The IEUA assists members with personal industrial issues and bargains on behalf of all staff for better wages and conditions, but your union also interacts with an array of government and statutory authorities and lobbies them for better outcomes for education staff, Will Brodie writes.
The decisions made by the nation’s regulatory and research organisations help determine what life is like in schools for IEUA members, so the union’s work attending meetings and making submissions is crucial.
If teacher feedback doesn’t inform such bodies – as happened during the 2010s, when unions were sidelined under coalition federal governments, there are poor outcomes in schools, particularly on workload intensification.
During that decade of exclusion, teacher workloads spiralled out of control as more and more policies, tasks and administrative burdens fell on already overworked staff, distracting them from their core job in classrooms.
Thankfully, the IEUA across the nation possesses many passionate, articulate members ready to speak on behalf of their colleagues. It also features experts who know how to navigate the world of white papers and round tables.
However, under the Labor Government, we’ve gone from famine to feast. Previously sidelined from policymaking, unions are now being invited to take part in a lengthy list of reviews and initiatives.
The IEUA has already participated in 11 major inquiries or reviews since the election of the Albanese Government, and by August this year had issued 13 position papers on topics ranging from AI regulation to anti-discrimination laws.
While the extensive review of so many aspects of education is welcome, it presents challenges.
The drive for change from initiatives like the National School Reform Agreement (NSRA) and the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan is stretching bodies to tackle policies outside their traditional roles, making it more difficult to know exactly who is responsible for a particular issue.
And the Government now wants to hear directly from teachers and education support staff, not just union experts, so the IEUA needs a cohort of members ready to drop everything, often with less than a week’s notice, to join a ministerial discussion or address the mainstream media.
Suddenly, with a glut of meetings to attend, it has become vital for the union to hone its focus. Accordingly, the IEUA has formulated a list of 10 key priorities to push with the Federal Government and associated education authorities:
1. Elimination of duplicative and excessive compliance requirements is critical. Employers must be dissuaded by government from applying additional overlays.
2. All existing and proposed initiatives should be subject to a workload impact assessment, in consultation with teachers – not just initiatives arising from the NSRA.
3. Nationally endorsed curriculum or assessment resources, (or resources approved by employers) must be provided to teachers, giving them the option to adopt as is, subject only to differentiation.
4. Guaranteed support of early career teachers must include structured release time for both early career teachers and their mentors.
5. Shortcuts to solve teacher shortages that weaken the integrity of teacher qualifications or dilute the standing of the profession are not shortcuts.
6. Until early childhood teachers are given the same pay, conditions, and access to registration as teachers in schools, the ECEC sector will continue to struggle.
7. Support staff are an essential component of successful learning outcomes for students and alleviation of workload burden on teachers. Their work must be valued through appropriate remuneration, training, and secure employment.
8. Transparent delivery of funding to areas of need, providing easier access to allied health services and a commitment to school-based staff and student wellbeing support, is essential.
9. Data collection must be a tool to address disadvantage rather than another workload burden.
10. The profession must maintain control of the application of generative AI in schools.
This hitlist of most relevant topics helps keep the union on point as the wide-ranging discussions about education progress.
Industry representation and AITSL
IEUA Federal Assistant Secretary Veronica Yewdall says the IEUA engages with peak bodies such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to “secure improvements in workload, through looking at unnecessary, excessive and duplicative compliance requirements and advocating for preservation of the professional autonomy of all teachers”.
AITSL oversees each state’s regulatory bodies, provides “national leadership for the Commonwealth, state and territory governments in promoting excellence in the profession of teaching and school leadership,” guides reform in the areas of teacher registration and accreditation; is supposed to deliver reforms aimed to improve teacher quality and has responsibility for national professional standards and professional development for teachers and school leaders.
Incredibly, despite these vital duties, AITSL has excluded the IEUA from its board since 2010. The IEUA has continually lobbied for rectification of this egregious error.
In 2018, then IEUA Federal Secretary Chris Watt wrote, “Australian governments have actively disenfranchised the teaching profession…
“Australian teachers are in the absurd situation where the national body responsible for maintaining teacher standards and oversight of teacher education program standards, has no teachers, selected by or endorsed by the profession itself, on its board.
“One would struggle to find any other professional standards authority in any other industry where the profession was not only represented but formed the majority (or even totality) of the board of governance.”
In the same decade, legislative changes by states and territories also reduced the number of teachers on teacher registration authorities around the country.