Public Education Voice September 2010

High School and College ReviewMembers must speak up during multi-phase consultation process

Principal AutonomyWhat does it mean for you?

PUBLICEDUCATION VOICE

JOURNAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION UNION - ACT BRANCH • Sept 2010

40 Brisbane Ave Barton ACT 2600 • P (02) 6272 7900 • F (02) 6273 1828 • www.aeuact.asn.au

UP IN THE AIR

FUTURE

• Official Journal of the AEU - ACT Branch • Public Education Voice

In the wake of the 2010 Federal Election, public education faces an uncertain time.

While the nation adjusts to the continuing uncertainty of the political landscape and the various pollies negotiate about how stable government might be achieved, public education appears to be facing an uncertain future whatever the makeup of the Federal Parliament!

Prior to the election, the AEU invited ACT Senate candidates Humphreys [Lib], Lundy [ALP] and Hatfield-Dodds [Greens] to 14 August Council to address their respective parties’ policies on education. Having been the first to confirm attendance, Gary Humphreys was a no-show on the day; this was unfortunate given that the Coalition’s education policies certainly generated comment among teachers. Even more unfortunate was the lack of any contact from the Senator’s office on the day of Council or at any other time to explain his non-appearance.

With only 2 candidates present the time allocated for all 3 candidates was split between the remaining two. Both Kate Lundy and Lin Hatfield-Dodds provided a digest of the major planks of their party education policy and related emphases, and both stayed well beyond the ½-hour committed for the purpose to take questions and comments from the audience.

If Senator Lundy was in any doubt about the negative views of many teachers towards some ALP policy/management

of issues [league tables, the funding review, climate change back-flips etc], she was left in no doubt of the profession’s views by the comments and questions from Councillors. The “transparency agenda” came in for some debate, with Councillors keen to ensure that the Senator understood that the profession is not opposed to transparency and accountability, but is vehemently opposed to the manner in which the ALP pursues these objectives in education. It is not necessary to rehash the full discussion here – members will be well aware of the likely issues raised and the tenor of exchange when they were discussed.

The Greens’ policies were those assessed by the AEU as having the most positive benefits for public education. It’s a pity that Ms Hatfield-Dodds won’t be part of the Greens contingent in the Senate who will likely have a better platform than usual to pursue their platform when the Senate changes in July 2011.

Meanwhile, at the time of writing the situation in the House of Reps is still unresolved. While the major party leaders negotiate with the Independent members and The Greens about who might form government and how, the AEU continues to pursue the best outcomes for public education: that objective is the obligation of the Union, and the yardstick by which any new Federal Government will be measured by the Union representing public education across the nation.

Post-Election 2010: Which way for public education?

Continued on page 19Penny Gilmour Branch Secretary

Principal Autonomy - What’s the Latest?

Recent announcements that ACT principals will be given increased autonomy have generated more questions than answers at this stage. What is meant by “autonomy”? Over what? From whom? How will things in ACT schools be different in an “autonomous” future? What safeguards will be needed/provided, and for whom? What role will the Central Office play?

The AEU has been meeting regularly with DET officers and representatives of ACTPA [ACT Principals’ Association] to work through these issues. The AEU is pleased to report that DET has provided a written commitment that “autonomy” will be implemented within a framework of legislative and industrial provisions that currently apply, however some proposed changes are not covered by these provisions. So far discussions have centred mainly on autonomy in staffing of the new Gungahlin and Kambah schools. The processes will not be especially different from what currently applies: principals were selected through open advertisement, SLB/SLC jobs are being selected through a mix of open advertisement and transfer procedures, and teacher positions will be filled via an early Transfer Round and recruitment.

So far, less than three SLB/SLC positions have been filled on each site. AEU members are reminded that, while positions advertised for transfer are restricted to those at level with transfer eligibility in the first instance, “open” positions can be applied for by DET teaching staff who are [a] at level and

Public Education Voice • Official Journal of the AEU - ACT Branch • PAGE 3

From time to time, some members feel powerless to shield themselves from the growing demands of this ever-changing profession.

Debates at the political level about our work seem to be taking place without us, and decisions appear to be made by those who have never been near our workplaces. It is not uncommon for members to feel marginalised and isolated in DET and CIT. Members should be reassured by the fact that, as union members, we are never alone. We sometimes forget the range of entitlements we have – entitlements that have been won by union action and pressure over many decades. In not exercising our rights and entitlements, workers make it hard for those who follow. Members should remember that they are entitled to:

• Regular reviews of workload. Clause 145 of the Schools Enterprise Agreement [EA] and clauses 24, 25, 29, 49, 52 and 162 of the CIT EA make it clear that this should be done as a matter of course. Outdated programs should be shed if staff decide to adopt new ones. Excessive workload is an OH&S hazard and all new work should be risk assessed. This is supported by the ACT Work Safety Act 2008.

• Consultation about new initiatives. Clause 146.9 of the Schools EA and clauses 114,120 and 162 of the CIT EA mandate AEU involvement in consideration of all new initiatives. The union office doesn’t always find out about new initiatives until

members let us know, so please keep doing this.

• Maintenance of the actual parameters of work. Teacher members should insist on face-to-face teaching hours not exceeding 19 in secondary schools and 21.5 in pre/primary, and compliance with clause 25 of the CIT EA in relation to teaching hours and clause 27 in relation to overtime. AEU members will receive support in insisting upon class sizes in keeping with AEU policy [available on our website or by calling an Organiser].

• Strict observance of probationary and contract assessment procedures. These very clear procedures are published by DET and CIT and are agreed by the AEU.

• Insist on reasonable protocols for meetings concerning a problem relating to performance or conduct. If a problem has been identified, members should expect to know about it before the meeting takes place. If anything comes as a surprise at a meeting about performance or conduct, members should request: that the meeting is rescheduled; that issues are presented to enable a prepared response, and that a support person be in attendance. The support person can be a trusted fellow-AEU member or an AEU officer and it is in the interests of all parties that people feel supported and not isolated or ambushed.

• Not be expected to carry out work tasks whilst on approved leave. It is not appropriate or expected that staff will work whilst they are on leave –

and this includes lesson preparation, marking and assessment, and professional development. Members should not enter their workplace to fulfil tasks such as entering student results. Attendance at work when a doctor has stated one is unfit places one in a very precarious position, and if the illness or injury is subject to a Comcare claim, it is doubly so. There is no onus on individual staff members who seek leave to find their own relief teacher. In short, members should not compromise their health for any shortcomings of the system.

• Expect meaningful staff meetings in which staff are not lectured to or bombarded with administrative matters which are often best communicated through other means. Staff meetings should see staff engaged, consulted and listened to on important educational/ professional matters.

• An effective AEU Sub-Branch in which all members, regardless of salary level, have equal voice. Sub-Branch Executive members should be able to answer many of your questions, walk you through the EA and AEU policies and/or assist you in accessing assistance from the AEU office [telephone 6272-7900].

By insisting on the observance of our hard-fought rights, conditions and entitlements, as well as procedural fairness and natural justice, Union members will ensure that they thrive and not just survive in their work.

Glenn Fowler Schools Organiser

ACTION!FEEL THE POWER OF COLLECTIVE

By Glenn Fowler, Schools’ Organiser

For those of you contemplating private health insurance, either acquiring it for the first time or changing providers, Choice Magazine [August 2010] reviewed a range of health insurers. The review found that Teachers Health [formerly Teachers Federation Health] was rated the best fund in terms of Hospital Cover satisfaction with 94% of members indicating full satisfaction. Only members of the AEU and their families can join Teachers Health [telephone 1300728188].

The Classroom Teacher Transfer Round is about to commence under the transfer entitlement arrangements for the first time. Teachers eligible to apply using their Transfer Entitlement are reminded that if you apply but are unsuccessful you will be retained at your current site. Those classified as having Transfer Entitlement in their final year will have to move. You’re encouraged to apply widely for positions you are prepared to take up. The panel will do its utmost to place you in one of your nominated sites. On the off chance that you are not placed in one of your nominated sites, you will be placed in a suitable position.

For those requiring Special Consideration in the Transfer Round for extenuating professional, medical, caring or other personal reasons we ask you to send a copy of your request to the Union office to enable us to advocate on your behalf before the panels. Contact us [6272-7900] to discuss your eligibility for Special Consideration prior to writing your statement and we will also advise you on what to put in your statement.

There have been a few enquiries about leave arrangements from members who have been asked to submit forms for absences of 15 minutes or less due

to unforeseeable circumstances. In fact there is no minimum period of time for which you can be asked to submit a leave form. Theoretically you could be one minute late and be presented with a leave form to fill in. However, unless you are habitually late or regularly leaving early from after-school responsibilities [staff meetings, PD etc] then it is unreasonable to be asked for a leave form for such minimal periods of absence. You are entitled to a 30-minute lunch break and you can use that break to accommodate your absence or part of it. The best way members can avoid the situation is to be on time and attend after-school responsibilities.

Teacher members should be aware of their entitlement to submit a statutory declaration as documentary evidence for personal leave. Clause 49.19 of the Schools EA makes it clear that this can be submitted where the period of personal leave is not more than three consecutive days and where a medical consultation was unavailable or has not been sought. There is no mention in the EA of any limit to the number of statutory declarations that can be submitted. You can obtain a statutory declaration form at www.ag.gov.au/statdec

Members should be aware of the AEU’s position regarding playground duty before and after school hours. The AEU position is that “rostered playground duty in the period before lessons commence is not necessary and that students [and families] should be informed of the time at which they are permitted to be on school grounds and the staff member/s to contact within the school premises in the event of an emergency.” We are aware that some parents may object to

this position. We would advise that many schools run before-school care programs to cater to the needs of families. Parents could also seek support from a neighbouring family/friend to assist in supervising their child prior to travelling to school. All of the AEU’s policies regarding schools can be found at www.aeuact.asn.au/info-centre/working-conditions/SchoolsPolicies.htm.

Members are asked to begin logging their wish list in regard to the next Enterprise Agreement [expires 30 June 2011], with negotiations commencing early next year. We are currently developing the AEU claim and members’ views are very important in this process. We ask members to consider aspects of the current Agreement that they would like to see changed and those items that they would like added to the Agreement.

By Bill Book and Glenn Fowler

PAGE 4 • Official Journal of the AEU - ACT Branch • Public Education Voice

NEWS

COUNCIL REMINDER The next Branch Council is 9:00am Saturday 18 September 2010 in J Block Theatre, Reid Campus, Canberra Institute of Technology.

Councillors have been provided with a Business Paper in the Union’s maildrop in schools 10 September. Additional papers are provided at the meeting. The meeting commences at 9:00am and lapses if a quorum is not present by 9:30am.

Members attending this meeting may be eligible to claim reimbursement of childcare costs www.aeuact.asn.au/info-centre/working-conditions/documents/ChildcarePolicy.pdf

Bill Book & Glenn Fowler Schools’s Organisers

ACT TEACHER QUALITY INSTITUTE

ACT Teacher • Official Journal of the AEU - ACT Branch • PAGE 5

As has been reported in previous journals, the ACT Teacher Quality Institute Reference Group has been working towards the development of the ACT’s teacher registration body for more than 12 months.

BECOMING REALITY

Penny Gilmour - Branch Secretary

The Reference Group comprises representatives from DET, the Catholic Education Office [CEO], the Association of Independent Schools [AIS], Australian Catholic University [ACU] University of Canberra [UC], the AEU and the Independent Education Union [IEU].

Members may have seen recent media reports announcing the appointment of Professor Denis Goodrum as the Interim Chair of the TQI. The establishment of an Interim Board is currently underway and Branch Council determined that the AEU Branch Secretary will be the AEU nominee advised to the Minister when request for Interim Board Members is sent to stakeholders.

The TQI will be estalished through legislation which is expected to go to the Assembly later this year with commencement from the beginning of 2011. There will be much work for the Interim Board to complete over the next few months. The TQI Interim Chair’s first communication to the ACT education community is reproduced opposite. This letter provides a succinct introduction to the TQI, as well as details of the forthcoming website and a contact email for enquiries.

Members should keep alert for updates on TQI matters from the AEU and for further communications from the TQI Interim Chair.

TEACHER QUALITY INSTITUTE

Dear Principals and Teachers

I am writing to introduce you to the ACT Teacher Quality Institute, which will commence operation next year.

The key objectives of the Institute are to enhance the status of the teaching profession, build and maintain community confidence in the profession and uphold the standards of the profession.

One of the Institute’s main functions will be the registration of teachers. From the beginning of 2011, all teachers working or seeking to work in the ACT must be registered. This brings the ACT into line with all other Australian states and territories, which already require teachers to be registered. Teachers currently working in the ACT will be deemed to have met the emerging requirements. These teachers will be expected to meet the full registration requirements by 2013. Information will be provided when these details are finalised.

The Institute will also have a major role in implementing reforms under the Teacher Quality National Partnership, including ensuring national consistency in teacher registration, certifying teachers against the National Professional Standards for Teachers, and accrediting pre-service teacher education programs.

The Teacher Quality Institute is being established in such a way that all ACT teachers will benefit. The work undertaken to date has been a successful collaboration between the Department of Education and Training, Catholic Education Office, Association of Independent Schools, The Australian Catholic University, The University of Canberra, Australian Education Union and Independent Education Union.

A website for the Institute will be launched later this year and will provide more information about teacher registration and the other roles of the Institute. Further information can be obtained by emailing [email protected]

With your support, I believe the Teacher Quality Institute will raise the profile of the teaching profession to benefit ACT teachers, parents and the broader community. I look forward to working with you.

Yours sincerely

Professor Denis Goodrum Interim Chair, ACT Quality Teacher Institute

ACT Department of Education & Training

Catholic Education Office

Association of Independent Schools

Australian Catholic University

The University of Canberra

Australian Education Union

Independent Education Union

As I write this column, the result of the Federal Election is unclear, although it appears, based on pre-election announcements by both major parties, that teachers are in for a rough ride whatever the outcome.

Issues including the Schools Funding Review, performance pay, education vouchers, the NAPLAN review, the BER funding review, Teach for Australia and its bastard offspring Teach Next, the Australian Curriculum and the Australian Baccalaureate were all aired during the election campaign by the various protagonists. Needless to say, any or all of these issues impinge directly on you and your working conditions and your Union officers will closely monitor developments.

I recently accompanied a number of members and officers to a Federal AEU symposium in Sydney which highlighted the problems with the MySchool website. Leading education and measurement academics provided us with disturbing evidence on the harm arising from this website. The purpose of the seminar was to disseminate such information to politicians and other power brokers, however it is of continuing concern that the facts surrounding this issue do not seem to be penetrating public consciousness. More details of the presentations are provided later on page 8.

On a positive note, I had the pleasure this week of attending the Step into the Limelight concert at the Canberra Theatre. Our Union is one of the sponsors of this annual event. The standard of musical, drama, dance and media items presented by students in public education, ranging from primary to college, was outstanding. It was particularly appropriate that the compere paid tribute to the tireless work of the hundreds of teachers involved. I wish to add my personal congratulations to those who contributed so much of their time and energy, not only in the months of rehearsals, but during their time at the theatre itself.

Please do not hesitate to contact me.

Phil Rasmus Telephone: 6205-7125 or email [email protected]

Phil Rasmus - Branch President Lake Ginninderra College

REVISED CHILDCARE POLICY


At its meeting on 19 June, Branch Council approved a revised AEU - ACT Branch Childcare Policy.

This policy aims to support the full participation of all members within Union forums such as Executive, Council and AEU training, for those with parenting responsibilities. It is vital that our Union forums reflect the diversity of our members and that barriers that may prevent members’ involvement be addressed where possible.

The policy provides financial members with the opportunity to apply for reimbursement of childcare costs to attend Union forums. The childcare may be centre-based or home-based, whichever suits the member best. Reimbursement for childcare will be considered where care is required for children up to and including the age of 15, or for any dependent of the member who has a physical, intellectual or social impairment and requires an adult carer. Members need to prove their attendance at a Union forum [such as the sign on sheet] and ensure the childcare reimbursement claim form is completed and signed by both the member and the childcare provider. The form must then be submitted to the AEU office within one month of the childcare.

Members can find the AEU – ACT Branch childcare policy, guidelines and reimbursement claim form at www.aeuact.asn.au/info-centre/working-conditions/documents/ChildcarePolicy.pdf

Cathy Smith - Assistant to the Secretary [Professional]

FOR YOUR DIARY Public Education Week: 23-27 May 2011

Public Education Day: 26 May 2011

We plan to be running school performances at venues around the city as we have done for the last few years during Public Education Week in 2011. There will also be exhibitions of students’ artworks at the public libraries and hospitals for the entire month of May and the Organisers will be calling for schools to provide works for those exhibitions. Please mark the month in your calendars as you plan for next year.

MAURICE BLACKBURN: New criminal law hotline number

61205040

The proposed Enterprise Agreement for SSO members [Assistants, Youth Workers, Indigenous Education Officers/Workers] in DET is almost complete.

A summary of the key conditions are as follows:

1. A one-off sign-on bonus of $650 for all staff except:

• staff on short term temporary employment contracts [ie less than 12 months] and casual staff, unless they have been engaged on a regular and systematic basis or there is a reasonable expectation of continuing employment within the ACTPS on a regular and systematic basis.

• staff who have been on any form of unpaid leave for a period greater than six months at the date of commencement of the Agreement, other than employees on unpaid maternity leave.

2. A 2.5% salary increase back-dated to 1 July 2010.

3. Agreement expiry date of 30 June 2011.

4. Maintaining the clauses dealing with types of employment, notice of termination, probation, joint selection committees, employees with caring responsibilities, commitment to a performance culture [maintain prohibition on performance pay], performance management scheme, management of excessive hours and medically unfit staff.

5. Removal of clauses dealing with notice of engagement, promotion after acting and lifespan of merit process.

6. Updating current clauses to reflect any agreed improved conditions [eg maternity leave to 18 weeks etc].

7. A new detailed clause to review all ACTPS classifications in a three staged process.

8. The DET and the Unions will, during the life of this Agreement, consider:

• creation of a Schools Assistant 4 classification for implementation in the next Agreement;

• an ongoing method for conversion of temporary and casual employees to permanency;

• appropriate methods for dealing with workload issues for all employees.

9. The Department to pay costs associated with gaining a qualification when the employee is required to have that qualification.

10. A DET Human Resource Advice to be sent to all schools that makes it clear that all Preschool Assistants must be provided time within their ordinary hours of work to perform programming duties with their teacher.

If you have any questions or comments about the proposed Agreement please contact Bill Book, Schools’ Organiser [62727900] [email protected]

All full-time SA2s working in special education settings should be receiving

the full Special Education Allowance. If you are not certain of the amount of allowance you are being paid you should contact your pay centre, request a review and ensure that you are receiving 100% of the allowance [$1276 pa]. If you have been receiving just 80% of the allowance as a part-time employee the allowance paid should be 80% of the full-time rate and you should request a review to ensure you are receiving the correct amount.

Recruitment of new members into our Union is everyone’s responsibility and you too should be encouraging your colleagues to join up and benefit from Union membership. The AEU covers casuals, contract employees, part-time and full-time employees of DET and CIT.

The question people should ask is, “How can I afford NOT to be in the Union?” Remember the excellent services available to members and savings to be made through Union Shopper, Teachers Health and banking services offered to Union members by ME Bank and Teachers Credit Union. Take the opportunity to participate in the free training offered to members to assist you in performing your role effectively and safely. Bring your colleagues on board to ensure their protection.

For more information on the benefits of joining the AEU and the membership form go to www.aeuact.asn.au/membership/index.html


School Services Officers’ Enterprise Agreement: Negotiation of DET Agreement for SSOs Almost Complete

SCHOOL

SERVICES OFFICERS

Bill Book Schools’ Organiser

Following the close of submissions, The Canberra Times [22 August] reported that the inquiry had “been swamped with hundreds of submissions opposing the Federal Government’s MySchool website”.

The report went on to say, “Many of the submissions were in favour of [NAPLAN] tests but complained the results, often narrow, were being misused by being placed on the MySchool site.”

The Senate Committee on Education, Employment and Workplace Relations was due to hold a public hearing in late July and then give its report by 13 August however, this has been delayed due to the calling of the Federal Election. Submissions can be read at www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eet_ctte/naplan/index.htm

The AEU has invited a group of education academics – Brian Caldwell, Margaret Wu, Allan Luke, Alan Reid and Barbara Preston – to form an expert advisory panel to work with the AEU to explore

ways of safeguarding NAPLAN test results that are used to publish league tables. Each of these panellists gave a presentation at an AEU symposium held in Sydney on Friday 23 July. AEU – ACT Branch members attended the forum and provide the following reports.

Does the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage have Systematic Bias?

By Phil Rasmus, President, AEU – ACT Branch, Lake Ginninderra College

Canberra’s Barbara Preston, an independent researcher, has conducted valuable research in support of public education.

The Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage [ICSEA] is a high stakes component of the MySchool website. It forms the basis of the comparisons made between a school and so-called statistically similar schools.

ICSEA is calculated principally from a mix of variables based on data from the 2006 Census – such as income, occupation and educational level for households in a census district [approx 250 households].

A school’s ICSEA value is derived from a weighted average of the scores from the census districts of the students’ home addresses and adjusted for things like remoteness or indigenous enrolment. Interestingly, ACARA has not made aspects of the data available to the public.

Barbara’s thesis was that the effects of selectivity significantly bias the ICSEA values. In fact, it is often [private] schools which choose their pupils, rather than the reverse. She used ABS data to demonstrate systematic biases in ICSEA arising from things like variation in the:

• proportion of students attending public or private schools depending on where they lie on a scale of educational disadvantage.

• patterns of student enrolment in public or private schooling depending on family income.

• patterns of home internet connection of students in public or private education.

Campbell’s Law is a concise summary of Barbara’s presentation: “The more any



The Senate Inquiry into the administration and reporting of NAPLAN received 272 submissions, including those provided by the Federal AEU, ACT DET and individual AEU members.

NO LEAGUE TABLES CAMPAIGN CONTINUES

quantitative indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.”

The flaws in MySchool: Why NAPLAN data should not be published

By Ingrid Bean, Branch Executive member, Canberra High School

Associate Professor Margaret Wu [Assessment Research Centre, University of Melbourne] has a talent for simply and clearly explaining statistics and what she had to say about the use of NAPLAN data blew me away. Many of us have said that the NAPLAN tests are merely snapshots in time and that you can’t really read much into them. Margaret explained why this is so, and demonstrated the extent of the issue.

The amount of measurement error, or variation, in students’ results is quite staggering. A student’s result for a NAPLAN test could vary by up to 25%. A teacher would never base a student’s overall grade on one single measurement of achievement, and certainly not one where their result could vary so much depending on circumstances beyond both the student’s and teacher’s control. To then do another test two years later, with an equally large measurement error, and use it to determine the student’s progress or the teacher’s or school’s performance is simply ridiculous.

And yet that’s effectively what MySchool does. It is the worst kind of league table because the red bar shows schools that are supposedly “underperforming”. NAPLAN results may be useful for comparing groups within and across a system, for example girls’ and boys’ achievement. NAPLAN results should never be published and parents should never be encouraged to use NAPLAN results to judge a school based on data that is statistically flawed and therefore meaningless.

I only hope that the Government takes note of Margaret’s comments and changes how it uses NAPLAN data.

Does the Australian Curriculum align with NAPLAN?

By Jason Borton, Branch Executive member, Charles Conder Primary School

Professor Allan Luke [Queensland University of Technology] gave an enthusiastic and passionate presentation based on his feelings about the National Curriculum agenda and its limitations in relation to delivering quality outcomes for students. He suggests that the National Curriculum falls short of providing an effective framework for what could be described as the enacted curriculum, which is the learning that occurs in classrooms every day.

It was interesting to note that Professor Luke challenged the Federal agenda of “high stakes” testing as it did not align

with the scope of learning that the National Curriculum was claiming to provide. He described a perception by our political leaders that our curriculum has a lack of sufficient emphasis on basic literacy and numeracy skills. This is despite the PISA data that suggests Australian students have consistently scored in the top quartile when compared with other OECD nations.

Professor Luke described what actually occurs in Australian classrooms, as evidenced by the Queensland School Longitudinal Achievement Study [Lingard et al, 2001], as being very different than the view propagated in the media. The three major findings of this study were that sustained achievement gains amongst the most “at risk” students require: [1] an everyday focus on curriculum content and issues of substantive intellectual demand and depth; [2] sustained scaffolded dialogue around issues of cultural and intellectual substance; and [3] visible connections of school knowledge to everyday civic, cultural, political and social life. The point being that basic skills acquisition is important but not sufficient for sustainable engagement and achievement.

With policy foci on improving NAPLAN achievement test scores and the public release of the MySchool website there have been some changes that have occurred in schools. Professor Luke stated

Continued on page 22

There is a system-wide culture of under-reporting of incidents, near misses, accidents and injuries that has taken years to develop and is proving difficult to change.

Remember that if you are the victim of a verbal assault or a bite/kick/hit by a student and you do not lodge a formal Accident & Incident Report when it happens there is no credible record of the incident. Any subsequent, possibly more damaging, incident involving the same student for which you do file a report, will be treated as the first incident and this will be reflected in the remedial action taken. So it is vital that you file Accident/Incident Reports as often as you experience incidents. The report form can be accessed at www.cmd.act.gov.au/governance/public/wpsafety and needs to be submitted to Shared Services-Injury Prevention, Injury Management-Early Intervention and the Chief Minister’s Department. Immediately following any violent incident the WSR should submit a Hazard Report to Shared Services – Injury Prevention [[email protected]] and conduct a Risk Assessment. Students involved should not be allowed re-entry until a Risk Management Plan is in place and EVERY teacher and assistant at the site is familiar with the terms of that plan to support that student or students and ensure everyone’s safety.

Vita Giunta, Work Safety Rep at The Woden School gets a gold star for her proactive approach to workplace safety. She has improved the system of reporting accidents and incidents and works closely with the principal

and executive team to ensure that the reports are lodged and recorded. The school records all accidents and incidents in a register held at the front office. She has also established an OHS folder at the front office to keep track of issues or hazards and their resolution. The reporting of concerns by staff has increased and staff members are required to submit suggested remedies with their reports. Vita has raised the profile of workplace safety by liaising regularly with those who have identified concerns to advise them of progress towards a resolution to the issue. She proactively checks in with every team a couple of times each term to ensure that there are no niggling issues or new hazards and has added Workplace Safety as a standing item on the agenda at every staff meeting. The transparency of process, addressing issues promptly and maintaining open communication with all staff has moved the site from a reactive to preventative mode.

ACT Work Safety Act 2008 and Work Safety Regulations 2009 www.legislation.act.gov.au

The new Act and Regulations are more explicit than the previous legislation in identifying the responsibilities of the employer to ensure the physical and psychological safety and well-being of employees. The principal as the person in control of the premises carries a big responsibility under the Act and from the end of 2011 will not have the protection of the “shield of the crown” but will be individually liable for any breaches of the safety legislation. At present principals, along with other ACT public servants,

are protected from court actions against individuals by the Commonwealth.

Under the Work Safety Act 2008 the principals and business managers are also responsible for the safety and well-being of any volunteers, contractors and sub-contractors working at their sites. The penalties for breaches of the Act have been increased significantly to a maximum of $3 million for an organisation and $600,000 and/or 5 years jail for individuals. The AEU, Education Department and ACT Office of Regulatory Services all offer training to assist people to work within the parameters of the Act and you are encouraged to make time to attend some of these.

Employers [or their delegates such as principals] MUST consult workers (a) about how they prefer to be consulted; and (b) about any changes to the workplace or work practices that may have an impact on their workloads, and their work/life balance.

Employees MUST co-operate with the employer’s [ie principal’s] reasonable directions in regard to safety; MUST comply with instructions and MUST report perceived risks/hazards, incidents and illnesses connected with work. It isn’t just a good idea – it’s the law!

If your Sub-Branch does not have a Work Safety Representative, elect one at your next Sub-Branch meeting! The Sub-Branch Secretary can email their name and whether they require training to [email protected]. This information will then be provided to DET to organise training.

TACKLING THE UNDER-REPORTING OF ACCIDENTS & INCIDENTS


Bill Book Schools’s Organisers

ACT Teacher • Official Journal of the Australian Education Union • PAGE 11

The Enterprise Agreement Implementation Committee has been established to negotiate, over the life of the Agreement, matters that have not yet been agreed between the AEU and DET.

DET’s Human Resources Directorate is represented on the Committee, along with the AEU’s Branch Assistant to the Secretary [Industrial] Peter Malone, Schools’ Organisers Bill Book and Glenn Fowler and, from time-to-time, TAFE and VETiS Organiser Mike Fitzgerald.

One matter that has been ongoing is DET’s proposal for a common salary increment date. Currently, there are as many increment dates in the system as there are days in a year, due to varying dates of appointment, leave without pay and so on. The proposal is that this will change but as the EA makes clear in Clause 130 only on the basis that no teacher will be disadvantaged. Working out how periods of LWOP that don’t span one discrete school year are treated under the proposed model has been the challenge, and AEU officers will soon be in a position to put something formal to Executive and Branch Council for its consideration.

At the same time, we hope to present to Council a model for accelerated incremental progression. This is a model whereby teachers can satisfy certain agreed criteria and progress along the Classroom Teacher salary scale more rapidly than is currently possible. The AEU’s general position is that such a measure, if fair and reasonable, would recognise and reward high quality

teaching. It also has the potential to add to the attractiveness of our system for new recruits by allowing them to reach the top of the scale in as little as five years. Please note that this proposal is separate from any discussions about the creation of new classifications of Highly Accomplished Teacher and Lead Teacher. The AEU envisages this will sit on top of the Classroom Teacher scale to be applied for by teachers on a voluntary basis, after at least 5 years experience, and based on the achievement of professional standards [not student performance, despite what we heard from politicians during the Federal Election campaign].

Both the common increment date and accelerated incremental progression apply only to Classroom Teachers who have not yet reached the top of the salary scale.

Another area of robust discussion has been over DET’s move to have teachers fill in a fortnightly absence record for leave purposes. Clause 199.2 of the EA leaves the AEU with little room to negotiate on the introduction of such a system, so our efforts have been to ensure that it is not onerous for teachers. We have also insisted on wording on the proposed form which makes it crystal clear that the times stated are for the purposes of salary and leave only, and are not the actual hours of attendance. [The myth that teachers are expected to be at school from 8:30am to 4:51pm is still croaking out a few dying breaths in our system.] DET’s justification for the absence record is that its Audit Committee has insisted upon it, given that last year there were around 1600 incidents of leave being taken and no leave forms processed, worth approximately $2million. It is expected

that the fortnightly absence record will be initially piloted in Term 4 2010, with the pilot extended in Term 1 2011 and full implementation in Term 2 2011.

The Implementation Committee is now turning its focus to the implementation of recommendations arising out of the report on the delivery of VET in Schools.

SCHOOLS EA IMPLEMENTATION

Electronic Communication in the WorkplaceTips for Members to Avoid the Dangers

• Report to your supervisor any emails or SMS that you receive which you consider offensive, humiliating or intimidating and keep a copy.

• Do not provide your private email address or mobile phone number to students. Any proposed exceptions to this should be raised with your Principal/Manager who can advise parents as appropriate.

• On Facebook and other social networking sites, maximise privacy and do not have students [ie any students in the ACT system] as “friends”.

• Don’t publish or type anything electronically that you would not have the whole world read – the cyber world is a public place and you are never anonymous.

• Do not use electronic media to criticise your employer.

• Always act with professionalism and probity.

• Seek advice from DET or the AEU if you are unsure.


DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION RAP LAUNCH The DET launched its Reconciliation Action Plan [RAP] at Birrigai Outdoor School, 6 July 2010.

Photo: Dr Mark Collis, [L] Director Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Student Support, ACT DET & Mr Terry Williams, [R] Chairperson Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body

Over 250 staff, parents and members of the community joined with the Minister for Education and Training Andrew Barr, DET Deputy Chief Executive Diane Joseph, and invited guests from the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Consultative Group, the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Elected Body, Reconciliation Australia and the AEU to celebrate the launch of the Department’s RAP.

Auntie Laura Bell from the United Ngunnawal Elders Council welcomed all the visitors to Country.

The RAP outlines the Department’s commitment to build lasting and positive relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It identifies practical commitments the Department will implement to further promote reconciliation.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education and Student Support Director Mark Collis, the MC for the launch, said DET worked closely with all sections of the Department, Reconciliation Australia, the ATSI Consultative Body and the AEU in creating the RAP.

“This RAP recognises that reconciliation is part of everyone’s daily business at the Department and is an important partner to the Department’s Strategic Plan 2010-2013 Everyone Matters,” Dr Collis said.

“The key actions and measurable targets outlined in the RAP are across the important areas of relationships, respect, opportunities, tracking progress and reporting.”

“The RAP will be updated and reviewed by the Department each year.”

Dr Collis said Birrigai at Tidbinilla was a fitting place to launch the RAP as it was rich in Aboriginal significance and held an important role in the future education of our children.

In its first year, the DET RAP will focus on actions that Central Office staff can commit to. As the RAP is revised each year the actions are expected to broaden to encompass the work of schools. At the same time, more schools will be encouraged to develop their own school-based RAP.

A number of ACT public schools have led the way in developing and implementing a school RAP. This is a great way to support reconciliation at the local level.

You can access a copy of the DET RAP at www.det.gov.au

To find out more about how your school can develop its own RAP, go to Reconciliation Australia [www.reconciliation. org.au].

RECOGNISING AND REWARDING

The AEU Arthur Hamilton Award for Outstanding Contribution to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education is named in honour of Arthur Hamilton, a proud Palawa man, educator and union activist. Arthur passed away in 2004 leaving behind a legacy of a strong consciousness for equity and social justice, cross-cultural awareness, recognition of Indigenous peoples and the elimination of racism within the Australian Education Union and in schools.

This Award is in recognition of AEU members who demonstrate a commitment to providing all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with a high quality education. The AEU is dedicated to ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have local access to a free, publicly funded education system, which affirms cultural

Continued next page.......


ARTHUR HAMILTON AWARD: NOMINATIONS OPEN

Cathy Smith Assistant to the Secretary [Professional]

identity, and enables Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to contribute to, and participate in, their own, and broader society.

All AEU - ACT members are encouraged to nominate a colleague or team of colleagues. Nomination forms and eligibility criteria can be obtained from the AEU at www.aeufederal.org.au/Atsi/2010AHnomform.pdf or email [email protected]

The winner will receive a $1000 prize and will be flown to Melbourne to accept the award at the Annual AEU Federal Conference in January 2011. All nominees will receive a certificate from the AEU. The closing date for nominations is Friday 26 November 2010.

For further information contact Darcel Russell, Deputy Federal Secretary, telephone [03] 9693-1800 or visit www.aeufederal.org.au

Challenge us to find you a better deal.Union Shopper is all about ensuring members receive great value for money on whatever you are looking to buy.

at no cost to you,

we help save time

and money, without

the hassles and

headache.

Big Savings for Union Members

Contact Union Shopper today

From previous page.....

Torres Strait Islander dancers


As I write, we do not know who will govern the country. If it is the Coalition under Tony Abbott, it is not clear whether there will be any review of schools funding.

The Howard Government’s discredited and deeply flawed SES [Socio-Economic Status] funding model which has short-changed public schools since 2001 [two-thirds of Commonwealth money goes to the one-third of students in Australia’s private schools] would continue until at least 2016. Add to this a Coalition plan to expand tax rebates to school fees which provides further financial incentive for families to choose private schools. This would also entrench the belief of numerous Coalition frontbenchers in a voucher system which takes money out of government schools and hands it to parents in the name of “choice”, and we are looking at a dismal picture indeed.

If Labor governs under Julia Gillard, we expect the continuation of the review into the funding of schools that Labor has begun. It is extremely disappointing that in the weeks leading up to the recent poll, Labor bowed to the private school lobby and put off any change to the funding model until the beginning of 2014 [and not 2013 as they had originally promised]. The worrying aspect of this is that the schools funding question is now tied into the election cycle and if governments cannot act with integrity on this issue outside of an election period, one wonders about their propensity to deliver in the context of a poll. We can only hope that Gillard, should she remain as Prime Minister, remembers the statements she made in her maiden speech to Parliament on 11 November 1998, that she has “only been able to take up [her] opportunities because of

the excellent State education system”, that she believes in “the importance of raising the educational standards of all citizens, not just a lucky few”, that “inequality in our education system is not just confined to higher education” and that she is “prepared to seriously tackle the inequality of opportunity that exists in our education system and create a high-class state school system”. We hope that if Labor is returned to Government its funding review will continue and that Gillard has retained some commitment to the ideas she espoused almost twelve years ago.

On Wednesday 11 August, the AEU’s ACT Branch officers met with two of the five members of the Schools Funding Review panel – David Gonski AC and Kathryn Greiner AO. Prior to a fairly lengthy discussion about the resource needs of ACT public schools, we presented an opening address which is available on our website www.aeuact.asn.au. In line with AEU principles, we stated that:

• the only guarantee every child has to an education is enrolment at their local public school.

• public schools have a legal and moral responsibility to be open to all students.

• the primary obligation of governments is to properly and adequately fund public schools.

• true equity in Australian education can only exist when government schools set the standard for high quality education.

• any new funding model must be based on need and not the extension of privilege.

• public schools do the “heavy lifting”

by educating the vast majority of “harder to educate” students including 85.7% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, 79.5% of students with disabilities and special needs, 60.8% of students with language backgrounds other than English, 91.1% of students in the ESL New Arrivals Program, 78% of students “at risk”, the vast majority of students in remote and very remote areas, and the vast majority of low SES students.

On the assumption that a review of funding will take place, for the remainder of 2010, the AEU’s ACT Branch will:

• encourage members and others to join more than 2000 Australians in signing up through our website to www.forourfuture.org.au.

• establish an AEU member at each site to be the Schools Funding Review contact [or the Sub-Branch Secretary by default].

• encourage completion of an AEU online member survey.

• visit each Sub-Branch to work with each of our 84 ACT public schools so that members and school communities prepare a written submission [short or long] to the review addressing the question: If you could, what would you do at your school? [Submission guidelines will be distributed shortly.]

• consult with key stakeholders in public education such as the P&C Council, Save Our Schools, the ACT Council of Social Services [ACTCOSS], Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and disability advocacy groups.

Continued next page.......

By Glenn Fowler, Schools’ Organiser

SCHOOLS FUNDING REVIEW

CAMPAIGN

• continue to lobby Federal MPs and Senators and ACT MLAs.

• use paid and unpaid advertising.

• submit opinion pieces to newspapers.

• hold community forums.

• provide information to parents and encourage their activism.

Please let us know along the way if you’d like to contribute in one or more ways.

Polling shows that the public does not need to be convinced that public education requires greater investment – in both physical and human resources. Even the vast majority of private school parents subscribe to this view.

One positive thing to come out of Gillard’s rushed and often damaging transparency agenda has been an increase in scrutiny on the vast resources that many private schools have available to them. There is a growing consensus that the public deserves to know just how wealthy some of these schools are [and why increases in their funding are not matched by a reduction in their fees]. An editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald [24 August] points out that “at several wealthy private schools, the amount of government funding is roughly equivalent to the school’s annual surplus.” This means that taxpayer money is not being used to educate children, but to build the school’s asset base. The editorial argues that “if private schools accept taxpayer subsidies, they should expect to have their finances scrutinised to ensure public money is not being spent unnecessarily.” This concept is accepted even by some elite private school principals. It is to the enduring shame of the Rudd/Gillard Government that their haste to launch the MySchool website allowed newspapers to rank schools without paying any regard to the resources available to schools [as this information was promised by Minister Gillard but not delivered].

Regardless of where governments find money from, the AEU’s position is that money to adequately resource the public education system must be found. We hear much rhetoric about “the national interest”. Top public schools in every community are in the national interest.

SCHOOLS FUNDING REVIEW .....THE ABCC &

The Australian Building & Construction Commission [ABCC] By Bill Book, Schools’ Organiser

ARK TRIBEThe ABCC was established by the Howard Government in 2005 to exercise control over alleged criminal elements within the CFMEU. Despite widespread protests against the draconian institution and its legislated powers, the Rudd/Gillard Government has retained it at least until 2012. They also determined to incorporate strong control mechanisms into the Fair Work legislation. It is still unsatisfactory and still inequitable.

In keeping with models common in developing states, the ABCC is empowered to call on any employee in the building and construction industry to an interview/interrogation for any reason.

Workers under investigation are asked to voluntarily participate in the process but can also be legally obliged to attend the interrogation. They must answer all questions and provide any documentation requested including information relating to internal affairs of their union. They are not allowed to discuss the interrogation with anyone, not even a spouse or partner, after the fact – neither the questions asked nor the evidence they provided. If a worker refuses to cooperate with any aspect of this process the ABCC can refer the case to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, with workers liable to six months imprisonment or a $22,000 fine.

Two years ago Ark Tribe, an Adelaide construction worker, participated in a union meeting called to discuss safety issues at the building site. He was subsequently called to appear before the Commission to answer questions about what transpired at the meeting and to provide documents. He chose not to participate on principle that the

laws are unjust and have no place in the legal system of an Australian democracy. As a result his case was referred to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and he and his family have been living with the prospect of trial and possibility of a jail term or fine or both.

There have been a couple of hearings to date and proceedings have been held over to give the courts time to digest the defence arguments and look more carefully at the operation of the Commission. The most recent hearing was on 20 July in Adelaide.

Tribe’s lawyer advised the court that the ABCC has acted well outside its powers and has called into question much of the evidence put forward by prosecutors. The ABCC is supposed to exhaust all other channels before it resorts to the controversial Section 52 orders which compel workers to attend a secret interrogation. But it was revealed to the court by an ABCC inspector that not much had been attempted before the Commission applied its extreme coercive powers. The ABCC inspector made two quick telephone calls to Tribe.

The Commission appears to have operated outside its powers and functions as ascribed under its own legislation and overlooked the very limited safeguards placed on its powers.

Following the defence challenge the trial will now proceed to written submissions and a further hearing on 13 September.

Support Ark Tribe by going to the website below and signing the petition of support for his rights and those of every building and construction worker. One law for all. www.rightsonsite.org.au



TAFE VICE PRESIDENT

The AEU welcomes Tracey Dodimead as the incoming TAFE Vice President representing members at the executive level of CIT and the AEU. Tracey is also the Sub-Branch President in Tourism and Hotel Management. She replaces Chris Dennis as the TAFE Vice President. Chris has been a consistent beacon of courage and hope for his colleagues through the recent difficult industrial times and has demonstrated strong commitment to the membership. Along with his wisdom and strong sense of justice he will be sorely missed as a perennial Union supporter through his involvement as TAFE Vice President, TAFE Council representative and Sub-Branch President. On behalf of the broader membership I wish Chris all the best.

TEACHER WORKLOADS

The last 4 years have been quite tumultuous for most educators at CIT as a consequence of the heavy emphasis on increasing teacher output. Despite the oft times challenging approach by management and limited resources many Centres and teaching areas across CIT have maintained healthy and respectful workplaces. Managers in these areas have attempted to keep workloads sustainable for teachers and to accommodate individual teachers’ needs with a consequent surge of output due to high staff morale.

However, this is not the case for all Centres or work teams at CIT. The following information is a road map for those teachers who feel aggrieved about workload to resolve their issues. The key to preventing these concerns is respectful workplace relationships.

Know Your Rights - Stem Workload Creep

In recent months a number of members have raised concerns about increasing workloads, specifically teachers’ work which is unrecognised. The AEU has been aware of such concerns for some time, particularly through our 2008 CIT Teacher Workload Survey. Your comments informed the AEU negotiating team who established boundaries to Band 1 teachers’ work in the current CIT Teachers Enterprise Agreement 2009-2011 [EA].

Clause 25 of the EA defines teaching and duties other than teaching [DOTT]. This clause provides a mechanism to reasonably quantify and recognise teachers’ work whether in face to face, flexible or online delivery modes. All teaching is to be listed as hour-for-hour delivery on the Teacher Management System [TMS]. This means if, for example, you engage in teaching, assessment, student liaison [either in person or online] or other teaching duties for 36 hours in course delivery you are obliged to list 36 hours on your TMS. Prior estimates of teaching time allocations for a course are just that, estimates and the actual delivery hours should be recorded.

Much concern has been raised about workload creep for duties other than teaching. This involves a broad range of tasks but it does not include cleaning, technical support, ordering materials and other tasks which lie clearly within the realm of non-teaching staff at CIT.

The 36 ¾ hour Myth

Clause 24 of the EA states that teachers at CIT must be in attendance for a

minimum of 30 hours and any hours beyond this are to be by negotiation. A myth was generated at CIT early in 2010 where managers quoted CIT Executive staff, “… there is an expectation that teachers will attend at CIT for 36¾ hours per week”. Teachers subjected to any such expectations or directive should indicate that the 36¾ hours is for pay and leave purposes only and does not relate to attendance [except for full-time EDS teachers]. If this issue is pursued by a manager you are asked to contact Mike Fitzgerald on 6272 7900 or [email protected]

Generally a full-time teacher’s workload would be approximately 20 hours teaching per week plus a minimum of 10 hours DOTT per week. During this DOTT period a teacher is expected to complete class preparation, assessments, administration, attend meetings, undertake student liaison, travel to other workplaces as well as representing CIT at community and industry events. Clause 29 of the EA indicates that negotiation is required between teachers and their managers to ensure that both the work-life balance of teachers and the needs of the organisation are met. In particular Clause 29.4 states: Teachers and managers should work together in order to establish workloads that are achievable, professionally challenging and rewarding, and that support quality program delivery, in the context of achieving CIT goals.

The AEU encourages members to negotiate manageable workloads that ensure work-life balance. In all situations where a teacher feels that the proposed increase in workload is unsustainable

Continued next page

This TAFE column reports on the new appointment of the new TAFE Vice President, Tracey Dodimead and Teacher Workloads at CIT


Mike Fitzgerald CIT/VETiS Organiser

TAFE WORKS ......

Tracey Dodimead - TAFE Branch Vice President CIT - Reid Campus

TAFE VP you should ask your manager to explain how the extra work can be successfully completed in addition to the other teaching and DOTT roles within reasonable attendance hours [either on-site or off-site]. If there is difficulty with the calculation of attendance times, for example where attendance varies with changeable teaching and DOTT arrangements over time, then the starting point for attendance time is 30 hours minimum attendance per week. Any agreed additional DOTT work must be acknowledged by the managers and recognised as work either as time-in-lieu or agreed hours on an Activity Reference Number [ARN] on TMS. Teachers should ensure that there are negotiations and written confirmation of these arrangements with their manager prior to undertaking any additional tasks.

Alternatively, the manager could be requested to prioritise teachers’ DOTT and indicate what tasks in the teachers’ workload could be dropped to accommodate these extra tasks. Members are encouraged to be familiar with Clause 25 which lists teaching and DOTT responsibilities including travel to and from workplaces. This clause is the envy of many TAFE teachers in other parts of the country so the AEU encourages CIT teachers to use it.

The use of the EA to stem workload creep, develop respectful workplaces and ensure sustainable workloads is encouraged. For the EA, go to http://www.aeuact.asn.au./info-centre/working-conditions/index.html and click on the CIT Teachers Agreement.

If members experience any impediments to their attempts to negotiate their workplace rights please contact Mike Fitzgerald at the AEU on 6272-7900.

If managers are interested in learning strategies to establish respectful workplaces they may wish to request a workshop on “Respectful Workplaces” presented by the ACT Commissioner for Work Safety. The Tourism and Hotel Management Sub-Branch have already sought this training.

As the recently appointed TAFE Vice President of the AEU, I wish to acknowledge the work of Chris Dennis in his role as the outgoing Vice President.

My name is Tracey Dodimead and twenty six years in industry resulted in the fruition of my lifelong goal to become an educator within Vocational Education. I joined the AEU as a casual teacher within the first couple of months at CIT as I held a deep respect for the core values of union leadership within the TAFE sector. The AEU recognise the immense value TAFE teachers contribute to the community with their combined wealth of industry experience, a comprehensive teaching pedagogy which underpins the understanding of our diverse student cohort.

I am deeply committed to the members and particularly interested in their

concerns around the security of their working conditions, work-life balance and the significance of health and safety in the workplace. With negotiations around the upcoming Enterprise Agreement [our current Agreement expires 30 June 2011], it is imperative members stand together as Sub-Branches and as a Union. I encourage you to work with your colleagues and Union officers to address any workplace concerns or issues you have.

It is a privilege to continue and support the tremendous contributions of all teachers across the TAFE sector. Please don’t hesitate to call me or send me an email regarding any issues you have in your workplace.

Tracey Dodimead Telephone: 6207-3137 [email protected]

The main aims of Anti-Poverty Week are to:

• Strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship around the world and in Australia;

• Encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems, including action by individuals, communities, organisations and governments.

Everyone who is interested in helping to reduce poverty and hardship here or overseas is encouraged to organise their own activities during the Week or join in some being organised by others.

www.antipovertyweek.org.au provides a place where people who are interested in the Week can find activities, ways to join in, resources and useful contacts.


Paul, what roles do you perform at Black Mountain School?

When I first started teaching at Black Mountain School, I taught physical education and hydrotherapy, working across the school with students with mild to severe intellectual and physical disabilities. For the past two years I have been on class with students working in horticulture with a focus on social and functional skills.

What attracted you to teaching, particularly in a special school?

As a young person I realised that I enjoyed working with people and found that teaching gave me the opportunity to help others. I always found it interesting learning about how people learn. I wanted to make a difference to people’s lives. I embarked on my journey with special education when I went to Black Mountain School. I was impressed with the atmosphere and the supportive executive staff. It was also an area in which I had limited experience and I was enthusiastic to learn new things.

What are the rewards of your job?

Seeing the smiles and enjoyment on children’s faces as they achieve really makes me happy. I like knowing that I contribute to their learning. My work in physical education enables me to play a part in improving the physical fitness of students. Being a sportsperson myself, I appreciate the benefits of being physically active and like to share this with children.

What are the challenges?

In special education the challenges are varied. In particular, I have found it

challenging to determine the right way to support the children with whom I work. Their needs are so varied that it requires a willingness to think outside of the box and to continue to try new things. Students at our school all communicate differently – my being aware of their needs, their communicative abilities and how to build and strengthen these areas has kept me constantly thinking and trying new things.

What do special schools need?

Special schools need more resources. Community Based Instruction is the best method for our students to learn how to be a part of our community. The people we have in our schools are experts in this area. We need a greater number of people who are as committed as we are – qualified people who are willing to learn how to work optimally with our students. Special education is a challenging field. Staff members need appropriate training and commitment to be successful in this area.

What does being an AEU member mean to you?

The AEU provides me with a sense of unity within the membership outside of my school environment. I know that I can call the Union office to support me when needed throughout my career. Membership of the AEU has provided me with a broader perspective on education. The Union has worked over the years to improve my working conditions.

Schools Organiser Glenn Fowler recently interviewed Paul Martin who teaches at Black Mountain School and has been teaching for 18 years

MEMBER

PROFILE

Glenn Fowler Schools Organiser [email protected]

White Ribbon Day 25 November 2010

The White Ribbon Foundation of Australia aims to eliminate violence against women by promoting culture-change around the issue, through a national media campaign as well as education and male leadership programs aimed at men and boys around Australia. In 1991, on the second anniversary of one man’s massacre of 14 women in Montreal, a handful of Canadian men created the White Ribbon Campaign to urge men to speak out against violence against women. In 1999, the UN General Assembly declared 25 November the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, with the White Ribbon as its symbol, and today hundreds of thousands of white ribbons are worn by men [and women] across Australia - at work; in all Australian police forces; in national and local sports; in the media; in politics; in the defence forces; in capital cities and in rural and regional Australia.

Australian unions are taking a leading role in support of the White Ribbon Campaign. Last year male members of the ACTU Executive and the AEU - ACT Branch office wore white ribbons to declare that violence against women will not be tolerated in the workplace or in the community. The leaders of major unions also resolved to organise awareness raising activities in workplaces and in the broader community to highlight the issue.

Forty White Ribbon Ambassadors from many union organisations have been appointed to promote the eradication of violence against women among their members and the community.


If implemented in part or as a whole, these proposals will have significant implications for ACT public school students and many AEU members.

The glossy document is framed around 4 questions:

1. What needs to be strengthened or changed so that ACT public schools and colleges are schools of choice?

2. What needs to be done in ACT public schools and colleges to improve school graduation rates and ensure every student has a pathway to tertiary education and training or meaningful work?

3. How can ACT public high schools and colleges be better connected to other education providers and the community to extend choice and opportunity for all students?

4. Where are the opportunities for innovation and growth that will ensure the ACT public school system is meeting the needs and aspirations of our students and the broader ACT community?

The multiphase consultation process is being conducted through submissions and through a series of public forums. All three forums attracted very small groups, who were provided with a presentation that outlined the discussion paper and described the consultation process.

Consultation 1: [1] comments on Discussion Paper early September.

Phase 2: [1] identifying proposals; [2] proposals paper for public comment until mid-December; [3] budget strategy.

Phase 3: [1] Directions Paper to Government; [2] short, medium long-term goals; [3] budget strategy.

The Minister for Education recently released a discussion paper, Improving Public High Schools and Colleges, which raises a diverse range of proposals for radical change in the high school and college sectors. By Penny Gilmour - Branch Secretary

SPEAK UP!!HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE REVIEW

At about the same time that the discussion paper was released, a “Propositions Paper” on High School and College Sector Reform appeared in the system. The document was described as the input of principals through workshops and some sections of the office; it described a number of options in each of the four Networks for the future shape of schooling. The consternation caused by this document was considerable – especially since the “proposals” appeared to pre-empt the outcomes of consultation on the ACT Government discussion paper. The AEU sought advice from the DET Chief Executive Officer, Dr Watterston, as to the status and purpose of the “Propositions Paper”. The CEO advised that the paper has no official status: it was an “amalgam of responses” given at recent network meetings which “should not have been circulated in a document like this”; the ideas “are certainly not propositions”. Such clarification is welcome.

The AEU developed a template to assist Sub-Branches in providing feedback on the Discussion Paper to the Union office to inform the AEU’s submission. Members can read the AEU submission on our website [www.aeuact.asn.au].

While there is always room to examine practice and structures, it is to be hoped that any proposals for change: [a] build on the strengths of public education; [b] are grounded in research and evidence as to their efficacy; [c] result in clear and sustainable directions for the future; [d] will attract commitment by governments of adequate resources and support for successful implementation and maintenance of any proposed changes; and [e] are implemented as a result of community support following

genuine consultation and engagement with the ACT education community and stakeholder groups.

Members are urged to engage in the discussions that will certainly have a significant influence on the future direction of ACT public education.

have transfer eligibility, [b] at level and do not have transfer eligibility, and [c] not at level - transfer eligibility is not relevant in this case. Watch out for vacancies on [email protected] – vacancies are no longer advertised in the Gazette.

The other major matter currently under discussion is single-line budgeting. This is one matter which is not covered in the Enterprise Agreement, and it raises many questions: What does the “single line” cover? How can the system transition from current practice to a single line? What flexibility/advantage/benefit might this move confer? DET is currently developing a process to call for volunteer schools to trial this system, and expects that there will be some schools engaged in a trial during 2011. There are many issues to work out and the discussion between DET, ACTPA and the AEU is constructive, robust and far-ranging. The AEU continues to engage regularly with our principal members about these and many other issues facing them in the course of their work. It is very positive for our Union that almost all principals continue to be members of the AEU, and engage with their Union. Principals who are not members are encouraged to join – contact the AEU office or go to www.aeuact.asn.au/membership/join-us.html to download a membership form!

PRINCIPAL AUTONOMY From page 2 .......

MEMBER


A SUMMARY OF A WORKING DAY...

A DAY IN THE LIFEBy Bill Book, Schools’ Organiser

For as long as I can remember, members from every sector have expressed views that they are required to work harder than those in other sectors. The following summaries of “One Day in the Life” were provided by members early in Term 2 to show a sample of a “typical” working day in their life. It is evident that no sector has it easy but every sector has different and significant workload issues.

Jeff Vivian, Advisory Teacher, Independence Sub-School, Black Mountain School [BMS] BMS operates a functional curriculum directly tailored to meet each individual student’s learning needs and goals. I have a class of 7 students in the Independence Sub-School with a vocational focus of recycling, directly supervise 2 LSAs [Learning Support Assistants] and also coordinate the recycling/sustainability programs at the school. My class is comprised of students with varying moderate intellectual and physical disabilities. One student must be supervised by a teacher at all times.

5:40 am Begin the day. Domestics/family routines + 30 mins planning for day.

7:50 am Drive from West Belconnen to BMS.

8:20 am Arrive at BMS. Meet with LSAs and fine-tune the day’s planning.

8:35 am First student arrives, begin direct supervision of students.

9:00 am Begin morning circle - mark roll, check communication books, collect notes, formally greet all students.

9:05 am 1st teaching session: Horticulture.

10:20 am Assist with meal time for students and prepare for students to go to recess activities.

10:25 am Take student in wheelchair to Library, another 2 students to various supervised areas in the school.

10:35 am Morning tea on the run.

10:45 am Direct 1 on 1 handover of a supported student on playground. Directly assist student and peers in organised game.

10:55 am Escort students back to their classroom and handover. Return to own class for session 2.

11:00 am 2nd teaching session: Preparation and cooking an actual meal; use visual aids plus supports. Clean up.

12:30 pm Assist student to eat lunch [2 LSAs have to go to another duty in the school, provide direction to another rostered LSA, from another area, to support meal time]. Prepare food. Teach meal time and associated social skills. Supervise PEG feeding. [Direct line feeding through abdominal shunt.] Assist with feeding and personal care as required. Direct clean up after eating and assist students in activities until 1:00 pm. [LSA leaves at 12:55 pm to assist in another classoom with personal care.]

1:00 pm Take student in wheelchair to Library + another 2 students to various supervised areas in the school.

1:10 pm Administration - catch up and update students’ communication books. Cup of coffee on the run.

1:30 pm 3rd teaching session: Recycling - work based tasks for students fully supervised around the school, sorting reclaimed materials, storing and utilising materials appropriately, clean up.

3:05 pm Meet, debrief and guide LSAs on urgent matters; planning/resource requirements for next day.

3:15 pm Staff meeting - administration and PD.

4:30 pm Return to desk - log on staff network, check/respond to emails; complete unfinished class program tasks; planning and preparation.

5:15 pm Leave BMS for home.

5:45 pm Family time and domestics.

9-11:00 pm School work, mainly on computer catching up on day. Also includes preparing resources, programming - Individual Learning Programs, program plans, assessment data management, records, incident reports.

WEEKLY DUTIES: • Mondays Community Based Instruction 9:00 am to 12:30 pm [direct student supervision - no recess break] • 3 x 15 minute playground duties on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday at recess • 5 x 30 minute lunchtime supervision duties • Friday - Recreation Skills 9:00 am to 12:30 pm [direct student supervision - no recess break]


A DAY IN THE LIFE8:10 am Arrive at work [NPIEC] with my two children. Unpack supplies for use later in the day. Meet with the three mainstream 5/6 teachers about events

in the day. Corridor meeting with another teacher on my way downstairs to enrichment program planning meeting. Checked in on the Breakfast program [3 mornings per week] that I co-ordinate, to greet the volunteers serving and see the teacher supervisor.

9:00 am PE/cross country training. Classroom preparing for ANZAC Day [learning the protocols] with students, ANZAC traditions in Australia. Music [singing], literacy [writing, reading, spelling].

11:00 am Draft article for school newsletter with students about cub “sleepover” at Campbell High before ANZAC Day Dawn Service.

11:25 am Cup of tea and back to my class.

11:30 am Class planning of tomorrow’s IEC assembly; maths and literacy.

1:00 pm Lunchtime - meet fifteen students from Year 5/6 mainstream classes in the art room to select and record artworks for the Art Exhibition in Public Education month. Draft article for newsletter. Prepare for ANZAC themed Enrichment activity [making ANZAC biscuits]. Cooking at schools means a lot of preparation at home as ingredients and equipment are provided by teacher. Lunch happened in passing.

1:40 pm Meet with my Enrichment Group who joined with another group to go to the ANZAC Day Service. Discussion of Australian ANZAC traditions; prepared, cooked and ate ANZAC biscuits. Photo opportunity of one of the young cooks with the biscuits for the school newsletter.

2:40 pm Students return to regular classes to debrief.

2:55 pm Bus duty [daily routine].

3:05 pm Farewell my own children from school.

3:10 pm Return to the canteen to wash up ANZAC cooking.

3:20 pm Meet with the principal in my classroom regarding the NAPLAN moratorium.

3:30 pm Mount and make labels for the artworks to go in the Public Education exhibition.

5:00 pm Home.

Megan Mears, Teacher, North Ainslie Primary School - Northside Primary Introductory English Centre

8:15 am Arrive at school to find the teachers’ network down. Print signs for class changes for NAPLAN and display them around the school. Assist the relief staffing officer to organise relief without access to computers!

9-11:00 am Relieved from classes to run NAPLAN testing. Patrol corridors to make sure students were in the right place and to direct late-comers to the right classrooms. Enter data on the SOAR database [which had been down the previous day].

10-10:20 am Playground duty.

11:00 am Collect tests and check them off against rolls.

11:45 am Help to manage two Year 7 students who were misbehaving in class. Run a restorative conference between the students.

11:55 am Deal with two more Year 7 students who were having issues with each other in class. Continued data entry on SOAR.

12:30 pm Run two more restorative conferences between Year 7 students who were having friendship issues.

1-1:25 pm Ate lunch.

1:25 pm Year 7 English/SOSE class. Research and library lesson. Support pre-service teacher in delivering the lesson and de-brief with him afterwards.

3:00pm Pack tests and boxes and tidy the computer lab which had been used as a base for NAPLAN.

3:30 pm Read and respond to emails and debrief with colleagues in the staffroom.

4:30 pm Home.

Prue Gill, Classroom Teacher, Lanyon High School Year 7 Coordinator, NAPLAN coordinator, Pre-service teacher supervisor

HAVE YOU CHANGED ANY DETAILS?Have you: [1] changed your workplace? [2] gone part-time or increased to full-time? [3] taken half pay leave? [4] been promoted? [5] returned to work after suspending your membership while on leave without pay? [6] increased the number of casual relief days per week you work?

We don’t know unless you tell us!

Unless you are paying your membership dues at the correct rate, you may not be a financial member and therefore not covered for all AEU services. Go to www.aeuact.asn.au/membership/change-of-details.html for a quick and easy way to update your details or telephone Michelle or Sue at the Union office on 6272-7900.

Ged Kearney replaces Sharan Burrow, who has been elected General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation. Sharan is a former teacher, Senior Vice-President of the NSW Teachers’ Federation and President of the AEU. Ms Kearney, who took office on 1 July, has been a member of the ACTU Executive since April 2008, when she was elected Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation.

ACTU Secretary Jeff Lawrence said he looked forward to working with Ms Kearney to advance the union movement’s agenda in the lead-up to the Federal Election later this year. “Everyone at the ACTU welcomes Ged aboard to continue the work that is well underway to prevent a return to WorkChoices under Tony Abbott and to deliver on our agenda to improve the lives of working Australians and their families,” Mr Lawrence said.

Ms Kearney said she was honoured to be entrusted with such an important role. “I am committed to representing the interests of working Australians and to making sure their voices are heard in public debates over our nation’s future,” she said. “I intend to work with all unions, big and small, to put our agenda into action, grow the movement and achieve positive change for workers and their families.”


Farewell to Sharan Burrow

NEW ACTU PRESIDENT

GED KEARNEY

that teachers have focused increasingly on improving attendance and time-on-task for students as well as direct instruction in skills likely to be tested and in test-taking procedures and formats.

Finally Professor Luke challenged the developers of the draft National Curriculum to avoid being a simple “back to basics” framework that narrows the curriculum and instead should become a rich source of highly intellectual content that explores critical issues of the new world.

Accountability and the Public Purposes of Education

By Anna McKenzie, Acting Principal, Campbell Primary School

Professor Alan Reid of the University of South Australia maintains that the point of reference against which MySchool should be judged is the purpose of education.

NO LEAGUE TABLES CAMPAIGN CONTINUESFROM PAGE 9 ......

In a “healthy” education system the modalities of schooling – structure, curriculum and culture/processes – align with the stated purposes of schooling. Howard’s policies fostered an individual purpose; one dominated by the ideology of choice and increased competition between schools. The Rudd/Gillard policies focus on the economic purposes of education – the preparation of human capital for the labour market. In both, the common good was subjugated to the individual.

Reid argues strongly for a return to the public good, built through developing “capacities for citizenship, work, intercultural understanding, community involvement, and communication” as espoused in the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians.

MySchool places information about schools in the public arena to help parents shop around for better schools. This downgrades and commodifies

education. It also diminishes the sense of creating and contributing to a community. UK and US findings show the belief that competition improves quality is flawed. The MySchool, high-stakes approach creates winners and losers without raising quality.

The approach also causes schools to conceal issues, manipulate the process, and narrow the curriculum. It suggests that literacy and numeracy achievement occurs in a vacuum and ignores the influence on learning outcomes of social and cultural factors.

In the current political climate, what has been settled on? MySchool is a beast that fails the claims made for it of providing information and choice. It entrenches disadvantage and negates the public purpose of education. Reid states, “the challenge is to shape a commitment to transparency and accountability which truly serves the democratic public purposes of education.”


NEW ACTU PRESIDENT

GED KEARNEY Barbara Preston

NAPLAN Symposium Presenters

Allan Luke

Margaret Wu

Alan Reid

By Ian Foster - ACT Branch Associate Member

If you thought that things could get a lot better for public schooling in Australia, spare a thought for teachers in Hawaii.

On May 25, while we were holidaying on Maui [retired teachers get to take nice holiday] the Republican Governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle, announced that in the 2010-2011 school year there would be no more furlough days. What’s this, I wondered?

It seems that in 2009 there were massive budget cuts to public education and, as a consequence, public schools have been closed for 17 days over the 180-day 2009-2010 school year. Teachers and other education workers based in schools were unpaid for those days – though they retained their benefits and they ran some extra classes on other days. In the face of a hostile legislature and media, the Hawaiian State Teachers’ Association begrudgingly accepted the outcome, rather than accept a lowering of pay rates – the options strongly being urged by the Governor and the media.

Needless to say parents, the wider community and, importantly, the military were strongly opposed to the furlough option – the military was already having difficulty attracting personnel to the distant state. On a TV debate one evening a parent leader opined that it was odd that a lot of recipients of US foreign aid prioritised spending on schools highly while in the US, spending on schools was being made a lower priority. Another odd thing though, was that while this teacher-bashing campaign was going on, the State was extensively advertising in the media for people to become teachers - particularly in subject specialities.

So how was the problem resolved? This is the really weird part!

• the Governor released $57million from the Hurricane Relief Fund [leaving $10million] to pay the teachers, but not support staff [presumably they are introducing school prayers for good weather];

• teachers will teach on an additional 11 non-instructional days; and

• the local banks [apparently controlled by the “old” families of Hawaii – Republican inclined] kicked in a $10million interest-free loan provided that it wasn’t used for salary costs – though it is the same amount as that required for the provision of support staff.

Remarkably, the Governor was hailed in the media for this breakthrough. State Board of Education President Garrett Toguchi also hailed the accord but said the loan ultimately may not be necessary because the next Governor may decide to allocate state funds next year or the school system may be able to operate without it.

Governor Lingle, whose term expires this month, was able to boast that she has not presided over any tax increases, budget holes, increases in class sizes, and teacher lay-offs. Talk about leaving a mess for your successor [and schools, teachers and parents]!

Educational [mis]adventures in Paradise


APHEDA Annual Spring Dinner

Wednesday 22 September 2010 - 6:00 for 6:30pm Restaurant @ CIT

Canberra Institute of Technology, Reid Campus, Constitution Avenue, Reid

GUEST SPEAKERS

Ged Kearney Newly elected President of the ACTU

Bob McMullan Former Member for Fraser and Parliamentary Secretary for International Development Assistance

The main aims of Anti-Poverty Week are to:• Strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship

around the world and in Australia; • Encourage research, discussion and action to address these problems, including action by

individuals, communities, organisations and governments.

Everyone who is interested in helping to reduce poverty and hardship here or overseas is encouraged to organise their own activities during the Week or join in some being organised by others.

www.antipovertyweek.org.au provides a place where people who are interested in the Week can find activities, ways to join in, resources and useful contacts.

$60 per person or $40 student/pensioner/unwaged Includes pre-dinner drink and 3 course meal

All proceeds to APHEDA projects in Laos, Zimbabwe and The Philippines

Tickets available for tables of 10 or individuals

BOOKINGS ESSENTIAL - BE EARLY!


IMAGINE TEACHING... WITHOUT TEXTBOOKS... WITHOUT EXERCISE BOOKS... OR EVEN CHALK

WELCOME TO TEACHING IN LAOS

YOU CAN HELP.

South-East Asia is regularly portrayed as a success story. However, poverty in Laos still remains a significant issue with over 70% of the population living on less than $2 USD a day. Life expectancy, malnourishment, maternal mortality and infant mortality all remain unacceptably high.

While we know poverty reduction relies on education – ‘quality’ is the key. Sadly, teachers in Laos are poorly paid, under resourced and overworked.

Each year, hundreds of young trainee teachers go through a one to two year course and are then sent out into rural and remote areas, often with no support. Many of these teachers are ‘non permanent’ for the first one to two years, meaning they receive no salary.

Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA has taken action to help these teachers by launching a new campaign called ‘Teacher2Teacher’.

‘Teacher2Teacher’ will provide a resource kit of teaching materials, such as pencils, a dictionary, mini-blackboards and chalk. The program will also develop a mentoring and support system for teachers sent into isolated rural locations, including an induction program for teachers to share their experiences and strategies of teaching.

One local partner is the Pakse Teacher Training College. This college covers four Southern provinces, which includes some of the poorest and most remote districts in Laos. ‘Teacher2Teacher’ will help to lift education outcomes in these communities which is vital to overcoming poverty.

APHEDA and Pakse Teacher Traning College have already started working closely with teachers to identify their needs and feedback has been very promising and positive. The first induction workshop with 30 new teachers will be held in July.

To help us to continue to make this partnership with teachers in Laos successful and sustainable, APHEDA needs your help in calling on Australian teachers to support their colleagues in Laos through ‘Teacher2Teacher’. For as little as $10 a month (just 33¢ a day) you can make a difference for teachers in rural Laos, which will ensure children receive quality education.If you would like to assist ‘Teacher2Teacher’ by making a monthly, tax-deductible donation or to find out more, please a) contact APHEDA on 1800 888 674 b) email on [email protected] c) visit www.apheda.org.au and click on the ‘Teacher2Teacher’ button.

TEACHER 2 TEACHER

PERSONAL DETAILS (Please complete all sections)

Surname Mr/Ms/Miss/Mrs

Given Names

Home addressPostcode

Home phone

Work Email

I wish to be identified as an Indigenous Member

EMPLOYMENT DETAILS

Workplace

Current level and salary step

[Go to www.aeuact.asn.au/join-us for the fee schedule]

SECTOR

TAFE Secondary Primary

Preschool Associate* (Retired/Student Teachers)

*Associate Members need only sign, date, attach payment or complete

credit card details. Go straight to signature box.

STATUS

FULL TIME Permanent OR Contract

PART TIME Permanent OR Contract

Load %

CASUAL (Schools) – Average days per week [tick ONE]

0-1 2-3 3+

CASUAL (TAFE) – Average hours per week [tick ONE]

0-6 7-14 15-20

Post to PO Box 3042 Manuka ACT 2603 or fax 02 6273 1828.

AEU Membership Application ACT Branch

PRIVACY STATEMENT:

The AEU will not sell or provide any information regarding AEU – ACT Branch members to third parties. The AEU’s Privacy Policy may be viewed at www.aeuact.asn.au.

Application for membership

I hereby apply for membership of the ACT Branch of the AustralianEducation Union and if admitted agree to abide by the Rules ofthe Union. AEU Rules can be found at www.aeuact.asn.au

CLASSIFICATION

Teacher Assistant YouthWorker

Indigenous HSLO Other(please specify)_____________

I agree to pay to the AEU fees owing in accordance with the Union’sschedule of subscriptions. I understand that my fees will be adjustedautomatically in line with salary movements.

I recognise that I must inform the Union of any other salary or statusadjustments otherwise I will not be a fully financial member and may notbe eligible for the full range of services.

I understand that the Union’s Rules require me to give written noticeof resignation.

SignatureDate of application

Public Education Works

I am paying by…

Fortnightly Payroll DeductionI authorise the AEU to contact DET to commence fortnightly

deductions at the appropriate rate as soon as possible.

Name

Signature

AGS No

Monthly Credit Card 11th of each month or next business day

Please debit my credit card automatically

Visa Bankcard MasterCard

Cardholder’s name

Card Number

Expiry Date/ Amount$

Cardholder’s signature

Please select ONE of the following:

Monthly Direct Debit [Bank/Credit Union] 11th of each month or next business day

I have completed the DDR Authority below to have mysubscription deducted from my bank or credit union account.Direct Debit Request Form and Service Agreement

Request for debiting amounts to accounts by the

Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS)

Manager [insert name & address of financial institution]

I/We [Insert your name in full]

[Surname or Company/Business Name]

[Given Names or ACN/ARBN] request you, until further notice byme in writing, to debit my/our account described in the schedulebelow, any amounts which the Australian Education Union – ACTBranch [User ID No. 066127] may debit or charge me/us throughthe Bulk Electronic Clearing System.Continued next column

I/We understand and acknowledge that:

1.The Financial Institution may in its absolute discretion,

determine the order of priority of payment by it of any moneys

pursuant to this Request or any authority or mandate.

2.The Financial Institution may in its absolute discretion, at any

time by notice in writing to me/us, terminate this Request as

to future debits.

3.The User may, by prior arrangement and advice to me/us,

vary the amount or frequency of future debits.

4.Any queries to be directed to the Debit User in the

firstinstance.

5.It is the responsibility of the customer to have sufficient funds

in the account by the due date to permit the payment by

BECS or bank charges may apply.

6.I/We understand the information supplied will not be used for

another purpose.

7. Statements will be issued upon request.

Customer Signatures [joint signatures may be required]

Customer Address

The Schedule

(Note: BECS is not available on the full range of accounts. If in

doubt, please refer to your Financial Institution)

Insert name of account which is to be debited

BSB [Bank/State/Branch No.]

Account Number

Quarterly Statement I enclose Cheque/Money Order for $

Please post to PO Box 3042, Manuka 2603 or pay in person:

AEU Office, Ground Floor, 40 Brisbane Avenue, Barton.

Note: Please multiply the fee on the account by 4 to

calculate the yearly payment. If you select payment by this

method you will receive a quarterly statement [11 March/11

December/11 September and 11 December] which can be

paid online through a secure gateway payment [www.aeuact.

asn.au/membership/index.html].

Full applicationV2.indd 1 18/09/2009 9:37:14 AM

Low monthly

fees?

Nomonthly

fees?

The choice is yours

Eligibility criteria apply. Refer to the Fees and charges brochure for details on fees and charges. Your needs and financial circumstances have not been taken into account. Conditions of use – accounts and access document and Fees and charges brochure are available online or from any of our offices. You should read both of these documents before deciding to purchase accounts and access facilities issued by Teachers Credit Union. For further information, call 13 12 21 or go to teacherscreditunion.com.au. Teachers Credit Union Limited ABN 30 087 650 459 AFSL No 238981 / A25571008

At Teachers Credit Union we’re all about giving you more choices in everyday banking. So from 1st December 2010, you’ll have the choice between a low fee and a no monthly fee transaction account.

Everyday Account offers unlimited transactions for a flat $5 monthly fee with more fee exemptions.Everyday Direct Account is a new no monthly fee electronic account for those who deposit $2,000 a month and don’t need staff assisted service.

Drop into one of our offices, call us on 13 12 21 or go to teacherscreditunion.com.au/choices to keep updated.

Public Education Voice September 2010

Documents

Transcript of Public Education Voice September 2010