Tas Tomorrow threats continue

Rosny College teachers and other non-Tasmania Tomorrow college staff have been put on notice today by the Bartlett Government. Their protest vote of no confidence in the Premier’s Tasmania Tomorrow changes has saved them from being forced over to the new system until after the election.

The Acting Education Minister, Lisa Singh, made some ominous statements in Parliament today.

Lisa Singh’s comments that the Government would ‘consult’ with teachers at Rosny and other colleges before forcing them into the new system after the election must be cold comfort for the teachers who are worried for both their careers and the education outcomes of the students they are teaching.

Both Ms Singh, and Premier David Bartlett have been insistent about pressing ahead with the 2011 timeline.

Lisa Singh said that the Government “respects” the Rosny College staff vote. But she made clear that respect has a maximum shelf-life of 12 months.

The reality underlined today is that Labor’s policy is still to force college campuses into the Tasmania Tomorrow system, regardless of how teachers vote or what they think.

That’s not consultation, that’s bullying, but we know this Government has form on that front.

Even when these changes were first being developed, the consultation with teachers around Tasmania was a sham. The Government failed to listen to them then and they have failed to listen to them now.

What the teachers are telling me is that the Tasmania Tomorrow shake up is not working. Retention is down, absenteeism is up and teachers have very real concerns that an entire generation of students will be let down, firstly by the Essential Learnings bungle and now by the Tasmania Tomorrow chaos.
Sue Napier MP Shadow Minister for Education