President Writes

By Sue Simpson

A sense of relief rather than elation marks the end of the longest and bitterest salaries dispute in Federation history. Some 84 per cent of teachers attending the June 2 Sky Channel meetings voted to accept the salary agreement as settlement of the dispute. The salary increases do not reverse the decline in teacher salaries over the past 20 years; nor will they improve the status of the profession. Progress having been made on all the pay equity issues of the Federation's claim is, however, cause for celebration. The progress is slower than we would have wished but it took some four to five years for all three-year trained teachers to get equal pay with four-year trained teachers and for all primary teachers to receive two hours relief from face-to-face teaching. After 10 years of campaigning, the principle of "equal pay for equal work" has finally been established through the progressive breaking of the barrier for casual teachers in block work. This breakthrough will assist in addressing the exploitation of TAFE part-time/casual teachers when the opportunity next arises in 2003.

The settlement protects working conditions. Our resilience and endurance has meant we have come a long way since the Internet launch of the Department's award application in November last year.

The Government should now realise that it is best to work with teachers and the Teachers Federation.

The Government and the Department will need to demonstrate to the Federation and the teaching profession their willingness to do things differently. The Premier has sought a meeting with the Federation's Senior Officers in an effort to rebuild relations. This will be the first meeting the Federation Senior Officers have had with the Premier in his second term.

There are many issues that will be the test of whether we see a new relationship emerge. The first test will be the process of translating the political agreement voted on by members at the Sky Channel meetings into a consent award. This must occur as quickly as possible in order to ensure prompt payment of the salary increases. The November award application must be seen as dead and buried. This includes performance contracts for secondary school principals. A Labor government should not be encouraging secret individual performance contracts in our publicly accountable schools. Principals in particular must send a strong message to the Government that weakening teacher collegiality and constraining the voice of principals is not in the interests of public education.

How our schools and colleges are staffed is another big and controversial issue. Federation seeks the continuation of staffing formulae as a base resource guarantee and the development of new staffing formulae for the new collegiate structures. Proper provision has to be made for the new emphasis on vocational education: Resource guarantees ensure equitable provision. "Flexible" provision reflecting local circumstances has a place only on top of the base. The current formula for the distribution of head teacher positions needs to be revised.

A decisive test will be the negotiation of a new staffing agreement on how teachers are appointed to positions in schools and TAFE colleges. Before the last election, the Minister walked away from a new staffing agreement for schools. The 70 per cent level of casualisation of teaching positions in TAFE must be reduced. In TAFE it is estimated there will be an increase of 700 students but a loss of 730 equivalent full-time teacher positions. The salaries agreement provides for a review into TAFE funding arrangements which is most timely.

Federation's Annual Conference will be addressing staffing matters.

The Seaforth TAFE dispute is going into its sixth month. The site must remain in public hands.

The recent State Budget did not deliver for public education. For the fourth year in a row the proportion of the Budget devoted to education has fallen, from nearly 26 per cent over to 22 per cent over that period. Yet more money is being spent than ever before on private schools. Nevertheless the Minister must keep up the fight against a strong private school lobby and the NSW Parents' Council campaigning against his modest cuts to the wealthiest private schools.

Gregor Ramsey's review of teacher education will be provided to the Minister at the end of this month. He is addressing not just the pre-training of teachers but also on-going teacher professional development and teacher standards. Federation has presented a detailed submission to the review and had the opportunity to discuss issues in person. His review should encourage a lively professional debate and a proper commitment by the Government to the funding of professional development.

Public education has taken a battering through the salaries dispute. Working with principals, parents and community groups, we must find new ways to promote the public education system. But we do need the support and respect of the NSW Government.