Education and the state election
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 125 No 7, 2 October 2020, page no.6
In the lead up to the 2020 state election, the Queensland Teachers’ Union wrote to political parties in Queensland asking for their responses on the 12 issues below affecting education and employment conditions.
The party responses will be used to provide a comparison chart for the information of QTU members and other voters with an interest in education.
The list of issues is not intended to include every educational issue of importance to teachers, principals, students and parents. The list adopted by QTU State Council covers a range of the most significant issues.
The QTU will also monitor and comment on policy announcements by political parties on education and industrial issues in the lead-up to the election. The QTU, together with other unions, is seeking responses on industrial issues through the Queensland Council of Unions.
For the QTU’s general approach to political involvement and election engagement, visit https://www.qtu.asn.au/affiliations
- Increasing the state government expenditure to TAFE (as the public provider) to 80 per cent of the state’s Vocational Education and Training (VET) expenditure.
- Reducing teacher and principal workload to fewer than 42 hours per school week during the term of government.
- Increasing state government expenditure on state schools to more than 69 per cent of the Schooling Resources Standard (SRS) during the term of the government.
- Protecting teachers, principals and TAFE educators from occupational violence, including physical, verbal, cyber – and sexual abuse and harassment.
- Provision of alternative learning settings for disengaged students or students with persistent behavioral problems.
- A capital works program (including a share of stimulus funding) to:
- replace aging school buildings
- upgrade the ICT capacity of all schools
- construction of new schools to cater for growth across all sectors, including special education.
- The abolition of National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in its current form.
- The review of school curriculum to remove excess content and focus on essential learnings for the future.
- Maintaining and maximising permanent employment for teachers, principals and TAFE.
- At least one Head of Department (Curriculum) in every primary school with enrolments over 200 and every special school.
- A full-time teacher-aide (30 hours) in every primary and special school classroom.
- Continued payment of employer superannuation contributions during unpaid parental leave.