Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation

Call Number
Nef 331.8809944 EDU
Created/Published
Sydney : The Federation, 1919-2021
Issue
Vol. 79 No. 15 (23 Nov 1998)
Images
28
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUCATION JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION 1
The devil in the detail 1
Minister puts his foot down 1
Advertising 1
NEWS Second thoughts on child protection 2
Advertising 2
Officers 2
Executive 2
“You can touch children” 3
Dear Mr Hennessy 3
TAFE agreement on promotions 3
Advertising 3
Workers compensation -what it means for you 4
Advertising 4
Welfare Q&A 4
Our Fed Reps 4
Advertising 4
DET rejects service transfer for all teaching staff 5
Gloomy picture for teacher shortages and recruitment 5
$50,000 plus per annum under negotiation 5
Corrective Services review terms established 6
Teachers and the LAW Payments for partial incapacity affected 6
Advertising 6
Visual arts under siege 7
BOARD of STUDIES Report 7
Advertising 7
STATE ELECTION A case of deja vu 8
A four year assessment 9
The positives 9
The negatives 9
Advertising 9
The President Writes Pursuing priorities 10
LETTERS ot the Editor 10
Concern for workload implications 10
Try different tactics 11
Save Currawong 11
The bus missed the boat – but Jim didn’t 11
Don’t forget head teachers 11
Professional development 11
Out in the wilderness 11
Phonetics philosophy 12
Back to Woy Woy 12
7.5% over the top 12
IA Technical assistants long overdue 12
Advertising 12
Anna Stewart Program 13
FINANCE 30% health insurance rebates 13
Don’t put all your eggs in the one basket 13
QUI DOCET DISCIT 13
FEATURE Union gains for teachers 14
The union is you 15
Advertising 15
VIEWS Reclaiming the “public”concept 16
Advertising 16
Have your say on visual arts 17
Free speech and discrimination 17
Advertising 17
Trinity Grammar in $15 million privatisation grab 18
Advertising 18
Isolation incentives needed 19
HIV/AIDS – the battle continues 19
It won’t happen overnight – but it will happen 20
Film Four small-budget gems and one expensive disaster 20
Advertising 21 , 22
REVIEWS Theatre Heaven knows 23
Computer Corner Programs for linguists and artists 23
Up, Up and Away Money – too much is never enough 24
Cheap WINE The Tollana Trio playing at a bottle shop near you 24
Advertising 24
Website A good place to start 24
Mr Yen's World Getting rubbed the rignt way 25
Advertising 25 , 26 , 27
DT SMITH 27
SHOE 27
THOSE WHO CAN’T 27
INSIDE 28
Be captivated by indigenous culture 28
Advertising 28

Text

EDUCATION  

JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION  

Agreement No. PP255003 00104  

The devil in the detail  

by Jennifer Leete  

Introduction of the legislation on  

the Teaching Standards Board  

into State Parliament’s Lower  

House has revealed some major  

problems.  

The legislation arose from dis-  

cussions in Cabinet. What came  

out of the Cabinet process was not  

what first went to it, but sub-  

stantially changed model from  

what had been determined in  

lengthy discussions between the  

Ministry, Federation and other  

key players.  

Federation is bitterly opposed  

to the legislation in its current  

form and has written to the  

Minister and Premier expressing  

this view.  

The legislation was introduced  

into the NSW Parliament by John  

Aquilina at 10.30 pm on Nov-  

ember 11. Federation Officers  

saw it for the first time only hours  

before. Some of the legislation’s  

flaws may be explained by the  

fact that it was prepared in haste  

in an effort to get it through  

before Parliament rises on  

December 10 (not to return till  

after the 1999 election).  

The negatives  

Representatives of teachers or  

the Minister?  

Despite clear understanding  

between all the parties in discus-  

sions prior to the matter going to  

Cabinet that the teachers to be  

appointed to the board would be  

elected by registered teachers, the  

legislation has them being “hand-  

picked” by the Minister.  

The profession in control or the  

Minister in control?  

Clause Functions of Board  

includes in part 4: “The Board is,  

in the exercise of its functions,  

subject to the control and direc-  

tion of the Minister.” This is  

clearly not in accordance with  

Federation’s policy. While ever  

these words remain in the Bill  

teachers will not have Board run  

by the profession for the profes-  

sion.  

Entry level standards  

That part of the legislation on reg-  

istration of teachers appears to  

pre-empt the board’s considera-  

tion and preclude the requirement  

for specific academic qualifica-  

tion as component of an entry-  

level standard. While there are  

some internal contradictions in  

the legislation in this respect the  

wording of this section is con-  

nected with the public comment  

from those non government  

schools that employ as teachers  

some people who have university  

degrees of some type but have no  

teaching qualification. There is  

separate section on the registra-  

tion of existing teachers, which  

makes it clear that the Board  

would be required to register such  

people. Thus the legislation limits  

the Board’s capacity to make its  

own decisions as to who would be  

registered as teacher.  

Conditions of employment  

There are internal contradictions  

in the legislation about the extent  

to which the Board can infringe  

on industrial matters such as con-  

ditions of employment. Despite  

the fact that clause 6(3) states:  

“The Board’s functions do not  

extend to industrial matters such  

as the salaries of teachers or their  

conditions of employment or to  

any other matter that is not related  

to the objects of this Act.”  

Further on clause 15(2)  

decrees that compliance with the  

professional teaching standards  

will be “taken to be condition of  

the teachers employment”. Of  

most concern in this respect are  

clauses 26(1), (2) and (3), all of  

which relate to procedures for  

dealing with teachers who do not  

comply with the professional  

teaching standards. This section  

appears to encroach on matters  

relating to teachers performance  

which other sections of the Bill  

indicate are to be addressed  

within the context of an employer  

employee relationship.  

The positives  

Registration of non government  

schools  

The Bill includes schedule,  

which would amend that part of  

the Education Act, which deals  

with the registration of non gov-  

ernment schools. It would make  

their registration under the  

Education Act contingent upon  

them employing registered teach-  

ers.  

Access to Industrial Relations  

Commission (IRC) and Gov-  

ernment Related Employees  

Appeals Tribunal (GREAT)  

As indicated prior to the legisla-  

tion becoming available the  

Board will only be able to seek to  

deregister teacher after they  

have been dismissed by teacher  

employer and any avenue of  

appeal to the IRC or GREAT is  

exhausted. This aspect of the dis-  

cussions with Federation is faith-  

fully reflected in the legislation.  

Of course Federation can take  

matter as dispute to the IRC at  

any time, as provided for in this  

state’s industrial relations law.  

Where to from here?  

Federation will be lobbying all  

members of Parliament to have  

the legislation withdrawn (or “lie  

on the table”) to allow further  

consultation. If this cannot be  

achieved then Federation will  

seek significant amendments to  

the Bill. If the union’s concerns  

are not addressed then it will be  

necessary to consider advising  

members to refuse to comply with  

the legislation.  

Jennifer Leete  

is the Deputy  

President.  

Minister puts his foot down  

by Sue Simpson  

Secondary schools should not be  

canvassing changes to their struc-  

tures in the form of local “initia-  

tives”, Education Minister John  

Aquilina told Federation's Senior  

Officers on November 2.  

He indicated he would be  

informing the Director-General of  

this position.  

This is consistent with the  

Federation’s view that any pro-  

posals for structural variation  

need to be informed by sound  

educational rationale with teach-  

ers’ working conditions being  

protected by industrial agreement  

and resource commitments from  

Government to support change.  

To ensure state-wide access  

and equity in the provision of sec-  

ondary education and to maintain  

state-wide staffing and working  

conditions for teachers,  

Federation has been seeking the  

negotiation of state-wide policy  

framework as means whereby  

the Department of Education and  

Training (DET) can monitor,  

approve or reject proposals for  

structural variation.  

The Minister, as reported in the  

last edition of Education called  

off the negotiations between  

Federation and DET on state-  

wide policy framework. Any such  

discussions were to be with the  

ALP in the context of policy  

development for the State elec-  

tion.  

Following Federation interven-  

tion with the Minister, discus-  

sions with DET on state-wide  

policy framework have resumed.  

The Minister indicated in the  

meeting with the Federation that  

he wishes teachers to concentrate  

on the substantial curriculum  

changes at the moment.  

Attend the Skv Channel meeting  

 

Register your support for  

improved salary and status  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-665631103

APA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. (1919). Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Retrieved June 5, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-665631103

MLA citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation and New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation Sydney: The Federation, 1919. Web. 5 June 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-665631103>

Harvard/Australian citation

N.S.W. Teachers' Federation & New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation. 1919, Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation The Federation, Sydney viewed 5 June 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-665631103

Wikipedia citation

{{Citation
  | author1=N.S.W. Teachers' Federation.
  | author2=New South Wales Public School Teachers' Federation.
  | title=Education : journal of the N.S.W. Public School Teachers Federation.
  | year=1919
  | section=volumes.
  | issn=0013-1156
  | issue=Vol. 79 No. 15 (23 Nov 1998)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-665631103
  | id=nla.obj-665631103
  | access-date=5 June 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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