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. 04 (7 May 2012)
Images
40
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUCATION Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation 1
Strong, united and sustained action essential Federation will demand guarantees on staffing, curriculum, class sizes, resourcing and funding of public schools. Local cuts, Local blame 1
Staffing Agreement extended six months 1
Workers compensation 1
Curriculum symposium 1
EDUCATION 2
Executive 2
Officers 2
Contents 2
regulars 2
Advertising 2
Petitions rolling in 3
Grafton workers have their say 3
Our Fed Reps Name: Julie Izzard Workplace: Beverly Hills Nth PS Fed Rep: 6 years 3
Special needs students to suffer from cost cutting agenda 4
Learning support the first casualty of devolution Every Student, Every School is the latest Department initiative designed to help the State Government cut expenditure on public education. 4
NSW Government policies designed to control spending Sweeteners for the NSW Government's education initiatives are set to disappear once shortterm National Partnerships funding expires. 5
RMTA challenges local MP on devolution Ryde MP Victor Dominello was forced to defend his Government's policies. 5
Work health and safety rewrite The Department has spurned consultation to pursue policies in line with devolution. 6
Advertising 6
Preschool teachers prepare for inspections 6
Association spotlight Newcastle Teachers Association 6
Workers compensation faces cuts 7
Symposium calls for resources for curriculum 7 , 10
Community Cabinet comes to Macarthur 7
Gonski review campaign powers on 7
Workers on the periphery hurting 8
Miners must pay their share 8
Victoria TAFE disaster must not happen in NSW 8
The truth about good faith bargaining 8
TAFE members urged to vote "yes" 9
TAFE enterprise agreement voting procedures 9
Training held for women 9
Workshops reach out to teachers 9
In brief 10
Inquiry established into DEC Western Region 10
The new face of banking The Teachers Mutual Bank outlines its ongoing commitment. 10
Outworkers Bill passed 11
Public service redundancies 11
Advertising 11
Smartpens come with legal risks 12
Stop the rot with denticare 12
Asian school systems share success secrets There are lessons to be learned from four East Asian school systems that have improved student performance while increasing equity. 12
Parliamentary inquiry threatens national parks 13
Show of support for Greek workers 13
Advertising 13
Recruitment push heats up 14
Help end homophobia in the workplace 14
Africa: technology in education 14
Small school given reprieve from closure 15
Business pressure on the environment 15
Advertising 15 , 16
Transition funding falls short School global budgets are set to come under pressure after an inquiry failed to recommend a funding increase for transition support. 17
Harmony in the Bay 17
Bahrain pro-democracy movement 17
Lest we lose what they have won Devolution threatens the hard-fought gains this union has achieved through decades of campaigning. 18
letters DSC DOES AMERICAN 18
PRETEND SUPPORT PRODRAM 18 , 19
VOTING TRENDS 19
BIG BROTHER GETS SOCIAL 19
BANKING FOR INFANTS 19
BANKING TERMS 19
LEADERS NEEDED 19
THREE TIMES EIGHT... 19
Advertising 19
WHAT A WASTE 20
Carbon copy CONTAGIOUS IDEOLOGY 20
THERE’S NO COMPARISON 20
SCHOOL AUTONOMY 20
BARRY’S LETTER 20
Advertising 20
features 21
TAFE students to face increasing fees and debt The NSW Government is urged to reject reforms that could see costs for TAFE students skyrocket and put VET out of reach for many. 21
Inside 21
Paper Plane 22
Advertising 22
Tackling inequity vital to education system success An OECD report has recommended policies to help education systems improve equity and promote secondary education completion. 22
Evolution of devolution Generously paid directors and sponsors seem to benefit most from the UK's introduction of academy schools, born from a devolution agenda. 23
Class of'58... you are requested to commence duty. Graduates from the Armidale Teachers College signed a bond promising to teach wherever they were posted and waited anxiously for their first Department appointment. These are their stories. 23
[?] 23
In the library New resources 24
Retired Teachers Association 24
Social news 24
your say 25
Dissent should be treasured In the March 26 issue of Education, Alex Stewart questioned why Federation spends resources on pursuing "fringe issues" such as the Middle East and same-sex marriage. One member responds. 25
Inside 25
Advertising 26
Piccoli must put students before coal A proposed mining project threatens the future of a small school near Lithgow and the health of its teachers and students. 26
reviews 27
Film 27 , 28
Inside 27
Computer Corner 28
Advertising 28
ADangerous Method competition winners 28
Theatre 29
Book NT Consultations Report 2011: By Quotations 29
Advertising 29
Book Waltzing at the Doomsday Ball: The Best of Joe Bageant 30
Advertising 30
Corkscrew 31
Book Playground Duty 31
Advertising 32
Book Preventing Workplace Bullying: An evidence-based guide for managers and employees 32
In brief 32
administration 33
Year end accounts for NSW Teachers Federation 33
Independent auditor's report to the members of NSW Teachers Federation 33 , 35
Advertising 34
Year end accounts for NSW Teachers Federation Public Education Fund 35
Australian Education Union (NSW Branch) 35 , 36
Independent auditor’s report to the members of AEU (NSW Branch) 37
Notes to the financial report for the year ended December 31,2011 37
Scholarship for women unionists 37
Advertising 37 , 38 , 39
PT SMITH 39
Advertising 39
Snapped in and out of classy 40

Text

EDUCATION  

Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation  

Agreement No. PP255003 00104  

What Ned has to say about teaching 31  

Plus  

Workhealth and safety  

Gonski review  

TAPE 8,9 anti 21  

May 7, 2012 V0193N04  

Strong, united and  

sustained action essential  

Federation will demand guarantees on staffing, curriculum, class  

sizes, resourcing and funding of public schools.  

Local cuts, Local blame  

Maurie Mulheron  

President  

Public education in NSW is at  

the crossroads. Should we have  

system where school's staff  

is established on the basis of stu-  

dent numbers and reflecting cur-  

riculum provision or stand-alone  

schools where the principal will he  

forced to determine the number of  

teachers and executive staff based  

on what the school can afford?  

In its first state budget in 2011,  

the NSW Government announced  

its intention to reduce expendi-  

ture by $lO billion over the next  

four years and abolish 5000 public  

sector positions. This cost-cutting  

agenda includes the capping of all  

public sector salaries at 2.5 per cent  

per annum.  

In the same budget, the Treasur-  

er announced the Government's in-  

tention to develop restructuring  

of the DEC under the guise of pro-  

viding more autonomy to schools at  

the local level. This was described  

by the Treasurer as an example of  

"economic and fiscal reform”.  

Local Schools, Local Decisions  

(LSLD) is the mechanism, perma-  

nent structural change, designed  

to deliver huge savings. Its central  

purpose is to deregulate the staff-  

ing of schools to provide, over time,  

cheaper workforce.  

To achieve this, LSLD aims to  

allow schools to replace perma-  

nent positions with temporary ap-  

pointments, to cash-in or trade-off  

the positions of classroom teach-  

ers, specialist teachers and execu-  

tive staff, and to replace the state-  

wide staffing formulae with local  

staffing budget.  

Staffing formulae are government  

guarantees that certain number of  

students will be allocated certain  

number of classroom teachers, ex-  

ecutives, specialist teachers and non-  

teaching support staff. By convert-  

ing these formulae to monetary  

allocation to school’s budget, gov-  

ernments will no longer be directly  

accountable. When school staffing  

budgets fail to keep up with rising  

costs or are reduced, students will  

lose out on the curriculum guaran-  

tee currently determined by staffing  

formulae. Dollars, not student needs,  

will determine who is appointed, re-  

tained or promoted.  

Class sizes are also threatened.  

The NSW Government's Commis-  

sion of Audit interim report pro-  

poses that student-teacher ratios  

no longer he included in industrial  

agreements and instead be deter-  

mined by managerial prerogative.  

In addition to the cost-cutting  

intent of LSLD, teachers' rights  

and entitlements are threatened  

by the proposal to allow schools to  

refuse the appointment of nomi-  

nated transfers on an alternating  

basis. This undermines career per-  

manency for teachers, diminish-  

es crucial incentive for working  

in public schools and prepares the  

ground for the future imposition of  

limited tenure, contract-based em-  

ployment for all. Similarly, allow-  

ing schools to determine the mix  

of staff enables the elimination of  

classroom teacher and executive  

positions, thereby reducing career  

paths and leadership opportunities  

for teachers.  

The restructuring of the DEC  

poses further threats to equity pro-  

grams, curriculum support and  

other services provided by non-  

school-based staff.  

As senior accountant said at  

forum on schools funding hosted  

by Deloitte-Access Economics in  

Sydney on April 10, “As an econo-  

mist, when hear school autonomy  

and flexibility, hear uncertainty.”  

And unless the profession is pre-  

pared to act to defeat Treasury's  

agenda, every teacher, every ex-  

ecutive teacher, every principal,  

every public school and every stu-  

dent faces an uncertain future.  

Federation will demand from  

the NSW Education Minister and  

DEC number of guarantees on  

staffing, curriculum, class sizes,  

resourcing and funding of public  

schools to ensure that existing  

teaching and learning conditions  

are maintained.  

Unless these guarantees can be  

secured for the NSW public edu-  

cation system, the NSW Teachers  

Federation will initiate sustained  

political and industrial campaign  

for as long as it takes.  

Staffing Agreement  

extended six months  

Gary Zadkovich  

Deputy President  

Federation and DEC have agreed  

to extend the current School Staff-  

ing Agreement until the com-  

mencement of term this year.  

This will provide continuity  

and stability on staffing and class  

sizes at time when major chang-  

es are being pushed through the  

NSW Government’s Local Schools,  

Local Decisions (LSLD) agenda  

and the Federal Government's  

Empowering Local Schools (ELS)  

policy.  

During the period of extension,  

Federation will aim to negotiate  

new long term agreement.  

Threats to students'  

entitlements  

LSLD and ELS attempt to impose  

market-driven approach to staff-  

ing, on the ridiculous assump-  

tion that all schools can com-  

pete for staff on an equal footing.  

These policies aim to give power  

to schools to locally select teach-  

ers and disregard the transfer  

system. This threatens curric-  

ulum guarantee for students by  

cutting the transfer supply lines  

that deliver qualified teachers  

to all 2200 public schools across  

this vast and socio-economically  

diverse state.  

Students’ entitlement to qual-  

ity education is further threat-  

ened by the proposal to replace  

current state-wide staffing for-  

mulae with local school staffing  

budget. Staffing formulae are gov-  

ernment guarantees that certain  

number of students will be allocat-  

ed certain number of classroom  

teachers, executives, specialist  

teachers and non-teaching sup-  

port staff. By converting these for-  

mulae to monetary allocation  

in school's budget, governments  

will no longer be directly account-  

able. When budgets are frozen  

or reduced, politicians will shift  

the blame to the principal and/or  

school finance committee for any  

shortfalls and problems.  

Threats to teachers'  

entitlements  

While Director-General Dr  

Michele Bruniges says in her vod-  

cast that teacher permanency is  

not threatened by LSLD, Educa-  

tion Minister Adrian Piccoli con-  

tradicted this on WIN TV News  

on April 23: "Schools will have the  

power to determine in the future,  

when they employ staff person,  

whether that person is employed  

permanently or temporarily."  

Permanency would be further  

undermined by the LSLD propos-  

al that schools could refuse the ap-  

pointment of displaced teacher  

on nominated transfer, on an al-  

ternating basis. No explanation is  

given about what happens to the  

hundreds of teachers denied an  

appointment under this approach.  

This precedent would open the  

door to insecure, contract-based  

employment for all. Career per-  

manency is crucial incentive to  

teach in public education. Under-  

mining it will diminish the DEC'S  

capacity to attract and retain the  

tens of thousands of teachers  

needed to replace those who will  

retire over the next decade.  

As with students, teachers  

have much to lose if state-wide  

staffing formulae are replaced by  

local staffing budgets. The salary  

cost of teacher will then become  

the key imperative, rather than  

one's educational contribution.  

Positions will be cashed in or  

traded off to fund some need that  

should he met through additional  

funding.  

Federation members must be  

prepared to campaign actively  

and with determination if cur-  

rent rights and entitlements are  

to be protected from the cost-cut-  

ting, deregulating impacts of these  

devolutionary policies.  

Workers compensation  

Page  

Tile VSW Government has announced sewrely restricted  

consultation process lot lotting an issues paper on workers  

compensation, suggesting cuts to workers compensation  

entitlements are likely.  

Curriculum symposium  

symposium hosted by the Federation on April 27 agreed that new  

Australian Curriculu should not he implemented until it is accepted  

to be of appropriate quality and that implementation cannot occur  

without appropriate resources and professional development.  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687761035

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-687761035

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-687761035>

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-687761035

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. 04 (7 May 2012)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-687761035
  | id=nla.obj-687761035
  | access-date=24 May 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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