Our most important work

In these complex and unpredictable times, Branch President Lara Golding refocuses on what the union needs to do in 2021 to assist members to support our students and children.

The work of an educator has never been more complex, but at its heart it is still about supporting students to achieve. Fresh fruit bans, QR codes, COVID cleaning regimes, NAPLAN data dashboards, parent communication apps and online assessment have all increased the complexity of our work, but at a fundamental level the key role of teachers in the lives of students is unchanged: building relationships so that we can support our students.

The most important work of a teacher, SSO, ECW, lecturer or leader is still to skilfully develop positive relationships with children, students and colleagues – because real learning is an interpersonal endeavour based on trust and respect. All the apps, data or ED forms in the world don’t compare with the value of great relationships. We know students don’t learn if they don’t feel safe and welcome in the classroom – they want to know that we care and they want to know they are supported.

Your priorities

At the end of last year, through site visits, surveys and Area meetings, we asked members about their priorities for our union. We heard you say you care about your students and you want more support for them.

From your feedback, we distilled the following priorities:

• Fix the funding system for students with additional needs in schools and preschools. Currently, too much time is spent waiting for assessments, writing IESP applications and One Plans, only to have requests for help rejected. This is impacting on work and ultimately students and children are missing out on critical support.
• Address excessive workloads that are impacting on quality teaching and learning and the ability of educators to develop strong relationships with children and students.
• Reduce class sizes in a way that recognises the complexity of classes – whether that complexity is multiple year levels or subjects in a small school classroom, or a large class with many students requiring additional support or extension.
• Increase the level of permanency in the system. Too many teachers and support staff are employed on insecure contracts. Job security for educators means stability for students and children.

Support our students and children

When the funding system is fixed, students and children can get the support they need when they need it. When workloads are manageable and classes are smaller in a way that recognises complexity, teachers can focus more of their efforts on the essential work of relationships and support.

Permanent teachers and support staff can remain present in students’ learning and lives for longer and provide the stability for development and maintenance of effective learning relationships.

This year we will be working with our communities and allies to convince politicians to adequately fund public education so that students have the support they need and educators have fair working conditions. We will be asking our members to lead this campaign within their sites and their communities to achieve local wins and long-term state-wide gains.

Fight TAFE cuts

This year will also be critical in our fight for TAFE with our campaign to Stop Marshall’s TAFE Cuts gathering momentum. The State Government has been cutting popular TAFE courses to further their privatisation agenda and our members and communities are paying the price.

TAFE, as the trusted public provider, should be supported to be the predominant provider of vocational education in SA. The Government has also massively cut TAFE auspicing, impacting on the provision of VET to school students.

Our campaign has seen over 20,000 postcards distributed across SA and hundreds of people signing up to join the campaign.

Once again, this campaign is about supporting students. These may be older students, learning skills or a trade, but the principle remains – with better support students can achieve more.

If you haven’t signed up to join the campaign, please do so now at: www.aeusa.asn.au/stopTAFEcuts.

Grow our union

To win for members, students and public education we need to be a strong, active union. Through our annual planning we have set targets to grow our union by 5% by the end of the year, and to increase the activism of our members.

To achieve these targets, we need your help. The most effective way to grow our union is for our current members to ask their colleagues to join. By supporting each other we can win improvements to our workplaces that will ultimately support students.

In solidarity
Lara

I welcome your feedback on our campaigning – email me at: [email protected]