The Commonwealth Teachers' Group NEWSLETTER

Teachers are Teachers
(sometimes – just not in New South Wales (NSW)
Early Childhood)
By Chris Watt, Federal Secretary, Independent Education Union (IEU) of Australia
How critical are the early childhood
years in education? And, how
important are properly paid teachers
to quality? In Australia, from 2012,
the National Quality Framework
(NQF) will implement for the first
time a federal quality standard for the
early years. The reforms include
improved child to staff ratios; require
upgrading of qualifications in
particular cases and have introduced
a new quality rating system as well as
a curriculum framework.
The NQF reforms have been
welcomed by those working in early
childhood in the state of New South
Wales (NSW) as a long overdue boost to
quality and recognition of the crucial
importance of the early years.
Teachers and directors of pre-schools, long day care
centres and other early childhood services in NSW
are wondering if this new emphasis on quality will
add further pressure to their bid for higher wages.
With early childhood teachers earning up to 20% less
pay (up to $14,000 less per year) than teachers in
schools, despite completing the same university
course, the sector is hemorrhaging teachers.
Retention of existing teachers and attracting university
graduates into the profession are two of the major
concerns.
The NSW IEU’s Teachers are Teachers campaign has
united teachers, directors, early years’ interest groups
and the biggest employers in their bid to gain pay
parity for teachers in this field.
The campaign is asking the NSW Government to
properly fund childrens’ services. In NSW the
Government spends an average of just $159 per child
per year compared to the Australian Capital Territory’s
$632 per child.
The highlight of the six month old campaign so far
was Blue Day – a day of action held in March 2011
before the state election where early childhood
teachers wanted to highlight to the local communities
10
Early childhood teachers campaigning.
that they were having ‘a blue’ (Australian
colloquialism for ‘having a dispute’) with the
government over funding for their salaries.
Pic:Chris Watt
On Blue Day services around the state took part in
blue activities – using blue play dough, decorating
their services in blue, wearing blue campaign t-shirts
and even producing an award winning blue
scarecrow to raise awareness of the issue. Parents
have been urged to become involved via the
campaign website and flyers, alliances between peak
organisations were formed and teachers have been
busy visiting their local MPs to present the case.
Engaging local media has been a critical part of the
campaign and so far they have embraced the issue –
especially in regional areas where services are
dealing with the difficulties of recruiting suitably
qualified teachers.
“Would you choose to work somewhere for up to
20% less than the people you studied with? For too
long NSW has been getting early childhood
education on the cheap,” says IEUA Federal President
Dick Shearman. It’s a message hard to ignore. But with
a new conservative NSW government elected in late
March 2011 the playing field has changed again. And,
while the rhetoric’s right there’s no sign yet of the
money needed to pay these dedicated professionals
fairly. There is a risk of losing them altogether.