Members take action over teacher shortages
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 129 No 4, 7 June 2024, page 15.
The Valuing Our Profession campaign continues in step with the teacher shortage crisis currently rippling across Queensland.
As is the case with many actions, it is the members in the regions who have made the first move. QTU members at Sarina State High School, North Rockhampton State High School, and Biloela State High School have progressed their disputes with the Department of Education to a position where real negotiation can and has happened.
These members have secured 12 months free accommodation upon appointment, with hopefully more announcements still to be made.
While significant, these measures are yet to satisfy the members at these schools, whose conditions continue to be eroded on a daily basis. With school leaders routinely teaching classes, the day-to-day running of the school is put on the backburner. And yet, departmental representatives continue to push the business-as-usual narrative onto QTU members.
How is this possible when students have a new face in front of the class every day? When classes get merged and collapsed, creating class sizes that are not safe, let alone conducive to teaching and learning? When members forego their entitlements to non-contact time and meal breaks? It is representative of a departmental culture that is not only failing QTU members, but also their students.
As part of the response to the department’s ongoing failure to act, QTU members from North Rockhampton SHS and Sarina SHS, as well as members from surrounding schools, banded together to publicly rally. This sent a clear message to the department, not only through the action itself but through activity generated through local media and discussions initiated with local MPs.
As we know, the experience of members at these three schools is far from unique. These impacts are being felt across the state. On that basis, QTU Organisers invite QTU Reps to work with their school leaders and make contact with their Organiser to coordinate a dispute response.