No confidence

Greg Brown Premier fails to win college teachers’ hearts and minds

In what is a stunning rejection of David Bartlett’s intention to close Tasmania’s eight senior secondary colleges and replace them with an Academy and Poytechnical system, college teachers throughout the state have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they have no confidence in the Premier’s plan.

PRESS RELEASE

SECONDARY COLLEGE TEACHERS HAVE NO CONFIDENCE IN BARTLETT’S RESTRUCTURE

Premier fails to win college teachers’ hearts and minds

In what is a stunning rejection of David Bartlett’s intention to close Tasmania’s eight senior secondary colleges and replace them with an Academy and Poytechnical system, college teachers throughout the state have overwhelmingly demonstrated that they have no confidence in the Premier’s plan.

In a secret ballot, AEU college teachers were asked whether or not they had confidence in the implementation of Tasmania Tomorrow, the blueprint for the Premier’s proposal.

Seventy-six percent (76%) of teachers in the ballot indicated that they have no confidence in the restructure.

Launceston College and Claremont College both voted unanimously to reject the Post Year 10 Restructure. Ninety-four percent (94%) of Rosny College teachers balloted have no confidence in Tasmania Tomorrow.

Secondary Colleges president, Greg Brown, said that this result is a conclusive rejection of Tasmania Tomorrow.

“Tasmania Tomorrow was flawed from the outset,” he said. “It is little wonder that college members have continued to resist this unfortunate process. Here we are nearing September, with the first four colleges due to be restructured from the start of next year and nothing is certain. The curriculum is uncertain. The structures of the Academies and Polytechs are uncertain. The process to transfer teachers and support staff from colleges into one or the other is uncertain. The working conditions of our members are uncertain. Children, parents and teachers deserve better than that.”

The results of the ballot show that of the four colleges that will become academies and polytechs from the start of next year only one supported the proposed changes. The Don College (81%) was the only college that was in favour of being restructured.

“The vote at Newstead College in Launceston was also a close vote,” Mr Brown said.

The biggest surprise was the rejection of Tasmania Tomorrow by AEU members at Hobart College where seventy-five percent (75%) of those balloted said that they had no confidence in the implementation of the restructuring of Post Year 10 education.

“While this was not an unexpected result,” Mr Brown said, “it must be pointed out that Hobart College was selected by the Department Secretary, John Smyth, to be the “lighthouse” college for his Tasmania Tomorrow reforms. Clearly he and David Bartlett, twelve months on, have failed to win the hearts and minds of college teachers there.”

“The ballot results at Hellyer College were also unanticipated. Clearly the fact that sixty percent (60%) of teachers there have no confidence in Tasmania Tomorrow indicates that the Hellyer view that had been put about was distorted,” Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown outlined ten reasons that college teachers continue to believe that David Bartlett’s Post Year 10 Education reforms are bad for Tasmanian students and teachers.
1. The Tasmanian senior secondary colleges are world class educational institutions. Nothing that has been presented in the last twelve months has disputed this.
2. Tasmania Tomorrow is educational streaming. Educational data collected by the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), consistently shows that countries that go down the streaming path have the lowest student learning outcomes.
3. Secondary College teachers are the experts in teaching students of college age. The fact that it has already been decided that the Polytech curriculum will be based on TAFE “training packages” is a significant devaluation of the current college curriculum and the teaching pedagogies that underpin it. Self paced learning and online learning is a second rate option for students of this age. There has been no education research presented to show that this is a better option for the vast majority of college aged students.
4. The proposed academies will be smaller schools. There will be a dramatic decline in the number of subjects that academic students will be able to choose from.
5. Despite assurances to the contrary, it is clear that students in the Polytechs will not be able to access the full range of academic subjects as that group can now.
6. To overcome the fact that TAFE teachers are not registered teachers, college teachers believe that the government intends to change the Teachers’ Registration Act to drastically reduce the professional qualifications of college teachers. Currently the minimum requirement to teach in a senior secondary college is a four year university teaching degree. In TAFE the minimum teaching requirement is an apprenticeship. Tasmania will be the only state where such a low standard teacher qualification will be required. This is a massive change in policy and the Teachers Registration Act will have to be changed to allow students of this age to be taught by teachers not trained in teacher education.
7. The attack on college teachers’ professional standards is hypocritical when examined in light of the grandiose statements in Tasmania Tomorrow which purport to be about increasing the skills and qualifications of the Tasmanian workforce. This reduction in teacher qualifications for the teaching of students of this age would be unacceptable on the mainland and overseas. Other professions would not accept such a serious in any other profession or other education jurisdictions.
8. Now that the Premier has publically stated that the problem of student retention can be identified as early as primary school, there is serious concern that the rationale that underpins Tasmania Tomorrow can be used to justify extending the “polytech” model to high schools. This could be the thin edge of the wedge. Why has the government drawn the line at the end of Year 10?
9. This Labour government has such a cynical view of the capabilities and potential of students that it has returned to the old, discredited ideology which says that students streamed into technical education should not aspire to an academic pathway but should accept their lot in life. College teachers will never accept that moving 60% of college students into to a system based on TAFE training packages is the best way of educating our children.
10. Throughout the industrial negotiations, the Education Department and TAFE Tasmania have insisted that short term “sessional” teachers will be employed in the new Polytechs There are no sessional teachers employed in senior secondary colleges. If sessional teachers’ salaries are annualised to compare them to those of a full time teacher’s salary in TAFE, their take home pay would be approximately $40,000. Currently a full time TAFE teacher has an annual salary of $68,000. Sessional teachers are a lot cheaper to employ. In 2005, because TAFE Tasmania had dramatically increased its numbers of sessional teachers and was intent on reducing its numbers of full time teachers the AEU took TAFE Tasmania to the Industrial Court. There is nothing to stop this proliferation of untrained teachers from happening again as the employment of sessional teachers provides a financial windfall for TAFE Tasmania and State Treasury.

Mr Brown said that the Government has backed itself into a corner with Tasmania Tomorrow.

“They have pressed ahead with this ill thought out scheme and those whose job it is to force through the changes are making it up as they go along. The AEU Executive is so concerned about this that they have strongly recommended to teachers not to participate in any transitional programs related to Tasmania Tomorrow. That we have reached such a late stage of the year and still nothing is certain, is treating students, parents and teachers with contempt,” he said.

Greg Brown
AEU President
Secondary Colleges Sector