For Every Child road trip launch: Attendees from the SSTUWA 2023 Women's Conference help to launch the WA leg of a national road trip to help secure full funding for public schools.

On World Teachers’ Day 2023 - 27 October – AEU branches across the country launched a national road trip to help secure full funding for public schools.

The road trip is being undertaken as part of the For Every Child campaign. Starting in Perth, Darwin, Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Hobart, branded vehicles will travel through city, regional and remote areas.

SSTUWA Senior Vice President Natalie Blewitt (pictured right) said World Teachers’ Day is the perfect time to recognise the efforts and achievements of teachers and to launch the next phase of the campaign for full funding of public schools.

“On this road trip we will be engaging principals, parents, teachers and community members and getting them to sign postcards to the Prime Minister calling for him to deliver full funding for public schools,” Ms Blewitt said.

“The road trip will culminate with the delivery of the postcards at Parliament House in Canberra in late November.

“Principals and teachers are delivering a great education for our kids in our public schools, but they are being asked to do too much with too little.

“Full funding will allow public schools to reduce class sizes, increase the one-on-one support for students with additional needs and provide more time and classroom assistance for teachers.”

Australian Education Union Federal President Correna Haythorpe said: “Only 1.3 per cent of public schools are currently funded at the Schooling Resource Standard which is the minimum amount that governments agreed a decade ago they need to meet the needs of all students.

“The Albanese Government must in the next 12 months sign funding agreements with state and territory governments that deliver 100 per cent of the SRS by 2028.

“Public school teachers need more than kind words on World Teachers’ Day. They need an end to the underfunding of public schools."