From the General Secretary's desk, 25 October 2024 | Open PDF
World Teachers’ Day
Today, schools across Australia will celebrate World Teachers’ Day. Today’s theme is Teachers Make a Difference.
The Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) is marking World Teachers’ Day this year by capturing a point in time record of life in our classrooms in 2024. To highlight the difference that teachers and school leaders make every day, the QTU has produced a series of quotes that describe, “Through the Eyes of a Teacher,” the rewards and challenges of modern teaching.
Today we stop and celebrate our profession, and we call on members in the community and the federal government to do the same.
Teachers and school leaders work hard to ensure that every student gets the best education possible, and they do this despite the under-resourcing experienced in Queensland’s state schools.
On this World Teachers’ Day, we call on the Prime Minister to show that his commitments are more than words. We cannot be locked into a system that is understaffed, under-resourced and under-supported for another 10 years. It’s time the Albanese government lifted its share of funding to 25 per cent of the schooling resource standard.
We know that Teachers Make A Difference, we see all that you do – it’s time the federal government did the same.
Through the eyes of my own daughters across their schooling, I have seen the impact teachers have, not only on their academic performance, but on the confidence and skills they have to face their futures.
Thank you for all you do for the students you teach and each other. Teachers truly make a difference.
State Election – Saturday 26 October
Tomorrow, we have the opportunity to decide who will lead state education for the next four years.
The QTU calls on our members to consider education and our profession when they vote.
We have produced an election edition (https://www.qtu.asn.au/qtj-state-election-2024) of the Queensland Teachers’ Journal, which provides an analysis of political party responses. I encourage you to take the time to read through the Journal and consider education and our profession when you vote.
No matter who wins the election on Saturday, it’s worth acknowledging that, over the past eight years, the current government has:
- navigated our state and schooling system through a global pandemic
- spent $12 billion on school infrastructure by increasing school maintenance investments, opening 27 new schools, and delivering new halls, flexible learning spaces and security fences to many, many schools
- delivered air-conditioned classrooms and staff spaces to every school in Queensland
- increased our salaries by 26 per cent and implemented a cost-of-living adjustment worth another 3 per cent
- increased non-contact time in primary schools
- undertaken a principal classification review to ensure the highest level of school leader received comparable pay levels to the rest of the country
- put a wellbeing workforce into schools - social workers, psychologists, extra guidance officers and GPs
- re-built TAFE
- implemented free Kindy this year
- established Putting Queensland’s Kids First, which included the introduction of more alternate learning spaces, a review of workload, and an extension of the Queensland Pathways College, as well as the introduction of behaviour specialists and family support officers
- provided additional attraction and retention incentives in regional, rural and remote Queensland.
Regardless of who is leading Queensland after tomorrow, we expect the government to continue to invest in education and in our profession. We will not give up our campaigns for fairer school funding, to address the teacher shortage crisis, and to address occupational violence.
We will not give up on our campaign for Stronger Safer Schools and a better future for our kids.
Kate Ruttiman
QTU General Secretary
Authorised by Kate Ruttiman, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union
21 Graham Street, Milton, QLD, Australia, 4064