The March 2026 meeting of the Queensland Teachers’ Union (QTU) State Council marked a pivotal moment in advancing the Union’s strategic direction, member advocacy, and organisational accountability.
At the beginning of 2026, Acting General Secretary I undertook a review to strengthen the internal governance processes here at the QTU, to ensure that you can be confident that your Union is in the best position to support you when it counts.
A pair of new faces has joined the team of hard-working officers supporting QTU members – Giau Nguyen and Amanda Jones.
Across more than eight decades of combined activism, Wide Bay legends Don Mengel and Paula Nunan have exemplified the solidarity and commitment at the heart of the Queensland Teachers’ Union.
With the looming arbitration on top of the regular business-as-usual challenges in our schools, many of us again face key challenges and unique pressures in 2026.
The rules around parental leave are important to know if you are planning to start or growing your family.
In 2025, negotiations for a new certified agreement for state school teachers and school leaders were referred to the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) for arbitration. So, what happens next?
The previous edition of the Queensland Teachers’ Journal had already gone to print when QTU Officers and the State of Queensland (Department of Education) appeared before the Full Bench of the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) in the 2026 schools arbitration.
The key to ensuring that housing meets the Queensland Government’s dual purpose of attracting and retaining teachers to rural and remote Queensland is appropriately designed and elected local accommodation committees.
The QTU and the Department of Education have agreed a proposal addressing concerns over unsafe systems of work that emerged in Queensland special schools as a result of reduced staffing allocations introduced at the beginning of 2025.
While most teaching spaces should now be air-conditioned as a result of the previous state government’s 2020 commitment, at the time, the department felt that industrial technology and design (ITD) workshops would need “different solutions”.
In every Queensland school, the safety of staff and students must be non-negotiable. Yet too often, the people who understand the risks best — the workers on the ground — are left without a real voice in shaping the conditions they work in every day.
More than 350 Workplace Union Representatives gathered in Brisbane on 6 March for the annual QTU Union Reps Conference.
Collective strength and solidarity are the beating heart of Labour Day. The first Monday in May is our day to celebrate being part of the history of working Queenslanders, and a time to reflect on the achievements of the union movement in improving the lives of working people.
The Australian Education Union (AEU) has launched Australia’s first national inquiry into state school infrastructure, marking the beginning of a nationwide consultation to ensure every child learns in a safe, modern, and inclusive state school.
Your basic guide to work health and safety.
The QTU receives many concerns from school leaders about the challenges of managing unreasonable and abusive parents and carers. The physical and psychosocial wellbeing of you and your team are the responsibility of the employer, and must be protected.
In the current political climate. when National Close the Gap Day rolls around on the third Thursday in March, I am filled with a sense of trepidation.
While TAFE teachers don’t have KPIs, across Queensland TAFE teachers are experiencing the weight of expanding administrative demands. Management teams are assessed against KPIs that prioritise efficiency.
This year is important, and not just because both CQU and TAFE Queensland are negotiating replacement enterprise agreements. It also marks the start of a new term for TAFE Council and TAFE Executive.
The TAFE teaching workforce and its facilities are under extreme pressure, with complexity of students, increased enrolments, and ageing facilities impacting on teaching and learning.
The 42nd Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal Conference opened with a Welcome to Country delivered by Professor N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs AM, Boon Wurrung Senior Elder and Founder of the Boon Wurrung Foundation.
The Queensland Teachers’ Education Centre (QTEC) has released the Semester One schedule for Union and industrial training.
A significant date is coming up for the LGBTQ+ community – the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia, Intersexism and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), which is held on 17 May each year.
International Women’s Day 2026 was marked on Sunday 8 March. Aligning with the UN Women Australia theme Balance the Scales, the QTU highlighted the practical actions taken collectively through everyday acts of allyship that help address gender inequality.
For some genuine financial wellbeing to kickstart the year, a number of schools access the QTU's “Your health, wealth and future” session.
Since 10 December 2025, new Commonwealth laws have required age-restricted social media platforms to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts.
New teacher - sick leave / medical certificates
Recently it was said that volunteering was equivalent to philanthropy. What is a volunteer?
