2014 Annual Report NSW Teachers Federation
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2014 Annual Report NSW Teachers Federation eachers working TOGETHER The 2014 Annual Report of the NSW Teachers Federation Jenny Diamond General Secretary Julie Moon Editor and Publications Officer (relieving) Acknowledgments In addition to the contributors, the NSW Teachers Federation wishes to thank the following for assistance given in the publishing of this annual report: Acting General Secretary John Dixon Designer Grace Hughes Deputy Editor (temporary) Kerri Carr Secretary Carol Leeming Cartoons Greg Gaul Printing Print & Mail 23–25 Meeks Road Marrickville 2204 (02) 9519 8268 ISBN 978-1-875699-00-1 14110 Contents Presidential Officers’ report 5 General Secretary’s Report 9 Aboriginal 15 Accounts 17 Affiliations 40 Centre for Professional Learning 42 Committees 43 Corrective Services 47 Library 48 Multicultural 52 Officers and Executive 54 Online Communications 56 Records Management 58 Recruitment and engagement of members 59 Research and Industrial 62 Special Interest Groups 65 TAFE 68 Trade Union Training and professional development 70 Welfare 72 Women’s Action Program 76 Presidential Officers’ report Schools funding campaign it intended not only to refuse to fund the full transition period but also to dismantle the essential architecture Federation has been prominent in the national cam- of the Gonski funding model. The Government stated paign to secure a fairer, needs-based school funding that it would amend the Australian Education Act to model. Members have been mobilised in unprecedented remove what it labelled “prescriptive and control” fea- numbers in order to prosecute perhaps our most im- tures for states and territories. This essentially would portant campaign in more than 40 years. Throughout allow any state and territory government to refuse to 2013 and 2014, Federation members have engaged in contribute its share and even allow a state or territory community campaigning with even greater urgency government to cut its education budget. given the threats to Gonski schools funding posed by Teachers reacted with some scepticism to the at- the election of a federal Coalition government. tempts by Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne to distract attention from the issue of funding with his announcement of a curriculum review and the need for “independent” public schools. Federation members supported the Australian Edu- cation Union’s (AEU’s) Vans to Canberra strategy that started in early February 2014 and which concluded with a media event in Canberra on March 18, 2014 in the lead-up to the May Budget. In communities across NSW, school based events were held in support of Gonksi with a great deal of local media interest generated. Federation encouraged members and school com- munities to write a submission to the Senate Select Committee on School Funding as well as appearing before it and giving both written and oral evidence. The May 13, 2014 Federal Budget revealed that the Victorian teachers John Bell and Anne Ryan, Coomealla HS teacher- Coalition Government would not fund the fifth and librarian Jackie Bertalli and daughter Liliana with the Gonski torch on sixth years of Gonksi schools funding. The Budget the George-Chaffey Bridge on the NSW-Victoria border. was a savage attack on all education sectors, schools, The essential elements of the funding model recom- vocational education and training (VET) and higher mended by the review panel chaired by David Gonski education. It revealed cuts of at least $1.81 billion included an explicit Schooling Resources Standard for from public schools, no new funding for students with all Australian schools which incorporated six loadings disability and indexing funding from 2018 to just CPI, that took into account school profiles based on socio- effectively a cut in real terms. economic status, Aboriginal enrolments, English lan- Federation’s post-Budget response included a tar- guage proficiency, disability, isolation and school size. geted seat campaign as well as calling on members A six-year transition model was proposed to enable all throughout NSW to send protests to their local MPs. schools to be lifted to the minimum resource standard. At the 2013 Annual Conference, Federation launched Salaries the newly wrapped Gonski vans at Darling Harbour which went on to campaign around NSW communities In October 2013, TAFE teachers and related employees in term 3 in the lead up to the Federal election. as well as teachers at Bradfield College secured salary In an attempt to politically diffuse the school fund- increases following approval of a new enterprise agree- ing issue, on August 2, 2013, then Opposition leader ment by the Fair Work Commission. This followed a Tony Abbott announced to the Australian public that ballot of TAFE employees in which 87 per voted to the Coalition was on a “unity ticket” with the ALP on support the negotiated agreement. The salary increase schools funding. Federation immediately exposed the was backdated to July 1, 2013. deceit that Abbott, at best, was only promising a four The agreement: year model that would deliver less than one-third of • maintains and protects current working conditions, the funding. This became the central focus of Federa- including existing administrative arrangements tion’s September federal election campaign. • allows a trial of the new positions of Education After the election, the newly elected Coalition Support Officer, Assessor and Head Teacher 3 and Government attempted a series of policy back-flips on provided protections and safeguards around the use schools funding which received an extraordinary level of of the new positions media scrutiny. The Abbott Government signalled that • established a Joint Management Committee with 5 equal AEU NSW representation and TAFE to moni- A campaign against the public sector wages policy will be tor the trial implemented in the lead-up to the March 2015 state election. • secured the maximum salary increase available under the State Government’s Public Sector Wages Stop TAFE Cuts campaign Policy. School and OCAA members voted overwhelmingly to This year has seen a Senate Inquiry into TAFE, a House of Representatives Inquiry into TAFE, a Par- endorse a three-year salaries and conditions award from liamentary Committee Report into Skills Shortages, January 2014 that provides annual salary increases, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) Reform preserves current working conditions, and, critically, Taskforce undertaken by the Australian Department protects the teaching qualifications and standards that of Industry, and a NSW Independent Pricing and underpin professional status. Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) Review into pricing VET The recommendation from Executive was supported under the State Government’s Smart and Skilled policy. by 96 per cent of those attending meetings held at 209 All these inquiries and reviews reflect the dramatic venues across the state on December 3, 2013. changes that the VET sector is facing. Meetings condemned Government’s legislative Federation has worked closely with the Australian changes that impose a salary cap of 2.5 per cent per Education Union (AEU) to support the national Stop annum on public sector employees through the state TAFE Cuts campaign. wages policy. Last October saw the completion of enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) covering TAFE teachers and related employees. The EBA includes a trial of new paraprofessional roles and a new head teacher classification. Federation and TAFE have jointly en- gaged the University of Sydney’s Workplace Relations Centre to undertake research of the trial which will culminate in June 2015. The number of full time permanent TAFE teachers who have left the system through redundancy has reached more than 400. Many more have retired or resigned, not to be replaced, but it is almost impossible to quantify the numbers of part time casual teachers Federation members at Burwood RSL endorsed the new school who have lost their jobs as a result of funding cuts salaries award. already being made to TAFE. However, the national Stop TAFE Cuts campaign Key features of the new award include: continues to grow. Federation’s Stop TAFE Cuts van • a new professional development framework that will has traversed the state and is used to create an instant replace the Teacher Assessment Review Schedule stall at markets, fairs and festivals. Activists, wearing (TARS), Executive Assessment Review Schedule their Stop TAFE Cuts t-shirts, have leafleted railway (EARS) and Principals Assessment Review Sched- stations and outside community cabinets. A series of ule (PARS) which will be jointly developed by the leaflets, posters and other resources are being rolled Department of Education and Communities (DEC) out to TAFE and school members, students, parents and Federation and community. The campaign has generated national, • maximum annual increases allowable under the state and local media interests. This should intensify public service wages policy discounted by the in- as the campaign to defend TAFE grows. creases in the Commonwealth’s superannuation Federation, in close collaboration where possible with the guarantee levy — 2.27 per cent, 2.0 per cent and AEU, has also made extensive use of social media including 2.15 per cent — for the next three years the www.stopTAFECuts.com.au website and Facebook page. • from 2016, classroom teachers will earn a projected $45,000 more for working nine years on the new 7-step pay scale, compared with nine years on the current 9-step scale • from 2016, a new, higher