The IEUA is calling on the Federal Government to make key changes to its National School Reform Agreement (NSRA) to address the crisis in education, Katie Fotheringham writes.
National School Reform Agreement
In March 2023, Federal Education Minister Jason Clare announced an expert panel to advise on the key targets and reforms to be tied to school funding in the next NSRA.
The panel aimed to drive ‘real and measurable’ improvements for students across Australia and ensure all schools reached 100% of their School Resourcing Standard (SRS).
Brad Hayes, IEUA Federal Secretary, said the IEUA had been engaged throughout the development process.
“Our federal union met with the expert panel on 15 June as they developed the draft consultation paper,” Hayes said.
“We are a member of the NSRA Ministerial Reference Group that met at Parliament House to develop NSRA outcomes on 7 July and will meet again on 6 October.
“This is our chance to shape a stronger and fairer school system.
“Education funding is the basis of not only high-quality educational outcomes and student wellbeing, it also directly impacts wages and conditions in school workplaces currently in the midst of a national staffing crisis.”
Hayes said that from our union’s perspective, two key priority reforms should be addressed as part of the NSRA – reducing teacher workload and burnout, plus targeting educational disadvantage.
“All teachers and support staff must have school workplaces free from excessive workloads and unsustainable staff turnover rates.
“All Australian students must have access to high quality and affordable education,” Hayes said.
Reducing teacher workload
Hayes said that the National Teacher Workload Action Plan (NTWAP) requires that all NSRA outcomes are subject to a Teacher Workload Impact Assessment.
“This is a critical requirement – any NSRA initiatives must help reduce teacher workload and not exacerbate the problem,” he said.
“In considering the NSRA review in conjunction with the NTWAP, more practical and enforceable outcomes are needed to provide a systematic response to teacher workload.
“This is a vital protection for IEUA members – the NSRA must help attract and retain teachers rather than exacerbate workloads or inflame staff shortages,” he said.
The IEUA supports the development of nationally endorsed curriculum or assessment resources, if they continue to operate on an ‘opt-in’ basis.
“School employers must be encouraged to endorse such resources, or alternatively, supply their own resources while avoiding unnecessary duplication or overlay of tasks,” he said.
Hayes said the NSRA should also ensure teachers are not continually burdened with compliance tasks and bureaucracy.
“The Department of Education should, in consultation with education unions, initiate a review of school compliance regulations to identify and eliminate duplication and/or excessive work tasks.
“Funding to school employers should be dependent on adherence to such new streamlined compliance requirements, with schools required to demonstrate that they had not overlaid additional or excessive requirements (eg NCCD reporting, Teacher Performance and Development Framework etc),” he said.
Preventing burnout
In a sector plagued with high levels of burnout, it is vital that additional paid hours be made available to school support staff who could assist in easing teacher workloads.
“The NTWAP considers increasing school support staff responsibilities to ease the workload burden on teachers.
“However, for such a plan to succeed at the school level, additional employer resourcing is needed to increase support staff hours to take on such duties.
“Many collective agreements in our sector already contain provisions that enable additional support staff duties to assist teachers; however, in practice they fail to provide any material benefit unless the employer allocates additional resources to fund increased support staff hours,” he said.
It was also vital that teachers were provided with adequate support in their first years of teaching to address retention issues.
“The IEUA notes the appropriate focus on early career teachers in the NTWAP and the development of national guidelines to support early career teachers.
“Funding to school employers should be contingent on the demonstrated delivery of best-practice early career teacher support strategies including mandatory induction programs, reduced teaching loads in the initial years of teaching and resourced mentoring programs that provide paid release time for the teacher and their mentor,” Hayes said.
Student support and educational disadvantage
The second key priority reform highlighted by the IEUA was the intention for the new agreement to target educational disadvantage in remote and regional Australia and within First Nations communities, while exploring all options to better support students who have been left behind or been left out of the schooling system.
“Our nation’s schools deserve every resource needed to deliver the best education possible.
“The IEUA strongly supports the Australian Education Union’s call for the full funding of the public sector by the provision of 100 per cent of the SRS for every public school in the country.
”Transparency regarding the delivery of funding to areas of need was also a crucial aspect of the new NSRA.
“School staff and families must have full confidence that targeted funding is actually used for the benefit of the individual student or specific area of need.
”Student wellbeing is of paramount importance, and schools must be equipped to assist students who require additional support.
“The review appears to assume the presence of dedicated wellbeing staff in schools; however, this is often not the case.
“In reality, such specialist responsibilities are often added to already overloaded classroom teachers or leadership positions who are not necessarily equipped or able to provide such support,” Hayes said.
Formal submission
Our union recently made a formal submission in response to the questions posed in the Review to Inform a Better and Fairer Education System Consultation Paper.
”The submission reiterates our union’s priority reforms and outlines specific solutions required to improve our schooling system.
“The IEUA urges the Government to prioritise the voice of the profession during the NSRA Review through genuine consultation with classroom teachers and their unions.
“Our union remains ready to engage with governments and other stakeholders to meaningfully address the challenges posed and opportunities offered in our quest for a better and fairer education system for all students,” Hayes said.
Read the full submission at:bit.ly/3RnPkg1