The Independent Voice
November 2011
Journal Journal of of the the Independent Independent Education Education Union Union of of Australia Australia -- Queensland Queensland and and Northern Northern Territory Territory Branch Branch
February 2011 November 2011
Education, Action and Equity: 2011 IEUA-QNT Women Educators Union Conference
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Volume Volume 11 11 Number Number 17
Clarification needed on school holidays The impact of the Queensland government’s decision to realign the school calendar year for state schools in 2012 requires urgent clarification from employers to non-government school staff. Brisbane Catholic Education, for example, has announced that BCE would align their 2012 term dates with the state school calendar: Term 1: 24 January-30 March Term 2: 16 April-22 June Term 3: 9 July-21 September Term 4: 8 October-7 December. IEUA-QNT has written to major employing authorities regarding this matter and are seeking an urgent response as to their intentions.
The IEUA-QNT Women Educators Union Conference, held in Townsville in October, provided opportunities for regional women members to work together to achieve outcomes that support, educate and empower women in both their union and profession. Read about the successes of the Conference and review photos on pages 4 and 5
Member delegations send message to MPs on importance of school funding IEUA-QNT members have expressed school funding concerns, the need for a fairer funding system and the need for a real funding increase for all schools during delegations to Members of Parliament and Senators. Members have met and continue to meet with political representatives, urging them to commit to increases to school funding in both the government and non-government sectors, to provide targeted funding for special needs and disadvantaged schools and to support these principles in the development of government policy. A firm commitment was sought to guarantee that not only no school would be worse off but that funding given to schools would keep pace with the real cost of educating Australian children. A guarantee of funding certainty would see the protection of jobs for employees working in nongovernment schools and would
provide confidence for the students and parents in these communities. While our union supports the Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling, it is vital that these key points must be the backbone of any changes to the school funding system: • A resource benchmark of funding for each student, which underpins the school funding system and properly acknowledges the right for a decent education for all students; • A complete overhaul of the funding of education for students with special learning needs or disabilities, where full funding should be met for these students; • Indexation based on Average Government School Recurrent Costs (AGSRC) not inflation; and • No decrease of funding in real terms for any school. With over 164,000 students with disabilities in Australian schools, the reality is that these students’ needs are not appropriately being met by
current funding arrangements.
favour of a non-education cost index.
The federal government funding for students with disabilities is significantly less in the nongovernment sector compared to government schools.
However, a cut in the AGSRC index would mean a real cut to school funding, a loss of teachers’ jobs and a decrease in the standards of education.
Adding to this inequity in allocation of funds is the lack of consistency in definitions of disabilities; these differences affect the funding arrangements and result in varying amounts of total expediture to schools.
Though the federal government continues to say that no school will be worse off, the interim reports suggest otherwise.
While our union will continue to campaign for appropriate levels of funding for all schools, it is also essential that students with special needs receive full funding entitlements irrespective of where they are enrolled. The research reports recently released by the Gonski funding review have suggested that the funding nexus between nongovernment school funding and the AGSRC should be removed in
Currently the federal government expenditure on school education compared to other OECD countries is below average and ranks around 17 out of OECD 29 countries. Students, parents and school employees have the right to expect that the government should commit to additional resources to schools. Our union challenges the federal government to increase funding in school education to meet and exceed OECD education funding levels and make Australia a world leader in education.
IEUA-QNT would expect employers to respect key principles in adopting any rescheduled arrangements. No professional development should be scheduled in current vacation periods. Any employer notion that professional development may be scheduled on the ‘last Friday of a vacation’ should be rejected. Employers have generally signalled that professional development may be scheduled in the new second week at Easter by mutual agreement, in instances where this would have been ‘normal work time/term time’ for nongovernment schools. However, some capacity to have twilight sessions scheduled throughout the term clearly must remain an option. In many collective agreements, there is commonly an express provision requiring employers to consult on any amended school year calendar. Consultation at a local level should also occur, to minimise the impact on affected staff. Union officers will work together with chapters to ensure members’ industrial rights are acknowledged by employers and upheld in this process.