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. 91 No. 06 (28 Jun 2010)
Images
36
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUTION Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation 1
League tables: pressure on government continues Composition of the My School Working Party announced. 1
Smile for Stewart House 1
Literacy and numeracy courses privatiseg TAFE and AMES stripped of funding. 1
EDUCATION 2
Executive 2
Officers 2
Contents 2
Advertising 2
Dignity and respect in the workplace Kit being designed to help members recognise and challenge bullying. 3
General Secretary to retire 3
Our Fed Reps 3
Dear Mr Coutts-Trotter... As a matter of conscience, I cannot comply with your lawful directive'. 4
Views about the journal sought 4
American horror stories not so far from home High-stakes test agenda is causing upheaval in the US and UK...and it's starting to happen here. 4
What prompted Diane Ravitch to disown mass testing? Former Bush administration executive's volte-face sheds light on the role of unions, testing and choice in education in the US. 5
Fletcher departs the DET 5
Federation fined for the second time 5
Federation to launch landmark Aboriginal Education policy 6
Budget cuts funding to public schools and TAFE Inflation transforms nominal increases into reductions in real terms. 6
Re-drawing the political lines on public education O'Farrell's opposition to league tables is welcome and significant. 7
Greens to host forum 7
Online testing under the microscope 7
Schools funding review: future at stake 8
Work-related stress: information kit in process Elimination of risk factors and removal of stigma a focus of this resource. 8
Leave without pay and temporary engagements 8
Workers give Employers First the kiss-off Equal pay day of action targets bosses' group that wants to defeat salary justice test case. 9
Equal pay: didn't we win that fight in the '70s? 9
Award variations needed to provide for lactation breaks 9
Advertising 9
Time to remove all unflued gas heaters 10
TAFE part-timers meet for breakfast 10
Advertising 10
Centrelink criminalises welfare recipients Flawed process used to wrongly pursue fraud convictions. 11
Ark Tribe case to proceed 11
World overview for students 11
Advertising 11 , 12
Send world leaders a yellow card 12
Advertising 12
Grant keeps Wetherill Park TAFE solar-charged College will save energy 365 days a year. 13
Solar cap punishes proactive schools 13
Advertising 13
In brief 14
Victory for river red gums campaigners 14
Advertising 14
Port Macquarie in tune with World Environment Day 15
In brief 15
Advertising 15
Critical decisions to be made Annual Conference must chart a course on league tables, Aboriginal education, release time, class sizes, the national curriculum, Federal funding and the next salaries claim. 16
letters 16
UNITED WE STAND 16
FINNS MILES AHEAD 16
MORE RELEASE, PLEASE 17
PROFESSIONALISM DENIRATED 17
Race to the bottom 17
FLETCHER SMS A DISGRACE 17
PAROLLELS AND DOUBLE STANDARDS 17
RENEWABLES NOT THE ANSWER 17
GAZA AID FLOTILLA 17
UNCONSCIOUS PREVAILS 17 , 18
No title 17
LANDSHARE COMMUNITY 18
BLINKERED STUDY TOURISTS 18
Expression of Interest for Writers of Learning Resources 18
features 19
Flaws in draft national curriculum must be addressed Inadequate consultation with teachers and time to prepare threatens to lower standards in NSW. 19
Inside 19
Paper Plane 20
Breakthrough on paid parental leave However, new legislation falls short on duration and pay, and is vulnerable to 'claw-back' by employers. 20
Advertising 20
Honey, I shrunk the state How Treasury wags the dog in NSW sacrificing public education to keep the budget in the black and holding treasurers in its thrall. 21 , 22
In the library 21
Advertising 22
Rough start comes with the Territory Those new to the profession, especially in remote and regional areas, may relate to the challenges faced by this beginning teacher in a town just 639 km from Alice Springs. 23 , 25
Tourism bill passed It's now open slather for private developers to pillage national parks in the name of greed. 23
In brief 24
Advertising 24
Retired Teachers Association 24 , 25
Social news 24
TAFE award issues update Federation has expressed concerns to DET regarding approval process for excess-teaching payments. 25
Advertising 25 , 26
your say 27
Autism: the debate we have to have Research, creative thinking and the expertise of carers are needed. 27
NAPLAN and the loss of ‘class' Time to bring opposition to mass standardised testing into public forum. 27 , 28
Advertising 28
reviews 29
Film 29 , 30
Inside 29
Computer corner 30
Advertising 30
Theatre 31
Books The Mountain City Murders 31
In brief 31
Music The Songs of Don Henderson 32
Corkscrew 32
Advertising 32
administration 33
Vacancy for General Secretary 33 , 34
Duties 33
Principals' Conference 2010 33
Anna Stewart Program: applications open 33
Change of date for Women's Contacts 33
Advertising 34 , 35
DT SMITH 35
Snapped in and out of class 36

Text

EDUTION  

Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation  

Agreement No. PP255003 00104  

What Christine talked about over  

breakfast 11  

Plus  

Aboriginal education  

NSW Budget  

Equal pay  

June 28, 2010 Vol 91 No  

League tables: pressure  

on government continues  

Composition of the My School Working Party announced.  

Bob Lipscombe  

President  

Measures are now being put in  

place to give effect to the commit-  

ments and undertakings given by  

the Deputy Prime Minister on May  

that led to the decision by the Aus-  

tralian Education Union (AEU) to  

lift the national moratorium on  

NAPLAN 2010.  

The composition of the work-  

ing party announced at the time to  

address the Rudd Government's  

commitment to "opposition to the  

misuse of student performance data  

including simplistic league tables”  

has now been released. Comprised  

of representatives of the AEU, the  

Independent Education Union, na-  

tional principal organisations and  

number of literacy and numeracy  

experts, it appears highly unlikely  

that it will not make recommenda-  

tions designed to prevent the future  

publication ofleague tables.  

Against timetable of NAPLAN  

reports to be made available to par-  

ents at the end of September and to  

be placed on the My School website  

in November, the working party is  

expected to provide its recommen-  

dations to the Federal Government  

by the end of August.  

The AEU, represented on the  

working party by Angelo Gavri-  

elatos, has sought the support of  

number of leading and prominent  

academics and researchers to pro-  

vide advice on matters that will be  

the subject of deliberation by the My  

School Working Party. Professors  

Alan Reid, Brian Caldwell and Allan  

Luke, Barbara Preston, and Asso-  

ciate Professor Margaret Wu have  

agreed to form an “expert panel”.  

To further support this, the AEU,  

together with the national princi-  

pal organisations, has convened  

national symposium on July 23 in  

Sydney.  

Federation will, of course, be  

represented at the symposium. In  

addition, as part of the process of  

informing the working party proc-  

ess, Federation will convene prin-  

cipals' conference on August 16, at  

which representatives from both  

the working party and the expert  

panel will speak.  

Meanwhile, the Rudd Govern-  

ment has also come under pressure  

from an unexpected quarter, with  

the Greens successfully moving in  

the Senate for the establishment of  

an inquiry into the administration  

and reporting of NAPLAN testing.  

Among specific matters to be con-  

sidered by the Senate Education,  

Employment and Workplace Rela-  

tions References Committee are:  

•the conflicting claims made by the  

Government, educational experts  

and peak bodies in relation to the  

publication of the National Assess-  

ment Program;  

•the implementation of possible  

safeguards and protocols around  

the public presentation of the test-  

ing and reporting data; and  

•international approaches to the pub-  

lication of comparative reporting of  

the results, that is, "league tables”.  

While written submissions, as al-  

ready advised to all Federation  

Representatives, close on June 25,  

the committee is expected to hold  

public hearings in July. Federation  

will provide information to assist  

members appearing at these.  

Federation's Annual Confer-  

ence, commencing on July 4, will  

consider further action in support  

of the campaign against the publi-  

cation of league tables. While the  

Rudd Government has an opportu-  

nity to address the profession's con-  

cerns, and to honour the commit-  

ments made by the Deputy Prime  

Minister to settle the dispute over  

the NAPLAN moratorium, there  

is no doubt that Conference will  

make it clear that, should this not  

happen, the campaign to protect  

NSW school students and commu-  

nities from harm caused by league  

tables will be resumed with the  

full resources of Federation and its  

membership.  

More on pages 4-5  

Smile for Stewart House  

Connie Mudge and David Mudge bought tickets to the photo booth at the Stewart House Gala Ball and were entered  

into the draw for pear-shaped black diamond necklace. The ball was held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney on June and  

raised $70,000. Connie is teacher and works at the Department of Education office in Chester Hill.  

Literacy and numeracy  

courses privatiseg  

TAFE and AMES stripped of funding.  

Peter de Graaff  

Assistant General Secretary  

(Post School Education)  

Federation’s June Council con-  

demned the Federal Government  

competitive tendering policy that  

has stripped $5O million from NSW  

TAFE and AMES for Language, Liter-  

acy and Numeracy Program (LLNP)  

courses over the next three years.  

The Riverina, Illawarra, South  

Western Sydney and Sydney insti-  

tutes have received no funding for  

LLNP courses. AMES will also be se-  

verely impacted because it had been  

part of consortiums with some of  

these institutes. Other institutes will  

continue to deliver LLNP courses but  

in significantly reduced capacity.  

The loss of $5O million means  

students will be pushed into lower-  

cost, lower-quality education, and  

up to 170 TAFE and AMES full-time  

equivalent teaching positions will  

be lost in each of the three years.  

Many of these will be part-time  

casual teaching positions. This will  

have devastating effect not only on  

part-time casual teachers but also  

on members of our community who  

are already severely disadvantaged.  

Local audits of the LLNP at TAFE  

colleges demonstrated that the de-  

livery was of high quality with suc-  

cessful outcomes. TAFE teachers  

delivering these programs have  

university-teacher education qual-  

ifications and experience working  

with adult learners. These factors  

were not taken into account by the  

Federal Government, which award-  

ed contracts on price alone.  

It is clear the Government does  

not value the high-quality educa-  

tion that TAFE and AMES provide.  

Students in these language, literacy  

and numeracy courses benefit from  

studying in public education set-  

tings that provide them with high  

level of individual support, includ-  

ing counselling and other services.  

It is greatly concerning that stu-  

dents who have not finished their  

training in TAFE or AMES may be  

forced to attend another provider  

after June, especially when many  

of these providers have neither in-  

frastructure nor qualified teachers  

at this time. This will be disruptive  

to the relationships that students  

have developed with other students  

and teachers. It will make it diffi-  

cult for students receiving literacy  

and numeracy support while en-  

gaged in vocational program.  

Federation is appalled that  

spokeswoman for Federal Education  

Minister Julia Gillard was quoted in  

the Sydney Morning Herald on May  

31 as saying "that while the majority  

of existing providers have gained ad-  

ditional funding...a few...will have  

to make staffing adjustments where  

they have not been successful". Re-  

ferring to the loss of hundreds of  

public education teaching positions  

as an 'adjustment' shows the hypoc-  

risy of Government that proclaims  

commitment to jobs growth and  

employees’ rights at work.  

Council rejected the Rudd Labor  

Government's pursuit of privatisa-  

tion rather than better public servic-  

es. Additionally Council believed it  

was necessary to expose the inappro-  

priateness of education, especially  

remedial education for the disadvan-  

taged, being provided on the basis of  

either profit-making or charity.  

Organisations that were successful  

in winning tenders included NORTEC  

Employment and Training, Auswide,  

ACL Employment, Mission Australia,  

and number of community colleges.  

In some cases these organisations ten-  

dered together as consortia.  

It has been drawn to the atten-  

tion of Federation that NORTEC  

also operates as labour-hire com-  

pany, and has recently started re-  

cruiting for language, literacy and  

numeracy teachers and assistants.  

The rates of pay for these positions  

are $35 per hour and $25 per hour  

respectively. Significantly less than  

the pay rates of teachers in TAFE.  

Another organisation that won the  

tender on the South Coast, displacing  

the Illawarra Institute, seemingly has  

no infrastructure at the moment.  

Federation understands that one  

of these organisations is seeking to  

hire TAFE teachers to deliver these  

programs.  

Members should raise this  

matter with federal and state mem-  

bers of Parliament.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288216

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 May 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288216

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. 16 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288216>

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 16 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288216

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. 91 No. 06 (28 Jun 2010)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-667288216
  | id=nla.obj-667288216
  | access-date=16 May 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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