04_australianeducator_sum2023_1

AI in schools // Safety, fairness and privacy

Workforce crisis // Recruitment is not enough

Family violence // Supporting students in school

Reconciliation in Norway // Truth-telling and Sámi children’s rights

THE IMPORTANCE OF RELATIONSHIPS

ON THE COVER Henley High School in South Australia is one of the many communities calling on the Prime Minister to fully fund public schools.

PHOTOGRAPHY Peter Fisher

Sharron Healy

06

NEWS IN BRIEF

16

STAMPING OUT RACISM

•Education is another casualty of war

• AEU urges government to call for a ceasefire in Palestine and Israel

•New research explores the impact climate change has on youth mental health

•Measuring digital inclusion in Australia

08

BE THAT PRIME MINISTER

Future public school funding will be decided in the next six months. It’s time for the Prime Minister to deliver on his promise.

12

AREYONGA SCHOOL HAS A LONG LIST

Full funding will make a huge di erence at this Northern Territory bilingual school.

14

FIX WORKLOAD AND SALARIES TO KEEP TEACHERS TEACHING

A new report finds that teacher shortages are not only about attracting people to the profession but keeping them.

Landmark surveys of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and educators reveal experiences of racism in workplaces.

18

AI IN SCHOOLS

Safety, fairness and privacy concerns with AI and new guidelines from 2024.

22

DEALING WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE AT SCHOOL

Supporting children a ected by family violence may help improve their experience of school and learning.

26

MAKING CHANGE STICK

Actions and rewards that create improvement dominate the reflections of three new educators as they look back on their year’s work.

32

TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION  IN NORWAY

Understanding teachers’ roles in truth-telling and correcting policies for safeguarding and educating Sámi peoples and culture.

34

SUPPORT FOR GIRLS WITH AUTISM

New book aims to assist girls to move beyond survival mode at school.

36

LESSONS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Equipping the next generation of students for environmental, political and economic challenges.

REGULARS

04 From the president

05 Know your union

38 Recess

Putting an end to underfunding

Resourcing public schools to the minimum level of funding will play a key role in overcoming crippling teacher shortages.

World Teachers’ Day at the end of October was an important opportunity to celebrate the dedication and commitment of teachers and the critical role they play in our society.

But with the profession in crisis due to crippling workloads and growing teacher shortages, we needed to make the day about much more than just kind words.

That is why, on Friday 27 October, we launched the next phase of the For Every Child campaign to fully fund public schools.

This phase includes a four-week road trip across every state and territory in Australia to raise community awareness and call for support for full funding.

We have travelled to school communities in our campaign-branded vehicles to meet principals, staff and parents and hold forums and events.

Along the way, we collected tens of thousands of postcards to deliver to the Prime Minister at Parliament House in Canberra, calling on him to honour his election commitment to fully fund every school.

The For Every Child campaign aims to end the unacceptable situation in which only 1.3 per cent of public schools are resourced at the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS). The SRS is the minimum level of funding governments agreed a decade ago was required by schools to meet the needs of all students.

In conjunction with the launch, we also released the first comprehensive analysis of the information collected from over 380,000 public and private school teachers as part of the ABS Census in 2021.

That report by senior researcher Barbara Preston revealed the full extent of the gaps in salaries and workloads between teachers and those working in other professions.

It found 48 per cent of full-time teachers worked 45 hours or more a week in 2021, compared to 31 per cent of those working full-time in other professions with a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification.

Public school teachers earn less than those in comparable professions at the start of their career and the gap widens with age, the report found.

The AEU raised community awareness and sought support for full funding as part of a four-week campaign road trip to Canberra.

Editor Kevin Bates

Publisher Fiona Hardie

Account manager Christine Dixon

Managing editor Beth Wallace

Commissioning editor Tracey Evans

Subeditor Leanne Tolra

Design Dallas Budde & Natalie Lachina

The For Every Child campaign aims to end the unacceptable situation in which only 1.3 per cent of public schools are resourced at the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

Know your union

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

Reflecting the current inequity in school resourcing, 56 per cent of private school teachers aged 45-49 earned more than $104,000 a year in 2021 compared to only 46 per cent of public school teachers, it found.

Private schools also employ smaller proportions of early career teachers, which leaves public school systems to disproportionately bear the cost of developing new graduates – something that Preston says should be factored into school funding.

The report's findings underline the importance of addressing the root causes of teacher shortages –uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads. Finally ending the underfunding of public schools is a vital part of the solution for teacher attraction and retention. We have a real opportunity to address this in the next 12 months when the future funding of every public school will be decided by governments. I urge all of you to join us in the For Every Child campaign. Getting governments to fully fund public schools would be something wonderful we could all celebrate on World Teachers’ Day next year.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

For more information, resources and to get involved visit: ForEveryChild.au

Advertising manager

Kerri Spillane

Tel: (03) 8520 6444

Email: kerrispillane@ hardiegrant.com

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 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

Email: melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au

Web: aeuvic.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

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

News in brief

Education another casualty of war

Education International (EI), the global federation of teacher unions, has called on the Israel War Cabinet to end the suffering and destruction in the Gaza Strip and to respect the principles of the United Nations Charter and international humanitarian law.

EI reminds the parties to return the hostages, protect the lives of civilians and preserve civilian infrastructure, including educational and medical facilities, throughout all Palestinian territories. Educational institutions in the Gaza Strip are being destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands of children without access to safe education. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which runs 278 schools in Gaza, reports that more than 80 educational institutions have been directly targeted.

UNRWA commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini says his colleagues in Gaza are no longer able to provide humanitarian assistance. “The number of people seeking shelter in our schools and other facilities is absolutely overwhelming, and we do not have the capacity to deal with them,” he says, adding that UNRWA has already lost 14 staff members including teachers, engineers and psychologists in the “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

EI had previously denounced the terrorist attack launched by Hamas against Israeli civilians. To break the cycle of violence, EI says the international community must unite to denounce all forms of violence.

“We have consistently engaged with our member organisations in both Israel and Palestine, emphasising the critical importance of dialogue and the preservation of the values of education and peace. Our commitment to our member organisations in the region remains steadfast,” EI said in a statement.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, more than 1300 schools have been destroyed since the Russian invasion began, according to UNICEF, with children across the country showing signs of widespread learning loss after four years of disruption during first COVID-19, then the war.

UNICEF’s Regina De Dominicis says that attacks on schools are continuing unabated, leaving children deeply distressed and without safe spaces to learn.

EI general secretary David Edwards says teachers and students are persevering despite the violence and disruption, but the devastating effects of the invasion cannot be understated. “Education unions around the world stand with Ukraine and will continue to support Ukrainian teachers in all their efforts,” he says.

Australian Government must act: AEU

The AEU has urged the Albanese government to support the international appeal to Hamas to release the hostages, and for all parties to protect the lives of civilians and preserve civilian infrastructure, including educational and medical facilities, throughout the Palestinian territories.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe condemned any acts of war by any nation or group that attacks civilian targets, including schools and hospitals.

“The impact on children and their families is of grave concern to the AEU. All children have the right to access education in safety and with their basic human rights respected,” says Haythorpe.

“The AEU mourns the loss of lives in Palestine and Israel … and calls on the Australian Government to show leadership internationally and nationally, calling for an unconditional ceasefire and to ensure that humanitarian aid is provided to those in need."

Understanding mental health triggers

New research from the National Youth Mental Health Foundation, headspace, has found that 53 per cent of young people in Australia are fearful about the future because of climate change. Two in five (42 per cent) young people surveyed are worried that they will not have access to the same opportunities as their parents because of climate change, and one third (34 per cent) cite climate change as the reason they are hesitant to have children.

David de Carvalho, CEO of the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) says floods, fires and the pandemic over the past few years have been challenging for everyone, particularly young people. He says the widespread use of smartphones also has a downside for young people, contributing to cyber-bullying and socialmedia-induced anxiety about self-image.

“So, it’s important now more than ever before that we equip our teachers with the resources they need to teach mental health and wellbeing using the new Australian Curriculum, Version 9.0. It will mean our young people can develop the skills they need to look after themselves and each other,” says de Carvalho. ACARA, working with experts from Beyond Blue, headspace and the National Mental Health Commission, has produced a new online resource for teachers to help students develop their understanding of the factors that influence their mental health and wellbeing. The mental health and wellbeing curriculum connections and other updated resources are available on the resources section of the Australian Curriculum website at v9.australiancurriculum.edu. au/resources

2 in 5

of young people are fearful about the future

Mapping the digital gap

are worried that they will not have the same opportunities as their parents

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the digital divide, with many students in remote areas unable to take advantage of online schooling. The challenges in ensuring digital inclusion include a lack of communications infrastructure, affordable devices and services, and digital ability. While mobile coverage has improved, about 670 small communities and homelands have no mobile service and some have no communications access at all. Mobile coverage is patchy and network congestion is a problem in most remote communities, a new report has found.

1/3

of young people surveyed are hesitant to have children

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, working on a four-year project to measure digital inclusion in Australia, have reported on their first year of findings after surveying remote communities across the country.

Dr Dot West, Chair of the First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group, says measuring digital inclusion helps to identify those who are “unseen and unheard”.

EVENTS

25 November

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

1 December World AIDS Day

3 December International Day of People with Disability

10 December Human Rights Day

20 February 2024

World Day of Social Justice March 2024 International Women’s Day

“Although remote First Nations communities are among the most

economically and digitally disadvantaged in Australia, they are also sites of extraordinary innovation, cultural and social resilience, and technical adaptation,” West says.

The AEU has strongly recommended that the next National School Reform Agreement address the lack of digital equity and inclusion in public schools by requiring governments to undertake an extensive digital equity audit of their education systems to identify the unmet needs that must be resolved to bridge the digital divide.

Be that Prime Minister

The future funding for every public school in Australia will be decided in the next six months. It’s time for the Prime Minister to deliver on his promise to students, teachers and school communities.

BY TRACEY EVANS

want every parent to be able to tell their child no matter where you live or where you come from, in Australia the doors of opportunity are open to us all,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during his election victory speech, highlighting two principles for his government: that no one would be left behind and no one would be held back.

Two principles that have not yet been realised for the 2.6 million students in Australia’s public schools who are still waiting for full funding of their schools.

As the National School Reform Agreement (NSRA) negotiations between the federal government and the states and territories begin, there is an urgency to ensuring that they deliver on the funding that is necessary to meet the principles set out by the PM. “There is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to end the underfunding of public schools,” says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

The NSRA negotiations are due to be completed in time for the 2025 school year and once agreed, will set the funding parameters for the foreseeablefuture.

“The level of funding that public schools receive directly a ects the work that teachers do and the teaching and learning opportunities that can be provided for students,” she says.

“Full funding will give teachers, principals and education support personnel the tools and resources necessary to meet the diverse and complex needs of all students, regardless of their background and circumstances.”

Launching the latest phase of the For Every Child campaign, Correna Haythorpe urges the Prime Minister to fully fund public schools.

Full funding will give teachers, principals and education support personnel the tools and resources necessary to meet the diverse and complex needs of all students, regardless of their background and circumstances.

GLOBAL COMPARISONS

Australia’s inadequate investment in public schools is not only failing students, teachers and communities, it puts us way behind on the world stage.

An Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report shows that Australia significantly underperforms most OECD countries in public school investment, 28.6 per cent lower than the OECD average.

The report, released in September, also finds that Australian teachers’ workloads are much higher than average, class sizes are larger than average and

salaries plateau much earlier than in most OECD countries. Australian teachers have the third highest average instruction times at more than 1000 hours annually, compared to an OECD average of 805 hours in primary schools and 916 hours in secondary schools.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

The average experienced teacher salary in Australia, at only 1.3 times higher than the graduate teacher wage, is the sixth lowest in the OECD. In 12 countries including Israel, Ireland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Austria, it is more than 1.5 times the graduate teacher salary.

Private school funding is the only indicator in which Australia excels globally, with Australia outspending all countries except Türkiye and Colombia on government funding for private schools –twice as much as the OECD average.

MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE

This disconnect in Australia’s education system is fuelling outrage in the community.

So far, more than 78,000 people and 45 community organisations have signed up as supporters of the AEU’s For Every Child campaign, which has taken its message on the road.

The campaign launched a national road trip on World Teachers' Day involving principals, teachers, parents and community members. Specially branded vehicles set out from Darwin, Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart to travel through cities and remote and regional centres holding meetings and events along the way to gather more support.

The road trip ended at Parliament House in Canberra on 26 November with the delivery of tens of thousands of protest messages on postcards from around the country.

“The Albanese government must take the lead in the NSRA negotiations and make sure that all schools are fully funded,” says Haythorpe. “Our children and teachers are giving 100 per cent. We need the politicians to do the same.”

Above (top to bottom): Blair Boyer, South Australia’s Minister for Education, Training and Skills, adds his signature to the For Every Child campaign; specially wrapped vehicles travelled around Australia to raise support for the campaign.

Counting the economic benefits

Funding public schools to the minimum level agreed to by governments, the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) would provide an economic pay-off two-tofour times more than the cost, according to new economic analysis.

THE CASE for Investing in Public Schools report produced by The Centre for Future Work at The Australian Institute calculates that the additional $6.6 billion per year needed for public schools to meet the SRS, which represents a 15 per cent increase in total school funding, would drive economic benefits of $17.8 billion to $24.7 billion per year after 20 years. And economic benefits would grow further in subsequent years.

These gains would be partly the result of the higher numbers of students fulfilling their potential as a result of the extra funding.

Students from disadvantaged, regional, and Indigenous backgrounds are most harmed by the erosion of public school funding, the report says.

But full funding would deliver larger economic benefits through the subsequent enhanced labour market experience of school graduates:

“Students who finish Year 12 are on average more employable, more productive, receive higher earnings, and pay more taxes than those who

do not finish school. Year 12 graduates earn $10,000 more per year than early school leavers: a 21 per cent wage premium that cumulates to over $400,000 in additional lifetime income."

Businesses and employers, too, benefit from the enhanced productivity of school graduates, boosting Australia’s GDP by an estimated $49 billion per year.

Public schools also have a large economic footprint, says the report.

They enrol some 2.6 million students (about two-thirds of all school pupils), and directly employ about 285,000 full-time equivalent sta . Public schools support some $45 billion in GDP, and a total of 365,000 jobs including indirect economic impacts (through the supply chain that feeds public schools and through consumer spending).

Governments would also benefit significantly from the increased economic activity of a robust public education system through higher tax revenues and reduced costs associated with better-resourced schools and improved school attainment, the report says.

PUTTING CHILDREN FIRST

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says research shows that education has never been more closely linked to the life chances of Australia’s children and the prosperity of Australia and equity must sit alongside excellence as the twin ambitions for our nation’s public schooling system.

Findings in The Case for Investing in Public Schools support this.

Economic benefits aside, the report says: “The primary motivations for adequately and properly funding public schools are to enhance the life chances of the students who attend them, to reduce economic inequality and segregation, and to ensure that young people’s trajectories are less predetermined by the socioeconomic status of their parents than is presently the case.”

The report also says: “Continuing to underfund public schools in the interest of short-run fiscal savings is hardly a good investment, once the far-reaching and significant costs of poor school achievement are taken into account."

“Full funding is the only way to ensure every child has every opportunity to succeed,” says Haythorpe. “That is why we are running the For Every Child campaign, because full funding of public schools benefits everyone.”

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Areyonga School has a long list

A federal budget allocation to fully fund most schools in Central Australia for 12 months will deliver more teachers, education support staff and individual attention for students.

BY TRACEY EVANS

Sta , students and the community at tiny Areyonga School in Utju, and home to the Anangu people two-and-a-half hours' drive from Mparntwe (Alice Springs), are excited about thepossibilities ahead with full funding.

Areyonga, which has 30 preschool and primary students, was one of the first five bilingual schools in the Northern Territory and earlier this year celebrated the 50th anniversary of its PitjantjatjaraEnglish program.

The school’s federal budget allocation of $430,000, to be spent within 12 months, was a surprise but sta and the community have immediately set to work on plans for its use, says Ikuntji (Haasts Blu ) and Anangu Elder andformerprincipal Tarna Andrews.

Andrews has been teaching at the school for almost 40 years, first as an assistant teacher, then teacher and later as the principal. Today she is still working as an assistant teacher at Areyonga.

IN SHORT

// Areyonga School has big plans for the $430,000 in funding it received for 2024.

// The funds will make a major difference to the school's literacy and cultural programs.

// In the past, planning has been challenging for the school, due to funding uncertainty.

In other words, she says, she grew up inabilingual school.

She says the extra funding will make a big di erence to the delivery of the school’s literacy and cultural programs.

Principal Toby Brown says the funding also means that a number of long-term casual sta can be made permanent.

“This money will be really valuable to fully fund the school sta and it’ll mean extra literacy workers in the school so we can really work on the Indigenous languages culture program,” he says.

Brown says the 50-year anniversary was a “huge milestone” for the community and the school and that everyone is keen to see the bilingual and bi-cultural programs continue.

“For many of the students, English is their second or third language. We’ve found that if we teach students strong Pitjantjatjara reading and writing skills, then learning to read and write in English comes a lot more easily,” he says.

Until now, the school has never been certain of the amount of funding it would receive each year because of the Northern Territory’s e ective enrolment model that provided funding only for the number of students who attended the previous year. The NT government has promised to end thisfunding model by 2025.

“We’d never know whether the school was going to be fully sta ed in the next year so sta have been on casual contracts for year after year. For example, currently we have only one literacy specialist working with our teacher-linguists but, in the past when

Because we’re a bilingual and a bi-cultural school, and the students’ language and culture is so valued and talked about every single day, the community is very engaged with the school.

We’d never know whether the school was going to be fully staffed in the next year so staff have been on casual contracts for year after year.

funding has been better, we’ve been able to have two or three specialists to really bolster the program, create resources and mentor junior Pitjantjatjara teachers,” says Brown.

The funding will also provide support to allow all the students to go out on Country together.

The learning on Country program, supported by Elders, is central to the school’s teaching.

“The Elders have so much knowledge about looking after and caring for Country, they’re the people we should be listening to. We’re getting some really great results with the program,” says Brown.

“Learning on Country is where our students thrive.”

Brown says the school is the central hub of the community.

“Because we’re a bilingual and a bi-cultural school, and the students' language and culture is so valued and talked about every single day, the community is very engaged with the school.

“People just pop in, whether it’s just for a cup of tea or to check on their student’s learning. We’re an amazing little school,” he says.

“Hopefully the government sees that we need this amount to run a fully functioning school and our funding will continue to increase so that we can keep these programs going,” Brown says.

Andrews agrees, saying the extra funding is vital to support the cultural and language programs.

“We’ve written a list on the whiteboard of all the things we’re going to do with the money and it’s a long list!”

Tracey Evans is Australian Educator’s commissioning editor.

Toby Brown Areyonga School

Toby Brown Areyonga School

The learning on Country program, supported by Elders, plays a central role in Areyonga School’s teaching.

Fix workload and salaries to keep teachers teaching

A new report finds that teacher shortages are not only about attracting people to the profession but keeping them.

IN SHORT

The national recruitment campaign to encourage more people to choose teaching, Be That Teacher, is a welcome move by federal, state and territory governments.

But it is not enough.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says that teaching is the greatest profession of all and positive recruitment campaigns are important in order to attract more people to the profession: “But nobody should think this is the answer to a recruitment and retention crisis that has been decades in the making.”

Haythorpe says nine out of 10 public school principals across the nation reported teacher shortages this year and the number one issue driving people from the profession is unsustainable workloads.

FEWER TEACHERS, MORE STUDENTS

The federal government is predicting that demand for secondary teachers will exceed the supply of new graduate teachers by around 4100 between 2021 and 2025, which reflects strong student enrolment growth.

But, with declining initial teacher education enrolments, fewer new teachers graduating and an ageing teacher workforce retention problem, the teaching workforce supply issue must be an immediate government priority, says Haythorpe.

A new report by senior researcher Barbara Preston, which examines the responses given by the 384,807 school teachers in the 2021 Census, indicates that attracting new teachers is only part of the problem. Keeping teachers in the profession is equally important.

The Australian School Teaching Workforce report, which was commissioned by the AEU, found that initial teacher education completions

declined by 15 per cent between 2011 and 2020 compared with the nursing profession, where completions increased by 75 per cent during the same period.

This follows a decade in which the increase in initial teacher education completions was just 33 per cent, compared with the pre-registration nurse and midwifery increase of 81 per cent.

“Given the similarities between the professions, teacher shortages in the 2020s are unsurprising,” the report says.

Of those new graduates, the profession loses a significant number in the first five years of work (up to 50 per cent according to some studies) and, of those who stay longer, many leave before retirement age.

TEACHERS WORK LONGER HOURS

Full-time teachers with the highest qualification in their discipline compared to people with the highest qualification in the same discipline working in non-teaching jobs.

// The recruitment campaign to attract more teachers to the profession is not enough to overcome the workforce crisis.

// Education completions are declining and teachers are leaving the profession before retirement.

// Workload and salary are major drivers of the teacher exodus.

A 2022 Monash University study of almost 5500 teachers found that only 27 per cent planned to stay in the profession until retirement.

WORKLOAD AND SALARIES

The Monash study found workload and respect to be major issues for those surveyed and additional pressures included:

• complexity of the learning, behaviour and social needs of children and young people an increasing burden of administration and data collection tasks

• limited support from school and system leadership an overloaded curriculum.

... nobody should think this is the answer to a recruitment and retention crisis that has been decades in the making.

Teachers work much longer hours than workers in comparable professions with a similar level of qualifications, the Preston report says.

Teachers with the highest qualification in a specialist subject also work much longer hours than those in other jobs with the same specialist subject qualification as their highest qualification.

For example, around 45 per cent of maths teachers work more than 45 hours per week compared with 25 per cent of those with a similar maths qualification working outside the teaching profession.

Salaries are another major driver of the exodus of teachers from the profession.

PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPALS EARN LESS

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

The Preston report finds the incomes of public school teachers are on average lower than their counterparts in the private sector, especially in the peak career age range 45 to 49.

Public school classroom teachers begin their careers earning less, on average, than accountants, information and communications technology (ICT) professionals, engineering professionals and solicitors, and the gap increases with age. Meanwhile, the estimated average annual salaries of public school principals are substantially lower than those of private school principals as well as managers in the finance, ICT and engineering sectors.

The AEU’s For Every Child campaign blueprint points out that the quality of education is at risk unless workloads are reduced and additional time is provided for teaching and learning. The campaign calls for: cuts to admin and compliance work, more time for lesson planning, extra system-wide support to help students with higher needs, a focus on wellbeing for teachers and principals, reduced class sizes, more education support personnel in classrooms and access to specialist sta , and consultation with teachers about any proposed policies or reforms.

Addressing unsustainable workloads, better salaries and working conditions are critical steps that must be taken by all governments, says Haythorpe.

“Indeed, the PM can lead this campaign by honouring his government’s commitment to end the underfunding of public schools.

“That is the first step to ensure that the teaching profession has the tools and resources needed to provide high-quality education for all while being respected with appropriate salary and conditions of work.”

Stamping out racism

Landmark surveys of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and educators reveal experiences of racism in workplaces.

BY CYNDI TEBBEL

// The AEU has partnered with the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research to examine experiences of racism amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and educators.

// The institute has provided recommendations for the AEU to help fight racism and deliver best-practice bargaining clauses.

More than 20 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander AEU members have left a role because of discrimination, an AEU survey has found.

The survey data, analysed by the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at University of Technology, Sydney, also found that more than one third (35.6 per cent) of respondents were aware of a colleague having moved positions because of racism.

The AEU’s Yalukit Yulendj Committee, which designed the original survey in 2019, commissioned the institute to examine the findings and cross reference them against a Jumbunna Institute survey – entitled Gari Yala (speak the truth in Wiradjuri) – of about 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian workplaces.

The institute was asked to provide recommendations for the AEU to help fight racism and deliver best-practice bargaining clauses.

Jumbunna undertook Gari Yala to understand the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers’ experiences. The project was led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and overseen by a panel of distinguished Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics and employment practitioners.

Results were largely consistent across both surveys, revealing similar experiences of racism in workplaces.

One of the most concerning trends revealed by the AEU survey was that other educators were responsible for racist behaviour, more so than students, parents and the community. That was despite more than one third (36.4 per cent) of respondents noting that their school provided access to professional development on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture to all sta .

Almost half (48.6 per cent) of respondents who had experienced racism reported an e ect on their mental health, while 37.2 per cent said racism had a ected their physical health.

Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and education support professionals also reported feeling overwhelmed by expectations that they would represent their culture and identity, share their background at work, or do something they felt compromised their cultural integrity. They mentioned being told to “tone it down” or be less outspoken about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues, while at the same time being made to feel responsible for First Nations issues in the workplace.

Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of respondents felt that they had to work harder to prove that an Aboriginal or TorresStrait Islander person could do the job.

Almost half … of respondents who had experienced racism reported an effect on their mental health.

IN SHORT

TRUTH-TELLING

Jumbunna’s director of the Indigenous People and Work and Eora woman Nareen Young, and Indigenous policy researcher and Worimi man Josh Gilbert presented their report findings to AEU Federal Conference delegates earlier in the year.

Young and Gilbert stressed the urgent need to address cultural awareness training in schools and presented recommendations on how the public school sector could address racism and cultural load in the workplace, based on the Gari Yala 10 Truths (see breakout).

Gilbert says respondents felt “they were expected to speak on behalf of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people” and were frequently “asked about their qualifications based on their identity”.

He says respondents used quotes such as: “I constantly feel like I have to educate my place that I don’t speak for everyone” and “I’m frequently called on for anything Aboriginal that needs to be done, displayed, consulted or achieved”.

Gilbert says half the respondents believed they experienced racism in their workplace yearly, around 8 per cent noticed it weekly, and 4.4 per cent noted it daily. Examples included comments or abuse, being put down because of identity, exclusion from social events and gatherings, and insulting phone calls or social media posts.

COLLECTIVE APPROACHES

In presenting recommendations for the AEU, Young told delegates that discussions about “Aboriginal employment” – mostly by conservative politicians around election time – are “a narrative of the ‘bludging blacks’ getting handouts”.

“Not once have I ever seen this narrative based on the opinions and employment

One of the most concerning trends revealed by the AEU survey was that other educators were responsible for racist behaviour, more so than students, parents and the community.

experiences of our mob and what mightbe important to us,” she says.

“These surveys open up a new era in which we approach matters of racism in this country, and hopefully fixing some stu up for a better way. We’ll be engaging further with the AEU on workplace truthtelling, talking about what we can do as a broader trade union movement to ensure this is a key piece of a discussion as a country moving forward,” Young says.

AEU federal secretary Kevin Bates says there is no place for racism in schools and is concerned that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders likely faced additional burdens in the lead up to the Voice referendum.

“It’s everyone’s responsibility to ensure that our workplaces are safe spaces, it’s important that the responsibility for calling out racist behaviour or comments doesn’t rest solely on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people or other people of colour. It’s up to each of us to step up and work together to eradicate racism in schools,” he says.

“The survey outcomes and the report have set high expectations for the AEU to hear the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members on the issue of racism and respond with a comprehensive action plan for workplaces in every Australian jurisdiction.

“The AEU will work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members to develop national claims for anti-racism reforms and support the work of AEU Branches and Associated Bodies to negotiate these changes,” Bates says.

Gari Yala: 10 Truths

1 Commit to unearthing and acting on workplace truths – however uncomfortable they may be.

2 Ensure any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-related work is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led and informed.

3 Develop organisational principles to make it clear how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community engagement and employment should work in practice.

4 Focus on workplace readiness (cultural safety) rather than worker readiness.

5 Recognise identity strain and educate non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sta about how to interact with their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues in ways that reduce this.

6 Recognise and remunerate cultural load as part of an employee’s workload.

7 Consult with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sta on how to minimise cultural load while maintaining organisational activity.

8 Focus on sustainable careers and career development, rather than just short-term appointments.

9 Take action to address workplace racism. Look to high-impact initiatives – those that research shows are linked to better wellbeing and retention for Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander sta . Cyndi

Tebbel is a freelancewriter.

AI in schools:

Safety, fairness and privacy in AI

Generative artificial intelligence has many exciting applications in education but there are myriad issues to be considered.

Teachers need to be aware of the ethical challenges in using any AI tool, says Jeannie Marie Paterson, Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics (CAIDE), University of Melbourne.

These include respect for privacy and recognising the capacity for bias and error in the technology, she says.

“None of those are easy questions but they are questions that are core to trust in education. They are questions about fairness, values and policy.”

One of the issues is the potential for AI tools to gather student data without their knowledge.

The AEU’s AI position statement asserts that experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic “… demonstrated that the business model of the major international technology companies involves entrenching their products in education systems and schools, with little concern about their educational value and without transparency about the pedagogical, curriculum, and assessment and reporting algorithms integral to them”.

In 2022, global advocacy group Human Rights Watch analysed 164 edtech products and claimed 89 per cent of them appeared to engage in data practices that put children’s rights at risk, contributed to undermining them, or actively infringed on their rights. The edtech products at least had the capacity to monitor children and often harvested data such as identity, location, and classroom activities and some installed tracking technologies that traced children outside of the virtual classroom, it found.

Paterson says the privacy issues are “huge”.

IN SHORT

// Teachers must navigate ethical and responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) on a daily basis.

// Though AI has the potential to offer many benefits, it also presents a range of issues.

// One of the key concerns raised by AI is its capacity to entrench existing biases.

Ai in schools:

Considering AI generates based on popular or dominant thinking, the risk for perpetuating stereotypes, single perspective, and ultimately misinformation remains unacceptably high ...

AEU submission to the Inquiry into the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Australian Education System

“If we take ChatGPT: it collects information from user prompts and then uses that information to retrain or refine the bot. That might sound bland, but it might be significant in terms of the resharing of sensitive information, intellectual property, and indeed what happens to the accuracy of the tool.

“If we think about social media: it’s collecting information. If we think about parents posting pictures of their children: that’s being reproduced and repurposed, perhaps infinitely. People sideline privacy because we can’t see any harm in sharing information,” she says.

Paterson says stronger privacy laws are needed. “We also need more discussions about the value of privacy and why the widespread hoovering up of personal information via digital technology isn’t a great thing for individuals or society.”

Safeguarding students extends to the technology’s capacity to build fakes.

“What we’re seeing now is an explosion of digital fake. This might be used for scam advertising or to manipulate the political process. Horrifyingly, we’re also seeing a lot of fake pornographic images and cyber bullying using fake images. This is because the capacity to create such images is increasingly available via a phone app or images scraped from social media,” says Paterson.

“I think the e-Safety Commissioner is right on to that usage, but there’s still a way to go.”

BEWARE OF BIAS

Another concern raised by AI is its potential to entrench existing biases or embed new ones.

The AEU submission to the House Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training Inquiry into the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in the Australian Education System

states: “Considering AI generates based on popular or dominant thinking, the risk for perpetuating stereotypes, single perspective, and ultimately misinformation remains unacceptably high, especially taking into consideration perspectives on gender, non-Anglo cultures, First Nations cultures, non-binary and queerness, disability, people living outside urban centres, as well as intersectionality within underrepresented groups.”

The lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stories and knowledge systems in the datasets mined by AI models e ectively renders First Nations people invisible, “perpetuating historical patterns of exclusion”, writes Dharug man Dr Josh Tobin.

“In a world where AI plays a role in everything from generating text to informing policy decisions, the dearth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives is questionable,” he says.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities possess unique cultures, languages, and histories that are not accurately or su iciently represented in mainstream digital platforms and databases.”

Tobin says the solution begins with acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data sovereignty.

The global Indigenous Data Sovereignty movement aims to impact governance and interpretation of data collected in regard to First Nations people. While there has been a long history of data collection on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, there has been little data collected for or with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, write Professor Bronwyn Carlson, an Aboriginal woman born on D’harawal Country, and Wiradjuri woman Peita Richards.

“Many Indigenous people are concerned with how the data involving our knowledges and cultural practices is being used,” say Carlson and Richards.

MEN IN TWEED COATS

Says Paterson: “If you ask a generative image AI to draw some pictures of academics, you’ll get a whole lot of white men in tweed coats and if you ask them to draw cleaners, you’ll get a whole lot of middle-aged women of colour. That’s not right at all. But it comes about because the AI is reflecting a particular segment of the internet that it has been trained on.

“So, we need to understand how that bias occurs, where that occurs, and then be able to have the policy and value discussions

about whether AI-driven representations or predictions are appropriate to be used in any particular context.”

Reducing bias can mean tackling structural gender imbalances in the AI workforce and the gender divide in digital and STEM skills. According to a 2019 UNESCO report, I’d Blush If I Could, only 12 per cent of AI researchers and 6 per cent of professional software developers are women. Furthermore, the AI skills gap for women in Australia sits below the OCED average.

It’s a gap that Women in AI is aiming to close. The non-profit do-tank, founded in 2016 by two female AI professionals in France, is working towards inclusive AI that benefits global society. It now has more than 8000 members in 140 countries and provides training and mentoring for women in the AI industry and those wishing to become involved.

Angela Kim is the Australian ambassador and global chief education o icer for Women in AI.

“I’m really mindful that [by] 2030 almost 80 per cent of professions and jobs will be technology-related, which means if you don’t prepare women now there will be less opportunity and that is inequity,” she says.

She also sees a need to support refugee, immigrant, and First Nations communities.

TARGETED STEM

In 2019 Women in AI partnered with Macquarie Group and IAG Group to host a school holiday AI camp for Year 9 STEM students at Cabramatta High School in Western Sydney.

Kim says 90 per cent of students there are immigrants: “Their parents can’t speak English and they work long hours. So, students do housework, they look after siblings and they cook. They are bright –and they love the STEM subjects.”

The following year, the same group of 47 girls and three boys attended more AI camps, says Kim. “We ran three AI camps for four days. They learned about coding, data, digital storytelling and AI. We also brought in tech executives with refugee and immigrant backgrounds. They shared their stories and how it was challenging but they didn’t give up.”

Eight girls who attended the camps went on to enrol in engineering studies at the University of NSW. Women in AI has also worked with NSW universities to o er tech literacy workshops for female students, including one on responsible AI.

In the US not-for-profit organisation Equal AI is tackling unconscious bias from another angle: through the development of responsible AI governance.

… a lot of people don’t know that you need to learn how to use generative AI tools correctly.

Angela Kim / Women in AI

Aware that bias can embed at each human touchpoint from data collection to testing to development and deployment, Equal AI is working with industry leaders and experts, academia, and government to develop standards and tools to increase awareness and reduce bias and identify regulatory and policy solutions. It introduced a Responsible AI Badge certification program for senior executives and in August it released a White Paper: An insider’s guide to designing and operationalising a responsible AI governance framework.

SUPPORT FOR TEACHERS

Paterson says students and educators need support to demystify AI, something key to CAIDE’s work at the University of Melbourne. “They don’t need to be expert coders, but they need to understand enough about the technology to see where the pressure points and the worries are.”

That includes understanding how it may develop in the future.

Kim agrees: “We need to provide solid tech and data and AI literacy programs for teachers so that they can be well equipped. A lot of people complain about generative AI like ChatGPT and how useless it is because they have experienced incorrect answers as a result of the data being biased.

“But a lot of people don’t know that you need to learn how to use generative AI tools correctly. How do you prompt in such a way that you can guide ChatGPT to give you the best, most appropriate answer for you?”

Christine Long is a freelancewriter.

AI in schools:

Guidelines set for 2024 release

Education ministers are set to release a framework for the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in schools.

BY CHRISTINE LONG

The Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools will be implemented from Term 1 2024 to guide schools in the “responsible and ethical use of generative AI tools in ways that benefit students, schools, and society”.

The framework, developed by federal, state and territory education ministers following a meeting in February, provides evidence-informed, best practice for Australian schools.

It is designed to meet the everyday challenges the education sector faces to harness the benefits of AI, while addressing the big-picture issues it presents.

The ministers have agreed to provide $1 million to Education Services Australia to “establish product expectations of generative AI technology”.

The framework document notes that AI can help students synthesise complex ideas, create personalised content, and provide targeted and instantaneous feedback.

“For teachers, it can tailor instruction, simplify planning, and streamline administrative tasks,” the document says.

“To fully harness the potential of high quality and safe generative AI, schools will need to understand and appropriately manage a range of interconnected privacy, security, and ethical risks. These include the potential for errors and algorithmic bias in generative AI content; the misuse of personal or confidential information; and the use of generative AI for inappropriate purposes, such as to discriminate against individuals or groups, or to undermine the integrity of student assessments.”

In their February meeting, the education ministers agreed that responding to the risks and harnessing opportunities for Australian schools and students arising from generative AI technologies was a national education priority.

Bias, access, safety, and privacy are just some of the issues being considered by the education sector and the world at large.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says that, with the rapidly expanding use of edtech and AI technologies in education settings it is vital to ensure that the path forward is “human-centred, teacher-led and education department controlled, with a pedagogic focus and a diverse and inclusive social justice lens”.

In July, the AEU released a position statement on AI, calling on the government to work in consultation with the union on a national policy framework, to provide students with broad, equal access to technology and learning and to protect them from potential harm.

The potential for AI to further entrench the digital divide and increase inequity must also be addressed. In its position statement, the AEU said access to AI technologies must be rolled out across all states and territories: “All schools need significant investment in information technology as well as reliable internet access and advanced digital literacy training.”

UNIONS URGED TO BE PROACTIVE

Writing in Education International’s Worlds of Education, Rob Weil, director of research, policy and field services, educational issues, American Federation of Teachers, urges unions to be proactive in dealing with the challenges presented by generative AI. Otherwise, he says, educators run the risk of even more ‘de-professionalisation and commercialisation of our work’.

“Although teachers’ unions may not have the answers, they cannot stand by and let others determine the answers. The world’s education unions must come together and proactively shape the way emerging technologies are used in our schools and classrooms. If we snooze, we lose.”

Dealing with family violence at school

Finding ways to support children a ected by family violence may help improve their experience of school and learning.

BY JANINE MACE

amily violence occurs across all socioeconomic and demographic groups in Australia, but predominantly a ects women and more than one million children each year. This means teachers around the country are faced daily with the task of dealing with its impact on their students.

The Personal Safety Survey by the ABS for 2021-22 found that 17 per cent of women experienced physical and/or sexual violence by a current or previous partner after the age of 15. The experience is also common among children, and the 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study found that 40 per cent of respondents were exposed to domestic violence during childhood.

IN SHORT

// Family violence affects more than one million Australian children each year.

// Exposure to family violence can impact a child's wellbeing and lead to mental health, behavioural and learning challenges.

// Schools have a vital role to play in reducing family violence.

The statistic is sobering, and a combined Australian university study indicates that exposure to family violence increases the likelihood of poor school attendance and school suspension.

IMPACT OF FAMILY VIOLENCE ON CHILDREN

Dixie Link-Gordon, adjunct senior lecturer at UNSW, program coordinator of the NSW Aboriginal Women’s Advisory Network and founder of Breaking Silent Codes, has more than 30 years of knowledge and experience in the human service sector and specialises in sexual assault and family violence.

It affects how they learn and what they take in through their education.

Respectful Relationships Education programs: A work in progress?

Respectful Relationships Education (RRE) programs, although notionally in the Australian curriculum since its existence, are finding new footing in schools around the country, and supporters say they provide a fundamental element in primary prevention of violence against women and children.

But barriers remain to e ective implementation of RRE nationwide, including diverse delivery approaches, low funding commitments, limited teaching materials, and no support provided for program evaluation.

Safe and Equal’s Tania Farha believes strong RRE requires a whole-of-school approach and adequately trained and supported teachers to deliver these programs.

“The principal needs to be on board and there also needs to be help for schools to deal with the backlash that can arise from delivering these types of proactive prevention programs,” she says.

Measuring success is also tricky and Farha acknowledges there is noeasy solution.

She says short-term indicators, such as students understanding the material and agreeing with the ideas presented, show good results.

“But the real success will be how people are living their lives. You can’t change a person’s life in just one setting, you need a mutually reinforcing set of environments to change a person’s behaviour,” Farha says.

Lack of consistency between delivery of programs within di erent schools and di erent school systems adds complexity to the evaluation task, says QUT’s Dr Meegan Brown.

“What are di erent schools focusing on? Some may be using school opinion data, behaviour and attendance records as measurements, but there is not a lot of clarity around the di erent measures.

“There has to be a number of di erent data points and the studies need to be longitudinal to see the real impact,” Brown says.

She has a succinct response when asked how family violence a ects children: “Family violence a ects their whole wellbeing. Children are like little sponges who soak in everything that happens to them.

“It’s detrimental to the wellbeing and growth of any child, including pregnant women.”

Tania Farha, CEO of Safe and Equal, the peak body for specialist family violence services in Victoria, agrees there are longlasting consequences. “That includes its

impact on family relationships and their participation in broader relationships.

“It also a ects their physical and neurological development, and the ability to cope and adapt in lots of di erent settings,” she says.

QUT lecturer Dr Meegan Brown, an expert in the field of trauma-aware schooling, says children are a ected whether they are a direct victim of, or a witness to, parental domestic violence.

“It has significant impacts in various ways on their development and nervous

system and can lead to mental health and behavioural challenges as well as learning problems,” she says.

IDENTIFYING THE ISSUE IN SCHOOLS

Link-Gordon says family violence also has a significant impact on a child’s education.

“It a ects how they learn and what they take in through their education,” she says.

Farha agrees: “Critically, it disrupts their education patterns as they are often moving from environment to environment

Dixie Link-Gordon Breaking Silent Codes

Family violence

We need to put in the work if we want to see healthy and well children who are successful in their lives.

Tania Farha Safe and Equal

to escape their abuser, and we know there is an increased mental load on children during this time too.

“However, we know education can also be a protective factor against potential adverse life outcomes of family violence, so it can be a really empowering tool for preventing lifelong implications for children.”

Schools are often the place where the impact of family violence is first noticed.

“Teachers are well placed to identify it and respond to disclosures,” Farha says.

Link-Gordon believes every teacher needs to be trauma-informed and educated to identify violence within families: “They need to be able to recognise family violence when it’s occurring as there are such high rates inthis country.”

LISTEN TO YOUR STUDENTS

Brown says students will often tell teachers about family violence. “If you have a relationship with the family and your students, you will find out very quickly,” she says.

“You can’t label or assume it only occurs in certain groups and areas, as it’s right across the community.”

Relationships within the school community should be used wisely, without jumping too quickly to report problems, Link-Gordon urges.

For example, if a child is "acting like a wrecking ball", the school needs to discuss it with the family first, without it becoming a major report or just sending the child home, she says.

“Otherwise, they can miss out on key learning areas and the child then finds they are behind and can’t catch up.”

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH FAMILIES

Link-Gordon says family violence is so broad-based it needs to be addressed as a national issue.

“In schools, from kindergarten to Year 12, you need good messaging about what safety looks like for us. We need to have a bottom line across this country that it’s not acceptable to be consistently hit or screamed at,” she says.

Good relationships between schools and families are vital to help support the child.

“You need good communication with parents, even the parents who are isolated from engaging with the school,” Link-Gordon says.

“Even something as simple as engaging with parents or grandparents when they pick up children from school. Take every opportunity to get to know the family.”

BEHAVIOURAL SIGNS OF FAMILY VIOLENCE

For teachers looking for indicators of family violence among their students, the resulting behaviour patterns vary.

“The changes in a child’s behaviour can be things like hypervigilance, withdrawal or being overly compliant. They can be di erent depending on their age or developmental stage,” Farha says.

Children’s responses following family violence are complex, Brown says. “Some children may respond physically – such as destroying school property – while you also see children displaying behaviours of perfectionism. They feel that if I’m a good girl or boy this is something I can control.”

Bullying – either as a victim or a perpetrator – can also be a sign.

“These children are also at risk of becoming victims of other types of abuse,

such as sexual abuse, and physical andemotional abuse,” she says.

“In teenagers you may even see intimate partner violence.”

DEALING WITH FAMILY VIOLENCE IN SCHOOLS

As trusted hubs in the community, Farha believes schools have a vital role to play in reducing family violence in Australia.

“We need to put in the work if we want to see healthy and well children who are successful in their lives,” she says.

Brown believes the problem cannot be tackled piecemeal: “It needs a whole-ofschool trauma-informed approach.”

This means ongoing training and support for sta and building awareness around the issue. “Sta also need help with the legal aspects such as what it means for the school if there are DVOs [Domestic Violence Orders] in place within a family, as this can be tricky,” she says.

Farha says it is also important that action is driven from the top down.

“Principals are really critical in this area, and I hope they are being supported and developing communities of support so they are able to work towards constant improvement,” Farha says.

After all, family violence is not just a problem for students.

“We need to remember the school workforce can also be victims of family violence and you need to consider the impact that has,” Brown says.

“If both sta and students don’t see school as safe, then it’s hard for children to learn and teachers to teach.”

Janine Mace is a freelancewriter.

Making change stick

Actions and rewards that create improvement dominate the reflections of our new educators as they look back on their year’s work.

BY MARGARET PATON

Alex Leon Teacher

Mount Stromlo High School, ACT

CULTURAL INTEGRITY PRIORITIES

In the wake of October’s Voice referendum, ACT teacher and Worimi and Lardil woman Alex Leon is continuing her activist work with the AEU. She was the ACT branch representative for the Voice campaign and worked closely with national movements such as Unions for Yes and Yes23.

Leon is helping bolster the AEU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander committee Yalukit Yalendj to increase support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and sta .

“All educators require a secure and trusted resource to ensure cultural

practices are preserved, cultural integrity upheld, truths communicated, and they feel adequately supported rather than overwhelmed by it,” she says.

A MATTER OF CULTURE

She’s calling for cultural integrity to be prioritised, so that teachers feel more confident about embedding it into their teaching.

“Sometimes people assume that, because I’m Aboriginal, I know all the answers. Or they see me as the ‘go-to person’ for guidance on events like Reconciliation Week or NAIDOC day. I love that people want to make sure they’re doing the right thing, but the responsibility shouldn’t fall on me because I am the Aboriginal sta member. That’s what cultural load is, and it’s very draining,” says Leon.

All educators require a secure and trusted resource to ensure cultural practices are preserved, cultural integrity upheld, truths communicated, and they feel adequately supported rather than overwhelmed by it.

Alex Leon

From left: Alex Leon addressing the crowd at Walk for Yes (photo by Joe Hedger) and meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (photo by Lincoln Magee).

Resources

Alex’s live Instagram “ask me anything” sessions, Mondays 3:30-4:30pm on Instagram @voiceyarns

Lester (Charlie) Leon 1900-1982 ia.anu.edu.au/biography/leon-lestercharlie-14151

“I am on my own journey of cultural understanding too. While I’ve grown up on Ngunnawal Country (in the ACT) and feel connected to this land, it isn’t my ancestral land.”

She’s keen for the union to boost support for all teachers and sta on protocols to engage with the local Aboriginal community and Elders, and ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members receive the support they need.

In her advocacy work for Voice, Leon also visited AEU members at schools to speak about the referendum and ran information sessions. At Walk for Yes, she spoke to more than 5000 Canberrans as a lead campaigner for Yes23.

“I talked about who I am and where I’ve come from and what Voice meant. While we might live in Canberra, an a luent place with readily available resources, that’s not the case for many regions across Australia. We can’t have tunnel vision and be ignorant to that,” she says.

“I also called out the politicians from the ‘no’ camp about using fear and misinformation and making something political out of an issue that is a human right and about social justice.”

She said she appreciated the opportunity to network with communities in Canberra, including meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

HERITAGE LESSONS

Leon’s rich family heritage informs her life and work. Her grandmother was an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leader in the Gulf of Carpentaria, involved with medical and legal organisations and the Royal Flying Doctor Service and she was Mayor of Mornington Island Council at age 83. Leon’s mother is an ACT primary school teacher.

In each issue of Australian Educator, we follow the challenges and achievements of new educators throughout the year.

I’m definitely going to be in an education space but for me, and as I think of my Elders, we all have activist blood in us.

Leon’s father, a senior advisor for the National Indigenous Australians Agency, finished school at Year 10 but later obtained a university degree in his 30s. In July this year, aged 60, he successfully completed a PhD, Unconscious bias in the Australian Public Service: Implications for Indigenous employment.

Then there’s the connection to Hollywood Golden Age actor Errol Flynn. Her dad’s grandfather, Lester (Charlie) Leon, a Worimi man and activist who “advocated for our mob to be able to go to non-segregated schools”, was mugged while working in Tasmania after receiving his first ever pay cheque.

“The man who gave him his hand to help him up was Errol Flynn. He took Charlie to dinner, and that was the start of their friendship. He invited my grandfather to go over to America with him,” says Leon.

“But my pop said he couldn’t leave his Country and the work he was doing for his people here.”

A GRIP ON THE FUTURE

While Leon’s mob hails from Denham Country near Mornington Island, she’s put down roots in Canberra and bought a house there with her partner.

Leon says her heart is “very much in education”, particularly in ensuring cultural integrity.

“I’m definitely going to be in an education space but for me, and as I think of my Elders, we all have activist blood in us. Education is such a key to healing our Country, but a classroom makes such small ripple e ects.

"I’m passionate about Indigenous issues all the time, not just for a subject on this day.”

Alex Leon

Jake Freeman-Duffy

Assistant principal St Marys North Public School, NSW

BEHAVIOUR AS BRAIN SCIENCE

Brain science has come into sharp focus for Gumbaynggirr man Jake FreemanDu y. He’s been urging teachers to rethink their reactions to learners who are having a “meltdown”.

He suggests thinking about what might be going on in their brains.

“When a child’s behaviour is problematic, they’ve switched from operating from their frontal cortex to their stem, for survival mode,” he says.

“What they need is someone to be present, listen, and not necessarily to talk at them. Step back and let them get back into their frontal cortex without being pushed. As a teacher, you need a lot of patience and self-discipline not to react.”

Freeman-Du y got a deeper insight into brain functioning from two leadership courses he recently completed – the Art of Leadership, and Stronger Smarter. They inspired him to revamp his presentation to beginning teachers at the New South Wales Teachers Federation (NSWTF) in September.

“I’ve changed it completely from what I used to do, which was about how to set up behaviour management in their classroom. I want them to get a deeper understanding about why that child is behaving that way. I also cover curriculum di erentiation,” he said.

A NEW START

In Term 3, Freeman-Du y and the other stage 2 teachers at his school tried out a proactive behaviour management approach from the Life Skills GO Flexihubs program.

Instead of teachers starting each day with a roll call, each student taps their name on a touch-screen computer and

What they need is someone to be present, listen, and not necessarily to talk at them.

Jake Freeman-Duffy

indicates how they’re feeling: happy, calm, tired, or angry. Teachers glance at those check-ins before the class forms a circle.

“There are five steps: you greet the person to the left, then right of you by name; we talk about school values; I ask them about their expectations for the day; we share school announcements and the day plan; then finish with a 30-second game to get them in a nice laid-back mood. I also ask ‘what went well?’ in circle time.”

The process took 10 minutes initially, but now it’s “very quick”, says Freeman-Du y.

“A lot of students don’t want to talk about their issues, and I completely understand. This system allows them to give an honest rating of how they’re feeling and not get questioned about it.”

This term, the program is being expanded, to stage 3 but in “baby steps”, he says.

Another highlight of last term for Freeman-Du y was in joining other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers and students for a cultural immersion day run by the education department’s Kimberwalli section.

“There were 110 students from the Colyton Learning Community schools. The whole mob were there.”

A lot of (union) members I spoke to were happy with getting the pay they deserve for the work they do.

Jake Freeman-Duffy

THE PAY THEY DESERVE

He also appreciates the power of numbers in building a collective voice of teachers, as illustrated recently in New South Wales. Freeman-Du y was relieved at the breakthrough in New South Wales teacher pay negotiations in September, with the announcement of a pay increase across the board. It makes New South Wales government schoolteachers the highest paid of their peers across the country.

“A lot of (union) members I spoke to were happy with getting the pay they deserve for the work they do. They’re over the moon, particularly some of the beginning teachers on the old band system who were stuck on the same pay for two years,” he says.

Thanks to the union’s advocacy, the New South Wales education department eased rules to convert more temporary teachers to permanent. Freeman-Du y congratulated two stage 2 teachers at his school who had been working temporarily

for between two and five years. That was particularly welcome as St Marys North is still short of casual and relief teachers.

Speaking of roles, Freeman-Du y says he’ll sound out possibilities for a secondment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander outcomes, wellbeing, or partnerships well beyond next year. But, what’s more urgent on his agenda is to find a part-time diploma or graduate certificate in neuroscience to help him demystify the “black box” of young learners’ brains.

Nancy, Teachers Health member

Kelsey Hawthorn Teacher

Marsden State High School, QLD

REWARDS BRING RESULTS

Consistency has worked a treat for Marsden High teacher Kelsey Hawthorn to better manage her Year 10 students’ behaviour in Term 3.

She’d been struggling to coax them to complete their practical lessons on time and as a team, so she tried a new way to lift their engagement.

“I set the expectations in the theory lesson before our practical cook. As a class, we agreed that if they didn’t work together to finish the cooking and cleaning on time and follow instructions, the practical cook in the following week would be cancelled,” Hawthorn says.

“Students were unable to meet the set expectations and, because I felt I’d done everything else I could to improve engagement, I had to be a bit mean and follow through by cancelling the following week’s cook.”

When the students next took part in a practical class, they followed instructions, cleaned up together as a team and held each other accountable for their shared role in the classroom clean-up procedures.

“After the lesson was done, I gave them some rewards to say, ‘I am so proud of all of you for stepping up to the plate and working together’,” says Hawthorn.

CAREER PATH OPTIONS

The students’ improved focus may also be attributed to Hawthorn’s mentoring, which helped them choose subjects for next year and think about their lives after school.

I tell my students not to measure themselves against other people or they’ll always feel two steps behind.

Kelsey Hawthorn

“I tell my students not to measure themselves against other people or they’ll always feel two steps behind.”

As for her own career, Hawthorn, 27, is happy to have gone straight from school to university and then into teaching.

While some of her high school friends are now having their second child, Hawthorn is at a “di erent stage of my life”. She and her partner recently became proud parents of a “fur baby”, a Scottish collie pup. She’s also considering applying for leadership opportunities at her school next year.

Hawthorn was pleased to be a union rep “sounding board” for Marsden’s head of department (technologies) on its proposal to the local consultative committee to trim practical class sizes.

The committee includes representatives from across the school’s sta , plus unions representatives. The enterprise bargaining agreement allows site-specific negotiations.

STREAMLINED APPROACH

And, at a recent national conference for home economics teachers, Hawthorn showed leadership when sharing her streamlined approach. Rather than handwriting feedback to students on assessments, she fills in a checklist. If they want more details, she’ll talk them through it.

She will also find out soon if her application for a role on the Queensland Teachers’ Union workplace safety committee was successful.

“I wasn’t sure about the selection criteria, which asked for a policy statement, so I procrastinated on my application. That comes down to my ADHD.”

She was diagnosed with the condition earlier this year and since taking medication has noticed improved working habits and says she is on a “more even keel”.

While Hawthorn is looking at leadership options, she wants to stay in the public school system.

“My passions are more suited to the public sector,” she says.

Margaret Paton is a casual high-school teacher and freelance writer. She is also a PhD student researching out-of-field teaching.

PHOTOGRAPHY PAUL BAMFORD

IN-PERSON & VIRTUAL

CENTREPIECE AT MELBOURNE PARK

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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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Member for Blaxland

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Connect & network with stakeholders across sectors to identify the practices that will have the biggest positive and lasting impact on students now and into the future.

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Truth and reconciliation in Norway

Understanding teachers’ roles in truth-telling and correcting policies for safeguarding and educating Sámi peoples and culture.

Norway’s teachers’ union, the Union of Education Norway (UEN), has acknowledged responsibility for its members’ part in the forced assimilation of the country’s Indigenous Sámi people, as part of the government’s Norwegianisation policy.

Norway’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission handed down a 700-page final report earlier this year after five years of examining policies and activities a ecting Indigenous peoples.

Kathrine Blyverket, a UEN senior advisor, secretary of UEN’s Sámi Advisory Committee and a former teacher, writes that the report, based on interviews with more than 700 people, “illustrates very clearly that the wounds are yet to be healed”.

Through these testimonies, people recounted their experiences of Norwegianisation and injustice. Norwegianisation led to racism, discrimination and impacted First languages, schooling and identity and

the Norwegian school system played a significant role in the state’s systemic and structural intentions to assimilate the Sámi and the national minorities, the Kven and the Forest Finns.

At a hearing in Parliament and at the education conference organised by the Sámi Parliament (which provides the Indigenous people of Norway, Sweden and Finland a voice in decisions a ecting their communities), the UEN shared its responsibility regarding this painful history and the need to look forward, repair what

Schools have played a part in the forced assimilation of Norway's Indigenous Sámi people.

can be repaired and, most importantly, ensure this never happens again.

In his speech in Parliament in March, the president of the UEN, Ste en Handal, began by saying: “The fact that school, which is both publicly and politically governed, has contributed to the Norwegianisation of the Sámi people, is indisputable. With roots going back more than 130 years, our union has organised many of the teachers who have taught Sámi, Kven, and Forest Finn children and young people for several generations, and we must thus acknowledge responsibility for the assaults on their identity and selfunderstanding. It is unpleasant to take in.

“We know today that the neglect of the Sámi language in schools, lack of language training, and suppression of the Sámi people during the period of Norwegianisation have impacted Sámi culture and influenced the Sámi’s view of themselves.

“Teachers have worked for, and not against the abandonment of language, identity, and way of life for Sámi and Kven pupils to become as similar as possible to Norwegian pupils. The consequences of this are families who have left their own cultural a iliation to become part of Norwegian society.

“Indeed, I wish that the history of teachers in this context would have been a completely di erent one,” Handal said.

In June, the Sámi Parliament invited UEN to address a conference in the North of Norway, to discuss Sámi schools and Sámi education today. There is still a lack of Sámi teachers, and Sámi students do not receive the cultural and language education they are entitled to under the Norwegian Constitution and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 29).

Sámi education needs to be a clear right and an integral part of every Sámi child’s education, regardless of how many other children in the municipality claim the same education.

•the right to enrol in a Sámi-language kindergarten or department

•teaching aids in the three Sámi languages

•training in a Sámi-speaking environment

•inclusion of Sámi language as one of the subjects in the Norwegian teacher training courses

•doctoral scholarships in Sámi language and culture.

Thom Jambak Union of Education Norway

UEN Executive Board member Thom Jambak told the conference that one in three Sámi children were leaving Sámi school and not learning their language. Instead, Norwegian is their main language.

“This is alarming. The government cannot ‘wait and see’ and hope for a better future. There is a need for political action. Sámi education needs to be a clear right and an integral part of every Sámi child’s education, regardless of how many other children in the municipality claim the same education,” Jambak says.

“There are many indications that the guidelines in international conventions do not correspond with what Norwegian schools do. Textbooks, curricula, and teaching practices do not guarantee Sámi students equal education.”

Jambak says it’s time for the government to take greater responsibility for Sámi pupils’ rights and to enshrine them in law.

UEN has proposed strengthening the rights of Sámi children by providing:

The union’s Sámi Advisory Committee's recent seminar, Norwegianisation and Reconciliation in Early Childhood Education and in Schools, focused on reviewing current practices and how to move forward.

It asked to what extent the rights of Sámi children were safeguarded in schools and in early education institutions – for instance when it came to Sámi as a language of instruction and teaching material and pedagogical tools in Sámi languages?

And whether all children in schools and in early education institutions learn about Sámi languages, history and culture according to the Framework Plan for the Content and Tasks of Kindergartens and curricula in schools? What needs to be done to safeguard these rights and learning objectives?

The UEN says that, since school has been an arena for Norwegianisation, school must also serve as an arena for correction: “It is important for the Union of Education Norway to contribute to making school a space for revitalising Indigenous People’s language, the Sámi way of life and traditions.”

This is an edited extract of an article first published on Education International’s Worlds of Education website.

Support for girls with autism

Meg Berryman struggled to get a diagnosis for her seven-and-a-half-year-old daughter Millie. She says Millie is quite social, good at making eye contact and maintaining friendships, but she was experiencing sensory overload at school.

Girls with autism often need additional support if they are to move beyond survival mode in their school years. But for many girls misdiagnosed or missed completely, it can be a case of too little support too late.

BY CHRISTINE LONG

“In the classroom she looked like she was doing really, really well because she was high masking, but the fallout would be enormous at home.”

It wasn’t until Millie was diagnosed with autism at age six that they began to get the support she needed.

Berryman says the issue can be the way autism is defined.

“We still exist very much in a pathologised and medical model of diagnosis that looks at behaviour and a very external presentation of autism,” says Berryman, who is the marketing and communications manager for Yellow Ladybugs, an autistic-led, nongovernment organisation that aims to promote happiness, success, and celebration of autistic girls and women.

“What we would see classically in an autistic boy’s experience isn’t always what it looks or feels like for autistic girls.”

Girls can be high masking, or their autism may present as anxiety, or being clingy or shy.

“Conversely, a class clown might also be an autistic girl. We know from our community that girls’ [autism is] being missed or they are being misdiagnosed and they are just not getting the supports at the right time – in early childhood and beyond – to

Unlike a child who is not autistic we know that these children experience more intensity with what’s going on in their body and that it lasts longer.

help them thrive in a world that is really overwhelming and sometimes disabling for them,” says Berryman.

CAREFUL INVESTIGATORS

Parents and educators often need to become detectives when it comes to children in their earlier years. They need to notice repetitions and patterns in behaviour that might indicate autism.

Educators may observe a range of behaviours as the child’s body goes into fight or flight or freeze modes. She might withdraw, struggle with classwork, or have di iculty socially. She might also be violent, have meltdowns, or it may show up as increased stimming or extreme exhaustion.

“Unlike a child who is not autistic we know that these children experience more intensity with what’s going on in their body and that it lasts longer,” says Berryman.

Alternatively, it may show up at home, with the child refusing to go to school or avoiding school. “That’s actually a cry for help because their nervous system is really not coping with the demands and expectations,” she says.

To assist girls to move beyond survival mode at school Yellow Ladybugs has published a book called Supporting Autistic Girls and Gender Diverse Youth It includes stories of lived experience and chapters that span schooling, managing mental health, relationships, gender and sexuality, and exploring and embracing autistic identity and culture.

SUPPORT AT SCHOOL

Berryman says there are myriad ways teachers can support girls with autism.

Transitions in school can be di icult, for instance, needing predictability and routines. Accommodating those needs

Supporting Autistic Girls and Gender Diverse Youth byGreenhill Publishing, 2023

classroom before the hallways become full of other students can help.

Berryman says Millie found using the toilets challenging because of the hand dryer: “She didn’t want to go to the toilets because the hand dryer makes her feel like the floor is dropping underneath her and she’s in a complete state of terror.”

could involve making “micro-tweaks” in the classroom so students are not put on the spot, rushed, or given too many instructions at once. Students can struggle, too, if a task is changed without warning.

Giving students time to follow their interests and express themselves through writing, movement, or drawing can be helpful.

Berryman says students may also need a helping hand with managing friendships and conflict. A survey conducted by Yellow Ladybugs found 71 per cent of girls with autism reported experiencing verbal bullying, social exclusion, sexual and physical assaults, and property damage at school.

Social clubs centred on their interests or having a social or classroom buddy of their choosing, can take the pressure o navigating free play times.

Awareness of the sensory environment at school can make a di erence. It may be too bright, or too loud. Using noisecancelling headphones or leaving the

It helps to be aware that some girls may be perfectionists or hyperfocused on their work to the point of neglecting themselves.

“A lot of autistic children struggle with interoception, so they struggle to identify what they are feeling on the inside. As they begin to feel overwhelmed, or their anxiety starts to rise they can even struggle to acknowledge when they need to go to the toilet, or to recognise their hunger cues,” says Berryman.

On a broader scale building a neuroa irming school culture could involve training teachers and helping other students understand and accept neurodiversity. Literature and resources that provide girls with opportunities to read stories about others with a similar lived experience can also be validating.

As girls with autism are supported to develop a language and framework to share their experiences and needs, they will be more able to move beyond survival mode in their school years, says Berryman.

“We know that self-advocacy can make a massive di erence to a child’s experience in school.”

Christine Long is a freelance writer.

Meg Berryman Yellow Ladybugs

Lessons from around the world

Equipping the next generation of students for environmental, political and economic challenges.

BY LEANNE TOLRA

Even the world’s best education systems are looking at new ways to prepare young people for an uncertain future – and this must be a priority for all educators and policymakers, says leading international education assessment expert Geo Masters.

“Key to their goals is looking at what it will take to ensure that every young person learns successfully and achieves their potential,” he says.

Masters, the author of Building a worldclass learning system and chief executive o icer of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), explores the achievements and reform concepts of five of the highest-performing school systems – British Columbia, Estonia, Finland, Hong Kong and South Korea.

The book was commissioned by the United States National Centre on Education and the Economy (NCCE) and is a multi-year study of five jurisdictions that have long performed well on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

Masters says education leaders across the globe are grappling with how best to equip the next generation of students for a world facing unprecedented environmental, political, and economic challenges.

“All five jurisdictions recognise that, currently, they’re falling short. They’re saying we are not convinced that the way we run schooling at present is going to provide young people with the kinds of competencies, personal attributes, understandings, knowledge, and skills that they are likely to require for the future.

“They are saying we are still working with a curriculum that has its origins in the 20th century and we need to be

Key to their goals is looking at what it will take to ensure that every young person learns successfully and achieves their potential.

Geoff Masters

rethinking these things. And they are doing that quite actively.”

Masters says the five jurisdictions, with others including Australia, meet as part of the OECD’s PISA High Performing Systems for Tomorrow project. The implications of artificial intelligence, the unacceptably high proportions of students who are slipping behind at school and leaving with inadequate levels in the basics of reading and mathematics, are key priorities.

Masters describes the learning systems these five jurisdictions have developed under the headings:

•the outcomes of learning

•equity and inclusion

•a quality curriculum

•informative assessment processes

•highly e ective teaching

•comprehensive student support •strong leadership of learning

•a supportive learning ecosystem •redesigning for the future.

His analysis highlights the e orts Finnish schools make to monitor the progress of individual students and to intervene when they are beginning to slip behind in their learning, and the priority British Columbia gives to ensuring that students from minority backgrounds, including Indigenous and immigrant students, are included and supported in their learning.

Masters also highlights Estonia’s supportive learning ecosystem, which gives weight to the important role of out-of-school learning in activities such as hobby schools, nature clubs, and student competitions, and says Hong Kong’s complex network of community support for the work of its schools is a strong factor in its success.

He observes that four of the five jurisdictions rebuilt their learning systems following a major event.

“For Estonia, this was the collapse of the Soviet empire; for Finland, the end of the second world war; for Hong Kong, the return to China; and for South Korea, the end of the Korean war,” he writes.

However, despite being a strong influence on the emergence of digital technology, Masters says COVID-19 did not make as significant a change as anticipated.

“It did open up people’s thinking about the possibility of being more flexible in when and where learning takes place. Butmy perception is that it probably hasn’t made a significant change to the way we are thinking,” Masters says.

Success breeds success. If teaching is reasonably well regarded, then people want to get into it.

Geoff Masters

“Advances in AI technology are continuing to have an impact, and digital technologies will have a growing influence to the extent that students are able to learn at their own pace, enter at di erent points and be provided with learning material better targeted to their current needs.”

The five countries have vastly di erent populations and vary significantly in area, which makes direct comparison with Australia di icult, but there are some lessons from British Colombia’s approach to its support for migrants and its First Nations people.

“The aim is to make schools welcoming places in which Indigenous students can see their cultures and traditions reflected and are confident in their self-identity. A First Nations studies course, developed by Indigenous people and introduced initially for First Nations students, is now available to all students, not only to learn about First Nations, but also to learn from First Nations,” he writes.

Teacher numbers, recruitment and status play a key role in the success of each of the five jurisdictions, too.

“They don’t all have the problem that we have recruiting teachers because in most of these jurisdictions, teaching is very highly regarded. Entry into teaching is very competitive and they have many more people applying than they need,” Masters says.

“They don’t have overall teaching shortages, but they do tend to have shortages in geographical areas and particular curriculum areas. Estonia, for example, has di iculty getting teachers to teach outside the main cities and they have trouble getting male teachers, who tend to go into the IT industry and other businesses.

“Success breeds success. If teaching is reasonably well regarded, then people want to get into it. Quality improves, and that raises the status of the profession. And it feels to me as though that is what has been happening in some of these jurisdictions. The top people

will apply to teaching in the same way that they apply to law or medicine in Australia,” Masters says.

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

Bringing nature and nurture into focus

An award-winning mental health program for three-to five-year-olds in Victoria is delivering exceptional results in children with challenging behaviours.

BY MARGARET PATON

The Bush Kinder program at Kinglake Ranges Children’s Centre, run by teacher Sean Bundy, uses the nearby national park as its classroom and playground. Centre sta take the children to Kinglake National Park for three hours each week.

“We use what nature gives us," says Bundy. "We create our own paint the traditional Aboriginal way with ochre and charcoal, then use twigs, leaves, and sticks to paint with. We observe the changing seasons (kulin), animals, and plants, as well as using words from the local Indigenous Taungurung language.”

Bundy says sta have observed significant improvements in resilience and persistence, increased empathy levels, and better social negotiation skills. The program won the 2021 Victorian Early Years Minister’s Award.

MEETING CHILDREN’S NEEDS

The centre’s philosophy melds with Bundy's own as a social justice advocate for children.

“In everything I do, children come first. Some days I’ve got mountains of paperwork to get through, but I never let that get between me and a child if they need something. It’s about ensuring that their needs for connection and learning are met,” says Bundy, who’s been teaching for 15 years.

“I’ve always had a caring, nurturing nature, but visiting an orphanage of vulnerable children in Malaysia while on holiday was the real spark. Their living standards and the quality of care was not acceptable to me, so it influenced me to make a di erence in children’s lives.”

The experience shaped his quest to work in early childhood services for

vulnerable communities. He first worked in Ascot Vale in Melbourne, where 50 per cent of families living near a local early learning service were refugees or experiencing disadvantage. Bundy also worked in Queenstown in New Zealand for three years during COVID-19.

“My time in New Zealand was so valuable. I appreciated learning and implementing their curriculum, Te Whāriki, weaving First Nations culture into practice, learning, culture and wellbeing. We’d always look through a Māori lens to teach a lesson, speaking in the local Tahuna language first, then English,” he says.

While he gelled with that service’s non-hierarchical structure, he says the “ridiculously low pay” by Australian standards eventually drew him home.

Also, once COVID-19’s shutdowns hit, the “bubble of luxury, cosmopolitan feel, and a luence in Queenstown’s centre burst” to reveal undercurrents of racism and experiences of homophobia, says Bundy, who identifies as gay.

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.

He received three job o ers luring him back to Australia. It was Kinglake Ranges Children’s Centre’s bush kinder and Indigenous practices that was his “no brainer” choice, and, luckily, they held the job open for him until borders opened four months later.

The long daycare centre is licensed for 120 children from birth to age five. Its open-plan, risky play, nature-based yard, and open-door set-up means rooms are designed to encourage multi-age interactions. Bundy says, “Why fence children in and not let them interact with each other?”

NEW PERSPECTIVES

Bundy has been a strong advocate for the AEU after it “supported me at the start of my career about worker’s rights”. He visited more than 300 services in 10 months in his role as a union project o icer in 2016, and spoke to more than 1000 educators.

“It was an eye opener to see the whole sector laid out so early in my career. I saw the good, the bad, and the ugly in the sector, so it shaped my love of unionism and my identity as a teacher, and where I wanted to go.”

Bundy is an elected early childhood sector councillor for the AEU’s Goulburn North-East 1 region in Victoria. Next year, he will help plan the rollout of the Victorian government’s four-year-old kinder reform at Kinglake Ranges. The reform promises access to 30 hours of early learning and Kinglake will be one of the first to adopt it.

Margaret Paton is a casual high-school teacher and freelance writer. She is also a PhD student researching out-of-field teaching.

Sean Bundy with Rose, one of his students, in Kinglake National Park.

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