Two words Campbell : Leading Schools

President’s comment 29 November 2011

Today’s announcement by Campbell Newman that he intends to introduce “independent public schools” shows that the leader of the LNP needs to brush up on Queensland history. The Leading Schools proposal by the Borbidge government in 1997 provoked the most bitter dispute the QTU has seen in its 120-year history, including an unprecedented two full-day strikes.

QTU members were fighting against the Borbidge government’s attempt to abrogate its responsibility to properly support the school system. They were fighting against a proposal which, through “fully flexible” one-line budgeting, would put principals in the impossible position of struggling – and taking the blame for – doing ever more with ever less, and being dragged further from their roles as education leaders.

Yet 14 years later, we see a very similar proposal from the LNP, based on the same tired rhetoric of ill-informed state school bashing from a leader who clearly is out of touch with educational and industrial relations reality.

The “extra funds” nominated by the LNP for so called “independent public schools” wouldn’t cover the cost of a single first-year teacher, or a business manager to help the principal with the new and onerous duties thrust upon them. Where is the “flexibility” in that proposal? The QTU is open to flexible staffing allocations above the central allocation, but only if there are matching extra budget allocations to make it possible, as in the Low-SES model.

Mr Newman bandies about the notion of increased community control of schools and greater community “choice” about what happens in those schools. Not only does his empty political rhetoric denigrate the role of professional educators, it also overlooks a fairly major point: state schools do not “choose” their students, nor the level of need of that student body. The strength, importance and pride of Queensland state schools lie in the fact that they are open to all Queensland students, no matter where they live or what their economic circumstances.

Mr Newman claims his “new” policy is based on “Western Australian and international successes”: perhaps he should read research from Curtin University showing the real picture in WA, or pay some attention to the dire straits in which US charter schools now find themselves, with schools that often serve the poorest communities branded as “under-performing” and subsequently closed.

Mr Newman might also want to read up on the existing enterprise bargaining agreement between the QTU and DET, which carries protections for our members against such flawed proposals.

According to Campbell Newman, as quoted in The Courier-Mail, “education standards have collapsed in Queensland, leaving us lagging behind other Australian states. Our children are not getting the good solid foundation they deserve.”

Such insulting comments prove that as an education policy maker, Campbell Newman might make a good engineer.

Clearly, Can Do can’t do much for Queensland’s 1250 state schools.

Steve Ryan
QTU President
29 November 2011