Journal july2014

18 July 2014 Volume 119 number 5

It’s backHelp your favourite school

win a $20,000 staffroom makeover.

Visit staffroomforimprovement.com.au

to find out more.

VOTING

STARTS

18 AUGUST

VOTING

STARTS

18 AUGUST

Refer to www.staffroomforimprovement.com.au for terms and conditions. Promoter is QT Mutual Bank Limited ABN 83 087 651 054 AFSL 241195 and can be contacted on 13 29 30 or email on [email protected]. QTE6625TJ

QTE6625TJ.indd 1 24/06/2014 1:37 pm

18 July 2014Q U E E N S L A N D T E A C H E R S ’

www.qtu.asn.au

Editorial policy Articles and letters should be sent to ‘The General Secretary, Queensland Teachers’ Journal Editor, PO Box 1750, Milton BC, 4064’, faxed to (07) 3512 9050 or emailed to [email protected]. Letters should be no more than 200 words in length. Articles should be a maximum length of 500 words. All submissions should be signed and those wishing to remain anonymous should indicate their name is not for publication. Articles, letters to the editor and advertising in this journal do not necessarily represent the views of the Union. The next edition will be published on 22 August 2014. The deadline for all editorial and advertising material is 28 July 2014. For advertising enquiries, email [email protected] or call (07) 3512 9000.

6 Assessment overhaul

8 State Budget

12 GT=GR latest

13 Unions force IR backdown

15 The truth about Teach for Australia

16 TAFE fees take off

20 QTU member survey

features

regulars 4 News

5 Editorial

7 From the President

14 If I only had a blog

23 Legal

24 Retired teachers

25 New teachers

27 QTAD

28 At leisure

29 Lighter side

35 QTU contacts

35 Anniversaries, reunions and events

35 Classifieds

Cover image: Delegates to the 2014 QTU Women's Conference. See page 19.

This QR code will take you to the QTU website. In order to scan QR codes, your mobile device must have a QR code reader app installed.

ISSN 0033-6238

10 Federal Budget

18 Education Leaders Conference

19 Women's Conference

Send your letter to the editor

Letters should be no more than 200 words in length and may be edited for publication.

Vol 119 No 5 | Queensland Teachers' Journal 3

online: www.qtu.asn.au/lettersemail : [email protected]: PO Box 1750, Milton LPO 4064fax: 07 3512 9050

News

4 Queensland Teachers' Journal | Vol 119 No 5

In another significant step for democracy within the QTU, May State Council elected the Union’s first state-wide representative Executive.

The QTU Executive manages Union affairs between meetings of State Council, which is the Union’s supreme decision-making body, along with the Biennial Conference.

To be elected, you have to be one of the 110 teachers, principals or TAFE teachers elected to State Council from branches around the state.

Historically, election has been restricted to Council members in the south-east corner of the state because Executive met fortnightly during term time in face-to-face after-school meetings. Technology means this restriction is no longer necessary.

The 13 members have been elected for a three-year term and will join the QTU’s President, Vice-Presidents, General Secretary and Deputy General Secretaries to form the new Executive.

L to R from top: Perry Anderson (guidance officer, Browns Plains State School); Andrew Beattie (deputy principal, Victoria Point State High School); Allan Cook (principal, Isis District State High School); Peter Darben (senior teacher (maths/science), Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology); Leah Olsson (senior teacher (music), Bay View State School); Cresta Richardson (experienced senior teacher - learning difficulties, Emerald State School); Nikki Roos (experienced senior teacher, Windsor State School); Nick Shirley (principal, Charters Towers Central State School); Robyn Sugden (experienced senior teacher, Yandina State School); Jenny Swadling (principal, Charleville School of Distance Education); Penny Taylor (experienced senior teacher, Jimboomba State School); Andrew Thompson (principal, Ipswich West Special School) and Scott Tibaldi (TAFE teacher, Skillstech Australia – Bracken Ridge Training Centre).

New QTU Executive elected

Members share concerns with MinisterLocal QTU activists took advantage of a recent Community Cabinet meeting at Maroochydore SHS on the Sunshine Coast to raise members’ concerns with the Minister for Education, Training and Employment and the Director-General of DETE.

The delegation, which included Ron Frame (then acting QTU Organiser), along with Steve Taylor (deputy-principal, Mooloolaba SS), Tina Parnell (teacher, Noosaville SS) and Callum Morrison (teacher, Mountain Creek SHS) (pictured), raised the increasing workload demands on teachers and administrators, and sought assurances that expectations would be kept manageable.

The uncertainty of administrators over the proposed move towards contract employment was also raised. Both the Minister and the DG gave assurances that it is not the department’s aim to put job security at risk and that there would be

negotiations with the QTU to ensure the inclusion of appropriate reversionary rights clauses.

There was discussion about the increasing demands on teachers’ time outside of school hours, the Union’s disappointment over the non-implementation of Gonski, and the importance of providing funding directly to schools.

Ron FrameFORMER ACTING SUNSHINE COAST ORGANISER

2013 financial statements now availableAnnual financial statements for the Queensland Teachers’ Union of Employees and the Australian Education Union, Queensland Branch are now available for 2013. The statements can be downloaded from the QTU website at www.qtu.asn.au - just click on "About us" at the top of the page and select "Financial Statements" from the drop-down menu. You will need your QTU membership number and password.


Editorial

The 110 members of the QTU State Council have adopted a new strategy to take the Union through the next 18 months.

The strategy, agreed on 17 May, covers a period which will see, at minimum: a state election; the “modernisation” of industrial awards covering QTU members and potentially the removal of some long-standing employee conditions; and the start of the next round of enterprise bargaining under radically changed and more restrictive legislation. Changes to award conditions and enterprise bargaining are, of course, the result of the current state government’s legislative changes.

The first part of the strategy aims to secure a range of industrial and professional conditions in agreements with the government and the department. The government has changed legislation to limit the nature and allowable content of awards and enterprise bargaining agreements, but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be non-industrial agreements with the department. For almost the first 20 years of its existence as a condition, secondary non-contact time was based on an exchange of letters between the then Director-General of Education and the then General Secretary of the QTU, before working hours were moved out of regulations and into industrial awards in the early 1990s.

Surely an agreement negotiated and signed between Union and department should be honoured, whether it is enforceable in the Industrial Relations Commission or not. There are a number of current memoranda of agreement and joint statements on professional issues that the Union expects to be observed.

Working hours will not be one of the conditions removed from awards and agreements, but there are other significant conditions which may. Part of the problem is that we won’t know till the middle of next year. The time to secure “at-risk” conditions in non-industrial agreements is now.

One of those conditions is class sizes. Class size targets are currently contained in the enterprise bargaining agreement, but may not be allowed in future. The current targets are the result of more than 30 years of campaigns by Union members and will not be surrendered. The government and the department must enter into an agreement to at least maintain, if not improve, those targets into the future.

There are a range of other quasi-industrial or professional issues around which the QTU, on behalf of members, would seek agreements: professional development and the conditions under which it is provided; induction and mentoring for new educators; and the operation of professional standards, to name but a few.

What the Council has envisaged is at least two non-industrial agreements, one on professional matters, and one on a range of industrial conditions and protections that are potentially no longer allowed in awards or agreements.

Seeking an agreement on professional issues fits nicely with the government’s proposal for an Education Accord and summit, which was announced just days after State Council adopted this strategy,

even though the summit’s focus is for the longer term. The QTU will be encouraging members to participate in the process and any local roundtables, and to nominate for the summit in September through their local MP.

It is important to emphasise that processes are not just about protecting existing conditions, but also securing necessary improvements.

The QTU will also bring forward its claim development process for the next round of enterprise bargaining, even though negotiations will not commence before 1 July next year. Members cannot be expected to work out what will be allowable and what will not in the next round of bargaining. So the best avenue is to identify a list of claims and then to work out which can and should be pursued through EB, and which should be pursued as part of non-industrial agreements.

For more information on the QTU strategy, a short video can be viewed at http://www.qtu.asn.au/ur-strategyvideo-june2014 (membership and password required).

Graham MoloneyGENERAL SECRETARY

"Education Accord"Visit http://deta.qld.gov.au/about/educationaccord/ to be part of the "Education Accord" consultation process. There is a survey of about seven key questions, and an invitation to nominate as an electorate representative at the planned summit in September.

Council adopts Union strategy

News


In the most comprehensive review of Queensland senior assessment and tertiary entrance processes in 24 years – and 40 years after external examinations were abolished – independent reviewers have signalled a raft of changes which will affect teachers and students.

Professor Geoffrey Master and Dr Gabrielle Matters from the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) are undertaking a major review for DETE of the way senior students are assessed. While the final report is not due to be handed to the government until late July, a number of new directions are emerging.

ACER’s current position is to remodel the secondary-tertiary interface, including revitalising school assessment (formerly known as school-based assessment). One proposal is to prioritise, for each authority subject, three or four assessment types that make up a school’s assessment program, not the actual assessment itself. Proposed assessment types include short answer, multiple choice, and essays; some of these could be delivered online.

The reviewers also intend to recommend introducing external assessments in each authority subject, contributing up to 50 per cent of some subject results. This would not be an HSC-style, high-stakes, three-hour external examination. The QTU maintains that the type and weighting of the external assessment should be determined by an expert panel of practising teachers, academics, and experts in curriculum and assessment, and be set and marked by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA, formerly the QSA). It is

essential that school assessment not be statistically moderated against the external assessment.

Also proposed is a finer scale – possibly 1 to 50 - for subject results. Scales will be tested for validity before they become part of the final recommendations. Reviewers are also considering a new way to report to students and parents; school assessment would be combined with external assessment to produce one subject result. The QCAA would not produce OPs (or field positions), so schools would not produce subject achievement indicators (SAIs) as input to the OP, and the QCAA would not undertake scaling against the Queensland Core Skills test - that test would be unnecessary.

Revamped moderation is also under consideration, but alternatives are unclear. Any new system must continue to moderate student outputs, and not simply focus on front-loaded approaches, where school assessments are checked by a panel prior to their use.

Universities may be able to use the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR), already calculated by the QSA but not given to the students, or use year 12 results, interviews, portfolios and special tests for entry into high-demand courses. It will be up to the universities to determine the

ranking system, although the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre (QTAC) will still be responsible for administering the offers.

The QTU believes that the integrity of the current system must be maintained during any transition. The methodology behind any new senior assessment and tertiary entrance system must be fair, transparent and clearly explained and communicated to parents, teachers and students in a timely way. Teachers must be adequately resourced and supported, and provided with release time during school hours for the necessary panel training, professional development and planning required for implementing any new senior assessment and moderation system.

The timing for the introduction of a new system will be determined by the government, although the Minister for Education has flagged that there will be no change for this year or next year. It remains to be seen what the government response to the final report will be.

The QTU’s position statement on senior assessment is available at www.qtu.asn.au/ps-qrsatp

Leah MertensQTU RESEARCH OFFICER- PROFESSIONAL ISSUES

Senior assessment and tertiary entrance overhaul likely


From the President

More than 20 years ago, a misguided “progressive” Swedish government looked at the highly marketised school system in Chile, established under the notorious dictator Pinochet, and decided that was the way of the future for education. Today, the Swedish school system has suffered more than two decades of the ravages of marketisation and paid a horrendous price.

During the last school term, I had the privilege of travelling to Sweden and the UK to study the impacts of school autonomy movements, now some two decades old in both nations. The “free school” policies of Sweden have evolved into a school system that has crushed student outcomes, segregated students and schools and diminished teaching and learning conditions.

Marketisation is the process by which the free market is allowed to own, run and profit from the operation of public institutions funded by tax revenue. In the case of Swedish schools, this process began as a red-tape reduction process, which developed into a free choice of schools for students and their families and finally offered freedom to build and operate a school whenever and wherever they wish (free school establishment).

Free schools are not private schools in the sense of the non-government sector in Queensland. In fact, there are only two private schools in Sweden, and “for profit” schools are not permitted. Sweden is a federation of local municipalities (some 300) whose responsibilities include the management and funding of education. Swedish education policy allows any entity to establish a school and the local authority must fund the operation of the school and provide teaching staff to the school.

At its height, marketisation resulted in laws being passed that removed all “barriers” to teacher employment, i.e. anyone could be employed as a teacher regardless of qualifications. This retrograde step has since been reversed and qualifications-dependent teacher “licensing” is now the norm once again.

Swedish schools now operate in a system without restrictions on class sizes or working hours and without fixed salaries. Teachers negotiate most of these conditions on an individual basis. While some collective agreements apply to large corporate employers, they provide only average conditions that are varied by managers across the company according to individual employee circumstances. For example, maths/science and early childhood teachers are paid significantly higher salaries than general primary or secondary teachers.

All Swedish schools operate from buildings that they must rent from the local municipalities or on the commercial market. We will see a similar model implemented in Queensland now the Queensland Training Assets Management Authority has taken over all TAFE Queensland assets and TAFE colleges are required to pay market rent for the buildings they previously owned.

Our study group visited pre-schools, primary schools and a "gymnasium" or upper

secondary school (post-compulsory). The vast majority of schools in Sweden remain government schools, covering 85 per cent of students in years F to 9. In spite of this, the impact of the “free schools” is universal. The impacts acknowledged within Sweden include: no improvement in educational outcomes or the “quality” of education; cost blow-outs for government; and segregation based on ethnicity, socio-economic status, school location and parental attitudes to education.

The public debate is dominated by “PISA shock”, a reference to the shocking slump in PISA results that has seen Swedish students drop from the top 10 to around the mid-twenties in international test rankings. On the back of these results, the same “progressive” political parties that instigated the movement to “free schools” are now leading the push to “unscramble the egg”. Interestingly, and in sharp contrast to the Australian experience, the public debate in Sweden has focused on the failure of government policy and has not blamed teachers for the poor standing of education.

Australia seems set to repeat these mistakes. The QTU, unlike the education unions in Sweden, must not be lured into supporting the marketisation agenda: for the good of students, teachers and our proud history of public education.

Kevin BatesPRESIDENT

Further reading:

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/08/pisa-education-test-scores-meaning

www.kva.se/documents/kalendarium/2013/130311-12_publicsynopsis.pdf

Their past is our future: lessons from Swedish schools


State Budget

QTU PRIORITY COMMENT

GOVERNMENT FUNDING

Increase state government spending on education 1 per cent per year (to 24 per cent in 2014-15).

Unfortunately, the government’s 23.5 per cent education spend falls short of that called for by the QTU, and the Union believes the 0.5 per cent shortfall will result in insufficient funds to accommodate enrolment growth and support students with disabilities.

ENHANCING THE PROFESSION

Negotiation for the establishment of a professional pay scale aligning with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Learning (AITSL) Professional Standards.

The State Budget provides no solid commitment to a professional pay scale. The government continues to press forward with its Great Teachers=Great Results program, which contains performance bonuses rather than professional pay. QTU members have sent a clear message to the government that they will not accept performance bonuses and have called on it to abandon this idea and genuinely negotiate around professional pay.

Allocation of an additional $60 million for head of curriculum positions into primary and special schools.

There is no detail in the budget suggesting that fresh funding has been allocated specifically for this purpose.

PROVIDING PUBLIC EDUCATION

Allocation of $123 million recurrently for: • the reinstatement of 272 resource

teacher positions • a minimum of 800 extra FTE

teachers • a minimum of 155 extra FTE

teachers to reduce year 10 class sizes.

Despite the QTU predicting that 800 extra FTE teachers would be required to cover enrolment growth next year, which is expected to be between 9,000-10,000 students, the government has only accommodated for 666 FTE teachers and 95 teacher-aides. This is 134 FTE teachers fewer than the QTU called for. There has been no reinstating of the 272 resource teacher positions or any sign of the extra 155 FTE teachers to reduce year 10 class sizes.

Establish and provide for a funded program to reduce the student-teacher ratio to below the Australian average.

The Budget contained no new measures to reduce Queensland's student-teacher ratio.

LEVELLING THE EDUCATION PLAYING FIELD

Funding guarantee for guidance officers for all state schools with an enrolment greater than 500.

There is no detail given of any funding for GOs in schools, despite that fact that they are on the front-line when dealing with the effects of increased mobility, breakdown of families, poverty, drugs and alcohol and domestic violence and help deal with students with learning difficulties, behavioural disturbances and mental health issues.

Leading into the State Budget, the QTU issued a list of 10 major priorities that required action from the state government.

Unfortunately, a detailed analysis of the budget handed down on 3 June suggested that education is still not the top priority for the government.

The Treasurer stated the budget for education in 2014-2015 is $11.8 billion.

However, while the adjusted 2013-14 budget for DETE was $11,157,406,000, actual expenditure was only $11,008,985,000, an underspend of $148,421,000.

Taking this underspend into account, it would appear that in real terms the government has only provided a 0.5 per cent increase in education funding for the forthcoming financial year in terms of its share of the total government budget. This falls well short of the 24 per cent target

called for by the QTU in its 2014-2015 budget submission.

In terms of the QTU’s 10 major budgetary recommendations (grouped into six critical aspects of education), here is the state government’s report card.

Aleksandr Taylor-GoughACTING RESEARCH OFFICER

The State Budget devil is in the detail...


QTU PRIORITY COMMENT

BUILDING, MAINTAINING AND RUNNING PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND TAFE

Government reinvestment of revenue raised through the sale of state education assets (assuming the sale is fully justifiable as educationally, socially and culturally beneficial) back into public schools, education and TAFE.

There is no clear evidence in the 2014-15 State Budget that any asset sales (or potential sales) are going to be re-invested. With six schools permanently closed in late 2013, the QTU will monitor very closely where that money goes.

Allocation of $500 million over the forward estimates for on-going school maintenance.

Within DETE, $411.7 million has been allocated this financial year for capital works, inclusive of $353 million towards construction and refurbishment of educational facilities. However, it is unclear if such funding will continue into the forward estimates to 2017-18.

TAFE

Abandon plans to make all VET funding fully contestable, with a significant amount of VET recurrent funding tagged to maintain the role of TAFE as the benchmark provider of VET

Unfortunately, the government has continued with its plans to make all VET in Queensland fully contestable. Management and ownership of public training assets were transferred to the Queensland Training Assets Management Authority (QTAMA), a “new specialist commercial asset manager”, from 1 July. Fully contestable training funding will also be delivered from 1 July. TAFE Queensland will be operating as an independent statutory body. In terms of funds that DETE will be distributing to training centres, $10 million (as part of $47 million over five years) will be given to registered training organisations and community organisations, with $134 million, as a VET purchasing grant, given to support TAFE Queensland as an independent statutory body.

Staffing levels within TAFE should be maintained to ensure the capacity of the TAFE system to deliver high-quality programs and courses.

With the introduction of the statutory authority for TAFE (TAFE Queensland) and QTAMA from 1 July, the number of TAFE employees funded by the government will fall significantly and they will no longer appear in the DETE budget. The 2014-2015 budget provides for 691 staff, with the remaining 5000 current employees to be funded directly by TAFE Queensland.

State Budget

This wasn’t supposed to happen anymore...Joe Hockey has followed a classic playbook since coming to office – find a budget black hole, blame it on your predecessors, then use this revelation to justify implementing an agenda more aggressive than you’d let on before the election. But this strategy wasn’t supposed to be possible after the Howard government passed the Charter of Budget Honesty into law.

Under the charter, we no longer have to compare the new government’s numbers to the old government’s numbers and work out for ourselves why they don’t line up. Instead, the heads of the Treasury and the Finance Department are required to put out their own set of numbers, the Pre-Election Fiscal

Outlook (PEFO), during the election campaign. This gives a neutral baseline against which we can assess the new government’s figures. PEFO is the only set of budget forecasts that truly belong to the bureaucrats – all other documents (like the Budget) are issued by ministers.

The PEFO last year didn’t contain a budget black hole. It didn’t depict a budget emergency. In fact, the outlook in PEFO was remarkably close to the figures in the economic statement issued by Chris Bowen and Penny Wong just before the election was called. The public servants in PEFO projected the budget balance out for a

decade. They found that the budget was on track, before the election, to return to surplus in 2016-17 and keep improving from there, eventually hitting a surplus of about 1 per cent of GDP by 2023 with net debt approaching zero.

Some commentators have quibbled with these projections, suggesting that they’re

Despite being labelled whingers by the Murdoch press and the odd Coalition MP, I and millions of Australians believe that at its hard core the Abbott/Hockey budget is inherently unfair.

I am not alone. Peter Whiteford of the Australian National University Crawford School of Public Policy has said that “there had not been a budget that had hit the poor so hard, at least since the Fraser Government" (Sydney Morning Herald, 22

May 2014).

So how does this budget impact the most vulnerable in our society, and what does this mean for students and teachers in public schools?

According to a report from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, it is the less well off, particularly those with school-aged children, who are hit hardest by this budget. In reporting the modelling,

the Sydney Morning Herald (22 May, 2014) highlighted the following.• More than one-third of the budget cuts

- $6 billion - fall on the middle quintile of households, those earning between $45,000 and $63,000.

• Families with school-age children are the hardest hit. Across all income groups, they will lose $15.9 billion over four years, more than 90 per cent of the total.

• Low and middle-income sole parents

suffer worst of all, losing between 10 and 15 per cent of their annual income - $4,000 to $6,250 - on family earnings of less than $60,000 by the time the changes to welfare take full effect in 2017-18.

• The burden rises sharply for families with children over the four years of the budget. For example, a sole parent earning $60,000 with children aged between 8 and 12 will lose $1,808 in annual income in 2014-15 and $6278 in 2017-18.

In addition, this budget heralded that from 2018, education funding growth will be tied to CPI and contained a $534 million cut to programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people and a $9.5 million cut to their language support program, as well as a $1.5 billion cut to TAFE including 10 national programs to provide basic literacy and numeracy (which given the Queensland Government’s decision to withdraw subsidies will increase the cost of a literacy or numeracy course at TAFE for a

Federal Budget flushes away opportunity and hope


Federal Budget

implausible because they adopt the previous government’s policy of restricting real spending growth to 2 per cent per year. This policy may well have been implausible, but PEFO didn’t hinge on it. Instead, the public servants also showed what would happen to the budget if spending grew at its expected pace (instead of being restricted to 2 per cent real growth) and revenue was allowed to grow. The result for the budget bottom line is much the same as under the previous government’s policies.

Both of the scenarios – the first with the previous government’s 2 per cent spending growth cap and the second that reflects the underlying trend in spending and taxing – factor in big ticket items including

DisabilityCare Australia (aka the NDIS) and the National Plan for School Improvement (aka Gonski).

Despite the charter and the neutral numbers in PEFO, Joe Hockey still played the budget black hole card, just as Peter Costello (in 1996), Paul Keating (in 1983) and John Howard (in 1975) had done before him. The new government’s mini-budget (MYEFO) contained dramatically bigger deficits than the bureaucrats’ PEFO projections, with no surpluses in sight. The worsened outlook was partly due to policy decisions taken by the new government (like scrapping the carbon and mining taxes and giving a large grant to the RBA), partly due to a change in the assumptions used for projections

beyond the first two years of the forward estimates, and partly due to a slightly more pessimistic economic outlook. Hockey’s first budget confirms this budget outlook, with budget deficits for years to come.

For now, this sea of red ink is being used as the justification for deep cuts in spending and a few unpopular revenue-raising measures. But don’t be surprised if, in a couple of years’ time, the budget outlook is a lot rosier. That’s the final step in the budget black hole strategy – show that you’ve brought home the bacon and balanced the books despite your predecessors’ profligacy.

Excerpt from ACTU Budget Briefing, May 2014 (www.actu.org.au/Images/Dynamic/attachments/8229/ACTU%20Budget%20briefing%202014.pdf )

disabled person by more than 450 per cent). Despite promised increases for students with disabilities from 2015, the budget only has $57.7 million in 2014/15 and no funding allocated for 2015-18. By 2017/18, 20 per cent of schools will not meet the minimum resource standards and there will be no federal government support for them to do so.

The impact of this budget then, is felt most heavily by those who are in the educationally disadvantaged groups predominantly served by public schools. Government schools are the main providers of education for students from lower income families, with:• 77 per cent of students from households

bringing in less than $52,000 per year• 86 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander students• 80 per cent of students with a disability• 72 per cent of students from provincial

areas• 84 per cent of students from remote

areas

• 79 per cent of students from one-parent families.

The Abbott government is walking away from the Gonski reforms, a funding model designed to overcome the educational disadvantage facing those students, who are now going to be further disadvantaged by this budget.

This budget, encompassing an attack on the most disadvantaged and an attempt to cast public education adrift, is designed to place and keep opportunity in the hands of the already advantaged to the exclusion of all others. Any real chance for those students who, through the Gonski model of loadings, could have had the same starting point as those who are not educationally disadvantaged, has now vanished.

Their ability to achieve educational outcomes that will improve their position in the employment queue has now been significantly reduced, they will be punished through being denied unemployment

benefits, and will be priced out of access to university and TAFE. Therein lies the denial of opportunity and the dashing of hope.

I am sure that teachers and parents want the best for Australia’s children; that they want them to have opportunity and hope.

This is a moral crisis for our nation. The words of 13th century Italian poet Dante Alighieri (Dante’s Inferno) come to mind: “ The darkest place in hell is reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis.”

That will not be the place for Australians who believe in a fair go.

Barry WelchDEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY

“We have a responsibility as a state to protect our most vulnerable citizens: our children, seniors, people with disabilities. That is our moral obligation. But there is an economic justification too - we all pay when the basic needs of our

citizens are unmet.” John Lynch (US politician)



GT=GR

Performance review talks edge towards conclusionNegotiations over teacher performance reviews are edging closer to finally reaching a conclusion.

The key features of the new process are:• the process is similar to the

Developing Performance Framework

• the development of a written development plan – this should be in the form of a template agreed by the parties

• collegial engagement (lesson observations), provided that they are aligned to goals identified in the plan

• the goals should be developmental and be supported by high quality professional learning

• the goals are aligned to the proficient level of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

• the development of goals is based on the school’s shared view of effective teaching (the QTU asserts that this means that the goals will reflect systemic, professional and local priorities and context)

• identification and reflection on evidence related to each goal – without requiring the collation of a portfolio of evidence

• provision of formal and informal feedback to teachers.

The supporting documents are clear that the process is separate and distinct from managing unsatisfactory performance

and the certification process for highly accomplished and lead teacher.

The QTU advised DETE that Executive supported the revised process, provided that:• DETE approves the document

as negotiated• DETE and the QTU jointly

develop and agree to supporting documentation

• there is an appropriate period of familiarisation and training prior to implementation

• DETE and the QTU reach an agreed position regarding data and its use, and this agreement (e.g. a joint statement) clearly outlines what constitutes mandatory data and how it is to be used (the Union believes that for any process to be successful, data should be used to inform goals, not drive what goals are established).

At the completion of these discussions, the negotiations will turn to principal performance review.

Kate RuttimanDEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY

No comfort in school leader contractsAt recent principal association conferences, the Minister of Education discussed the issue of principal contracts and suggested that an S122 engagement akin to the National Partnership principal contracts may be appropriate.

He also indicated that contracts were to be voluntary and would be offered to new appointees.

School leaders should find no comfort in this statement. Reading between the lines, if contracts are to be offered to new appointees, is the Minister suggesting that you would not secure a promotion if you did not sign a contract? Additionally, S122 agreements do not provide the same certainty for employment as the agreement and the award.

While the S122 experience was positive for some National Partnership principals, the same cannot be said for others. With the government walking away from the original funding arrangements for NP schools this year, the impact on these schools and the programs to be offered has not always been positive. Additionally, the engagements are not performance based – the additional remuneration for the NP positions came in the form of attraction and retention payments – not performance bonuses as suggested in GT=GR.

Additionally, while the current S122 engagement has reversionary rights, in Victoria the reality of reversionary rights is that those principals whose

engagements have not been renewed have been reverted to their classification prior to their promotion to principal, at times being made the deputy principal in the school in which they were previously the principal.

GT=GR is another vehicle through which the government seeks to push its contracts for school leaders agenda. It is very clear that the government wants to introduce performance-based contracts for principals and prescribe further qualifications for principals. The QTU has clearly rejected the notion of principal contracts and has advised DETE that performance bonuses are unacceptable.

As revealed in the recent QTU member survey, job security is a key issue for our members. The QTU rejects any proposal that will place our school leaders in insecure employment.

News


A High Court challenge by Queensland unions, including the QTU, has forced the Queensland Government to repeal parts of its industrial legislation relating to political expenditure ballots.

Before the case was finally presented to the High Court, the government was forced to admit that its legislation was in breach of the doctrine of freedom of political communication implied in the Australian Constitution. This followed a successful challenge by New South Wales (NSW) unions against NSW state legislation on the same principles in the High Court, decided late in 2013.

Not only has the state government been forced to repeal parts of the legislation, it has now agreed to pay the unions’ court costs.

The QTU and other unions are still required to maintain a register of spending for political purposes, which is published at the end of each year as part of an annual financial disclosure statement, or earlier if spending on a particular campaign exceeds $10,000 in any financial year. What has been removed are requirements to conduct a political expenditure ballot any time a union intends to spend more than $10,000 for a political purpose.

The problems with these requirements were numerous. • The legislation applied only to unions

and not to companies or other organisations. Mining companies, for example, remained free to run multimillion dollar campaigns against the mineral resource rent tax or the carbon tax without any of these requirements. In 2013, the state government was free

to spend $330,000 promoting Great Teachers=Great Results, yet the QTU would have had to conduct a ballot to authorise just $10,000 in campaigning against it.

• The estimated cost to the QTU of a ballot to authorise $10,000 in spending would conservatively be between $50,000 and $70,000, borne by the QTU.

• The ballot would require around eight to 10 weeks to run, giving the government significant time before a union could respond to new government policies.

• The definition of spending for a political purpose was so broad that it could include virtually any campaign. For example, the enterprise bargaining campaign or a rally outside Parliament could have been included, because the Union was trying to influence the government. The definition goes well beyond what any member of the QTU would consider “spending for a political purpose”.

The QTU’s annual financial disclosure statement, which is published on the QTU website, includes expenditure for hire of jumping castles for community events and hire of helium gas cylinders for use in market stalls, as well publication of articles in the Queensland Teachers’ Journal, because it is sent to people who are not members of the QTU, including members of the Queensland Parliament. Finally, the Union would have to predict the activities that would be undertaken over the course

of a year, or be forced to run multiple ballots during the year resulting in even higher levels of expenditure. With a government given to making surprise announcements, this would quickly become a significant cost to the Union.

The QTU was under investigation for two breaches of the requirements for political expenditure ballots. Each shows the problems associated with the legislation. The first was an advertisement promoting the Gonski funding reforms in July 2013. On 26 June 2013, Kevin Rudd extended the deadline for states to sign bilateral agreements by two weeks. The QTU ran an advertisement in The Courier-Mail calling on the Queensland Government to reach agreement. There was no time to conduct an expenditure ballot. The second was an advertisement thanking the people of Queensland for making education one of the priorities in the Queensland Plan consultation and calling on the government to act accordingly. It is hardly what most members would consider as political expenditure. The repeal of the legislation specifically says that no action will be taken in relation to alleged breaches.

The repeal of this legislation, in the face of the legal challenge, remains a significant victory for Queensland unions and their capacity to represent members' interests.


Unions' challenge forces government backdown

Australian High Court, Canberra

My response: “How do you know we don’t? I reckon it took some pretty huge superpowers to get all of you kids dressed and into the car today. It certainly takes some special and amazing superpowers to be a teacher.”

You can imagine the groan I got in response.

That evening, in a moment of serendipity, I was working with a team of QTU women to deliver assertiveness training for Union members when my colleague Kevina O’Neill (QTU Redlands/Logan Organiser) gave a beautiful description of what it means to step up as a Union Representative in any forum. It went something like this.

“As a young activist I was asked to go to central office in Mary Street to represent the QTU at negotiations around an important professional issue, and I overheard a senior officer of the department say: ‘They’ve only sent Kevina.’

“It didn’t make a difference to how I approached the negotiations, because I was stepping into that meeting room, not as Kevina the young teacher, but as a well-informed advocate for the members of the QTU. I knew that I not only had the knowledge and ability to argue the case but the support and trust of thousands of teachers.

“It was like putting on my QTU suit – an extra bit of confidence and motivation to get the best outcome for the members of the Union.”

It is the same thing being an assertive professional in the workplace or any other forum. It can be daunting when we step up to question why we should adopt particular teaching strategies or approaches, when

we push back around decisions about implementation of curriculum in context, or when we advocate for better resourcing. Some will call us whingers or trouble makers or attempt to paint us as not being part of ‘the team’, when what we are actually doing is being caring and informed professionals. I think it can help to think of our commitment and dedication to what we do and our role as QTU representatives as our suit or cape – and it can help give us the gumption and the motivation to stand up for ourselves.

To confidently assert ourselves, we need to be knowledgeable, and that’s where the QTU website, courses run by QTEC (Queensland Teachers' Education Centre), professional reading and participating in quality professional development play an essential role.

However, it’s more than that. We need to build up a range of strategies for tackling difficult conversations, for saying things that may not be popular or easy for some in our workplaces or the government to hear.

Unfortunately, we don’t get born with superpowers. We need to find that power somewhere within ourselves and through the support of our colleagues and our membership of the QTU. Perhaps we should imagine that somewhere, perhaps hanging on the back of the classroom door or sitting in the bottom drawer of our desk, is a QTU cape or suit.

May you find all of the superpowers necessary to do what you need to do this term!

Sam PidgeonHONORARY VICE-PRESIDENT

Opinion

If I only had a blog ...The other day, my son said to me: “I wish I was from a family that has superpowers.”

Union myths bustedQTU members sometimes find themselves having to respond to misinformation or baseless myth. Here are the facts on two of most commonly faced falsehoods.

MYTH: Your Union dues are used to support political partiesWhile many unions are affiliated with the Australian Labor Party, the QTU is not and never has been affiliated with any political party, nor does it donate funds to political parties. Under the QTU Constitution, political party affiliation could only occur after a referendum of all members.

The QTU is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), the peak Australian and Queensland Union bodies, neither of which is affiliated with, or donates funds to, any political party.

The QTU does reserve the right to support or oppose candidates (before and during election campaigns), depending on their attitude and actions towards QTU policy positions – in particular public education and industrial relations. This is because governments make decisions affecting QTU members via the political process.

The QTU therefore expends funds on the production of material and advertising during election campaigns to promote its position, and to oppose policies harmful to QTU members. The QTU may also elect to have representation at rallies, functions and campaign launches as part of its involvement in the political process.

MYTH: Union officials are still paid when members go on strikeThis is simply untrue. QTU Officers stand in unison with the teaching profession and forego their salary while teachers and school leaders are on strike.

Aleksandr Taylor-GoughFORMER ACTING RESEARCH OFFICER


News


There has been a lot of media coverage recently concerning the Teach for Australia (TFA) program, some of which may have had you believe that it is widespread and a roaring success. It is neither.

The Australian scheme is based on the Teach for America (TFAmerica) program, which began in 1990. This takes non-education degree graduates, puts them on a salary for two years, calls them associates, gives them a six-week course in teacher preparation and then embeds them in hard-to-staff schools.

In Australia, the former federal government started the TFA program to explore alternative pathways into teaching. TFA associates continue studying during their two years in a school, but during that time they are in charge of a class, without a registered teacher being present. A mentor (0.1 FTE in the first year, 0.05 in the second year) is appointed from the school’s existing staff.

As any QTU member would know, kids in disadvantaged schools need the best-trained and most experienced teachers. Unsurprisingly, American education expert Linda Darling-Hammond, while visiting Australia in 2011, reported that disadvantaged communities see TFAmerica as just another facet of the educational inequality experienced by their young people.

TFA also has a much higher rate of graduates leaving teaching than standard teacher preparation courses. The original ACER report on TFA (2011) showed that of the 45 entrants in the first cohort (2010-2011), only 26 entered into full time teaching

positions as of February 2012; under 60 per cent of the initial cohort. By May 2012, The Australian was reporting that the number remaining in the classroom after two years was “about 20”. In contrast, a recent QCT report (November 2013) indicated that only 15 per cent of those education graduates granted provisional registration in 2008 were no longer on the Queensland Register four years later.

Consequently, the first two ACER reports on TFA pointed out that “the TFA pathway is a relatively costly teacher education option for government”. Even the third and latest ACER report states that “in terms of teacher education, the TFA pathway involves relatively high financial outlays by government”.

In reality, the TFA program is another example of taking a US idea and trying to make it work in the clearly different Australian education context. In the USA, even today, unqualified or underqualified “teachers” can work in schools. In Queensland, for at least the past 40 years we have had qualified, registered teachers in classrooms. In fact, it was a state government proposal for an eight-week course to provide teachers in shortage areas that lead to the formation of the Queensland registration body in the 1970s.

Alarmingly, the former and present federal governments refer to teacher

registration standards as a barrier to “flexibility”. This view of teacher registration certainly contradicts the present federal government’s commitment to quality teaching and learning.

Since the Teach for Australia program began in 2010, 175 associates have been placed in 52 schools. It has not run in Queensland because the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) did not believe that the six-week preparation of TFA associates made them eligible for teacher registration.

The Queensland Government is now looking at the legislation covering the QCT and hopefully will continue to ensure that only graduates who have completed high-quality university education courses are considered for registration. After all, our Education Minister would not support untrained dentists walking into school dental vans, so I am sure he can see the need for fully trained teachers in our schools.

The most recent ACER report on TFA says that scaling up of TFA to other states “assumes the cooperation of other jurisdictions. Legislative barriers remain in Queensland and New South Wales is opposed to unqualified teachers in classrooms”.

The QTU, the AEU and the NSW Teachers Federation are keen for these so called “barriers” to remain.

Julie BrownVICE-PRESIDENT

Teach for Australia: the myth of success

Tieri


TAFE

Enrolling in the New TAFE: "Making Great Harder" Story: Scott Tibaldi (Executive member) Artwork: Hannah Day (QTU member)

Rockhampton


TAFE

TAFE institutes have been forced to reassess their user charges in the face of decreasing and disappearing subsidies.

The LNP government has been phasing in its changes to the subsidies, culminating with a price list for course subsidies that virtually ignores qualifications at certificate IV and above.

Of the 300 subsidised courses on the 2014-15 VET Investment Plan - Queensland Training Subsidies List, there are only 28 diploma or advanced diploma courses identified for government funding. At the certificate IV level, there are 36 qualifications funded. Of the certificate IV courses, just under one third are limited to existing workers in industry only. At the diploma and above level, one sixth of the qualifications are limited to existing workers.

While diploma level courses such as nursing are still subsidised, there are huge gaps in the occupations funded. For instance, there are no engineering qualifications at diploma and above on the list. In terms of cost, this means the training provider needs to increase fees to students massively. At one TAFE institute, enrolling in an advanced diploma of electronics and communications engineering in 2012 would have cost a student who had a subsidised QTAC place $1,619.15 for six months of study. Today, a

full-fee-for-service offering of the course costs more than $7,400 for six months study. With no subsidies available, that is the current cost to the student.

Studying music, graphic design, film and TV or interior design will incur costs in the tens of thousands – an extraordinary state of affairs given that the new TAFE Queensland website states that employment for graphic and web designers and illustrators alone is expected to grow by 6,900 in the next three years.

While the costs of delivering a qualification may have remained the same, the end cost to students is increasing as the government reduces or removes subsidies for study. TAFE institutes have been fighting these pressures by reducing staffing costs, with more than 900 redundancies offered in the 2013/14 financial year. Of these, more than 300 have been teaching staff.

And it's not just the reduction of state money that is impacting. Under the certificate III guarantee, most students will not be entitled to a subsidised place if they have existing qualifications. Students have to pay full price for additional qualifications

and will need to rely on VET FEE HELP, where it’s available, to offset the ever increasing fees to be paid on the higher qualifications.

The vast majority of certificate IV qualifications have little or no subsidy applied and there is no recourse to VET FEE HELP for the majority of students undertaking study at this level. Diploma qualifications that are charged at the full fee for service rate will incur on-costs of 20 per cent through VET FEE HELP, if fees are deferred through a loan from the scheme.

Until the Newman government, Queenslanders were entitled to equity and accessibility in training, targeting community need. A full range of qualifications across the breadth of the economy were funded. Today the entitlement is to a single business priority qualification up to Certificate 3 with access to a loan scheme to defray the burgeoning cost of higher qualifications.

David TeruadsTAFE ORGANISER

Table 1 Comparison of subsidised courses as listed on the 2014-15 VET Investment Plan - Queensland Training Subsidies List

Qualification level

No. of subsidised qualifications

Restricted to existing workers or qualified

No. of ATSI courses

No. of primary industries qualifications *

No. community/ health qualifications**

Highest v lowest subsidy per course #

Dip & adv dip 28 5 5 4 9 $6,184 – $1305

Cert IV 36 11 4 4 11 $5,624 -$1,463

Cert III 105 0 3 22 16 $4,496 - $942

All quals 300 16 18 46 39 $6,184 - $416

*Primary industries include agriculture, forestry, horticulture and land care ** Community and health includes nursing, dental, childcare, aged care, mental and general health and disability # non-concessional prices

Sky-rocketing TAFE fees pricing students out of VET

Brisbane

News


We could help you fita new car

within your budget.

Let us show you an affordable solution to get a new car.1300 73 14 29remserv.com.au/leasegov

CALL

Things you need to know: Salary packaging is only available to eligible employees of the Queensland Government as per the Standing Offer Arrangement CPO 250/10. The implications of salary packaging for you (including tax savings and impacts on benefits, surcharges, levies and/or other entitlements) will depend on your individual circumstances. The information in this publication has been prepared by RemServ for general information purposes only, without taking into consideration any individual circumstances. RemServ and the Queensland Government recommend that before acting on any information or entering into a salary packaging arrangement and/or a participation agreement with your employer, you should consider your objectives, financial situation and needs, and, take the appropriate legal, financial or other professional advice based upon your own particular circumstances. You should also read the Salary Packaging Participation Agreement and the relevant Queensland Government Salary Packaging Information Booklets and Fact Forms available via the Queensland Government Contracts Directory at http://qcd.govnet.qld.go.au/Pages/Details.aspx?RecID=839. The Queensland Government strongly recommends that you obtain independent financial advice prior to entering into, or changing the terms of, a salary packaging arrangement.Conditions and fees apply, along with credit assessment criteria for lease and loan products. The availability of benefits is subject to your employer’s approval. RemServ may receive commissions in connection with its services. Remuneration Services (Qld) Pty Ltd. ABN 46 093 173 089 Authorised Representative (No. 293159) of McMillan Shakespeare Limited (AFSL No. 299054). REMMKG_Q4NL_HCEdu_Gov_A_0414

REMMKG_FY14Q4_HCEdu_Gov_210x130_0414.indd 1 23/04/2014 10:03 am

QTU Education Leaders Conference 2014Delegates at the 2014 QTU Education Leaders Conference have heard Gonski panel member Ken Boston launch a passionate defence of the review’s fair funding recommendations.

Dr Boston (pictured top left) argued that only the sector-blind, needs-based funding recommended by Gonski could create a genuine meritocracy in Australia.

“There is no other way,” he said. “If we lose Gonski, we will lose public education. We will lose what everyone in this room has worked for and valued. The purpose of education will be to sort the wheat from the

chaff. Generations of children will continue to be lost. Australia will be diminished.”

You can read the full speech at www.qtu.asn.au/conference-resources

As well as Dr Boston, the conference (“Education Leaders - United in Professionalism” ) also heard from DETE Director-General Dr Jim Watterston (second

from left), who discussed improving Queensland’s school performance; QTU General Secretary Graham Moloney, who set the industrial and professional scene in Queensland; and Kate Ruttiman, who explained the impact of the Great Teachers = Great Results plan for principals and deputies.

Before lunch, the delegates broke into workshops, looking at principal recruitment and selection 2014 – the myths, facts and impacts; how to implement a successful managing unsatisfactory performance (MUP) process; and human resources – navigating the Industrial landscape in your school.

News


More than 145 QTU women joined together during the mid-year vacation for the Biennial Women’s Conference.

Planned by the Women Teachers and Girls Education Committee (WTGEC), the day focused on the challenges for women unionists, the current issues and an analysis of the increasingly conservative and misogynist political landscape.

AEU Federal Women’s Officer Catherine Davis presented “I am a Girl”, a harrowing reminder of the prevalence of pornography in our culture, its impact on body image and the "normalising" of sexual behaviours once viewed as extreme. Horrific "ideals" like thigh gaps and bikini bridges and distorted “Photoshopped” images bombard young women and girls and Catherine’s address reminded us of the power we have to address this distortion.

Jenna Price, Senior Lecturer, Journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney and

co-founder of Destroy the Joint (DtJ), told of her social media campaigning, the wins and the challenges. Being a prominent feminist campaigner draws criticism, and Jenna and DtJ are regularly targeted for criticism by conservative commentators such as Alan Jones and Andrew Bolt.

Experienced QTU activists Julie Brown (QTU Vice-President), Catherine Day (Emma Miller recipient) and Pam Ryan (Life Member) presented the “Herstories” panel, sharing their many years of feminist and union campaigning and giving delegates a chance to learn our history from the women in whose footsteps they follow.

The first female member of the QTU secretariat, Kate Ruttiman (Deputy General Secretary), provided an overview of issues facing the QTU, and Sam Pidgeon

(QTU Honorary Vice-President) allowed delegates to “choose their own adventure” in her address on current professional issues. Workshops included “Awards and certified agreements for TAFE and schools”, "Aboriginal and Torrres Strait Islander education", and "Women and promotions".

With women making up 73 per cent of our membership, this conference plays a pivotal role in ensuring women are engaged in the democratic structures of our Union, offering a unique opportunity for activists to meet, create networks and learn from one another.

Penny SpaldingASSISTANT SECRETARY - WOMEN'S AND SOCIAL WELFARE ISSUES

You can find papers and resources from the conference here: www.qtu.asn.au/conference-resources

QTU Women's Conference 2014

Julie Brown

WTGEC Committee

Catherine Day

Pam Ryan

Kate Ruttiman

Aunty Valda Coolwell

Sam Pidgeon

Catherine Davis

Jenna Price


The QTU’s quadrennial membership survey is a major contributor to the development of the QTU strategic plan.

While previous surveys were sample surveys, the 2014 survey was available to every member for whom the Union had an email address. 2,612 members completed the survey and around 700 provided additional comments, which are being analysed for common themes.

Union activityParticipants were asked to rate their union activity on a sliding scale of active, average or not very active, or inactive.

Women and younger teachers were slightly less active than the average but – perhaps

not unpredictably – those least likely to rate themselves as active were temporary/casual employees. That is consistent with the employment issue identified as most important below, i.e. job security.

The survey doesn’t identify causes, though these are again perhaps predictable, based on anecdotal information.

Importance of “conditions” to individual’s own employment situationMembers were asked to rate the importance of a list of issues on a five point scale. Issues

are listed in order of the percentage of members who rated it as very important.

Nine of the issues rated as either important or very important by over 90 per cent of participants. They were:

job security 97%

workload/stress 97%

your individual rights as an employee

96%

funding of schools 95%

student behaviour 95%

the status of the teaching profession

94%

salary 95%

class sizes 91%

standard of workplace facilities 95%

When asked to rate their first and second issues, the top five (based on a combined score) were:

job security 44%

workload/stress 36%

your individual rights as an employee

18%

salary 18%

class sizes 14%

Job security has been the highest rated member issue in each of the five QTU membership surveys back to 1997. Never has the percentage been this high.

Preliminary results concerning the importance of job security and workload/stress, confirming anecdotal evidence, mean that those issues have been included as priority items in the QTU’s strategy for the next 18 months.

Survey gives a snapshot of teachers' concerns

Sources of informationHow can the QTU best provide you with the information you need? First preference.

However, in younger age

demographics, the preference for social media

doubled. The QTU will need to review its digital media strategies

as a consequence.

News�ash41%

Union Rep28%

Journal11%

Website9%

QTAD6%

Social Media

5%


Member survey

Statements about the QTUMembers were asked, on a five point scale, to agree or disagree with a number of propositions about the QTU and its activities. The “agree” score is the combination of the strongly agree and agree percentages. Many, though not all questions, have been consistent over the five surveys.

Proposition Agree Disagree

It is important to have a knowledgeable and approachable workplace rep

92% 14%

I would support a local workplace campaign if warranted

88% 3%

QTU success is based on membership involvement and support

88% 2%

Strike action is legitimate union activity

82% 7%

I am more concerned about job security than two years ago

73% 14%

QTU has the right to advise members and the public which political parties are best

78% 10%

Proposition Agree Disagree

QTU would be justified in being more assertive in representing members

60% 8%

I put interests of the majority before my personal beliefs

64% 7%

I am more fearful of Union involvement since LNP government elected

41% 31%

I would definitely recommend teaching as a career

30% 48%

The single most alarming figure is the percentage who disagree, or strongly disagree, with recommending teaching as a career. This is a consistent question over five surveys and this is the highest percentage who would not recommend teaching as a career in that time.

Importance of issues the QTU is involved inMembers were asked to rate the importance of activities in which the QTU was currently engaged, and then asked to identify the first and second most important. Based on the combination of responses, the top five most important activities are:

Performance appraisal 32%

Gonski funding reforms 31%

National curriculum 23%

Defending fair workplace laws 21%

Performance bonuses 14%A number of additional comments concerning performance appraisal and bonuses indicated, to be sure, that the importance related to the level of their opposition to the concepts.

While the overall figures are important, so too are the concerns of discrete groups of members which the QTU has to address.

The most important issue for some discrete groups of members are:

TAFE: - TAFE restructure

89%

School leaders: - contracts

53%

Head of program: - Gonski - performance appraisal

19% 16%

Teachers: - performance appraisal - Gonski

20% 18%

This is at best a highlight summary of some of the issues identified in the membership survey. The full results and the attached comments are being further analysed to extract all information available.

A full membership survey will be conducted again in four years. The QTU will undertake other investigations about the priorities, needs and attitudes of discrete membership groups in the interim.


At QSuper we have been looking after our members’ futures for more than 100 years. Now, as one of Australia’s largest super funds, we manage more than $50 billion for over 530,000 members. And with some of the lowest fees and proven solid returns1, it’s easy to see why QSuper adds up.

1. SuperRatings Fundamentals report for the Balanced Option as at July 2013. SuperRatings does not issue, sell, guarantee or underwrite this product. The product is issued by the QSuper Board of Trustees (ABN 32 125 059 006) on behalf of the QSuper Fund (ABN 60 905 115 063). Consider the Product Disclosure Statement when deciding to acquire or continue to hold the product, available at qsuper.qld.gov.au © QSuper Board of Trustees 2014. 7768 06/14

qsuper.qld.gov.au/experience

1300 360 750

Experience makes all the difference.


Legal

We all know teachers need to have thick skins, but nobody expects them to be made of Teflon, and unfortunately the children’s rhyme gets it very wrong when it says “words can never hurt me”.

Words can hurt, and worse, they can affect your standing in the community and ultimately affect your ability to do your job. They can also threaten your safety and cause legitimate concerns about your wellbeing.

Turning the other cheek is not always the best option for your health or your career.

In the same way that you, a teacher, are held to account, it is important that parents are held to account as well.

Anti-social media Defamatory and threatening behaviour towards teachers on social media or the internet is something we often deal with as part of the Union’s legal assistance scheme. One recent case saw a teacher defamed by a disgruntled former student teacher, who used his personal blog to accuse the experienced teacher of, among other things, being stupid, incompetent and a sleazy pervert with a sexual interest in young women teachers. Legal assistance was granted to ensure the material was removed.

In another matter, a parent aired unflattering opinions of a principal’s performance in a radio interview which was followed up in local papers and online. The QTU covered the legal costs of the teacher’s complaint, and after a long process, during which the defamer incurred substantial legal

fees, obtained a written apology which was then published in the local newspaper.

The moral is simple: adults do not have the right to defame you simply because you are their children’s teacher. You have rights and are entitled to enforce them.

Legal options If you have been defamed, you can institute proceedings for damages in the courts. This stage is only reached if the matter is particularly serious, poses a threat of serious harm and the person refuses to apologise, make amends or repeats the defamation.

Legal letters are frequently used to inform the parent about the various laws protecting your reputation and outlining the possible consequences of their actions.

Care is taken to ensure that any legal action results in a better outcome, and does not make the situation worse (such as triggering a complaint to the Ethical Standards Unit).

Threats of assaultA threat of assault is a criminal offence and you can make a complaint to police officers requesting proceedings be initiated to prosecute the parent.

The police may merely issue a warning, but you will still send a strong message that threats against you will not be tolerated.

Threats by “carriage service” Use of social media to threaten or harass a teacher is more than a nuisance, it can amount to a criminal offence.

The Commonwealth Criminal Code makes it an offence to use a carriage service, including the internet, to “menace or harass”. There is no exception for parents.

Peace and Good Behaviour ActThe Peace and Good Behaviour Act 1982 addresses threats to assault or do bodily injury to the complainant or to any person under the care or charge of the complainant, or threats to procure another person to do so. It also addresses threats to destroy or damage the property of the complainant or to procure another person to do so.

An application can be made to a Magistrates Court, which may dismiss the complaint or “make an order that the defendant shall keep the peace and be of good behaviour for such time, specified in the order, as the court thinks fit”. The defendant can also be ordered to pay costs.

This can be very effective, but it is generally reserved for situations of actual threat, not just defamation.

Rachel Drew and Edmund BurkeTRESSCOX LAWYERS

Defamation and how your Union can help you beat it


Retired teachers

Always learning Research has shown that social contact is essential for both physical and mental wellbeing. Therefore it is never too late to add another layer of friendship to the family, friends and working associates.

QRTA aims to offer supportive relationships through organised outings, while continuing our lifelong learning. So far this year we have been very successful in doing just that, with great outings to the Queensland University museums, an interesting talk about tsunami and most recently, a delightful tour of Government House where we relived the history of the house and the Governors who have lived in this magnificent house and gardens.

Our most recent activity was a tour of the latest exhibitions at QAGOMA on Tuesday 15 July. A trip through “Harvest” was followed by morning tea at the GOMA bistro on the river and finally, for those wishing to stay

on, a tour of the wonderful watercolour exhibition “Transparent”.

We urge all members to attend the QRTA AGM at 10am on August 19 at the QTU building. Besides the required procedures, we have a wonderful speaker, Dr Sorrell from the PA Organ Tissue Donation Service, coming to add to our knowledge.

Finally don’t forget our conference on 25 November at Broncos Leagues Club. Please note the change of venue as ease of transport has been a main consideration. Our conference is taking shape and details will be published by numerous means. Watch out for flyers and posters near you.

At present we envisage such topics as seniors’ health, security, volunteering and living with technology to name just a few suggestions. If you have a subject that you think should be included, please let me know. The day will be open to all friends and relatives of members of the QRTA and other associations, such as COTAH and National Seniors.

Lastly, it is hoped that many new retirees will see the benefits of continued contact with colleagues and join branch activities in 2014.

Noela RogersQRTA PRESIDENT

ad

Thinking of Retirement?

Maher Digby SecuritiesMaher Digby Securities…the trusted name in Financial Planning…the trusted name in Financial Planning

Est.1989Est.1989

We are Specialists inRetirement Planning for Teachers

* Income streams * Retirement * Estate planning * Pensions

“We wanted sound financial advice – advisers who would listen, take a personal interest and deliver. We found it all in Maher Digby.” Dr Allan Morgan Educational Researcher & Consultant – Brisbane

“Maher Digby provided sound timely investment advice which has given us peace of mind in our retirement.” Graham Burns retired Senior Education Administrator – Wide Bay

Mark DigbyMark DigbyTim MaherTim Maher

Ph: 07 5441 1266CALL US TODAY FOR A FREE INITIAL CONSULTATION

www.maherdigby.com.au [email protected]

AFSL Licence 230559

Brisbane to Wide Bay

P&Cs Qld State ConferenceMercure Gold Coast12 –13 September 2014

BeThe

Change

For more information: www.pandcsqld.com.au

Presenting:Eric Bailey, an outstanding motivational speaker who has spoken to over 2 million people in more than 10 countries. Eric is the spark that can ignite the burning passion dwelling in each of us. Keynote speaker proudly sponsored by QT Mutual Bank.

Belinda Moore, Australasia’s foremost membership specialist and author of “The Membership Machine” and “Membership Fundamentals”.

Phillip Lewis, Founder and Executive Producer at Class-Movies, an innovative documentary-making programme that is fast becoming the standard for connecting schools with their communities.


Beginning teachers

TUH is your Queensland health fund, established by the QTU for QTU members over 40 years ago! Plus we are up to 40% cheaper than other major health funds!

1300 360 701 www.tuh.com.auProfits back to members Value for money products High quality services

health fund

Top Hospital ($500 excess)

TUH Medibank Private BUPA NIB

Single $139.10 $162.60 $163.60 $207.65

Single parent $208.65 $257.20 $273.20 $353.02

Family $278.20 $325.20 $327.20 $415.30This comparison is based on the Qld. full monthly premium, before any rebate or lifetime loading is calculated. Rates are effective from 2 April 2014 and are subject to change. Source: www.privatehealth.gov.au.

So contact us today to move towards better health!

The beginning of 2010: a new year, a new career, and a new improved me (hopefully)!

My amazing principal pulled me into her office on my final day of my final practicum. She perched on her desk, peering over her half-moon glasses, and spoke very matter of factly: “Sam I would love to say I’d pulled you into my office to offer you a job, but I have nothing to offer. How do you feel about country service?”

I shrugged. I was a city girl. City girls are clean, wear nice clothes, own more than three pairs of shoes and spend an hour doing their hair and make-up just to go to the store. Was I ready to give up cuticle care and “Keeping up with the Kardashians” for plastic Crocs, pig hunting, fishing and a bull ride as an annual highlight?

Well I am happy to say, I was. In fact, the country has helped sculpt me into the person I am today.

Over half of all state schools in Queensland are in rural and remote locations, accounting for approximately a quarter of state school students. Teaching in them definitely has some challenges (including waiting six weeks for a resource bought online, only to have moved on to the next unit by the time it arrives). But the positives outweigh the negatives.

Every time you go to Woolies you feel like a rock star, knowing every second person in the store, the lifestyle is great and there is plenty to do. I’ve never been fitter, playing social netball, squash, oz tag, touch football and tae kwon do. You feel supported too, as there are many new and beginning teachers

starting at the same time as you, and the experienced teachers have been in your shoes and are always willing to help.

The life lessons I have learnt, the people I have met and the friends that I have made are irreplaceable. If you were to ask me at the beginning of 2010 where would I be in 5 years’ time, I never would have thought I would still be in the country, and loving it!

If you haven’t been remote yet, give it a go. I can promise you, you won’t regret it. You’ll learn not to sweat the small stuff, appreciate a fine restaurant, and most of all gain experience that a city school just can’t offer.

Sam TrebbleWEIPA UNION REP AND NEN13 PARTICIPANT

A city girl in the country - who would have thought!

Get smart with your salary.

www.qld.smartsalary.com.au

Call 1300 218 598

Salary packaging may enable you to spend more on the things you love and less on income tax. So you may enjoy tax savings on items like:

Laptops & iPads

If you use either of these devices for work, why not salary package them?

Novated Car Leases

There is no longer a minimum KM requirement, which means more people may enjoy great tax savings.

Q-Super

Make the most of your super by making pre-tax contributions into your super fund.^

Salary packaging is only available to eligible employees of the Queensland Government as per the Standing Offer Arrangement CPO 250/10. The implications of salary packaging for you (including tax savings and impacts on benefits, surcharges, levies and/or other entitlements) will depend on your individual circumstances. The information in this publication has been prepared by Smartsalary for general information purposes only, without taking into consideration any individual circumstances. Smartsalary and the Queensland Government recommend that before acting on any information or entering into a salary packaging arrangement and/or a participation agreement with your employer, you should consider your objectives, financial situation and needs, and, take the appropriate legal, financial or other professional advice based upon your own particular circumstances. You should also read the Salary Packaging Participation Agreement and the relevant Queensland Government Salary Packaging Information Booklets and Fact Forms available via the Queensland Government Contracts Directory at http://qcd.govnet.qld.go.au/Pages/Details.aspx?RecID=839. The Queensland Government strongly recommends that you obtain independent financial advice prior to entering into, or changing the terms of, a salary packaging arrangement.^Pre-tax superannuation contributions are not eligible for the Government Co-contribution.

QLD GOV_Techars_Ad_June_2012.indd 1 9/09/2013 10:38:18 AM

News


Queensland Teachers' Assist Desk 1300 11 7823 | [email protected]

Experienced senior teacherThose of you who applied for the experienced senior teacher classification should have received notification by email as to whether you were successful or not by the end of the week commencing 14 July.

If you were unsuccessful, there is no appeal process. However, you will be able to apply in the next round in 2015. Unsuccessful applicants are encouraged to obtain feedback from the panel chair.

I have been employed on contracts since July 2012. However, due to a change of residence (and region) at the beginning of this year, I only received a contract part way through term 1 – my current contract started 17 February 2014 and is for the full year. I’m due to have my baby in August. Will this affect my eligibility for paid maternity leave? To be eligible for paid parental leave, you must be a permanent, temporary, full-time, part-time or long-term casual employee of the department and have met the qualifying service period of at least 12 months’ continuous service at least once.

This service is to be unbroken, or may be inclusive of paid and unpaid leave, which is credited towards service. For temporary employees, your continuity of service with an employer is not broken if the employer re-employs you within three months of the termination of the previous contract.

Therefore, based on your service history, it is the QTU’s view that you have met the requirements for the 12 months of service as prescribed under the paid parental leave directive (http://tinyurl.com/k4rcrm2).

As a temporary teacher, you can only be paid maternity leave during the period of your current contract, i.e. as your contract is for the full year, you could only take paid maternity leave up to the last day of the school year.

You could consider taking the full semester off by taking a combination of full and half-pay maternity leave, e.g. eight weeks full pay + six weeks half pay, thus a total of 20 weeks paid leave for the full semester. Paid maternity leave is paid during term time only. If paid leave is spread across a mid-year vacation, the vacation is paid (at the substantive rate) in addition to the maternity leave.

Further information see the QTU information brochure on parental leave at www.qtu.asn.au or contact QTAD on 1300 11 7823.

QTAD welcomes ACT visitorsQTAD has played host to visitors from the Australian Education Union - ACT Branch, who are in the process of setting up their own call centre. Lauren McKee, Tracey Govan and Michelle Kirby spent two days in Brisbane, listening in to calls from QTU members and seeing how we respond to email and phone enquiries with our in-house database.

TUH is a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 and is focused on the provision of private health insurance and related health services to its members.

The Board of Directors of Queensland Teachers’ Union Health Fund (TUH) invites nominations from QTU members for 1 Director position on the TUH Board.

To be eligible, the nominee must fulfil ALL of the following criteria:

• Is a company member of TUH,• Is a contributor to the TUH Health Fund, and• Is a financial member of the Queensland Teachers’ Union of

Employees.

The Nominations Committee of the TUH Board will consider all applications and make a recommendation to the Board, which will in turn make a recommendation to the Annual General Meeting.

An election of a total of 3 Directors, including the position above, will be held at the Annual General Meeting of TUH scheduled for 25 November 2014. Elected Directors will serve for a term of 3 years.

The selection and appointment criteria, Constitution, Nomination of Candidate Form and Fit and Responsible Assessment Form are available by contacting the TUH Company Secretary on (07) 3259 5374 or the TUH website: www.tuh.com.au .

Completed forms must be received by TUH by 5pm on 27 August 2014.

Nominations for Directors

Queensland Teachers’ Union Health Fund Limited (ABN 38 085 150 376)

Back: Lauren McKee, Alicia Stephenson, Michelle Kirby, Jann Marshall, front: Will Brook, Tracey Govan


At leisure

WinedownWet cold weather had the panel reaching for some hearty reds. All the wines reviewed are either straight Shiraz or that classic Aussie blend of Shiraz with Cabernet. To be quite frank, some Australian Shiraz can be an all-out assault on the palate and as a result can be a bit daunting. Not so with the wines reviewed, as they have been chosen for their restraint and finesse, and will happily match a range of hearty winter meals.

The tasting began with Taylors Clare Valley Shiraz 2012. Vintage conditions in the Clare were excellent. The wine has scored a string of gold medals at home as well as in international competitions. Dark ruby red in the glass, with plum and dark berry fruit aromas on the nose. The palate is rich with ripe berry and plum combined with some

creamy vanillin oak as a result of 12 months maturation in quality American oak. It has excellent texture and good length. Readily available and, as usual, discounted prices apply, making this wine great value for money.

Stonyfell “The Cellars” Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon 2011 is sourced from Langhorne Creek fruit. What a terrific wine this is, especially as it comes from a difficult vintage year. It is bright ruby red in the glass, with plenty of upfront ripe berry and cherry aromas. These flow seamlessly onto the palate where some spice notes and toasty vanilla oak add complexity. The palate is medium bodied with light tannins providing a nice finishing touch. The alcohol is a restrained 13.5 per cent. It is ready to drink now and is widely available. The panel got it at almost 50 per cent below RRP, making it great value for money.

The Annie’s Lane Clare Valley Shiraz 2012 is an easy drinking Shiraz, readily available and great value for money. Don’t underrate it though, as it took out a gold and trophy in the Clare Valley Wine Show in 2013. Intense bright colour, with an attractive plum and berry nose that leads into a full and generous palate packed with berry fruit, combined with nuanced support from oak tannins, and ending in a sustained finish. This elegant medium bodied Shiraz had the panel entranced, with a declaration: “This wine promises everything and delivers!”

Jenni Holmes, Keryn Archer and Warwick Jull

Can you spare the time for the flu?The flu season is fast approaching, which means the inevitable increase in sickness. The flu is highly contagious. Just one sneeze can spread the flu up to a metre. Flu can spread before any symptoms show, so your work colleagues might not even know they’re passing the virus on to you. Just one person getting the flu can make a huge impact on a family or a workplace.

Do I have a cold or the flu?It can be hard to tell as they show similar types of symptoms. Generally, if you have the flu you will feel worse. Symptoms can include fever which comes on rapidly, aching body, tiredness and a cough. People with a cold are more likely to have a runny nose, sore throat, headaches, chills, nausea or diarrhoea (more common in children). Most people recover from flu within a week, but the tiredness and cough can persist for some time.

TreatmentIf you do catch the flu, get plenty of rest, drink plenty of fluids, and take paracetamol to help lower temperature and decrease

aches. If you become concerned with your symptoms, see a doctor. Look after others by washing your hands frequently, wiping over surfaces that you touch, and covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze – this is good practice for any viral infection.

VaccinationVaccinations for healthy, working adults have halved the number of doctor’s visits and nearly halved the number of sick days. They are available free to "at-risk" groups, including those over 65, pregnant women, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders over the age of 15, children on long term aspirin therapy, residents of aged care facilities and homeless people. Those with chronic medical conditions such as neruological conditions, respiratory conditions (including severe asthma), cardiac disease, reduced immunity (including HIV infection) and other chronic conditions that require regular medical follow up are also entitled to free vaccination.

If you are not entitled to a free vaccine you can still have one for a minimal cost.

Just organise a script from your GP when you make an appointment to have the immunisation, and then pick up the vaccine on your way to the GP’s rooms. The vaccination itself only takes about three minutes.

It takes around two weeks to achieve immunity after the vaccination, so it’s time to start thinking now. The ideal time to be vaccinated is in autumn (March and April) to ensure your immunity is at full strength before flu season starts.

For further information contact the immunisation information line on 1800 671 811 or visit www.immunise.health.gov.au

This column supplied by TUH.


Lighter side

We are in the midst of the mid-year exam frenzy at our school. Even though that time in my life feels like a long time ago (probably because it is), there is something about seeing the uniform lines of desks and chairs, tubs of calculators and dictionaries and kids clutching notes that makes me feel a bit nervous. Today, I worked out why that is.

As a teacher, I challenge you to nominate a more brain-numbing, head-bangingly horrific job in a school than supervising an exam. Sure, it starts off smoothly enough – the no talking talk, the stay in your chair until the exam is finished reminder and the collection of errant mobile devices. Then there is the anticipation of announcing the start of reading time and the satisfying striking off of the first time recorded on the whiteboard. Things always get off to a reassuring start. And then, they drag. Oh, how they drag.

Initially, I pace the room, offering paper, supplying tissues, sourcing erasers. I think smugly to myself that I am probably going

to get a fair bit of exercise done in the hour and a half I will be striding and supervising. I wish I had worn one of those things that records the number of steps you take. That would be an interesting fact to know, I think.

After parading the room and striking off the second time interval on the whiteboard, my enthusiasm starts to dwindle. Those 15 minutes took a very long time. I scan the room and see, disappointingly, that no one needs my help. I pick up a copy of the exam paper and begin to read through it. It’s maths. I put it down again.

I strike up a conversation with a colleague I don’t have much in common with. We both keep the conversation going longer than we should, in a desperate attempt to occupy ourselves. We both know that the other one is simply biding time until the race to cross off another time interval. I carry my whiteboard marker with me and hover near the whiteboard as the time draws near – I remove the lid at the two minutes to go mark and, as the time changes, I strike.

I have stopped pacing. I wish someone would start a scene and give me something to do. A few sniffing noses are the only highlights. I become an overly-attentive tissue provider… to the point it gets weird. I wave at students walking down the corridor – I don’t know all of them. Only a few wave back. I return to look at the exam paper. I count the number of times the number 8 appears on the first three pages. 12.

I decide to open my laptop. I start to reply to an email and four students look up accusingly from their papers. My typing is too loud. Intimidated, I shut the lid and start to pace again, willing the end to come, knowing I am not even halfway there.

Christina Adams

The head-banging horror of exams

"A few sniffing noses are the only highlights. I become an overly-attentive tissue provider… to the point it gets weird."


Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesElection Notice - List of Positions

The Queensland Industrial Registrar has issued Decisions, pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1999, that the ElectoralCommission of Queensland conduct an election for positions of office within the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees.

Office No. of PositionsCasual / Unfilled Vacancies

Member of TAFE Executive ........ 3

Branch Delegates to Area CouncilBrisbane South Area CouncilEast Brisbane ............................. 1Mt Gravatt ................................... 1Sunnybank ................................. 2Runcorn...................................... 1

Brisbane North Area CouncilBrisbane Central ......................... 1Geebung .................................... 1North East Brisbane .................... 1Pine Rivers North ........................ 1Pine Rivers South ....................... 1Redcliffe ...................................... 1Windsor ...................................... 1

Gold Coast Area CouncilBeaudesert ................................. 1Coomera .................................... 1Merrimac .................................... 2Southport .................................... 1

Office No. of PositionsMoreton Area CouncilIpswich Central ........................... 1

North Queensland Area CouncilLower Burdekin ........................... 1Thuringowa ................................. 1

Peninsula Area CouncilCassowary Coast ........................ 1Torres Strait ................................ 1

South Queensland Area CouncilDarling Downs Central ................. 1Western Downs .......................... 1

Sunshine Coast Area CouncilCoolum....................................... 1Maleny ....................................... 1Nambour .................................... 1

Redlands / Logan Area CouncilLogan West ................................ 1

State Council Representative of a BranchDeception Bay ........................... 1Pine Rivers South ...................... 1

State Council Representative of an AreaCouncilPeninsula ................................... 1

Office No. of PositionsTAFE Council Representative in aBranch or group of BranchesMSIT - Bayside .......................... 1SBIT - Southbank....................... 1CQIT - Gladstone ....................... 1MSIT - Brisbane North ................ 1

Area Council OfficersBrisbane North Area CouncilPresident .................................... 1Vice President ............................ 1Secretary .................................... 1Treasurer .................................... 1

Brisbane South Area CouncilVice President ............................ 1Secretary .................................... 1Treasurer .................................... 1

South Queensland Area CouncilTreasurer .................................... 1

Gold Coast Area CouncilPresident .................................... 1

BallotsShould a ballot be necessary to elect State Council Representative of a Branch, Branch Delegates to Area Councils orTAFE Council Representative of a Branch position, the Commission will conduct a secret postal ballot of financialmembers of the Union in the respective Branch/TAFE Branch.

The above ballots, if required, will open on Thursday, 4 September 2014 and close at midday on Thursday, 25 September2014.

Should a ballot be necessary to elect the successful candidates for Member of TAFE Executive, the Commission willconduct a secret ballot of TAFE Council at the meeting of TAFE Council following the close of nominations.

Should a ballot be necessary to elect the successful candidate for State Council Representative of an Area Council or anArea Council Officer position, the Commission will conduct a secret ballot of Branch Delegates to the relevant AreaCouncil at the meeting of Area Council following the close of nominations.

JACINTA HYNESReturning Officer

11 June 2014

ELECTORAL COMMISSION of QUEENSLANDLevel 6 160 Mary Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000 GPO Box 1393 BRISBANE QLD 4001

Telephone (07) 3035 8057 or 1300 881 665 Facsimile (07) 3221 5387www.ecq.qld.gov.au


Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesElection Notice - Information for Candidates

The Queensland Industrial Registrar has issued Decisions, pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1999, that the ElectoralCommission of Queensland conduct an election for positions of office within the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees.

Candidates NotesCandidates for election must be financial members of the Union at the close of nominations. All nominations must be inwriting and signed by the nominee. Nomination forms must also be signed by at least two (2) financial members of theUnion, provided that:

Nominees for Member of TAFE Executive must be a member of TAFE Division and be a TAFE Branch member of theTAFE Council, and/or be a person elected to take office as a TAFE Council Representative on the date on which theballot is scheduled to be conducted and be signed by at least two (2) financial members of the Union of the TAFEDivision.

Nominees for TAFE Council Representative of a Branch must be a member of the respective TAFE Branch and thatnominations must be signed by at least two (2) financial members of the relevant TAFE Branch.

Nominees for State Council Representative of a Branch & Branch Delegates to Area Councils must be a member of therelevant Branch and signed by at least two (2) financial members of the relevant Branch. Wherever possible, at leastone of the representatives from each Branch for Area Council representatives of a Branch shall be female if sufficientnominations from females are received.

Nominees for State Council Representative of an Area Council postions must be Branch Delegates to the relevant AreaCouncil and signed by at least (2) financial members of the Union.

Nominees for Area Council Officer positions must be Branch Delegates to the relevant Area Council and signed by atleast two (2) Branch Delegates to the relevant Area Council.

Candidates who wish to withdraw their nomination may do so five (5) clear days after the close of nominations. Prospectivecandidates and their nominators should verify their financial status and other qualifications required by the Union (refer toUnion Rules 6.4 & 6.5).

Acknowledgement correspondence from the Commission will be sent via email.Please ensure your email address has been provided on the nomination form.

Nominations close at midday on Thursday, 14 August 2014Nominations open at midday on Friday, 18 July 2014. Nominations must be in writing, comply with the registered rulesof the Union and reach the Electoral Commission of Queensland no later than midday on Thursday, 14 August2014.

A nomination form suitable for use in this election is printed with this Journal. Nomination forms are also available fromyour Union’s office, the Electoral Commission and the Commission’s website; www.ecq.qld.gov.au. Any form of nominationthat complies with the Union’s rules is acceptable.

Nominations may be received by means of hand delivery, post, facsimile or any other electronic means that includes thesignatures of the nominees and nominators. Nominees should ensure that their nomination is received by the Commissionand can be clearly read.


11 June 2014




Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesNomination Form

Nominations close at midday on Thursday, 14 August 2014We the undersigned financial members of the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees, hereby nominate

Member No: Ms/Mr/Other:

for the position/s of : (Tick the box/es to indicate the position/s of office that the nominee is standing for election to)

Member of TAFE Executive TAFE Council Representative

Branch Delegate to an Area Council Area Council President

State Council Representative of a Branch Area Council Vice President

State Council Representative of an Area Council Area Council Secretary

Area Council Treasurer

Membership No. Full Name Signature

Consent to Nomination (Candidate to Complete)

And I, a financial member of the Queensland

Teachers Union of Employees from Branch/Area

Council, do hereby agree to be nominated and to act if elected.

Address:Postcode

Telephone: (Home) (Business)

(Mobile) Facsimile:

E-mail:

Signature: Date:Acknowledgement correspondence will be sent via email. Please ensure your email address has been provided.

(Print the full name of the person you are nominating)

(Print your name as you would like it to appear on the ballot paper)

(Branch name / Area Council name - if nominating for Area Council officer position)

(Courtesy Title)




Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesNotice to Members

The Queensland Industrial Registrar has issued a Decision, pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1999, that theElectoral Commission of Queensland conduct an election for the Queensland Teachers Union of Employers. Nominationsare called for the offices shown below.

Office No. of Positions

President ........................................................................................................1Vice-President (Full-time) ..............................................................................1Vice-President (Honorary) .............................................................................1

Nominations close midday on Thursday, 28 August 2014

NominationsNominations open on Friday, 18 July 2014. Nomination forms must reach the Electoral Commission ofQueensland no later than midday on Thursday, 28 August 2014.

Candidates for election must be financial members of the Union on the day nominations close. All nominationsmust be in writing and signed by the nominee. Nomination forms must also be signed by at least two (2)financial members of the Union.

No person shall be entitled to nominate simultaneously for more than one of the positions of President,Vice-President (Full-time) or Vice-President (Honorary). No Trustee shall be eligible to hold office asPresident or Vice-President.

A nomination form suitable for use in this election is printed with this Journal. Nomination forms are alsoavailable from your Union’s office, the Electoral Commission and the Commission’s website;www.ecq.qld.gov.au.

Candidates who wish to withdraw their nomination may do so five (5) clear days after the close ofnominations. Prospective candidates and their nominators should verify their financial status and otherqualifications required by the Union (refer to Union Rules 6.4 & 6.5).

Nominations may be received by means of hand delivery, post, facsimile or any other electronic meansthat includes the signatures of the nominees and nominators. Nominees should ensure that their nomina-tion is received by the Commission and can be clearly read.

BallotShould a ballot be necessary , the Commission will t ake a secret post al ballot of eligible members. Eachmember of the Union may vote only if the member is financial on the thirtieth (30th) day prior to the opening ofnominations.

The above ballots, if required, will open on Thursday, 9 October 2014 and close at midday on Thursday, 30October 2014.


12 June 2014

Acknowledgement correspondence from the Commission will be sent via email.Please ensure your email address has been provided on the nomination form.




Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesNomination Form

Nominations close at midday on Thursday, 28 August 2014We the undersigned financial members of the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees, hereby nominate

Member No: Ms/Mr/Other:

for the position/s of : (Tick the box/es to indicate the position/s of office that the nominee is standing for election to)

President

Vice-President (Full-time)

Vice-President (Honorary)

Membership No. Full Name Signature

Consent to Nomination (Candidate to Complete)

And I, a financial member of the Queensland

Teachers Union of Employees from Branch/Area

Council, do hereby agree to be nominated and to act if elected.

Address:Postcode

Telephone: (Home) (Business)

(Mobile) Facsimile:

E-mail:

Signature: Date:Acknowledgement correspondence will be sent via email. Please ensure your email address has been provided.

(Print the full name of the person you are nominating)

(Print your name as you would like it to appear on the ballot paper)

(Branch name / Area Council name - if nominating for Area Council of ficer position)

(Courtesy Title)



News


Contact details Anniversaries/reunions

ClassifiedsVOLUNTEERS

RETIRING SOON?Volunteers For Isolated Students' Education recruits retired teachers to assist outback families with their distance education program. Travel and accommodation provided in return for six weeks teaching. Register at www.vise.org.au

QTAD (Queensland Teachers Assist Desk): 1300 117 823 Telephone: (07) 3512 9000 Fax: (07) 3512 9050 Email: [email protected] Web: www.qtu.asn.au Address: 21 Graham Street, Milton | PO Box 1750, Milton BC Qld 4064 Facebook: www.facebook.com/QueenslandTeachersUnion

All officers, organisers and members of Executive may be contacted through the Union office, except where an alternative is given below.

Senior Officers OrganisersPresident Mr K. Bates a/h phone 0418 789 162 twitter.com/QTUPresident

Vice-President Ms J. Brown a/h phone 0408 194 385

Honorary Vice-President Ms S. Pidgeon

General Secretary Mr G. Moloney a/h phone 0409 613 703

Deputy General Secretary Mr B. Welch a/h 0408 194 385

Deputy General Secretary Ms K. Ruttiman a/h phone 0419 655 749

Brisbane based:

Telephone (07)3512 9000 or email [email protected] B. Crotty (Brisbane South)

Ms F. McNamara (Brisbane North)

Ms K. O’Neill (Redlands/Logan)

Ms M. Maguire (Moreton)

Mr D. Terauds (TAFE) [email protected]

Regional:

Mr Z. Sugden (South Queensland) 1-3 Russell St (cnr Neil St), PO Box 2859, Toowoomba Qld 4350 Phone (07) 4614 4600, fax (07) 4614 4650 Email: [email protected]

Ms J. Gilbert (North Queensland) 15 Palmer Street PO Box 5622, Townsville MC Qld 4810 Phone (07) 4722 6400, fax (07) 4722 6450Email: [email protected]

Ms L. Esders (Gold Coast) Bldg 6, 175 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes 4227 PO Box 4, Varsity Lakes 4227 Phone: (07) 5562 6800, fax: (07) 5562 6850 Email: [email protected]

Ms M. Duffy (Peninsula)255 Mulgrave Road PO Box 275, Westcourt Qld 4870 Phone (07) 4046 7500, fax (07) 4046 7550Email: [email protected]

Mr S. Welch (Wide Bay) Shop 6, 264 Bazaar Street, PO Box 150, Maryborough Qld 4650 Phone (07) 4120 0300, fax (07) 4120 0350 Email: [email protected]

Mr T. Evans (Sunshine Coast) 6a, 9 Capital Place, Birtinya PO Box 159, Buddina Qld 4575 Phone: (07) 5413 1700, fax: (07) 5413 1750Email: [email protected]

Mr B. Thomson (Central Queensland)Rockhampton Trade Union Centre, 110-114 Campbell St, Rockhampton, Qld 4700 Phone (07) 4920 4200, fax (07) 4920 4250 or a/h (07) 4928 8177Email: [email protected]

Executive membersMr P. AndersonMr A. BeattieMr A. CookDr P. DarbenMs L. OlssonMs C. RichardsonMs N. RoosMr N. ShirleyMs R. SugdenMs J. SwadlingMs P. TaylorMr A. ThompsonMr S. Tibaldi

Assistant secretaries - ServicesMr M. Anghel Mr J. BackenMs P. BousenMs L. Cowie-McAlister

Assistant secretary - Services/Women's CoordinatorMs P. Spalding

Assistant secretary - Research and IndustrialMs T. EdmondsDr J. McCollowMs L. Mertens Mr D. Coxen (acting)

Cairns West State School is celebrating its 50th anniversary. We are having an open day for our past staff and students on Saturday 23 August. Details can be found at www.cairnswestss.eq.edu.au or the Cairns West State School 50th Anniversary Facebook page. As many people as possible are welcome to attend and reconnect with past staff and students.

Mutchilba State School celebrates 75 years with a reunion on 23 August 2014, and would welcome contact with past students, staff and residents of the town. For further information please email [email protected] or phone Lyne on 07 40931003.

Wooloowin State School celebrates its centenary this year and is planning a school open day and time capsule placement on Friday 12 September. There will be a gala cocktail dinner party at night and a centenary fete on Sunday 14 September. Past students and teachers please contact https:// wooloowinss.eq.edu.au, contact us and register at [email protected] or ring 3622 1777.

Allora State School will celebrate 50 years of secondary education at the Spring Fair on Sunday 14 September. All past staff and students are invited to attend. The occasion will be celebrated with the cutting of a cake at 11am and tours of the school. For more information, please phone Robyn Westerman on 4666 7222 or email [email protected]

Goondiwindi State Primary School is celebrating its 150th anniversary, along with the Goondiwindi State High School, which is celebrating its 50th. Celebrations take place Friday 19 September, to Sunday 21 September. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/GSHSTurns50 or www.facebook.com/groups/484777831605187 or call 4677 7333 or 4670 0333. Organisers are also seeking past students and staff who have memorabilia, anecdotes or photographs.

Dimbulah P-10 State School celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2014. A full day of events is scheduled for Saturday 27 September. All previous staff and students are invited to attend. There will be roll-call, school tours, opening of the time capsule (25 years) and planting of a new capsule. The day will be completed by a BBQ and cake cutting. For more information or to submit memorabilia, contact the school on 4094 5333.

Submit your events to: [email protected] or fax 3512 9050

Call us for an obligation free quote NOW

1300 738 601 www.fleetnetwork.com.au Lease Package Save

Fleet Network Pty Ltd. To qualify for this offer you must mention this advertisement to Fleet Network prior to the completion of your initial contract. Vehicle must be new and supplied by Fleet Network. Not valid in conjunction with any other current Fleet Network offers. Employees should consult their employer’s salary packaging policy before entering into a contract. *Subject to Employer policy.

Use your salary wisely

Let the team at Fleet Network show you how to save thousands when buying your next new car. It’s all about using your pre-tax salary, and taking advantage of all the additional benefits only Fleet Network can offer.

It’s worth a call – it’s your salary, after all.

Your own dedicated Salary Packaging

specialist

Pay NO GST* on your new car purchase or its running costs

Flexible Trade-in options

Pick the car you want...It’s your

choice

While stocks last.

Mention this advert prior to completing your contract and get a bonus GoPro HD Hero3 White Edition

Camera when your new vehicle is delivered!

Bonus!

Save with exclusive

National Fleet Discounts

Journal july2014

Documents

Transcript of Journal july2014