Government supports Liberal Teacher Aides Motion

I welcome the Government’s support of the Motion I brought on for debate today to recognise the critical importance of the training of teacher aides.

Tasmanian teacher aides are some of the lowest paid Government employees in Tasmania, many of whom don’t have qualifications, and there has been an ongoing move by the Tasmanian Liberals to try to get better recognition for them and to give them the option of working closer to a full school year.

I became extremely concerned when it came to my attention that Polytechnic staff and potential students were indicating that it might not be able to provide teacher aide training next year because Skills Tasmania has identified that teacher aide training is not on the list of priority courses to be run.

This means that if a person wants to access training, they will need to go to the Tasmanian Skills Institute or a private registered training provider and that company or employee will have to pay for the course – something like $3,000, rather than $900, which teacher aides otherwise would have paid.

Teacher’s aides provide a vital service in schools across the state, their opportunities for professional development and training must be maintained.

And while we welcome Labor’s agreement with this Motion, the Premier and Minister for Education, David Bartlett, must ensure that the Polytechnic offers and runs training for teacher aides in 2010.

The Minister should act now to ensure that the course runs and that there are enough places for those who can’t afford the full fee. The training of teacher aides is being undermined by a Premier too consumed by political problems to focus attention on his education portfolio and this is totally unacceptable.
Sue Napier MP Shadow Minister for Education