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A major federal government review into how we train our teachers was released earlier this year.

With the registration of the Schools General Agreement (GA) 2021, I thought this an opportune moment to look at the changes that will benefit women, particularly the new clause in part eight of the GA 2021, personal leave clause 33.

Senior teacher status was developed after it was recognised there was a need to retain competent and experienced teachers in duties directly associated with classroom teaching and learning, and to reward the excellent work and professionalism of experienced classroom teachers who do not wish to move into an administrative role.

Growing up in Zimbabwe in a bilingual household, emphasis was always placed on education and hard work.

In August, Australia’s state and federal education ministers met with emotional teachers, who spoke of working on weekends and Mother’s Day to cope with unsustainable workloads – and how they were thinking about leaving the profession

All staff are extremely stressed, overworked and exhausted.

Prior to the pandemic it could be said a school’s teacher relief availability depended on a variety of local seasonal factors, which would be invariably worked through. The pandemic has unfortunately now caused an unwanted equity. Everyone is struggling, and in many cases, just labelling teacher relief availability as a “struggle” would be entirely inadequate.

Teachers know best on what is happening in schools right now. Consider this quote, which comes from one of over 400 school leaders and union reps who completed our survey Managing Teacher Relief in WA Public Schools: “Teacher burnout is very real, resulting from the continuous system-wide demands that assume we are working under normal conditions.'' With rolling waves of staff members having to isolate the reality of the situation is that we are exhausted just managing to keep the core teaching and learning operating. Add to that NAPLAN, the running of events, reporting to parents, performance management, SEN reporting, NCCR reporting etc. and you have a perfect storm for mental and emotional burn-out.

Almost a decade of inaction on the gender pay gap under the previous government has resulted in women continuing to earn less than men in every age bracket, according to latest data released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

Australian companies are banking record profits rather than using them to shield consumers from cost increases is the leading driver of inflation, according to new research released by The Australia Institute.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) is urging the federal government to ensure school funding is a key consideration of the review of the National Schools Reform Agreement (NSRA).

To the untrained eye, the small community garden on Coast and Straits Salish territory (in Canada) – on what passers-by commonly know as the University of Victoria campus – might look unruly. Bursting with dandelions, lamb’s ear and grasses, it’s difficult to tell where the garden starts and where it ends.

The Schools General Agreement has just been registered, and as we go to print, we remain in negotiation over the TAFE General Agreement

Membership with the SSTUWA ensures you are never on your own. Members can access information, advice, and support through a variety of sources and teams.

Remember when former Morrison Government minister Stuart Robert lashed out at “dud” teachers? In March, the then acting education minister said the “bottom 10 per cent” of teachers “can’t read and write” and blamed them for declining academic results.

IGLYO, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer and Intersex (LGBTQI) Youth and Student Organisation, is the lead youth development and leadership organisation working with LGBTQI young activists, counting more than 100 member organisations in over 40 countries in the Council of Europe region.

Membership with the SSTUWA means that you are never on your own. We have our members covered but it is important to know your coverage level.

As the 2021 recipient of Lynette Virgona Memorial Scholarship, I was able to undertake the invaluable Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) training.