SUPPLEMENT TO THE AEU NEWS • NOVEMBER 2013

A E U h e a d o f f i c e 1 1 2 T r e n e r r y C r e s c e n t , A b b o t s f o r d 3 0 6 7 T e l : 0 3 9 4 1 7 2 8 2 2 F a x : 1 3 0 0 6 5 8 0 7 8 W e b : w w w . a e u v i c . a s n . a u

PRIMARY SECTORNEWSLETTER

Meredith Peace AEU branch president

THE dispute regarding the 2013/14 performance and development cycle is finally over, with a settle-

ment reached through the Federal Court process. The union did not accept that up to 40% of school

staff were not meeting performance standards, as claimed by Minister Hall as the basis for its attempt to apply arbitrary targets on the number of school staff meeting mid-cycle requirements.

In October, the AEU Joint Primary and Secondary Council expressed its anger on behalf of members, passing a resolution condemning the actions of the Napthine Government and endorsing a broad campaign to apply political pressure regarding the destructive nature of its proposal.

As part of a settlement with the AEU on the Federal Court matter, the Department has provided an assurance that the “guiding range” — which presumed only 60–80% of teachers and education support staff and 65–75% of principals would receive a successful performance assessment — would not apply to the Performance and Development cycle for 2013-2014.

As part of our campaign against the Government’s attempted performance and development changes, we wrote to all School Councils and principals, asking them to send letters and resolutions to the Premier, Minister Hall and their local MP.

This direct campaigning allowed members and school communities to express their concerns, made politicians accountable for their actions and played a crucial role in achieving the successful outcome.

With the guiding range or quota now defunct,

principals can continue to use their professional judgement to assess employees’ performance against their current plan. Assessments can be made under either existing guidelines or a local arrangement, with no requirement to change agreed perfor-mance goals or alter mid-cycle assessments that are complete, and in the context of a broad view of overall school outcomes.

As part of the settlement, Department Secretary Richard Bolt has sent out an email to all staff, clarifying any uncertainty regarding the 2013/14 performance and development cycle. For its part, the AEU agreed to discontinue its proceedings in the Federal Court and its campaign against the proposed 2013/14 performance and development arrangements.This has been a difficult dispute, with the AEU forced to take the matter to the Federal Court, claiming a breach of the Agreement and the Fair Work Act on the basis of the changes being made mid-cycle and the lack of consultation.

In the opening session of the Federal Court hearing, Justice Mordy Bromberg indicated to the parties that he felt this was a matter that could be resolved through mediation. The parties agreed to resume mediation, however the Court hearing proceeded simultaneously.

The Department’s position was that there were no changes and that any messages given to principals were to provide guidance, therefore no breach could

be argued. The AEU’s

position was that the clear message to

principals at regional briefings was that a

guiding range was to be met and that their own

performance assessment was dependent upon it.

To support our case, we lodged statements with the court from five witnesses, four AEU principals and Deputy Vice President Primary Briley Duncan, who attended one of the regional principal briefings. The principal witnesses outlined what they were told at briefings and what processes they currently undertook at their own schools.

On each of the two days of hearing, DEECD Counsel tabled “clarifying” statements from the Secretary. Both of these statements further “softened” the position of the Department in relation to the current P&D cycle, despite still making reference to the guiding range.

As the Department Secretary wrote in his email to all staff on November 13:It is crucial that our performance and development system instil a culture of self-improvement in all staff. It should be done by and with staff, not to them.

We couldn’t agree more, but expect the Government to invest in our profession and provide the necessary resources to enable the development of all staff.

And we expect genuine consultation about proposed changes in the future. �

Performance and Development dispute resolvedSchool staff have forced the Government to stop its attempt to apply arbitrary targets in 2013/14 P&D assessments.

Targets withdrawn!

2 Primary newsletter | november 2013

The long and winding road to a National CurriculumVICTORIA will continue its transition to the Australian

Curriculum through to the end of 2016. The change of government federally has cast

doubts about the content of the curriculum, with Education Minister Christopher Pyne questioning the appropriateness of the cross curriculum areas and reviewing the apparently controversial “leftist” history content.

All in all, it is no surprise that Victoria and other jurisdictions have been cautious about the pace and order in which they introduce new subjects.

A year ago, State Education Minister Martin Dixon

announced that Victoria would be fully implementing the first phase of the National Curriculum in 2013.

Industrial action and resolutions from the AEU on the imperative for a delayed introduction, with time to transition in light of a lack of professional development and resources, has been realised.

While there has still been limited PD and resources allocated, the Department has at least recognised a need for a longer transition period, resulting in a staggered approach until full imple-mentation in 2016. �

— Erin Aulich branch vice president,

secondary Reporting on Quick Vic

The Department-supported student reporting software, Quick Vic, will continue to be

made available to all schools in 2014. There will be no cost for government

schools to access the Quick Vic software, licences and help-desk support at www.quickvic.com.au.

Schools have choice and flexibility in choosing the student reporting software that best meets the needs of the school. �

The purpose of “peer reviews”Before taking part in peer reviews, it’s vital that the intentions are clear.

Erin Aulich branch vice president, secondary

PEER reviews, instructional rounds, peer mentoring, classroom observation… what’s the difference?

Are they compulsory? Are they about professional development and learning? Are they are about my performance review?

These are common questions and the responses are different depending on what the purposes are. But in each case, it’s important for the intention of these observa-tions or reviews to be clear.

For the purposes of professional learning, participation and involvement is voluntary and the teacher:

• Mustbeconsultedpriortothecommencementoftheseactivities

• Mustnotbecompelledtoparticipateagainsttheirwill.In the case of instructional rounds, the focus is on identifying

and observing effective teaching strategies.In the case of literacy/numeracy walks, the focus is on the

effectiveness of student learning in the classroom.The teacher and observer must take part in a struc-

tured discussion before and after the activity. Any notes

taken are to be provided to the teacher and not kept on the teacher’s personnel file.

Participants must ensure that these activities are part of broader, supported approach within the school to improve teaching practice and student learning outcomes.

Any peer review as part of the current performance and devel-opment review process must be agreed between the teacher and reviewer (i.e. the principal).

It’s important to recognise the value of well-resourced and supportive processes that allow us as educators to learn from each other. Mutual trust is essential for peer reviews to be successful. �

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APPOINTMENTS (03) 9820 8088Retirement Victoria is the AEU’s preferred provider of financial and retirement planning services to members.

Retirement Victoria Pty Ltd (ABN 11 132 109 114) is a corporate authorised representative of Millennium3 Financial Services Pty Ltd AFSL 244252

Large institutions would like you to believe that preparation for retirement involves no more than finding a cheap super fund, investing your lump sum and leaving the rest to them. Nothing could be further from the truth.A well constructed financial strategy considers your personal income and capital needs over carefully defined planning periods. It should also address issues of taxation, social security entitlements and finally investment issues. In some cases it is wise to recognise and incorporate the need for Aged Care planning.Unless the planning is comprehensive you may deny yourself additional benefits and inadvertently add to the underlying cost of retirement. RV is the preferred provider of financial advice for AEU members for sound reasons.Why not book a free, no obligation first appointment to tell us about your objectives and how you intend to enjoy retirement. We can help you get there as we have with some thousands of other AEU members over the last two decades.

www.aeuvic.asn.au 3

New Directions or quick-fix scheme?State Government’s new “vision” for education claims to be a plan for improving teacher quality, while ignoring the basic needs of an effective public school system.

Erin Aulich branch vice president, secondary

THE State Government released its plans and vision for the profession in a paper titled New Directions for School leadership and the Teaching Profes-

sion in June 2012. Sixteen months later From New Directions to Action: World-class teaching and

school leadership was released and we now have a clear picture of where this government is heading in regards to the profession and the agenda for moving Victoria into the “global top tier”.

The paper begins by stating that it “introduces the Victorian Government’s vision for excellence in school leadership and a high performance teaching profession”. It focuses on five areas to do this:

1. The key to improving Victorian education: world-class teaching and school leadership.

2. Attract great people into teaching: attract stronger candidates and improve their preparation.

3. Create a high performance profession: stimulate a culture of excellence and effective professional development.

4. Provide strong direction and support: elevate the role of leadership at school and system levels.

5. Delivering and monitoring success.The Minister for Education Martin Dixon and Minister for the Teaching Profes-

sion Peter Hall begin by expressing the need for “professional trust” as vital to bringing in the reforms and for school leadership to be at the centre of these reforms to improve teaching.

Ironically, this professional trust has been somewhat lacking in recent months with respect to the changes to the performance and development system and systematic downgrading of the profession and the work that we do.

The New Directions paper focuses on teachers as the biggest influences on teaching outcomes. It’s no surprise that teaching quality rates highly here — however, the paper fails to acknowledge any other variable and continues this theme throughout.

Its reforms rely on “strong collaboration among the key players and unequivocal, shared commitment to the challenge”. How they will achieve this, given that their policies and approaches are destined to have the opposite effect — in particular, more autonomy as opposed to working collaboratively within a system — is a question that needs answering.

The paper puts forward five strategic directions and refers to what must happen immediately in 2013/14 and to medium to long-term goals.

The more immediate “strategic directions” focus on professional develop-ment for the principal class and emerging leaders. There is welcome support and capacity-building for the talent identification of 400 emerging leaders, capacity building of 200 middle leaders, 100 places in a Principal Preparation Program, support for 260 new principals, leadership coaching for 200 principals and 90 leadership teams, coaching training for 120 retired and experienced principals and training for 80 high-performing principals to become system leaders.

The other immediate strategies are more concerning, with a central focus on the small percentage of the workforce deemed to be “underperforming”. These controversial changes pertain to teacher performance and the capacity for prin-cipals to address underperformance in individual schools, rather than focusing on the development of staff.

These changes are “rigorous” teacher assessment from trained principals; focus on peer reviews; the ability for principals to dismiss teachers more easily; and the introduction of a new performance and development system.

The paper also has a large focus on pre-service teacher education and on fast-tracking professionals into teaching. We’ve seen the failure of these schemes internationally at great cost and with disappointing retention rates for supposed “beneficiaries”.

This has not dissuaded the Napthine Government, which has pledged to throw its support behind increased numbers of participants in the Teach for Australia program; 12 “teaching academies of professional practice”; and numerous mentions of “flexibility” regarding entry to the profession and principal qualifications.

The medium to long-term directions build on the “flexibility” of entry to the profession through further “schemes”, such as a graduate program for high achievers; lower entry requirements for non-teacher qualified candidates; “rewards for effort” (performance pay), including teachers at the top of the scale; and bringing in non-teacher principals.

The New Directions vision claims to be all about teacher quality and bringing Victoria up to the “global top tier”. The progressive cuts to the Victorian education system since this government has taken office, and their total disre-spect for those working in it, is at odds with any real effective change.

Focusing on autonomy and quick-fix schemes to entice people into the profession will not deliver on the desired outcomes of this government if they are not willing to invest in the system and profession into the long term. �

Summer reading competition

Summer holidays approach. Hurray!

There’s nothing better in summer than laying poolside, beachside, or on the couch with a good book.

To help one lucky AEU member fulfill that dream, AEU Victoria has a Summer Reading Pack to give away. To win it you need to tell us, in 500 words or less, about a book that inspired you as an educator – a book that influenced your teaching, leadership or work in schools.

All the books will be featured in our Summer Reading Guide in the upcoming issue of the AEU News.

Please email your entry to giveaways@aeuvic.asn.au by Sunday, December 15, with “Summer Reading Pack” in the subject line.

The winner will be notified and rewarded in the last week of the school term and their winning entry will be published in the February issue of the AEU News.

For more information, contact the AEU Victoria publications team on 03 9417 2822.

4 Primary newsletter | november 2013

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Redeployment and career transition supportFor the first time we will have dedicated support for teachers and ES members that are in excess.

James Rankin branch vice president, primary

AS a part of the 2013 Agreement, members now have access to support when they are

in excess. The DEECD has contracted personnel company Hudson to provide redeployment and career transition support to excess staff in schools and this support is available to all excess employees, including teachers and education support staff.

The program does not apply to staff with priority status on compassionate grounds, those on a disa-bility retirement benefits pension who are returning to work, or to ES staff with redeployment rights.

When a school names an employee as in excess, the school will then be liable to pay a flat monthly rate of $260 per excess employee. The monthly rate will continue to be charged until the employee is no longer in excess.

It is the choice of the teacher or ES to accept or refuse the offer of support and the school will have to pay the fee even if the employee chooses not to use the service.

What can employees expect?The role of the coach is to support the excess employee and provide them with the best oppor-tunity of finding alternative work. It is not the role of Hudsons to support the school with the excess process.

This distinction is very important as this service is designed as an employee support program.

Hudsons have employed 12 career coaches who will work with excess employees across the state

and provide individualised and professional support, depending on the needs of the excess employee.

As soon as the DEECD has received and processed the excess paperwork from the school, Hudsons will make contact with the employee to establish communications and commence support.

These coaches are geographically based and will make contact with every excess employee. Initially they will seek to have a one-to-one assessment focused on understanding the employee’s wishes and assessing the most suitable services for that person.

These meetings will be face-to-face wherever possible. After the first meeting, the coach will put in place appropriate training and mentoring for the excess employee. This will include resume prepara-tion and response to selection criteria; interview skills and practice; managing change and transition; and on the job coaching. Excess employees will also have access to a range of online modules and

materials produced by Hudsons.Coaches will provide a monthly activity report to

the principal, detailing all meetings and the training undertaken, as well as any positions the excess employee has applied for. This information will be provided to the principal at the end of the year to form part of the redeployment report for each excess employee.

If an excess staff member does not feel that they can work with a particular coach, they can ask to switch to a different coach.

For more information about excess and the appropriate consultation and other processes: http://tinyurl.com/d9y3z7a.

For more information about general excess queries, contact the Membership Services Unit on 03 9417 2822 or for particular concerns with Hudsons and the career transition support program, please contact james.rankin@aeuvic.asn.au or erin.aulich@aeuvic.asn.au. �