Growing the profession and our Union
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 2, 12 March 2021, page no. 6
The QTU has offered free associate membership to pre-service education students for more than a decade. This membership connects new entrants to our profession before they start their career.
Associate members receive several benefits including:
- advice about practicums
- advice about applying for employment upon graduation
- the QTU New Educator Connect newsletter multiple times per year
- the support of fellow QTU members in workplaces.
They are also welcomed at workplace meetings and their local QTU branch meeting to hear about current issues the profession and QTU are dealing with.
You can assist new entrants to the profession in a number of ways, including:
- encouraging pre-service teachers you interact with to join the QTU as an associate member (this can be done online via the QTU website)
- meeting with the program coordinator to ensure that when preservice education students meet the team, they receive an associate membership form as part of their induction
- talking to pre-service education students who are in your staffroom or working on your year level or in your faculty about why you joined the QTU and about some of our current campaigns.
Many new educators have had little experience of unions, so taking some time to discuss the QTU and what we do is an important part of their induction into the profession. Our industrial, professional and legal support, and campaigning and advocacy is effective because the QTU has 48,000 teacher and school leader members across the length and breadth of the state. By taking some time to share your experience with a preservice teacher, you will be helping grow not only our Union, but also our profession.