Editorial: Let teachers teach, let school leaders lead: the QTU's 2022 priorities
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 127 No 1, 11 February 2022, page no.5
I finished last year feeling that I never again wanted to hear or use the word “unprecedented”. It feels as though anything that has occurred in the past two years has been labelled unprecedented, a period that will be written in folklore as a time of disruption that we all hope won’t be repeated.
And while that feeling of uncertainty relating the pandemic persists, I think it is time that we take the time to celebrate all that has been achieved in the past few years.
First and foremost, we should celebrate our profession. The agility, flexibility and commitment that you have all shown in delivering the best learning opportunities for the students you work with each and every day should be recognised and celebrated.
This pandemic has brought the work of teachers and school leaders into our homes in a way that most families have never before experienced. After hearing the sounds of online assemblies, remote lessons, Teams meetings and even videos sent by teachers to students echoing in the corridors of my home, I couldn’t help but think to myself – this is it, this is what our members do each and every day and this is the time that parents and our community members get to see what teachers and school leaders do.
This year, we need to harness the pride we have in our profession.
When it comes to the federal election, we need to think about campaigning for a government that respects our profession, one that includes the profession in decision-making around curriculum, NAPLAN and professional standards.
We need a government that funds education so that every school and every child have the resources they need and all our students can make the most of the opportunities they receive, a government that recognises the values of all pathways and will invest in TAFE to help rebuild our economy.
Likewise, when it comes to EB our focus needs to be on achieving outcomes that reflect the true value of our profession. And we shouldn’t have to compromise teaching and learning conditions to achieve these outcomes.
But mostly this year we need to celebrate each other. We need to continue to thank the teachers who made a difference in our lives and continue to be those teachers and school leaders who make a difference in the lives of the students we see every day.
It is because of the teachers my eldest daughter had that she has chosen to study secondary education and to join our profession - the differences teachers and school leaders make each and every day are often difficult to measure, but they need to be celebrated.
Working together, we can rebuild our own pride in our profession and begin to expect the respect that we deserve. Ultimately, together we can achieve a restoration of professional autonomy that will address member workload, support member wellbeing and allow teachers to teach and school leaders to lead.
This year, in everything we do - in our campaigns, strategies and training - we need to make this our priority: let teachers teach and let school leaders lead. We need to keep shining a light on our profession and celebrate all that we do.