asked to write YES on 14 October 2023. It’s
Australian Constitution,
Russell Honnery, Wearie Gomerio AEU Yes for Voice campaign lead
have a Voice to Parliament. Then we have the opportunity to decide on the detail and the structure. Our work now is in convincing people to take that very first step and agree in principal that we need to change the way things are – and we think there is goodwill and openness to change from the Australian people.”
years of the
it is up to our generation to get this done – for our Elders past and present, and for the children and generations to come.
As part of the new educators series, the teachers we're following over the course of 12 months reveal how activism and a shift in perspective motivates them through the middle of the year.
BY MARGARET PATONrequirements for safe working practices and facility standards, she says.
“Now, with funding redistributed, our kitchens and processes are dated and fall short of the building code, so I’m pushing for that to be addressed at state level.”
“If we were funded appropriately, our students would have the facilities to better learn their content.”
Hawthorn raised the issue at the Queensland Teachers’ Union Biennial Conference in July. She was able to advocate for better representation of teachers in practical subject areas.
Some colleagues told her music teachers had banded together in the past decade to “work really hard with the union to advocate for their work conditions andrights”.
The Queensland premier, state and federal education ministers spoke at theconference.
The politicians signed a pledge to ensure all public schools were funded to 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.
A SHARPER FOCUS
Hawthorn recalls sitting near the front of the presentation and tapping away at her emails while still listening.
“I was emailing parents of senior students who’d not handed in their drafts on the Wednesday of the school holidays,” she says. “It might have looked like I wasn’t paying attention at the conference, but for me to actually listen, I had to do something else at the same time.”
Hawthorn was diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year and has experienced the benefits of medication. She has a better grip on deadlines and is “working smarter, not necessarily less”.
Achieving kitchen-safety standards “success” at her high school means Queensland teacher Kelsey Hawthorn is ready to take her quest to a state level.
Some time ago, she faced a timetabling issue. There were 35 students in her Year 10 food and design technology class, seven more than the standards allowed for the senior kitchen.
“I negotiated with my deputy principal, and she was able to put on a second teacher. If I wasn’t a union member, I wouldn’t be aware of the safety requirements and capacity limits,” she says.
Food and design technologies is an overlooked area for minimum
“They acknowledged the bugbears of teachers having to manage students’ behaviour stemming from psychosocial problems, as well as how our jobs and work environment take a toll on our mental health. Before, politicians had blamed it on schools, but now there’s a shift,” Hawthorn says.
“I no longer enter the classroom and think, ‘oh, no, what was I meant to do today?’ I’m more on the ball, can sit down, start a task and get it done. It’s been really eye-opening for me, but I don’t know if my students have really noticed the change,” she says.
But her students, and the beginning teachers she mentors, got wind of another change from semester two: a refresh of classroom rules.
If we were funded appropriately, our students would have the facilities to better learn their content.Kelsey Hawthorn Teacher Marsden State High School, QLD Kelsey Hawthorn
“We all set ourselves up for success by walking into each of our classes saying, ‘new semester, new start’. We discussed and set down expectations for student behaviour.”
Despite that, Hawthorn still has the occasional struggle with her Year 10 students: “This cohort of students tends to be headstrong and question authority and instruction. They can be hard to manage in a practical environment due to psychosocial behaviours, too.”
Hawthorn has boosted the learning of her Year 12 food design students by revamping the structure of assessment task material. She was inspired by professional development (PD) with the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.
“By changing the layout, reinvigorating the way I taught and assessed, such as through mind maps, I reduced their workload and was able to get better results for my students.”
In each issue of Australian Educator, we follow the challenges and achievements of new educators throughout the year.
She avoided restricting their creativity, by making it clear that her documents were not templates or outlines they had to follow to the letter.
For instance, one of the assessment criteria is that a food product should be “shelf stable”.
“Students took their food products home to trial di erent forms of packaging over the school holidays. They recorded the dates the food started showing bacterial changes and mould and how long it took to fully form. They went ahead and did the analysis themselves,” she says.
Worimi and Lardil woman Alex Leon has stepped away from the classroom for the moment. Last term, she was a cultural integrity coordinator (CIC) for the ACT’s Education Directorate.
“As a First Nations woman and new educator, I have come in with a fresh perspective. I’ve felt my expertise and knowledge as a cultural person is being validated, heard, and appreciated while I’ve been working in a nice mixed team of mob and allies,” she says.
Now, she’s on a six-month assignment as the AEU’s ACT Branch Yes for Voice campaign coordinator.
“This referendum isn’t asking for much, just constitutional recognition and an advisory body to give advice on matters that a ect us. It is not divisive, and it most certainly is not a veto. It is just ensuring that voices who are not heard get to be heard, from the bottom-up. It would be such an empowering step forward as a nation,” she says.
“I understand some of the views First Nations people have when they argue against the Voice. For example, not trusting the government and that we deserve more than a voice and they absolutely have every right to feel that way. But the referendum will not be asking ‘Yes, but’ or ‘No, but’; it is asking for a straight ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and I have faith that we are wanting to do better as a nation.”
Leon wants teachers to get serious about embedding the histories and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people into their lessons. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) sets that down as a cross-curriculum priority.
As a CIC, she’s often seen teachers struggle with cultural lesson inclusion. Leon has curated and created resources for teaching and o ered feedback. She held workshops for the ACT’s 14 schoolbased Indigenous education o icers (IEOs) every three weeks to help them support teachers and along with the other CIC, visited them in schools and mentored them.
“We’d ask, ‘What have you tried?’, ‘How did you go with this lesson?’, ‘What’s getting in the way?’, ‘How can we support you?’ From that feedback, we’ll go back to the o ice and update the resources and send them backout to them,” she says.
Leon’s team has built a “treasure chest” on Google Classroom for IEOs to share with their schools.
Her CIC work has been hands-on, but it needed to be.
“I’m aware of a lot of barriers, such as teachers being time poor, not having resources, being scared of doing the wrong thing. But silence does more damage, so please get over whatever fear you have. And honestly, what is so scary? Where does this fear come from? I’ll tell you what is scary
… historical blind spots and ignorance,” shesays.
And it hits close to home. “My grandmother saw education as the key because when she was little, she was denied it simply on the basis of her race. She was born into the Stolen Generations and grew up in the dormitory system on Mornington Island. She was denied an education and was forced into labour work as a child. While working, she endured stolen wages.
“My grandmother spent the rest of her life fighting and advocating for the
I’ve felt my expertise and knowledge as a cultural person is being validated, heard, and appreciated while I’ve been working in a nice mixed team of mob and allies.Alex Leon Teacher Mount Stromlo High School, ACT Alex Leon
rights of her people, especially in the areas of health and education. She is one of my greatest inspirations and why I am so passionate about education and truthtelling.”
Leon suggests teachers ask their education department for resources to support them in meeting the crosscurriculum priority.
“Take the time to research and ask for resources to understand and teach the true history of our country and use your professional judgement,” she says.
“Yes, you might make a mistake by saying or doing the wrong thing, and someone might pull you up on it, but don’t be o ended. Say thanks! And then ask how you can do it better next time. It’s all about learning and giving it a real go.
“Consider focusing on quality rather than content. As a teacher, you slow down and let them learn something deeply to leave a meaningful impact.”
Leon says that’s the biggest lesson she’ll take back to her own classroom: “I’ll sca old a lot more. I will teach in a way that makes sure everyone is on board at the same time, before moving on to the next thing. Yes, I’ll have to di erentiate my delivery, but I’ll no longer just expect they’ll understand the content the first time.”
Leon is grateful she’s worked as a teacher because it’s made her “aware of what really matters to me within education”.
“I feel like I’ve developed into an activist with a strong sense of social justice and Indigenous rights and education surrounding that. I may make more of an impact in these roles outside of the classroom. They’re still about teaching, but on a bigger scale,” she says.
principalGumbaynggirr man Jake Freeman-Du y is an assistant principal on a quest to “flip” teachers’ assumptions about students.
“Think of your perfect morning as a teacher,” says Freeman-Du y. “I want you to flip it to the worst morning you’ve ever had with your class and think, what was positive about it?”
He came across the provocation in Term 2 during his Stronger Smarter Leadership professional development inspired by educator and founder of the Stronger Smarter Institute, Chris Sarra.
“They got us to watch a video about a father and son talking in the morning before school and the instructor asked us about our assumptions about that family,” he says, noting that the group’s responses were all positioned in the deficit. “We were nudged to share our positive ones.”
Flipping the script also means not being a saviour who just wants to rescue students. “I didn’t think I did that until I did the course and it smacked me in the face,” he says.
When students do something awesome, I’ll say ‘you’re young, black and deadly’.
Jake Freeman-Duffy Assistant
St Marys North Public School, NSW
Jake Freeman-Duffy
The PD also prompted him to change his language with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at his Western Sydney primary school.
“When students do something awesome, I’ll say ‘you’re young, black and deadly’. They were a bit taken aback at first, but they’re taking it on board. For example, our Aboriginal dance group, which was flagging, has grown from 10 to 15 members,” he says.
Freeman-Du y has been sharing what’s he’s learned. This term he’s presenting on helping to strengthen students’ culture and sharpen their brains and by the end of Term 3, he will finish
the Stronger Smarter and The Art of Leadership programs.
“What I have learned with all this PD so far is that my leadership won’t change overnight because I can’t implement it all at once. It can be overwhelming. I’m taking my time with one aspect, then moving on,” he says. Freeman-Du y is now in his ninth year of teaching and third year as an assistant principal, and says he’ll think about principalship “10 years down the track”.
Freeman-Du y says he is noticing fewer teachers have time to meet and chat in the sta room at his school, which is
indicative of teachers' overwork and increasing work intensity.
“This message is for all teachers: you really need to ensure you put yourself first at times. Stop being so self-less,” he says.
He was reassured to hear the NSW government o ering long-term employment to public school teachers, school assistants and school learning and support o icers. “It was a big one, but our school won’t see that until the last phase,” he says.
Meanwhile, FreemanDu y expects to be “myth-busting” for the upcoming referendum on Voice.
“It’s the people who sit on the fence and like to hear all sides – they’re the ones I would like to have a conversation with," he says.
For him, encouraging others to question their assumptions of low expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is part of his day job and extending well beyond the school gate.
This message is for all teachers: you really need to ensure you put yourself first at times. Stop being so self-less.Jake Freeman-Duffy
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Diversity, equity and teachers’ rights are under pressure in many US Republican states. In Florida things are about as bad as they get.
BY CARMEN LUDWIGcounty’s schools because it depicts the main character taking a bath.
// Florida is facing a teacher crisis due to the introduction of extreme right-wing legislation censoring education. The situation is exacerbated by poor working conditions and low pay.
// Teacher unions face an uphill battle to ensure they can protect both teachers and students' rights and wellbeing, and to even remain operational.
eachers are being driven out of Florida’s public schools by extreme right-wing policies, low pay and poor conditions. And now, the state is going after public sector unions.
The result is a teachers’ shortage, which threatens the health and wellbeing of the students and those teachers left in the system.
Florida governor and US presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has led the charge against public education by creating a parental bill of rights (the socalled ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill); restricting or banning lessons about any race-related issue; fighting diversity and inclusion measures; handing out funds called universal vouchers to encourage parents to switch to private schools and banning COVID-19 mandates in schools.
The moves have led teachers to depart the profession in droves, creating “the worst teacher shortage we’ve ever seen”, says Florida Education Association (FEA) president Andrew Spar.
Spar says there are cases in which substitute teachers are looking after four or five classes at once.
Teachers have felt vilified by the legislative moves, says Spar. “They’ve been accused of indoctrinating students and ‘teaching kids to be gay’.
“It’s led to teachers saying they’re not willing to teach under those conditions anymore. And that’s in addition to the really low pay,” Spar says.
The book bans have hit hard in Florida where literature that mentions race and LGBTQI+ issues is not permitted in schools. Books can be banned following a single complaint. The complainant does not have to be a parent.
In one county, a book written by Australian author Mem Fox and illustrated by Vivienne Goodman, Guess What?, was banned as pornography from all the
Amanda Gorman’s famous poem, The Hill We Climb, which she read at President Joe Biden’s inauguration, was first banned in one school then, after a review, moved to an area of the school not accessible to younger students.
“This poem is about inspiration, about who we can become and how we can be better,” says Spar.
“When the parent who complained … [when] questioned by reporters, she admitted she had not read the book and she didn’t like reading.”
Teachers are concerned about the e ects on their students and worried about the extra workload. Spar says every book must now be scanned into a database and read closely for any material that may o end.
“Some classrooms, especially in elementary schools, may have hundreds of books. If at any time someone complains, the teachers can get into trouble. It could be one parent or just any person – a political operative or someone who has their own personal agenda – who says, ‘I want a book to be taken out of the school’.
“There is a person in a county in Florida who does not have any kids in the school system but has requested over 600 books be removed from the schools.”
Public education is under increasing threat from DeSantis’s program to actively promote the privatisation of the public school system, says Spar.
The universal vouchers are diverting much-needed funds from public schools, he says.
“These private schools have zero accountability. They have none of the requirements that public schools do. Private schools don’t have to have certified teachers, they don’t have to have teachers with university degrees or any experience teaching.”
Spar says in Florida “voucher schools” have been created solely for the government revenue provided through the scheme.
“They buy workbooks and say: ‘That’s our curriculum’. And even people who are millionaires and billionaires can get a voucher, which is worth about US$8500, to fund their children’s education in a private school,” he says.
“It's estimated that this will cost Florida’s public schools upwards of US$3 billion. Florida’s public schools are very underfunded. We rank 45th out of the 50 US states in funding for our schools.”
Meanwhile, public sector unions –including the FEA – have gone to the
courts to fight a new law aimed at closing them down.
Florida is one of the only US states that enshrines the right to belong to a union in its constitution. The new law, Senate Bill 256, places onerous conditions on unions, which may lead some to shut up shop.
Under the new law, unions may only exist where at least 60 per cent of employees in a workplace are union members, and union subscriptions must be paid directly by members, rather than deducted from their pay.
“When it comes to the governor’s political ambitions versus working people, working people lose,” Spar told a media conference just after the bill passed.
He acknowledges there is a di icult road ahead.
“It's really hard in our court system right now because a lot of judges who have been appointed over time are judges who do not stand with working people and so it is becoming a real challenge.”
Nonetheless, the union is determined. “If gov DeSantis thinks he will silence us,
he’s dead wrong. We will do everything in our power to guarantee that Florida’s teachers, sta , professors and all public employees have a voice in their workplaces.
“No matter the pushback, educators will continue to stand up for our students, our professions and public education.”
Spar says increased activism is necessary now.
“We have to get together in a really powerful way to speak out about what is happening in our public schools right now.
“The idea of democracy requires that you have an educated citizenry. If we don’t ensure strong public schools for every child, then democracy itself will be under threat,” Spar says.
There is a person in a county in Florida who does not have any kids in the school system but has requested over 600 books be removed from the schools.
Andrew Spar Florida Education Association
Understanding the challenges and advantages of education systems in other countries can inspire new ideas for action, writes Kai Low, assistant general secretary of the Singapore Teachers’ Union (STU).
BY KAI LOWAn exchange program between the AEU and the STU aims to enrich the thinking, enliven the strategies and enlarge the positive impact on members of both unions.
I was privileged to be part of an STU delegation that visited Melbourne in June this year. The visit deepened our appreciation of, and ties with, the AEU.
A group of 12 teachers and union o icials visited Spensley Street Primary School in Clifton Hill, Collingwood College, the AEU Federal O ice and AEU Victorian Branch.
The exchange program recognises the value of professional sharing across di erent contexts. Owing to the di erences in political climate and social fabric between Australia and Singapore, both organisations have much to learn from the varied and authentic lived experiences of their members.
Three observations stood out for me in my discussions with AEU o icials, principals, teachers and students during the trip.
Firstly, Singapore’s education system is more tightly regulated and monitored than Australia’s.
Even though regulation and monitoring tend to be associated with such notions of red tape and bureaucracy, STU has learned over the years to negotiate between the cracks for better wages, welfare and work prospects for our teachers. This is only possible because of the relatively stable political climate in Singapore.
One useful lesson we have learned from our AEU counterparts is how they have had to work with, and overcome, the challenges of changes in government. To this end,
the STU is determined to ensure that our members do not become political pawns and their careers are not used as political fodder.
Secondly, over conversations at the AEU Federal O ice, I was struck by how the teachers of both countries are putting in longer working hours than before.
We spoke at length about the universal concerns of teacher readiness – both experienced and new – to take on the expanding scope of duties that is fast
becoming the norm. We were equally concerned about the impact of this on teacher wellbeing and subsequently examined teacher training and workplace culture for possible solutions.
Singapore’s teachers are trained at the National Institute of Education (NIE), whereas Australia’s teachers have access to a range of teacher training facilities. While it is the typical view that a “cookiecutter” system of teacher training tends to inhibit creativity and prohibit teacher agency, I was surprised to hear that schools in Australia are struggling to fill teacher vacancies, including some teachers teaching outside their field.
A conversation with a school board member revealed that schools tend to hire teachers for a year before confirming the teacher for the long term. This means the time taken for professional acculturation is an opportunity for both the school and the teacher to decide if the fit is right.
In Singapore, teachers are hired by the public service, trained at the NIE, and subsequently deployed to schools. Our STU members largely have no say over their school posting.
As such, one of the core appeals that we facilitate at the STU is school transfers. The reasons for these requests are often so severe (such as victimisation and harassment) that the teacher is left indelibly disillusioned or – worse –medically unwell.
How can we help our teachers to make informed decisions about school posting and how can we help to make every school a good workplace?
Lastly, over lamingtons at Spensley Street Primary School, I was impressed by how AEU members spoke so
proudly and passionately of union membership.
In Singapore, union membership remains a largely private a air. Most STU members who seek our services often request anonymity.
And, if they are interviewed about their workplace experiences in our newsletter, they ask for a pseudonym.
While I understand the deeply confidential nature of industrial relations work, I do sometimes lament that our members are not ready to go public on the value of union membership. I do not blame our members for wanting to be discreet. Our teachers do not want others to know they have sought, and received, help. This remains a deeply psychological trait of (Singaporean) teachers.
While the strength of a union resides in its numbers, our teachers measure their worth in terms of how strong or resilient others perceive them to be. This is a notion that worries us at the STU; as teacher workloads continue to rise and public expectations of teachers continue to increase exponentially – how can we help teachers to ask for help, and to be OK with doing so?
As we look ahead to the final quarter of 2023, STU is excited to host AEU in October 2023. Indeed, I am currently typing this article in the sweltering heat of the tropics, thinking of possible discussion topics that will take our partnership forward. I cannot deny that a big part of me continues to dream of those inspiring conversations I’ve had Down Under while sipping creamy lattes and munching on scrumptious baked goods (#takemeback).
Su ice to say that my identity as a teacher unionist, and the values that undergird my thinking and my being, will forever be characterised by the meaningful interactions that I’ve had with my fellow teacher unionists from Australia.
In Singapore, union membership remains a largely private affair. Most STU members who seek our services often request anonymity.Kai Low is assistant general secretary of the Singapore Teachers' Union. Kai Low Singapore Teachers' Union STU delegates at Spensley Street Primary School.
Handling a disruptive classroom or helping students struggling with anything from numeracy to anxiety can be blind spots in a teacher’s education.
Early-career teachers who don’t have mentoring and support can find themselves floundering when they encounter such issues in the classroom.
It’s a gap that Cool.org (formerly Cool Australia) is seeking to fill through Cool+ – its new subscription-based o ering, which includes a suite of more than 40 professional learning courses.
Jason Kimberley, founder of Cool.org, says the courses address some of the pain points identified by teachers such as running a class, managing parents, dealing with the principal, and finding their voice in the sta room.
“Most of these are 45-minute highimpact courses that can be potentially done after school one night, in preparation for the next day.”
This course helps teachers read the room and identify when trouble is brewing. “If you’re seeing students who are restless or agitated or disrupting others, these are the first warning signs that trouble might be ahead,” says Kimberley.
It provides insight into what might cause undesirable behaviour and how to de-escalate it, and how not to get caught up in the heat of the moment.
“It might be as simple as counting to 10 before you react, or not feeling pressured to respond immediately when the whole class is on top of you. It might mean taking that step back and analysing and engaging the students in a smaller way,
rather than addressing the big challenge straightaway,” he says.
Student anxiety may be related to their studies, social situations, or the home front.
“It might also be another more serious mental health concern,” says Kimberley. A course on identifying and supporting students with anxiety o ers teachers pointers on how to navigate this challenging area. “Teachers will try and take something on but if it’s actually a significant mental health challenge, that probably isn’t going to be able to be addressed in that classroom at that time.
“It’s about having the skills to identify that, speaking to other teachers, sharing the stories, and getting around the students to support them. It might be having a conversation with the parents after speaking to other teachers at the school,” he says.
It might be best to refer the student to the person in charge of student care. They could also be made aware of programs o ered by Headspace or Beyond Blue.
Another area addressed by the new platform is how to keep students engaged when they are facing challenges with
literacy or numeracy. If a student is struggling with maths, for example, the course guides teachers on how to address misconceptions and identify and work with the student’s strengths. “It looks at how to re-engage them in their learning, their di erent styles, being empathetic and giving them the best opportunity they can have to learn,” says Kimberley.
Resources are structured to cater for students with di ering abilities. There is a stretch component for capable students and pointers on how to support students who are struggling or have lost interest.
Although the subscription platform is aimed at individual teachers, the organisation is working in partnership with the AEU to support educators.
Content is written and tested by teachers and the platform allows users to cherry pick the resources they need, while incorporating real-world examples. It prompts them to take meaningful actions, which have underpinned the site for the past 15 years.
Student engagement teacher Anna Garlick spent the first six years of her teaching career in Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Garlick, who was born and bred in Brisbane, says one of her greatest challenges was as a nonAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person teaching regional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students about culture, identity and Country in an authentic way.
“All the students I have ever taught in these communities have English as their second language and it’s really di icult to find resources that are both real-world and also language friendly,” she says.
The early career years, when teachers are trying to get their bearings in the classroom, can be challenging at best and a deal-breaker at worst. In a regional or remote area, isolation can compound the challenges.
Garlick wishes she had received access to more support and resources in her early years, recalling she felt burned out by her second year.
As well as professional learning Cool+ o ers resources that support teachers in areas of social and educational vulnerability such as regional and remote Australia. It is working with the Vincent Fairfax Foundation on agricultural practices in regional NSW, for example, and is providing more robust Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander resources.
“I felt so passionate about the job, and you have such a love for the kids and where you want to take them but then there’s so much curriculum, so much happening in the school community, and in families, to get to know what their needs are,” she says.
Finding balance between taking care of herself and tackling those challenges added to her sense of feeling stretched.
Achieving her aim of delivering quality education e iciently was made possible by drawing on external resources and building networks with other teachers within a 500km radius during her third year of teaching. Having access to professional development resources and other support online would have been game changing.
“Something that you don’t have when you are regional and remote is other people on the year level. You’re creating all of the unit plans and curriculum because you’re it, you’re the only one on Grade 2 or Grade 5,” she says.
Something that you don’t have when you are regional and remote is other people on the year level ... you’re it.
Anna GarlickChristine Long is a freelancejournalist. Jason Kimberley, founder of Cool.org
Trish Harrington notices daily how a lack of proper funding affects her public school and she is angry that Australia performs so poorly on a global scale.
BY MARGARET PATONSchool business manager
TrishHarrington was stunned when she found out how Australia’s spending on education compared with other countries.
Harrington, who represented the AEU at an Education Support Personnel (ESP) conference in Portugal earlier this year, learned that a “healthy” national spend on education is 4 to 5 per cent of GDP or 15 to 20 per cent of a nation’s budget.
By comparison, Australia invests less than 2 per cent of GDP, or 7.3 per cent of the national budget. Precious dollars instead flow to private schools while public schools struggle for funding, says Harrington.
“The fact that government schools are chronically underfunded, yet taxpayer dollars are being used for private schools, really angers me.
“I see the e ect of underfunding of public schools every day in my role. For example, we don’t have enough classroom support sta to work with all students with additional needs; we don’t have enough admin sta for all the work generated, so the sta we have are overworked.
“Funding changes everything,” saysHarrington.
“ESPs have often been relegated to background players in education systems, undervalued and under recognised. However, they perform vital roles in schools,” she says.
Harrington and AEU deputy president Meredith Peace were the Australian representatives amongst 70 delegates at the conference organised by Education International, which is the voice of more than 32 million teachers and ESPs in 178 countries.
Conference delegates made four key demands:
•a fully funded teacher’s aide in every classroom
•access to full-time ESP roles
•appropriate training and development opportunities, and
•respect for the vital roles they perform, with appropriate remuneration.
“Most of this can be achieved through su icient funding. The respect and remuneration can be achieved by gaining aproper understanding of the work ESPs do,” she says.
Harrington has a good overall knowledge of the varied work of educational support sta . For eight years she worked in school administration and moved into her role at Carlton North Primary in early 2016. The role involves managing the school’s finances, accounting compliance, payroll
and facilities management, plus reporting to the school’s council and sub-committees.
“In a school with buildings between 110 and 150 years old, ensuring the school’s physical environment is maintained and improved where possible is a never-ending task,” she says.
Harrington ensures her voice is heard. She’s part of the AEU Business Managers’ Advisory Group, which coordinates the Business Managers’ Network as a forum for members to advocate for improved working conditions.
“As schools only have one business manager, the role can feel isolated. The network was only set up last year, but it is already having an impact. We discuss practical solutions to workplace issues.”
She believes the network will become an “important conduit” for contributing on-the-ground experiences in union pay and conditions negotiations. Harrington applauds the recent Schools Agreement in Victoria, which she says has made a “big step forward” to improve the wages of the lowest-level ESPs.
“The union plays a vital role in negotiating with the department for improvements in pay and conditions. There is strength in numbers – the more members, the more negotiating power we have.”
Harrington says the conference confirmed for her that the AEU was on the right track to help improve the conditions for ESPs.
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