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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.
Federal Government of Nigeria Partners with Stakeholders to Restore and Reclaim Quality and Ethics in Education By Obong I.J. Obong, Secretary-General, Nigeria Union of Teachers The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan inaugurated a Presidential Task Team on Education on Wednesday 5 January 2011 at Abuja, the nation’s capital. The Team is made up of eminent men and women of high integrity and representatives of critical stakeholders, knowledgeable and well grounded in education, administration, governance, economics and finance. The team is chaired by Professor Pai Obanya, a foremost and notable education veteran and friend of the Commonwealth Teachers’ Group and Education International. The stage for the establishment of this Task Team was set by a Presidential Stakeholders’ Summit on Education which took place in October 2010 at Abuja, convened principally to identify the “causes of the failing education systems” and to address the daunting and seemingly intractable crisis situation bedeviling the nation’s education sector, with a view to proffering solutions of lasting and enduring nature. In the words of the President at the Summit, the inauguration, “was held to achieve our collective dreams and visions for tomorrow, through restoration, reclamation and sustenance of quality and ethics in Education”. The recommendations of the Summit will attract the attention of the Task Team on areas such as policy, institutional and funding arrangements, resource mobilisation, legal framework, ethics and value systems, physical infrastructure and institutional facilities, teacher quality and content effect, the role of communities and non-governmental organisations as well as sustainability. The Task Team has, in its consideration, broken these recommendations into seven major thematic areas on which appropriate implementable suggestions are being raised from all stakeholders. These are: i. Refocus and restructure existing policies at all levels of education. ii. Determine the best institutional arrangements for the management, regulation and coordination of education at all levels. iii. Propose a sustainable funding arrangement and transparent management of resources for education. iv. Examine all laws militating against the delivery of quality education and propose required changes/amendments. v. Examine the ethical issues in education and identify the steps necessary to restore ethics and values in education at all levels. vi. Develop programmes and projects that will attract talented persons to the teaching profession while retaining and motivating teachers. vii. Propose such measures necessary for the improvement of the teaching and learning environment to create greater access to education and enhance intellectual achievement across the board. Of particular interest is the fact that the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), a member of the Commonwealth Teachers’ Group and an affiliate of Education International representing all teachers in primary and secondary schools in Nigeria, is well represented in the Presidential Task Team. I am the representative of the Union on the Team and through me the Union’s position is adequately conveyed to impact positively on its outcome. The Federal government of Nigeria has unequivocally expressed its determination to revamp and reinvigorate the education system not only for the purpose of meeting its global commitments with respect to Education For All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but more importantly to use it as a platform for national development and desire to propel Nigeria to be among the top twenty economies in the world by 2020. 11
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