© stock.adobe.com
SPECIAL REPORT Teachers Blast “Crippling” Workload:
Public Schools Underfunded by $6.5 billon Per Year By Sarah Davison, Industry Reporter
In the run-up to the 2022 Federal Election, NSW teachers have vowed to continue their fight for better pay and conditions. They staged a mass walkout on May 4, in what marked their second strike in six months. The 24-hour teacher's strike saw educators march through Sydney's CBD in protest for a pay rise between five and 7.5 percent as well as extra planning time for lessons. NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielato said the state government had failed students, their parents, and the teaching profession. “The simple truth is that if we don’t pay teachers what they are worth and address crippling workloads we will not retain nor attract the teachers we know we need,” Mr Gavrielato said. “Acting on uncompetitive salaries and unsustainable workloads is the only way to stop more teachers leaving and attract the people into the profession we need to fix the shortages. This is an investment in our future.
06
“It ends up hurting us, and most importantly the students.”
NSW teachers staged a mass walk-out on May 4, in what marked their second strike in six months “Government report after government report has stated the main reasons why teachers don’t want to stay in the profession are unsustainable workloads and uncompetitive salaries.”
“In the public school system, we are bound by the funding the school is given,” she said. “The biggest recent change has been in funding to support students with disabilities.”
Mr Gavrielato’s sentiments were echoed by South Australian primary school teacher Gemma*, who described the current workload for teachers as “crippling”.
Disability Support Funding Turmoil for Public School Teachers
Primary Teacher Burnout in Public School Sector Working as a teacher in a low socioeconomic area for the past five years, Gemma told School News she was beginning to consider other career paths and was feeling “burnt out” by the lack of support. Gemma said the gap between public and independent schools was only getting wider, and she worried about the future of her profession.
“The new changes mean that even if a child has a diagnosis, they are not necessarily given classroom support,” Gemma explained to us. “As teachers, we find this incredibly challenging as we spend huge chunks of time trying to prove that we need support in the classroom with the One Plans and IESPs. “But most of the time it is rejected because it is believed that we can manage it in class. I could possibly manage if I only had that one child, but I have 19 others, many with their own complexities, trauma, or diagnosis.
EDUCATION
Gemma said she wanted to see more funding for special classes and said many of her students would benefit from smaller class sizes and a differentiated curriculum. “It’s difficult to support students with a high level of complexities, and these students are likely to never catch up or feel successful in the classroom,” she said.
Chronic Underfunding for Public Schools by $6.5bn It comes as a recent report by economist Adam Rorris found that Australia’s public schools were underfunded by approximately $6.5 billion per annum. The Rorris report additionally found that since 2018, the Morrision government had “diverted more than $10 billion in funding towards private schools”. It further read that “[the funding] excluded public schools which desperately need the money […]. This has been achieved through multiple special deals, discretionary funds with little to no accountability, numerous private school only funds to assist with drought, bushfires or the pandemic, and the now-notorious systemic rorting built into the design of JobKeeper.” Term 2, 2022 | school-news.com.au
