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How to bust myths about school funding

22 January 2023

Every election, state and federal, is an opportunity to draw attention to the gross inequity of Australia’s bizarre schools funding system. No other developed country funds schools the way we do. We are the world leader when it comes to giving public money to private, fee- charging schools. And we languish near the bottom of international rankings when it comes to the percentage of education funding we give to our public schools.

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Our climate emergency is an education emergency

22 January 2023

Last year saw a succession of headline- grabbing climate disasters, from unprecedented heatwaves drying Europe’s rivers to catastrophic floods in Pakistan and Australia and the most powerful storms to hit Cuba and the USA

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The cost of public-private partnerships in education

22 January 2023

In this story, I share my personal trajectory as a teacher experiencing public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the Brazil countryside and urge stakeholders to reflect on the problems involving such partnerships to education. In addition, I reflect on how such PPPs are a result of the lack of financing in education and on how important it is for stakeholders to advocate for enlarged budgets in the sector in the context of the Transforming Education Summit.

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Truth telling in the Australian education system

22 January 2023

In a recent radio interview with 4BC, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said students should learn about the atrocities suffered by Indigenous people in Australia. Historical events such as massacres should be part of the Australian history curriculum. Mr Albanese added it was something that should be done without feelings of shame from non-Indigenous teachers.

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Desperate measures not the answer to teacher shortages

22 January 2023

The state government’s desperate plans to fix the state’s teacher shortage will not address the underlying issues in the public education system, according to the SSTUWA. The union said the government’s plan to send under qualified teachers into short- staffed schools (announced late last year) was a short-sighted move which had the potential to cause more harm than good.

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News archive 2022

AEU: Statement on public education funding

16 December 2022

Every child has the right to a high quality education, delivered by qualified and professional teachers in their local neighbourhood. It is Australia’s public education system and its dedicated workforce that upholds this right.

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SSTUWA welcomes announcement of new education portfolios

14 December 2022

The State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia has welcomed the announcement of a new Education Minister in today’s cabinet reshuffle, with the division into separate ministerial portfolios of early childhood education and training suggesting the state government is giving education a higher priority.

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Desperate measures not the answer to teacher shortages

12 December 2022

he State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia has rejected the state government’s desperate plans to fix the state’s teacher shortage, saying they will not address the underlying issues in the public education system.

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ACTU calls for release of Cambodian unionist Sithar Chhim

1 December 2022

President of the Cambodian hospitality union (LRSU) representing workers at the Naga World Casino Hotel was arrested in Phnom Penh airport and jailed on 26 November while returning from International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) World Congress in Melbourne.

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President's address to November State Council Conference

11 November 2022

We are at the end of yet another year which brought far more turmoil than we could have ever expected. We thought that we’d seen the worst of COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021 and that we were pretty well prepared - vaccinations mostly done – for the beginning of the year.

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News archive 2021

Inequity in school funding

18 June 2021

Statement from Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal President. The report in today’s Nine Newspapers, ‘Australia’s top private schools are growing richer and faster than ever’ is clear evidence that for eight long years, the federal government has failed to invest in the resources and infrastructure public schools need to provide the education and support public students deserve.

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Investment in modern classrooms would lift student performance, new report shows

14 June 2021

A new report shows investment in public school capital works would help lift student performance and could generate over $5 billion every year in economic stimulus due to increased employment and improved student outcomes.

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​New Alliance for fair public sector pay

9 June 2021

Western Australian public sector unions have formed a new alliance comprising public school teachers and support staff, health workers, prison officers, firefighters, engineers, community service workers and those in our rail system, among others. It will work to reform the WA Government’s wage fixing policy. WA State Wages Policy imposes a cap to increases meaning a decline in real terms for six years for the vast majority of those we rely on to deliver essential health, education, community safety and other services.

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