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. 94 No. 11 (18 Nov 2013)
Images
24
View Catalogue

Contents

EDUCATIO`N Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation 1
Gonski gains at risk of being RAMmed Serious threat to schools funding after 2019. 1
Salary negotiations underway Meetings with DEC scheduled for the next two weeks. 1 , 6
EDUCATION 2
contents 2
Teachers Federation House 2
Executive 2
Officers 2
Organisers 2
Policy delay follows TAFE rally 3
Rethink Smart and Skilled 3
Shortcomings 3
Our Fed Reps 3
What’s 4
Additional funds for rural and remote education Minister's plan addresses health services and incentives. 4
At the forefront of campaigning 4
Conference communique 4
Closed TAFE campus pay decision reversed 5
Bushfires fan community spirit Education caught up with two teachers from a high school that found itself at the epicentre of last month's hushfire emergency. 5
Support for fire affected teachers 5
Advertising 5
Tell us your discrimination story 6
Advertising 6
Is this task a requirement? 6
Student work samples 6
Association spotlight Narooma Teachers Association 6
School staffing gains and threats 7
Android app now available 7
Advertising 7
Education and the English language 8
letters UNLASHING THE MADNESS 8
ENTER THE 'SECOND' DIMENSION 9
PD LIKE TO SEE... 9
WEAKENING THE BOND 9
Advertising 9
CARBON COPY STEP BACK AND REFLECT 9
Advertising 9 , 10
features 11
Kokoda teachers on track 11
Inside 11
Eric Pearson Study Grant for 2014 12
Advertising 12
Pink is just a colour 12
Max meets gender police 12
In brief 12
Boxing Day cruise for kids Get one of the best seats in the house to view the start of the historic Sydney to Hobart Yacht race and help raise money for a well-loved local charity. 13
Teachers raise $l600 for Stewart House 13
In the library New resources for loan 13
Paper Plane 14
stories frm th bush 14
Planning legislation unfair 14
Retired Teachers Association 15
S ociaf news: 15
Program builds activism 15
Anna Stewart gives insight 15
Advertising 16
your say 17
Fear and loathing at the chalkface of reform Educational matters slotted in between business items. 17 , 18
Inside 17
Society will pay Urgent need for a well-trained workforce. 18
Advertising 18
reviews 19
Film 19 , 20
Inside 19
Computer Corner 20
Advertising 20
Theatre 21
Corkscrew 21
Advertising 22 , 23
DT SMITH 23
Snapped in and out of class 24

Text

EDUCATIO`N  

Journal of the New South Wales Teachers Federation  

Agreement No. PP2551000 07498  

TAFE rally  

 

Plus  

Tel lus your discri nation story  

Pink is just colour 12  

Society will pay 18  

November 18, 2013 Vol 94 No 11  

Gonski gains at risk of  

being RAMmed  

Serious threat to schools funding after 2019.  

Gary Zadkovich  

Deputy President  

The implementation of Gonski  

needs-based funding model is an  

important development in the his-  

tory of schools funding in NSW.  

Federation members are congrat-  

ulated for their commitment and  

hard work over many years of cam-  

paigning to achieve this outcome.  

The additional investment in  

NSW public schools of nearly $1.5  

billion in 2014-2017 and further  

$2.75 billion in 2018-2019 if the  

Abbott Government commits to  

deliver this funding, will be most  

significant and much needed boost.  

It is unfortunate, however, that the  

NSW model will include the devolu-  

tionary mechanism known as the  

Resource Allocation Model (RAM).  

As Federation has consistently  

stated over many years, devolving  

responsibility for staffing, resourc-  

es and budgets to the school level  

enables governments to cut invest-  

ment in public education, whilst  

shifting the blame for shortfalls  

and problems to local principals  

and staff.  

The embedding of the RAM in  

the new model represents seri-  

ous threat to public school funding  

beyond the six years of the NSW  

National Education Reform Agree-  

ment (NERA). Governments have  

used such mechanism for years to  

cut NSW TAFE to shreds.  

While the increased Gonski  

funding may negate this damaging  

impact in the short term, the intro-  

duction of the RAM means govern-  

ment will have established mech-  

anism for longer term expenditure  

cuts beyond the duration of the  

NSW agreement. OECD reports  

confirm that such changes do not  

improve student outcomes.  

Federation will continue to  

expose the motives behind the  

RAM and oppose it accordingly.  

Low SES and Aboriginal  

students  

Initially, the Gonski model will allo-  

cate $lOO million of additional fund-  

ing in 2014 to address the learning  

needs of students from low socio-  

economic status (SES) backgrounds  

and Aboriginal students. This is im-  

portant, much needed assistance  

that will support students to achieve  

improved learning outcomes.  

Further increases to be subse-  

quently phased-in from 2015 will  

address school location and size,  

students with limited English lan-  

guage proficiency and students  

with low levels of disability and  

learning support needs. Current ar-  

rangements will continue for these  

students in 2014, as well as for stu-  

dents receiving targeted (individ-  

ual support) funding who require  

high or moderate level adjustment  

for disability, need specific support  

or are new arrivals or refugees.  

Reduced funding for  

some schools  

While it appears that most schools  

will receive additional fund-  

ing, it is unacceptable that 187  

schools next year will receive up  

to $50,000 less than their current  

funding levels.  

Many of these schools serve  

low socio-economic status (SES)  

communities. They have been  

receiving state equity programs  

funding on the basis that schools  

with higher proportion of low-  

SES students can best achieve  

improved learning outcomes  

if funding is similarly concen-  

trated to achieve whole school  

change. Spreading this funding  

more thinly via the RAM means  

these needy schools will receive  

reduced funding at time when  

increases are being delivered by  

state and federal governments  

to address the higher level of stu-  

dent need in public schooling.  

Federation has written to Ed-  

ucation Minister Adrian Piccoli  

requesting that he instruct the  

Department of Education and  

Communities to re-calculate the  

funding allocations for 2014 to  

ensure that no school suffers cut  

in funding. In the totality of in-  

creased Gonski funding over the  

next six years, this adjustment to  

funding allocations constitutes  

modest extra investment.  

Salary negotiations  

underway  

Meetings with DEC scheduled for the next two weeks.  

Maurie Mulheron  

President  

The main school salaries award  

negotiations have been proceed-  

ing, with the current award due to  

expire at the end of this year. Nego-  

tiations are being held in the con-  

text of the unfair NSW Public Sector  

Wages Policy which has capped all  

public sector increases at 2.5 per  

cent per annum but which places  

no such limits on the private sector.  

There is currently no capacity for  

public sector employees to have ar-  

bitrated decisions above the wage  

cap or any scope for work-value ar-  

guments in the NSW Industrial Re-  

lations Commission (IRC).  

To make matters worse, in late  

June 2013, the NSW Government  

announced that it would not absorb  

the federal compulsory superannu-  

ation guarantee levy. Instead, it pro-  

poses to discount any 2.5 per cent  

salary increase each year until 2019  

as the superannuation guarantee  

lifts from per cent to 12 per cent.  

This new policy means that the  

NSW Department of Education and  

Communities (DEC) has offered  

2.27 per cent increase from the first  

pay period after January 1, 2014, 2.0  

per cent from January 1, 2015 and  

2.15 per cent from January 1, 2016.  

The award's duration would be  

three years.  

The NSW Government's position  

on the superannuation discount has  

already failed in the IRC, in State  

Parliament, and is now the subject  

of another IRC hearing in late No-  

vember. Should the Government’s  

position ultimately fail, Federation  

is demanding that the DEC’S offer  

must revert to the 2.5 per cent in  

accord with the NSW Public Sector  

Wages Policy.  

Existing working conditions are  

preserved in the proposed award.  

However, there are four "initiatives"  

that the DEC wishes to introduce  

standards-referenced class-  

room teacher pay scale; revamped  

teacher performance and develop-  

ment framework that aligns with  

the national teaching standards;  

revised teacher efficiency proce-  

dures; and new principal classifi-  

cation structure.  

The new standards-referenced  

pay scale would take effect for new  

teachers who begin their career in  

2016. It would be five step scale  

across two bands with the mini-  

mum time to reach â€˜top of the scale'  

being seven years. Band would in-  

volve graduate teachers staying at  

the beginning rate (currently step  

5) for two years during which time  

they would be required to meet the  

standards of proficient teacher, as is  

the case now. The next step would  

be band which would equate to  

step in the existing scale. After  

two years minimum at this rate,  

the teacher would progress through  

three more steps to reach the 'top of  

the scale'. Progression is automat-  

ic subject to normal efficiency re-  

quirements. There are no quotas at  

any stage.  

new band classification that  

sits above the highest step would be  

created. This is for any teacher who  

successfully acquires Higher Ac-  

complished Teacher accreditation.  

This salary rate would be system  

funded position, voluntary, with-  

out quotas, not linked to specific job  

criteria and 'owned' by the teacher,  

not the school. It is proposed that  

the salary rate would sit about mid-  

way between 'top of the scale' and  

the first promotion level of assistant  

principal/head teacher.  

The proposal for performance  

and development framework that  

aligns with the national teaching  

standards is quite lacking in detail.  

Federation is seeking more de-  

tailed policy that includes additional  

funding for an individual teacher's  

professional development. Federa-  

tion has made it clear that the em-  

ployer must make substantial fi-  

nancial contribution to supporting  

teachers in engaging with the new  

performance and development  

framework. This should also enable  

teachers to exercise more control  

over their professional learning.  

The revised teacher efficien-  

cy procedures seek to streamline  

the process of supporting teachers  

who are not performing against  

the requirements of the position  

held and the teaching standards.  

»  

Cite

Citation options:
Work identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691502796

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 August 13, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691502796

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. 13 August 2025 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691502796>

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 13 August 2025 http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691502796

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. 94 No. 11 (18 Nov 2013)
  | location=Sydney
  | publisher=The Federation
  | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-691502796
  | id=nla.obj-691502796
  | access-date=13 August 2025
  | via=Trove
}}

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