AEU Federal Conference 2020: Workload reduction on the national agenda
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 125 No 2, 20 March 2020, page no.6
Queensland teachers and principals at the recent AEU national conference have succeeded in pushing workload reduction on to the national campaigning agenda.
The Australian Education Union (AEU), which represents school teachers and principals in state education and TAFE teachers at a national level, held its conference in Melbourne on 21-23 February. Twenty-four delegates and observers from Queensland joined around 120 other Australian educators, as well as international guests, for this key decision-making forum.
Broader national campaigning
For the past decade, national campaigning has been dominated by federal funding of education. The QTU proposed and gained support for a broader agenda that included workload reduction, the professional autonomy of teachers and school leaders, opposition to the contents of national agreements adding to workload, and the elimination of occupational violence.
NAPLAN
The AEU Conference was very clear about NAPLAN. President Correna Haythorpe’s opening address and the Conference statement both declared “NAPLAN must go!” This policy was unanimously endorsed by teacher and principal delegates from around the nation.
Conference statement
The culmination of the AEU conference is a 16-page conference statement, which sets the agenda for the work of the AEU in 2020 and beyond. The statement criticises the Morrison federal government’s $1.2 billion “Choice and Affordability Fund” and the $1.9billion capital works deal for private schools, the underfunding of early education and cuts to TAFE funding.
Reflections on the 2020 AEU Federal Conference
Overview
"As a first-time delegate to the Australian Education Union Federal Conference, it was incredibly reassuring and inspiring to sit in a room full of such passionate advocates for public education. Each and every delegate, guest speaker, politician and panellist - all with the same message that regardless of the issue, to affect positive change and action we must harness the power of the collective voice." Genevieve Pearson
Human Rights – Union Business
"Former Socceroo, broadcaster, unionist and human rights activist Craig Foster made the connection between unionism and human rights very clear, and set the challenge for us all, regardless of our politics, to treat humans as humans. He started and finished his presentation with the challenge 'The question for Australia is not who we are but what are we?'” Peter Thompson
Challenges for the Australian union movement – Sally McManus
“Cost of living going up. Wages stagnated. The cause? Workers lacking bargaining power. The solution to this ever-present issue of wage stagnation and wage theft (Coles, that MasterChef dude… Calombaris, Pig & Whistle, the list is depressingly long) is to grow the collective union movement.” Beck Humphreys
Panel - Education and democracy
"Panellist NSWTF President Maurie Mulheron said: 'Australia isn’t a poor country, yet the neo-liberalism agenda is all about cuts to public education, attacks on teacher qualifications and high stakes testing (NAPLAN). Neo-liberalism is completely against public education. Why? Because it doesn’t make any money. Education is a $3.8 trillion industry globally. In Latin America, the neo-liberalism agenda has two objectives, to eliminate ALL unions and to consolidate the private sector.'" Jo Sheppard
Panel – Perceptions and experiences of racism
"The results of the AEU's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Members Perceptions and Experiences of Racism survey could be seen as positive in some areas, however there was some cause for concern. For example, when asked if other employees were welcoming of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 75 per cent agreed or strongly agreed. The problem lies in the fact that 25 per cent, or one quarter of members, don’t agree. The survey identified that our members trust their union. They want to be engaged in structures but feel powerless when not represented." Rachel Bos
Indigenous Peoples Caucus
“It was the biggest mob ever at a caucus with 22 members in attendance. As members introduced themselves and their educational experience, it was realised that there was 422 years of collective knowledge around the table.” Penny Taylor
Early Childhood
“Commonwealth preschool funding is only budgeted until the end of 2020 and this lack of funding certainty in the early years has been shown to impact on parents and communities and has resulted in high levels of insecure work in this sector.” Julie Streeter