The point october 2013

Tasmanian Catholic update Page 3

IEU grants available Page 15

Victorian bargaining Page 4

Principals’ Council Page 13

Member rallies Page 10-11

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indePendent education union VICTorIa TasManIa VolUME 3 no 5 oCTobEr 2013

Over these school holidays the parties are still working on some technical and drafting matters to give effect to positions reached,

as well as determining the timelines and processes needed between Council endorsement, through to voting in workplaces and final approval by Fair Work.

The parties released a joint statement late afternoon on Friday 20 September announcing the end of bargaining.

The details of the proposed package will be given to reps at specially convened meetings of the IEU three Catholic sector Councils at the end of the first week of term. A majority ‘in favour’ vote in each of the Councils means the Agreement goes out to staff in schools for the formal voting processes required under the Act.

The Employer must ensure that each employee to be covered by a proposed Agreement is provided with certain information about the proposed Agreement and access to a copy of the Agreement seven days prior to any vote being taken. The terms

of the Agreement and the effect of those terms must be explained to the relevant employees. The employer must also take reasonable steps to notify all employees to be covered about the time and date for the vote and the voting process to be used. Usually, in our schools, votes are taken at staff meetings or specially convened meeting times for maximum participation of employees by a show of hands. However, consideration must be given to the participation of all employees in the vote such as those on leave or part-timers who may not be present at a meeting convened for the vote. Their votes can be obtained by email or mail. If Councils ratify the proposed Agreement, the IEU will be in touch with reps in Catholic schools about talking to their principals to make arrangements for the staff vote.

This is to be a Multi-Employer Agreement and the Fair Work Act requires a majority support vote in each workplace for employees at that workplace to be covered by the Agreement. Any workplaces that don’t

At around midday on the last day of term, the parties finally shook hands on a package to be put to IEU members for their consideration. Over two years since the claim was served for a new Agreement for Victorian Catholic schools, hundreds of hours of meetings, two days of action, regional rallies and half a dozen sessions in the Fair Work Commission, negotiations have finally concluded and their outcome will now be in the hands of IEU Catholic Primary, Secondary and Principals’ Councils on Saturday 12 October.

general secretaryDeb james

More than two years after serving our log of claims, a proposed Agreement

for Catholic schools will finally be put to reps at special Council meetings in the first week of term. It’s been a long hard road and members have been there every step of the way. You’ve protested and lost pay, turned out to rallies in wind, rain and shine, emailed, petitioned, cheered and chanted, but most important of all you’ve been members of the union.

This has been a particularly difficult and bitter round of bargaining. Employer representatives this time pursued a long list of demands that would have wound back a raft of conditions and put at risk much of what has been achieved over time and perhaps taken a little for granted in our schools. Be clear about this: had the union, backed by our members, not stood in the way of the employer agenda and demanded a better deal for staff in schools then it would be a very different Agreement ultimately going to the vote of employees.

When bonus payments and back pay finally flow through to staff, it’s important to remember that it is union members who essentially make this happen. IEU members fought for a better deal and contributed to making it happen while others simply wait around and reap the benefits of the work of others. Term 4 would be a good time to ask non-members in our workplaces to join us so that we can be even stronger next time round.

I’ve been a proud union member since I started out teaching many years ago. I know that together we have achieved many things that would just not have been possible if we had been facing employers as individuals.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Multis e gentibus vires (froM Many, strength)

ConTInUEd on PagE 3

THE POINT August 20132

Contacts, calendar & contents

CONTACT USEDITORIAL/ADVERTISING ENQUIRIEST: (03) 9254 1860 F: (03) 9254 1865 FreeCall: 1800 622 889E: [email protected] W: www.ieuvictas.org.au

CONTRIBUTIONS & LETTERS from members are welcome and should be forwarded to: The Point PO Box 1320, South Melbourne 3205, or by email to: [email protected]

MELBOURNE OFFICE: 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006HOBART OFFICE: 379 Elizabeth Street, Nth Hobart 7000

The Point is published by the Independent Education Union Victoria Tasmania.

EDITORIAL CONTENT Responsibility for editorial comment is taken by D.James, 120 Clarendon Street, Southbank 3006. Views expressed in articles reflect those of the author and are not necessarily union policy.

DESIGN/SUBEDITOR Deborah Kelly

COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENTGeneral Secretary Debra JamesDeputy Secretary Loretta CotterAssistant Secretary (Tas) Angela BriantPresident Mark WilliamsDeputy President Elisabeth Buckley

Ordinary MembersPatrick Bennett Andrew Dunne Maureen ShembreyCoralie Taranto Emma Wakeling

School OfficersMargot Clark Christine Scott

Council Presidents & DeputiesCatholic Primary Council President: Maree Shields Deputy: VacantCatholic Secondary Council President: Stephen Hobday Deputy: Ruth PendavinghIndependent Council President: Cara Maxworthy Deputy: VacantTasmanian Council President: John Waldock Deputy: Jeremy OliverPrincipals’ Council President: John Connors Deputy: Duncan Arendse

what’s

Education under a Liberal GovernmentWhat Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott have planned page 3

Life Education gets nastyHarold the Giraffe would not approve! page 4

Vale Sue PrichardTribute to a pivotal figure in Catholic education and the IEU page 5

Long Service LeaveDon’t miss out on your entitlements page 7

ESS ReclassificationAre you getting paid for the work you REALLY do? page 9

Anger turns to actionIEU members around Victoria fight for their rights page 10-11

Work, injuries and illnessWhat you need to know page 12

Grants available for IEU membersHelping members expand their horizons page 15

Home and abroadThe latest education news from Australia and the world page 19

Teachers GamesPicking up medals and new members back page

Footy tipping Q&A

Congratulations to Kate reade, winner of the 2013 Footy Tipping competition. We asked her to share her secrets...When did you do your tips? I completed my tips every Thursday night. I never looked at the selection I just thought about who I might tip over the week.Did you tip with the heart or the head? I tipped with my head every week. I also thought about how the teams played the week before and then tipped based on how the teams have been playing.Did you always tip Geelong? Yes I would always tip Geelong every week. I have not tipped against them the whole year. What did you take into consideration when doing your tips? I took into consideration the odds of people picking particular teams and whether my tip would be an upset or not. Is there a team you never/always picked. I had a massive soft spot for Melbourne but I just could never tip them.Was there a team that often let you down? Yes, this year Carlton frustrated me. When I tipped them they lost and when I didn’t they won. I could not pick Carlton’s season at all. Do you have any tips for next year’s tippers? Tip late in the week and think about how the teams played the week before. Where do you think you might travel to with your prize? I hope to travel to Brazil in 2014 to do some sightseeing and to support the Socceroos in the World Cup.

When What Where

12 October Victorian Catholic Councils Melbourne

28 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Devonport

29 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Launceston

31 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Hobart

12 November Seminar: Managing Student Behaviour Melbourne

9 November IEU Annual Conference Melbourne

CyCLEAGAiNST

CANCER

Behnaz, a prep teacher from Al Siraat College in Epping, will be pedalling for the 31 days of October. The cause needs your support, because

cancer is the largest disease killer of children in Australia, with three children dying every week.

The ride will be tough, but nothing compared to what these kids face every day as they battle this terrible disease. Kids should be living life, not fighting for it, and so Behnaz is taking on this personal challenge to raise funds to fight kids’ cancer and give

these kids the brighter futures they deserve.Please consider sponsoring Behnaz’s challenge and

help these kids – even a little amount will make a difference.

To make a donation, simply visit: www.greatcyclechallenge.com.au/riders/behnazToranji

All funds raised will support the Children’s Medical Research Institute to continue its work to develop treatments and find a cure for childhood cancer.

Thank you for your support.

IEU member Behnaz Toranji is riding in the Great Cycle Challenge to help fight kids’ cancer.

October 2013 THE POINT 33

after six years of Labor governments under Kevin rudd and julia gillard (and then Kevin rudd again), on saturday 7 september voters elected a Coalition government lead by tony abbott.

Education under a Liberal GovernmentWhat does this mean for IEU

members? New Education Minister Christopher Pyne has been a

constant presence in debates around education policy, having held the portfolio in opposition for the past five years. Here are some of his positions on just three of the big issues facing the sector at the moment.Better Schools fundingPyne was originally scathing of Labor’s Better Schools funding package (known earlier as Gonski), stating ‘it is not a Gonski, it is a Conski’, and ‘the only way to ensure that no school is worse off is, I believe, to stick with the existing system’.

When it became clear that spending billions of extra dollars on school funding was actually pretty popular, the Liberal position moderated somewhat, to the point where revised government policy is now ‘we will adopt exactly the same funding envelope as Labor over the forward estimates’.

While this means a mild boost to school funding in the next four years, what happens beyond that remains unclear. Of the $10 billion promised by Labor over six years, $7.2 billion was to arrive in the final two years.Class sizesOn a number of occasions Christopher Pyne has expressed his dismay at what he sees as an ‘obsession’ by successive Labor state and federal governments on reducing class sizes. ‘There is no evidence that smaller class sizes somehow produce better student outcomes’, he has said, and ‘(i)n spite of Australia having small class sizes for 10 years... their outcomes have gone backwards.’

Schools in all sectors can expect little support from the Federal Government for lowering class sizes, with the emphasis instead likely to be focussed on ‘lifting teacher quality’. Mr Pyne has argued that, while governments have been focussed on lower class sizes, teaching has become a ‘cheap’ and ‘easy’ job to get.

CurriculumIn the days since he became Education Minister, Christopher Pyne has made it very clear he intends to take a ‘hands-on’ approach to reshaping the school curriculum. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) looks set to lose some of the authority it currently holds over the development of a national curriculum, with Pyne declaring they are ‘not the final arbiter on everything that is good in education’.

Mr Pyne has stated on various occasions that subjects taught in Australian schools focus too much on ‘progressive’ causes, downplay the role of the Coalition in Australian history, don’t emphasise enough the role of commerce and industry in building the country, and have ‘been skewed to a black armband view of Australian history’.

Get used to more of the same old debates over what students should be learning, and a deliberate revival of last century’s ‘history wars’.

Congratulations to Kate reade, winner of the 2013 Footy Tipping competition. We asked her to share her secrets...When did you do your tips? I completed my tips every Thursday night. I never looked at the selection I just thought about who I might tip over the week.Did you tip with the heart or the head? I tipped with my head every week. I also thought about how the teams played the week before and then tipped based on how the teams have been playing.Did you always tip Geelong? Yes I would always tip Geelong every week. I have not tipped against them the whole year. What did you take into consideration when doing your tips? I took into consideration the odds of people picking particular teams and whether my tip would be an upset or not. Is there a team you never/always picked. I had a massive soft spot for Melbourne but I just could never tip them.Was there a team that often let you down? Yes, this year Carlton frustrated me. When I tipped them they lost and when I didn’t they won. I could not pick Carlton’s season at all. Do you have any tips for next year’s tippers? Tip late in the week and think about how the teams played the week before. Where do you think you might travel to with your prize? I hope to travel to Brazil in 2014 to do some sightseeing and to support the Socceroos in the World Cup.

When What Where

12 October Victorian Catholic Councils Melbourne

28 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Devonport

29 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Launceston

31 October Tasmanian Bargaining Regional Meeting Hobart

12 November Seminar: Managing Student Behaviour Melbourne

9 November IEU Annual Conference Melbourne

vote at all or where there is a ‘no vote’ will NOT be covered by the Agreement. This is an important difference to last time where there were a couple of protest no votes that didn’t affect the overall outcome. This time, very clearly, the Agreement will only be made for each employer whose employees approve the Agreement.

At this stage, all going well, the vote is expected to be conducted in the week beginning 28 October. This allows time for IEU Councils to make their determination, employers to disseminate the relevant materials, and the vote to be organised in each workplace. The best case scenario will see back pay in November. It’s been a long time between pay rises for staff in Catholic schools in Victoria.

TASMANIAN CATHOlIC BARGAINING UpDATe

lIGHT AT THe eND OF THe TUNNelFROM pAGe 1

Bargaining for something as significant as a new Enterprise Agreement that

covers close to 2000 employees in Tasmanian Catholic schools & colleges and the Catholic Education Office is no small undertaking. Whatever is agreed upon will determine the salaries and conditions of all those employed in Tasmanian Catholic schools and the TCEO in the immediate future, members and non-members alike. Members might like to sensitively convey this to current non-members and

encourage them to have an input by joining up.

Key issues in recent discussions have included:

n The Agreement to include all utility staff and cleaners employed by Catholic schools

n Clarification of Long Service Leave entitlements

n Teacher Hours and Days of Attendance (this issue has prompted prolonged discussion and is still to be resolved, but the employers have moved away from their initial claim which involved

almost unregulated hours of work)

n Moving towards full-year employment for support staff

n New classification structures for support staff including finance and administrative staff (This is a massive task; the parties are looking at resolving this by designing a new classification system during the life of the Agreement)

n An increase in time release for PORs.

After 9 months of negotiations much progress has been made, but there is a bit of a way to go. At this point, consultation and discussion with reps and members is essential.

We have emailed all reps and asked them to respond with a time and date that either Angela or Dino can come out to every school in the first few weeks of Term 4 to meet with members and potential members. Also we have scheduled regional meetings that all school reps should attend; members are also very welcome.

Regionalmeetingdiarydates:North-West, Devonport Monday 28 October

North, Launceston Tuesday 29 October

South, Hobart Thursday 31 October

During Term 3 the IEU bargaining team have committed substantial time and energy to frequent negotiating meetings with the Catholic education employer group.

IEU member Behnaz Toranji is riding in the Great Cycle Challenge to help fight kids’ cancer.

THE POINT October 20134

bargaining

UpDate: Victoria Agreementsapproved

Ballarat and Clarendon CollegeLongerenong CollegeTaylors English Language ProgramPlenty Valley Christian College

LodgedforapprovalBialik CollegeThe Knox School

DevelopmentsStaff at HumeAnglicanGrammarhave been

keen to start negotiations for a first Agreement for some time. Employee reps requested the school to commence bargaining. However, the Principal, Bill Sweeney refused to commence unless the employees made a majority support determination application demonstrating that a majority of staff wanted an Agreement. Our rep was instrumental in circulating a petition among all staff – obtaining over 70% support for an Agreement. The school responded by conducting its own ballot, which also showed the majority of staff wanted an Agreement. Following the Majority Support application being listed at Fair Work, the school has now agreed to bargain and has sent out Notice of Representational Rights. The IEU will look forward to developing a claim on behalf of staff and commencing bargaining next term.

Staff at Humeare to be congratulated for showing such strong support for an Agreement!

Bargaining at GeelongCollege last year resulted in most matters being agreed. The only outstanding issue was the tabling of a wages schedule. New principal Andrew Barr advised that he did not now agree to key matters that were agreed upon last year. This has caused a lot of uncertainty at the school. The IEU requested the college provide a draft Agreement for consideration. After some delay, a draft has now been provided for comment. The IEU will review the draft carefully to assess whether the proposal reflects what was agreed between the parties.

Staff at MelbourneGirls’GrammarSchoolhave voted in favour of a new Agreement, following a resumption of negotiations when a first proposal was rejected. The new Agreement states teachers will have no less than 14 weeks non-attendance time and sets out face-to-face hours and states limits on other required duties. Staff will receive a 6.2% pay increase on 1 February 2014 and subsequent annual increases of 3.5% and 3%. All staff will receive a bonus payment of $1500 or pro rata for part time when the Agreement has been approved by the Fair Work Commission. Other improvements include two weeks of paid partner leave and an increase to the camp allowance to $90.

At LauristonGirls’Schoolbargaining has concluded save staff do not accept the employer’s wage offer. Employees have consistently asked

that wages be kept at a level that maintains a wage margin relative to like schools and consider the current offer does not achieve this. The IEU has proposed that the school draft the proposed Agreement and that it be put to staff for the ballot.

Negotiations are now completed at CareyBaptistGrammarand the deal is excellent for teachers and support staff.

Pay increases are 3.5% per year for the next four years, with some levels receiving 4%.

This will put the top of the teacher scale at $105,500 by February 2016 – but there are two more levels available for leading classroom teachers: $111,700 and $117,000. (To reach these levels there is an extensive application and interview process.)

Other improvements include additional paid parental leave, an improved classification structure for school assistants and an improved consultative committee clause.

The school should be congratulated for listening to the concerns of staff and bargaining representatives.

Thanks to all reps – in particular our long-serving IEU rep, Brendan O’Brien.

Negotiationscontinueat...BallaratChristianCollege(drafting)BerryStreetElthamCollegeFirbankGrammarSchoolFlindersChristianCollegeGippslandGrammarSchoolKilvingtonGrammarSchoolTheKingDavidSchool:teacher Agreement final

draft completed, final negotiation for wage offer to be concluded.

MelbourneMontessori: Employee claim presented; employer has responded favourably to a number of claims. Employer claim is being considered.

MountScopusMemorialCollege: School Assistants and Clerical and Admin staff Agreements close to final draft.

NewhavenCollegePlentyValleyMontessoriSchoolPreshilStPaul’sAnglicanGrammar

Commencingbargaining...AlphingtonGrammarBeaconhillsCollegeBerwickGrammarandStMargaret’sBillanookCollege-EducationalServicesCornishCollegeMtHiraCollegePLCRuytonShelfordGirls’GrammarStMary’sCopticOrthodoxCollegeWestbourneGrammarWoodleighSchool

The new management team of Life Education (which has never worked in schools or

education) wants to use presenters who are not teachers and to drastically cut existing teachers’ employment conditions.

At the same time, management has taken a nasty approach to anyone who questions their direction – a comment by a teacher that ‘respect should go both ways’ resulted in a formal warning of termination of employment. A supportive and trusting approach to staff that matches the Life Education philosophy is being replaced by a lack of respect for teachers and a climate of fear.

The management bargaining proposal includes:

n Zero pay increase until a new individual performance pay system is brought in

n No pay for school holidaysn Removing paid Parental Leave

n Reducing Personal Leave from 15 to 10 days per year

n Reducing Long Service from 1.3 to 0.86 weeks per year

n Rejecting every one of a modest list of IEU claims.

Members will not accept any of these changes and are prepared to take industrial action to keep Life Education staffed by fully qualified, VIT registered teachers – with teachers’ pay and teachers’ employment conditions.

Members believe the new management has very little idea what is involved in teaching or what schools need from Life Education.

If Life Education continues down this path we’ll be asking principal members to only use Life Education where qualified VIT registered teachers deliver the classes.

This may be a long dispute – so how about giving your Life Ed teacher a big hug when they visit!

Life Education teachers deliver positive, preventative drug and health education in the vans with Harold the Giraffe on the side. But Life Education teachers have just received the worst response we have ever seen in bargaining.

life education gets nasty

LESER has tabled its claim and responded to the employee claim. Disappointingly, the vast majority of employee claims have been rejected. However, a wage offer for teachers and

wage offer and classification structure for school officers has now been tabled. The IEU is in the process of assessing the wage and classification structures and has sought more information from LESER in relation to the school officer wages and structure.

The IEU’s claim on behalf of members is to achieve at least wage parity with the government sector for all staff, with teachers to maintain a ‘premium’ above government rates. It appears this is close to being achieved for all teachers. However, the revised classification structure for school officers and assistants will need to be improved further to achieve this. More details will be provided to members when we have the additional information requested.

Also of concern: the LESER claim seeks to remove all reference to face-to-face hours from the Agreement, devolve some key matters to the local level without improved consultation mechanisms, and to have all new school officers on ‘term time only’.

There are a number of items where we are closer to agreement including parental leave provisions, a ‘special leave’ clause which would allow staff to take leave for specified reasons in addition to current entitlements, and a proposed new performance and conduct clause. Discussions continue over the precise wording of these proposed clauses.

While the parties have expressed a desire to conclude negotiations in time for an Agreement to be in place next year, this will be difficult given there are significant matters still to be resolved.

Our next meeting is scheduled for 22 October and a whole day has been set aside. It is hoped that the extra time will allow us to progress matters further.

Bargaining meetings with the Lutheran Education South East Region (LESER) are progressing with further meetings taking place in August and September.

lutheran negotiations

IEU is the new blackUnionism has never been so fashionable! The IEU has limited quantities of our special edition grey t-shirt (as worn at the Teachers Games) on sale for only $10. We also have a small number of incredibly cosy ‘Proud to be union’ hoodies at the bargain price of $20. Both garments are Australian made, sweatshop free, and available in a wide range of sizes. If you’d like to get hold of one, call us on 03 9254 1860 or email [email protected]


Vale

Union farewells sue prichard

n Reducing Personal Leave from 15 to 10 days per year

n Reducing Long Service from 1.3 to 0.86 weeks per year

n Rejecting every one of a modest list of IEU claims.

Members will not accept any of these changes and are prepared to take industrial action to keep Life Education staffed by fully qualified, VIT registered teachers – with teachers’ pay and teachers’ employment conditions.

Members believe the new management has very little idea what is involved in teaching or what schools need from Life Education.

If Life Education continues down this path we’ll be asking principal members to only use Life Education where qualified VIT registered teachers deliver the classes.

This may be a long dispute – so how about giving your Life Ed teacher a big hug when they visit!

life education gets nasty

lutheran negotiations

Over the last year Sue experienced a number of serious health issues,

procedures, complications and setbacks but fought on resolutely, planning her return to the office. However, towards the end of September, her condition had become much more serious and she requested no further medical intervention.

Sue passed away on Thursday 19 September with her family around her, dying as she had lived, with courage, dignity and grace. She is survived by her husband David, daughters Lou and Melissa and their husbands, and five very much loved grandchildren.

Sue instilled a great sense of social justice and service in her daughters. In a case of the apple not falling far from the tree, Sue’s daughter Lou is an organiser with the union. She has the same strength and commitment as we saw in Sue.

Her other family here at the IEU will miss her dreadfully. She has been a part of our union for more than 20 years and was one of the four current members of staff that pre-date the amalgamation of the three separate unions that merged to form VIEU back in 1994.

Sue’s calm and gentle yet very determined manner was used to great effect in dealing with members and employers over the years.

Even though she had been in and out of hospital over the past 12 months she followed the Catholic bargaining campaign closely and was very disappointed to have missed the days of action and regional rallies.

She was kept up-to-date with real time reports from each of these events and would send us messages of encouragement from her hospital bed up until the day before she died.

She would be pleased the deal is now ready to be put to Council, but would so have wanted to be with the Catholic primary reps as they vote.

Sue had a long history in Catholic primary education both as teacher and principal before she went on to work for the union. After college, Sue started her teaching career at Our Lady of Assumption School Cheltenham with 75 preps in her first year. She had to resign when she

started her family, but returned to teaching in 1975 at St Patrick’s Mentone where she went on to become Deputy Principal. She took on the role of Principal at St Agnes’ School Highett, at that time a rather fractured community.

It would have been a tough gig for a first-time principal but one she handled with ease in her gentle and generous way bringing the community together and building a happy and vibrant school. Staff members from that time attended Sue’s funeral and spoke with great memories and much love about that period in the school’s history.

Sue was proud of her family history in the union movement. Her grandfather, Maurice Boyce Duffy, was Secretary of, and laid the foundation stone for, the Trades Hall. It was her close relationship with him that also laid the foundations for Sue’s life commitment of service to the union movement. Sue believed in the power of the collective.

As the eldest of her siblings, Sue became the matriarch of the family. She endeavoured to keep them closely together, as her parents had done, by orchestrating events and celebrations. Christmases were legendary.

She believed in the collective both in her family and in her work life, always gathering people around her. At the centre of their family life over successive generations was a devotion to the St Kilda football club. Gathering at the football was a way the wider family stuck close together. It was lucky that Sue managed to snag a ticket to the 1966 Grand Final, because she would not see another win. Her unswerving belief in St Kilda is testament to her eternal optimism and faith in the underdog.

While she was principal at St Agnes, Sue was active in the Victorian Catholic Primary Principals’ Association and became their President. She was the perfect person to lead principals into the brave new world of industrial relations, the first award for Catholic schools having only been made in 1985.

She instinctively knew how important it was to be independent and not reliant on the grace and favour of employers.

She represented Catholic Primary Principals on their Conciliation and Arbitration Board working alongside the Victorian Catholic Primary Staff Association who represented teachers and support staff in Catholic schools.

In 1989, under Sue’s leadership, Catholic primary principals voted overwhelmingly to amalgamate with their teacher colleagues and the VCPPA formally merged with the VCPSA, a pragmatic and philosophical decision that has stood the test of time.

Sue was the logical choice to be the first full-time officer available to assist principals, an astute bargain struck as part of the amalgamation, and something principals had not had access to previously.

And so it was in January 1990 that Sue’s career moved from principal activist to full-time union organiser, a role she would undertake with unswerving com-mitment and gentle determina-tion for more than two decades.

After living in Mentone for many years, Sue and her husband David moved to the country and Sue moved into a more general organising role working with members on the fringe of the city and in northern Victoria.

She loved the country trips and built great relationships with reps, members and principals around those schools.

One former rep, Hilary Kennedy, said this of Sue:

She was such a happy, warm person and an enormous support to the staff at St Monica’s School Wodonga, as she was at other schools across Victoria, and I know they admired and cared for her very much.

As Union rep at St Monica’s for many years, I learnt so much from her advice and was always confident that she would make herself available when we needed her support.

I appreciate the fact that this was not easy as a trip to Wodonga meant many hours of driving before even addressing the meeting or problem to be faced.

Over the years of meeting with her, I learnt that she loved her work with the union with a passion and despite some very difficult struggles, she would not be happy doing anything else.

These thoughts are confirmed in the many messages of sympathy received here at the office and in the stories shared by reps and members who attended her funeral.

Our love and deepest sympathy go to David, Lou and Melissa, and her wider family. Sue Prichard was a wonderful, generous woman, a much valued and loved colleague, comrade and friend. The IEU is a better union for her contribution and she will be always fondly remembered.

Vale,dearSue,gogentlyandwatchoverus.

In the last week of September the IEU Victoria Tasmania bade farewell to one of its longest-serving staff members, the very much loved, valued and respected Sue Prichard.

vale sue Prichard: 1945–2013


Working alone

Protection from aggressive parents

To combat this, as a matter of duty of care to school staff, some schools have already

installed their own CCTV systems around the school and particularly in the main foyer, where this abuse most often occurs.

I agree with Mr Cotching that, ‘There are a growing number of community members, parents, (and even grandparents) who are going into the foyers of schools and being quite rude, threatening and abusive.’

I know from police reports that schools have found CCTV visibility a fairly significant deterrent in recent years against burglary and property damage. But I do wonder whether highly emotional, possibly out of control, parents would be mindful of CCTV cameras when they have planned, or maybe not planned, to suddenly ‘blow off steam’ in front

of particular school staff. I think Mr Cotching’s remarks

and assertions lead to a far deeper and more serious question for staff in schools: how are our education authorities going to show leadership in dealing with parental misconduct in the school environment?

A report released in July by Monash University said school principals were seven times more likely to experience physical violence than the general public. About a quarter had experienced physical violence and more than a third had been verbally abused by angry parents. It found 38 per cent had reported threats of violence compared with only 8 per cent of the general population who had reported intimidation.

For actual violence, 27 per cent of principals report having been attacked compared with 4 per

cent of the population.Study author Dr Philip Riley

said the violence was more widespread than he anticipated.

I also found most interesting that Dr Riley uncovered levels of violence, threats of violence and bullying in all three education sectors. Violence and threats showed up in the wealthy independent schools with almost the same frequency as in poor government schools, which indicates that socio-economic status is probably not much of a factor.

Another point I most whole-heartedly agree with: that parents’ anxieties over their children’s futures is probably a much bigger factor and that anecdotal evidence suggests it’s increasing, but we need some more clear empirical data to confirm that.

More than 8 years ago Catholic primary principals in Melbourne asked for the Catholic Education Office to develop policy on Parental Misconduct in schools, which they did little about until a MOU was signed as part of our last Agreement.

After much negotiation, a survey of principals was undertaken in recent years, but the results have not been allowed into the public domain.

Given Dr Philip Riley’s research showing all three sectors experience the same parental behaviour concerns, maybe it’s time to see whether the Catholic research matches Dr Riley’s.

Then, what will the CECV and AISV be willing to do, to reduce the threat of violence in the workplaces of our members in Catholic and independent schools?

froM the President

health and safety

members may remember public announcements in july from australian principals Federation president Christopher Cotching saying teachers, support staff and principals are being subjected to increasing levels of harassment.

The risks associated with working alone are not often thought about in relation to schools. But there are situations in schools where employees

may be at risk. Scenarios such as cleaning staff working by themselves in school buildings, teachers on site after the school day finishes, or on a weekend to prepare work, ground staff in remote areas of the property, school officers performing administrative duties or outdoor education staff preparing field trips are examples of situations where the ability to get immediate assistance is limited.

While there are no specific hazards associated with working alone, the isolation increases the likelihood of any hazards present causing an injury. A school principal, who decided to clean the guttering on the staffroom roof on a Sunday afternoon fell from the ladder, injured his hip and was not discovered until staff arrived for work the next day. A teacher, whose normal practice was to attend the school over the weekend and prepare work for the upcoming week, tripped while carrying a box of resources, hit her head and was knocked unconscious. A cleaner working alone in a remote part of the school after dark observed a ‘stranger’ on the premises, not knowing who the person was or whether they ought to have been in the school, she was too afraid to leave the building until she was discovered by a member of the teaching staff in a nearby office.

There are no hazards exclusive to working alone - hazards presenting a risk to persons working alone in schools are also hazards at other times.

Any of the scenarios discussed could occur at any time during the school day. This means that to reduce the risk of injury to persons working alone the hazards and risks of the job in general need to be identified and controlled first. However, working

alone can increase the severity of the consequence when an injury does occur. The principal who fell off the ladder broke his hip, suffered a great deal of pain and shock. He was also mildly hypothermic when found, having spent a night exposed to very low temperatures.

Schools, in consultation with health and safety representatives and employees, should identify situations where employees will be working alone or in isolation. The risks associated with any activities that involve working alone or in isolation should then be assessed and a determination made as to under what circumstances working alone will be permitted. It is unlikely that one solution will be sufficient to deal with all circumstances where there are risks of working alone. Schools should consider how the use of buddy systems, communications technology, panic buttons, duress alarms, sign in and sign out procedures, movement records and training can reduce the risks. Had the principal who fell off the ladder been able to activate a personal duress alarm, access a mobile phone, or have informed a colleague of the task he was undertaking and its likely duration, he may have been discovered and received assistance a lot earlier.

Working alone is not necessarily a specific hazard, but like all hazardous situations schools should develop and monitor systems to reduce the likelihood of injury to employees who are required to, or choose to work alone. As a sub-branch, take some time to consider who in school may from time to time work alone, under what circumstances that work is currently performed and whether or not the current ways of preventing injury are effective. For assistance from your Organiser, contact the IEU Victoria Tasmania Office.

‘Working alone’, as defined by WorkSafe Victoria, is working anywhere a person is unable to get immediate assistance from colleagues or other people in the event of a problem.

Help! I haven’t found a job yet! Now is the time that jobs for 2014 will be advertised and, if you haven’t applied for one yet, don’t panic. There are a number of places where you can find teaching positions advertised, including:Careerone, seekwww.schooljobs.com.au www.independentschools.com.au (Independent and Catholic schools)

You can also canvas prospective employers who don’t have any work advertised by writing to them and asking them to consider you for any future vacancies or CRT work.

When you are thinking about applying for a job, there are a number of aspects you should consider before you invest your time into drafting an application and updating your CV. Firstly, you should consider whether or not you are a ‘fit’ for that school, as schools in the non-government sector can have different educational philosophies or religious affiliations that influence how and what they teach. You should also consider whether or not a job is for a fixed term or is ongoing, and what the wages and conditions are at that school. IEU student members can contact the IEU Office to find out more about wages and conditions in non-government schools.

There is no standard application process in the non-government sector and most job advertisements won’t ask you to respond to key selection criteria as is the case in the government sector. The general advice for applications is that your CV should be no more than two to three pages long and that your cover letter should be approximately one page long. For more advice about cover letters and CVs, check out the IEU Best Foot Forward booklet which is available from the IEU website: www.ieuvictas.org.au

Don’t forget that if you are offered a job in a Catholic or independent school, you can get your contract checked by an IEU officer by simply giving us a call on 03 9254 1860.


Feature

Resigning, part 2: long service leave lump it or leave it

taking your leave

gender equity 2013

After seven years of continuous service with the one employer, all employees have a right to have any accrued but untaken Long Service

Leave paid to them as a lump sum at the end of their employment. Whilst this lump sum can be a benefit in assisting transition, consideration should also be given to accessing this benefit as leave.

Dependent on your current entitlements, members of the IEU Victoria Tasmania will be able to take their Long Service Leave as leave after either seven or ten years of continuous service. So, when looking to depart their current employer, they may be able to access their Long Service Leave rather than receiving it as a lump sum payment. There are a number of benefits to accessing your Long Service Leave rather than receiving it as a lump sum that should be considered.

While timing of Long Service Leave is dependent on agreement with the employer, members should consider accessing the leave and therefore seeking agreement. Members also need to be mindful of notice periods for Long Service Leave entitlements and be open with their employers regarding their intentions following leave.

By accessing your Long Service Leave, you remain entitled to superannuation payments whilst on leave in line with your current Agreement. This means at least 9.25% needs to be paid on the value of the leave into your nominated superannuation account. The employer is not required to make such contributions when Long Service Leave is taken as a lump sum upon resignation or termination.

When accessing Long Service Leave you also continue to accrue entitlements. This would mean you would continue to accrue annual leave, sick leave and long service leave whilst on leave. For those members that had a significant entitlement to Long Service Leave on resignation this could lead to a number of additional weeks’ pay.

Depending on when your period of Long Service Leave is taken, you may also access pay increases or public holidays. If either an incremental or annual increase falls during a period of Long Service Leave the employer is required to pass these on to the member. This is not required for any lump sum payment.

Members are also entitled to payment for public holidays to the exclusion of any Long Service Leave, which could lead to an additional or multiple days’ pay.

Depending on their Workplace Agreement, members may also have access to personal leave whilst on Long Service Leave. If this is an entitlement, members are able to take such leave in line with their Agreement and save their Long Service Leave for either pay out in lump sum or extra leave with the agreement of the employer.

If you would like specific advice regarding your entitlements to Long Service Leave, please don’t hesitate to contact your Organiser or the IEU Victoria Tasmania Office on 1800 622 889 and speak with the officer on duty. Members should also seek detailed financial advice from a certified financial adviser prior to making any personal financial decisions.

You may have seen in the last edition of The Point the important considerations about the timing of your notice when resigning. Another issue that members should consider when contemplating moving on from their current employer is what to do with accrued Long Service Leave.

Part-time 101

dePuty secretaryLoretta Cotter

1. Part-timers don’t have a part-time commitment to their job. They also don’t earn a full-time salary.

2. Some employers try to impose demands on part-timers that do not acknowledge the basis of their employment relationship. Employers do not ‘own’ the days that part-time staff don’t work; they are the days they do not pay them.

3. Employers actually don’t ‘own’ any employee.

4. Good schools have a culture of good will, mutual collaboration

and shared values. There is no divide between full-time and part-time staff. All staff contribute their time to the host of activities that make a learning environment rich – camps, co-curricular activities, concerts, sports days, information sessions and so on. A part-timer will not generally approach these activities on a strictly proportionate basis – they will do what they can, particularly on the days they are working.

5. Expectations are different from requirements. A part-timer cannot be ‘required’ to do something on a day they don’t work, but neither should a part-timer refuse to carry out a key aspect of their role such as reporting to parents. The employer and the teacher could have a conversation and more often than not a mutually agreed outcome is achieved. The solution may be that in the example of parent-teacher interviews the teacher sees some parents at a different time and on a different day. The sky doesn’t fall in.

6. Part-time hours should not be used as the cracks to fill a sagging timetable, the short

cut to avoiding a redundancy, or the first reaction to a temporary funding gap.

7. Everyone needs income and employment certainty. Yet in many of our industrial instruments a part-timer’s hours can still be reduced over time, a bit here, a bit there, until they no longer have the income they need to survive on. If they are also on a fixed term contract they don’t even know whether they have a job the following year.

8. The majority of part-time employees are women trying to balance work and family responsibilities. We need to achieve stronger protections for them so that they can actually do it.

Given widespread confusion, misunderstanding and (sometimes) wilful misrepresentation of the relationship between part-time workers and their employers, it seems timely to outline the facts from the start.

This year Australian women have to work an extra 64 days, a gender pay gap of

17.5%; a figure which has rarely changed in the past 20 years.

Every year the percentage is cal-culated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and is based on aver-age weekly earnings.

There’s no one cause of the pay gap and no one solution. The issue is complicated and a number of interrelated factors contribute.

An organisation may pay women and men doing the same job the same amounts but have an organisation-wide pay gap because women are under-repre-sented in management and over-represented in lower paid roles.

The uneven spread of women and men across industries also plays a part. Workers in female- dominated industries tend to receive lower wages than those in male-dominated industries. The female-dominated health and community sector have the wid-

est gender pay gap, 32.3%, of any sector in Australia.

There are 70% of Australian women who are working part-time; this too has an impact on the lifetime earnings of women. Employees who work part-time often miss out on promotions which typically get offered to full-time staff and this workforce may also miss out on training oppor-tunities.

This significant gender pay gap matters greatly for women, to economic security during their working lives and in retirement. If employers are committed to addressing it at an occupa-tional and organisational level we should expect to see some reduc-tion in the national pay gap.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has produced a document that separates fact from fiction in the equal pay debates: http://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/gender_pay_gap_fact_fiction.pdf

Equal Pay Day was on 3 September and marks the period of extra days in the current year which women need to work to achieve the same wages that men earned during the previous financial year.

THE HIGH PRICE OF working while feMale


tasmania

Moved house?TAKE US TOO!Letusknowon:[email protected]

changes: tasmanian anti-discrimination act

Faith-based schools and the churches have been seeking the capacity to discriminate

in relation to admission to their schools. The Attorney-General Brian Wightman recently indicated that an amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act would be introduced to allow for this exemption. In what he describes as a ‘sensible and balanced approach’ Mr Wightman has announced that the proposed exemption would be available at the point of admission.

Examples would be: if a class

is full, the school could refuse to accept an enrolment from a student not of that particular religious belief or affiliation; if there was only one place available, and two students seeking to enrol, preference could be given to the student of that particular religious belief or affiliation. Students who are already attending a faith-based school could not be excluded.

Once the amendment has been passed and Hansard is available, we will report in more detail to members.

In the morning session of the conference, Steve Whittington, founder of schooljobs.com and Director of Oxford Education, focused on the art of

CV writing and the importance of preparing properly for an interview.

Before lunch the participants had a brief session on teacher registration with Kerrie Moss, CEO TRB, and the government education system and the role of the AEU with Ed Walker, AEU Organiser.

In the afternoon the students were given an opportunity to meet Chris Smith and Christine O’Halloran who have both worked as principals in Tasmanian Catholic education system and Tony Freeman who is the current principal of the Fahan School in Sandy Bay.

This ‘Meet the Principals’ session was well received by students as it gave them an opportunity to hear what principals look for in a graduate teacher.

It’s been more than two years of intense lobbying and negotiation between stakeholders, the Legislative Council and the Government in the House of Assembly. Finally it seems highly likely that an amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act will pass both Houses of Parliament.

For the first time, student teachers in Tasmania had the opportunity to attend IEU professional development designed to assist them with applying for their first teaching job. The one-day conference was held at the Unions Tasmania building in North Hobart and was attended by over 35 extremely motivated students from various University of Tasmania teaching courses.

assistant secretary (tasMania) angeLa briant

a little over a year ago i asked the tasmanian government media unit to add me to the media releases recipient list.

tasmania and non-government education

best foot forward: hobart

Certainly some really useful information comes through in a timely way; for example

information very recently on the Working with Children and Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2012. This Bill has very significant implications for IEU members in all non-government schools in Tasmania. So it was helpful to be able to pick that up quickly.

Unfortunately though, the media releases are a source of frustration at times, particularly when it appears that releases emanating from the Premier and/or Minister for Education consistently focus almost exclusively on government education in the state. Almost 30% of Tasmanian students attend non-government schools and they certainly aren’t receiving 30% of the coverage in media releases and corresponding newspaper articles and television news stories.

Recent examples include:

3 September ‘Strengthening Education Ties with Indonesia’; which included the quote: ‘Currently 25 Tasmanian Government schools are teaching Bahasa Indonesia’;

‘Tas Curriculum to Build China Links’ on 6 September, which mentioned that the Tasmanian Education Department has formal links with four Chinese schools and 10 Tasmanian schools are enrolled in the bridge program to learn more about Chinese language and culture;

‘Better Schools for Tasmania’ on 12 August ran to many pages with a focus on the ‘fairer funding’ model to be introduced into the government school system and included one sentence on the funding of non-government schools; and ‘Helping Young Tasmanians Shape Their Futures’ on 2 August was an interesting story about a new website that showcases educational options and was designed and maintained by the Department of Education.

These are all terrific stories about innovation, success and encouragement; these initiatives are to be commended. But IEU members are making their feelings clear: the schools they teach in with such dedication and the students they are committed to don’t seem to be receiving a lot of recognition from the Tasmanian Premier and Minister for (all schools) Education.

As we know from life experience, nothing changes until we take action to affect change. So let’s not sit back and be unhappy about this. It’s time to invite the Premier and the Minister to participate in special events and activities at your non-government school. Some correspondence to the Premier and Minister about the initiatives and successes of your school wouldn’t go astray either and could well form the basis of a Tasmanian government media release. I’m happy to monitor this and look forward to receiving those media releases.

school issues around tasMania

A key theme at the heart of Catholic social tradition is the dignity of work and

the rights of workers, but in school visits over the last few months in Catholic schools in Tasmania, this key theme has been debated – and seems puzzling and is questioned by our members and staff. The Catholic ethos itself is being tested because the TCEO has put to the union in the negotiation meetings for a new Tasmanian Catholic Education Agreement the proposal that teachers will be offered the salary increases that Tasmanian state sector teachers will get, but that all other staff will only be given Hobart adjusted CPI.

National CPI is currently 2.4% but Hobart adjusted CPI is only 1.8%. Of course our negotiation team has already advised that this is contrary to the Agreement reached 20 years ago where

whatever percentage salary increase is negotiated for teachers will flow to all staff. So the union opposes this proposal.

So school support staff all around Tasmania are puzzled! How can the TCEO be so out of step with the Catholic Ethos, and with Catholic Teaching? A proposal where one group of workers gets about 3% and the other group get 1.8 % is not fair and it is not Catholic!

Teachers and school support staff stand in solidarity, and have clearly provided a message to the union. This message is to have the union help to fight for their dignity and their rights at work. A task that the union willingly does for all its members!

All members can help by talking to fellow non-members about our fight and if the non-members do not join our fight, then they agree to this unfair salary proposal.

Modern Catholic social teaching is derived from a tradition of papal, conciliar and episcopal documents, and ‘...is a rich treasure of wisdom about building a just society and living lives of holiness amidst the challenges of modern society. ...’ but disappointingly seem to be ignored for our fellow school support staff in Catholic schools in Tasmania.

CATHOLIC SOCIAL TEACHING Missing for school suPPort staff?


ESS(Re)Classification:DOESyOuRROLEDESCRiPTiONREFLECTTHEWORKyOuDO?

For teachers, the fundamentals of their role are accepted and acknowledged. So, when an aspect of their duties changes, it is more

often a workload management issue. However, for ESS members, it may not only be a workload management issue, but also a significant change to their underlying duties and tasks performed within their workplace. If it is the latter, then this should lead to a reclassification of their position which leads to a potential pay increase, as their role has to be recognised as attracting greater responsibility, requiring a higher level of skills, and this may have occurred either through formal training/qualification or from on-the-job experience.

With three quarters of the year passed, it is an appropriate and opportune time for ESS members to look back at the role description/duty statement that they received at the start of the year and reflect on how their role may have changed through the course of the year. This change, which more often occurs by osmosis, should be assessed not only for this year, but also for next year as many ESS members may be offered either another contract for part-time hours or a fixed term position for next year. It also applies for full-time ongoing employees.

Under the principle of a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, ESS members should seek to have their current position reclassified if they believe their duties have evolved over the year to a higher level or that the skill- set which they are now demonstrating and using in their roles has been enhanced, particularly where their colleagues (usually teachers) are expecting more of them in their roles.

While it would be great if every employer was

fully aware of the exact roles that every individual employee was performing within their workplace, it is not always humanly possible for them to be across this level of detail for every employee. Hence, IEU ESS members are encouraged to review their current role – looking specifically at the tasks which are included within their duty statement and those that may have been added to their role across the year as well as the skills they now possess and the level of supervision that is now provided to them by their ‘supervisor’. These are three key areas which may assist with a successful claim for reclassification. The last point is a key criterion because as ESS employees are able to demonstrate that they use their own initiative and skills allowing them to work with less direct supervision, this can be a key determinant to a successful reclassification request.

If you believe your role has changed significantly in any of these areas, then you should contact your IEU organiser who will be able to assist you in developing a written request for reclassification. Depending on where you work, the Union does have some practical resources to assist with the process. As part of this process, it would also be worth reading your workplace’s Enterprise Agreement (EBA) to see what skills and tasks may apply to the next level within your classification structure.

Also, should your request be successful, the employer may advise you that this will mean working fewer hours for the same money. This should not be an issue for you as an employee: you are now being paid a fair day’s pay for your work and it would also allow you to either work elsewhere or have more time to have a more equitable work/life balance!

As the one of the ‘sayings of life’ goes, the only certainty in life is that change is the only constant, so as we move through the days and years, the same applies to the roles which are performed by IEU members within their workplaces.

Moved house?

education suPPort staff

It’s been more than two years of intense lobbying and negotiation between stakeholders, the Legislative Council and the Government in the House of Assembly. Finally it seems highly likely that an amendment to the Anti-Discrimination Act will pass both Houses of Parliament.

tasmanian background checks duty of care

Tasmania does not currently have the ‘Working with Children’ legislation that is in place in most other Australian jurisdictions. So arguably this draft legislation is well overdue.

This reform will introduce a compulsory background risk assessment and police checks for people looking to work with children and vulnerable people. A centralised screening process will also be established; the Government committed $900,000 in this year’s State Budget to establish this.

Tasmania Police estimates that it already conducts about 25,000 national police checks each year for people either working or volunteering with children or vulnerable Tasmanians. The new system broadens the scope of inquiry and makes those checks mandatory.

The Human Services Minister Cassy O’Connor is quoted as saying ‘We’re taking action to ensure children and other vulnerable Tasmanians are protected from abuse or neglect by those entrusted with their care and support. It will provide for a more consistent, rigorous and reliable background checking system. In this it benefits employees, volunteers, organisations and employers.’

The Minister’s objectives are admirable, but there are quite a few matters that need to be clarified and/or corrected.

SomeiEuinitialconcernswiththedraftbill:There are a number of implications for IEU members in relation to the

draft legislation as it now stands:1. All support staff in non-government schools will have to be

registered under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background

Checking) Act 2013. There will be a fee for this but, as the fee is to be included in the Regulations that are yet to be written, the quantum of this fee is unknown.

2. Teachers will have to be registered twice – under the Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Act 2013 as well as under the Teacher Registration Act. A perusal of the Draft Bill and the various Fact Sheets reveal that there is not an exemption for a registered teacher.

3. The ‘Consultation Questions’ Fact Sheet states that for example: a teacher registered to work with children in Tasmania may teach in Victoria for 28 days without the need to register in Victoria. This is clearly incorrect; a teacher registered in Tasmania who wants to teach in Victoria has to apply to the Victorian Institute for Teachers (VIT) for registration to teach in Victoria.

Members can be assured that the IEU will be examining this Bill in great detail and making a detailed submission. We will also organise to meet with the drafters of the Bill and the relevant people at the Office for Children to convey our concerns.

Members are also welcome to make submissions and to attend the Community forums which are to be held in each region of the state. More information and fact sheets are available at www.children.tas.gov.au

Submissions should be sent to:Community ConsultationOffice for ChildrenPO Box 125, Hobart, TAS, 7001

In mid-September the Tasmanian Government released the draft Working with Vulnerable People (Background Checking) Bill 2013 for public consultation.

After many years of dedicated service to the Archdiocese of Hobart, Archbishop Adrian Doyle is retiring. Archbishop Adrian was the first Tasmanian born Archbishop and, whilst he originally hailed from the Huon Valley, he was very well known throughout the State. A renowned scholar, Archbishop Adrian is also very practical and he took an intense interest in the schools and all members of the school communities in the Archdiocese.

Many parents, school staff and parents will remember him

speaking eloquently about the importance of education and the opportunities a quality education opens up for students. In any debate or dilemma the question he posed was ‘What is best for the children?’ That was the frame through which he ultimately viewed whatever the issue was.

Reflecting back to the former Howard Coalition government and the ‘WorkChoices’ era, IEU members and members of other unions will recall Archbishop Adrian’s stand. He made a public commitment that the Catholic Church in Tasmania would not use the provisions available under the ‘WorkChoices’ legislation to diminish terms and conditions of employment for workers employed by any Church Agency in Tasmania. He made this commitment in writing and he also spoke publicly at a major state-wide union gathering in Launceston in front of a few thousand unionists. This principled position gave staff in Tasmanian Catholic schools and colleges tremendous affirmation of their worth and reinforced that they were held in respect.

ARCHBiSHOPDOyLERETiRES


Catholic agreement

Dear Stephen,Could you please demonstrate

that you value the work of all Catholic staff both teaching and non-teaching.

At school we are all working for the benefit of our students both academically, spiritually and socially.

We take this responsibility very seriously, in fact we devote our adult lives to this.

It would be nice if you did actually respect that.

Please make a fair and just Agreement that reflects your respect for our work, teacher or non-teacher.

Regards LindaLoreto Ballarat

To whom it may concern,My name is Katrina Hepworth

and I am a teacher at St Peter’s Primary School in East Keilor. I have been a teacher for 15 years and I absolutely love my profession. I enjoy the imagination of the children I teach, their creativity and the opportunity I have to make a difference in their lives.

MeMber anger turns to action

Kicking off with a successful rally outside James Goold House in Melbourne, action quickly spread to Ballarat, Warragul, Wangaratta,

Bendigo and Shepparton. With loud chants, some creative protest signs and

rousing speeches from IEU organisers and members, the series of after-school protests quickly drew media interest from newspapers across the state and helped exert pressure on Catholic employer representatives to see a fair deal put on the table.

At the same time members were attending these rallies, hundreds more who weren’t able to make it were sending emails to the various Directors of Catholic education, articulating so well their commitment to Catholic schools, the work they do and their desire for a just outcome for all staff. A small selection of those emails are reproduced on the opposite page.

The support and engagement of IEU members has always been at the centre of the campaign,

as it is with every campaign the union involves itself in. The great camaraderie, determination and strength that characterises our reps and members in Victorian Catholic Education has never been better demonstrated than in the last few weeks.

The concerted efforts of IEU members right throughout this incredibly difficult bargaining period – whether it be through taking a day off work to attend a rally last September or this year’s Valentine’s Day, attendance at regional rallies, letter and email writing, getting involved with sub-branch meetings or any number of other activities – has worked. Without that collective effort, negotiations still wouldn’t have ended.

Instead, pending the resolution of a few minor details, a total package will be presented to the Catholic Primary, Catholic Secondary and Principals’ Councils on Saturday 12 October.

If endorsed by those Councils, the formal process of Agreement approval can commence.

Fed up with the slow pace of negotiations for a new Victorian Catholic Agreement, IEU members from around the state descended on Catholic Education Offices in every diocese to share their outrage and demand employer representatives pursue a speedy closure to negotiations.


IeU members: speaking truth to powerDear Stephen,

Could you please demonstrate that you value the work of all Catholic staff both teaching and non-teaching.

At school we are all working for the benefit of our students both academically, spiritually and socially.

We take this responsibility very seriously, in fact we devote our adult lives to this.

It would be nice if you did actually respect that.

Please make a fair and just Agreement that reflects your respect for our work, teacher or non-teacher.

Regards LindaLoreto Ballarat

To whom it may concern,My name is Katrina Hepworth

and I am a teacher at St Peter’s Primary School in East Keilor. I have been a teacher for 15 years and I absolutely love my profession. I enjoy the imagination of the children I teach, their creativity and the opportunity I have to make a difference in their lives.

I am sure I do not need to tell you about the hard work and dedication teachers give to their students, parents and school communities. I am also speaking for the teacher aides and support teachers. I have several children in my class with special needs and learning difficulties. Without my teacher aide, I would not be able to offer the quality of education to my class that I currently pride myself on. She also has to do yard duty every day to supervise children with special needs, therefore her break times are very limited.

When I went out on strike, I lost a day’s pay – however, I am passionate about the teaching profession and I want to see it prosper in the future. When the government negotiated with the AEU to improve wages and conditions, I was happy and relieved when a deal went through. To hear that the CEO are now withholding access to this deal for Catholic school teachers fills me with 2 emotions; disappointment and anger.

In the staff room this week,

there was a conversation I overheard where teachers were talking about moving to the state school system to get ‘a fair go’. Catholic teachers take on extra work, preparing the children for sacraments, providing faith nights for the community, preparing Masses, etc.... We do this because we believe in what we do. It is a sad day when our own Catholic community turns against us by denying us the pay deal and conditions improvement fairly negotiated in good faith with the Victorian government.

I love teaching in a Catholic school because the pastoral care aims towards maintaining positive and productive relationships between students, teachers and parents. However, the relationship between the CEO and Catholic teachers is not leading by example.

The Catholic faith promotes and asks for justice and equal opportunities for all. It would be nice if you practised what you preached and led by example. The Catholic Church should be about justice at all times –not

justice when it feels like it.A disappointed and

disheartened teacher.Katrina Hepworth

Dear Mr elder,I am writing to voice my

concern about the lack of good faith negotiations for the Victorian Catholic agreement. Our colleagues in government schools have received their pay rise, sign-on bonus and back-pay, and yet the Catholic employer negotiating team still refuses to agree to one single condition!

Catholic schools would not be able to operate without the invaluable work school officers and school services officers do. They deserve a pay rise that shows their value.

Where is the justice in scrapping automatic incremental progression up the pay scale? In many other industries, years of service have a direct impact on the workers’ take home wage. Why do we as teachers then have to prove our worth? Scrapping this condition would be the equivalent of introducing

performance based pay, something which is not totally within the teacher’s control, especially in schools positioned in low-socio-economic areas with high intakes of refugee students.

Why do you want to remove our long-service entitlements from the Agreement? Does our loyalty of service mean so little?

Why do you want to reduce our sick leave entitlements? So many teachers work through their illnesses because they don’t want their students to miss out. When they need a day to rest, it is for genuine reasons more often than not.

We work in Catholic Education because we love what we do, we want the best for our students and we believe that the values of the Church can help them achieve their best.

Can you please show all workers in Catholic education the value and justice they deserve and make a fair and speedy Agreement?

Sincerely, Maree Shields, Resurrection Catholic Primary School


Don’t put your registration at

risk - If you haven’t logged in

to your MyVIT and completed

your registration tasks, now

is the time to do it.

Go to www.vit.vic.edu.au

click on the ‘MyVIT’ tab and

follow the prompts.

HAVE YOUR

COMPLETED YOUR

REGISTRATION

TASKS?

The most recent educational catchcry is the need for schools and systems to focus on teacher performance and development, and as part of this, for

schools to develop a culture of performance and development. IEU members may begin to hear about the Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework, a framework which outlines ‘critical factors’ for developing this culture.

Part of this approach looks at teacher feedback and review. Performance review or appraisal is a complex and often vexed undertaking. The problem with teacher appraisal is that it can be driven by two different and often contradictory approaches – one focused on capacity building, the other unpinned by the rhetoric and tools of accountability.

Capacitybuildingforoutstandingpractice

One of the great educational thinkers of our time, Michael Fullen, has stated that it is capacity building rather than increased accountability that is more likely to lead to outstanding practice. Strategies that do not develop increased capacity (the skills to do something well) are destined to fail.

Fullen maintains that capacity-building involves investment in collaborative practices, coaching technical skill building and so on.

The union’s strong position is that any review and feedback processes should :

n involve teachers in the development n be agreed n involve peers in collaborative inquiry

focussed professional learning approaches and not quasi-scientific evaluative measures of performance

n be supported by adequate time release and professional development opportunities for teachers to strengthen their skills and knowledge.

useof‘appraisal’toolsinthefeedbackprocess

No-one can deny the importance of great feedback in improving how we do something. However, despite the large amount of time and effort in Australia and elsewhere spent on writing frameworks of Teacher Standards and methods of evaluating teachers for promotion, teacher registration and the like, there is still no clear agreement on the most valid and reliable tools for identifying and measuring effective teaching. The third important issue here is the challenge of providing insightful, constructive, and meaningful feedback.

As with any form of evaluation, the tools and methods used must be valid and useful for purpose. The use of one-off classroom observations, unless as part of a collegial support process, and simplistic student surveys to measure or evaluate teacher performance, are woefully inappropriate and inadequate to the task of providing quality, useful feedback to a teacher as part of building capacity.

ClassroomobservationThe use of classroom observation can also be

problematic. In many cases the stated purpose of the classroom observation is to provide constructive feedback in a developmental sense. However, the manner in which the observer is imposed, who the observer is (often regardless of the identified focus of the observation), and the ownership and use of documentation arising from the observation are inconsistent with the intent and purpose of developmental models.

Classroom observation in a capacity building framework works best in a peer support context, with the focus of the observation negotiated and agreed by the teacher being observed. Any written material associated with the observation should be kept by the teacher being observed as part of their planning and development material.

At its most dysfunctional and simplistic is the classroom observation interaction that involves rating or ranking performance against separate, individual ‘standards’ or sub-tasks. This practice attempts to be scientific, but is often superficial and subjective and fails to see the interconnectedness of the elements of effective teaching. If individual stand-alone standards (or competencies) are used, they should be used as a reflective tool between peers, that is, as a stimulus to reflection on practice, and not a tool of measurement.See IeU Teacher Appraisal policy on www.ieuvictas.org.au

More and more, governments and employing authorities are focusing on improving the quality of teaching as the main strategy in improving student outcomes. While there is no denying the central importance of effective teaching, timely and effective support structures, adequate resourcing and insightful and skilled educational leadership clearly underpin effective teaching.

Improving teacher effectiveness the iMPortance of constructive feedback

ohs: check your rights and entitleMents

illness or inJury?

Did you know that paid leave and other illness-related payments are available through a range

of entitlements? These include:n leave for personal sick leave and carer’s leaven infectious diseases leaven special maternity leave and sick leaven WorkCover weekly payments and other benefits

for work-related injuries or illnessesn income protection weekly payments and total

and permanent lump sum payments from the insurance coverage offered as part of your superannuation

n compensation for injury in a road or public transport accident through the Transport Accident Commission (TAC).

injuredatwork?Each year the IEU provides advice and support for

a significant number of members injured at work. These injuries include specific physical injuries, as well as stress-related conditions of anxiety, depression, high blood pressure, etc.

The law relating to workplace injuries and illnesses can be very complicated and it is important that members get the advice as soon as possible from their union about their rights and entitlements. The

union provides specialist assistance in relation to WorkCover matters, particularly in relation to:

n lodging a claimn advice on benefits available, medical and other

costs covered n assistance in disputes over rejected claims or

other entitlementsn advice and assistance on Return to Work Plans,

particularly in respect to any modifications to hours of work, timetabling and physical work environments that your doctor advises

n lump sum claims for permanent injury and negligence cases, which will also be referred to the union’s solicitors.

ReturningtoworkIt is very important to speak to your IEU organiser

when you are ready to return to work, even if returning gradually. Your union organiser can provide advice and assistance in respect to the negotiation of the Return to Work Plan which the employer must draw up for you.

If you have been injured at work or currently suffer illness due to work-related stress, it is essential that you ring IEU to be advised of your rights and entitlements.

Illness or injury can strike at any time. Fortunately, employees in non-government education have a number of entitlements for leave and other benefits which can help them cope with their own or family members’ illness.


prinCipaLs

The aims of this meeting were:n To focus on key issues in the role of principalsn To share sub-branch issuesn To use this forum to share common issuesn To table reports from those who represent IEU

through our affiliates such as ACPPA, APPA and PAI.

To commence each meeting, reps are invited to share any sub-branch issues arising. Therefore the following items were discussed:

n Global Budgeting: the country dioceses are now in the first year and Melbourne is completing its second year. Discussion took place around the challenges principals face when ‘fitting’ staff into budget and the importance of a good accountant who can assist with the efficiency, management and planning of budgets.

n Communication: principals still felt they were given short notice when being called to meetings. This is problematic because it makes it difficult to balance their need to be at school.

n Use of language such as placing titles on staff such as expert teacher. What are the implications for this staff member and is it fair to use such titles?

n Positive ‘feedback’ was given on the two-day Regional Council recently held at RACV Inverloch and St Joseph’s School, Wonthaggi. Council members enjoyed the opportunity to participate in professional development led by Michael Victory from the Teacher Learning Network (TLN). Members also appreciated the opportunity to meet at St Joseph’s Wonthaggi where the excellent facilities are a credit to Principal Martin Keogh and his school community.

The agenda included three sessions with IEU staff on the following topics:

industrialupdate:Deb James, General Secretary;OccupationalViolence: Cathy Hickey, IEU Education and Policy Officer; VCMEAWorkshop: IEU Organiser, Michael Rooney.industrial: Deb James, IEU Victoria Tasmania General Secretary, explained the IEU position on a number of key clauses that were points of difference between the Union and the CECV. Key points were:n There have been over 70 meetings with the

CECV negotiating team. n The IEU/CENT at the union’s suggestion

attended six sessions with Commissioner Bissett

from FWA. The FWA Conciliation is voluntary and cannot be arbitrated.

n The consolidated offer from the CECV is problematic as it diminishes a number of conditions whereas in the State sector only minor changes were made to conditions such as the streamlining of the process for Performance Management.

Cathy Hickey, IEU Education and Policy Officer, shared a number of handouts on:

1. Risk Management Plan: Student Behaviour2. Critical Incident Protocol3. ABC Behaviour Record-Brief FormCathy has continued to liaise with the Industrial

Relations Unit in relation to the important issue of Occupational Violence. The IEU proposes to run a seminar in term 1 of 2014 where a legal advisor from the Education Department will be invited to facilitate a professional development session on this topic. The Council supported this proposal, as the general consensus was that more knowledge could only help principals when they or their staff get caught up in difficult scenarios.

Michael Rooney, IEU Organiser, led a Question and Answer session on the VCMEA where principal reps could clarify their understanding of some key clauses from the Multi-Employer Agreement. Our members believe that having a good knowledge of the Agreement can only enhance their understanding of the industrial landscape within which they work.Reports

The following reports were tabled from:President: John Connors, Principal’s Officer: David

Forbes, APPA: Michael Bourne, ACPPA: Ellie McGinnes and PAI: Justin LIoyd.

It is worth noting that the IEU acted as host to ACPPA who used the Clarendon Street facilities for a two day meeting on 2 and 3 September.

The ACPPA delegates come from all over Australia so this was a good opportunity for the IEU to support one of their key affiliates.Annual luncheon

The Annual Luncheon for Principals will be held on Friday, 15 November at the Riverview Function Centre in Maribyrnong Boulevard, Footscray.

This luncheon will include the opportunity to acknowledge principal pembers who are retiring or leaving principalship.

An invitation to attend this luncheon will be sent out to all principal members early in the fourth term, so keep an eye out.

The Principals’ Council met on Friday 30 August at the IEU Office in Clarendon St, South Melbourne. The meeting was well attended with 14 reps present. Duncan Arendse, vice president of Council chaired the meeting (in John Connors’ absence) and made special mention of our Benalla rep, Paul Maher who had travelled that morning from Wangaratta to attend Council.

principals meet

Katherine was nominated for the award by Graham Spence, principal of St

Mary’s School Ascot Vale. In his nomination Graham mentions the 44 years of service Katherine has given to Catholic Education, and that she is a visionary leader focussed on the learning of school communities. Katherine has inspired others and has always been willing to share knowledge and ideas with colleagues. Her leadership style has been demo-cratic by nature.

Katherine commenced her teaching career in 1969; her first appointment as principal was at St Theresa’s School Essendon, followed by St Francis Xavier Montmorency. Katherine’s final school was St Peter’s Epping, which she lead from 2001 to 2013.

Katherine has been a proud union member since 1979. She is a foundation member of our union.

Katherine will accept her award, along with other sector winners, at a dinner on Friday 18 October. The IEU congratulates Katherine Hudson on her outstanding ser-vice and is pleased she will receive

formal recognition for her contri-bution to Catholic Education over such a long period.BackgroundThe annual John Laing Professional Development Award is a non-competitive, peer nominated celebration of school leadership awarded by the Principals Australia Institute (PAI).

The FEU is the affiliate body to PAI, which is funded by peak Catholic, state and independent principal organisations.

Our current representative at the PAI is Justin LIoyd, principal of Holy Rosary School White Hills. Justin attends meetings and provides reports to the Principals’ Council.

John Laing was a Tasmanian principal whose passionate belief and energy was the driving force behind the first cross-sectoral pro-fessional learning projects for all school leaders in Australia.

John’s retirement prompted a special award to be set up in his honour in 2004, to recognise school leaders who have made a significant contribution to their peers’ professional learning.

The 2013 recipient of the John Laing Award is Katherine Hudson, recently retired Principal of St Peter’s Catholic Primary School Epping.

PrinciPals australia institute (Pai) John laing Professional develoPMent award 2013

ieu victoria tasMania PrinciPals’ council

ClassroomobservationThe use of classroom observation can also be

problematic. In many cases the stated purpose of the classroom observation is to provide constructive feedback in a developmental sense. However, the manner in which the observer is imposed, who the observer is (often regardless of the identified focus of the observation), and the ownership and use of documentation arising from the observation are inconsistent with the intent and purpose of developmental models.

Classroom observation in a capacity building framework works best in a peer support context, with the focus of the observation negotiated and agreed by the teacher being observed. Any written material associated with the observation should be kept by the teacher being observed as part of their planning and development material.

At its most dysfunctional and simplistic is the classroom observation interaction that involves rating or ranking performance against separate, individual ‘standards’ or sub-tasks. This practice attempts to be scientific, but is often superficial and subjective and fails to see the interconnectedness of the elements of effective teaching. If individual stand-alone standards (or competencies) are used, they should be used as a reflective tool between peers, that is, as a stimulus to reflection on practice, and not a tool of measurement.See IeU Teacher Appraisal policy on www.ieuvictas.org.au

Improving teacher effectiveness

illness or inJury? union provides specialist assistance in relation to WorkCover matters, particularly in relation to:

n lodging a claimn advice on benefits available, medical and other

costs covered n assistance in disputes over rejected claims or

other entitlementsn advice and assistance on Return to Work Plans,

particularly in respect to any modifications to hours of work, timetabling and physical work environments that your doctor advises

n lump sum claims for permanent injury and negligence cases, which will also be referred to the union’s solicitors.

ReturningtoworkIt is very important to speak to your IEU organiser

when you are ready to return to work, even if returning gradually. Your union organiser can provide advice and assistance in respect to the negotiation of the Return to Work Plan which the employer must draw up for you.

If you have been injured at work or currently suffer illness due to work-related stress, it is essential that you ring IEU to be advised of your rights and entitlements.

Illness or injury can strike at any time. Fortunately, employees in non-government education have a number of entitlements for leave and other benefits which can help them cope with their own or family members’ illness.

THE POINT November 201214

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Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I was lucky enough to spend some time here. What a city to find yourself in for a conference!

The conference was hosted by the University of Amsterdam at the Oudemanhuispoort campus. Try saying that five times quickly! There were 380 participants from all over the world whose common ground was solidarity, labour and a desire to learn how as unionists we can organise to meet the challenges of the present and the future. There were many similarities in our experiences but also some stark differences.

There were papers concerning the appalling working conditions in undeveloped nations like Bangladesh where wages barely provide enough income for a subsistence existence.

One paper explained how multinational companies can play a role in improving working conditions in the third world by applying pressure on local employers to improve working conditions. There is more impetus at the moment in the garment industry in this regard because of the recent tragedy in Bangladesh but sadly plenty of work to do.

Another paper addressed the issue of labour as a commodity in South Africa where labour is bought and sold by labour brokers, and mostly low wage earners have virtually no employment rights as they are temporary workers who can be dismissed with a moment’s notice. The Trade Unions Confederation in South Africa is campaigning for a total ban on such

brokering firms, seeing them as profiteers with no social conscience about the ‘labour’ they are exploiting.

Marian Baird from the University of Sydney explained how to get domestic violence clauses into Australian Collective Agreements.

An example was discussed where employees managed to get 20 days leave in cases of domestic violence. You would hope that this clause is not needed by an employee, but if it is, it is an extra protection for someone in a terrible situation. If it is in one Agreement, there is a possibility for all!

The conference also discussed ICT and teleworking - new ways of working flexibly. This is going to be an area of great change in the future and the possibilities for work/life balance are encouraging.

The conference explored new notions of solidarity, not just within and between unions, but between unions and other organisations both within countries as well as internationally.

I learnt that there are many people around the world exploring new ways of looking at industrial relations, labour markets, social structures and the changing working world. I was thrilled to be there to hear about it and experience people’s enthusiasm and passion.

I would like to thank the IEU and the Jan Bavington Memorial Grant for the opportunity to attend this conference.

details of how to apply for the Jan bavington award 2014 and other IEU awards are outlined above.

iNTERNATiONALLABOuRiSSuES:THEJan bavinton awardiNACTiON2012 Jan Bavington Award winner, Tracey Spiel, from Kingswood College used the prize to part-fund attendance at the 10th European Conference of the International Labour and Employment Relations Association in Holland.

BarryWoodMemorialSocialJusticeGrant

This grant is made in memory of Barry Wood, an outstanding educator, unionist and social justice advocate, and is open to all IEU Victoria Tasmania members who have an interest in promoting social justice issues in their schools.

The award of $3000 will assist the recipient of the grant to undertake a project either as an individual, a member of a group, or school, in promoting social justice in education. The money can be used for costs associated with the nominated project such as fees, travel or leave if paid leave is not available.

Applications for the Barry Wood Memorial Social Justice Grant close Friday 1 November.

Past nominations for this grant have included projects that were aimed at:

n establishing a student-based social justice committee within a school

n schools establishing links with overseas schools to support their development

n development of a peace education program in the school

n development of a student website focusing on social justice issues.

The selection committee will make a decision based upon the following factors:

1. The focus of the project should be of interest and relevance to IEU Victoria Tasmania members.

2. Applicants need to outline their long-standing commitment to social justice education issues.

3. The project should not only further the applicant’s own social justice aims, but should have the potential to be a resource with a wider application to the promotion of social justice education.

Applications should be addressed to:The Selection CommitteeBarry Wood Memorial Social Justice GrantIEU Victoria Tasmania, PO Box 1320South Melbourne 3205or by email: [email protected] must be received by Friday 1

November.

JanBavintonMemorialProjectEach year, the IEU Victoria Tasmania

awards up to $3000 to assist an ESS member undertake a Professional Development project. The money can be used for the costs associated with a nominated project, such as fees, travel or leave.

The Jan Bavinton Memorial Project was established in 1989 in recognition of the contribution made to her profession and her union (VATIS) by Jan Bavinton, the Lab Manager at Carey Grammar School. Following her death, the Jan Bavinton Memorial Project was established to acknowledge the professionalism, commitment and excellence of support staff in independent schools. Since the amalgamation of the non-government education unions in 1993, the project has been extended to all Education Support Staff from the non-government sector.

Applicants should be engaged in a project or

ongoing work that could be developed into a resource for other ESS staff, which would be of interest and relevance to IEU members.

Applications for the Jan Bavinton Memorial Project close on Friday 1 November.

Applicants will need to create a short proposal of no more than two pages. The scope of the project is broad and may include research, related travel, study or other forms of Professional Development being undertaken by the applicant. The project should not only further the applicant’s own professional development aims, but should have the potential to be a resource with wider application.

Each applicant must be:n a financial IEU Victoria Tasmania member,

and n a School Officer/School Services Officer; or

a School Assistant; or n a Clerical or Administrative employee.Applicants should be intending to continue

employment in the non-government sector for at least a year following completion of the project and must agree to provide a report to the IEU Victoria Tasmania within 2 months of the completion of the project.Applications should be addressed to:

The Selection CommitteeJan Bavinton Memorial ProjectIEU Victoria Tasmania, PO Box 1320South Melbourne 3205or by email: [email protected] must be received by

Friday 1 November.

The IEU Victoria Tasmania awards grants every year to assist member initiatives and advanced professional development study projects. The awards support our life-long learning community to develop capacities and justice initiatives.

Grants for IEU Victoria Tasmania member projects

union MeMbers contribute to society


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The 2013 COPE Women’s Network Conference recently held in Nadi, Fiji, provided an opportunity to bring together women network members from across the Pacific .

PACIFIC WOMEN 2013

In 2010 COPE celebrated its 25th anniversary. Up until then, of all COPE countries, only Australia, New Zealand and Fiji had experience in active

unionism. In the smaller Pacific island nations, experience in industrial action and collective bargaining was virtually non-existent. COPE came into existence as a regional effort to organise teachers and to support staff in schools. Education union leaders from Australia and New Zealand were instrumental in the creation of COPE.

There are now 19 COPE affiliates across the Pacific. The Conference welcomed 47 participants from experienced office holders to younger women who will become the future of the Network.


It begins with the premise that all students

have the right to learn; that an inclusive school is a place where everybody belongs, and that schools have a moral and legal obligation to meet the learning needs of their community. It provides resources, ideas, pro-formas, case studies and sample procedures to help schools achieve this goal. It is practical, helpful and relevant to all schools in all sectors.

Sections include:n The role of leadershipn Student support groupsn Working with familiesn Transitionsn Education support staffn Teaching strategies.

The resource manual includes more than 20 forms and documents that can be

customised to your school needs and copied onto your school letterhead.

Writer Sue Pickett is the Integration Coordinator at Eltham High School and an expert in strategies for inclusive classrooms. Sue manages a large team of staff delivering high quality education to students with disabilities. In this resource she has synthesised her learning from over a decade of work with students in mainstream schools and has produced for school leaders and teachers a comprehensive set of resources based on her experience and her wide reading in the field.

The entire manual including USB with pro-formas to customise is just $120 + p/h ($96 TLN members) and is available from www.tln.org.au or call 94184992 or email: [email protected]

Right to Learn is a comprehensive manual of resources for schools to improve their processes for the integration of students with disabilities into mainstream schools.

The 2013 COPE Women’s Network Conference recently held in Nadi, Fiji, provided an opportunity to bring together women network members from across the Pacific .

rigHt to Learn: DISABIlITY, INClUSION AND SCHOOlS

CRT CONFeReNCe 25 SepTeMBeR 2013:mastering student engagement

Attendees were treated to three dynamic workshops all of which covered the practice and theory of how to keep

students engaged and motivated in the classroom and how to manage some of those challenging behaviours we all encounter. The focus for all three was on the particular challenges faced by casual teachers.

Jenny Mackay is an international expert on classroom management and has written widely on the subject. Her practical approach to dealing with a variety of challenging behaviours was clearly well received. Participants were able to work together to come up with a range of problematic behaviours and Jenny was able to offer a structured approach to managing these.

Many participants and Point readers would be familiar with the work of Glen Pearsall from his legendary PD in the Pub sessions on classroom management. In his session he challenged participants at a higher level to use all of the available teaching techniques to engage students including power, feedback, questioning and his RESET methodology to shift classroom dynamics. Everyone left with a smile on their face and bag of practical ideas to take with them into the classroom.

Jo Lange would also be familiar to many readers who have attended her inspiring and uplifting workshops on classroom discipline. Her determination that teachers have the right

to be respected in the workplace and her practical strategies for achieving this, whatever the behaviour of students, resulted in a presentation close to the heart of many CRTs in the room.

A final Q&A session by Keith Woodward from the Victorian Institute of Teaching was timely, with registrations due by the end of September. Participants were able to ask questions about the particular problems CRTs have with professional practice and the details

about what constitutes professional development and how to record it.Planning is already underway for

CRT conferences in 2014. The IEU values the member feedback

we get from our CRT conferences and we endeavour to work with the Teacher Learning Network (TLN) to incorporate it into future sessions. Information will be sent to CRT members about this – and in the meantime don’t forget to check the TLN website at www.tln.org.au

The third casual relief teachers’ (CRT) conference for 2013 took place at the AEU building in Abbotsford on 25 September. The theme for this conference was Mastering Student Engagement and it drew a sell-out crowd with 200 present on the day and another 60 participating online. As always the conference was designed to align with VIT standards and participants received a certificate of participation for 7 hours of professional development.

PACIFIC WOMEN 2013

In 2010 COPE celebrated its 25th anniversary. Up until then, of all COPE countries, only Australia, New Zealand and Fiji had experience in active

unionism. In the smaller Pacific island nations, experience in industrial action and collective bargaining was virtually non-existent. COPE came into existence as a regional effort to organise teachers and to support staff in schools. Education union leaders from Australia and New Zealand were instrumental in the creation of COPE.

There are now 19 COPE affiliates across the Pacific. The Conference welcomed 47 participants from experienced office holders to younger women who will become the future of the Network.

The focus of the Conference came from the COPE women’s network action plan which aims to increase women union membership, develop retention strategies, ensure representation at all levels of the union structure, and promote the development and acquisition of skills to participate in the decision making of unions.

Further to the COPE Women’s Conference we hope to see many of the women from the Pacific islands for the 2nd Education International (EI) Women’s Conference in 2014. This will build on the important work and recommendations of COPE Women’s Network with the theme of Women in Trade Unions and in Education: From Words to Action.

new Publication froM tlncouncil of Pacific education (coPe)

TRAINING ROUND-UPClerical and Administration SeminarThisyeartheiEuisprovidingprofessionaldevelopmenttospecifi cgroupsofeducationsupportstaff.intermtwoKayeDennis,abehaviourmanagementandwellbeingeducator,facilitatedasessionwithclericalandadministrationstaff.The participants were evenly spread across Catholic primary, Catholic secondary and independent schools. The responses the IEU received were very positive with members feeling more supported and encouraged by the content and by stories and strategies shared with others.

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WORLD NeWS

SAA meeting of Catholic school reps in South

Australia met last week to determine the next stage in the protracted Catholic EA negotiations.

There was strong dissatisfaction at the employers’ lack of meaningful response to teacher workload issues, but members who responded to a recent survey have expressed the desire to put the EA to a vote, albeit with a meaningful minority suggesting a no vote.

A similar sized minority indicated a willingness to take some form of industrial action. In light of the proportion of members intending to vote no, the IEU will not adopt a formal position as to how members are advised to vote.

The ballot is expected before the end of the year.WA

Further strike action by state schools teachers and staff remains a possibility in Western Australia as their sector faces funding changes that the AEU believe will result in drastic funding cuts and job losses.

The strike on 19 September involved protest rallies attended by about 15,000 education workers and parents. The union has met with WA Premier Colin

Barnett unsuccessfully and has vowed to continue its campaign, and has not ruled out further strike action. The most recent strike action follows smaller scale protests earlier in the month.NT

A mock funeral was held at the end of August in the Northern Territory protesting proposed massive funding cuts to schools.

The Country Liberal Party-led Government intend cutting funding to education by $250 million over four years.

The Labor Opposition has said this will promote overcrowding in schools across the NT and reduce the individual time and attention teachers can dedicate to each student.QlD

In Queensland, six state schools are considering legal action after an announcement in mid-September by the Education Minister that the schools were unviable and would not operate in 2014. Parents and staff at the schools are weighing up their options, including a possible class action, despite the Minister stating that there would be no appeal process. Almost 500 students and almost 100 staff will be affected.

MeXICORiot police in Mexico City have used tear gas and

water cannon to remove striking teachers from the city’s main square after a government deadline passed.

Teachers have been camped in Zocalo Square for weeks, demanding changes to education reforms approved by the President.

Last week, thousands of union members protested outside the Senate in an attempt to disrupt the passing of the reform bill.

The educations reforms introduced by the government include performance-related tests for teachers which the union argues are a way for the government to sack teachers en masse.

The government claims union control over teaching jobs has contributed to corruption in the education system.IRelAND

In Ireland, teachers are set to take industrial action against the latest public sector pay deal, boycotting meetings and training from early October.

The pay deal will see public sector pay cuts of one billion euro over three years, and the Government had warned that it will impose unilateral pay cuts if unions do not support it.

The Association of Secondary Teachers of Ireland says ‘teachers are delivering more with far less resources at a time when their pay has been cut

significantly and their working conditions have greatly disimproved’ and has not ruled out further industrial action.GReeCe

Teachers in Greece went on strike again in September, with secondary teachers joined by primary teachers participating in the two-day general strike called by the public service unions. Other education workers have joined workers from the health sector, doctors, and public servants in the strike action.

Higher education teachers have decided to strike for another week.

The government has denied teachers the right to strike and have forced teachers back to work through the use of fascist-era laws which ‘drafted’ them as public servants, but teachers are now into the second week of action. Their union says their strike is about the future of public education in the country, as austerity measures continue to hurt.UK

And finally, in Essex, England, Diane Krish-Veeramany, 30, a teacher at Manford Primary School, went into labour suddenly at school about a week before her due date.

Unable to get an ambulance in time, three teaching assistants managed to safely deliver her baby under phone instructions from paramedics. Hope they are applying for re-classification after that…

eDUCATION NATION

That day was also her 16th birthday, and a day dubbed ‘Malala Day’ in her honour

by the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

After being shot by the Taliban on the way to school in Pakistan last year for voicing her opposition to education restrictions on girls in her country, Malala has become a worldwide symbol of the fight for the right for all children to access education. She was invited to speak to the gathering of youth leaders, and, in addition to her speech, also presented the Secretary General with a petition signed by over 4 million people in support of all the children across the world unable to access education. The petition called on governments and world leaders to fund new teachers, schools and books and to end child labour, marriage and trafficking.

Her speech to almost a thousand youth ambassadors representing nearly one hundred countries called ‘upon all governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child all over the world.’ The assembly also heard from Gordon Brown, UN Special Envoy for Global Education, who described the current situation where over 57 million children around the world are denied access to education as ‘an education emergency that we need to solve.’

The President of the General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, said: ‘Today we stand united with young people from nearly one hundred countries in seeking to ensure that no child is barred from attending school—convinced that factors like geography, gender, disability, language, wealth, and ethnicity, should not be seen as

impediments to this achievement.’After her long recovery

from her injuries, Malala has returned to her studies. Unable to return home, she is in school in Birmingham, England – while in Pakistan, over 5 million children are unable to go to school, and attacks on schools that educate girls continue.

Ban Ki Moon reaffirmed the United Nation’s aim of ensuring all children are in school by the end of 2015. ‘No child should have to die for going to school. Nowhere should teachers fear to teach or children fear to learn. Together, we can change this picture,’ he said. ‘Together, let us follow the lead of this brave young girl, Malala.’

Her full speech can be read here: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/

article/1788624/Malala-Yousafzai-speech-to-UN-in-full

‘Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world.’ So said Malala Yousafzai in her address to the United Nations Youth Assembly on 12 July.

education FOR ALL

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teachers games2013IEU members from schools all over

Victoria were well represented. They were clearly visible in their special

edition IEU Teachers Games t-shirts as they competed strongly across the venues.

There were many medal winners including the Mater Christi netballers (Mater Magic) who won silver and the St. Francis Xavier College Berwick soccer team who also won silver, going down narrowly in a thrilling Grand Final against the IEU Strikers.

Members were also eligible for spot prizes and

many attended the IEU function at the George Hotel where they were addressed by General Secretary, Deb James.

Members’ enthusiasm, expertise and participation was not just restricted to the court or the stadium. Many were prominent in costume at the theme nights at the major venues.

We were also able to make contact with staff from our sector who have not yet joined the IEU and we will be certain to follow them up and invite them to join the union in the future.

The 18th Victorian Teachers games were held in ballarat from 22–25 september. over 2,300 staff from Victorian schools competed in traditional (and some less traditional) sports including archery, basketball, cycling, fishing , golf, lawn bowls and running as well as croquet, bubble football, dodgeball, go-carting, laser force, trivia and ultimate frisbee.

Documents

The point october 2013