Teachers and principals deserve better

The pace of change of the profession’s work over the past 15 years has been “dizzying” and “harrowing” Federation President Angelo Gavrielatos told the “Valuing the teaching profession — an independent inquiry” on the first day of hearings, 31 August.

The inquiry is set to examine how teachers and principals can be better supported in their roles.

Mr Gavrielatos said the change to the value of teachers and principals’ work had been more significant than in any previous period.

The complexity of the student cohort has altered dramatically, requiring additional skills from teachers.

Teachers have adapted to “unimaginable” changes in technology, introduced into their teaching and learning. Demands for collecting data have also increased, so teachers and principals are spending more time on administrative tasks.

Mr Gavrielatos told how Local Schools, Local Decisions had withdrawn support for schools and intensified workload.

He said the expectation for individual learning plans without additional support or time beggared belief. Pronouncements made by Department bureaucrats came without any regard to the extent to which it is sustainable, he also said.

Mr Gavrielatos called for an end to “faddism” and constant change, and instead asked for changes to be developed with the profession.

Release time needs to be doubled, he said, expressed as an entitlement to ensure teachers and principals are given time to grow their professional capacity. He did not want the extra time spent on data collection.

Mr Gavrielatos said salaries had “flat-lined” despite unprecedented change in the work of teachers and principals. He additionally noted the State Government is seeking to freeze the salaries of public sector workers, which would equate to a $145,000 cut in salary for a teacher at the top of the scale, over their working life.

Mr Gavrielatos said teachers’ wages would need to be addressed by the Government in terms of making teaching an attractive profession and also called for a doubling of release time and for that period to be quarantined for lesson planning and collaboration with colleagues. He went on to say that assistant principals and deputy principals in primary schools should be afforded the same release time as their head teacher and deputy principal counterparts in high schools.

More expert witness will be heard by the Inquiry panel this fortnight and classroom teachers will sit in the witness box next term.

Department of Education Secretary Mark Scott has been asked twice to contribute to the Inquiry but no response has been forthcoming, Counsel-assisting Neale Dawson stated in his opening remarks.