Monday 21 July EBA 3 announced

Tuesday 22 July

Wednesday 23 July

Thursday 24 July

Friday 25 July

Saturday – Sunday, 26 – 27 July

Monday 21 July

• SSTUWA
  
  
  • EBA 2008 Update 62: 'In-Principle Agreement
    
    Executive endorses 'Agreement in-principal' for schools
    
    EBA Negotiations Update

    Following intervention by the Chief Commissioner of the Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission (WAIRC), Mr Tony Beech,  the SSTUWA negotiation team [Anne Gisborne, Mike Keely, Evan Thompson, Janet Stacey and David Kelly], met with DET and Minister McGowan’s advisor. At this meeting the Chief Commissioner facilitated the parties in achieving an improved outcome through a negotiated settlement before arbitration proceeds in earnest.
    
    The negotiating team agreed to significant improvements from the “2nd Offer”. This “agreement in-principle” was presented to a Special Executive meeting on Thursday 17 July (10.00am to 9.40pm).
    
    At this meeting Executive endorsed the “agreement in-principle” and preparations for a membership vote. The action that Executive has put in place ensures that members have an opportunity to vote on their proposed EBA. Under arbitration this does not occur.
    Executive resolutions were:

  • That the SSTUWA move to conclude the document as a “position reached in-principle” between the parties on terms as set out including that the DOTT position be 10m in 2009 and 10m in 2011 and the 15 hours PD be the proposal endorsed with the final document to be brought back to Executive for endorsement. That there be no media comment until jointly agreed.
    
    
  • That the final “position reached in-principle” document be prepared for a membership vote and it be accompanied by a rationale which put the pros and cons determined by the negotiation team.
    
    
  • That all officers of the Union including Senior Officers, Executive and industrial staff will support the position of Executive on this matter in communication in an official capacity with the membership.
    
    
  • That an extension of time be sought on action pertaining to arbitration in the WAIRC subject to the outcome of the membership vote. That until agreed arrangements between the parties are in place with regard to informing members and engagement with the media the matter to remain confidential.  

  A complete proposed replacement EBA document will be made available to members for a vote as soon as possible. Some key details are provided below. We thank you for your understanding and patience.
  
  Key elements of the improved proposed replacement EBA:
  
  SALARY
  
  Salary delivered in the proposed EBA will enable the Union to achieve a key objective of its Log of Claims, that is Western Australian teachers at the top of the automatic incremental salary scale will be leading the nation’s salary for the profession. 

  • a salary range from 15.85 to 21.67% for teachers;
  • administrators at 17.56% 
  • commencement salary for graduates moved from L1.5 at $ 45 733 to L1.6 $ 48 425
  • first salary increment increase from the first pay period July 2008 [back paid on registration]

  PRIMARY DOTT

  • 10m additional in 2009 and a further 10m in 2011

  ALLOWANCES

  • the significant quantum’s of the  “2nd Offer” are contained in this proposal;
  • RTS ranging from $ 14 00 to $ 19 000pa;
  • CTP ranging from $ 7 312 to $ 12 500pa; and
  • MTP $ 2 000 or $ 3 000pa for the majority of schools. 
  • All flat rates (same quantum each year)
  • Graduate allowance up from $ 800 to $ 1 600 pa, with a one off payment to those currently in their second year of service in 2008 when this cohort are in their third year of service at L1.7 in 2009.

  HODS

  • 90m per week clerical support

  The Union will be arranging a series of meetings and a podcast, in addition to the scheduled District Council meetings, for the purpose of presenting the proposed Agreement. Schools will be advised by fax and on the website www.sstuwa.org of this schedule.
  
  More details in Update 62, including Directive 1 remains in place




• WA Today
  
  
  • Industrial action will continue despite pay offer, teachers union
    by Andrea Hayward
    
    "Teachers will continue industrial action until members have agreed to a pay deal brokered with the State Government, the State School Teachers Union said today.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said the State Government had brokered a pay deal with the SSTUWA today, which had in-principle agreement from the union's executive.
    
    "Under the deal, teachers will be paid between 15.84 and 21.67 per cent more, becoming the highest paid teachers in the nation.
    
    "It comes after a bitter battle by the union with the State Government, which has involved industrial action and arbitration, with the union defying an Industrial Relations Commission order not to strike.

    "Teachers are currently observing a directive which limits time spent doing voluntary tasks.
    
    "SSTUWA president Anne Gisborne said its members would be well advised to accept the pay offer."But the union would consult its membership on the pay deal and industrial action regarding voluntary tasks would continue until early September when union members voted.
    
    "Not till our members actually bring a result down for us we will actually know whether this agreement is acceptable or whether we are still on track for arbitration," Ms Gisborne said.
    
    "Until such time as we are assured that our members are supporting this agreement, all member action will continue."
    
    "Mr McGowan said the State Government recognised teachers and administrators had been frustrated by the lengthy negotiations.
    
    "Importantly, through constructive discussion, the Government and the SSTU have been able to work towards the common goal of ensuring that teachers in WA are better paid than their interstate counterparts," Mr McGowan said.
    
    "But Ms Gisborne said the Government had backed down for fear of a political campaign against it ahead of the election.
    
    "I think it is a backdown by the government and I think one of the strongest elements behind this has been the political campaigning that our members have had on track for eight to 10 weeks," Ms Gisborne said.
    
    "I think the prospect of seeing further political campaigning occurring in the lead up to the election is something that certainly has had a significant impact on this offer coming forward."I think that we certainly were a problem that the government didn't want and the minister certainly didn't want to see on a daily basis …our members would be out there lobbying and bringing to the attention of the community the disgraceful approach of this government to stymie a resolution of this matter."
    
    "Mr McGowan denied he was trying to avoid a campaign by teachers against the State Government in the lead-up to the next election by increasing the offer to teachers.
    
    "Education Department director-general Sharyn O'Neill said she was delighted the deal had been brokered and teachers could maintain their focus on their classrooms.
    
    "I'm delighted... I think it's well deserved," Ms O'Neill said.
    
    "The most important thing is that we have an outcome, a positive outcome..."
    
    "The SSTUWA will now put the deal to its membership, but has given it in-principle support.
    
    "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier said the pay dispute was "just one of many" factors that needed to be addressed within the education system.
    
    "Other issues included resourcing, the condition of schools, the lack of career opportunities for teachers and the "appalling lack" of behaviour management measures.
    
    "The Government had unnecessarily dragged the dispute on for 10 months, Mr Collier said.
    
    "The pay deal today is what the Liberals have advocated for many months - a position that the Minister and Treasurer (Eric Ripper) have been highly critical of up to now," he said.
    
    FACTBOX

    What the Government offer to teachers means

    •    Level 2.4 teachers to receive a 21.67 per cent pay rise during the three-year agreement;
    •    Senior teachers (ST2) teachers to receive a 19.37 per cent increase over the same period;
    •    An additional 20 minutes per week of duties other than teaching time for primary teachers over the life of the agreement;
    •    Increase in allowances by between $2,000 to $4,000, taking them to $14,000 to $19,000pa in 43 remote schools, $7,312 and $12,500pa in 121 country schools and $2,000 or $3,000pa in 80 metropolitan teaching program schools;
    •    The agreement will see the pay of graduate teachers boosted from $46,533 to $57,696, senior level teachers salaries will go from $69,132 to $84,114 and level four administrators will go from $93,464 to $109,874.
    
    From WA Today at link
    
    
    

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
• WA teachers offered huge pay rise
  by Paul Lampathakis, education reporter
  
  "WA teachers will become the best-paid in Australia and get up to about 22 per cent more cash if they accept a new offer from the State Government.

  "The offer should ensure the government can head towards an election later this year without the distraction of industrial action being taken by the state's 21,500 teachers and school administrators.
  
  "Education Minister Mark McGowan said the government had always wanted to give teachers significant pay rise.
  
  "Importantly, through constructive discussions, the government and the SSTU (State School Teachers' Union) have been able to work towards the common goal of ensuring that teachers in WA are better paid than their interstate counterparts,'' he said.
  
  "Under the new deal, endorsed "in principle'' by the union executive, teachers would get from 15.85 per cent to 21.67 per cent extra pay over the next three years.
  
  "Graduates' salaries, with allowances, would rise from $46,533 to $57,696 in that period, including graduate allowances.
  
  "School administrators would also get a 17.56 per cent payrise, if teachers vote to accept the offer, which is likely to be decided within about seven weeks.
  
  "Primary teachers would get 10 minutes more per week for duties other than teaching time in 2009, and another 10 minutes for DOTT in 2011.
  
  "Under the offer, remote teaching service allowances will range from $14,000 to $19,000 annually in 43 schools.
  
  "Country teaching program allowances will start at $7,312 and go up to $12,500 yearly in 121 schools.
  
  "Metropolitan teaching program allowances for 80 difficult metropolitan schools will be $2000 or $3000.
  
  "Graduate allowances will double from $800 to $1,600 yearly, with a one off payment to those currently in their second year of service.
  
  "There would also be 15 hours of professional development outside school time, yearly.
  
  "But until the offer is accepted, the union has told teachers that its "directive one'' remains in place.
  
  "This means a ban on unpaid activities such as excursions, coaching sessions, trips and camps, until a decision is reached. [emphasis added]
  
  "Union general secretary David Kelly said salaries in the package would enable the union to achieve a key objective of its log of claims for its members.
  
  "That is, Western Australian teachers at the top of the automatic incremental salary scale will be leading the nation's salary for the profession,'' Mr Kelly said on the union website today.
  
  "Mr Kelly said the union, the Department of Education and Training and the Minister's Office, working with Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission Chief Commissioner Tony Beech, finalised an agreement "in principle'' with "significant improvements'' on previous offers.
  
  "Last Thursday, the union executive reached agreement with the Government for the deal. [emphasis added]
  
  "The commission took over arbitration of the pay deal last month because the WA Government and the State School Teachers' Union could not reach agreement after more than eight months of wrangling.
  
  "Mr McGowan said the agreement was a common sense result, with important and necessary gains for teachers.
  
  "But in addition, greater operational flexibility has been achieved for the education system to meet the challenges ahead,'' he said.
  
  "The Government has responded to the Unions concerns about teacher workload by agreeing to additional DOTT time for primary teachers and clerical support for secondary school heads of department.''
  
  "He said the Government had achieved its policy aim of giving all teachers a significant pay rise while providing additional incentives to those working in the toughest schools.
  
  "There are more than 240 schools in the State where teachers will get extra allowances - 50 more than was previously the case,'' he said.
  
  "In response to representations by the SSTU, the Government has extended these allowances to eligible schools in the Albany, Bunbury and Warren-Blackwood education districts for the first time.
  "Importantly, through constructive discussion, the Government and the SSTU have been able to work towards the common goal of ensuring that teachers in WA are better paid than their interstate counterparts.''
  
  "The Government's last offer, which it withdrew, was nearly 14 per cent, rising with allowances and other factors.
  
  "Opposition education spokesman Peter Collier welcomed today's progress, but said pay was just one of many factors which needed to be addressed by the Government.
  
  "Resourcing of our schools, the condition of our schools, the lack of career opportunities and the appalling lack of behaviour management measures has a significant effect on teachers and students,'' he said.
  
  "He said if teachers accepted the new pay deal, the Government should back-pay them from March this year when the last enterprise bargaining agreement expired.
  
  Over the life of the agreement:
  
  · a classroom teacher at the top of the automatic increment (level 2.4) will go from $69,132 to $84,114;
  
  · a senior teacher (ST2) will go from $72,844 to $86,953;
  
  · a level three classroom teacher will go from $77,744 to $91,394
  
  · a level four administrator will go from $93,464 to $109,874.
  

  From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
  
  
  
• The West Australian
  
  
  • WA teachers pay packets to be highest in country
    by Aleisha Preedy
    
    "WA's teachers will be the highest paid in Australia after agreeing “in principle” to a substantial pay rise after long-running negotiations with the State Government.

    "The State School Teachers Union and the State Government have today released details of the “in principle” agreement following an intervention in negotiations by WA Industrial Relations Commission chief commissioner Tony Beech at a meeting late last week.
    
    "Endorsed by the SSTU executive, teachers pay increases will range from 15.85 per cent to 21.67 per cent over three years.

    "Other key elements to the agreement include increasing the duties other than teaching time (DOTT) by 10 minutes in 2009 and a further 10 minutes in 2011.

    "Under the proposed deal, teachers in regional areas will be offered satellite dishes for pay TV reception and two flights back to Perth each year.

    "SSTU president Anne Gisborne said members would vote on the proposal in about two weeks time, once the paper work had been finalised, but in the meantime had been told to continue their industrial action.

    "Teachers overwhelmingly rejected a pay increase of 13 per cent over three years last December.

    "Experienced teachers and those working in difficult or remote schools would have received up to 22 per cent.

    "Ms Gisborne said latest “agreement” had been the result of the Government backing down and increasing their political campaigning as Premier Alan Carpenter prepares to announce the date of the next State Government election.

    “Why have we ended up with teachers and the community kept in a fairly angst position, distressed for almost nine months before we have had a position here on the table which should have been with us at the end of last year?” she said.

    “I think it has been a back down by the government and I think one of the strongest elements behind this has been the political campaigning of our members for eight to ten weeks and I think the prospect of seeing further political campaigning occurring in the lead up to the election certainly has had significant impact on this offer coming forward.”

    "At a press conference a short time ago, Education Minister Mark McGowan denied the timing of the deal was a stunt.

    "He said under the agreement teacher's wages would increase $945 million over five years.

    “In the spirit of compromise both parties have moved and we have reached an outcome with will make sure our teachers are well rewarded, we get additional flexibility in schools and hopefully that will continue to have a very happy and motivated workforce in the future,” he said.

    “It's not the only solution to the long term problems with attracting people into the workforce but it is an important component with solving that problem and we have said that all the way along.”

    "If the agreement is reached, teachers will be back paid from the start of July."
    
    From The West Australian online at link
    
    

  • The Video
    
    

  • NEWS BLOG - Is this a fair deal for our teachers?
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Teachers new pay deal
    
    "The State Government has announced a new pay offer for teachers which includes significant pay rises and better conditions.

    "The pay increases range from 15.84 per cent to 21.67 per cent over three years.

    "It also includes more preparation time.
    

    "Negotiations have dragged on for 10 months with thousands of teachers walking off the job earlier this year in their bid for a 20 per cent pay rise.

    "The Education Minister Mark McGowan says he hopes this will finally end the dispute.

    "This deal will make sure our teachers are the very best paid of the Australian states," he said.

    "Obviously it will mean they are properly rewarded for the effort they put in in the classrooms around our state".

    "The Teachers Union Executive has agreed in principle to the deal, but it is yet to be put Union members.

    Union critical

    "The union's President Anne Gisborne has criticised how long the Government has taken to come up with the offer.

    "Why has it taken so long for this government and this minister to come to a new position here," she said.

    "Why have we ended up with teachers and the community kept in a fairly angst position."

    Election sweetener

    "The Opposition spokeman for Education Peter Collier says the pay offer is a move by the State Government to win votes.

    "At last the Government has miraculously found about $200 million extra in the kitty," he said.

    "What's actually happened here obviously is the Government's had a look at the polling and realised what a very very significant issue this is.

    "So what's happened is the Premier's come along and tapped the Minister on the shoulder and said get this thing off the agenda at an election."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Della Bosca divides principals
    
    New South Wales principals are divided about the future of former education minister John Della Bosca, after a group representing about 700 lobbied against his reinstatement.
    
    
    
  • Della Bosca unfit for ministership: principals
    
    A group representing more than 700 public school principals is urging New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma not to reinstate John Della Bosca as education minister.
  
  
  
  
• The Age
  
  
  • Editorial
    We're still waiting for the education revolution
    
    The federal Education Minister's speech setting out where the revolution is heading was more notable for what it didn't say than for what it did.
    
    "All revolutions have slogans. The Rudd Government's much-vaunted "education revolution", however, has been chiefly famous as a slogan. Since before the federal election, Australians have asked what the revolution will deliver, and the specific promises made in reply have been few: increased funds for computers in secondary schools and the teaching of Asian languages, some trade training centres, a National Curriculum Board. The last of these, which has the task of drawing up curriculums for all Australian schools in the core subjects of English, maths, science and history, might yet stir up a revolution, but the nation will have to wait awhile.
    
    "Until then, Australians are reliant on what the Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who also holds the education portfolio, is willing to tell them about the Government's intentions. So it might have been hoped, when she delivered the inaugural John Button Memorial Lecture last week on the subject of the education revolution, that the long-awaited blueprint for transformation was finally going to appear. It didn't.
    
    "Which is not to say that Ms Gillard said nothing at all. Once again, she professed the Government's faith that the foundation of future economic prosperity lies in the creation of a highly skilled workforce. And who would dispute it? With one exception, though, the rest of the minister's speech was sometimes suggestive, sometimes allusive, and all too often elusive. It was rarely prescriptive.
    
    "The exception was her welcome insistence that the brightest graduates must once again be persuaded to take up teaching as a career, and to do so in the toughest classrooms. The long-term national trend has been in the opposite direction, with the consequence that a third of teachers are now older than 50 and university entry scores for some teaching courses are as low as 60. When Ms Gillard moved to the question of how teaching might once more be made a popular career option, however, the elusiveness began.
    
    "She noted that in Britain a publicity campaign has changed perceptions of teaching, and cited British and American programs that bring governments, business and charities together in an attempt to inspire bright young graduates to work in what she euphemistically described as "hard to staff" schools.
    
    "Recognising that rewards are as important as inspiration in attracting people to any job, however, Ms Gillard also acknowledged that "teachers should be rewarded for their contribution, through comprehensive and trusted assessment and performance management against those standards". Shorn of jargon, this presumably means that teachers' pay should be performance-based, though the minister didn't quite say that. Nor did she attempt to answer the crucial and much-disputed question of how a teacher's performance is to be measured. And, although the point is both obvious and crying out to be made, she did not advise her state counterparts that the easiest and surest way to raise the status of any profession is to raise its rates of pay. Perhaps Ms Gillard assumes that they already know this, but, as recent history in Victoria confirms, it is a point that state governments have sometimes been slow to accept. [emphasis added]
    
    "The most maddeningly elusive section of Ms Gillard's speech, however, is that concerning the balance between government and private schools. "Let's not pretend … that our education system can be simply broken down into two groups," she said, "with a disadvantaged public sector on the one side and a highly resourced non-government sector on the other side … There are schools that struggle with limited resources trying to serve disadvantaged communities in both groups." Well, yes. There are some well-resourced government schools and some poorly resourced parochial and other religious schools. But it cannot be denied that, overall, government schools are disproportionately under-resourced compared with private schools.
    
    "What message is Ms Gillard trying to send when she says: "The debate we need to be having is not a sterile debate about public versus private." If she is saying that all schools should be funded on the basis of need, it would be as welcome an assertion as her commitment to making teaching a more desirable career — but she made no such assertion. Is she hinting at a system similar to that in Britain, where there is one scale of public provision with some of the schools covered by it denominational and others secular? That would require a real education revolution. And real revolutions, as Ms Gillard surely knows, don't start with insinuations."
    
    From The Age at link
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor
    

    • "Much of the criticism of Julia Gillard's speech (Letters, 19/7) is misleading. Yes, socio-economic factors can influence a child's academic performance, but the evidence-based research (not vague, unexaminable personal anecdotes of a person with every incentive to misrepresent the results) shows that the magnitude of these effects pales into insignificance compared with class/teacher effects.
      
      "It is no coincidence that those who try to explain away the poor performance of students by saying that it is all because of the student's socio-economic status are almost always the teachers of poor-performing students! This self-serving argument and ideology of social determinism is simply a convenient tool for some teachers to escape accountability for their actions.
      
      "Ignoring the connection between teaching and learning not only means ignoring volumes of research but also flies in the face of common sense. If there's no connection between teaching and learning, why should we bother with having teachers at all?

      Brendan Duong, West Sunshine
      
      

    • "You don't have to suggest that "demography is destiny" (Comment & Debate, 18/7) in order to acknowledge that socio-economic status (SES) is by far the best predictor of school achievement, Ms Gillard. It is also a fact that more money is spent on private education per student and that students from high SES backgrounds dominate private school enrolments. Are you starting to see the problem?
      
      "Politicians and commentators rushing to distance themselves from the "public-private (school) divide" is getting a bit tiresome. Is it not true that the majority of parents send their children to private schools precisely because they are choosing to differentiate their kids from the majority, whether it be for cultural, religious or economic ends?"

      Justin Bowd, Flemington

    
    

• The Australian
  
  
  • Skills money wasted on bad courses
    
    The Rudd Government's $1.9 billion push to improve skills in the workforce risks being wasted on cheaper-to-produce training in areas such as security, retailing and hairdressing unless Canberra boosts the amount it is offering for courses.

    TAFE chiefs have warned that in some high-cost courses such as technology and engineering-related areas, the money the commonwealth is offering to fully fund the upskilling of unemployed people is half what it would cost a TAFE to deliver.
    

Tuesday 22 July

• My questions to and response from SSTUWA
  by Jenny Fuller [PLATO Forum]
  
  
  • This is a copy and paste of my email to the union and union response:
    
    
  • When are we going to get a full copy of the latest offer? Will the detailed copy be available for all union members.
    
    J A Fuller
    
    
    
  • Thank you for your email below.
    
    The "Agreement In-Principal" Offer has not been released by the DET yet. We are expecting it in 2 - 3 weeks. Once we get the completed document we will certainly be providing access to all members. Members will then have 20 working days to complete the voting form and return to us.
    
    regards
    Caron Hampson
    Member Assist
    Phone: 9325 5311
    Fax: 9221 2394
    inquiries@sstuwa.org.au
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • School pay deal fails to end ban (page 5)
    by Bethany Hiatt

    “The State School Teachers Union says its members will continue to ban unpaid overtime such as supervising school balls, camps and sports events and maintain their anti-Government campaign, despite a deal which will hand them pay rises of up to nearly 22 per cent over three years.

    “In a deal hammered out before the bitter pay dispute was to go before the WA Industrial Relations Commission, the Government and the union agreed on increases of between 15.85 per cent and 21.67 per cent over three years.

    “Education Minister Mark McGowan claimed yesterday the agreement would make WA teachers the highest paid in the nation. The deal is still subject to acceptance by union members by early September.

    “Union president Anne Gisborne said the union would push ahead with industrial action because a series of issues was still unresolved, including the teacher shortage, the poor state of country housing for teachers and excessive workloads.

    “But Mr McGowan said such action was unnecessary: “I urge the teacher’s union to reconsider.”

    “Ms Gisborne said union rallies and letter-drops in marginal electorates had forced the Government to increase teachers’ pay.

    “I think it has been a backdown by the Government,” she said.

    “She said teachers would be “well-advised” to accept the deal which would grant most teachers more than 17 per cent over three years. The last offer, which union members overwhelmingly rejected in December, would have given most teachers an increase of about 13 per cent.

    “Under the “in-principle agreement”, which was revealed first by thewest.com.au yesterday, a graduate teacher’s salary would rise from $50,025 to $57,696 by 2011. A classroom teacher’s pay at the top of the automatic incremental pay scale would go from $69,132 to $84,114 and a senior teacher would go from $72,844 to $86,953 over the life of the agreement. Highest-paid teachers would go from $77,744 to $91,394. The first increment would be back-dated to July.

    “Even though the union had called for across-the-board increases of more than 20 per cent over three years, Ms Gisborne said the union’s executive had endorsed the agreement because it offered “significant movement” in salaries. “For our members this is a big win,” she said.

    “The Government refused to reduce class sizes by primary-school teachers will receive an extra 10 minutes a week for non-teaching duties next year and another 10 minutes in 2011.

    “The union agreed to more flexible school hours, which means that schools will be allowed to run classes between 7am and 6pm. Teachers will also have to do 15 hours of professional development a year outside school time. Mr McGowan denied the new deal had anything to do with the next State election.”

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Another piece in the puzzle as Premier clears decks for election (page 5)
    by Robert Taylor

    “At a calculating pace, Alan Carpenter is steadily working his way through the Government’s “things to do” list before calling an election.

    “At the weekend the Premier turned the first sod at the Fiona Stanley Hospital site in Murdoch.

    “This will later be followed by the poring of the first concrete pad, the laying of the first brick, the opening of the first bed and the changing of the first sheet, although most if not all will be well after the election result is known.

    “Back in the lead-up to the 2005 election when Geoff Gallop was premier, Colin Barnett the Opposition leader, Chris Connolly the coach of the Dockers and Ben Cousins better known for playing football, Labor said the first 600-bed stage of FSH would begin in 2007 with a 2010 completion date. But the Government only managed to let the earthworks tender for the site this month so Sunday’s sod turning was not before time.

    “Yesterday it was time to settle the teachers’ pay dispute, which had dragged on for more than nine months and was getting dangerously close to the election red zone.

    “Although the Government described its original offer as the most generous teacher-pay deal in the country, Labor still managed to find an extra couple of percentage points to sweeten the pie, even though it was still believed to have been touch and go whether the SSTU executive would roll over and recommend the deal.

    “Votes on the deal from the rank and file are expected to be returned by early September and, barring surprises, the whole package should be bedded down before Parliament is due to sit in the marginal seat of Bunbury on September 9 and 10, which some are predicting will be the last official gig before the poll is called.

    “We’ve already had the museum and stadium announcements and the decision to relocate King Edward and Princess Margaret hospitals to Charlie Gairdner’s, although this time there’s no timetable for KEMH and the PMH start won’t be until 2013, when the election after this one is due, with a finish date some time in 2016.

    “That probably leaves the public servants’ pay claim and legislative adjustments to truth-in-sentencing laws aimed at fixing the problem highlighted by a Supreme Court decision still to come.

    “Truth in sentencing could be an election issue and may be the only reason to go back to Parliament on August 12, although there is still nervousness in Government ranks about going to the polls too early.

    “There’s also the prospect of something going wrong with the gas situation before Apache Energy’s timetable for bringing half its production back online by mid-August.

    “With the Olympic Games due to start on August 8, political parties will struggle to get noticed over the following two weeks and by then we’re into footy finals, although with the Eagles and Dockers both at the bottom of the table an election might be a welcome distraction.

    “Conversely, November is TEE month and parents don’t want anything upsetting the study timetable. After that we’re into daylight saving and who knows which party the punters might blame for that.

    “All of which points to an October campaign with polling day October 25 or November 1.”

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Schools ‘need to make fat kids run’ [Front Page Headline]
    by Cathy O’Leary

    “Every school child should be made to do at least 30 minutes of daily exercise, such as running or swimming laps, to tackle an obesity crisis that is causing children as young as 10 to develop high blood pressure, dangerous cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes, health experts have warned.

    “The Children’s Physical Activity Coalition will call today for the State Government to spend at least $10 million a year over the next decade to curb the number of children with health conditions related directly to being overweight and inactive.

    “Its 10-point plan says all students should do a minimum of 150 minutes a week of physical education with properly trained teachers to meet half the Federal Government’s recommendations that children have an hour a day of moderate to vigorous physical activity, which includes brisk walking and team sports.

    “Princess Margaret Hospital’s head of cardiac services, Andrew Bullock, said he was alarmed by increases in the number of cases of grossly obese children aged 10 to 12 presenting with what were once considered adult conditions such as high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes.

    “A growing number of young obese children were showing subtle abnormalities in their heart function that were markers of future heart disease, though they were potentially reversible if children lost weight and exercised more.

    “The concern for us is that we’ve seen what’s been happening in the US for a bit longer and if we continue that way, we’ll be mirroring those changes,” Dr Bullock said.

    “We’re already seeing more children and adolescents being diagnosed with metabolic syndrome, which is the culmination of high blood pressure, abnormal cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, and which substantially increases their risk of heart disease and stroke.

    “Many are also developing muscular-skeletal problems such as joint disease related to obesity and inactivity.”

    “Dr Bullock said he was particularly concerned about inactive 13 to 18 year-olds who were still at school and living at home because their sedentary lifestyles had to be reversed before they started driving.
    
    “Coalition chairman Trevor Shilton, who heads cardiovascular health at the Heart Foundation, said the time for talk-fest was over and while parents played a role, it was important for State Government departments and their ministers to act.

    “This is a call for changes in policies of the WA Government to tackle the major crisis of physical inactivity and overweight and obesity in WA children,” he said. “For example, the national physical activity recommendations are for children to have an hour a day and because children spend half their waking hours at school, then it’s up to schools to meet their responsibilities.”

    “Education Department policy states that students from Years one to 10 should have a minimum of two hours of physical activity each week but Mr Shilton said his group was calling for a minimum amount of properly-resourced physical education.

    “Rob Thompson, of the WA Sports Federation, said apart from having at least an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity a day, children should not spend more than two hours a day using electronic games.”

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 23)
    

    • My shameful classroom

      “As school returns for another term I feel compelled to give a scenario of my classroom.

      “I am 54 and have been teaching in public schools (pre-primary) for three years. My school is classified as a “difficult to staff school” and my classroom is old and run down. It comprises broken equipment and furniture (including broken toilets that are single flush, hence waste enormous amounts of precious water), the children play and sleep on threadbare, heavily stained mats and a high proportion of my equipment come via kink donations from my family and friends (one visiting friend was so shocked she donated cash for me to buy some games and new equipment).

      “I offered to paint my classroom (in my own time, at my own cost) but this was rejected.

      “My minimal classroom budget must include supplying cleaning products and basic pre-primary necessities such as paper, glue and paint. In the 20 years this classroom has been used, I am sure none of the equipment has been replaced – I am embarrassed when other professionals visit.

      “I am also curious about my $70,000 the Government state teachers are paid. My grou0p certificate this year clearly identifies my annual salary as $48,000, out of which I supply much of the material required to teach in my classroom.

      “I love teaching and I know my students and their families love being a part of my class. I am trying not to follow many of my colleagues who are leaving the teaching profession for alternative employment that respects them and pays them accordingly.

      “One young male colleague has recently resigned to start an apprenticeship. What an indictment of a profession that was once admired.

      “Oh, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I have the aged pension to look forward to once I have paid my $14,000 HECS debt.

      “Shame, WA, shame.”

      Verna Hurst, Bassendean
      
      

    • No comparison

      “Brian Lindberg has enough confidence in WACOT to include it among professional bodies such as the Medical Board of WA and the Nurses Board (Letters, 18/7).

      “I regularly see Rosanna Capolingua speaking out on behalf of GPs, seeking improved conditions for her members and expressing concern over the lack of services as a result of the limited resources made available for health care.

      “What does WACOT do? Botch two elections and complain about any members who are late to pay. Perhaps if something was being provided for its members and perhaps if the professional standards for which it calls were modelled from the “top” then teachers might be more faithful to its body.

      “Registering teachers isn’t  the problem – that’s merely administrative and if that’s WACOT’s primary function (as Mr Lindberg suggests) then there are many people being paid very high salaries to carry out this process.

      “Before WACOT earns the right to associate itself among the company of the dental, nurses and medical boards of WA, it needs to work for the needs of its members. And given the current state of education, this is both urgent and expected, ahead of criticism of Tony Rutherford.”

      Trish Dowsett, Manning
      
      

    • “Brian Lindberg needs to worry less about what Tony Rutherford thinks of WACOT and ask himself why teachers despise their own professional organisation. Solve this one, Brian, and you may swing teachers to your side. At the moment, Rutherford is talking a lot more sense.”

      David Sargent, Joondalup
      
      
      

  • Exam results soar as school bans street slang in classrooms (21 July: page 28)
    London

    “A school has banned its pupils from using “street slang” as part of a strict behaviour policy which is transforming exam results.
    
    “Pupils are not allowed to use the phrase “innit” or other examples of “playground patois” when talking to teachers.  Formal language must be used at all times in communications with adults, and pupils have been told that street slang should be “left at the school gates”.
    
    “The measure, along with a strict uniform policy, is part of a tough stance on discipline at Manchester Academy, in the city’s deprived Moss Side area.  Since the school became an academy in 2003, exam results have improved and the proportion who left without a job or college course to go to is down from 26 to 6 per cent.
    
    “Head teacher Kathy August said: “Language is really important and we have to make sure pupils realise that.  You can get good results in your exams but if you go to an interview and you can’t shake hands, look someone in the eye and speak in the appropriate register, you are not going to get the job or place at university.”

    “She said that the message had been drummed into pupils that street slang was “just not academy”.

    From The West Australian
    
    
    

• ABC News
  
  
  • Parents lobby welcomes teacher pay offer
    
    A parents lobby has welcomed the end of a pay dispute between the State School Teachers Union (SSTU) and the State Government.
    
    
    
  • Union snubs Government
    
    The Northern Territory government has been told by the Australian Education Union it will not get teachers' support at the ballot box.
    
    
    
  • CLP woos teachers
    
    The Country Liberals will offer teachers a 14 per cent pay-rise over three years if elected to Government in the Northern Territory.
    
    
    
  • Liberals pledge more teachers, smaller classes
    
    The Canberra Liberals have unveiled key planks of their education policy, promising primary school classes will have a maximum of 21 students.
    
    
    
  • Teachers Union backs calls for smaller high school classes
    
    The Teachers Union says the ACT Liberal Party's plan to reduce primary school class sizes is a good move, but should also be done in high schools.
    
    
    
  • Indigenous reading program working: educator
    
    Educators in the Northern Territory say a program designed to improve low literacy levels among Indigenous students is working.
    
    
    
    
• The Australian
  
  
  • WA teachers net pay bonanza
    by Amanda O'Brien
    
    "Teachers in Western Australia have been offered pay rises of up to 21.7 per cent, making them the country's highest paid, after the Carpenter Government yesterday buckled to pressure in the lead-up to a state election, tipped for October...
    
    "Ms Gisborne welcomed the new offer as a breakthrough.

    "Mr McGowan said he was hopeful the new deal would also help address the state's teacher shortage..."
    
    Full story in The Australian at link
    
    
    

• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • English speakers down for the count
    by Anna Patty, Education Editor
    
    "Children who are English speakers cannot compete with their Asian-language counterparts when it comes to learning how to count above 10, says the head of maths curriculum for the NSW Department of Education.
    
    "As a result, early-childhood teachers will be trained to provide extra support for native English speakers, whose progress in maths may be at a disadvantage because of the way the English language is structured.
    
    "Peter Gould, the chief education officer for mathematics at the department, said children of both English and Asian-language backgrounds were on par when it came to learning to count from one to 10, but language differences made counting from 11 to 20 and above more difficult for English speakers..."
    
    Full story in The Sydney Morning Herald at link

 

Wednesday 23 July

• The West Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Union has won so now school bans should go
    
    "It is churlish and self-indulgent of the State School Teachers Union to continue bans which have resulted in the cancellation of school camps, balls and sporting events. The union has been handsomely rewarded by the State Government in a pay offer which will make WA teachers the highest paid in the nation. [Certainly has: CPI + 2 %.  Web]
    
    
    "That should be enough to call off the sort of bans which prevented some country schools from attending this year's recent Country Week, the biggest sporting even of the year.
    
    "The carnival has been running for many years and is much anticipated by country students.
    
    "Most parents have been sympathetic to the teachers' cause, recognising that better pay and conditions will attract more people to the profession.
    
    "By continuing the bans, the union risks alienating even those parents who would have been justified in concluding that since the battle was over, their children's school activities would no longer be threatened with disruption.
    
    "If there are issues yet to be resolved and the union cites teacher shortages, the poor state of country housing and excessive workloads they should be worked through in consultation with the Government.
    
    "It is clear that most teachers believed the demand for better pay was the centre of the battle with the Government. Continuing to disadvantage students and parents will be counter-productive for the reputation of the teaching profession.
    
    "The WA Council of State School Organisations said yesterday that the size of the pay increase being offered to teachers meant there was no reason for the bans to be maintained.
    
    "The offer, if accepted by the membership will result in increases for most teachers of up to 17 per cent over three years.
    
    "The offer is generous and should be received by the teachers' union in the same spirit."
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
    
  • Op Ed
    A shameful puzzle: Why does Labor shun poor?
    by Tony Rutherford
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan is to be congratulated for his announcement on Monday of a reasonable pay offer for schoolteachers. The congratulations, and the offer, are somewhat diminished by the triumphalist cynicism of the whole deal. After all, the money was there all the time.
      
    "The timing and the level of the offer were determined not by any benevolent considerations for the welfare of an alienated and overstretched workforce. It was all to do with pre-election timing.
      
    "Equally to the point, achieving something like a satisfactory pay regime — one which is, incidentally, far too rigid and centralised — is, as everyone now knows, merely a first step towards the necessary revival of the State’s public school system. To oversimplify just a little, we are rapidly reaching the stage at which all those who can afford it are sending their children to private schools, while the public system, with a decreasing number of heartening exceptions, will look after the poor in what the British call “sink” schools.
      
    "For the latter part of the 19th century, and most of the 20th, it was one of the most honourable goals of politics to give every child the best chance possible. In the 1950s and 60s, there was little to separate the outcomes of private and public schools. The poor had as good a chance as they could possibly expect. In Britain, the odds were even better, with selective grammar schools. Here, there was the old Modern School. But no prime minister, no secretary of treasury, no Rhodes Scholars, are likely to come from most of our present public schools for a long time.
      
    "The abandonment of these goals in the 1980s and 90s is an aspect of public policy too little noticed and questioned. The abandonment of those goals by Labor governments is a particular and shameful puzzle. If the voters can’t expect Labor to look after the public system, then who will?
      
    "The fact is that Labor, and labour parties in general, don’t now much care any more. They take the poor — and their votes, locked up in safe seats — for granted.
      
    "This is not simply a phenomenon to do with education.
      
    "The British example is a daunting one in all respects. The Spectator, a few weeks ago, looked at conditions in the constituency of Glasgow East, a safe Labour seat soon to face a by-election. The author quoted some fairly shocking statistics on male life expectancy in some of the grim suburbs — as low as 62 in some parts, with unemployment rates to match. After years of Labour rule under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, things are still getting worse.
      
    "With some exceptions, such as the long-term beneficiaries of the invalid pension and big numbers of non-urban Aboriginals, the poor in Australia are not nearly so badly off, not least because of the Howard government’s efforts to get them into the labour market.
      
    "But they don’t much figure in a lot of Labor policy.
      
    "Kevin Rudd’s greenhouse emissions trading regime is the latest example of this. In the end, on a proportionate basis, the poor will pay. There will be compensation, of course, for petrol and energy prices. But that is a blunt instrument. And no one has yet started to calculate the effects beyond those immediate ones of petrol and home energy costs. Nor has anyone been talking much about the further initiatives which will inevitably follow, as they have done overseas — doubling the registration duty on old cars, for instance, as is proposed in Britain, to get the old and inefficient gas-guzzlers off the roads.
      
    "The middle classes can, in the end, go out and buy a Prius, or efficient electric globes, or put solar heating or photovoltaic cells on their roofs. The poor never will be able to afford that sort of thing. And, unlike the middle classes, the poor will take small comfort from increased provision of public transport as a substitute for cars, because of the way our cities have grown out on radial arteries.
      
    "When there are job losses — and there will be — it will be among the working poor, who are often concentrated in low-skilled, carbon-intensive parts of the labour market. But no one seems much interested in thinking all this through. Urban middle-class environmentalist causes seem inevitably to involve damage to the interests of the working poor — the recent political history of Tasmania is an example of this.
      
    "The paradox is that while Labor depends on those solid working-class votes, it has written them off. Old Labour carried with it the best of the old traditions, traditions which gave the poor the ability to rise out of poverty. The Victorian ideal of self-help, respectability and dignity, now so much sneered at, was strong. Then, as Labor was slowly taken over by the progressive middle class new Left, the idea developed that the poor were victims, deluded by bourgeois notions of improvement.
      
    "Some of this history is summed up in that famous judgment attributed to Kim Beazley Sr when he said: “When I joined the Labor Party, it contained the cream of the working class. But as I look about me now, all I see are the dregs of the middle class.”
      
    "If Labor is ever to tackle the major policy problems of our time — family dysfunction, crime, health, education, just for a start — it would be immeasurably better off if it looked back to its own history and tried to recover some of its regard for those now suffering most from its addiction to “progressive” policies. The poor have a right to nothing less."
    
    From The West Australian at link
    
    
    
  • Editorial
    More exercise at school will help with obesity
    
    "The evidence of overwhelming that Australian children are showing increasing levels of obesity, exacerbated by their more sedentary lifestyles.
    
    "The Children's Physical Activity Coalition, which says that children as young as 10 are developing high blood pressure, dangerously high cholesterol levels and type 2 diabetes, wants compulsory physical exercise in schools.
    
    "It says that many youngsters are developing muscular-sketetal problems such as joint disease, which is related to obesity and inactivity.
    
    "The Education Department's policy is that students up to Year 10 should have two hours of physical activity per week. It appears that either not enough children meet the target.
    
    "In the first instance, encouraging children to lead a more active and healthy life is the role of parents. But changing lifestyles and competition from computers and electronic games have made that difficult to achieve, even for parents keen to tackle the problem.
    
    "Finding more time for exercise in a school day is a relatively simple way of improving the health of children, worth consequent benefits both to them and to the nation's health care bill in later life.
    
    "It would be unfortunate, however, if as a result parents felt they had been absolved of a responsibility which rightfully belongs to them."
    
    [Next: teachers to perform dental checkups and fill small cavities??  Web]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Pressure on private school fees (page 7)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    "Private school fees, which have already soared well above the inflation rate in recent years, are poised to rise further as non-government schools are forced to compete with the pay rises offered to State school teachers this week.
    
    "Anglican Schools Commission chief executive Peter Laurence said fees could rise as much as 10 per cent next year, instead of the normal 5-6 per cent rise, because teachers' salaries comprised most of a school's expenditure.
    
    "I'm sure that some of the costs will be passed on to parents," he said. "There are not a lot of other choices for schools. The income has to come from somewhere and on the basis that there's no immediate rise in government funding, fee rises obviously have to occur."
    
    "Warnings of higher school fees came as WA's main parents' group attacked the State School Teachers UNion for refusing to lift its ban on unpaid overtime such as supervising sports events and camps, even though union leaders have backed a new deal with the State Government which will grant pay rises of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years.
    
    "Association of Independent Schools of WA executive director Valerie Gould said some schools would feel pressure to match or better State school teachers' salaries.
    
    "If schools are going to pay their teachers more, they have to get the money from somewhere and for many schools, fees are a significant source of funding," she said.
    
    "But elite WA colleges which charge secondary fees of about $15,000 a year said the salary rises would have little immediate impact on them.
    
    "St Hilda's Anglican School for Girls principal Joy Shepherd said the likely increase in State school salaries had already been taken into account when setting a new agreement this year.
    
    "Christ Church Grammar School principal Garth Wayne said while he would keep an eye on the increases, they would not put extra pressure on him to raise his teachers' salaries more than already planned.
    
    "I would see this in the State school sector as a little bit of a catch up to a position where perhaps some of the State schoolteachers needed to have been for a while anyway," he said.
    
    "Catholic Education Office director Ron Dullard said it would match State school salaries as soon as possible, but a corresponding increase in government funding meant it should not have to raise fees.
    
    "WA Council of State Schools Organisations president Rob Fry said he failed to understand the logic in continuing to enforce the ban on unpaid overtime, which was disadvantaging students and angering parents.
    
    "But SSTU president Anne Gisborne said it was unfair to expect teachers to undertake voluntary activities as part of their jobs. Teachers could still supervise extracurricular activities if they were paid or received time off in lieu."
    
    [We could always ask all teachers to work without pay – that would help keep fees down.  Web]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    Department fails to keep brighter faces of teaching
    
    "Teaching aficionados only need to look at official government publications to realise that Leah Uston and Jenny Gull are and were two of the brighter faces of the State's teaching profession.
    
    "And we use the words 'are' and 'were' advisedly.
    
    "Gull features in the latest edition of the Department of Education & Training's glossy publication, Schools and You, as a physics teacher at Duncraig Senior High School after having attended specialist training at the UNiversity of WA.
    
    "A smiling Gull is pictured "sharing her expertise" with Duncraig students.
    
    "The only problem is Gull quit the State education system last term after being refused leave without pay. She wanted the leave so she could work full-time for the rest of the year for the UWA program training fellow science teachers. "I had my had forced," Gull said. It is a similar story for Upson, who topped her year at Edith Cowan University and was hailed by the department's then boss, Paul Albert in 2005 after winning an industry award for her efforts at Tom Price Primary School.
    
    "Upson has been one of the faces of a campaign to lure teachers back into the profession, featuring as late as yesterday on an internet page in which Education Minister Mark McGowan proclaims plans to attract and retain teachers.
    
    "But Upson also quit this year after, you guessed it, being refused leave without pay. Upson, who moved to Melville Primary School two years ago, said she had enjoyed the classroom but found her nights and weekends were filled with reporting and preparation requirements. She is now an office administrator with a minerals exploration company, working a lot fewer hours for more money.
    
    "Upson had mixed views yesterday about the department still using her photograph. "I have no objection but it does not seem right, at the same time," she said.
    
    "Both Upson and Gull said they would go to private schools if they were to return to teaching." [emphasis added]
    
    From The West Australian
    
    
    
  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    
    
    • Food for thought
      
      "I would like to see these health officials live a day in a school child's shoes (Schools 'need to make fat ids run', 27/7). It seems to me that childhood obesity is bought on by many factors and unless you can change the rules of some schools then this problem will still exist.
      
      "When my daughter was in primary school she loved long-distance running and started running around the school oval in the morning before classes. She was petite and not obese but managed to encourage some of the bigger girls to join her and this was great (I thought) until she was told she couldn't do it because there was no teacher on duty to watch them. So they had to stop because it was something to do with possible litigation.
      
      "In high school they started the day at about 8:40am and got a quick break at 11:30am for about 10 minutes. Lunchtime wasn't until about 1:45pm and this was only 15 minutes and they finished around 3pm.
      
      "I would find this routine very difficult myself because I would not be able to wait until 1.45pm to eat my lunch.
      
      "When I asked my daughter about it, she said the short times were to discourage students getting up to mischief. This sounds good in theory but the way I see it is that kids will stuff themselves with junk food at 11:30am because that's when they are getting hungry and need something to tide them over, especially if they ate breakfast at 7am. Then, when lunchtime arrives they are still half full of potato chips or other junk food so they don't eat a proper lunch. And then they have no time to burn of calories.
      
      "When I went to school I'm pretty sure we got a 15-minute break around 10 or 10:30am and lunch at 12 was at least half an hour and we got a 10-minute break around 2pm. our poor kids have to endure shorter breaks because the schools can't find other solutions to bullying problems and they are scared of getting sued if a kid accidentally hurts themselves running around. How can anyone expect them to behave in class if they don't have time to eat or digest their food properly."
      
      Lori Sharkey, Gosnells
      
      
      
    • Fat chance
      
      "Fat kids? What a degrading term! So often we hear about children being teased because they are "fat" with the child suffering low self-esteem.
      
      "Making all children exercise for 30 minutes a day is a fantastic idea, don't get me wrong, but what will the results be long term? What will happen when these children get to their adult years? They wont have anyone forcing them to exercise and the obstacles that caused them to become obese in the first place will still exist. I especially make mention of all the unhealthy processed food available to consumers that the Government has put GST on to line its pocket.
      
      "Exercise is important but in this case can be seen as a band-aid method. More attention needs to be given to educating children and adults on healthy living - eating, exercise and lifestyle. Perhaps a ban on some of the junk food currently available to consumers would be worth addressing."
      
      Jill Reitsema, Martin
      
      
      
    • Home truth
      
      
      "Kids do not need to run at school, they should be getting lessons. When my 9-year-old son gets home from school at 4:15pm, he can run his little heart out in the backyard rather than sitting at the kitchen table under terrible sufferance doing homework."
      
      
      Julie Cant, Deepdal
      
      
      
    • In short
      
      
      "Schools already make sound efforts to make kids exercise and have for many years (Schools 'need to make fat ids run', 27/7). When will experts remember who is the prime carer for children? Schools are partners in supporting children, not the prime carers. Should the headline have been "Parents should make fat kids run"?"
      
      
      E.F Black, Thornlie
      
      
      
      
• The Australian
  
  
  • Editorial
    Opportunity missed
    

    Performance ignored in WA teachers' hefty pay rise
    
    "In lifting the salaries of its most experienced teachers in remote and unpopular urban schools to $110,000 by 2011, Western Australia has broken new ground. The need to boost Australia's education standards by lifting teachers' salaries has long been recognised, with the Business Council of Australia advocating a doubling of top classroom pay to $150,000. Under the new rates, graduate teachers in the west will start work on $58,000, a $10,000 increase.
    
    "What is regrettable about the offer by West Australian Education Minister Mark McGowan is that the rises of 15.8 to 21.7 per cent are to be paid across the board. Far outstripping inflation, the deal does not require the 21,500 state school teachers and administrators to work harder or smarter, become better qualified, mentor younger colleagues or take on extra co-curricular duties. [Has The Australian's editorial writer been studying OBE maths??? See the comparison at the top of the home page.  Web]
    
    "Nor are the rises linked to performance in terms of student results. Good, bad or indifferent, teachers will continue to be paid at uniform rates, based on years of service, with allowances for working in unpopular areas. As such, the rises are yet another cave-in by a state Labor government to the "provider capture" dominance of a powerful public sector union.
    
    "In May, when Victorian teachers were granted rises of 15.2 per cent in return for an extra 10 minutes a day in the classroom, blue-collar and public-sector unions seized on it as an example of the catch-up increases unions wanted under federal Labor. WA has gone much further, tying larger rises to slightly less time in the classroom. The new deal includes a 20-minute-per-week increase in duties other than teaching (DOTT), time teachers spend out of the classroom. Inevitably, the rise will heighten the chances of similar breakouts adding to wage-push inflation. Teachers in other states, in all sectors, will now have a strong case for their salaries to follow suit. Other public-sector unions are also stepping up claims, with doctors in Victoria pushing for an 18 per cent pay rise over two years.
    
    "Inflationary concerns aside, The Australian has long argued that a shake-up of teaching career structures is needed to make the profession more attractive to the most able graduates and reward quality performance. It is unacceptable that in recent years teaching courses have consistently admitted large numbers of school-leavers from the bottom half of the results spectrum to what is one of the most important professions.
    
    "The West Australian education system needs as much quality control as authorities can muster after years in the wilderness as a hotbed of outcomes-based education. OBE is an education fad in which set curriculum content, objective testing and clear reporting of results are replaced with woolly, new age concepts about student attitudes and their development as lifelong learners using their individual talents. Concepts such as pass and fail are anathema to OBE. So discredited were the west's Year 12 courses that English students were being asked to study the Big Brother TV show and Mr Men children's books, and music students were not required to read music or play an instrument.
    
    "In December, after strong parental dissatisfaction, the Carpenter Government finally reintroduced syllabuses nine years after they were scrapped by a former Liberal government. But they are not mandatory. Unfortunately, in lifting salaries to overcome a serious teacher shortage that has become acute because of population growth from the resources boom, WA has missed an important opportunity for reform. Making such hefty rises conditional upon improved performance or greater quality would have made students the winners."

    From The Australian at link
    
    
    
  • E-portfolios signal new digital dawn for universities
    
    In a sign of the accelerating trend towards the digitisation of tertiary education, using e-portfolios for student assessment is firmly on the teaching and learning agenda.
    
    
    
  • Union push for academic freedoms
    
    The Bradley review is lazy policy, a recycling of the 1980s' Dawkins reform agenda and a testament to the inexperience of the Government, according to the leader of the academic union.
    
    
    
    
• ABC News
  
  
  • Teacher payrise puts pressure on private school fees
    

    "Private schools in Western Australia are under pressure to give their teachers a pay rise.

    "The Independent Education Union is calling for an immediate 10 per cent pay increase for non-government school teachers.

    "Union Secretary Theresa Howe says private schools will be forced to compete with the recent pay rises for state school teachers.

    "We'll be advising our members that the benchmark has shifted, and that they should be aiming to at least match those benchmarks," she said.

    "The body representing Catholic schools says its teachers will have their pay increased.

    "The Catholic Education Office Director Ron Dullard says Catholic schools will match the pay rise given to state school teachers.

    "They matched them when they got their last pay rise, when the state school teachers got their last pay rise we then matched that," he said.

    "And we will match it again when the teachers get this pay rise."

    "Mr Dullard denies private school fees will increase as a result, saying Government funding will offset salary increases."
    
    From ABC News at link
    
    

  • University seeks 'well-rounded' students
    
    "A regional Victorian university will select students in the future based on recommendations from high school principals and community service work.

    "Under the University of Ballarat's new admissions system, a minimum VCE ENTER score of 50 will be set for all courses."The University's admissions officer, Elizabeth Luciani, says the new admissions system will attract well-rounded students.

    "We're not just interested in their ENTER score, we're interested in their commitment to study, the fact that they will have to demonstrate to us that they have consistently performed at an average or above average level," he said."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Vice-chancellor to discuss mining school with community
    

    "Curtin University's vice-chancellor, Jeanette Hacket, is expected to meet members of Kalgoorlie-Boulder's business community today to discuss the future of the Western Australia School of Mines.

    "The meeting follows a discussion last month with the acting vice-chancellor.

    "The university has been criticised for a lack of community consultation in its decision to axe first and second year programs at the Kalgoorlie-based school."

    From ABC News at link
    
    
    
  • Teachers' union lukewarm on truant texts and pay rise
    
    The Northern Territory Education Union says a CLP policy to SMS parents of students who skip school won't work in many remote communities.
    
    
    
    
• The Sydney Morning Herald
  
  
  • Welcome to nation of university ghettos
    
    A widening gulf between local and foreign university students is creating segregated classes, cultural cliques and religious ghettos, raising fears of a backlash on campuses.

 

Thursday 24 July

• The Sunday Times online / PerthNow
  
  
  • 22 schools consider wildcat strikes over pay offer
    by Paul Lampathakis, education reporter
    
    EXCLUSIVE: "At least 22 schools are considering wildcat strikes in response to the WA Government's latest pay offer, a union activist says.

    "And activist Marko Vojkovic said more schools were being encouraged to consider strike action.

    "Mr Vojkovic said the Government's offer was nowhere near enough, and Perth Modern School union members had unanimously voted to consider strikes, as had 21 other school union branches.
    
    "He said the Twomey Report into long-term issues facing teachers clearly outlined that teachers' salaries had fallen behind other professions.
    
    "They (the Government) need to put the cash up which means we need more than just the cost of living pay increases for the next three years,'' said Mr Vojkovic, who is a member of the anti-OBE group People Lobbying Against Teaching Outcomes.
    
    "On Monday the State School Teachers' Union executive said it had endorsed a new deal "in principle'' where WA's 21,500 teachers would get from 15.85 per cent to 21.67 per cent extra pay over the next three years.
    
    "Education Minister Mark McGowan said that if teachers voted to accept the offer, which is likely to be decided within about seven weeks, they would become the best paid in Australia.

    "But Mr Vojkovic said: "The 22 per cent is going to be so few teachers that it's not funny - between 500 and 1000.''
    
    "He said the pay rises sounded like a lot.
    
    "But that's over three years and is at a time of high inflation,'' he said.
    
    "People have to realise that we've had very low pay increases over the last 10 years, so as Twomey said we need to catch up.
    
    "If people think we earn a lot and get great holidays, could they please explain why nobody wants to teach any more.''
    
    "Mr Vojkovic said the following motions were passed unanimously today among Perth Modern union members.
    
    "We have now joined the growing list of schools prepared to put their tough words into action,'' he said on the PLATO website.
    
    "The (union) senior officers and the Minister obviously believe that we are too gutless to do this.
    
    "Please put them (the motions) to your members.
    
    "I won't be offended if they vote no, but the more the better.''
    
    The motions are: "Irrespective of the result of the vote for the agreement in principle, the members of the Perth Modern branch of the SSTUWA will do no voluntary work out-of-hours until the government responds to the Twomey report and increases the salary offer to all teachers to a minimum of 24 per cent over three years.
    
    "The Perth Modern Branch of the SSTUWA will consider joining other branches in wildcat strike action should the government not respond adequately to the Twomey report.''
    
    "Mr Vojkovic said there would be further announcements on the PLATO website soon.

    "Asked for his response to developments this afternoon, Mr McGowan said: “This pay deal would make West Australian teachers the best paid of all the states and I hope it will be supported.
    
    “I strongly encourage teachers to look at the detail of the in principle agreement when it is provided to schools by the SSTU and not listen to rumour and misinformation.” [That's rich, coming from the 'master of misinformation' !  Web]

    From The Sunday Times online / PerthNow at link
    
    
    
    
• The West Australian
  

  • Teachers may reject pay deal (page 3)
    by Bethany Hiatt
    
    “Just two days after a pay rise for teachers was presented by the State Government and the union as a done deal, doubts have emerged about whether it will win the crucial support of members.
    
    “Sources within the union said last night that there were growing doubts about whether teachers would accept the deal. Two popular teachers’ websites have been flooded with unofficial “no” votes.
    
    “The prospect that the deal, presented by Education Minister Mark McGowan and State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne on Monday as a fait accompli, might be rejected will be a blow to the Government as it prepares for an election.
    
    “The Government agreed to increases of between 15 and 21 per cent over three years. But while Ms Gisborne said the deal was “a big win” for teachers, it was well short of the across-the-board 20 per cent-plus increase the union had demanded.
    
    “Union sources told The West Australian last night that the union was split on the deal, with some preparing to speak publicly against it.
    
    “But they said opponents of the deal were reluctant to break ranks because the union executive had passed a resolution requiring them to support the agreement publicly. They said the gag was not supported unanimously but was binding on all members of the union executive.
    
    “The resolution stated that all union officers, executive members and industrial staff would “support the position of executive on this matter in communication in an official capacity with the membership”.
    
    “Ms Gisborne said the resolution was to guard against sending out “mixed messages”. “I think that’s just a way that executive is ensuring that there’s no confusion,” she said. [emphasis added]
    
    “Teachers have so far only seen the bare bones of the agreement hammered out in the past two weeks. The Education Department says more details could be three weeks away.
    
    “Teachers will vote whether to accept or reject the deal by early September. If they reject it, both parties will return to arbitration in the commission.
    
    “Angry union members have started pushing in teachers’ online forums for  a no vote when the ballot is opened next month, saying they feel betrayed by the executive for accepting the deal without seeing the full details.
    
    “They say the three-year deal will not be enough to cover the annual inflation rate, which is now 4.5 per cent, and they will have to trade off working conditions. However, other teachers told The West Australian they would vote in favour because they were tired of the uncertainty. [emphasis added]
    
    “Ms Gisborne conceded that some members would feel let down. “As a union, we will say we would want more,” she said. “But executive have weighed up the current circumstances and they have made a determination that ... they believe the members need to see this particular proposition and that they’re putting it out with their recommendation for endorsement.”
    
    “Mr McGowan said he hoped teachers would back the deal because it would make them the best paid among the States.”
    
    From The West Australian

     

  • Inside Cover (page 2)
    Another star chalkie walks
    
    “Silver City bureaucrats might want to purge their stock of feel-good publicity photographs after the resignation of yet another model teacher from the Department of Education and Training.
    
    “It turns out that science guru Jenny Gull and award-wining primary school teacher Leah Upson are not the only star chalkies who have deserted Education Minister Mark “Sneakers” McGowan.
    
    “Readers of this column (IC 23/7 Department fails to keep brighter faces of teaching) will recall that Upson and Gull are featuring in government material promoting the State education system, but have both recently quit for jobs outside the school gates.
    
    “We learnt yesterday of the departure of another teaching profession poster person, Morley Senior High School science teacher Nina Nash.
    
    “Nash and a skeletal friend dominated the front cover of the Focus 2008 Directions For Schools document, in which education director general Sharyn O”Neill outlines her priorities for this year.
    
    “Those priorities included promoting science teaching across schools. Nash also features on every second page of the landmark Twomey Report on programs to recruit and retain chalkies.
    
    “McGowan sat on the report from December last year until last month.
    
    “Before the Varanus Island and energy crisis smokescreen emerged, he had refused to release the report despite Freedom of Information requests from this newspaper.
    
    “While the Twomey tome was collecting it final coatings of dust in the Education Minister’s office last term, Nash was packing up her Morley High desk and heading off to a new job running the SunSmart schools program for the WA Cancer Council.
    
    “She said yesterday she had enjoyed her time in the Pilbara at Newman Senior High School, where the Twomey Report photo was taken, butt found the job less fun at Morley.
    
    “The city schools could learn a lot from the country schools,” said a diplomatic Nash.
    
    “Nash said she found life at the Pilbara high school far more interesting, working with younger teachers and there being a greater willingness to embrace change.
    
    “Gull and Upson resigned after being refused leave without pay and would likely go to a private school if they were to return to their profession.
    
    “Nash was a bit circumspect about any possible return to the classroom, saying she would do a lot of homework on her potential school. “I would be more picky, I am not saying I would go straight to a private school,” Nash said.
    
    "McGowan said in a statement it was always regrettable when good teachers resigned and he defended the decisions to reject the leave applications from two of his departmental stars.
    
    “We need to make sure we staff our schools appropriately,” he said. “Sometimes the department has to reject leave-without –pay applications in the interest of children’s education and their local schools.
    
    “It’s unfortunate if teachers resign as a consequence.”
    
    From The West Australian
    
    

  • Letters to the Editor (page 22)
    

    • I Disagree
      
      “The editor has shown an appalling lack of common sense in yesterday’s leader (Union has won, so now school bans should go).
      
      “Where is there an institution, professional or