Author and campaigner Chanel Contos, the woman behind the 2021 Teach Us Consent petition that led to major change in the Australian Curriculum, says unionising allows people who don’t traditionally hold significant power in their daily experiences to band together. Contos emphasises the power of strength in numbers in our profile (read article), where she also talks about her time at school, her quest to end gendered violence and her new book.
Power is a theme in this edition. Our feature on Closing the Gap in education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (read article) about the importance of sharing power so solutions are informed by local Aboriginal teachers and the communities whose children are being taught.
Meet electrician and member of the Electrical Trades Union Raven Maris (read article), who also knows a thing or two about power – the electrical kind. She highlights the need for more women to take up a trade for a lasting qualification and job security, particularly as Australia looks toward a renewable energy future.
Elsewhere, we examine the power of diversity, as a teacher who lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder shares her experiences and the importance of embracing neurodiversity in schools as a strength (read article).
Then there’s union power. Not only does the IEU have state and territory branches, we have a federal union that advocates for your industrial rights, advances your professional interests and campaigns for fairer laws in the federal arena. Meet the people who represent you in parliamentary inquiries, on taskforces and in working groups on education policy (read article).
We also consider the power of libraries in reconciliation (read article), online influence in the classroom (read article), the emotional load of leadership (read article), and educators uniting across the Pacific region (read article).
We hope you enjoy this powerful edition.
Carol Matthews Secretary
IEUA NSW/ACT Branch