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. 93 No. 01 (13 Feb 2012)
Images
40
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Contents

EDUCATION JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION 1
Teachers have been deceived Federation is committed to a long term campaign to achieve salary justice for the profession. 1
Salaries fight continues 1 , 4
Major battle looms on staffing and devolution 1
EDUCATION 2
Executive 2
Officers 2
Contents 13/2/2012 features 2
regulars 2
Advertising 2
TAFE teachers urged to vote yes in strike ballot The ballot closes on February 15 and seeks support for industrial action in the pursuit of salary justice for TAFE teachers. 3
Taking the TAFE contest to the streets 3
Correction Retired teachers and workers compensation 3
Our Fed Reps 3
Bill threatens Federation's freedom to campaign Legislation before NSW Parliament seeks to limit the ability of membership-based organisations to launch campaigns during state elections. 4
Consultation begins on Aboriginal education 5
Work Health and Safety Act now operational 5 , 7
a woman’s place is in her union Women's Conference to focus on job security 5
What funding equity would mean for Our school Tregear Public School 6
Push to deliver on funding review findings 6
PARS framework rejected 6
The importance of tenure Federation is investigating whether temporary appointments are being made in cases where the Staffing Agreement calls for the appointment of a permanent teacher. 7 , 10
Workers to tell inquiry about job insecurity 7
In brief 7
Record of School Achievement prepares for implementation 8
Meetings to discuss threat to special education 8
Association spotlight Barrier Teachers Association 8
Maurie Mulheron's presidency begins 9
Students with a history of violence Members should be aware of their rights to access information and resources when enrolling students with a history of violence. 9
Inspiring girls on International Women's Day 10
Cost cutting drives special education changes 10
Increasing activism in the workplace 10
Higher duties relief should come from within Federation has intervened after learning that external candidates are being chosen to relieve in higher duties, contrary to Department policy. 11
Mardi Gras festival begins 11
Advertising 11 , 12
Teaching experience vital for counsellors 13
Lynn Takayama retires 13
Advertising 13 , 14
Learning from world's best has risks 14
Advertising 14
Teachers fight back in Wisconsin The introduction of anti-union laws have stirred American activists into action with impressive results. 15
Student support officers are not school counsellors 15
Sustainability committee holds first meeting 15
Probe into HSC disability provisions 16
Advertising 16
Volunteers help Indigenous education 16
Advertising 16
Bob Lipscombe retires 17
Gardens of Stone wins Fleurieu art prize 17
Advertising 17
Building threat looms over Sydney's railway network Sydney developers have a new target in their sights placing more of the city's space at risk. 18
Teacher Housing focuses on Broken Hill 18
Eco village takes shape 18
Elaine and Hippity hop off into retirement 19
Greek trade unionists visit Federation Hard won conditions are at stake as Greece's austerity measures seek to restore the economy at the expense of workers. 19
Advertising 19
My new role teaching politicians v or Governments’ devolution agenda, which ultimately will make principals vulnerable, is bad policy that must be exposed. 20
letters DANCES WITH CAMELS 20
WE CAN WIN 21
A CRITICAL YEAR 21
STRIKE NOW 21
PRESCHOOL PROBLEM 22
ROAD TO NOWHERE 22
SEPARATION IS WRONG 22
VALE NEVILLE ROBINSON 22
JUMPING THE GUN 23
A VICTORY FOR EQUALITY 23
STAY STRONG GREENS 23
SPAIN AND THE CIVIL WAR 23
BELIEF BEHIND BARS 24
TOYOTA 24
Advertising 21 , 22 , 23
Carbon copy LET THEM SELL CAKE 24
DOCTOR LEAGUE TABLES 24
PHEASANT DREAMS 24
Advertising 24
features Major role of schools workforce recognised A draft report from the Productivity Commission has found the schools workforce plays a major role in delivering good student outcomes, although teacher pay increases are failing to keep pace with those in other professions. 25
Inside 25
Paper Plane 26
Environment at stake in planning law review The State Government is currently rewriting the main planning law for NSW. 26
Workers at risk miss recognition 26
Variable student numbers cause problems for THA 27
Class of'58... you are requested to commence duty. 27
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? 27
In brief 27
In the library New resources for loan 28
Retired Teachers Association 28
SOCIAL NEWS 28
reviews Film 29 , 30
Inside 29
Computer Corner 30
Advertising 30
Theatre 31 , 34
In brief 31
Advertising 32
Corkscrew 33
James Halliday competition 33
Advertising 33
Book Global Walkabout 33
Advertising 34
administration Trade Union Training program semester 1 35 , 36
Inside 35
Background information 36
Advertising 36
TRADE UNION TRAINING APPLICATION FORM 37
Advertising 37
Elections to be conducted at March Council 37
Professional development for science teachers 37
Advertising 38 , 39
DT SMITH by Ian Sargent 39
Snapped in and out of class 40

Text

EDUCATION  

JOURNAL OF THE NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS FEDERATION  

Agreement No. PP255003 00104  

Jeanette knows what money could do  

 

Women's Conference  

February 13, 2012 Vol 93 No  

Teachers have been  

deceived  

Federation is committed to long term campaign to achieve salary  

justice for the profession.  

Maurie Mulheron  

President  

Last year, dominant NSW Coali  

tion Government made an unprec  

edented change to industrial law  

in NSW, forcing the Industrial Re  

lations Commission (IRC) to bring  

down decisions that are in accord  

ance with the new Public Sector  

Wages Policy. In effect, this means  

that the employer's position must  

always prevail.  

On December 7, the NSW Teach  

ers Federation was able to achieve  

an interim increase of 2.5 per cent  

for school teachers with the current  

provisions of the Award protected.  

The IRC determined that series of  

negotiation meetings should occur  

over the January vacation period  

with the aim of achieving increases  

above the 2.5 per cent.  

Seven meetings were held. And  

what have we learned from the  

meetings? That the Government  

never intended to negotiate in good  

faith and, indeed, it is clear that  

the DEC was instructed to offer  

nothing.  

For TAFE teachers, the situa  

tion is of even more concern. They  

have still been denied even the 2.5  

per cent increase gained by their  

school teacher colleagues. As TAFE  

teachers have now been moved to  

the federal industrial jurisdiction,  

the union successfully applied to  

Fair Work Australia for the authori  

ty to engage in what is termed “pro  

tected action” provided this was en  

dorsed by TAkE members.  

Salary increases for teachers  

is question of priority for the  

State Government. Last August  

the NSW Government introduced  

legislation that gave the wealthi  

est registered clubs in NSW $3OO  

million tax break. The tax break  

applies to those clubs that generate  

profits in excess of $1 million.  

An additional one per cent in  

crease for school teachers amounts  

to around $64 million. Last year the  

TAFE system, through the hard  

work of its teachers, generated $l9l  

million in commercial revenue.  

Contrast this with the fact that an  

additional one per cent increase for  

TAFE teachers would cost mere  

$9 million.  

Over the next four to five years,  

it is estimated that over 20,000  

teachers will be retiring from NSW  

schools. This gives the current sala  

ries campaign critical urgency.  

This is not the time for ideologi  

cally driven economic theories  

which would result in the salaries  

of teachers being capped lower  

than the inflation rate. No parent  

will thank the Government in the  

years ahead when their child’s  

class is without suitably qualified  

teacher.  

Salaries fight continues  

Wendy Currie  

Assistant General Secretary  

(Research and Industrial)  

Federation has been under attack  

from the NSW Government and the  

Department on number of fronts  

in the past few months.  

Far from believing teachers in  

NSW deserve fair salary, the Gov  

ernment and the Department have  

attempted to:  

•introduce new schools award that  

would see teachers gain no more  

than 2.5 per cent per year for two  

years with all other avenues for seek  

ing salary increases legally denied;  

•deny even the 2.5 per cent to  

TAFE teachers;  

•seek penalties against our union  

for taking industrial action against  

the Government's unjust industrial  

relations amendments for public  

sector workers on September 8,  

2011 and the two-hour stopwork on  

December 15.  

The pressure they have placed  

on you and your union contin  

ues. Throughout November, De  

cember and January the following  

occurred:  

1. Schools: The Department un  

successfully applied for two-year  

award with draconian "no further  

claims” clause that not only would  

have resulted in Federation being  

unable to seek further pay rises or  

improved conditions but would also  

have denied Federation even calling  

for negotiations on further award  

until after this one had expired.  

Instead of granting this award,  

the original version of which the  

IRC judge said did not comply with  

the NSW Public Sector Wages Policy  

that now has the force of law, the  

judge awarded variation to the cur  

rent award, which expired on De  

cember 31, granting 2.5 per cent  

increase to school teachers and the  

right to continue bargaining.  

Meetings occurred late last year  

and have continued twice week  

throughout January, but little if any  

progress has been made towards  

achieving further salary increase.  

The Department has offered  

nothing.  

On February 6, the Department  

lodged new award application  

with duration of two years and  

salary increases of 2.5 per cent per  

year, the first one having already  

been paid to teachers via the varia  

tion to the current award. It failed  

to notify the Commission that it  

already had an application before  

judge, part heard. The Commis  

sion allocated it as new case to  

newjudge, the President of the IRC.  

Consequently, the same applica  

tion is before two different judges  

in separate matters.  

On February 8, the original  

matter was before the Commis  

sion. On being questioned by the  

judge about the difference between  

the two applications, Crown So  

licitors acting for the Department  

were forced to admit the applica  

tions were identical. They asked  

the judge to refer the whole matter  

»  

Major battle looms  

on staffing and  

devolution  

Gary Zadkovich  

Deputy President  

"We utterly reject this disgraceful  

report and call on Kristina Keneal  

ly to explain why Labor was draw  

ing up secret plans to cut schools  

and teachers across NSW.”  

When Premier O’Farrell and  

Education Minister Piccoli made  

this statement in media release  

week before the NSW Election, it  

seemed straight forward enough.  

This unequivocal rejection of  

plan to reduce spending by be  

tween $8OO million and $1 billion  

in one-off cuts and reduce recur  

rent expenditure by between $5OO  

million and $7OO million year  

should have reassured all but the  

hardened political cynic.  

Whoever in Treasury leaked  

the Boston Consulting Group  

(BCG) expenditure review report  

had surely done public education  

huge favour. The report’s publica  

tion by the Sydney Morning Herald  

and its subsequent rejection by the  

NSW Liberals and Nationals au  

gured well. Unfortunately, it ap  

pears public education support  

ers should ready themselves now  

for one of the great acts of deceit  

and hypocrisy in contemporary  

politics.  

Consistent with the BCG report,  

the word is out that School Educa  

tion Directors have been told to  

identify schools for closure in their  

areas. number of small schools  

have already fallen, despite valiant  

attempts by teachers and parents to  

keep them open.  

The DEC is preparing to roll out  

the discredited special education  

model currently being trialled in  

the Illawarra-South East Region,  

which BCG says could save the gov  

ernment between $2O million and  

$25 million year if implement  

ed state-wide. (See “Cost cutting  

drives special education changes”,  

page 10.)  

The 47-school devolution pilot  

is feeding into both the State Gov  

ernment's Local Schools, Local  

Decisions and the Federal Govern  

ment’s Empowering Local Schools  

policies, which are aimed at re  

ducing funding under the cover  

of increased school-based deci  

sion making and principal autono  

my. Devolution is the great con of  

school education policy around the  

world, and few school systems have  

successfully resisted it.  

Plans are also afoot to slash the  

number of non-school-based posi  

tions that provide vital support for  

students and staff across range of  

significant programs.  

TAFE is continually under as  

sault from state and federal govern  

ment policies that aim to privatise  

vocational education and training  

and casualise the workforce. The  

BCG report flagged further cuts to  

teaching and learning conditions  

in TAFE.  

In this context, Federation mem  

bers may be engaged soon in  

fight to save the state-wide trans  

fer system that ensures permanen  

cy and security of employment for  

teachers and staffing and curricu  

lum guarantee for students, wher  

ever they live in this geographi  

cally vast and socio-economically  

diverse state. The current staff  

ing agreement expires at the end  

of term 1. It bodes ill that the DEC  

has refused to commence negotia  

tions for new agreement. Instead,  

it has offered six-month extension  

of the current one while it prepares  

the devolution agenda.  

The campaign to save state  

wide staffing system will be fought  

as part of the greater battle against  

devolution. Increased school-based  

decision making, greater school  

and principal autonomy... whatev  

er it is called, the aim is the same.  

Governments want it, push it, and  

promote it, because it provides the  

means to cut expenditure.  

By whatever means available,  

the Federation membership must  

prepare for the battles ahead. We  

stopped Metherell and Grein  

er from implementing the same  

agenda in the early 19905. If neces  

sary, we must do it again through  

strong, united political and indus  

trial campaign. We must do every  

thing we can, for our great system  

of public education is gravely  

at risk.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687760979

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 24, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687760979

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. 24 May 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687760979>

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 24 May 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687760979

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. 93 No. 01 (13 Feb 2012)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687760979
  | id=nla.obj-687760979
  | access-date=24 May 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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