No. 15-21, 7 May 2021 | DOWNLOAD PDF 

TO: QTU MEMBERS,
 

Have your say on the revised Australian Curriculum and online formative assessment

Australian Curriculum review

The review of the Australian Curriculum undertaken by ACARA has recently been completed and the draft curriculum is now available for viewing and feedback. This review has been conducted with input from teachers across the country via a variety of curriculum and teacher reference groups. The intent is to refine and reduce the amount of content across all eight learning areas, improve the content descriptors and achievement standards, rationalise content elaborations, and improve the digital presentation in line with user requirements. The review also incorporated consideration of cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities. ACARA is seeking feedback via the online feedback form. The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) will hold a number of information and feedback sessions. Please view the new revised curriculum here and look through the information currently available from the QCAA here. The QTU will provide information to members on opportunities for feedback in the coming days.

NAPLAN

NAPLAN testing commences on Tuesday 11 May, despite ongoing advocacy to stop the test. The QTU continues to exhaust all legal avenues to halt the test, and our campaign to halt NAPLAN in its current form continues.

Our NAPLAN campaign webpage has been renewed. Here you can find resources summarising the issues with NAPLAN and what needs to happen to address them. NAPLAN will also be a key topic of discussion for forthcoming QTU member delegations to MPs and in the federal election.

For the 2021 test, members are encouraged to consider withdrawing their children using the standardised form available from the school.  Widespread disengagement from NAPLAN sends a clear message that parents and teachers don’t value the test in its current form and oppose its negative consequences for students and school communities. Our schools and students are more than just a standardised test.

Respect@Work - stop sexual harassment

The Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), along with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), is campaigning for the Morrison government to adopt key recommendations from the Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work Report on Sexual Harassment. The recommendations that will help prevent sexual harassment in workplaces include the creation of a stand-alone Sexual Harassment Code of Practice and stop sexual harassment orders under the Fair Work Act. This work is relevant to our Expect Respect campaign.  To help create pressure on the Morrison government, the QCU has prepared a Queensland-specific website on the Respect@Work Report, which contains resources and events across the state throughout May and June. We encourage members to sign the survey and join the campaign. To show your support visit – https://act.stopsexualharassment.com.au/home.

 Supply teacher payments for cancellations during lockdown

The Teacher Relief and Contract Employment Register (TRACER) has advised that supply teachers it booked and then cancelled as a result of the Greater Brisbane COVID-19 lockdown should have received payment for the cancelled days in this fortnight’s pay.

The QTU advocated for the payment of cancelled days to supply teachers and welcomed the Director-General’s instruction to honour bookings, despite the lockdown.

If you have not received payment as expected, please contact TRACER at TRACER@qed.qld.gov.au for assistance. If that doesn’t resolve the issue, please contact the QTU via services@qtu.asn.au.

Next pay rise

Following the pay increase deferral in 2020, members are reminded that the next pay increase will occur on 1 July 2021. This pay increase will be the one that should have been paid in 2020. A further pay increase will occur on 1 January 2022. These pay increases will ensure that teachers and school leaders are receiving the final increases under the certified agreement before its nominal expiry date. The QTU recognises that the state government determined to defer pay increases despite the opposition of the Union. The impact of this deferral will be considered in development of future EB claims.       

Professional issues and surveys

Online formative assessment survey

At the end of 2018, all states, territories and the Commonwealth signed the National School Reform Agreement and agreed to progress a “learning progressions and online formative assessment national initiative”. For background information on the initiative, you may like to visit this website: Home - Online Formative Assessment Initiative (ofai.edu.au).

The QTU did not initially support the online formative assessment project in 2019. However, as the project team has now committed to a more thorough consultation process, members are now invited to complete a survey for the Online Formative Assessment Initiative.

Teacher voices are vital if this project is to reflect the needs of the profession.

The information received from the survey will be used to review all other information received to date from teachers and school leaders. This will be followed up with a series of opt-in 45-minute online workshops in the week beginning 31 May.The online survey is anonymous, should take no longer than 15 minutes, and can be completed any time before Wednesday 12 May. Complete the survey here.

 Authorised by Kate Ruttiman, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union
21 Graham Street, Milton, QLD, Australia, 4064