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NEWSPAPER OF THE NSW/ACT INDEPENDENT EDUCATION UNION [ VOL 31 #3 ] May 2011

Photo courtesy of Bill Jayet Parkes Champion Post.

Print Post: 225007/0002 – ISSN: 0728-4845

Karen Audet (left) and Cathie Greenhalgh at Greta Community Preschool.

Teachers blue with State Government

Staff and children from Parkes Early Childhood Centre.

he air was turning blue in preschools and long day care centres as far and wide as Parkes and Sydney’s Cabarita on 23 March. The IEU held Blue Day to highlight the need for pay parity for early childhood teachers with their school counterparts.

Staff wore blue clothes, planned blue-themed activities for the children and encouraged parents and carers to show support for the day, which attracted significant media coverage in rural and regional areas. Teachers have also been lobbying their local MPs.

Early childhood teachers in preschools and long day care centres often earn significantly less than teachers in primary schools.

he Gonski school funding review needs of students with disabilities Funding review T provides a “once in a lifetime should be funded by federal and state opportunity” to ensure appropriate governments “regardless of whether a ‘once in a lifefunding for a quality education and student attends a government or nonappropriate industrial conditions for government school”. time opportunity’ staff in non-government schools, Currently there is a lack of the Union’s submission says.

"School funding should ensure that there is opportunity for all Australian families to access the high quality and diverse nongovernment system.”

The IEU’s detailed submission to the Federal Government-initiated review says both government and nongovernment schools should be “publicly accountable on the same basis and be funded by government on the basis of need, with reference to the national resources standard”. “School funding should ensure that there is opportunity for all Australian families to access the high quality and diverse non-government system.” The Union also believes the full costs of meeting the educational

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transparency around aspects of school funding “in particular the manner in which non-government schools are funded by state/territory jurisdictions”, the Union says. The IEU supports a funding regime providing “transparency, accountability and certainty” and a revision of current SES modeling to create a more robust and transparent measure. The Union does not support funding allocations for non-government schools being paid to state and territory government authorities for disbursement.

Campaign news page 12

In terms of the impact of funding on enrolments, the Union says there is “no evidence” it is causing a shift to non-government schools. In fact a steady increase in the percentage of non-government school enrolments over the past 40 years has seen no decline in actual state school enrolments. Many schools embraced the opportunity to have their say on the school funding review via the Union’s online survey. The funding of special needs students, changing demographics, and the plight of rural and remote schools were prominent concerns outlined in school submissions, which were forwarded by the IEU.