Common sense prevails over QVA
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 130 No 1, 14 February 2025, page no 10.
Over the past 12 months, the QTU and Department of Education (DoE) have been negotiating the working and learning conditions of the Queensland Virtual Academy (QVA).
Negotiations have been in good faith and a significant amount of work has been completed, taking what had been a pilot across a few schools to something that has the potential to be much broader.
Given the complexities of online delivery and these new ways of working for both teachers and students, the parties agreed that many of the working and learning conditions would be better than those detailed in the certified agreement, for example reduced class sizes and additional non-contact time.
However, in the final weeks of the 2024 school year, the department determined that a memorandum of agreement was not necessary and refused to commit to a simple signed letter of exchange to ensure that the working and learning conditions agreed to throughout the negotiations would be protected. Instead, the DoE expected the QTU to trust that these working conditions (which existed solely in policy) would not be changed by the department without consultation - as occurred when the Acting Director General chose to abandon departmental recruitment and selection standards of practice, unilaterally and without consultation.
In the absence of any formalised protections for members’ working conditions, QTU Executive resolved that Senior Officers should inform the department that the QTU would be withdrawing support for the implementation of the QVA operating conditions.
Members with recency in schools understand that when there is significant change, it is important that everyone involved has certainty. Unfortunately, this seems to have been forgotten by sections of the department, which seem to hold the view that employees should continue to extend a level of trust and goodwill to their employer, regardless of previous actions.
After multiple meetings to negotiate a commonsense approach going forward, and with little commonsense forthcoming, the QTU reached out to the office of the new Minister for assistance. While the protection of members’ working conditions was not a priority for the DoE, thankfully the Minister shared similar views to those of the QTU in relation to teaching and learning conditions. He was able to help the QTU resolve this matter, with the department performing a complete 180-degree change in their original position.
With commonsense prevailing, the DoE has committed to enter into a letter of exchange with the QTU, avoiding the need for the QTU to withdraw support for the QVA and enshrining both the teaching and learning conditions of members and students of the QVA.