pdf_educator_spring2022

Australian

Restoring equity

P RINT P OST A PP ROVED 10 000 8182

// Crucial NSRA talks about to begin

First Nations

// Improving workforce representation

Workforce crisis

Public education deserves action now

Early childhood // The need for a national approach

SPRING 2022 // ISSUE 115 $9.95

Path to inclusivity // Support for students with neurodiversity

Contents ON THE COVER Students at Seaton High School in Adelaide.

PHOTO Peter Fisher

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NEWS IN BRIEF

FIRST NATIONS TEACHERS

FIGHT FOR CHANGE

• • • • •

Attracting and retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers requires government support and representation at a decision-making level.

The 4th Education International World Women's Conference heard how women educators can wield their power to support students and each other.

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36

Urgent need for tech teaching EI rallies to transform education A win for safe work Support for early learning reform Fact check on public education

08 TEACHER SHORTAGES The workforce crisis in education has been decades in the making, but a national taskforce offers fresh hope for a more positive future.

12 RESTORING FAIRNESS

LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE

34

MEDIA MATTERS

Concern over the effects of climate change has triggered calls for more comprehensive and considered climate change education in schools.

New research has examined the effects of negative media reporting on educators – and the teaching profession is being singled out more than any other.

26

REGULARS

PATHWAYS TO INCLUSIVITY

Upcoming NSRA negotiations will determine the level of public school funding for the next four years.

A new research paper suggests some simple strategies to support students experiencing neurodiveristy.

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EARLY CHILDHOOD WIN

WHEN IT'S NOT OK AT HOME

A new commitment to early childhood education in Victoria and NSW highlights the pressing need for a national solution.

Teachers need the resources to help students affected by family violence to be safe and stay engaged with learning.

04 From the president 05 Know your union 38 Recess

www.aeufederal.org.au

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From the president

Fighting for the next generation Investing in public education not only helps our children but supports equity, democracy and hope for the future. Properly funded public education is key.

A

s Term 3 continues, COVID normal and the flu season, on top of endemic teacher shortages, are having a devastating impact on schools across the nation. The day-today realities for many schools are escalating staff shortages, combining of classes, school closures and staff and student illness. The same problems also affect preschools and TAFE, which had endured staff shortages, work uncertainty and instability prior to the pandemic.

We have known a crisis was coming – historically austerity and underfunding of public education have had devastating effects on the prospects of millions of students over generations. This shows clearly that Australia has failed to grasp the economic and productivity benefits of properly funded public education.

By diverting an additional $10 billion to private schools, the previous Coalition government deliberately ignored the warning bells that have rung for the past decade.

Nobel laureate professor Joseph E. Stiglitz told the inaugural Carmichael Centre lecture in July that growth in inequality was undermining our democracy and our economy, while also undermining economic performance. He reinforced the economic importance of strong unions, which leads to higher productivity and stronger economic performance. And, with collective action being critically important to ensure the provision of education, health, infrastructure and childcare, it is unions that provide that collective action.

Teacher shortages and education crises also echo around the globe. Education International has long said quality education is at risk due to inequity, injustice,

Australian Educator

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

The magazine is circulated to members of the AEU nationally.

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Heads & Tales

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

economic crisis, coronavirus, and harsh cuts to public education. The alarm has been heard by United Nations secretary-general António Guterres, and the need for governments to invest in public education will be urgently discussed at the UNESCO-hosted Transforming Education Summit in New York in September.

The AEU has responded to the Albanese government’s invitation to submit our priorities to transform education in Australia – this includes full and proper funding for public schools, increased resources for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, restoring respect for the teaching profession, workload relief and increased pay commensurate with the huge importance of the role.

For the AEU and its membership, the past two and a half years have been very difficult. The impact of the pandemic on public education has been compounded by the need to ensure we can continue to organise and campaign in a manner that supports our membership and highlights the deep inequality in public education that has widened after nine long years of Coalition cuts to public education.

Our membership has grown to almost 200,000 members and AEU branches and associated bodies have continued their industrial campaigns in each state and territory. At the national level we have fiercely campaigned for early childhood education, schools and TAFE – but there is much work still to do. It will take the collective action of our members, stakeholders and supporters to achieve our objectives for public education.

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

Editor Kevin Bates Publisher Fiona Hardie Account manager Christine Dixon Managing editor Jo Davy Commissioning editor Tracey Evans Subeditor Leanne Tolra Art direction & design Dallas Budde

The national teacher shortage has been building for years, and AEU members experience its impact daily.

Employment projections produced by the National Skills Commission in 2019 showed that demand for teachers was expected to increase by 10.2 per cent (or 42,600 new jobs) over the five years to May 2024.

In addition, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadershipestimates that non-retirement attrition among teachers could be 14 per cent over the next 10 years, meaning it is likely closer to 70,000 new teachers needed within the next few years.

In early childhood education, governments must act to improve pay and career progression for educators.

They must implement the new national early childhood education and care workforce strategy to support the recruitment of the 16,000 educators and 8000 teachers identified as being required by 2025.

We need proper workforce planning, effective attraction and retention programs, and promotion of the status of the teaching profession. Teachers need job security, manageable workloads and fair wages that acknowledge their skills, knowledge, education and the value they offer to our society.

In a significant change to practice from the previous Coalition government, new Minister for Education Jason Clare announced a teacher workforce roundtable focussed on tackling the nationwide teacher shortage would be held prior to the ministerial council meeting in August. As a result, a taskforce, which includes the AEU, has been set up to oversee the development of a national plan to address the crisis that is impacting the teaching profession. This plan must be backed by action from the Commonwealth, state and territory governments. To do nothing will have a devastating impact on public education.

We need to urgently and immediately tackle educational inequity. Full and proper funding for public education is the solution to access, to knowledge, to pathways for Australian students, to attraction, to retention, to acknowledgement of our profession and to inclusion, equity and democracy for our society.

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

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

Federal president Correna Haythorpe Federal secretary Kevin Bates

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

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

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

Printer Ovato 42 Boorea Street Lidcombe NSW 2141

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

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News

News in brief

Help to transform education Education International (EI) is calling on teachers and educators around the world to use their social media accounts to demand governments make ambitious commitments to transforming education at the upcoming United Nations (UN) Transforming Education Summit (TES).

New tech thinking needed

For the first time, the UNESCO-hosted meeting of heads of state on 19 September 2022 will focus solely on education as a crisis response that aims to reverse the negative trends in education.

The Australian Computer Society (ACS) has called for a shake-up of digital technology teaching in schools to encourage more students to consider a career in information technology.

David Edwards, EI general secretary, says quality education is at risk due to inequity, injustice, economic crisis, coronavirus, and harsh cuts to public education.

“Governments must invest in teachers and ensure decent working conditions to end the teacher shortage,” he says. “Teachers and education workers have done the impossible to support their students and school communities in this time of crisis. But the crushing workloads, poor pay, and lack of respect and autonomy are leading to burnout and a concerning number of educators leaving the profession they love.”

The summit will see the Australian Government release a national statement of commitment to educational equity and the TES will look at Australia’s progress against the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”.

While the AEU is hopeful the new federal government will address Australia’s lack of progress towards this goal, the reality is the targets within SDG 4 are ambitious and will not be achieved without specific and significant funding commitments.

To send a clear message that this is an urgent priority, EI is calling on teachers and educators to “speak up online” about the crisis in education and tag the prime minister and education minister in social media posts.

You can find some suggested posts at tinyurl.com/5n96tp2z

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An ACS report, Computer Education in Australian Schools 2022, says the digital technologies curriculum introduced in 2014 has not produced an information technology (IT) workforce large enough to meet Australia’s needs.

“It’s no secret that Australia has a significant deficit when it comes to IT professionals,” says Dr Nick Tate, ACS president.

“Every year for the next five years businesses and government will be demanding more than 50,000 new IT professionals,” he says.

But in 2019 there were less than 7000 ICT graduates from Australian universities.

The ACS surveyed schools across the country to check on the implementation of the digital technologies curriculum.

Its recommendations include a requirement for at least one teacher in every primary school with formal qualification in teaching digital technologies; formal training in a programming language for all secondary computer education teachers; and significant efforts to address inequality of access to equipment and trained teachers.

The report acknowledges that introducing a new compulsory subject into an already crowded curriculum will be difficult and calls on states to develop appropriate and systematic professional learning support programs for teachers.

“Teachers are being asked to teach skills that they themselves did not learn in school, and we have not done a great job as a nation of equipping teachers and schools for the realities of teaching the new technologies,” the report says.

PHOTOS/ILLUSTRATIONS ISTOCKPHOTO.COM

“The Transforming Education Summit will seek to renew our collective commitment to education and lifelong learning as a pre-eminent public good,” says UN secretary-general António Guterres.

EVENTS R U OK Day

8 September Dyslexia Awareness Month

1-31 October World Mental Health Day

10 October Anti-Poverty Week

16-22 October

Safe work win A decision by the International Labour Conference (ILC) to recognise occupational health and safety as the fifth fundamental principle and right at work is the result of a three-year campaign by trade unions worldwide.

The change by the ILC – the UN parliament for workplace issues – is the first extension of workers’ fundamental human rights in a quarter of a century.

More than three million workers die every year because of their work and tens of millions more suffer injuries and ill health.

The ILC, which brings together unions, employers’ representatives and governments, also adopted International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on occupational health and safety that all ILO member countries are obliged to uphold.

Sharan Burrow, International Trade Union Confederation general secretary, says the COVID-19 pandemic showed “beyond doubt” that action was needed to protect workers who were too often forced to choose between their health and their livelihood.

“No one should die just to make a living,” Burrow says.

Broad support for early learning reforms A broad coalition of unions (including the AEU), educator groups, experts, and advocates for children and parents has endorsed the Thrive by Five Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Action Plan.

The plan sets out the key priorities for addressing the workforce shortage crisis in early learning.

“Educators are leaving because they can’t make ends meet on low wages, parents can’t get the support they need for going to work and children are missing out on vital education opportunities in the early years,” says Jay Weatherill, director of Thrive by Five.

Early childhood education and care reforms are on the agenda for the federal government’s upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit.

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

17 October Day of Unity

19 October Enviroweek

22-28 October Children’s Week

22-30 October Global Media and Information Literacy Week

24-31 October Federal Budget

25 October World Teachers Day

28 October National Recycling Week

7-13 November

Make the facts public

speaking to community members to help counter the misinformation in the media, in social media and through ill-informed conversations. The toolkit also includes downloadable social media assets.

The Public Education Foundation is hoping to change the way public education is represented in debates on news sites and social media.

“Every public school educator, parent and carer should be equipped to tell the essential stories of public education. Our goal is to provide principals, teachers, and school support staff with materials that capture the key elements of what’s great about public education and the facts on the ground in terms of what the public education system needs,” the foundation says.

The not-for-profit organisation provides scholarships to young people in public education and aims to enhance the value and reputation of public schools.

It has produced Essential Facts About Public Education, a toolkit of facts and talking points that can be used when

tinyurl.com/333db4yh

International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

25 November International Day for Tolerance

16 November World Aids Day

1 December International Day of People with Disability

3 December

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High hopes for action on shortages

T

he teacher shortage crisis has been decades in the making.

The evidence of a disconnect, caused by falling attraction and retention rates and rising enrolments, has been plain for many years, says AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe.

“All the while, workloads have been increasing, pay has stagnated and muchneeded classroom support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds has been inadequate,” she says.

Yet, acknowledgement of the growing crisis by the Commonwealth government has been largely ignored. It has taken the fallout from a pandemic to focus attention on an issue that teachers and schools have long struggled with, says Haythorpe.

Federal government modelling predicts a shortage of more than 4000 secondary school teachers within two years and an increase in primary and secondary school enrolments of more than 10 per cent by 2031. But fewer new teachers are graduating and university completion rates are at around 50 per cent. Enrolments in teaching degrees dropped by 8 per cent between 2017 and 2020.

The Albanese government offers teachers, students and school communities fresh hope for a positive future. Minister for Education Jason Clare convened a roundtable of all state and territory education ministers, teachers and key stakeholders, including the AEU, in August to consider the workforce crisis. The ministers resolved to convene a national taskforce, which includes the AEU, and to work on a national plan to be delivered in December.

Restoring respect and trust in the teaching profession is an important first step, but an action plan alone will not resolve the crisis, says Haythorpe.

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“This crisis is multilayered, not only in attracting new teachers to the profession but in retaining current teachers with better pay and conditions and respecting their professional autonomy. There is no short-term fix to this crisis, it will take strategic action and political will to resolve,” she says.

Clare says he was moved by the stories of two teachers who addressed the ministers.

“Angela [McDonald, a teacher] was almost in in tears … talking about working 60, 70 hours, working on weekends. And another teacher who talked about doing lesson prep on Mother’s Day, putting the kids to bed and then going back to do more work once they were asleep,” Clare told journalists.

He says ministers agreed that proposals were needed to encourage more people to become teachers, better prepare beginning teachers and find ways “to keep the fantastic teachers we already have”.

ACT education minister Yvette Berry says she wants to thank Clare for “reassuring teachers that he has their backs because that’s something that they haven’t heard for a number of years”.

No amount of spin, no number of brochures, no amount of gimmicks will solve this crisis.

Angelo Gavrielatos NSW Teachers Federation president

GET THE BASICS RIGHT New South Wales Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos says years of neglect and ill-conceived policies have contributed to the crisis.

He says the NSW government’s $125 million Teacher Supply Strategy did not deliver any teachers in the first nine months. “As for lowering qualifications and rushing people into teaching, research shows this to be poor policy because, apart from lowering educational standards, program costs associated with such policy settings are extremely high and retention rates tend to be extremely low.”

Gavrielatos says departmental documents reveal that teacher vacancies increased by 67 per cent to 1657 in the 12 months to June 2022.

“No amount of spin, no number of brochures, no amount of gimmicks will solve this crisis. We need teachers in their thousands, not in their hundreds,” he says.

The crisis will only be resolved by addressing the fundamentals to attract and retain teachers, Gavrielatos says. That means competitive salaries and better working conditions including dealing with the “crippling workloads that are accelerating the exodus of teachers”.

The NSW government knows this, he says, considering its own internal briefing paper concluded: “the demands and expectations on teachers are increasing, while the current rewards, pathways, and learning opportunities are not providing enough incentive.”

ACTION NOW The recent industrial agreement in Victoria included some significant improvements to address teacher workload. These include a one-and-half-hour reduction in

PHOTOGRAPHY RICHARD WHITFIELD

A national plan to address teacher shortages, due to be released in December, has been a long time coming.

Agenda

... Workloads have been increasing, pay has stagnated and much-needed classroom support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds has been inadequate.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

face-to-face teaching per week, nine to 11.5 hours per week for planning, preparation, assessment and collaboration with those duties exclusively directed by the teacher, and time in lieu for structured school activities such as parent teacher meetings and camps. But more needs to be done.

The AEU Victorian branch has called on the state government to commit to a 10year plan that includes immediate action to ease the shortage, and longer-term measures to improve workforce planning.

An estimated 11,000 new teachers will be needed in Victorian public schools over the next 10 years, plus an extra 11,000 early childhood teachers and 5500 educators.

AEU Victorian branch deputy president Justin Mullaly says topping the list of immediate responses is a retention payment for existing staff in kindergartens, schools and TAFE, to provide an incentive for them to stay in their jobs.

The 10-year plan also calls for workloads to be eased immediately through the implementation of the new agreement clauses and by increasing support staff, reducing administrative and compliance work and delaying or abandoning new initiatives and significant program changes.

Improving mentoring and coaching support for early-career teachers is another essential element to retain teachers. The 10-year plan says the

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Federal government modelling details a shortage of more than 4000 secondary school teachers between 2021 and 2025.

Teacher vacancies in NSW increased by

current trial of reduced face-to-face teaching for early career teachers must be expanded to all public schools.

Mullaly says the plan also includes a recommendation for a return to studentships, focusing on rural, regional and hard-to-staff schools, kindergartens and TAFEs. The studentships would provide financial support during study and secure employment after graduation.

ENCOURAGING MOVES In the Australian Capital Territory, positive moves are underway towards easing teacher workloads and shortages after an AEU survey earlier in the year revealed the extent of concerns.

The survey of more than 1800 members found ever-increasing demands on school staff, a lack of relief teachers and concerns about workplace safety.

Ninety-one per cent of respondents said their school was negatively affected by staff shortages.

The ACT government responded by establishing a joint taskforce.

AEU ACT branch president Angela Burroughs says there has been “genuine engagement and commitment from the employer to this process. It’s been really positive”.

She says the ACT education minister has approved some immediate measures to alleviate workload pressures, including the introduction of two pupil-free days

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67% 1657

to in the 12 months to June 2022 An AEU ACT survey found

91% of respondents said their school was negatively affected by staff shortages An estimated

11,000

new teachers will be needed by Victorian public schools over the next 10 years, plus an extra

11,000

early childhood teachers and

5500 educators

for Terms 2 and 3. The government has also resolved not to open a school unless adequate numbers of staff are available.

Burroughs says attracting new staff is a struggle and there is hot competition among eastern states. But the union has come up with a range of “creative solutions” including helping teaching parents access childcare to entice new parents back to the classroom, and paying the registration and mandatory training costs for recently retired teachers or teachers returning from long-term leave.

COUNTRY CONCERNS Schools in remote and regional areas were the canaries in the coalmine of the teacher shortage crisis. They have long suffered dire shortages and governments have used cash incentives to lure teachers out to the bush.

But as the shortages worsen across Australia, even the extra cash is not enough to guarantee staff, says AEU South Australia branch president Andrew Gohl.

“For example, the department offered contract teachers $10,000 to work at Whyalla Secondary College, but they still couldn’t get the people,” he says.

He says better support for teachers is needed, including formal mentoring schemes and reduced workloads.

Gohl says the lack of teachers in country areas threatens every child’s right to a quality education, eroding the fundamental tenet of public education. “My biggest fear is that if you’re in the country, you won’t have access to a face-to-face teacher, and you’ll have to rely on technology.

“Administratively the tasks are really piling on. In terms of implementing any new initiative, it’s all done out of teachers’ goodwill,” Gohl says.

“The department is effectively running

IMAGE ISTOCKPHOTO

The long and the short of it

Agenda

We’ve always had shortages in areas like maths and science but now we’re finding other areas such as technologies, instrumental music, health and PE, and the arts also had significant shortages ...

Leah Olsson Queensland Teachers’ Union vice president

on millions, if not billions of dollars, of teachers’ goodwill. You can’t keep pulling every drop of blood out of teachers – it runs out eventually,” says Gohl.

LIFTING LEARNING AEU Tasmania branch president David Genford is also worried about a move towards digital learning if schools cannot find qualified teachers for face-toface teaching.

"Students don’t learn in the same way.

They need qualified people in front of them to teach and guide them,” he says.

The Tasmanian government has failed to seriously address the severe teacher shortages in the state, say Genford.

A union campaign, Lifting Learning, calls on the government to introduce a range of measures to improve pay and working conditions, and incentives to attract new teachers.

“It highlights what the government needs to do to show respect to the profession and to make sure our working conditions and salary attract people and keep them in the profession,” says Genford.

Finding enough professional support staff is also a problem in the state. While a recent state budget allocated extra positions for psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers in schools, Genford says schools were already finding it difficult to fill existing teaching positions.

HOW THE SHORTAGES BITE In Queensland, the teacher shortages are having a major effect on wellbeing, a Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) survey has found.

Almost three-quarters of the 500 school leaders surveyed said the effect on staff wellbeing was high or significant.

Seventy-five per cent of respondents said that non-classroom-based teaching staff, such as principals and deputies, were required to take on a teaching load to cover staff absences. It also found that 46 per cent of teaching staff had not been able to access non-contact time or other working conditions each week.

Twenty-three per cent of schools had accessed permission-to-teach provisions and one school reported nine on its books, says QTU vice president Leah Olsson.

“We know that the majority are completing their fourth year of initial teacher education, but we also know there are some 24 permission-to-teach teachers who are in their first two years of education and study,” says Olsson.

The survey also highlighted the expanding effect of the teacher shortage across different subject areas.

“We’ve always had shortages in areas like maths and science but now we’re finding other areas such as technologies, instrumental music, health and PE, and the arts also have significant shortages in various pockets around the state,” says Olsson.

STUDENTS UNDER PRESSURE While school leaders, teachers and support staff are exhausted and stressed from covering extra classes and teaching out of field, the potential effects on students are concerning.

State School Teachers Union of Western Australia president Pat Byrne says students can become unsettled by constantly having unfamiliar teachers, leaving them unable to build relationships.

“We’re getting a lot of reports of disengaged students and all the concern that brings,” she says.

“If you were in Year 7 in 2020, you’re in Year 9 or 10 now and that’s a significant part of your secondary schooling that has been disrupted in some way.

“I suspect most schools will be putting the maximum resources in to make sure that the Year 11 and 12 students’ education is disrupted as little as possible. But with the existing resource allocation that can’t be sustained over a long period without other areas of the school suffering.”

Byrne says the desperate shortage of relief teachers continues, occasionally leaving some classes unsupervised because there is no other solution.

“People are just not making themselves available because of concerns about COVID, which is fair enough, but this adds to the problems that were already there.”

FREEZING OUT TEACHERS A public sector pay freeze in the Northern Territory is actively working against the recruitment of teachers, says AEU NT branch president Michelle Ayres.

“We already found it difficult to recruit here when we had some of the best paid teachers in Australia. Now, by the end of the current pay enterprise agreement cycle, we will end up some of the lowest paid teachers in Australia,” she says.

Ayres is concerned that the government does not understand that it will be even more of a struggle to retain teachers.

Like other states, the NT education department has emptied its head office of staff with teaching qualifications and sent them into schools to fill vacant positions, rather than recruiting permanent teachers.

Ayres says while that’s satisfying a short-term need, it cheapens education and means teachers don’t have access to specialist curriculum or behavioural support staff when they need advice.

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A chance to restore equity in school funding Upcoming talks will decide the level of public school funding for the next four years.

BY N I C B ARN ARD

L

abor’s federal election victory could not have been better timed.

It came just six months before the start of perhaps the most crucial negotiations for public schools in a decade; the new National School Reform Agreement (NSRA).

The agreement between the federal, state and territory governments sets the framework that will determine public school funding and education policy settings for four years.

The new Labor government is on the record with a commitment to a pathway for public schools to reach 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) funding they require to provide a highquality education for all, regardless of their background or circumstances.

Under the current agreement, public schools must wait until at least 2027 (and until 2032 in Queensland) just to get to 95 per cent of the SRS — the minimum amount governments agree schools require to enable 80 per cent of students to meet the national minimum achievement benchmarks.

// Negotiations for a new NSRA are about to begin. // The agreement sets out public school funding and education policy for four years. // The AEU is calling on the new government to commit to full SRS funding for public schools and restore equity in education.

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“COVID-19 in particular has highlighted the very deep inequalities that were already experienced by our students.

Everyone knows what needs to be done.

Now Commonwealth, state and territory governments must work together to do it.”

FUNDAMENTAL FUNDING FLAW David Gonski's Review of Funding for Schooling set out system intended to direct funding towards students with the greatest needs, with weightings for factors such as disadvantage, disability, for Indigenous students and those in rural or remote Australia.

PHOTOGRAPHY RICHARD WHITFIELD

IN SHORT

That is due to the former Coalition government’s arbitrary 20 per cent cap on federal public school funding, the inclusion of a 4 per cent depreciation tax and its special deals with private schools, which already see them funded at or above the SRS. AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe says new Education Minister Jason Clare must now demonstrate the ALP’s commitment by delivering a firm timeline for reaching full SRS funding for all.

“The time is now,” she says. “There’s no other choice for the students of Australia.

Otherwise, we as a nation accept that inequality is standard.

Agenda

COVID-19 in particular has highlighted the very deep inequalities that were already experienced by our students. Everyone knows what needs to be done. Now Commonwealth, state and territory governments must work together to do it.

Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

However, the clear recommendations of the report have been ignored by successive Coalition governments and educational inequalities in Australia have continued to escalate as a result. The Coalition carve-up meant that students who started school in the first days of the Abbott government would go their entire school career without their education being fully funded.

The time is now. There’s no other choice for the students of Australia.

Otherwise, we as a nation accept that inequality is standard.

Under the current NSRA Public schools must wait until at least

2027 (and until 2032 in Queensland)

to get to just 95% of the SRS This is because the Coalition:

Capped federal public schools Correna Haythorpe AEU federal president

The current NSRA expires at the end of 2023. The Productivity Commission has been reviewing whether the objectives set out in the current agreement have been met, but its remit — drawn up by the Morrison government — omits any references to funding.

The AEU’s submission to the review calls that a “fundamental flaw” because funding is central to levelling the educational playing field for Australia’s public schools. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has pointed to Australia’s widening inequality and its effect on widening

funding at 20%

Introduced a

4% depreciation tax

Signed special deals

with private schools to fund them at or above the SRS

student outcomes. Australia’s most disadvantaged and challenged students are overwhelmingly in underfunded public schools and any consideration or evaluation of the National Reform Directions in the NSRA must examine the current funding inequity that is endemic in Australia’s schools.

It is the teaching profession that will be tasked with putting any new reforms into practice. So, although the agreements are between governments, the AEU warns that it must be included in any discussions. “There can be no new policy reform agenda without detailed and comprehensive consultation with the union,” says Haythorpe.

The AEU has urged the federal government to end the 20 per cent cap on its SRS contribution for public schools, which leaves states and territories to make up the public school funding shortfall.

“It was never intended that the Commonwealth should cap its share of funding. It was always understood that the Commonwealth had a greater capacity to raise revenues and should put in a broader share, particularly for those jurisdictions that experience severe disadvantage, like the Northern Territory,” says Haythorpe.

The union will also urge the government to close a loophole that counts capital depreciation against public school funding — effectively stripping another 4 per cent of funds from the sector.

Nic Barnard is a freelance writer.

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Early childhood campaign win A new long-term commitment to early childhood education in Victoria and New South Wales is a welcome development but it highlights the pressing need for a national solution.

BY CY ND I T E B B E L

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There’s so much research on the life-long outcomes preschool provides for our kids.

It can really change their life trajectories.

Cara Nightingale AEU Victorian Branch vice president, early childhood

“Every dollar spent is returned through improved learning outcomes for all children, increasing parental participation in the workforce, and building a skilled and capable workforce,” she says.

“That’s why it makes sense to extend the investment nationally. The federal government needs to step up so that all three year olds across the country have access to free early childhood education, not just those who lives in the right postcodes,” Calnan says.

However, a lack of infrastructure and workforce shortages are shaping up as major challenges to providing universal preschool.

ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO

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promised multibillion dollar investment in early childhood education announced by the New South Wales and Victorian state governments will change lives for thousands of children and their families in both states.

The announcements made by Victorian premier Daniel Andrews and NSW premier Dominic Perrottet follow a long campaign by the AEU for universal access to two years of public preschool education.

New South Wales will provide 30 hours of free pre-kindergarten from 2030. While Victoria, which already offers subsidised or free 15-hours-a-week education for three- and four-year-olds, will provide all existing services free from 2023. In 2025, services will be extended to 30 hours for four-year-olds.

Cara Nightingale, vice president, early childhood, AEU Victorian branch is enthusiastic about the plans. She’s seen what’s happened in her state when government commits to highquality preschool services and believes all Australian children should have the same opportunities.

“There’s so much research on the lifelong outcomes preschool provides for our kids,” says Nightingale. “It can really change their life trajectories.”

Free full-time preschool also helps to reduce or eliminate childcare costs for many families, which can cost up to 20 per cent of the household income for a typical Australian family, according to the Grattan Institute.

The collective effect of investment in universal access to free childcare represents what AEU deputy federal secretary Nicole Calnan calls the “triple dividend”.

Agenda

Under the Victorian commitment, every newly built school will include a preschool on site.

However, in NSW, there are only 100 public preschools across the state’s 1700 public primary school sites. It’s not a record to be proud of and denies too many children – “particularly those with complex and vulnerable backgrounds and disabilities” – the early intervention they need, says Henry Rajendra, senior vice president, New South Wales Teachers Federation.

The federal government needs to step up so that all three year olds across the country have access to free early childhood education ...

Nicole Calnan AEU deputy federal secretary

“We welcome the government’s announcement and look forward to ensuring it is dedicated to expanding the state’s public preschool provisions as the highest priority,” he says.

REBUILDING CAPABILITY The dire and worsening shortage of teachers across the national education sector is reflected in early education.

There is a deficit of nearly 40,000 early childhood educators and teachers to fill current positions, let alone future needs.

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Agenda (right) Fathima Farook started out volunteering at her son's preschool and now works part time as an early childhood educator at Thornbury Kindergarten in Victoria.

Any government needs to address workload and salaries, because at the current rate the salaries are uncompetitive ...

Rajendra says the NSW government is well aware of the serious challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers to the system.

“Any government needs to address workload and salaries, because at the current rate the salaries are uncompetitive compared to other professions,” he says.

“And the workload is enormous – we can’t underestimate the high level and complex requirements for preschools.”

Nightingale says the shortage of teachers is “the biggest barrier we’re going to have to overcome”. She’d like to see incentives to encourage school leavers to join the profession and see more experienced teachers become mentors, “as a career progression opportunity, with renumeration for that in some capacity” to provide opportunities to share knowledge and expertise with the next generation of teachers.

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer.

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Classroom confidential Fathima Farook volunteered at her son’s preschool when he didn’t settle in right away. She never imagined that would lead to a career in early childhood education.

Farook, who has been a teacher at Melbourne's Thornbury Kindergarten for eight years, says she gets a great

This year it was hard to find time to do planning, especially the documentation side, which is really time-consuming for 44 children.

Fathima Farook Thornbury Kindergarten, VIC

deal of satisfaction knowing her three year olds are well prepared for school and life.

Farook’s typical teaching week is 22 official hours. She spends an extra two or three hours on planning, preparation and supporting families. Two educators make up the team with Farook to guide the 44 children in two groups of 22.

“This year it was hard to find time to do planning, especially the documentation side, which is really timeconsuming for 44 children,” she says.

“Many children like the structured program and adjust right away,” she says. Others take a bit longer to “come out of their cocoons”.

It’s all about being flexible, says Farook, who’s happy to let parents stay on after drop-off time and relishes seeing the positive change that education affords her students by the year’s end.

“They’re different to the children who came to me at the beginning of the year, and parents are able to see how it makes for an easier transition to school,” says Farook.

PHOTOGRAPHY ANTHONY MCKEE

Henry Rajendra NSW Teachers Federation senior vice president

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Bringing neuroscience to the classroom New course combines neuroscience and education to improve learning

Professors Chris Sharpley (left) and Sue Gregory (right), University of New England

The professional practice of education is currently experiencing what some commentators have called “a wave of change” in terms of neuroscience’s input to educational processes.

It’s the perfect marriage as education is about enhancing learning, and neuroscience is about understanding the mental processes involved in learning. It was Wilcox et al. (2021) who pointed out that, because neuroscience discovers which parts of the brain are involved in various learning activities, and determines the best ways to teach different subjects, it adds a solid scientifically-based component to the art of teaching.

Acknowledging the growing importance of neuroscience in education, the University of New England is debuting a new course combining the two disciplines at postgraduate level. Available in 2023, the course will enhance understanding of how students learn, think, and make mistakes, as well as the neurological processes at play.

An Australian first, the Master of Neuroscience and Education, will look at how the brain manages learning and thinking, allowing students to apply this knowledge in a range of teaching environments.

“It’s a genuine combination of

neuroscience and education taught by specialists in each discipline,” explains Professor Sue Gregory, Head of UNE’s School of Education and longterm educator.

“The only other two courses of this kind currently available are predominantly education courses with some reference to neuroscience.

“UNE’s new degree will provide a rigorous neuroscience basis, plus a student-selected focus on a field of education such as Special Education, Educational Psychology or Education Leadership. Students then undertake a minor research project putting into action their learning across neuroscience and education.”

Fellow course designer and neuroscientist, Professor Chris Sharpley, said neuroscience is a rapidly evolving discipline that has become increasingly important in understanding and supporting learning processes in the field of education.

“Because neuroscience discovers which parts of the brain are involved in various learning activities, and how that learning actually occurs at a neurological level, it can help educators determine the best ways to teach different subjects to different students,” Professor Sharpley said.

Neuroscience is also very valuable in helping teachers understand how children fail, or why some children need special assistance.

“We have specific subjects in the neurobiology of common childhood disorders and learning problems, as well as anxiety and depression, which are all too common in classrooms and hinder effective learning,” he said.

“Children are naturally curious and eager to learn and neuroscience can help educators determine new methods of strengthening motivation or improving concentration and memory.”

Course details The Masters of Neuroscience and Education is an online, postgraduate course. In line with UNE’s commitment to learning journeys that are both unique and flexible, students will have an opportunity to apply their learning in a Capstone research unit of their choosing in either Education or Neuroscience.

Graduates can also choose to continue into higher degree research or other doctoral programs. The course duration is one and a half years of full-time study, or equivalent part time.

A limited number of government subsidised places are available for Trimester 1, 2023.

Apply now to start on February 27. Visit une.edu.au/neuro-education for details

Nurturing our First Nations workforce Genuine school, community and policy support structures are vital to attracting more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators to the profession.

BY LE A N N E TOLR A

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PHO TO S P ETER F ISHER

First Nations educators (pictured) Nuenonne man Nathaniel Golder is the only Aboriginal teacher at Seaton High School, a school of 1200 students in suburban Adelaide.

If we put in a music program for every child from K-2, we know it’s going to help their language acquisition and development, so fewer children will need literacy support.

Dr Anita Collins University of Canberra

T

he eyes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators and researchers are closely fixed on the Labor government’s plan to address teacher shortages. How will Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers be supported as part of this plan?

Educator and PhD research candidate at the University of Queensland Ren Perkins says he’s looked into the plan but can’t see “anything that is specifically looking at or encouraging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers”.

Just 2 per cent of fully qualified Australian teachers, around 9000, are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (Census 2016), but anecdotal evidence indicates their numbers are declining.

“I’m still undertaking the data collection for my PhD but, from what I’ve found so far, having a support structure – both outside of schools and within schools – and having mentors to encourage teachers are key to attracting and retaining teachers, especially when things get tough,” Perkins says.

A Quandamooka man from Queensland’s North Stradbroke Island, who is teaching and working on Country, Perkins says his research shows this connection is another vital element to attracting and retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers.

“We are natural teachers – it’s in our DNA – it’s the way we do business,” he says. “We have a passion for teaching and a strong desire to be role models not just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, but for all students.

IN SHORT // Just 2 per cent of qualified teachers are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. // More support and mentors are key to retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers. // We also need greater representation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders at all levels of decision making.

“I’m really hoping my PhD research impacts policymakers and that they will listen to the voices of Indigenous teachers, who are experienced and who have contributed so much to the whole education system,” he says.

Attracting and recruiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers was the focus of the More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI), funded by the Labor government from 2012-2015 and Perkins hopes that this government will support it again.

Perkins also points to the Quality Initial Teacher Education Review, released in 2021, as evidence of the widely understood need for incentives be offered to teachers in regional, rural and remote locations from diverse backgrounds.

“Indigenous teachers and education support personnel bring knowledge, lived experience and skills to schools. They are able to teach Australia’s full history, the importance of reconciliation, knowledge of Country, understanding of kinship groups, Indigenous languages, community dynamics and politics – and these lessons have implications for Indigenous and nonIndigenous students alike,” he says.

MORE THAN JUST TALK There remains an acute difference in educational outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

A range of initiatives and programs, that have demonstrated positive results for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students should be revived under the next iteration of the National School

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(pictured) Students at Seaton High School with teacher Nathaniel Golder.

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literacy, numeracy and school leadership. and human resources.

“There are so many great stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers who are changing lives every single day,” says Anderson. “We are talking about some very credible, experienced teachers who are so busy teaching, that sometimes we don’t look at the additional expertise that they have to offer.”

a classroom for decades.

“Most teachers come from a white middle-class background so that is the lens they operate from. You don’t see the world as it is, you see it as you are. So, if you have never looked outside your own limited experience, it’s very hard to know what you don’t know,” says Anderson.

She says Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers are more than just specialists in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education; they are experts in

ROLE MODELS FOR CHANGE At the school level, the significant over representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students among those who do not meet proficiency benchmarks demonstrates the continued social stratification of school education in Australia, and senior secondary completion rates suggest that for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, school is not a culturally safe place. Cultural intelligence and the promotion of cultural safety require constant learning.

Support structures and his own Aboriginal identity are strong influences in Nuenonne man Nathaniel Golder’s first teaching job at Seaton High School in suburban Adelaide. He says role models are the key to increasing the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers across the country.

“For me, growing up as an Indigenous person meant that I never really saw myself working in an education setting.

Having strong role models is one of the most imperative things that you can ask for as an educator,” he says.

“Seeing Aboriginal people represented in school leadership roles teaches both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous students what it really means to be Aboriginal.”

PHOTOGRAPHY PETER FISHER

Reform Agreement (NSRA). For example, Northern Territory schools funded under the National Partnership Agreement on Low SES School Communities saw funded primary schools make greater literacy and numeracy gains than unfunded schools.

While resources are a crucial part of closing the gap in educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities, so too is a seat at the table.

Principal of Cabbage Tree Island Public School in NSW Dyonne Anderson says there is an urgent need for wider representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices at all levels of education decision making and policymakers need to start listening.

Anderson, a Githabul woman who is president of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Principals’ Association, a member of the NSW Deadly Leaders’ Alliance, and an educator of 33 years, says the conversation about increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers needs to be diverse, inclusive and confront issues of systemic racism.

“So often we hear stories about how the system devalues the things Aboriginal teachers bring to the classroom.

Aboriginal teachers who have been in the system for a long time say they are intimidated or made to feel worthless when they attempt to bring in another perspective, and so many of them are crushed,” she says.

“To make real, long-term changes, we need to be talking to teachers within the system, including beginning teachers, not just academics and corporate staff sitting in universities who haven’t been in

First Nations educators

Seeing Aboriginal people represented in school leadership roles teaches both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous students what it really means to be Aboriginal.

Nathaniel Golder Seaton High School, SA

Golder is the only Aboriginal teacher in the secondary school of 1200 students.

He went to school at Kangaroo Island Community Education school, which he describes as “a very Caucasian environment with about seven or eight Aboriginal students who attended full time” and says his family history and his mixed-race background are other factors in developing his identity as a teacher.

“I’ve had to get to a point where I feel OK about expressing my Aboriginality as sometimes it’s difficult being

calls on the next NSRA to include a comprehensive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teaching workforce strategy that builds on the outcomes of the highly effective work of MATSITI in prioritising more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators to work towards equitable outcomes for all students.

someone who doesn’t conventionally look Aboriginal, and being the only Aboriginal teacher,” he says. “I do feel quite supported at Seaton… it’s a great environment, but the school does suffer from the same lack of diversity that most schools around the country experience.”

It is crucial to the wellbeing of all communities, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, that the public education system provides access to quality, culturally appropriate education. AEU policy

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

Master of Neuroscience & Education Includes a research project of your choosing Completely online Limited number of Government subsidised places available UN

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This combination of science and education will ensure you learn how the brain works and how students learn, helping you to determine best practice when teaching different subjects, as well as adding a scientific component to the art of teaching.

Freedom to choose a specialisation in either Education or Neuroscience

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Our new fully online Master of Neuroscience and Education is the only course of its type in Australia.

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The only master’s degree taught by both neuroscientists and education experts

Apply now to start on 27 February une.edu.au/neuro-education SPR IN G 20 2 2 // 21

Lessons for the future As the voices of concern over the effects of climate change grow louder, there are calls for more comprehensive and considered climate change education in schools.

IN SHORT // Experts say climate change education needs a more interdisciplinary approach. // Managing student anxiety around climate change is a major concern for teachers. // Teachers could benefit from collaboration with community partners but also need support and professional development.

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he new Australian curriculum gives more prominence to climate change, but researchers from the University of Tasmania (UTAS) say it still doesn’t go far enough.

They argue climate teaching in schools still needs to be “more ambitious, given the urgency and enormity of the problem”.

Kim Beasy, lecturer in curriculum and pedagogy at UTAS, says climate change is written into the curriculum in a factbased way, which is often disconnected from students and educators’ day-to-day experiences and makes teaching and learning about climate change more difficult: “It doesn’t push students or teachers to think about actions to support living in a climate-changed world.”

The new curriculum contains 32 explicit references to climate change across a range of subjects. But 21 references are still in the science and technology subjects and it remains absent from the primary school curriculum. This means schools are missing an opportunity to introduce enquiry-based learning and an interdisciplinary approach, says Beasy.

The university’s research project, Curious Climate Schools (CCS), involved 1300 students in student-led climate literacy learning.

The researchers found students had many unanswered questions about climate change and that the new curriculum did not necessarily deal with questions that range across ethics, politics, their careers, their futures and what can be done.

PHOTOGRAPHY ISTOCKPHOTO; GETTY IMAGES

BY CHR ISTINE LO NG

Climate change

Students have rich and diverse questions that extend beyond science … they need more opportunity to talk and engage with people that know about climate change in their communities.

Kim Beasy University of Tasmania

“Students have rich and diverse questions that extend beyond science,” she says. “The questions that students were sending to us demonstrated that they need more opportunity to talk and engage with people that know about climate change in their communities.”

The researchers also found teachers often lack confidence when it comes to teaching about climate change.

That can be linked to their lack of content knowledge and concerns about managing student anxiety about climate change.

To counter that, Beasy says teachers need greater support through professional development and consideration needs to be given to the pedagogies that are most likely to engage students.

The CCS project brought students and people with climate change knowledge together to answer questions and work on projects.

(above) Climate anxiety among students is a major concern for teachers when engaging with climate change curriculum.

Beasy says it’s a more ambitious approach that may require teachers to upskill in the areas of project management and networking.

Professional learning needs to support teachers who may have students running an environmental project in their school or, for example, campaigning for the school canteen to introduce a vegetarian menu, she says.

Often community groups would like to collaborate with schools but find it difficult to connect, Beasy says. She suggests teachers interested in working with

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(opposite) Year 9 students at Busselton Senior High School in WA tackle dieback and erosion at Meelup Regional Park.

Climate FAQs Below are some of the commonly asked questions about climate change from young people in Tasmania.

What is climate change?

What causes climate change?

Is it too late to stop climate change?

Who started climate change?

When did it first happen?

What will be the first effects of climate change that we will notice in Tasmania?

What animals are affected already by climate change?

Which place in the world is climate change affecting most?

Can climate change be reversed and go back to the way it was?

How do scientists predict climate change?

How can people our age act on climate change?

Find answers to these and more climate FAQs from Curious Climate Schools’ experts at curiousclimate.org.au Source: Curious Climate Schools

community partners try their own networks or reach out to local groups with a specific learning outcome or project in mind.

“It makes so much sense because it takes the burden off teachers having to know everything and it brings the community into play. It opens opportunities for students to engage in real-world climate change dilemmas which we know is good practice and the best way to learn.”

Christine Long is a freelance writer.

Recognising and rewarding Nominations open for the Arthur Hamilton Award

This is your chance to celebrate AEU members who are making an outstanding contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education. The Arthur Hamilton Award commemorates the achievements of Arthur Hamilton, a Palawa man who was active in promoting cross-culture awareness, recognition of Indigenous peoples and the right for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to access a high quality public education. The winner will receive a $3,000 prize and their work will be recognised by the AEU in an appropriate public forum in 2023. All nominees will receive a certificate from the AEU.

Get nominating!

Download your nomination form at aeufederal.org.au/our-work/indigenous Nominations close Monday 28 Nov 2022

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2022 Arthur Hamilton Award winner, Jannette McCormack, receiving award certificate from Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal President.

Find out more Contact Kevin Bates, AEU Federal Secretary, aeu@aeufederal.org.au

Climate change

Action to combat climate anxiety When West Australian teacher Geoff Holt got students involved in a waste management project the number of rubbish bins at Busselton Senior High School dropped from 40 to 10.

Rubbish began to be disposed of correctly and students were given small rewards for doing the right thing with their litter.

Experts from Waste Wise Schools and Clean Up Australia visited to provide input.

Behind the waste wins was another important outcome. The students involved were among the most ateducational-risk in the school, with low literacy levels and little interest in science, says Holt.

The project made them responsible for bins in particular areas. And, as part of the science curriculum, data was gathered and tallied and reported on by the students.

Holt said that for many of the students the project led to a rise in self-esteem, engagement, and a sense of empowerment.

The waste project is just one that Holt has introduced to lift student climate change engagement via experiential-based learning.

“For the past 10 to 12 years I have been trying to form partnerships with environmental and community groups in the area and getting students to do a variety of environmental recovery projects, conservation projects, and trying to engage them in volunteering to continue to undertake these kinds of activities,” he says.

He then ties the activities back into the curriculum: “For example, when we were doing biomes, rather than focusing on food security we focused on climate change threats to a forest biome that’s quite a biodiversity hotspot.”

The related project covering antierosion and anti-dieback measures was more technical and involved

My biggest concern is not to create alarm and anxiety around climate but to give students the agency to do something about it.

Geoff Holt Busselton Senior High School, WA

higher pathway students learning about pathogens.

“That was extremely successful, and we were invited back to design some habitat shelters for endangered species resulting from loss of habitat,” says Holt.

This year the class involved in the waste project also cleans the school with tongs and sacks. Year 9 and 10 students are planting native trees for a wildlife corridor.

In developing the projects Holt has embraced the principles of education for sustainable development derived from the United Nation’s 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). He’s completed seven hours of professional development to become a global schools advocate and leads an Education for Sustainable Development committee developing a holistic approach across the curriculum, so all students undertake climate action.

“My biggest concern is not to create alarm and anxiety around climate but to give students the agency to do something about it,” he says. “Otherwise, it just makes everyone feel profoundly depressed about the future.”

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Pathways to inclusive learning A new research paper suggests some simple strategies to support students experiencing neurodiversity.

BY CY ND I T E B B E L

IN SHORT // Neurodiversity recognises that not all brains work the same way. // Commonly known forms of neurodivergence include ADHD and autism spectrum disorder. // Teachers can support students with neurodiverse conditions by creating more structure and simplifying interactions.

T

he acknowledgement of neurodiversity and the increasing number of Australian children diagnosed with neurodiverse conditions requires a variety of pedagogic approaches for teachers and schools.

Neurodiversity is a term that embraces a range of developmental experiences that affect students’ behaviour and how they learn.

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The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AiFS) reports that around one in 20 young people will experience Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), one of the most commonly known forms of neurodiversity. Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) estimates one in 70 Australians are on the autism spectrum.

Other challenging developmental histories, such as trauma and early

READING THE SIGNS The AiFS paper, while not written specifically for teachers, points out how to identify signs of neurodivergence in children. McLean says the traits most easy to identify are attentional control and cognitive flexibility. She says children who struggle to move their attention seamlessly and effortlessly between tasks, or between classes, and who don’t warm up to new tasks are another group.

ILLUSTRATION ISTOCKPHOTO

diversity are also associated with neurodiversity, according to a recent AiFS practice paper, Supporting Children with Neurodiversity.

Sara McLean, a psychologist and author of the paper, says more than 70 per cent of Australian children experience at least one type of adverse childhood experience, such as sexual or emotional abuse, the death of a parent, family disfunction, or neglect.

“When children experience adversity in their life, we expect their readiness to learn to be very significantly reduced,” she says.

Neurodiversity

The challenge for teachers is how to set up your classroom in a way that works for children with neurodiversity from a range of different origins, while at the same time not disadvantaging children who are neurotypical.

Sara McLean Psychologist and author

Children who aren’t cognitively flexible tend to find it difficult to adapt and respond well to feedback in the environment. “This is a child who might persist doing something in a way that’s not getting a good behaviour or learning outcome,” says McLean.

“We know children with neurodiversity can find it difficult to anticipate and predict consequences and read social situations.

The challenge for teachers is how to set up your classroom in a way that works for

children with neurodiversity from a range of different origins, while at the same time not disadvantaging children who are neurotypical.”

McLean points out that neurodivergence is separate from intelligence and that even very highachieving children can have difficulties with focus, attention and the ability to organise and plan their learning.

“There’s a concept teachers may be familiar with called executive functioning.

In terms of brain development, we can think of it in terms of the air traffic controller,” she says.

“Where a child has a neurotypical development, their air traffic controller is working well, planes are landing smoothly, multiple projects are being coordinated. But when there’s a difficulty with cognitive flexibility, it’s much more difficult to track the air traffic and make sure everything takes off and lands on time, and there are no crashes.”

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Neurodiversity

Resources Australian Institute of Family Studies practice paper, Supporting Children with Neurodiversity tinyurl.com/k2s2f5cj Emerging Minds provides workforce development information about children’s mental health emergingminds.com.au Beyond Blue’s Be You programs provide information for educators, which is mostly free. beyou.edu.au

The three-S approach Some practical ways to support children experiencing neurodiversity using the three-S approach.

Structure Minimise distractions in busy classrooms by introducing work carousels, and using open opaque or semi-transparent window treatments, says Sara McLean, a psychologist and author of the Australian Institute of Family Studies practice paper, Supporting Children with Neurodiversity.

“Visual timetables and cues can also help children predict what’s coming next and anticipate and understand what the teacher is expecting of them,” she says.

“Give an overview of tasks and break those into smaller parts to help the child monitor and tick off each chunk of information.

“Electronic countdowns and other visual aids help students visualise the passage of time and are useful to assist their transition between activities, rooms, subjects and conversations.”

Simplify Present information in short sentences, a maximum of five to seven words, and allow students time to absorb the message, says McLean.

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“Teach one concept at a time, give concrete examples and use a lot of visual support,” she says.

McLean says in her experience children who are neurodiverse are often seen as non-compliant, however changing the way we give them information or make a request makes it so much easier for them to comply.

“Something as simple as counting to 10 before you react to a child who’s not responding to you is really helpful, because you’re allowing them the time to process information,” she says.

Scaffold Use small learning steps.

“It’s really helpful for children with any kind of neurodivergence to spend more time doing what we call overlearning or rote learning the very strong foundational skills – such as times tables, or counting subitising – before they move onto more complex skills,” McLean says.

“That’s because they may master a skill, but not retain it as well.

So, with scaffolding you create a situation where they’re more likely to succeed by spending extra time in consolidating those foundation skills.”

SMOOTH SAILING McLean has a practical formula that teachers can adopt and adapt to help children living with neurodiversity learn. She calls it the ‘three-S’ approach: structure, simplify, scaffold.

“It can be used in a whole-of-class approach because creating more structure in a classroom reduces the cognitive load for children who are neurodiverse without impacting on the learning needs of neurotypical children,” says McLean.

Similarly, simplifying interactions with students creates an environment where a child who is neurodiverse can experience success without compromising children who are neurotypical.

Because children with neurodiversity often have difficulty with attention, teachers need to help them develop what McLean calls “metacognitive skills”. These include the ability to self-monitor and self-reflect.

She says teachers can help children develop those skills by modelling them in their own practice.

“Ask yourself, what’s the first step, what do you need to do next, what are your choices or, ‘I got that wrong, what can I do now?’ That kind of internalising self-talk along with visual supports, can really help,” McLean says.

Cyndi Tebbel is a freelance writer

Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards

Congratulations to our inspiring teachers.

Discover the 12 teachers and school leaders who are the 2022 Teaching Award recipients at teachingawards.com.au Adrian Casten Trent Cowley Jenna Cullen Daniel Edwards

Toni Hatten-Roberts Michael Hornby Brendan Kenna Peter Langham

Fransina Norval Ian Preston Stephanie Salazar Shane Wilson

SPR IN G 20 2 2 // 29

When it’s not OK at home The Albanese government’s move to introduce family violence leave for workers is an important first step in providing support to victim survivors.

Now schools and teachers need the resources to help students affected by family violence to be safe and stay engaged with learning.

Y

oung people experiencing family violence are missing out on crucial support because of fundamental gaps in policy and services, says a new report – and schools have a vital role to play.

The Melbourne City Mission report, Amplify: Turning Up the Volume on Young People and Family Violence, found that young people’s experiences of family violence can be different to those of adults

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IN SHORT // A report has identified major gaps in policy and services to support young people experiencing family violence. // Schools can play a vital role, but they need expertise. // Increasing the number of trained counsellors in schools could be part of the solution.

and younger children, and that young people may not even understand that what they are experiencing is family violence.

“Too often, young people are not seen as victim-survivors in their own right,” says Shorna Moore, head of public policy and government relations at Melbourne City Mission and report co-author. “They are largely invisible and do not have access to a proper support pathway.”

Moore says the reasons are mixed.

ILLUSTRATION IKON IMAGES (SILVIA STECHER)

BY K RI S TA M O G E NSE N

Family violence

It’s critical there are pathways to support young people who enact harm, but we need to make sure the service system is set up for all young people.

Shorna Moore Melbourne City Mission

Often the young people are outside a system that largely focusses on women and mothers with young children, so they may not recognise what’s happening at home as family violence. They may be independent and might manage their safety by couch surfing, be too wary to connect to services or not relate to what is offered.

But most problematic of all is the lack of services that provide tailored support for young people experiencing family violence – except when the young person uses violence themselves, which is part of Adolescent Violence in the Home (AVITH) support initiatives.

“It’s critical there are pathways to support young people who enact harm, but we need to make sure the service system is set up for all young people,” Moore says.

FIGHT, FLEE OR FREEZE RESPONSES The Amplify report was released in December 2021. Although there is no specific historical data, Moore says it is clear from broader statistics (see breakout, right) that a significant number of children and young people attending school are experiencing family violence at home.

“In my observation working in schools and from research, there is at least one student in every class who is experiencing family violence,” says Moore.

This presents in all sorts of ways depending on the student’s fight, flee or freeze response to trauma. It may manifest as school avoidance, lateness, homework and uniform issues, distress, withdrawal, or acting out behaviours including bullying or violence. “Mental ill health is a very common representation,” she says.

Not all young people who experience violence will use violence, says Moore, but those who do are mostly responding

Family violence by numbers

In Australia, one child is killed a fortnight in the context of family violence* to their own trauma and are victimsurvivors themselves.

Other signals are not having money for food, uniforms or transport, which is why harsh rules and penalties can exacerbate the situation. “Many students can’t get money for their bus pass so they’re late for school. That economic abuse can be part of family violence,” she says.

The imbalance of power between the student and parent who is perpetrating the violence can also play out when the school contacts the parent, who may then label and shame the young person.

“The impacts of family violence on young people are not well understood, and yet the risk is often completely underestimated and downplayed,” says Moore. “There’s a false perception that family violence is not as serious for adolescents. But the impacts are immense.”

A TRAUMA-INFORMED APPROACH It’s critical that family violence expertise is embedded in schools and that includes having early intervention, response and referral pathways, says Morgan Cataldo, senior manager youth engagement at Berry Street, one of Australia’s largest family service organisations.

This support begins with a traumainformed approach in response to a young person’s behaviour, says Cataldo, who leads the innovative Y-Change model. The model is a sector-leading social and systemic change platform for young people with lived experiences of socioeconomic disadvantage. The young people in the program are trained to become lived experience consultants.

“It’s the difference between asking ‘what’s wrong with you’ and ‘what has happened to you’,” she says.

On average,

one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner

1 in 3 women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15

1 in 5 women has experienced sexual violence since the age of 15

1 in 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 15 and over has experienced physical violence within a 12-month period**

*Source: Our Watch **Source: T Brown, Filicide in Australia 2000-2012, Monash (2019)

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Family violence

Resources What’s OK at home A website for young people and adult allies about family violence woah.org.au

Our Watch Respectful Relationships Education resources education ourwatch.org.au

Safe and Equal Supporting children and young people who are experiencing family violence safeandequal.org.au

Alannah & Madeline Foundation Programs Children Ahead (therapeutic support for children & young people) and Tracs (professional development for teachers) amf.org.au

Surviving family violence

But there were good things too. The literature teacher introduced new books and new ways of experiencing learning with classes in the school gardens. “She helped me see the beauty of education and life.”

Encouraged by the school’s wellbeing coordinator, Kaitlyne joined the Kokoda Challenge Youth Program, undertaking 20 weeks of training to hike the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea. “It really helped me with my social skills and sense of purpose.

I saw the importance of giving back to the community and paying it forward.”

Kaitlyne was determined to finish school, but in Year 12 suddenly became a carer to both parents. Bussing to school before

7am, Kaitlyne did “all that I could to salvage school” with the few hours available each day. But by the end, it just wasn’t enough.

Kaitlyne ended up leaving in Term 3 without graduating.

“I was constantly met with barriers and there weren’t sufficient support structures in place,” says Kaitlyne. “It just wasn’t realistic for me.”

Now a qualified youth worker and advocate, Kaitlyne plans to complete further university studies.

“When you’re aware of things that are happening for a student, please don’t give up. Continue to have those crucial conversations.”

“The very first thing is to sit the young person down with people they trust – a wellbeing coordinator or a trusted teacher – and ask: ‘Is everything OK?’ ‘Is there anything we can do to help or support you?’” Then it’s about linking them to the services they need and supporting them the whole way.

“It’s a wraparound support system so that the young person has a positive experience at school and is not punished for their reaction to individual and systemic trauma.

“As a teacher, it doesn’t have to all fall on you,” says Cataldo. “You’re an empathetic witness to the young people in your care, you create that safe place for them to share what’s going on in their lives. Then with that disclosure, you can link in with supports.”

Cataldo says people working with young children need to link across sectors: “When our shared vision and investment is focused on young people’s wellbeing and having a strong community network

As a teacher, it doesn’t have to all fall on you.

You’re an empathetic witness to the young people in your care.

not a trained counsellor,” she says.

The principal says a service that provides psychologist visits to schools, while valuable, is not always suitable for children and young people affected by family violence.

“The parents have to agree to the psychologist visit and have to take their child to the doctor to get a mental health care plan so that they receive six free visits,” she says.

“But the parents of children experiencing or affected by family violence may not agree to a psychologist visit and, even if they did, by the time the student has appointment, it may be too late.

“To me, the provision of school counsellors is about having the people with the skills and training being at the right place at the right time,” the principal says.

In high school, Kaitlyne couch-surfed at friends’ houses to avoid family violence at home. “I lived in constant fear… and constant survival mode,” Kaitlyne says.

“Some teachers would ask questions, but not necessarily the right ones.”

Kaitlyne received several detentions for not wearing full uniform until it became clear this was about money not behaviour.

“At the time I thought that no-one cared, but now I am realising that schools did not have the tools or the language to help – and I felt stuck.”

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Morgan Cataldo Berry Street

around them, that’s when we see amazing things happen.”

Having trained counsellors in all schools is crucial to supporting children and young people affected by family violence, says one South Australian primary school principal.

“I don’t have a trained counsellor. I only have my wellbeing leader, who’s a teacher

Krista Mogensen is a freelance writer.

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Women’s power for change The 4th Education International World Women’s Conference held in June heard that, while women’s equality remains an urgent struggle, there are many ways women educators can wield their power to support students and each other.

H

ow we see and use power was a key takeaway from Education International’s (EI) World Women’s Conference, which covered pressing topics including women in leadership, the backlash in inclusivity in education and the urgent need for transformative climate action.

The quadrennial conference brought together international delegates to hear from thought leaders, peers, activists and students about what we can be doing today for a more equitable tomorrow.

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IN SHORT // The 4th Education International World Women’s Conference met in June to discuss how to address worsening gender inequality post pandemic. // EI president Susan Hopgood called for action to protect women's fundamental rights. // She said unions must be a model for an inclusive and values-led movement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened gender inequality worldwide. The World Economic Forum’s 2021 Gender Gap report revealed the time needed to close gender gap in four key areas – the economy, political power, health and education – increased from 99.5 years to 135.6 years during 2020.

In this context, Susan Hopgood, Education International president, called on women education unionists everywhere to take action to counter the alarming developments of the last few years. She told the conference that

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BY C H RI S TI NE LO NG

World view

Video session How does a young woman challenge power in the face of a climate crisis?

Watch session “Meet the Movement Movers: Young Women Power Climate Justice” from the 4th EI Women’s World Conference moderated by NASUWT’s Michelle Codrington-Rogers and featuring Mitzi Jonelle Tan from the Philippines, Vanessa Nakate from Uganda, Phoebe Hanson from the UK, and Laura Verónica Muñoz from Colombia.

Go to: youtu.be/wTPSeNLo9-I

129 million girls around the world were out of school due to climate change, poverty, violence, family, societal reasons or access. “Deprived of an education, many are pushed into child labour or early marriage, or become saddled with teenage pregnancies,” she says.

“This is why the solidarity and mobilisation of women everywhere is so important. We must … free ourselves and others from the limitations placed on us because of our gender. It is our duty … to make sure every single woman and girl can enjoy their fundamental rights, starting with that all-important and enabling right to education.”

Hopgood says that while trade unionists recognise the importance of building and harnessing collective power, they must also understand that it is not only attained through a formal position of authority, leadership, or decision-making.

“Often, power is something that is thought of in masculine terms as something that is wielded over others, a top-down force that smashes anyone and anything in its path. But there are other ways of thinking about power and of using power.

“It is something we all have inside of us.

Something that we all need to recognise and nourish. Something that we must build up our courage to use,” she says.

Vanessa Nakate, a climate justice activist from Uganda and author of A Bigger Picture, who spoke at the conference, echoes Hopgood’s view.

She says that in order to empower their students, educators must relate education to what is happening in their communities: “no one is too small to make a difference and no voice is too small to transform the world”.

Often, power is something that is thought of in masculine terms as something that is wielded over others, a top-down force that smashes anyone and anything in its path. But there are other ways of thinking about power.

Susan Hopgood Education International president

POSITIVE INFLUENCE Jalila al-Salman, the vice president of the Bahrain Teachers Association (BTA), who was also a speaker at the conference, demonstrated the power of taking courageous action. Al-Salman was kidnapped, tortured, and jailed in 2011, following the Arab Spring prodemocracy protests.

More than a decade later the BTA is still banned, and al-Salman is forbidden to teach. However, during the COVID-19 crisis she says activists organised online events and offered technical support to students and teachers to ensure they could continue to study without discrimination and work remotely.

Al-Salman aims to positively influence the status of women, encouraging them to stand up for themselves and know their rights.

Mary Bousted, the UK’s National Education Union (NEU) joint general secretary, says it is important that women support one another as they rise in power.

“That means [you] don’t hold on to power for yourself but make sure you bring other women with you so that young women and black women and LGBTQI

women and women from a whole range of backgrounds feel that they too can get to positions of power and influence in the union and change society.

“When a woman makes a point which is unpopular but true, have the courage to back her up. Be organised … make sure you understand what the key issues are to be raised, make sure you share out who is going to say what so you can’t be targeted; so that the opposition has to see that these points are… widely shared,” says Bousted.

Hopgood closed the conference calling for women education unionists to use their power to support one another in leading the charge for a better future: “Our unions must be models for what inclusive, sustainable, and values-led movements ought to look like, behave like, and feel like,” she says.

The Education International World Women’s Conference occurs every four years and brings together delegates from education unions around the world to engage in issues affecting women educators globally.

Christine Long is a freelance writer.

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Media matters A comprehensive research project has examined the effect of print media education reporting, finding that the teaching profession is singled out for mention far more than any other.

BY L E AN N E T O L RA

N

egative media reporting of the teaching profession has far-reaching implications for how the public see teachers and how educators see themselves, says Nicole Mockler, the author of Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and Their Work.

Mockler, an associate professor of education at the University of Sydney, writes that “education is a particularly fertile space for public discussion as it provides a rare common experience that most of us share”.

Her research draws on a corpus of 65,000 print media articles between 1996 and 2020 and uses various methods of statistical analysis to understand their impact, from linguistic trends to keyword and collocation examination.

She breaks down the collection by state, by publication type, political orientation and ownership.

“I know for a fact that there is more media attention given to teachers than other professions,” she says. “I conducted a quantitative analysis and when I added up the number of articles on teachers it came to about 50 a week over 25 years, which was far more than any other profession, including accountants and lawyers,” she says.

She chose print media as a source of study as its archives are less transient than those of social media and because of its impact on the work of politicians and the formation of public policy.

“There is a reflexive relationship between policy and policy makers and politicians and journalists and the way that stories get picked up and swirled around and that was why I wanted to look at it in this mass way, to see what the patterns are,” she says.

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Mockler writes that “politicians in Western democracies often use education and education policy as touchstones for building connection” and the “high level of community knowledge of and interest in education translates into an abundance of media coverage, particularly in the print media”.

Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and their Work is written

by Nicole Mockler and published by Bloomsbury.

EVERYONE’S AN EXPERT The former secondary teacher and school leader points out that everyone knows what teachers do because we all sat in classrooms as students for years, but of course people don’t see all the work that happens outside of the classroom. She says myths like having “a lot of holidays, and they go home at 3pm… have become stronger over the last 10 to 15 years” in print media, but recognition that teachers do much more emerged during the pandemic.

Now people seem to understand that teachers are not just concerned about their own remuneration, but that their action is about their conditions being deeply broken ...

Nicole Mockler University of Sydney

Toolkit

“I think that one of the interesting things about recent industrial action post the pandemic shutdowns, is that now people seem to understand that teachers are not just concerned about their own remuneration, but that their action is about their conditions being deeply broken; it’s about workload and teacher shortages and commitment and more than just what they are paid. I think COVID gave the community a window into those conditions,” she says.

Community attitudes to teachers in the aftermath of pandemic shutdowns are borne out by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) report, released in October 2020 after just six months of the impact of the pandemic, which has disrupted worldwide learning for more than two and a half years.

It revealed that teachers were more valued by the community than they thought and that “negatively skewed portrayals of teaching in the media do not appear to match community sentiments”. Importantly too, it found that community perceptions of teachers can impact their “career lifecycle; from recruitment, retention, job satisfaction and performance”.

Mockler’s research shows that this very public conversation has “flow-on effects to the way teachers understand their role and their importance to society” and this has an impact on the way potential teachers feel about their future careers and existing teachers feel about remaining in the classroom.

“When we’re talking about excess workloads and all of the additional work that teachers have to do that take away from their core functions in schools and classrooms, I think it certainly doesn’t

A passion for education Despite the pressures and overwork teachers are facing, they remain passionate about their work.

92+8+D 90%

of Australian teachers say they are fulfilled and gratified in their work, and highly satisfied with their jobs.

Surveys have shown that Australian teachers take personal pride and satisfaction in their work.

90+10+D 87+13+D 87.8%

of teachers are satisfied in their work compared to an OECD average of 76%.

help how they feel about their profession when they see themselves criticised in the media,” Mockler says.

She says media conversations about teacher quality become a way of “dodging discussions” about how we support an entire profession of “300,000 teachers to be constantly developing their practice”.

“And, of course, that comes back to conversations about workloads and working conditions,” she says.

TAKING PRIDE IN THEIR WORK Despite the pressures and overwork teachers are facing, the AITSL report found that teachers remain passionate about their work, revealing that 90 per cent of Australian teachers are “fulfilled and gratified in their work, and report being highly satisfied with their jobs”.

It says surveys have shown that Australian teachers take personal pride and satisfaction in their work – 87.8 per cent of teachers are satisfied in their work, compared to an OECD average of 76 per cent.

The report reveals that 91.4 per cent of Australian teachers enjoy working in their school (the OECD average is 89.9 per cent) and 82.8 per cent say that if they could choose a career again, they would still choose to be a teacher.

82.8%

of Australian teachers say that if they could choose a career again, they would still choose to be a teacher.

Source: AITSL, October 2020

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

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Recess

Respect for connections Looking to Country for inspiration has helped a teacher and his students create and share learning opportunities.

BY MARG ARE T PAT O N

(Above) Daphne Nyaningu and Akash Krishna; (below) witjuti (witchetty) grubs proved useful in connecting learning with Country.

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Some students were getting it, but everyone needed consolidation.”

So, for ideas, the Ernabella Anangu School teacher, based in South Australia’s remote An_angu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjar (APY) Lands, turned to first language educator Daphne Nyaningu, who team teaches with him.

“Look to Country,” was her response, to connect the learning to something tactile and sensory based.

Enter witjuti (witchetty) grubs.

Krishna and Nyaningu took the students on Country with their families and elders to collect the grubs to take back to class.

“Each student had one wriggling on their palm and they had to find ways of keeping track of how many grooves theirs had. They compared size, number and length with one another. The grubs became their little number lines,” says Krishna.

8 WAYS OF LEARNING Instruction at the K-12 school focuses on the eight ways of Aboriginal learning.

This includes community links, deconstruction, reconstruction, nonlinear links, non-verbal learning maps and story sharing. Relationships are key too.

In class, Krishna models mistake-making and self-correction as his students teach him their first languages.

“They flip it and I become the student and they use the same processes to teach me certain sounds in their language,” he says. He’s now become semi-fluent in Pitjantjatjara.

Krishna is following in the footsteps of his teacher mother, who worked in the APY Lands when he was young. When he returned as a teacher himself, he was able to connect with community members

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’d met and known as a 10-year-old.

As a pre-service teacher at the University of South Australia, Krishna did a placement in the APY Lands, and started work there soon after graduating at the end of 2018.

A year later he gained permanency and was fully accredited by the end of last year.

“Being invited to teach on the lands here is a whole other world to mainstream classrooms with differences in culture, language, community voice and pedagogical voice, plus the weather has eight seasons,” he says.

That’s why “one-dimensional forms of teaching” using worksheets or reading off a script don’t resonate with him.

Krishna gives credit to the school’s former principal, Erin McQuade, for impressing upon him to respect the links between students, school, family, community and Country.

“I also give a lot of credit to Daphne.

She’s worked at the school for eight years and honestly, I would not be the educator I am without her. She’s my guide, mentor, support, friend, and a future leader of the community,” Krishna says.

Margaret Paton is a freelance writer and a casual K-12 teacher.

IMAGE ALAMY

W

hen junior primary teacher Akash Krishna was running a maths lesson to increase fluency in his classroom, he needed a breakthrough.

“My Year 1, 2 and 3 students were really struggling to count on a number line,” he says. “We’d even experimented with lines from zero to 10 and from zero to 20 and used an abacus.

Why do you teach?

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