Authorised by Mary Franklyn, General Secretary, The State School Teachers’ Union of W.A., 1 West Street, West Perth WA. Printed by Vanguard Press, 26 John Street, Northbridge WA. September 2024.
Cover: NAPLAN continues to generate debate about its purposefulness. Read more on pages 5 and 14.
To access the digital copy of Western Teacher, visit: sstuwa.org.au/westernteacher
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NAPLAN flaws reflect funding shortfall
By Matt Jarman President
The recent media coverage of NAPLAN 2024 has supported the long held SSTUWA view that NAPLAN is not fit for purpose.
It is well worth considering what the Lawrence review report, Facing the Facts, said about NAPLAN:
Finding: The introduction of NAPLAN has not resulted in any sustained improvements in aggregate educational outcomes or in reducing educational inequality.
Finding: The benefits for teachers from NAPLAN have not materialised and many have experienced increased workload and a loss of professional standing as a result.
Finding: Individual national testing has narrowed the curriculum for children while teachers spend more classroom time “teaching to the test.”
Recommendation 9: That National, State and Territory ministers consider replacing NAPLAN, a census assessment, with a sample assessment like PISA, conducting tests less frequently and without publicly identifying schools in the results.
As Facing the Facts reported, the Whitlam Institute in 2017 - seven years ago - found that following the introduction of NAPLAN teachers had observed:
• A narrowing of teaching strategies and curriculum.
• Negative impacts on student health and wellbeing.
• Deterioration in staff morale.
• Negative impacts on public schools’ reputations (particularly in disadvantaged areas and hence their capacity to attract and retain students and staff).
The negative impacts of NAPLAN have been so frequently and comprehensively assessed, by organisations ranging from the Gonski Institute to a litany of academic studies and, of course, Facing the Facts, that it is almost incomprehensible that it is still in place.
Original Gonski expectations were for 80 per cent of students to be achieving minimum standards. In 2024, one in three students are not. Clearly funding makes the difference.
Successive governments, having wedded themselves to this flawed testing system, have been led to only one useful outcome; it highlights the impact of a broken funding system that gives more money to private schools than they need, while leaving most public schools short of their minimum funding requirements. Simply put, too much of the right money has gone to the wrong schools.
As AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe put it after this latest round of results were released: “The results show that the current funding system is leaving the students with the highest levels of need without the support they need to thrive, which is completely unacceptable.”
“Teachers and education support personnel work very hard to cater for all of their students’ needs but they must be backed by governments with full funding.
“Prime Minister Albanese and Education Minister Jason Clare’s recent funding ultimatum to state governments will not close the public school funding gaps. We need urgent action now with a full 25 per cent from the Commonwealth and 75 per cent from state and territory governments to ensure that all schools are funded at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.
“As a nation, we cannot leave the most vulnerable students without the resources and support they need to fulfil their potential.
“It is public schools that educate the most vulnerable students in Australia, with 82 per cent of students from low socioeducational advantage backgrounds and 83 per cent of First Nations students. This makes full funding for public schools a non-negotiable to ensure that all students and teachers are receiving the vital funds needed for high quality teaching and learning.”
Of course, WA needs even more than 100 per cent. That might sound strange but the reality that was recognised in the original Gonski findings over a decade ago, was that this state needs additional funding to address the requirements of regional and remote students.
Instead of delivering the extra five per cent identified by Gonski, we instead saw a reduction of four per cent through an accounting trick that allows the WA state government to count what used to be an additional four per cent in funding as part of their 75 per cent contribution.
So, we have a testing mechanism that fails students, places additional workloads and stress on teachers, diminishes the efforts of schools and then we set teachers up to fail by not providing the financial investment needed to improve educational outcomes.
It’s a good job we are apparently the lucky country because policies like this suggest we are far from being the clever country.
Read more: New WA funding deal still leaves public schools underfunded, page 7. Plus, Are the NAPLAN results really an epic fail? Page 14.
Conference unleashes ECE creativity
By Natalie Blewitt Senior Vice President
It is such a privilege and an honour to hold senior officer responsibility for the early childhood education (ECE) portfolio – an honour that was underlined during the recent SSTUWA ECE conference.
The conference certainly gave us plenty of reasons for optimism. Over 40 schools were represented from across the state, from as far away as Christmas Island!
With teacher shortages gripping our schools, it was wonderful to see so many ECE teachers in attendance. Special thanks to school leaders who sent multiple staff from the same school, enabling opportunities for collaboration and networking, ensuring our youngest minds benefit from this wonderful professional learning experience.
Titled Unleash Creativity and Empower Learners in Your ECE Classroom, ECE educators were treated to a variety of keynote and workshop presentations.
The morning keynote, Dr Amie Fabry shared her insights into early childhood leadership, encouraging everyone to
share their knowledge generously and to not sit back and wait but to “be the leader that you need”.
Small steps lead to big changes and it is important to “cultivate change, nurture professional growth, foster collaboration and empower others”.
Attendees selected one of three workshops: Creativity through the lens of picture books and visual literacy by education consultant Ron Gorman; Strategies for creating neuroaffirming ECE classrooms by Anabelle Tannenbaum from Thriving Minds Education; and Don’t forget the drama! Dramatic and imaginative play ideas for K-2 by Alethea Dreyer from Into the Mask Theatre and Education.
A lively and energetic afternoon keynote was delivered by Hilary Price-Keegan, director of Musical Heartbeats.
Hilary had everyone on their feet, participating in music and movement activities that could be taken straight back to the classroom and used
immediately. Hilary reinforced the importance of music and how it can be incorporated across learning areas. Have you ever tried singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star using only the numbers one to five? It is much harder than you think, give it a try.
Our afternoon keynote was delivered by SSTUWA President Matt Jarman. In his address, Matt reinforced that the state government has recognised the vital role of ECE by giving the sector a separate ministerial portfolio – a role taken up with great enthusiasm by former teacher Sabine Winton.
We need to maintain that momentum and as Matt said in his speech, ECE members can help us in a number of ways. For example:
• Promote research on ECE, and in particular, in relation to attendance and participation, as well as on a holistic high quality ECE framework.
• Continue to investigate the causes and consequences of privatisation
of ECE, with a particular emphasis on technology platforms and tools.
• Individually advocate more to improve initial education, continuous professional development and decent working conditions for ECE teachers.
• Continue to unionise ECE teachers.
• Ensure full prioritisation and integration of ECE in system and school policies, programs and activities.
• Lobby, politely, your local MPs, especially when they come visiting for assemblies.
Having spent most of my career teaching in Years 1-3, I need no convincing of the fundamental importance and critical role that early childhood educators undertake.
My challenge to our ECE membership of the SSTUWA is to help develop and build our ECE policies.
Within Facing the Facts – the report delivered by Dr Carmen Lawrence and her team – we have already started to shape government education policy in a positive, solution-based way. Facing the Facts made several recommendations related to ECE. These in turn built upon SSTUWA campaigns such as Play is Learning
Working collectively, we can continue to ensure decision-makers understand the importance of ECE and address what is sometimes a repetitive habit of ignoring play-based learning in long-term planning for schools.
We can also push back on the “schoolification” in pre-primary and kindergarten, ensuring that this increased pressure and the pushing down of the curriculum stops.
Now is the time to get involved in assisting and guiding the future development of ECE.
Special thanks to the ECE conference committee for organising such an outstanding event. I would also like to thank and acknowledge the dedication of our Education and Training Centre team, who ensured our members and presenters were looked after and supported across the day.
New WA funding deal still leaves public schools underfunded
Contrary to claims by the Cook and Albanese governments, the bilateral agreement signed by the state and Commonwealth governments this month will still leave public school students in Western Australia underfunded and not fully funded as claimed.
The agreement between the Cook and Albanese governments does not address the four per cent depreciation clause that allows state and territory governments to account for nonschool costs, such as school transport, kindergarten expenditure, regulatory bodies and capital depreciation as part of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) share. This four per cent gap is valued at approximately $225 million this year.
“For Western Australia, this clause will leave state schools underfunded by $1.78 billion across the next five years and yet, there is an urgent need for this funding due to the increasing needs of the student population. There is also no guarantee this funding will make its way to school budgets where it is desperately needed. Fully funded claims made by both levels of government this [month] are in effect deceiving the public school community of Western Australia,” said SSTUWA President Matt Jarman.
“Western Australia has a high level of need, with state schools educating more than twice the number of students from low socio-educational advantage backgrounds and 2.7 times the number of First Nations students.”
AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said: “The four per cent clause was introduced in 2018 by the Coalition Government as part of the last round of bilateral agreements and until that time, these costs were never intended to be counted as part of the SRS, in fact, they were explicitly excluded from the SRS when it was devised.”
The use of the four per cent additional allowance removes $225 million in funding from classrooms in 2024, an amount that will continue to rise year on year to $238.8 million by 2028 and will account for a total of $1.78 billion loss in funding.
At the same time, private schools in the state will continue to be overfunded by a total of $201.7 million over the next five years.
Full funding is the only way to ensure every child gets the support they need to succeed and that teachers have the resources that they need to do their jobs well.
While the four per cent depreciation clause remains as part of the bilateral agreement, there is not a true commitment to ensuring that all schools are fully funded at 100 per cent of the SRS level.
This must be addressed by the Albanese Government as a priority matter rather than facilitating agreements that allow for the diversion of funds from public schools.
Why reproductive health is a workplace issue
By Sharmila Nagar Vice President
Earlier this year, the SSTUWA contributed to the Australian Education Union’s submission into the inquiry into issues related to menopause and perimenopause to the Senate Community Affairs Reference Committee. The Senate’s final report should be available in September.
Results from the 2023 National Women’s Health Survey found that there is a limited understanding of menopausal symptoms in society. The survey also found that 17 per cent of women (45-65 years old) have taken a break from work in the last five years and in some cases have retired early.
As reported on The Conversation website: “Women retire 7.4 years earlier, on average, than men. This means a loss of earnings upwards of A$577,512 per woman.”
At the start of the year, the SSTUWA contacted several women member networks to gain some understanding of their experience of menopausal symptoms.
A key concern from members is the psychological burden that women carry with the perceived silence around perimenopause and menopause in society.
For many women their experiences are burdensome and often with little or no industrial support to rely on.
Within the classroom environment perimenopause and menopause symptoms vary, with some educators reporting extreme fatigue, hot flushes and
the constant anxiety of unpredictable menstrual cycles.
Furthermore, in any school environment, teachers have a duty of care to their students, so it is extremely difficult to leave students unattended, particularly when experiencing these symptoms which in itself comes with a fear of judgement and shame.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that women working in educational settings are still primary caregivers, thus impacting their leave entitlements to fulfil caring responsibilities, with little or no leave provisions available for personal needs such as the adverse impacts of perimenopause and menopause.
Currently in Western Australia (and at the time of publication) there are no leave provisions that provide specific entitlements for menstrual cycles, perimenopause or menopause.
This suggests that within Western Australian workplaces women are viewed
as not having any requirements separate, or in addition, to any other worker within the state.
Current WA building codes state that the provision of toilets is based upon a minimum ratio which in some workplaces, the scheduling of workers’ breaks will affect the number of toilets required.
The ratio is one toilet per 15 people. In the instance of women experiencing perimenopause or menopause, more consideration would be needed for easy access to toilets.
Further consideration should be given to facilities with showers and cubicles, thus enabling women to meet all the needs of her reproductive life from menstruation and breast feeding, through to menopause.
We know from research that good mental health strategies support sharing of experiences, however in our society perimenopause/menopause is experienced alone with limited sharing of experiences.
These experiences are further compounded for women living in regional or remote communities of Western Australia in areas of extreme weather events. The heat and recent flooding incidences impact further upon women going through perimenopause/menopause.
Through WA’s Gender Equity 10-year plan, SSTUWA welcomed the announcement in 2022 of free period products for all public high schools and now it has been extended to primary schools as well.
We know from research that providing access to tampons and pads ensures that girls’ attendance is not impacted, supports student engagement in learning, removes any concerns for girls experiencing period poverty and improves overall health outcomes.
With the inclusion of period products in schools, it is hoped the WA government will continue to action and implement strategies to reduce stigma associated with women’s reproductive health including perimenopause and menopause.
Recently, Queensland Unions achieved 10 days of paid reproductive leave for public sector workers.
Jacqueline King, general secretary of Queensland Unions said: “We know that one million Australian women have been diagnosed with endometriosis. One in six couples will experience fertility issues. And early detection of breast or prostate cancer can save lives. Access to
additional leave and flexible work options will help them manage these issues better.”
Ms King stated that many workers – women and men – experienced reproductive health issues throughout their working lives.
Their campaign, It’s For Every Body, describes reproductive health leave as an “entitlement that provides leave and flexibility for workers to address reproductive health issues that impact on their capacity to work or take preventative measures like health screening. Reproductive health can impact all workers; it affects everybody, at every stage of their working life including menstruation, managing chronic conditions, managing fertility related issues, breast and prostate screening and issues related to perimenopause and menopause. This list is not exhaustive; these issues can be complex and unique. It is an indication of the nature of health issues that reproductive health leave is intended to cover.”
At the recent 2024 ACTU National Congress, union delegates were asked to rally support for the introduction of 10 days paid reproductive health leave as a national employment standard for all Australian workers.
This paid leave must cover all types of all reproductive health matters: preventative screening for breast and prostate cancer, fertility and IVF treatment, endometriosis,
menstruation or menopausal conditions and other treatments like hysterectomies and vasectomies. It is imperative that this leave entitlement is flexible.
Provision within industrial laws to allow workers to manage reproductive issues is something that benefits us all and we are committed to advocating for these rights until we see them come to fruition in our workplaces.
Facing the Facts about IPS
By Lindsay Hale School leaders consultant
The Independent Public School (IPS) program commenced with 34 schools in 2010. Today, of just over 800 public schools in Western Australia, more than 75 per cent are IPS.
Typically, those outside the IPS system are smaller schools in lower socio-economic environments. Theoretically, the IPS was to create distinctive schools that were closely engaged with their communities. It was to shift the locus of control to deliver more responsive and better decisionmaking.
It was meant to lead to higher satisfaction among students, parents, communities and staff, as well as the broader public. It was to improve performance and care to deliver better student achievement and wellbeing. It was not to be about the system abandoning schools.
There can be little doubt that such a major reform has impacted the shape, function and culture of the whole public education system – by design and otherwise.
How has IPS impacted student achievement and wellbeing? School effectiveness? Teachers and school leaders?
Facing the Facts highlights a raft of issues and calls for a full evaluation of IPS to build on strengths and address weaknesses in the current system.
The report does not recommend turning back the clock. Rather, it asks that an independent evaluation look frankly at where public education in WA now finds itself and provide evidence-based recommendations to deal with our present situation and plan for the future.
There is a wide range of views about IPS among both the profession and the wider community.
Surely, we might all agree it is worthy of evaluation.
Some pointers from recent reports
In Facing the Facts, Dr Carmen Lawrence told us that policy and direction, funding and staffing, teacher and school
leader workload, satisfaction, turnover and performance, as well as student achievement and satisfaction, all need urgent attention. In every case there remain unresolved issues arising from the implementation and consequences of IPS.
Policy and direction:
• There is a lack of clear and shared strategic intent across the system. Schools need to be clear about what is expected and all parts of the system should align their efforts to support schools to succeed.
• Research and policy review are needed before significant changes are implemented, based on evidence and best practice. Ongoing monitoring, evaluation and feedback should inform decisions. The scope of devolved authority needs to be redefined with a focus on improving outcomes for students.
• Well-resourced support services, both within schools and based in regions, are essential to ensure relevance and timely access. Support systems for teachers and school leaders, including professional development and mental health resources, need to be local and responsive. The profession needs a sense of belonging to a coherent system.
Funding and staffing:
• The whole public education system is under-funded and within the system, funding distribution needs to respond more robustly to disadvantage and complexity of student need. Every school should have access to the staff, resources, infrastructure and support needed to get the job done. Guidance is needed on the most effective use of resources, ensuring quality and reducing waste.
• Staffing policies need to be fair and transparent. They should not contribute to duplication of effort and inequality of outcomes.
Teacher and school leader workload, satisfaction, turnover and performance
• Teachers and school leaders are over-burdened and students are missing out. The ever-increasing volume, complexity and intensity of workload is grinding the profession down. Educators need to feel valued and supported.
• Administrative tasks need to be reduced and simplified.
• The implementation of further change in public schools should be focused on outcomes for students and based on more effective system-level planning, including prior consultation with teachers and school leaders and their union, to prevent imposing evergrowing and competing workload demands on staff.
Student achievement and satisfaction:
• Educational performance is stagnating and inequality is increasing.
• All students should have the opportunity to succeed.
• Teachers need quality curriculum materials, time to prepare and assess, and a minimum of distraction from their core business of student learning.
Facing the Facts recommends:
• Improving student outcomes should be the principal and explicit objective of any changes to education policies and practice.
• With a view to identifying the key structural changes needed to improve the functioning of the school system in WA, a thorough, independent review of the Independent Public School (IPS) system should be undertaken to achieve:
o Improved student outcomes.
o Greater educational equality.
o Equity and probity in teacher and school leader selection and promotion.
o Accountability, including the use of funds for designated purposes.
o Better access to support services and curriculum resources.
Even in the department’s own Understanding and Reducing the Workload of Teachers and Leaders, report authors Viviane Robinson and Peter Hamilton told us that the core work of teachers and school leaders has expanded, that expectations are out of hand, that misunderstanding, fear and over-conscientious compliance must be addressed - and that more system support is needed.
In relation to staffing, Robinson and Hamilton recommend:
• That a small group of principals in collaboration with Workforce personnel be convened to revise the recruitment process so that: principals retain authority over the decision to fill a position, final approval of the wording of the advertisement, composition of the short list, if any, and final selection of the successful applicant and a dedicated regionally or centrally based HR expert is responsible for the administration of these steps and ensuring they are compliant with relevant standards.
On system direction they recommend:
• That the current three system priorities for schools should remain unchanged until satisfactory progress is achieved, so leaders and teachers at all levels can focus on them and be given the space and time to learn what is required for success. Ongoing monitoring by the system is required so that progress can be assessed.
• That the Focus document and all other relevant documents should stress the intimate relationship between good teaching, good teacher-student relationships and student success and wellbeing.
• That the Department review how well the Quality Teaching Strategy, Behaviour Management Strategy and Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy are communicated to schools as mutually supportive and essential components of the core business of teaching and learning.
(continues on page 12)
(continued from page 11)
And on system support:
• That the current IPS settings giving principals greater autonomy be retained, but the department review how it can reduce the workload associated with increased school level decision making, particularly in relation to school selection of improvement initiatives, staff selection and infrastructure development.
• That the capacity of school psychologists and other specialists to support principals in achieving an effective whole of school approach to managing student behaviour is reviewed and increased.
Meanwhile, the Public Sector Commission’s Agency Capability Review of the Department of Education is keenly awaited, especially in relation to leadership culture and governance; service excellence; relationships; workforce; and resources and risk. While the review may be unlikely to go to IPS itself, its review of agency capability is in the context of an IPS-based system.
Let’s hope that some opportunities for improvement will be seized:
• Progress needs to be monitored, major reforms such as the IPS need to be evaluated and strategic decisions need to be evidence based.
• Priorities for the whole department need to be reduced, focused and communicated.
• Effort and expenditure need to be coherent and strategically aligned at all levels.
• A concerted effort is required to reduce workload in schools, address the teacher shortage and focus on the core business of public school education.
• Department support services need to be more local, accessible and responsive to need and proactively aligned to change management.
What just happened?
Along the way, of course, there was more than the IPS agenda at play.
Over the same period of time and under successive governments, the funding of public education has reduced. Policy change has been unrelenting and poorly supported.
Perhaps as a by-product of approaches necessary during the Covid emergency, a culture of command and control has taken hold in the system.
Commercialisation has grown as schools desperately seek out resources and services, including professional learning, to meet the demands of the curriculum and student wellbeing – quality is variable, costs are prohibitive and teacher professionalism is reduced.
There is tension between those who seek to split out the principal class and those of us who see school leadership and teaching as roles in one and the same profession.
At the same time, society has been changing. Parenting is changing, mental health issues are growing, behaviours are becoming more aggressive, harms driven by social media are growing and cultures of both entitlement and complaint are rife in the community.
For those in schools it feels like you are more likely to be told what to do, less likely to be properly resourced and supported to do it and more likely to cop the blame – and the shame – when there is an issue. So much for connected autonomy.
Little wonder then that Dr Lawrence tells us that: “The cumulative impact of frequent policy changes, including the increased isolation of schools generated by the IPS initiative, has steadily increased both the intensity and complexity of workloads, lowered morale, increased burnout and created an environment where teachers feel undervalued and disrespected.” Note that Robinson and
Hamilton question “whether the job of teaching as currently performed and organised is doable and sustainable.”
It’s time to face the facts
Facing the facts about IPS (in each case) doesn’t mean just chucking IPS out or just winding the clock back. On the other hand, why is IPS treated as some kind of special beast that is above question and proper evaluation? Public education is a complex system that demands an evidence-based approach. Building a more effective, equitable and sustainable public education system is a noble and never-ending pursuit – and it needs to go way beyond branding and badging.
Further, the branding and badging that was so core to the expansion of IPS is, paradoxically, diluted - with the majority of schools now IPS, with all schools now operating under the Student Centred Funding Model and with some of the more superficial aspects of IPS, such as school boards versus school councils, more widely understood to be superficial.
The soft re-branding of IPS to connected autonomy won’t cut it when, for the most part, we can’t see that much real autonomy and we can’t see that much real connection. In many ways IPS is now rather old news. We need to look to the future.
In this era of data, accountability and transparency it is time to face the facts, evaluate IPS – which essentially means evaluating the public education system – and formulate a balanced way forward, devoid of ideology.
TAFE AIP vote
SSTUWA TAFE members have overwhelmingly voted to accept the Agreement in Principle (AIP) 2023, negotiated on their behalf by the TAFE negotiating team.
The result was 89.84 per cent of those members who voted were in favour, 9.3 per cent against and 0.86 per cent abstained.
The agreement will now be submitted to the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission for ratification. This process can take some time; members will be advised on formal acceptance and issues such as the timing of back pay as the process progresses.
Included in the AIP
Wage increases of:
• Five per cent (from 15/12/23)
• Four per cent (from 15/12/24)
• Three per cent (from 15/12/25)
New Grade 9.
Fifty more Advanced Industry Lecturers.
Increased country incentive allowance.
Pool of $500,000 per annum to support lecturers earning teaching qualifications.
$200 subsidy for industry tickets, certificates and licences.
Additional travel concessions for lecturers in the Pilbara, Kimberley, Goldfields, Carnarvon and Exmouth.
TAFE national photography competition
North Metropolitan TAFE student Samin Zare has been named the winner of the 2024 TAFE national photography competition.
Samin’s winning entry was titled Enjoyable Time (pictured below) and wins $5,000, as well as having their work published in the Australian TAFE Teacher magazine.
The winner was announced in Canberra at a special event to coincide with National TAFE Day on 10 September, attended by the state and territory finalists from the competition.
All finalists were awarded $1,000 and will have their work displayed in Canberra at an exhibition.
The WA runner-up was Paula Blackett from North Metropolitan TAFE for The Abyss of Learning
Other honourable mentions from WA were Marinna Musca (North Metropolitan TAFE), Photography students; Mark Jason Yebes (North Metropolitan TAFE), Take me to the library; and Sidney Osabofu (North Metropolitan TAFE), Painter at Work
Congratulations to Samin and all the WA entrants. Find out more at aeufederal.org.au/photography-comp
National winner: Samin Zare Enjoyable Time
Are the latest NAPLAN results really an epic fail?
By Sally Larsen
Last month, Australia woke up to a barrage of reports about the latest NAPLAN results. Media coverage described an “epic fail”, “plummeting” performances and a “bleak picture”.
Education experts spoke of “grim reading”, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the results “alarming”.
But many of these analyses are misguided and unhelpful.
What were the results?
NAPLAN tests Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students each year in literacy and numeracy. There are four possible achievement bands: needs additional support, developing, strong and exceeding.
In 2024 about one in three school students were into the bottom two proficiency bands, with the remaining two thirds in the top two. About one in 10 students were rated as needing additional support.
These are very similar to last year’s results. The number of students identified
as needing additional support also mirrors the proportions of students falling into the bottom band in the previous NAPLAN reporting system used from 2008 to 2022. Around 10 per cent of students (or fewer) were categorised as below
the national minimum standard in every NAPLAN test year to 2022.
If we look at average results, some 2024 results in some year groups are slightly above those reported in 2023, and others are slightly below. As the national report notes, differences from 2023 are “either not statistically significant or negligible in size”.
None of the differences were more than four points (on a 1,000-point scale), with the exception of Year 7 and Year 9 writing which both improved in 2024 (by 6.5 and 7.3 scale scores respectively).
These results reflect normal population variability and are what you would expect if you administered the same test to different groups of children from year to year, as NAPLAN does.
There’s no long-term decline
As I have written previously, we need to be cautious about narratives that Australian students’ performances in NAPLAN and
other standardised tests are getting worse.
My study published earlier this year clearly shows no long-term decline in NAPLAN results from 2008 through to 2022. It even shows some considerable gains. In particular, Year 3 and Year 5 reading showed good progress at the population level over the 14 years of NAPLAN to 2022.
In 2023, some of the processes around NAPLAN changed. This included reporting results in four proficiency levels within each year, rather than the 10 bands used from 2008 to 2022.
Because there are fewer categories in the new reporting of proficiency, there are now higher percentages of students in each category. As is clearly evident from the news reporting, categorising students into fewer proficiency levels can be misinterpreted.
What does this mean?
Do the 2024 results mean Australian students’ literacy and numeracy proficiency have precipitously declined in since 2022?
The answer is no – it means the test developers changed the way students are categorised. Importantly, in 2024 the proportions of students falling into the four proficiency levels for each test was
no different from those reported for 2023.
There are, of course, enduring differences between different groups of the Australian population, for example students from
Indigenous backgrounds and remote areas are much more likely to be in the lower categories on NAPLAN. These, unfortunately, are not new problems.
Fixation on NAPLAN, with the relentless annual reports of crises and catastrophes in our schools, and accompanying criticisms about teacher quality, is not healthy or helpful for our schools.
Of course, improvements can be made to students’ literacy and numeracy achievement and progression. However, this is unlikely to happen in a school system that is inequitably funded and struggling to retain experienced professionals.
If state and federal governments are serious about resolving the problems in Australian schooling, a first step will be to accurately interpret the evidence about students’ literacy and numeracy.
Sally Larsen is a senior lecturer in education at the University of New England. The opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official policies or positions of the AEU or SSTUWA. This article was first published on The Conversation website and has been reproduced here with permission.
State Council Guest Program
Did you know that you have access to five days of paid leave each year to attend union training? This semester, you have an exciting opportunity to make use of this Trade Union Training leave, with applications for the State Council Conference Guest Program now open.
What is State Council Conference?
Twice each year, elected delegates from every district in Western Australia travel to State Council Conference. Here, they form the SSTUWA’s highest decision-making body, spending two days in discussion and debate about the union’s direction and activities.
Delegates also engage in an element of professional development, with past speakers including Ministers for Education, activists and union leaders from across Australia and the world.
What is the State Council Conference Guest Program?
This November, new educators in their first five years of teaching are invited
to join State Council Conference as guests. You’ll be paired with a mentor and have the opportunity to observe the proceedings of State Council Conference, meet other new educator unionists and learn more about how and why your union works.
“The friendly members of the New Educator Network made me feel very comfortable. The mentor set up was also great as it helped me get an insider view of the way State Council operates.”
2022 State Council Conference new educator guest
How can I apply?
Expressions of interest for the 2024 State Council Guest Program are now open and will close on 26 September. State Council will be held over 15-16 November. Visit the New Educator tab on the SSTUWA website for more information and to apply: sstuwa.org.au/new-educators
2023 State Council Guests: Kathy, Sebastian, Callan, Hannah, Kiany and Leah.
EI World Congress 2024
The 2024 Buenos Aires Education International (EI) World Congress was anticipated to be a special event for any member of the Australian delegation following the retirement announcement of outgoing, long-serving and globally respected president, Susan Hopgood.
The deeply held respect for Ms Hopgood and her leadership was inescapable throughout the week, often recognised at the lectern by speakers commenting their resolution interventions.
The affirmation of respect for the AEU was equally mirrored amongst the almost 200 countries represented and the approximately 1,200 delegates and observers who were in attendance.
It was an honour to welcome the new president of EI, Dr Mugwena Maluleke, a teacher, unionist and social justice activist. Dr. Maluleke was elected by delegates from around the world and assumes this role following an influential tenure as general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU).
The beating heart of democratic values is at the core of Education International. Despite Israeli and Palestinian delegates challenging one another during debate on peace and Middle Eastern-related resolutions, the Congress reflected a shared ability to discuss matters intelligently and procedurally. Whilst protest was made, respect and unity always prevailed.
Education International led the 10th World Congress through diverse resolutions reflecting all of the struggles and challenges delegates face in their home countries.
Solidarity and support were strong and palpable at times for those resolutions, none perhaps more so than those related to climate, peace, the global teacher shortage and privatisation.
The United Nations has recognised the seriousness of the teacher shortage and the millions of students who have not returned to education following the pandemic.
Australia and indeed, WA, have their own issues on this point, but the worldwide scale is extraordinary.
UNESCO says 98 million children are out of school in Sub-Saharan Africa. As Ms
Hopgood said in an inspirational speech, reported by EI, “in response to these challenges, UN Secretary General António Guterres established a High-Level Panel on the Teaching Profession.”
The “historic” panel’s recommendations, released earlier this year, call for longterm funding for well-qualified teachers, competitive salaries and the end of precarious employment. They also support collective bargaining and social dialogue to place teachers at the heart of decision-making.
“The UN put the teaching profession front and centre as the critical element in addressing the education crisis,” Ms Hopgood said. “This is a strong recognition and respect for the teaching profession, again, made possible because of our campaigning on a global scale.”
The policies at the heart of EI’s advocacy on critical issues like the teacher shortage, education financing, collective bargaining and other forms of social dialogue, education technology, refugees, child labour and more have been set as an active agenda for coordinated international action that matches our own, Ms Hopgood added.
Affirmation that teachers across the world face the same challenges can be both depressing and binding. Education International has been the voice that has fearlessly confronted all before it over the last 40 years.
To witness so many delegates from European, African, Asia-Pacific and American countries collaborate is difficult
By Matt Jarman President
to describe. It is achieved through good process and a globally agreed and understood language of trade unionism founded upon similar values no matter how different the cultural understandings of delegates may be.
This alone provides fuel and hope to the successful execution of passed resolutions. Needless to say, should resolutions become actioned items, public education and the work of the teacher and perhaps even climate change and world peace related matters will be better for it.
A series of resolutions related to our immediate context in WA passed at the congress included those on:
• Technology, artificial intelligence and the future of the teaching profession.
• Tackling the teacher shortage.
• Data collection and privacy in education.
• Strengthening the status and quality of early childhood education in a post-Covid-19 pandemic world.
• Solidarity for education and education for solidarity.
As a first time Australian delegate, each day was a privilege to attend. If all the members of the SSTUWA could see this incredible event and this organisation at work, I am very confident they would be endorsing and proud of the contributions they too make towards it.
Unions strive to advance gender equality
Achieving gender equality and equity in education and in unions continues to be a top priority for Education International (EI) member organisations.
A new survey of 123 education unions from around the world reveals a strong union commitment and significant progress made, as well as challenges and areas for improvement to advance equity.
Gender equality was in the spotlight at Education International’s 10th World Congress in Argentina, with several events and resolutions highlighting the topic and aiming to accelerate progress.
Increasing diversity in unions and strong union action for gender equality
Conducted every four years, the survey explores and maps the work of EI member organisations in advancing gender equality and equity in education unions and in education.
The latest edition of the survey indicates several positive developments, including that unions are becoming more inclusive for individuals identifying as women, non-binary or transgender. From 2019 to 2023, the proportion of unions reporting that less than a quarter of their members identified as women dropped from 20 per cent to 12 per cent, while those with 50-74 per cent women members increased from 26 per cent to 28 per cent.
Unions are also taking significant actions to promote gender equality within their own membership and structures. Around 60 per cent of responding unions have implemented written gender equality policies and 52 per cent have gender quota policies. Most of these policies were introduced after 2015, indicating a trend towards the adoption of progressive policies.
Of the surveyed unions, 61 per cent report initiatives against gender-based
violence in their union, with a major focus on raising awareness. In addition, over 50 per cent of unions have embedded Convention 190 of the International Labour Organisation within their structures, joining the global movement to end violence and harassment in the world of work.
Around 80 per cent of unions conduct training activities focused on gender issues and non-discrimination in education, aiming to increase gender equality in decision-making structures.
Furthermore, 70 per cent of unions have established advisory committees or networks on gender-related issues.
The survey also shows that unions continue to work to promote and advance gender-transformative education. Unions are working to challenge stereotypes, attitudes, norms
and practices through teacher training and curriculum development.
Unions are also advocating for the rights of marginalised groups, such as students living in extreme poverty, students with disabilities, out-of-school children and students from remote rural areas, showing that many already take an intersectional approach to working towards gender equality.
Challenges persist: Leadership roles and growing anti-feminism
Despite strong gains in membership diversity and the growing use of quota systems and gender equality policies, senior leadership roles in education unions continue to be male dominated.
The survey shows that only 25 per cent of general secretaries and 40 per cent of
Pictures: Education International
deputy general secretaries are women, with little improvement since 2010. This is attributed to disproportionate workloads, societal and community expectations and the scrutiny faced by women which prevent them from pursuing leadership positions.
Supporting and encouraging women’s leadership in education unions is a key priority for Education International.
“Women’s leadership is not just about achieving equality; it is about enriching our educational environments and ensuring that every voice is heard and valued. We must recognise that diverse leadership is not just beneficial; it is essential for creating innovative solutions and driving sustainable progress.”
Johanna Jaara Åstrand, Education International Vice President
Unions also warned about the threat to progress posed by increasingly powerful far right and anti-feminist movements, as well as conservative religious political parties which can put pressure on organisations and individuals to retain or regress to social norms that restrict the basic human rights of women and marginalised groups.
Gender equality
Gender equality and equity in education unions and education more broadly was highlighted extensively at EI’s 10th World Congress taking place in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 26 July to 2 August.
On 28 July, hundreds of women education unionists and allies came together for the Women’s Caucus, an inclusive platform
aiming to address the unique challenges faced by women in the education sector, advance gender equality and challenge longstanding disparities in the field of education and the world of work.
“Through this caucus, we aim to amplify the voices of women in our unions,” stressed Johanna Jaara Åstrand, EI vice president, in her opening speech at the Women’s Caucus.
“Too often, these voices have been marginalised and overlooked. Yet, it is these very voices that offer unique perspectives and solutions to some of the most pressing challenges we face today.
“By centering and prioritising women’s experiences in education and in our unions, we pave the way for more inclusive policies, practices and outcomes. Your voices, your stories and your solutions are the driving force behind our collective progress.”
Haldis Holst, EI deputy general secretary, presented the results of the latest EI gender survey and how it can help inform union action for gender equity going forward.
The Caucus also gave participants the opportunity to hear from colleagues from around the world on a variety of highly relevant topics, including comprehensive sexuality education and fighting curricular restrictions in the United States, union mobilisation to end school-related gender-based violence in Africa, the experience of Irish unionists in implementing a comprehensive menopause policy, insights from colleagues from New Zealand on approaching climate change as a feminist issue and the work of education
unionists in Paraguay on the care economy, its connection with education and its role in fostering equitable societies.
“We are women. We are for peace, for democracy, for the autonomy of our people. For sovereignty, for solidarity and for inclusion. We are committed to the defence of public education. Viva the women of Education International, viva public education across the world.”
Fátima da Silva, General Secretary of the CNTE, Brazil
One of the highlights of the Caucus was the session honouring and celebrating the struggle and the legacy of the mothers and grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo: the women who stood up for their missing children and grandchildren, helped shine a light on the human rights abuses of the regime at the international level and were instrumental in bringing dictatorship to an end in Argentina.
Moderated by Sonia Alesso, EI Executive Board member and general secretary of CTERA Argentina, the session featured interventions from María Adela Gard de Antokoletz, member of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo - Founding Line, Claudia Victoria Poblete Hlaczik, recovered granddaughter - Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and leading Argentine educators and feminists Dora Barrancos and Graciela Morgade.
The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect any official policies or positions of the AEU or SSTUWA. This article was first published on the Education International website and has been reproduced here with permission.
Five tips to build strong leadership
“Challenging, but Achievable” - this catchphrase, borrowed from Kylie Bice, education consultant and owner of Growing Up Greatness, is one that simply captures the nature of middle leadership. Whether your title is head of department, head of learning area or program coordinator, the role can be extremely challenging. The big question is, how do we make it achievable?
Whether you were strategic in earning this role or found yourself stepping into it due to contextual circumstances, leading a team of teachers to engage students in the delivery of the curriculum or programs you are passionate about requires time, patience and outstanding communication skills.
With increasing workloads, what seems like ever-changing curriculum, a litany of compliance tasks and the responsibility of a (sometimes very large) team of professionals on your shoulders, it’s easy to see why middle leadership is such a challenging role to take on.
Many report feeling sandwiched between wanting to protect their staff from the data and compliance workload to balancing that with following the directions from their executive team, who experience their own workload pressures from the system itself.
So how do we achieve everything we (and our school) want to achieve as middle
leaders? Here are five strategies good leaders use to make the job achievable.
Build your team
Whether you get to choose your staff or not, building your team focuses on providing clear guidelines around how you will work and how you want your team to operate. Always model the behaviour you expect.
Be respectful of individual needs, communicate your expectations clearly and explicitly and have compassion for those people as individuals who want to have a life beyond the school gates.
This should empower you to create a cohesive team who have each other’s backs and work effectively together for the best outcomes for your students and contributes to positive mental health outcomes for the whole department. This way, you’ll get the best out of your team.
Create a vision
A shared vision is needed to ensure you share the same professional values and employ a range of strategies to achieve your vision. Create it together, as a team. People are much more inclined to be on board with something they have ownership of.
Write your vision down. Display it in your collegiate office area and revisit it regularly throughout the year. Unpack the vision and set specific SMART (specific,
By Nicola Sorrell Growth Team project officer
measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound) goals which are included in your operational plan that will lead the team to success. Review, feedback and update the goals as you achieve them.
Utilise your staff
Utilise the expertise and passion of your colleagues. Everyone has experience and skills that can be harnessed to support the team, engage that difficult class, or work effectively with colleagues outside of your team. Use this to everyone’s advantage.
Lead by example
As we do with our students, set the tone for your expectations and demonstrate them with your staff.
Communicate respectfully, behave professionally, actively listen and respond, set boundaries and limits on your working day by following the new Schools General Agreement 2023 and Award 1993, when registered, which will provide further clauses on workload reduction, and keep up to date with what’s happening within the system, as well as your school.
Don’t micro-manage
Micro-managing is endemic in the education system. It feels like we are all micro-managed to within an inch of our lives. But as middle leaders, you can choose the alternative – have faith in your staff.
Know what each person’s strengths and weaknesses are and empower them to play to their strengths.
Teachers are professionals who know their content, have sound behaviour management skills, are excellent communicators and want the best for their students, so have faith in their abilities and trust them to do their job well.
If a member of your team needs additional support in one of the areas mentioned, then address that with the individual. Don’t alter the way you want your team to function because of one person.
WA MENTAL HEALTH WEEK
What do teachers do in the school holidays? They work, plan and rest
By Vaughan Cruickshank and Brendon Hyndman
Many people believe teaching is an easy job involving short days and long holidays. Anyone working in the profession, however, will tell you this is not the truth.
They will tell you teaching is a rewarding job, but that teachers are stressed and overworked. This has been made worse by a severe teacher shortage in recent years.
In fact, teaching is almost never a 9am to 3pm job; a lot of “invisible” work happens before school drop-off and after pickup time. And the school holidays, while allowing some much-needed rest for teachers, can also be a busy time for them, as they prepare for the term and year ahead.
More than just teaching students
Classrooms generally open around 8:30am and most teachers are at school well before this time to prepare for the day. They don’t get much of a rest throughout the school day – even their lunch “break” is often spent supervising children.
The job of a teacher involves much more than just teaching students.
After the school day, teachers can stay later to assist students who require extra help and there are usually meetings several afternoons a week.
Additional roles are also expected at different times throughout the year. These include things like:
• Coaching school sports teams.
• Running and attending information nights.
• Working on school camps.
• Attending school fairs and discos.
• Conducting parent-teacher interviews.
• Organising and producing school concerts.
After that, many teachers take student work home with them to mark at night and on weekends, especially around report card season.
These non-teaching roles and responsibilities can all add up to teachers doing over 15 hours of unpaid overtime
each week, on top of the 37-40 hours of work their positions require.
Consequently, teachers are often exhausted when the end of a term arrives.
Work over the holidays
While most teachers have students in their classes for around 40 weeks a year, they are not just on holiday the rest of the time. Many teachers are busy beyond business hours and work during the holidays to meet the needs of children, parents, colleagues, leaders and system requirements.
Yes, teachers use this non-teaching time
to rest and refresh themselves, but they also spend time doing all the tasks they don’t have time to do during the busy school terms.
This can include:
• Planning and preparing for the term ahead.
• Designing curriculum-aligned learning tasks at the appropriate level for 25-30 different children and developing the required resources (such as activity cards and assignments).
• Marking and providing feedback on student work.
• Administrative tasks such as setting up and decorating classrooms, paperwork and writing student support referrals.
• Purchasing items for the classroom.
• Uploading data to various parent communication and reporting platforms.
• Training and various professional development units.
• Conducting extra-curricular activities such as summer school, holiday sports camps and school trips.
These things are not easily done while you are also teaching and managing the behaviour of 25-30 students, so many get pushed to the holidays.
Enjoying things like being able to go to the bathroom whenever they want is also a welcome change!
Resting, recovering and catching up on life
And similar to people in other professions, teachers use their holidays to rest, recover and decompress. They catch up on things like sleep and Netflix and gardening and dentist appointments and maybe go on a holiday with their family.
It should be acknowledged teachers generally don’t get a choice when they take their leave. They often cannot afford to travel with their families as their holidays are in the most expensive and most crowded times of year.
So while teachers may appear to get more holidays than most other professions, the reality is they are not actually on holiday for all of this time.
It is more a mix of flexible work from home, school-based meetings and preparation for the following teaching term and some holiday downtime to unwind in between tasks.
Research shows many people deeply appreciate teachers’ dedication to our school communities.
However, there is work to be done to change widespread and incorrect perceptions about their work hours or holidays, which misrepresents and devalues the work they do.
Vaughan Cruickshank is program director – health and physical education, maths/ science in the faculty of education at the University of Tasmania. Brendon Hyndman is senior manager – research, innovation and impact at Brisbane Catholic Education and also associate professor of education (adjunct) at Charles Sturt University. The opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official policies or positions of the AEU or SSTUWA. This article was first published on The Conversation website and has been reproduced here with permission.
A brief history of AI
By Adrian Hopgood
With the current buzz around artificial intelligence (AI), it would be easy to assume that it is a recent innovation. In fact, AI has been around in one form or another for more than 70 years. To understand the current generation of AI tools and where they might lead, it is helpful to understand how we got here.
Each generation of AI tools can be seen as an improvement on those that went before, but none of the tools are headed toward consciousness.
The mathematician and computing pioneer Alan Turing (pictured bottom, page 25) published an article in 1950 with the opening sentence: “I propose to consider the question, ‘Can machines think?’”. He goes on to propose something called the imitation game, now commonly called the Turing test, in which a machine is considered intelligent if it cannot be distinguished from a human in a blind conversation.
Five years later, came the first published use of the phrase “artificial intelligence” in a proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence.
From those early beginnings, a branch of AI that became known as expert systems was developed from the 1960s onward. Those systems were designed to capture human expertise in specialised domains. They used explicit representations of knowledge and are, therefore, an example of what’s called symbolic AI.
There were many well-publicised early successes, including systems for identifying organic molecules, diagnosing blood infections and prospecting for minerals. One of the most eye-catching examples was a system called R1 that, in 1982, was reportedly saving the Digital Equipment Corporation US$25m per annum by designing efficient configurations of its minicomputer systems.
The key benefit of expert systems was that a subject specialist without any coding expertise could, in principle, build and maintain the computer’s knowledge base. A software component known as the inference engine then applied that knowledge to solve new problems within the subject domain, with a trail of evidence providing a form of explanation.
These were all the rage in the 1980s, with organisations clamouring to build their own expert systems and they remain a useful part of AI today.
Enter machine learning
The human brain contains around 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, interconnected by a dendritic (branching) structure. So, while expert systems aimed to model human
knowledge, a separate field known as connectionism was also emerging that aimed to model the human brain in a more literal way. In 1943, two researchers called Warren McCulloch and Walter Pitts had produced a mathematical model for neurons, whereby each one would produce a binary output depending on its inputs.
One of the earliest computer implementations of connected neurons was developed by Bernard Widrow and Ted Hoff in 1960. Such developments were interesting, but they were of limited practical use until the development of a learning algorithm for a software model called the multi-layered perceptron (MLP) in 1986.
The MLP is an arrangement of typically three or four layers of simple simulated
neurons, where each layer is fully interconnected with the next. The learning algorithm for the MLP was a breakthrough. It enabled the first practical tool that could learn from a set of examples (the training data) and then generalise so that it could classify previously unseen input data (the testing data).
It achieved this feat by attaching numerical weightings on the connections between neurons and adjusting them to get the best classification with the training data, before being deployed to classify previously unseen examples.
The MLP could handle a wide range of practical applications, provided the data was presented in a format that it could use. A classic example was the recognition of handwritten characters, but only if the images were pre-processed to pick out the key features.
Newer AI models
Following the success of the MLP, numerous alternative forms of neural network began to emerge. An important one was the convolutional neural network (CNN) in 1998, which was similar to an MLP apart from its additional layers of neurons for identifying the key features of an image, thereby removing the need for pre-processing.
Both the MLP and the CNN were discriminative models, meaning that they could make a decision, typically classifying their inputs to produce an interpretation, diagnosis, prediction or recommendation. Meanwhile, other neural network models were being developed that were generative, meaning that they could
create something new, after being trained on large numbers of prior examples.
Generative neural networks could produce text, images or music, as well as generate new sequences to assist in scientific discoveries.
Two models of generative neural network have stood out: generative-adversarial networks (GANs) and transformer networks. GANs achieve good results because they are partly “adversarial”, which can be thought of as a built-in critic that demands improved quality from the “generative” component.
Transformer networks have come to prominence through models such as GPT4 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer 4) and its text-based version, ChatGPT. These large-language models (LLMs) have been trained on enormous datasets, drawn from the internet. Human feedback improves their performance further still through so-called reinforcement learning.
As well as producing an impressive generative capability, the vast training set has meant that such networks are no longer limited to specialised narrow domains like their predecessors, but they are now generalised to cover any topic.
Where is AI going?
The capabilities of LLMs have led to dire predictions of AI taking over the world. Such scaremongering is unjustified, in my view. Although current models are evidently more powerful than their predecessors, the trajectory remains firmly toward greater capacity, reliability
and accuracy, rather than toward any form of consciousness.
As Professor Michael Wooldridge remarked in his evidence to the UK Parliament’s House of Lords in 2017, “the Hollywood dream of conscious machines is not imminent and indeed I see no path taking us there”. Seven years later, his assessment still holds true.
There are many positive and exciting potential applications for AI, but a look at the history shows that machine learning is not the only tool. Symbolic AI still has a role, as it allows known facts, understanding and human perspectives to be incorporated.
A driverless car, for example, can be provided with the rules of the road rather than learning them by example. A medical diagnosis system can be checked against medical knowledge to provide verification and explanation of the outputs from a machine learning system.
Societal knowledge can be applied to filter out offensive or biased outputs. The future is bright and it will involve the use of a range of AI techniques, including some that have been around for many years.
Adrian Hopgood is an independent consultant and Emeritus Professor of Intelligent Systems at the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. The opinions expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect any official policies or positions of the AEU or SSTUWA. This article was first published on The Conversation website and has been reproduced here with permission.
National education and union news
Resources delayed are resources denied
The Australian Education Union (AEU) acknowledges the significant $768 million funding deal struck between the Albanese Government and the Northern Territory.
However, the AEU is calling on the federal government to step up for the other states and fulfil their promise to provide full funding to public schools by increasing their contribution from 22.5 per cent to 25 per cent, rather than pressuring states to sign a deal which falls short.
AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said she is deeply concerned about the government’s approach to school funding citing the deal as an ultimatum.
“The critical funding and support needed for Australian public school staff and students should not be compromised amidst a political spat between
governments which has the potential to deny long awaited promised funding for public schools,” said Ms Haythorpe.
“With only 1.3 per cent of public schools funded at the minimum benchmark, the Schooling Resource Standard, the stark reality is that public schools have waited more than a decade for the vital resources that they need to deliver high quality education for every child.
“Students on the cusp of finishing Year 12 are amongst the first cohort of students who were promised this funding but have not had the full benefits they were entitled to.
“In the lead up to the last federal election, Prime Minister Albanese promised to ensure that every public school was fully funded. This current deal on the table, of an additional 2.5 per cent or nothing, is inadequate and does not deliver on their promise.
“This has the potential to entrench inequality in a way that we have not seen since the Coalition Government changed the Australian Education Act in 2017. The government cannot expect to implement a reform agenda without resolving the public school funding negotiations first.
“Delivery of full funding must be a joint commitment from both the Commonwealth and the state and territory governments. The fact that five states and one territory are refusing to sign the current deal is a clear sign that the Albanese Government’s offer is not good enough.”
Time is quickly running out on this issue with school principals, teachers, education support staff and parents calling on all governments to work together to deliver full funding for public schools now.
Ending the stand-off on school funding
Save Our Schools (SOS) has called on the Commonwealth and state governments to end their stand-off on school funding.
SOS national convenor Trevor Cobbold said: “This disgraceful squabbling over cost-shifting by governments threatens the future education and lives of millions of students. It puts at risk government goals of increasing Year 12 completion rates and participation in tertiary education.”
“It is now 12 years since the Gonski Report identified the need to boost funding for public schools and disadvantaged students to improve equity in school outcomes. The shameful failure of governments to fully fund public schools cannot continue any longer.
Governments must embrace Gonski’s recommendation for cooperative federalism in school funding.
“Public schools continue to be vastly under-funded while private schools are over-funded. In 2024, public schools are funded at only 87.6 per cent of their Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) on average across Australia while private schools are funded at 104.9 per cent of their SRS. The under-funding of public schools is estimated at about $6.8 billion per year.
“Public schools are massively underfunded in every state except the ACT. Private schools are over-funded in every state except the Northern Territory.”
Mr. Cobbold called for governments to
adopt a three-point plan from the SOS:
• The Commonwealth Government increase its share of funding for public schools from 20 per cent to 25 per cent of their SRS.
• State governments renounce the accounting tricks in the current agreements and increase their share of funding public schools to 75 per cent of their SRS.
• The Commonwealth and state governments end their over-funding of private schools.
“The Commonwealth should play a greater role in increasing equity in school outcomes. This is a national goal for the national government,” Mr Cobbold said.
“Public schools will not be fully funded until the states renounce the accounting tricks that defraud public schools of about $2.4 billion alone. The accounting tricks allow the states to claim expenditures excluded from how the SRS is measured as part of their share of the SRS funding for public schools. These expenditures include capital depreciation,
school transport and expenditure on regulatory authorities.
“The Commonwealth and the states must also end their over-funding of private schools. It will contribute to fully funding public schools.”
Mr Cobbold said that fully funding public schools was critical to improving school
outcomes and reducing inequity, as well as future economic prosperity.
“Overcoming the effects of educational disadvantage remains the fundamental challenge facing Australian governments. The Commonwealth and state governments must come to their senses and end the stand-off,” he said.
Record low gender pay gap closing faster under Labor
The gender pay gap is closing three times faster under the Albanese Government, than under the previous Coalition Government, according to new ABS wage data.
The pay gap is now 11.5 per cent, a record low, down from 14.1 per cent when the Albanese Government came to power. The gap is now closing at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent, more than three times faster than the far slower annual rate of 0.4 per cent on average achieved under the previous Coalition Government.
The gender pay gap has closed faster recently for a range of reasons, including strong growth in full-time jobs for women over the past two years; strong increases in award wages; and the union-won pay increase for aged care workers.
There are now a record 3.9 million women employed full-time in Australia and 308,000 full-time jobs for women have been created since the government changed in May 2022. Full-time employment has grown faster on average under the ALP (5.1 per cent
annual growth) compared to the LNP (2.4 per cent).
The federal government has also funded aged care pay rises of up to 23 per cent, supported three good increases in minimum and award wages that predominantly help women in lower paid jobs, and has toughened company reporting on the gender pay gap.
The official measure of the Gender Pay Gap is the difference in average ordinary time earnings between men and women working on a full-time basis. Women in full-time work now earn on average $1,782 per week, compared to men earning $2,014.
The gender pay gap is caused by the undervaluation of work in occupations that are dominated by women, particularly in care, as well as discrimination in recruitment, hiring and the setting of pay.
Women are also far more likely to be in part-time and insecure work and have significant career breaks because of the
disproportionate and unpaid caring work they perform.
The government’s recent strengthening of flexible working rights and paid parental leave are also expected to help women better secure the hours and pay they need.
The gender pay gap is expected to shrink further given the government’s commitment to fund a 15 per cent pay increase for early childhood education and care workers phased in from December, and stronger protections for workers misclassified as casuals, who are mostly women, which came into effect at the end of August.
ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien said: “Working women deserve equal pay and Australia’s economy can’t afford to lose the skills, talent, and experience of working women. Australian unions won’t stop until we smash the gender pay gap altogether because Australia needs the full and equal participation of women in the workforce.”
Education & Training Centre
Term 4 events
Industrial Training Events (TUT)
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Online Professional Learning Events via Zoom
Featured events Term 4
Middle Leaders - The Meat in the Sandwich: Half Day Event (TUT)
Wednesday 16 October 2024 Noon – 3.15pm
Registrations now open
Join us for lunch and then an afternoon networking with other secondary head of departments (HODs), head of learning areas (HOLAs) and program coordinators (PCs) to share ideas related to issues in secondary schools. You will hear from a range of senior staff from the SSTUWA including Natalie Blewitt, senior vice president and Lindsay Hale, school leader consultant.
Nicola Sorrell, SSTUWA Growth Team officer and a former HOD, will lead you through some guided conversations and opportunities to discuss how to avoid being the meat in the sandwich in your school.
2024 Women’s Conference: (TUT)
Count Her In - Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress
Friday 25 October 2024 9am – 3.15pm
Registrations now open
The SSTUWA Women’s Conference is an opportunity for members who identify as female within our union to come together. The focus for this conference is based on the United Nations International Women’s Day theme, Count Her In. It supports the notion of creating pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere. Together we must ensure women and girls are given equal opportunities to build their capabilities and strengthen their capacity to learn, earn and lead.
Join us at the 2024 Conference to hear from speakers who support this priority. Be inspired and learn from some amazing women throughout the day.
Morning keynote speaker:
Natasha Short Founder and Director of Kimberley Jiyigas
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AutoBahn
Mechanical and electrical services.
Members receive 10% off any AutoBahn service or repair, capped at $100. sstuwa.org.au/autobahn
Bayswater Mazda
Exclusive offer including fuel card, servicing and more.
sstuwa.org.au/bayswatermazda
Bob Jane T-Marts
National fleet pricing on a range of products and services. sstuwa.org.au/bobjane
easifleet
$250 Magic Hand Carwash voucher with any easifleet procured novated lease. sstuwa.org.au/easifleet
Europcar
10% discount on vehicle hire in Australia. sstuwa.org.au/europcar
Fleet Network
Package your next car and save on tax. Bonus gift with vehicle delivery. sstuwa.org.au/fleetnetwork
Motor Market by Union Shopper
You choose the car, then we find you the lowest price. sstuwa.org.au/motormarket
Western Motor Vehicle
Consultants
We’ll find a car you’ll love. Save time and money when sourcing your next vehicle. sstuwa.org.au/westernmotors
Computers
Altronics
Build it yourself electronics centre. VIP trade discount in store and online. sstuwa.org.au/altronics
Apple on Campus
For details visit: sstuwa.org.au/apple
Dell
Save up to 5% off selected items. sstuwa.org.au/dell
HP Computers
Huge savings for members on laptops, accessories, printers and more. sstuwa.org.au/hp
PLE Computers
Save on your IT with access to the PLE Computers academic portal. sstuwa.org.au/ple
The Good Guys Commercial
Online access to live discounted pricing on The Good Guys’ range. sstuwa.org.au/thegoodguys
Educational Resources
Effective Group Work
Beyond Cooperative Learning. By Barrie Bennett. sstuwa.org.au/effectivegroupwork
Graphic Intelligence
Possibilities for Assessment and Instruction. By Barrie Bennett. sstuwa.org.au/graphicintelligence
Instructional Intelligence
Building Instructional Expertise for the Classroom. An SSTUWA project in collaboration with Barrie Bennett. sstuwa.org.au/instructionalintelligence
Teacher Superstore
5-10% discount, in store and online. sstuwa.org.au/teachersuperstore
Entertainment
Movie tickets
Discounts on physical tickets (greater savings) and instant digital tickets. sstuwa.org.au/movietickets
Outback Splash
Featuring both water and year-round attractions. Discounted tickets for members.
sstuwa.org.au/outbacksplash
Rockface
Indoor rock climbing in Balcatta. $15 all day climbing pass with harness hire. sstuwa.org.au/rockface
For more information visit sstuwa.org.au/benefits and the benefits tab of the SSTUWA App
Food and Wine
Campbells
Access wholesale prices with a complimentary day pass. sstuwa.org.au/campbells
Cellar d’Or
Best value winery tour in the Margaret River Region. 10% discount for members. sstuwa.org.au/cellardor
Taste Bud Tours
Swan Valley “Speed Grazing” – 20% discount. Good Food, Wine & Cider (am) or Good Food, Wine & Beer (pm). sstuwa.org.au/tastebudtours
Health and Wellbeing
St John
First aid saves lives. Discounted first aid courses and kits for members. sstuwa.org.au/stjohn
WA Opticians
20% discount on spectacle frames and lenses. Perth and East Perth. sstuwa.org.au/waopticians
Housing
Houspect
Buy, build and invest with confidence. $50 discount on prepurchase building inspections. sstuwa.org.au/houspect
Johns Building Supplies
Trade prices on paint and painters’ hardware. Builders prices on all other hardware lines. sstuwa.org.au/jbs
SkylightsWA
Specialising in skylights and roof ventilation, servicing all regions of WA. 7% discount off selected products. sstuwa.org.au/skylightswa
Wattyl
15% off Wattyl paints, stains and accessories at Wattyl Paint Centres in WA.
sstuwa.org.au/wattyl
Insurance and Legal
Journey Cover insurance
For details visit: sstuwa.org.au/journeycover
SSTUWA Legal Services
Access to quality legal services for both work-related and personal matters. sstuwa.org.au/legal
Teachers Health Fund
Join the thousands of teachers who have already made the switch. sstuwa.org.au/teachershealth
Teachers Health – Travel
For details visit: sstuwa.org.au/travelinsurance
Wills for members
Members can access a complimentary simple will, where appropriate. For more information or details about a complex will, visit: sstuwa.org.au/wills
Shopping
Electrical buying
Let Union Shopper find the best deal on your electrical purchases. sstuwa.org.au/electricalbuying isubscribe
Up to an extra 10% off any print and digital magazine subscription; over 4,000 titles. sstuwa.org.au/isubscribe
Jackson’s Drawing Supplies
10% discount in Jackson’s 12 shops and online.
sstuwa.org.au/jacksons
Petals Flowers & Gifts
20% off flowers and gifts. World-wide delivery available. sstuwa.org.au/petals
Teacher Superstore
5-10% discount, in store and online. sstuwa.org.au/teachersuperstore
The Good Guys Commercial
Online access to live discounted pricing on The Good Guys’ full range. sstuwa.org.au/thegoodguys
Travel and Accommodation
Accor Hotels
Great savings for teachers at Accor Hotels in the Asia Pacific region. sstuwa.org.au/accorhotels
Choice Hotels
Choice Hotels welcomes SSTUWA members with exclusive rates at locations in Australia and NZ. sstuwa.org.au/choicehotels
Experience Oz
Save 10% on over 3,000 experiences across Oz + NZ. sstuwa.org.au/experienceoz
Inn the Tuarts Guest Lodge
Forest retreat, 4-star, with indoor pool, Jacuzzi, sauna and BBQ. Adults (12 years+) only. Five minutes to Busselton. Studios and rooms. 22.5% off rack rate or best available rate. sstuwa.org.au/innthetuarts
Jarrah Grove Forest Retreat
Luxurious, self-contained accommodation in Margaret River. Discounted rates for members. sstuwa.org.au/jarrahgrove
Mandurah Houseboats
10% discount on houseboat holidays. sstuwa.org.au/houseboats
Metro Hotel Perth City
15% discount on the best available rate. Located in East Perth near the WACA and Gloucester Park. sstuwa.org.au/metroperth
Rottnest ferry tickets
Save up to $15 on Rottnest ferry tickets with WestClub. sstuwa.org.au/rottnest
Classifieds
Block for sale: Jurien Bay
700sqm fully serviced, ready to build on, one block back from beach. Close to schools, town centre, marina and recreational water activities. Perfect holiday, retiree or sea-change locale. $108,000 (negotiable).
Peter: 0437 377 361 | westside@tower.net.au
Augusta
3x1 spacious holiday rental. One double, one queen, five singles. 200m from the river and town. Magnificent river views. One large living area, three sided veranda and BBQ. Provide own linen and towels. $150 per night plus $50 cleaning fee. gregrowl@iinet.net.au
Dunsborough (Quindalup)
Large 4x2 holiday home on Geographe Bay Rd. Swimming beach 30m away. Free use of private boat mooring. Room to park boats with boat ramp a minute away. Slow combustion wood heater and reverse-cycle air-con. Available all year except for leavers’ vacation. No pets. 0419 943 203 a_r_moore@bigpond.com
Dwellingup
Après Huit and Dwell Cottage provide luxury self-contained accommodation set in beautifully landscaped gardens. Can be rented separately or together. Après Huit: 2x2, main house. Dwell Cottage: 1x1, furnished in a French theme. Robert: 0419 954 079 dwellcottage.com.au
Dwellingup
In need of a tree change? Time out to reconnect with nature? Time for a vacation in Dwellingup’s Jarrah forest, 90 minutes from Perth. Chuditch Holiday Home is perfect for couples, groups and families. It’s centrally located and sleeps up to eight people. Shani: 0402 615 235 shanivore@hotmail.com
Frankland River
Private secluded retreat. Choose from three different types of separate accommodation. Three bedroom homestead: two king beds, two single beds – sleeps six (no pets). Two adults $195/night, children under 13 $25/night, extra adult guests $50/night. One bedroom chalet: one queen bed – sleeps two. $139/night, adults only. One bedroom cabin: one queen bed – sleeps two. $169/night, adults only. franklandriver.com.au
Jade: 0430 450 093 | Sam: 0413 160 093
Fremantle
Short term accommodation in central Fremantle. Recently refurbished with all conveniences for modern living. Townhouse has three queen-sized bedrooms plus provision for two singles.
Enjoy time in the rear garden, complete with BBQ. Secure parking for two cars, access controlled by electric gates. 9430 4458 | 0407 083 174 info@westerley.com.au
Fremantle
Staycation? Attending a function? Cosmopolitan getaway? Fremantle is the place. Cafes, restaurants and breweries. Markets, beach, art galleries, museums, theatre, events, shopping, skate park, Ferris wheel, whale watching... What more could you want? Eco-Gallery Apartment is stylish, centrally located, sleeps three and has secure parking. (08) 6323 2339 admin@smartstaywa.com.au
Kallaroo
Serenity Escape is a 2x1 apartment with full kitchen, offering comfort and convenience. 20 min walk to beach, 5 min drive to train station, walking distance to Whitfords Brewing Co, cinema and shops. Toiletries, slippers and coffee machine provided. Min two nights. Sleeps four, or five with mattress. No pets. $125/night for 3 people; $10/night per extra person. Molly: 0428 166 559 mollysletters@gmail.com
Kalbarri
Clean, tidy, self-contained family-friendly 3x1 brick house at the top end of a quiet cul-de-sac. Sleeps eight: two x queen beds and two x bunk beds. Close to Blue Holes Beach, 15 min walk to town. kalbarriwa.net.au | 0435 845 504
Lancelin
Large 5x2 holiday home. Everything within walking distance, close to beaches and town centre. Sleeps 14. Large wrap around verandah with outdoor seating/eating and bbq. Heaps of parking for boats or quads. $45/night/person (min six). Min two nights. SMS: 0412 804 345
Margaret River
Two bedrooms, private, comfortable, fully equipped stone cottage with fireplace, located amongst the forest opposite Boranup National Park, 17km south of Margaret River on Caves Road. Close to beaches, wineries, caves and galleries. $150 per night for two people, or provide own linen and towels for $120 per night. Russell: 0418 933 270
Nannup
Seraphim Retreat is a pet friendly 3x1 character farm cottage, five minutes from friendly Nannup. Set in acreage, with established gardens and stunning valley views. Air conditioned and wood heater. Horse riders can bring their horses to access our arena and trails. Teacher discount: $159 weekends, $149 midweek. See website for details.
seraphimretreatnannup.com SMS 0420 832 510
Safety Bay
Very clean and tidy, traditional style 3x1 duplex in Safety Bay. Fully furnished and equipped. One street from beach. Presently a minimum stay requirement (this may change).
cnjn@aapt.net.au
Trigg
Self contained accommodation. Kitchen, laundry, queen sized bed plus fold out double couch in lounge. Free WiFi and Netflix. Own entrance. Find us on Facebook.
Email 50 words or fewer to editor@sstuwa.org.au along with your union membership number. Free for members.
Classifieds
Yallingup
Rammed earth cottage, 2x1, nestled amongst bushland. Well located, short walk to Studio Gallery Bistro, two-minute drive to Caves House. Beaches, galleries, wineries and restaurants close by. Sleeps six. No dogs. stayz.com.au (property 136151)
Kirsty: 0419 927 660
Tranquillity Counselling, Psychotherapy and Career Development
I provide holistic, confidential practical counselling to help you deal with an array of issues, some being: general relationship, mental health, anger issues/management, anxiety, depression, self-harm, grief and trauma, addiction, abuse, palliative care. Milica Robinson, MCnsig&Psychthpy, GradCertCareerDev, BEd. 0422 358 187
Retirement coach
Are you recently retired or retiring soon? You probably have a financial plan in place but developing a plan for the non-financial side of retirement can be as important as preparing financially. I offer support and guidance for the transition from work to retirement, helping you to find purpose and meaning in retirement. Contact me to arrange an obligation free chat. retirementcoaching01@gmail.com
Marriage celebrant
Marriage celebrant with 12 years of experience, working in the Peel, South West and Perth areas. Specialising in creating personalised ceremonies for couples at their chosen wedding location. I’d love to help you plan your special day!
Meridith: 0400 312 535 meri.lake4@gmail.com
Marriage celebrant
Heart Centered Ceremonies for couples wanting a personalised wedding. Lee will help you design your dream wedding – a memorable occasion. Mention this ad to receive a discount.
Lee: 0404 655 567 leehalligancelebrant.com.au
Marriage celebrant
Experienced professional celebrant available, all areas. Formal or informal, large or small weddings. A Beautiful Ceremony will help you design an unforgettable and uniquely personal ceremony.
Mary: 0418 906 391 maryburke40@hotmail.com
Funeral celebrant
I am an experienced funeral celebrant. It will be my honour to assist you in the cocreation and presentation of a ceremony that serves to honour your loved one, by revealing their essence through a uniquely constructed and presented combination of spoken word, rituals, symbols, audio and visual displays.
0449 075 001
Kc.fcelebrant@gmail.com
Learn to social dance
Learn jive, waltz, rumba, samba, tango and other dances for social events (ball, wedding, cruise, etc). A fun and easy course with quality instruction. Join with or without a partner. Melville (LeisureFit) Recreation Centre. Mondays 7.30-9pm. $118/8 weeks. Beginners’ course held every term. Term 4 starts Monday 14 October . Stan: 9330 6737 | stan@stansdancing.com
First aid training for students
St John Ambulance WA offers free first aid training to all school aged students, ranging from Triple 000 Hero for Kindergarten students to Road Trauma First Aid for secondary school students. Courses are curriculum mapped. (08) 9334 1259 youth@stjohnambulance.com.au
Free dairy excursions
Brownes Dairy invites your classroom to join a free curriculum-linked tour of the dairy in Balcatta. Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 get a unique hands-on experience and see how our dairy operates and produces award
winning dairy products enjoyed in WA for 130 years. school.tours@brownesdairy.com.au
Road safety education for schools
RAC offers free curriculum aligned road safety workshops and online resources for primary schools (pre-primary to Year 6) and secondary schools (Years 10 to 12), covering a range of road safety topics designed to keep young people safe on and around the roads. (08) 9436 4471 | rac.com.au/education communityeducation@rac.com.au
MAWA
The Mathematical Association of Western Australia offers professional learning opportunities, conferences and consultancy services to teachers and schools and networks. MAWA members receive 10 per cent discount on MAWA shop resources. For more information: mawainc.org.au 9345 0388 | eo@mawainc.org.au
Macramé is the new yoga
I'm a teacher running small group macramé classes in a cosy home studio. Join me and discover the power of mindfulness as you learn to engage your mind and your hands in a fun supportive environment. It's a powerful way to calm a busy mind.
marcia@knotinlove.com.au
Rainbow Reading
Are you running support groups for ESL, special needs or reading? Do you tutor adolescents or adult reading? Using proven techniques we enhance results. Our innovative reading pen assists with learning, while motivating the hard-toengage student. Available for all our books. rainbowreading.com.au Di: 0407 490 253
Retired teachers
The next meeting of the Retired Teachers’ Association is Wednesday 18 September at the SSTUWA premises from 10am. The following meeting is Wednesday 30 October. All retired members are welcome.
Video conferencing facilities are available for those who cannot attend in person. Email contact@sstuwa.org.au for the link.
Stay in touch: Join the RTA Facebook Group – search “Retired Teachers’ Association of the SSTUWA”.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Scholarship
Two scholarships of $1,000 available to assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander SSTUWA members to take up training/PD to further develop their education career. Deadline: Friday 20 September. For more info: sstuwa.org.au/scholarships
State Council Conference
November 2024 State Council Conference will be held on 15-16 November.
Agenda items must be received by 20 September.
Election: Yalukit Yulendj member (TAFE)
Nominations are open for one Yalukit Yulendj (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Committee) member from the TAFE division and close at 10am, 13 September.
More info: bit.ly/3MuqoQn
2024 World Mental Health Day and WA Mental Health Week
World Mental Health Day on 10 October raises awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health. The 2024 theme is: It is Time to Prioritise Mental Health in the Workplace. WA Mental Health Week runs 5-12 October. The theme for this year’s events is: Empowering communities, thriving workforces: a journey towards investing in our mental health. For more information and resources visit: who.int/campaigns/world-mental-healthday/2023 and mentalhealthweek.org.au
Lynette Virgona Scholarship
Applications are now open for the Lynette Virgona Scholarship, designed to assist a member to undertake training or professional development in the areas of student behaviour and/ or instructional strategies. Deadline: Friday 20 September. More info: sstuwa.org.au/scholarships
Venue: SSTUWA, 1 West St, West Perth and/or online via Zoom. More info: www.l3cta.org.au or contact@l3cta.org.au
Anti-Poverty Week: 13-19 Oct
Anti-Poverty Week supports the Australian community to have an increased understanding of poverty and to take action collectively to end it. Poverty exists. Poverty hurts us all. We can all do something about it. In 2024, Anti-Poverty Week will be held from 13-19 October. It runs to coincide with the United Nations Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October. For more information visit: antipovertyweek.org.au
