Meet our new organisers
2025 March Newsmonth
The IEU welcomed three new organisers in February. Union organisers are the link between reps, members and the union office.
Emily Cranney brings a wealth of experience working in Catholic systemic and independent schools to her new role as an IEU organiser based in Wollongong.
She has been a teacher and counsellor in primary and secondary schools and, most recently, was in a leadership role at a Special Assistance school.
“I believe the many roles I’ve had in education have given me a greater understanding of what staff in schools face on a daily basis, no matter the sector,” Emily said.
“It certainly helps me to empathise with and support members.”
Life as an organiser is busy, but each day offers new challenges.
“There is so much variety to the role,” Emily said. “From visiting schools for chapter meetings to supporting members with a range of individual matters, the days and my email inbox fill up very quickly.”
Emily steps into the role of organiser after more than 20 years as a union member and rep.
She has always had a passion for improving working conditions for staff and furthering educational outcomes for students.
“The role of organiser felt like a natural progression, utilising the breadth of my experience and giving me the opportunity to work more closely with staff to make teaching a more viable and sustainable profession,” she said.
Outside of work, Emily loves spending time with her family, friends and dogs Reggie and Ollie.
“Wollongong is a fantastic place to live,” she said. “I love being able to walk my dogs on the beach, it makes for a great work-life balance.”
Emily is also excited about having an office in Wollongong: “I believe it will make the South Coast organisers a lot more accessible to members and reps.”
Emily said she hopes to develop strong relationships with her chapters, communicate effectively and “support members when they most need it”.
She also wants to work collectively with other members to improve the conditions of all staff working in schools.
“Each day I have worked so far has been rewarding – whether that is helping a distressed member or celebrating union wins with our members, but also finding out what work still needs to be done,” she said.
Raelene Maxworthy is a familiar face at the union. A member for almost two decades, Raelene has been an elected representative on the NSW/ACT Branch Executive and Council delegate for the North West Sub Branch.
She also served as the IEU representative on NSW Education Standards Authority’s (NESA) vocational education and training committee.
Raelene initially trained as an English and History teacher but after retraining, she taught mainly in the technological and applied studies (TAS) key learning area.
She taught at K-12 boarding school Calrossy Anglican School after more than 15 years in Catholic systemic schools in Tamworth.
Raelene said she had been fortunate to teach in “strong union schools” with great leadership from reps.
“I was engaged through the union on education issues as well as industrial and professional issues,” she said.
Raelene also worked at NESA on curriculum development as a subject matter expert – a job she described as “fantastic”.
“I was able to be part of the syllabus development process for technology subjects, collaborating across NSW with teachers, sectors and stakeholders,” she said.
Raelene is passionate about addressing the ever-increasing workload burdens imposed on teachers.
“I’ve always been mindful that nothing’s ever taken away from teachers – overcompliance, curriculum implementation, ever increasing demands in wellbeing, all facets of school operations,” she said.
As an organiser in the IEU’s Newcastle office, Raelene hopes to increase membership by showing the value of solidarity, unity and encouraging people to join the union to achieve better outcomes and professional respect.
“I deeply value the work of teachers,” she said. “I really want to serve members and advocate for them.”
“Making teaching joyful again for teachers is really important,” she added.
Apart from her new role as an organiser, Raelene and her family are busy settling into their new home at Lake Macquarie after moving from Tamworth last October.
“It’s a very big move,” she said. “But we love it.”
Sean van der Heide taught history, philosophy and psychology at schools in Sydney and Canberra for eight years before joining the ACT branch of the Australian Education Union in 2017 to become an organiser.
Sean said he was “hugely passionate” about securing pay increases for teachers, reducing workloads and protecting member health and safety.
“You get into teaching because you want to have an effect on changing students’ lives,” he said. “I saw this as an extension of that – I can continue to improve the lives of students by improving the lives of teachers.
“Teachers need to be happy and healthy and have all their needs met to be the best they can be in front of their classes every day.”
During his teaching career, Sean said the job has become increasingly difficult, with teachers forced to shoulder heavier workloads.
“Teaching is a challenging job,” he said. “You have to deal with the community and parents and students. That also became a harder part of the job.”
Sean attributes workload pressures to ongoing teacher shortages and the burden of administrative and compliance paperwork.
“Teaching is hugely demanding,” he said. “It’s unreasonable to expect one person to do all the things that a teacher is expected to do without giving them the extra support and resources to get the job done.”
Besides starting a new job, Sean and his family also embarked on a sea change, moving from Canberra to Urunga on the NSW mid-north coast.
The nation’s capital was a “wonderful place” to live with his partner Zoe but, he said, “We wanted to move to a sunnier, warmer climate where the kids could be outside and play around a lot more.”
A keen cook, Sean said he was learning about native ingredients to make “run-of-the-mill” dishes such as bush tomato relish, wattle seed mayo and kangaroo burgers.
Sean is based in the IEU’s Lismore office and visits schools up to two hours away from his home. He has already clocked up more than 2000 kilometres in just his first month in the job.
Sean said a key part of his role is attracting more members, especially in sectors with lower union density.
He said this year’s substantial pay rises for teachers in independent schools showed the power of the union and collective action by members.
“I am a huge believer in growing our strength and the way to do that is to grow membership,” he said.