By Matt Jarman
Senior Vice President

From the Senior Vice President

What separates unions when it comes to trying to get the best outcomes for their members?

For the SSTUWA the key aspect is that those who move on to lead in schools are still teachers by profession and calling.

They see their role as creating an environment in which fellow teachers can do their best work – not as that of a human resources director passing on the directions of others.

They have a recognised set of skills essential to the community, as the last 12 months have highlighted, and benefit from ongoing support.

This collegiate approach across schools drives our work at the SSTUWA. We aim to improve outcomes for all as that lifts the profession as a whole.

We also recognise the different supports leaders need. Carrying on the legacy of Kim Dullard, we have experienced leaders in key union positions to ensure that our collegiate approach is driven by a genuine understanding of what leaders face every day.

We successfully argued for collegiate principals in our last Log of Claims to help address the health and well-being of leaders and to support them to do the best they can for their school communities.

Initially, there was opposition to this claim. We won anyway.

A collaborative approach is why we have developed 22 leader-specific claims as we move forward with our General Agreement negotiations.

You can see a comparison of these claims on the opposite page.

The 2021 SSTUWA log was influenced by the need to look after the people we have, restoring the people we once had and looking after the needs of the classroom, school office, regional office and system.

Any set of claims need to have a balance between a wish-list and what is actually achievable.

Above all that we want a proper, achievable, salary increase for all teachers and school leaders.

Indeed, we want that for all public sector workers, including the many who help us do our work – education assistants, administration staff in schools and in departments, cleaners, gardeners and all who make education work.

That’s why the SSTUWA has joined with other public sector unions to form the Public Sector Alliance, to seek a properly negotiated salary increase for all.

The idea of trying to carve out a larger rise for one sector of school staff is not our way.

We firmly believe that schools can only work well if everyone is heading in the same positive direction, working together to deliver a top-class education.

Our alliance represents around 100,000 WA families.

We recognise the need to sort out the crucial issue of workload before we see an exodus from the profession that becomes irreversible.

If you want to know more about what the SSTUWA offers school leaders, please get in touch with David Lee or Chris Booth, our principal leader consultants, who will be happy to have a chat. Or touch base on the SSTUWA website through our school leaders tab.