Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch
Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch
Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch
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AEU<br />
NEWS<br />
v o l u m e 18 I i s s u e 4 I j u n e 2 012<br />
v i c t o r i a n b r a n c h<br />
Rally special | Gonski funding campaign | Performance pay<br />
A E U<br />
t : 0 3 9 4 1 7 2 8 2 2 f : 1 3 0 0 6 5 8 0 7 8 w : w w w . a e u v i c . a s n . a u
#2159<br />
AEU<br />
NEWS<br />
AEU <strong>Victorian</strong> <strong>Branch</strong><br />
<strong>Branch</strong> president: Mary Bluett<br />
<strong>Branch</strong> secretary: Brian Henderson<br />
AEU VIC head office<br />
address 112 Trenerry Crescent, Abbotsford, 3067<br />
postal address PO Box 363, Abbotsford, 3067<br />
tel (03) 9417 2822, 1800 013 379 fax 1300 658 078<br />
web www.aeuvic.asn.au email melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au<br />
country offices<br />
Ballarat (03) 5331 1155 | Benalla (03) 5762 2714<br />
Bendigo (03) 5442 2666 | Gippsland (03) 5134 8844<br />
Geelong (03) 5222 6633<br />
Moral purpose as action<br />
Sponsored by<br />
National conference<br />
for leaders in public schools<br />
August 29-30, 2012<br />
Get your News online<br />
To get your AEU News online,<br />
email aeunews@aeuvic.asn.au.<br />
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25 Collins Street, Melbourne<br />
Victoria, Australia<br />
LEADERSHIP<br />
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our first act needs to be reclaiming time to think.❜<br />
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Keynote speakers<br />
John Ralston Saul (Canada) Moral Purpose as Action<br />
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Sir Ken Robinson (UK) Out of Our Minds<br />
Contact Mary O’Hagan for conference details at (03) 9418 4967<br />
Online registration: www.velc.org.au<br />
Contents<br />
cover story<br />
The loudest message<br />
12<br />
AEU members did their union proud<br />
with the biggest stopwork in the<br />
union’s history on June 7.<br />
features<br />
14<br />
18<br />
18<br />
30<br />
regulars<br />
A cynical performance<br />
Rallying cry<br />
COVER PHOTO: Meredith O’Shea<br />
Ted Baillieu reveals new levels of political cynicism<br />
in trying to impose payment by results on<br />
Victoria’s public school teachers.<br />
We give a Gonski<br />
What difference could the Gonski recommendations<br />
make to <strong>Victorian</strong> schools? AEU members headed<br />
to Canberra to let their MPs know.<br />
TAFE teacher and Anna Stewart Memorial Project<br />
participant Jennifer Walsh found herself in the<br />
middle of the action when the TAFE cuts hit.<br />
Playground talk<br />
Ned Manning has distilled a lifetime of teaching into<br />
a book that tells it like it is.<br />
3 president’s report 27 safety matters<br />
4 letters 28 classifieds<br />
23 women’s focus 29 christina adams<br />
24 AEU training 30 culture<br />
25 on the phones 31 giveaways<br />
contacts<br />
editorial enquiries Nic Barnard<br />
tel (03) 9418 4841 fax (03) 9415 8975 email nic.barnard@aeuvic.asn.au<br />
advertising enquiries Lyn Baird<br />
tel (03) 9418 4879 fax (03) 9415 8975 email lyn.baird@aeuvic.asn.au<br />
AEU News is produced by the AEU Publications Unit:<br />
editor Nic Barnard | designers Lyn Baird, Peter Lambropoulos, Kim Fleming<br />
journalists Rachel Power, Sian Watkins | editorial assistant Helen Prytherch<br />
PrintPost Approved: 349181/00616 ISSN: 1442—1321. Printed in Australia by Total Print on Re Art Matt 100% Recycled<br />
Paper. Free to AEU members. Subscription rate: $60 per annum. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the AEU News are<br />
those of the authors/members and are not necessarily the official policy of the AEU (<strong>Victorian</strong> <strong>Branch</strong>). Contents © AEU<br />
<strong>Victorian</strong> <strong>Branch</strong>. Contributed articles, photographs and illustrations are © their respective authors. No reproduction<br />
without permission.<br />
Printed on ReArt Matt 100% recycled paper<br />
2 aeu news | june 2012
The day TED saw RED<br />
Thirteen thousand protestors outside Parliament reminded the<br />
Premier it’s time to honour his word.<br />
president’s report<br />
YOUR message to Ted Baillieu<br />
could not be clearer: honour your<br />
promise on salaries, rein in contract<br />
employment and forget performance<br />
pay and so-called “productivity”<br />
trade-offs.<br />
June 7 was an unforgettable day<br />
— the biggest AEU teachers and<br />
principals’ strike in <strong>Victorian</strong> history.<br />
For the first time we filled Hisense<br />
Arena to its 11,000 capacity with a<br />
further 1,500 members locked outside<br />
watching the meeting and debate on a<br />
large video screen.<br />
In Mildura, 350 members were<br />
connected to Melbourne by video link.<br />
Another rally and march were held in<br />
Wodonga.<br />
The meetings overwhelmingly<br />
resolved to continue the campaign for<br />
as long as it takes. We unanimously<br />
reject performance pay — so counterproductive<br />
to the collegiality required<br />
for the best student outcomes.<br />
Members are incensed by the<br />
underlying assumption of performance<br />
pay — that we don’t give our utmost to<br />
achieving the very best for our students.<br />
Level 3/432 St Kilda Road, Melbourne 3004<br />
Visit us at www.retirevic.com.au<br />
What an insult to propose that<br />
dollar carrots will improve your efforts.<br />
A significant body of research<br />
supports our view. Merit pay schemes,<br />
most recently in the USA, have<br />
failed to produce improved student<br />
outcomes and in some cases have led<br />
to poorer results. Trial after trial has<br />
been abandoned.<br />
The river of red flowing from<br />
Hisense to Parliament was another<br />
spectacular demonstration of member<br />
determination. And just as the number<br />
striking was unprecedented, so was<br />
the media coverage.<br />
All this builds strong pressure on<br />
the Government, and Premier Baillieu<br />
in particular. It was his repeated<br />
pledge to make <strong>Victorian</strong> teachers the<br />
highest paid — at every level — that<br />
the public has responded to. They<br />
expect politicians now to honour their<br />
promises.<br />
We have received many messages<br />
of support from the public and from<br />
parents. While there were a few (very<br />
few) complaints about the stopwork,<br />
overwhelmingly parents understood<br />
the issues and that we did not take<br />
action lightly.<br />
They supported their children’s<br />
teachers in glowing terms. Peak<br />
parent bodies Parents Victoria and<br />
VICSSO gave their support. We thank<br />
them.<br />
Not a short campaign<br />
We must prepare for a long campaign.<br />
We will need to be determined, disciplined<br />
and above all strategic. The<br />
resolution endorsed at the meeting<br />
provides the basis for that campaign.<br />
We have watched other disputes<br />
and seen the Government’s game plan<br />
— we must not be forced into Fair<br />
Work for arbitration. We must win with<br />
a strategic campaign that is sustainable<br />
over potentially a long time.<br />
Thank you<br />
A heartfelt thank you to the tens of<br />
thousands of members who took a<br />
stand on June 7.<br />
To the many CRTs who refused to<br />
scab on the day — thank you. We are<br />
committed to achieving better pay and<br />
conditions for you.<br />
To those members who did not<br />
take action on June 7, I urge you to<br />
support the campaign of bans and<br />
limitations that we will now roll out.<br />
I also ask you to consider joining us<br />
at future actions and increase the<br />
pressure on the Government.<br />
Finally, welcome to the almost 3000<br />
new members who joined to support<br />
the June 7 action. You made a difference<br />
too. ◆<br />
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www.aeuvic.asn.au 3
letters<br />
Letters from members are welcome. Send to: AEU News, PO Box 363, Abbotsford, 3067,<br />
fax (03) 9415 8975 or email aeunews@aeuvic.asn.au. Letters should be no more than<br />
250 words and must include name, workplace and contact details of the writer. Letters may be<br />
edited for space and clarity. Next deadline: July 25, 2012.<br />
Betrayed by my party<br />
HAVE been a member of the AEU for 10 years.<br />
I Until last month I was also a member of the<br />
Liberal party. Before you judge me for that, please<br />
read on.<br />
I have decided not to renew my Liberal party<br />
membership. I was asked why I had made this<br />
decision. What follows is the reply I gave the party.<br />
I was a party member for about 12 years.<br />
I worked the whole time to get a Liberal<br />
Government elected.<br />
I was in the audience at State Council when Ted<br />
Baillieu talked about making <strong>Victorian</strong> teachers<br />
the best paid in the country. I feel humiliated and<br />
betrayed by the approach that the Government’s<br />
representatives have taken towards the negotiations,<br />
and see the Government’s offer as nothing<br />
short of an insulting attack on my working conditions<br />
and career prospects.<br />
To me it is now shamefully obvious that<br />
the Liberals generally hold public education in<br />
contempt and consider the kids of parents who<br />
make the “choice” to send their kids to government<br />
schools as second-class <strong>Victorian</strong>s who are<br />
not worthy of the best facilities. It’s as if they<br />
think they are not pulling their weight by relying on<br />
the Government to provide them with their kid’s<br />
education.<br />
As for the teachers in these schools, it would<br />
appear we are thought of as under-performing<br />
slacker bolshie radicals who need to be held<br />
responsible for an apparently under-performing<br />
state school sector. Never mind that our results<br />
are often as good or better than other states’,<br />
despite being proportionally under-funded, and<br />
that we are continually asked to do more with less.<br />
Oh, and never mind that one of the first<br />
things done was to withdraw $450 million from<br />
the system then a few months later put a similar<br />
amount towards a new prison. I find that insulting<br />
as well.<br />
I have an obvious interest in public education,<br />
but it is only one area where I find this<br />
Government disappointing. We used to talk about<br />
Bracks as the “do-nothing Premier”. Compared to<br />
Ted he was an over-achiever.<br />
— Jeremy Leeson<br />
Doncaster SC<br />
Don’t forget the teachers<br />
in the middle<br />
IN THE last schools agreement it<br />
was claimed that those at the top<br />
and the bottom of the pay scales<br />
were the biggest winners. If this is<br />
the case, why does the AEU continue<br />
to compare these teachers with<br />
those interstate? Shouldn’t we be<br />
comparing those teachers who are<br />
climbing the scale?<br />
I started teaching in 2004 and<br />
since then haven’t taken any leave<br />
other than sick leave and have passed<br />
all of my incremental reviews. Despite<br />
this, I started 2012 on $67,451: the<br />
pay of a six-year-out <strong>Victorian</strong> teacher<br />
despite being in my ninth year.<br />
A nine-year-out teacher is at the<br />
top of the scale in most states. This<br />
means I started the year being paid<br />
between $10,000 and $25,000 below<br />
every other state. Our top-of-thescale<br />
teachers might be 8.85%<br />
below Western Australia, which is<br />
disgraceful, but a nine-year-out<br />
teacher in my situation is 36% below<br />
WA.<br />
I even started the year 15% below<br />
Queensland, which has the second<br />
lowest level of pay.<br />
Mine isn’t an isolated story<br />
as most teachers climbing the<br />
incremental scale are either the<br />
lowest or close to the lowest paid<br />
in Australia. There are a significant<br />
number of those teachers like me<br />
who are getting paid more than<br />
$10,000 less than in any other state<br />
or territory. Shouldn’t our campaign<br />
be directed towards pay justice for<br />
these teachers?<br />
— Steven Adams<br />
Hallam Senior College<br />
Fund us to do our jobs<br />
I AM A late-to-teaching person<br />
in my fourth year, age 38. I work<br />
at Korumburra Secondary in<br />
careers, VCAL, MIPS, VET, alternative<br />
programs, work experience<br />
and whatever else is going on. I am<br />
extremely stressed in my job and<br />
had started to wonder why I actually<br />
wanted to be a teacher. I found June<br />
7 extremely empowering and for<br />
the first time this year I did not feel<br />
powerless in my situation.<br />
However, a couple of parents at<br />
my son’s school did whinge about how<br />
good teachers have it, why do they<br />
want more pay, etc etc. On June 7<br />
I was not striking for money. I was<br />
striking for the funding and resourcing<br />
at our schools and how pathetic it is<br />
in Victoria.<br />
I did my first year of teaching at<br />
Katherine High School in the Northern<br />
Territory, teaching its VCAL equivalent<br />
program. Every teacher at Katherine<br />
had an average of nine hours<br />
planning time each week, contrasting<br />
greatly with the three or four hours<br />
we get if we are lucky.<br />
If Baillieu wants productivity, then<br />
fund me and my school so I can do<br />
my job properly.<br />
Like the nurses, we need to take<br />
this away from being about wages to<br />
being about resourcing our schools<br />
properly so <strong>Victorian</strong> kids get the best<br />
education possible.<br />
Thanks for June 7.<br />
— Jodie Matthews<br />
Korumburra Secondary College<br />
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4 aeu news | june 2012
news<br />
Pollies BANNED<br />
Dixon, Hall and colleagues unwelcome in state schools.<br />
Nic Barnard AEU News<br />
COALITION politicians are “banned”<br />
from visiting public schools as the<br />
AEU steps up its EBA dispute with the<br />
Baillieu Government following the June<br />
7 strike.<br />
Members have already staged<br />
protests at a number of visits by<br />
Schools Minister Martin Dixon following<br />
the rally. The Minister got noisy receptions<br />
at Sandringham, Gisborne and<br />
Castlemaine secondary colleges with<br />
members greeting him with placards.<br />
“We gave him a pretty colourful<br />
welcome,” organiser Meaghan Flack<br />
said after the Gisborne protest.<br />
AEU branch president Mary Bluett<br />
said: “As we’ve heard consistently in<br />
messages to the union and in calls<br />
to talkback radio, the community has<br />
a strong expectation that politicians<br />
should keep their word.<br />
“In that context, it’s totally inappropriate<br />
for Coalition politicians to expect<br />
to use government schools for photo<br />
opportunities and good news stories.<br />
They’ll find our members greeting<br />
them whenever they try to do so.”<br />
The June 7 rally overwhelmingly<br />
supported a program of bans,<br />
limitations and further strikes. After the<br />
record turnout at Hisense Arena on<br />
June 7, the union has pledged to rally in<br />
even greater numbers next term at Rod<br />
Laver Arena if the Government does<br />
not drop its stance on performance pay<br />
and productivity and produce better<br />
offers on pay and contract teaching.<br />
As AEU News went to press, branch<br />
council was due to debate the next<br />
steps in the campaign. Details will<br />
be posted at www.aeuvic.asn.au/<br />
eba2012.<br />
Banner bugs<br />
Baillieu<br />
Ted Baillieu may<br />
have contrived to<br />
be in Gippsland for<br />
the June 7 rally,<br />
but he still got the<br />
message to keep his<br />
promises.<br />
Enterprising member Kirsten<br />
Norman, living opposite the Premier’s<br />
East Hawthorn mansion, strung up<br />
a banner on her balcony with the<br />
message: “Honour your word Ted,<br />
invest in teachers.”<br />
Baillieu arrived home from his<br />
morning swim as the sign went up.<br />
Kirsten (pictured above at left with<br />
colleague Naomi Maes) says he stood<br />
on his doorstep staring at it before<br />
going inside.<br />
The message was too much for<br />
Taking our message to the Premier’s front door — literally<br />
one sensitive soul — surely not<br />
the Premier — who called police<br />
complaining of “offensive language”.<br />
Detectives had a chuckle when they<br />
arrived at Kirsten’s house, and told<br />
her they were “right behind you”.<br />
Kirsten moved out two days after<br />
the rally, taking her banner with her.<br />
It’s now safe for Ted to leave his house<br />
… though he may wish to avoid Lygon<br />
Street (see page 6). ◆<br />
Rally special: pages 12–17.<br />
The rear of Sandringham’s banner has the signatures of members who have stopped work over the years<br />
Members put on a colourful display at Castlemaine SC<br />
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www.aeuvic.asn.au 5
news<br />
PHOTO: ANGELA BAILEY<br />
VTHC backs AEU fight<br />
THE <strong>Victorian</strong> Trades Hall Council has<br />
strung a giant banner across the<br />
front of its building in Carlton in support<br />
of the AEU’s agreement campaign.<br />
The banner reminds the public of<br />
Baillieu’s broken pay promise and says:<br />
“Support our teachers and support<br />
public education”. It matches the<br />
AEU’s March billboard campaign which<br />
highlighted the Coalition’s $481 million<br />
education cuts.<br />
VTHC secretary Brian Boyd was<br />
among speakers at the June 7 rally,<br />
telling strikers: “The union movement is<br />
100% behind your campaign for justice.<br />
“We have a premier who isn’t<br />
listening to people. … His government<br />
has a key responsibility to the people<br />
of Victoria and yet they’re treating the<br />
people they employ to do that work like<br />
dogs.” ◆<br />
Behind the image<br />
NEW healthy body image and<br />
A media literacy program allows<br />
Year 8 students to explore beauty<br />
and gender stereotypes and unpack<br />
advertising and media techniques.<br />
SeeMe — the media, my body<br />
and me is an online resource<br />
designed to fit the English curriculum.<br />
It was produced by the Queen<br />
Victoria Women’s Centre (QVWC)<br />
with student and teacher input from<br />
Melbourne Girls’ and Doncaster SC.<br />
Centre CEO Vivia Hickman said a<br />
majority of students in pilots felt more<br />
confident and “significantly happier<br />
about their bodies”. The site includes<br />
an interactive “behind the scenes”<br />
look at Photoshop techniques used<br />
in the media to make models look<br />
slimmer and less blemished.<br />
To find out more go to the<br />
website at seeme.org.au. ◆<br />
Merit pay “SELL OUT” by principals’ body<br />
School leaders face results-linked pay under deal with principals’ federation.<br />
Brian Henderson branch secretary<br />
THE <strong>Australian</strong> Principals Federation is close<br />
to reaching agreement with the Baillieu<br />
Government to introduce performance pay for<br />
principal class officers.<br />
APF president Chris Cotching reported to a<br />
meeting of <strong>Victorian</strong> state school principals on<br />
May 15 that the deal would mean probable salary<br />
increases of 3.5%, 3.25%, 2.4% and 2.4%.<br />
Ominously he said that productivity gains were<br />
expected in return for anything above 2.5%, but did<br />
not say what the APF had traded off.<br />
The merit pay system negotiated by the APF<br />
would see principals stripped of incremental<br />
progression with three-quarters instead receiving<br />
rewards linked to school performance — a 20%<br />
bonus for 20% of principals, 10% for 10% and<br />
1.4% for the rest. Seventy per cent of school<br />
leaders would get 1.4% or nothing.<br />
All decisions on bonuses would be made by the<br />
regional director. Principals would be eligible for a<br />
further 2% for remuneration or range reviews if<br />
they do more work beyond the school or take up<br />
positions in “difficult” schools.<br />
Once again the APF has, in a repeat of the<br />
Kennett years, negotiated salary increases based<br />
on principals doing the work of the public servants<br />
the Government intends to cut.<br />
More work will be piled on already overburdened<br />
leaders, taking them out of their schools while<br />
being paid according to how their school performs.<br />
Premier Ted Baillieu last month announced that<br />
performance pay for senior public servants is to be<br />
phased out for new and renewing contracts. If such<br />
a system is no good for government executives, why<br />
is it good for PCOs?<br />
Asked if there was any research to justify<br />
performance pay, Cotching replied: “No, but<br />
the model is the only pragmatic way to receive<br />
improved conditions for principals.” The APF is<br />
again selling out its principles and principals to the<br />
Baillieu Governments’ budget cuts.<br />
AEU principals, at a well-attended meeting earlier<br />
this year, unanimously rejected performance pay on<br />
the grounds that it was divisive and insulting to their<br />
professionalism.<br />
If and when the APF publically announces<br />
its sell-out, the AEU will campaign against any<br />
agreement that features performance pay. ◆<br />
6 aeu news | june 2012
news<br />
Cockatoo’s pool goal<br />
for NT KIDS<br />
Schools urged to join fundraising to build an<br />
Arnhem Land community a swimming pool.<br />
Sian Watkins AEU News<br />
VICTORIAN primary school is<br />
A seeking support to help raise<br />
$2 million to build a swimming pool for<br />
students at a partner school in remote<br />
Arnhem Land.<br />
Cockatoo Primary is urging other<br />
schools to join it in holding an out-ofuniform<br />
day on August 1 to raise the<br />
money for students in Ramingining,<br />
600km east of Darwin.<br />
The waterhole used by Ramingining<br />
(pronounced Ramin-gin-ing) students<br />
is not in walking distance from<br />
the town and is not always safe to<br />
swim after heavy wet seasons when<br />
crocodiles roam further afield. (Google<br />
Maps gives an excellent view of the<br />
township.)<br />
For 20 years, about nine<br />
Year 5 students from Cockatoo,<br />
in outer eastern Melbourne, have<br />
spent a week in Ramingining after a<br />
week acclimatising and sightseeing<br />
in Darwin. Year 5 students from<br />
Ramingining make a reciprocal visit to<br />
Cockatoo for about 10 days in spring.<br />
Cockatoo teacher Tim Stapleton,<br />
who has accompanied students on<br />
three trips north, says the exchange<br />
engenders a “profound sense of<br />
reconciliation”.<br />
“The kids are totally blown away by<br />
the rich social life and enjoyment of<br />
people and the way they are embraced<br />
so keenly by the community.<br />
“As soon as they arrive they are<br />
taken off to play. Race and colour and<br />
the political agenda of reconciliation<br />
all vanish — it’s just people getting<br />
on. It’s beautiful to observe.”<br />
Stapleton says there have been<br />
“no major dramas” on the trips, apart<br />
Ramingining and Cockatoo students<br />
from a suspected snake bite. “It’s<br />
heavily regulated — it has to be, for<br />
insurance and liability reasons. When<br />
we go walking across the mud flats the<br />
local kids dance across it in bare feet<br />
and our kids plead with us to be able<br />
to take their shoes off, which are like<br />
bricks and caked in heavy mud.”<br />
The school’s relationship with<br />
the Ramingining community started<br />
in 1993. Cockatoo’s then assistant<br />
principal, Lance Walker, was visiting<br />
his daughter in Darwin and called in<br />
on the Northern Territory <strong>Education</strong><br />
Department to express his interest in<br />
establishing a relationship with a NT<br />
school.<br />
Coincidentally, on the same day,<br />
Ramingining principal Leigh Mullins<br />
rang the department to let them know<br />
he’d be interested in forming a relationship<br />
with a school “down south”.<br />
Stapleton says Cockatoo hopes to<br />
make August 1 a national out-ofuniform<br />
day. Two million dollars would<br />
build a “reasonable-sized” pool, filled<br />
with bore water. The NT Government<br />
has pledged $200,000 and local<br />
groups, including the Arnhem Land<br />
Progress Association, have offered<br />
to contribute to ongoing maintenance<br />
costs, including chemical costs.<br />
Money can be deposited in the<br />
Ramingining Fundraising Account<br />
held with Bendigo Bank (deposits<br />
are also accepted at Commonwealth<br />
Bank branches). The BSB number is<br />
633 000 and the account number<br />
146014337.<br />
The campaign has a Facebook<br />
page: www.facebook.com/<br />
MalaManapantogetherDay. For more<br />
information call Cockatoo PS on<br />
(03) 5968 8017. ◆<br />
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www.aeuvic.asn.au 7
news<br />
Fire works rewarded<br />
Jane Hayward kept her school going after the Black Saturday fires.<br />
Sian Watkins AEU News<br />
STRATHEWEN Primary School principal Jane Hayward was appointed a<br />
Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday honours list for<br />
her service to the Strathewen community, particularly schoolchildren and their<br />
families, following the “Black Saturday” fires in February 2009.<br />
The school, near Kinglake, north-east of Melbourne, was destroyed by the<br />
Kilmore East fire. Four days later, Hayward got the schools’ 30-plus students<br />
back to school in a borrowed space in nearby Wattle Glen. Students returned<br />
to a rebuilt school on the original site in October 2010.<br />
After the fire, Ms Hayward’s work included teaching, coordinating counselling<br />
services, distributing aid, organising activities to cheer students and<br />
helping prepare plans for a new school.<br />
The hard hat that students decorated and which Hayward wore on site<br />
visits during the school’s rebuilding in 2010 now sits in the Melbourne<br />
Museum as a symbol of community loss and rebirth.<br />
On the morning of the fires, Hayward visited her parents in Hadfield. As<br />
she returned home to Kinglake her brother warned her by telephone not to<br />
travel via Whittlesea. He had only just managed to evacuate safely.<br />
Taking an alternative route, she was flagged down by her sister at the St<br />
Andrews CFA shed and told not to continue up the mountain. Hayward had no<br />
idea whether or not her daughter and husband were safe. She learned hours<br />
later they had found refuge on the Yea football oval with 2000 others. Hayward’s<br />
brother and his family lost their house at Humevale.<br />
Hayward was aware she had been nominated for the AM award but receiving<br />
a gold-embossed envelope from the Governor-General’s office was still a<br />
surprise.<br />
“Research scientists and surgeons tend to get AMs, not principals of little<br />
country schools.”<br />
Membership<br />
OVER THE TOP<br />
AEU membership has hit a new record, breaking the 48,000<br />
mark for the first time as the EBA campaign prompted school<br />
staff to join the union.<br />
The union’s membership centre staff were deluged with almost<br />
3000 applications between May 1 and the stopwork on June<br />
7. Some are returning members, but centre manager Glenda<br />
Piddington said the majority were new to the union.<br />
Only AEU members can take protected industrial action in<br />
pursuit of a new agreement. Non-members risk being sued for<br />
taking action. EBA campaigns always bring a spike in membership<br />
but the rush to join this year has been unprecedented.<br />
Glenda praised her staff for keeping calm heads as they rushed<br />
to process the applications.<br />
“The online joining system has made it faster than entering all that data by<br />
hand like we used to do. We don’t have the piles of paper around the office<br />
anymore. But even so, it’s been pretty impressive. There’s been a bit of<br />
overtime going on,” she said.<br />
The award is “very humbling to receive for the work of a whole team,” she<br />
says. “I’ve had a wonderful support crew and staff and support from the wider<br />
community. It’s been very special for everyone. Staff and the kids and the<br />
community have been so excited.”<br />
Hayward, who attended Glenroy High School and trained at Phillip Institute,<br />
formerly Coburg Teachers’ College, will be presented with a medallion at a<br />
ceremony at Victoria’s Government House later this year. ◆<br />
L-R: Membership centre staff Glenda, Lina, Wanda, Leonie, Helen and Judy.<br />
“There’s a big group of young teachers coming on board — a lot of<br />
students making the conversion to full membership. They want to be part of the<br />
campaign and when you see the footage of June 7, you know it’s pretty historic.”<br />
Non-members can find out about the benefits of membership and join online<br />
at www.aeuvic.asn.au/join. ◆<br />
8 aeu news | june 2012
news<br />
TAFE protests flood Parliament<br />
TAFE4All’s e-lobby campaign has jammed the inboxes of<br />
Baillieu and Hall<br />
Gillian Robertson deputy branch secretary<br />
THE message is getting louder, Premier Baillieu — you have got the cuts to<br />
our public TAFE institutes so horribly wrong.<br />
The TAFE4All campaign is proving crucial in helping working class <strong>Victorian</strong>s<br />
tell Ted Baillieu and other state politicians that the public will not cop the massive<br />
cuts announced in the May budget.<br />
Over 22,000 emails have been sent to local MPs by people disgusted at what<br />
the cuts mean to students and communities. Baillieu and Skills Minister Peter<br />
Hall alone have received almost 3000 each. The number of emails, sent via the<br />
tafe4all.org.au website, continues to grow.<br />
The AEU has held 11 regional rallies on TAFE campuses and outside MPs’<br />
electorate offices, including Skills Minister Peter Hall’s office in Traralgon, each<br />
attracting hundreds of teachers, students and supporters. We finished in style<br />
with 350 people at a Ballarat unions rally chanting “Save TAFE, sack Ted” as<br />
Baillieu arrived for a speech at the Rural Press Club.<br />
A feature of the rallies has been the number of people coming forward to<br />
tell the crowd why TAFE matters to them. Some of the stories have left people<br />
in tears.<br />
The Aboriginal learning support officer who had been made redundant and<br />
was finishing up the following day just wanted to tell people of her concern for<br />
the 26 young Koories who would no longer have the study support they needed.<br />
The young African man who came to Australia as a refugee, enrolled in his<br />
local TAFE for a diploma of community studies, then went on to take a degree in<br />
social work. He’s now working in his chosen profession — he would never have<br />
done it without the pathway TAFE gave him.<br />
The young woman who approached Mary Bluett in tears, telling her that her<br />
disability support person had lost her job. The student had lost a friend in the<br />
classroom, the person who helped her learn.<br />
Another young woman moved from Bairnsdale to Traralgon this year for a<br />
certificate IV in graphic arts. She had planned to continue on to a diploma; but<br />
the course has been cut, the campus is closing and she’s left high and dry.<br />
Every one of these stories needs to be told. They illuminate the barriers to<br />
education and training that working class students have to deal with because of<br />
Baillieu’s cuts to the public TAFE system.<br />
AEU TAFE members are now anxiously waiting to see whether they will be<br />
among the redundancies announced. Imagine what it is like working at South<br />
West Institute of TAFE in Warrnambool, Portland or Hamilton. So far, 56 SWIT<br />
staff have been told they’re no longer affordable. That means 56 families in<br />
western Victoria that are going to be devastated, and hundreds of students<br />
locked out of education and training.<br />
They, like their teachers, are totally bewildered and shocked.<br />
Western Victoria is a Coalition stronghold — Denis Napthine, Simon Ramsay,<br />
David O’Brien, Terry Mulder and Hugh Delahunty its MPs. Their constituents will<br />
not forget what they are doing to their local TAFE, and to their chances of an<br />
affordable and high-quality education.<br />
South West TAFE is just one of 18 institutes dealing with redundancies. They<br />
have advised staff the job losses will continue until at least early next year.<br />
Our TAFE4All campaign will hold more rallies in marginal seats, a Melbourne<br />
city rally in Term 3, lobbying of MPs at state and federal levels and a return to<br />
the regions as well.<br />
The issue will not go away for this Baillieu Government. Already, 510 media<br />
articles have been written about the TAFE cuts. Local papers know what matters<br />
to their readers. It’s more proof that TAFE matters to working class people. ◆<br />
WHO else could be the AEU’s rep<br />
of the month for June except …<br />
all of them?<br />
The extraordinary turnout on<br />
June 7 came thanks to the hard work<br />
of sub-branch presidents, secretaries,<br />
treasurers and executives in<br />
schools from Mildura to Mornington,<br />
Warrnambool to Bairnsdale and<br />
beyond.<br />
The almost 3000 new members<br />
who have signed up in the past six<br />
weeks are also testament to the<br />
work our reps have done, recruiting<br />
in staffrooms and getting out the<br />
message that this campaign affects<br />
everybody.<br />
Putting up posters, sorting out<br />
meetings, signing up student teachers<br />
and sending out letters to parents<br />
— our reps have been the engine of<br />
the campaign. They are the ones who<br />
made the trek to Abbotsford to make<br />
sure their members had campaign<br />
tee-shirts, who ordered banners for<br />
them to rally round and arranged the<br />
buses to bring them to Melbourne.<br />
They are the first point of contact<br />
for members in schools, the conduit<br />
for information from the union to the<br />
rank and file. Without them, stopworks<br />
and industrial campaigns simply<br />
cannot happen.<br />
It’s not just in schools that our<br />
reps have been working hard. Our<br />
TAFE reps have an unimaginable<br />
burden to cope with as cuts and<br />
redundancies devastate their institutes.<br />
Our disability service reps have<br />
been key to our equal pay campaign.<br />
So to every AEU rep in every<br />
workplace, we say thank you for your<br />
work.<br />
There is no union without you. ◆<br />
Nominate your REP!<br />
Does your school or workplace AEU Rep deserve special recognition? Email aeunews@aeuvic.asn.au telling us who<br />
you’re nominating and why.<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 9
news<br />
CONGRESS<br />
pushes for job security<br />
<strong>Union</strong>s reject move to “shortterm<br />
insecure” employment<br />
culture.<br />
Justin Mullaly vice president,<br />
secondary<br />
THE ACTU Congress in Sydney saw<br />
unions unanimously endorse a plan<br />
of action to improve the working lives<br />
of <strong>Australian</strong>s.<br />
Congress approved policies<br />
covering all aspects of work and union<br />
activities including delegates’ rights,<br />
young workers and unions, improved<br />
bargaining legislation, work/life<br />
balance, work health and safety,<br />
recognition of Australia’s first peoples<br />
in the constitution and the role of<br />
women in unions among many others.<br />
Reporting on the Secure Jobs,<br />
Better Future campaign, re-elected<br />
ACTU president Ged Kearney outlined<br />
how success would define the working<br />
lives of <strong>Australian</strong>s for decades.<br />
She reported that 40% of<br />
<strong>Australian</strong> workers are employed in<br />
contract or casual work. With little<br />
or no job security, too many have no<br />
rights to holiday or sick leave, are paid<br />
varying amounts each week and often<br />
have little control over when they work<br />
and for how long.<br />
More than one million contractors<br />
are still employed casually after a year<br />
in the job and another 15% have been<br />
in their job for more than five years.<br />
They earn on average over 20% less<br />
than permanent full-time workers over<br />
ACTU president Ged Kearney<br />
a 35-hour week and can be sacked at<br />
short notice with no redundancy pay.<br />
Kearney called for unions to fight<br />
for these workers to have the same<br />
rights, entitlements and certainty as<br />
their permanent colleagues.<br />
“<strong>Australian</strong>s don’t want a society<br />
where short-term, insecure work is<br />
the norm. We want a society where<br />
everyone has the right to a permanent<br />
job — to feel secure in their work,<br />
to grow their career, to support their<br />
family and own their own home.”<br />
With vocational education and<br />
training one of the keys to job security,<br />
and given the Baillieu Government’s<br />
savage cuts to TAFE, <strong>Victorian</strong> unions<br />
keenly followed the VET debate.<br />
Given the Federal Government’s<br />
foolhardy decision to allow VET to<br />
follow Victoria down the road to<br />
privatisation, the ACTU reaffirmed its<br />
commitment to a strong, high-quality<br />
and well-resourced TAFE system.<br />
Congress also considered policy on<br />
the important role of early childhood<br />
education and care, with delegates<br />
supporting the need to professionalise<br />
the childcare workforce.<br />
To locate <strong>Australian</strong> unions in an<br />
international context, Congress heard<br />
about the experiences of unionists in<br />
Fiji and Wisconsin — both of whom<br />
face anti-democratic anti-worker<br />
governments. ◆<br />
Quality conference<br />
GRUEN Transfer panellist Dan Gregory (left)<br />
is among speakers at this year’s AEU K–6<br />
Conference for early childhood and primary educators<br />
on August 17–18.<br />
The conference theme is Quality: Defining,<br />
achieving and celebrating the best of what we do. Gregory will speak<br />
on shifting parent and community perceptions about your school or<br />
kindergarten.<br />
Workshops will cover collaborating with families, mentoring, Reggio Emilia,<br />
science for young children, music teaching, teamwork and more. To register<br />
or find out more, go to www.tln.org.au/k6. ◆<br />
PHOTO: PHILIP MARTIN<br />
Lesson well learned<br />
A 10-year-old takes the premier to task.<br />
YEAR 5 student Bailey Kitchen is<br />
still waiting for a reply to his letter<br />
to Ted Baillieu in support of the June<br />
7 stopwork.<br />
The letter, forwarded by his mum,<br />
Bentleigh AEU member Shelley, was<br />
read out at Hisense Arena by AEU<br />
president Mary Bluett.<br />
Bailey, 10, wrote to the premier:<br />
“I know how hard teachers work<br />
because my Mum is a teacher and<br />
I see first hand the time she and all<br />
of the other teachers at the school<br />
work.<br />
“Some teachers even take on<br />
extra roles, area coordinator, lunch<br />
clubs, sports, etc which are all<br />
benefiting the students. Lots of these<br />
extra things are in the teacher’s own<br />
time.”<br />
He continued: “Teachers are<br />
a very significant part of society<br />
because … everyone deserves<br />
a good education. Without great<br />
Croydon Special Developmental School<br />
Support<br />
staff<br />
support<br />
teachers this can’t happen.<br />
“(My teachers teach us) good<br />
values such as honesty and respect<br />
… in their own actions and words<br />
and that shows I can trust them.<br />
When I see the ads on TV where you<br />
promise that <strong>Victorian</strong> teachers will<br />
be the highest paid in the country, I<br />
wonder if I can trust you.”<br />
Shelley later wrote to Ms Bluett,<br />
saying: “Thank you for taking notice<br />
of Bailey’s letter and showing him<br />
that some people are prepared to<br />
listen to what children have to say.<br />
“He has had no response from<br />
the Premier’s office and I expect he<br />
never will.”<br />
She added: “If students broke<br />
promises to their teachers, that<br />
would be considered unacceptable<br />
behaviour, so let’s try to teach<br />
Baillieu the lesson my 10-year-old<br />
has already mastered!” ◆<br />
ES staff at Peninsula Specialist College<br />
EDUCATION support members were unable to strike on June 7 but backed<br />
their colleagues with a display of red in staffrooms across the state. ES<br />
members are covered by a separate agreement to teachers and principals,<br />
for which negotiations are still continuing weekly. Members can get progress<br />
reports at AEU regional meetings.<br />
Croydon Special Developmental School and Peninsula Specialist College in<br />
Dromana were among those where staff donned red AEU tee-shirts in solidarity.<br />
The support was reciprocated. Many members at the Melbourne rally<br />
cited low pay and insecure employment among ES staff as reasons for their<br />
anger at the Baillieu Government. ◆<br />
10 aeu news | june 2012
news<br />
SOUTH AUSTRALIA<br />
THE SA Government is copying<br />
Victoria’s changes to VET that<br />
threaten TAFEs and favour private<br />
training providers.<br />
AEU-SA vice president David<br />
Smith says the Weatherill-led<br />
Government’s “Skills for All” plan<br />
and its TAFE SA bill are “squarely<br />
based” on <strong>Victorian</strong> legislation. “The<br />
Government is desperately trying<br />
to distance itself from the <strong>Victorian</strong><br />
disaster, but any politician with a<br />
little nous can see that it’s the same<br />
bodgie recipe,” Smith says.<br />
“It is unthinkable that South<br />
Australia, poised on the brink of<br />
a huge mining and defence boom,<br />
is throwing its world-class training<br />
provider to the wolves.”<br />
NEW SOUTH WALES<br />
TAFE funding was cut by $16m<br />
in this month’s NSW budget, with<br />
training delivery projected to decline<br />
by almost 250,000 contact hours.<br />
The budget also allocated $13m less<br />
to TAFE infrastructure and $25m<br />
less to support the training system.<br />
Opposition MPs said TAFE<br />
colleges would incur a disproportionate<br />
share of up to 10,000<br />
public-sector job cuts in the next<br />
year. “This is the first time I have<br />
ever seen vocational training<br />
funding go backwards in dollar<br />
terms,” opposition education<br />
spokeswoman Carmel Tebbutt said.<br />
NORTHERN TERRITORY<br />
Contract teachers regularly went<br />
unpaid for their end-of-year leave<br />
until the end of January, until the<br />
AEU-NT branch intervened. <strong>Branch</strong><br />
president Matthew Cranitch said<br />
he’d been “appalled” to learn the<br />
practice had existed for years.<br />
“Teachers having worked all<br />
year are sent off on the longest<br />
break, and to have their Christmas<br />
celebrations, with as little as one<br />
week’s pay,” he said.<br />
The union complained to the NT<br />
<strong>Education</strong> Department and contract<br />
teachers now receive their entitlements<br />
at the end of their contract. ◆<br />
New push for GONSKI deal<br />
Web campaign urges Canberra to end delays<br />
over new funding system.<br />
NEW AEU campaign urges schools,<br />
A parents and communities to say<br />
they “give a Gonski” and put pressure<br />
on Julia Gillard to deliver a new funding<br />
system and a $5 billion boost to<br />
education.<br />
A poll of 1,261 <strong>Australian</strong>s by<br />
Auspoll this month found that nine<br />
out of 10 believe that public schools<br />
urgently need greater funding and a<br />
majority support recommendations<br />
of the Gonski Review of education<br />
funding.<br />
Most state schools would get<br />
hundreds of thousands of dollars<br />
more every year if the recommendations<br />
were enacted. The panel chaired<br />
by David Gonski called for a new<br />
funding system, and the investment of<br />
an extra $5bn with the bulk going to<br />
state schools because they teach the<br />
majority of disadvantaged students.<br />
But any changes require federal<br />
legislation by the end of the year if<br />
they are to take effect in 2014. The<br />
Gillard Government has yet to commit<br />
Creating change<br />
$15,000 prize is on offer for the<br />
A winning school in an arts competition<br />
that aims to raise awareness and<br />
get young <strong>Australian</strong>s actively involved<br />
in the initiative to end Indigenous<br />
disparity in one generation.<br />
The GenerationOne campaign’s<br />
CREATivE CHANGE competition<br />
encourages primary schools to<br />
Stay informed — Join the debate<br />
Keep up to date and have your say on the AEU’s campaign and social media sites.<br />
MY SCHOOL NEEDS<br />
TAFE4All (tafe4all.org.au)<br />
Your starting point for the fight to save TAFE.<br />
My School Needs (myschoolneeds.com.au)<br />
Our public campaign for the funding and resources<br />
we need to support our students.<br />
I give a Gonski (igiveagonski.com.au)<br />
Lobby the Federal Government to implement<br />
findings from the Gonski review.<br />
to the Gonski recommendations and<br />
Schools Minister Peter Garrett said<br />
this month that the amount of work<br />
needed to fill in the details of a new<br />
system could blow reforms out by a<br />
year.<br />
That may be too late. The Tony<br />
Abbott-led Coalition says it would not<br />
change the existing funding system if<br />
elected next year, at least until 2017.<br />
People can register their support<br />
for Gonski’s proposals on the I give a<br />
Gonski website, igiveagonski.com.au.<br />
It explains why the review was initiated<br />
and why it recommended overhauling<br />
the existing funding system that<br />
favours private schools. Fact sheets,<br />
posters and logos can be downloaded.<br />
The campaign was prominent at the<br />
AEU’s June 7 rally, filming members<br />
talking about Gonski. The video can be<br />
found at youtu.be/0lFUmxAhnI8.<br />
Under the existing funding<br />
system, introduced by the Howard<br />
Government, between 65% and<br />
70% of Canberra’s direct funding for<br />
perform and film their own version<br />
of the GenerationOne theme song,<br />
Hands Across Australia.<br />
Secondary schools are invited to<br />
use the Warumpi Band’s Blackfella/<br />
Whitefella song to inspire a creative<br />
response to Indigenous disparity. The<br />
competition is open to all <strong>Australian</strong><br />
schools, whether they have<br />
Indigenous students or not.<br />
In some rural areas, up to 70%<br />
schools goes to the Catholic and<br />
independent sectors.<br />
State schools’ share of Canberra<br />
money will decline by 12% in real<br />
terms over the next two years<br />
($670 million a year) while funding to<br />
private schools increases by 15% over<br />
the same period ($1.3bn)<br />
Of those surveyed by Auspoll, 47%<br />
said their opinion of the federal Labor<br />
Government would improve if it acted<br />
on Gonski and 56% said their opinion<br />
of it would worsen if it didn’t act.<br />
How can you help? Go to<br />
igiveagonski.com.au to register your<br />
support for better funding.<br />
You can also write to or email your<br />
federal MP. Find contact details at<br />
australia.gov.au/directories/contactparliament.<br />
◆<br />
We give a Gonski: pages 18–20.<br />
of Indigenous students regularly do<br />
not attend school and Indigenous<br />
students are half as likely to stay at<br />
school until the end of Year 12 as<br />
other students.<br />
A resource pack will be sent<br />
to every school this month.<br />
GenerationOne is supported by<br />
the AEU. More details at www.<br />
generationone.org.au. Entries close<br />
October 19.<br />
Facebook<br />
www.facebook.com/aeuvic<br />
www.facebook.com/tafe4all<br />
www.facebook.com/myschoolneeds<br />
Twitter<br />
@marybluett, @aeuvictoria, and follow our<br />
campaigns at @tafe4all and @myschoolneeds.<br />
You Tube<br />
www.youtube.com/AEUVictoria.<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 11
campaign<br />
The loudest message<br />
THE list of strike-closed schools<br />
that Mary Bluett read out was so<br />
long the Auslan interpreter gave up<br />
and signed “etcetera, etcetera”. All<br />
seats in the 11,000 capacity Hisense<br />
Arena were taken. Members from<br />
Gippsland rose in the dead of night<br />
and drove through floods. Others from<br />
Shepparton got caught in traffic and<br />
found the doors locked, house full.<br />
To call the June 7 stopwork rally a<br />
success would be putting it mildly.<br />
It was the first such rally to be<br />
broadcast live to the satellite rally in<br />
Mildura — and the first time that a<br />
rally was also organised in Wodonga.<br />
And it was the first marked by<br />
social media, with the volume of<br />
traffic generated by teachers and<br />
supporters so great that the union’s<br />
twitter tag, @AEUVictoria, was<br />
among the most used on Twitter<br />
across Australia that day. Members<br />
commented on the debates, posted<br />
pictures and read messages of<br />
support from parents, nurses and<br />
others.<br />
When a picture of the march taken<br />
from an office block appeared on the<br />
AEU’s Facebook page, 1100 people<br />
gave it the thumbs up within 48 hours.<br />
Those at the rally showed their<br />
determination to take on the Baillieu<br />
Government — not just over its<br />
derisory pay offer to teachers but<br />
its attempts to divide the profession<br />
through performance pay and its<br />
vandalism to public education from the<br />
axing of student support to its cuts to<br />
VCAL and TAFE.<br />
Members agreed to a long and<br />
committed campaign, including further<br />
stopworks and, for the first time in<br />
years, bans and limitations, which<br />
were not possible during the last<br />
pay dispute because of the Howard<br />
Government’s WorkChoices legislation.<br />
<strong>Branch</strong> president Mary Bluett told<br />
the crowd, including those watching<br />
on screens outside the arena and<br />
members in Mildura: “By your action<br />
today, you have put Ted Baillieu on<br />
notice.<br />
“Premier, Minister (Hall), you<br />
promised, your word. We teach our<br />
students about values and a key value<br />
is ‘don’t make promises you don’t<br />
intend to keep’. You are judged on<br />
your word. Premier, Minister, you have<br />
failed the values test.”<br />
Members heartily applauded a<br />
call for an end to the widespread<br />
use of contracts, especially for new<br />
teachers. A call from the platform for<br />
members on contracts to raise their<br />
arms brought a shamefully wide show<br />
of hands.<br />
Bluett’s most scathing comments<br />
were for the Government’s performance<br />
pay and workload proposals.<br />
“Secondary teachers would<br />
increase their average face-to-face<br />
teaching by one hour a week. No<br />
time allowance for jobs like career<br />
counselling, year-level coordinator or<br />
curriculum leader. That will save the<br />
Government money by reducing 1000<br />
secondary teachers from the payroll,<br />
probably by getting rid of 1000<br />
contract teachers.<br />
12 aeu news | june 2012
campaign<br />
AEU members did their union proud with the biggest stopwork in the<br />
union’s history on June 7. Nic Barnard and Sian Watkins report.<br />
Photos by Meredith O’Shea.<br />
“And, as if they didn’t have<br />
enough incentive to leave the profession,<br />
the Government proposes<br />
that only 80% of teachers on the<br />
incremental scale would progress<br />
each year.<br />
“They want us to work harder …<br />
(But) all teachers work beyond the<br />
38 hours in the agreement.”<br />
She said a survey of 200 primary<br />
and secondary teachers found that<br />
one-third worked 15 hours or more<br />
at home each week, and one in 10<br />
worked 20 hours’ overtime.<br />
A call was made, but rejected, for<br />
a second stop work in the first month<br />
of Term 3. Heard sympathetically, it<br />
was rejected after AEU leadership<br />
spoke of the need for campaign flexibility<br />
and its desire to hold the next<br />
rally in the bigger Rod Laver Arena.<br />
A handful of members, led by Will<br />
Marshall from Footscray City College,<br />
wanted to tear up the resolution and<br />
instead opt for a national grassroots<br />
campaign opposing federal and state<br />
education policies. Members comprehensively<br />
dismissed this proposal,<br />
although it prevented the ultimate<br />
vote for action being unanimous.<br />
The same group also tried to push<br />
the rally entertainment — a rap by<br />
teacher Kevin Hunt and a song by<br />
Melbourne singer Henry Wagons —<br />
to the end of the agenda. Comments<br />
were later made about frivolous<br />
diversions but the enthusiastic<br />
reception from a foot-stomping<br />
singing crowd suggested this view<br />
was not widely held.<br />
With Melbourne’s locked-out<br />
members leading the march, the<br />
crowd set off for Parliament House<br />
where it was greeted by parents<br />
and unions, including the <strong>Australian</strong><br />
Nursing Federation, veterans of<br />
their own clash with the Baillieu<br />
Government earlier this year.<br />
Nurses’ union leader Lisa<br />
Fitzpatrick voiced the solidarity and<br />
gratitude of nurses for the support<br />
given by teachers during their<br />
dispute, and summed up the importance<br />
of the action by teachers.<br />
“You must ensure that (Baillieu’s)<br />
promise is delivered. Each and every<br />
day we entrust our most precious<br />
possession — our children — into<br />
your hands, and we thank you for<br />
that.” ◆<br />
Maths and science teacher<br />
James Green from Bellarine<br />
Secondary (right) taught in<br />
contract positions for three<br />
years before securing a<br />
permanent teaching position.<br />
He joined the stopwork<br />
because the Government’s<br />
2.5% pay offer was inadequate.<br />
Yet to pay off a<br />
$20,000 HECS debt, he<br />
says he has “mates who<br />
went into the trades and are<br />
now earning a lot more than<br />
I am. I have a friend in a<br />
roof plumbing business who<br />
employs three people. He’d<br />
make twice the money I do.”<br />
His friend, Damian Van<br />
Wyk (left) from Drysdale<br />
Primary School, is on his<br />
second 12-month teaching<br />
contract. Referring to the<br />
Baillieu Government’s<br />
pre-election promise to<br />
make <strong>Victorian</strong> teachers<br />
the highest paid in the<br />
country, Van Wyk said:<br />
“When you make a promise<br />
to people, you must stick<br />
to it, particularly when you<br />
promised something to win<br />
government.”<br />
Janis White, from Ringwood<br />
Heights Primary School,<br />
whose granddaughter Ellia,<br />
18 months, was at her first<br />
stop work.<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 13
campaign<br />
A cynical performance<br />
Ted Baillieu reveals new levels of political cynicism<br />
in trying to impose payment by results on<br />
Victoria’s public school teachers. John Graham reports.<br />
TED Baillieu has attempted to weasel out of his<br />
broken salary promise to Victoria’s teachers by<br />
claiming that he will make the “best performing”<br />
ones the best paid in Australia — not every teacher<br />
as he actually said in his infamous election pledge.<br />
His Government’s mechanism for rewarding<br />
those teachers combines a competitive paymentby-results<br />
bonus scheme with arbitrary limits on<br />
salary progression and a heavier teaching load for<br />
secondary teachers.<br />
Ignoring the overwhelming weight of research<br />
that links improvements in student outcomes to<br />
effective teamwork across a whole school, teachers<br />
would be required to compete against each other<br />
for bonuses. The “best” 10% would get a 10%<br />
bonus, the next 20% would get 6% and a further<br />
40% a 1.4% bonus. The remaining 30% would get<br />
only the 2.5% across-the-board pay rise.<br />
At the same time an 80% limit would be imposed<br />
on the number of eligible teachers gaining a pay<br />
increment in any one year.<br />
The money freed up by denying 20% of teachers<br />
their due increment, combined with the reduction<br />
of staff needed in secondary schools by increasing<br />
average teaching hours, would fund the bonus<br />
scheme for the rest.<br />
The proposal is a jumble of ideas. It derives from<br />
the so-called “Teacher Rewards” performance pay<br />
trials initiated with federal money by the previous<br />
Brumby Labor government. Those trials were a<br />
flop. Despite heavy pressure from the <strong>Education</strong><br />
Department, only a handful of schools were willing<br />
to take part.<br />
The marginally less offensive school-based<br />
model in which a whole staff work together to<br />
compete against other schools — also trialled<br />
by the previous government — is not on the<br />
negotiating table. It appears to be contrary to the<br />
Baillieu view of work and society as atomised places<br />
where the individual is everything and the team a<br />
dangerous union-influenced construct.<br />
The Liberal Party origins of Baillieu’s performance<br />
bonus model are the Julie Bishop proposals<br />
(as education minister in 2007 in the Howard<br />
government) and the Professional Recognition<br />
Program (PRP) introduced in Victoria during the<br />
1990s under Jeff Kennett.<br />
The Bishop scheme offered a payment-by-results<br />
bonus financed by some teachers missing out on<br />
their annual increments. If Tony Abbott’s Liberals<br />
come to power there is little doubt they would try<br />
to resurrect something like this and apply it to the<br />
whole country.<br />
The bonus part of the Kennett government’s<br />
PRP scheme consisted of performance pay for<br />
leading teachers and principals linked to a set of<br />
targets.<br />
It was another lemon. Research by Rod<br />
Chadbourne and Lawrence Ingvarson found it did<br />
nothing to improve the quality or status of teaching.<br />
Even the <strong>Education</strong> Department’s contracted<br />
evaluators (KPMG) concluded: “Best practice is still<br />
some way off.”<br />
Principals and teachers generally viewed the<br />
PRP bonus process as divisive and onerous; it<br />
was an additional task with inconsistent and unfair<br />
outcomes. It was compared to a complex (and<br />
time-consuming) game — with shonky rules and a<br />
biased umpire.<br />
The PRP scheme also offered some hard<br />
lessons about the difference between pay rises and<br />
bonuses. In 1995 the average bonus received by<br />
principals was 10.5%; in 1996 this fell to 8.3% and<br />
in 1997 to 8%. In effect the bonus system became<br />
an underhand means of reducing salary costs.<br />
The research on the sort of teacher performance<br />
pay scheme the Baillieu Government wants to<br />
introduce is fairly damning.<br />
14 aeu news | june 2012
A 2007 report into pay by the <strong>Australian</strong> Council<br />
for <strong>Education</strong>al Research (ACER) commissioned by the<br />
Federal Government concluded: “Few merit-based pay<br />
schemes have survived when applied to teaching.”<br />
It found that they led to staff dissatisfaction and<br />
dissension and that there was no evidence that they<br />
improved student performance.<br />
The report dismissed the idea that financial<br />
incentives can improve what teachers know or can do,<br />
or lead them to teach more effectively.<br />
A growing number of recent American studies<br />
(New York, Nashville, Houston, Iowa, Texas, Denver<br />
and Chicago) of schemes very similar to the <strong>Victorian</strong><br />
Government’s proposal have found that they have<br />
either no effect on student achievement or a negative<br />
effect.<br />
They also highlight the statistical invalidity and<br />
educational and professional distortions required in<br />
using student results to measure teacher performance.<br />
Further, they have found no significant impact<br />
on outcomes such as teacher motivation and<br />
retention.<br />
The New York bonus program, which influenced<br />
the make-up of the <strong>Victorian</strong> Teacher Rewards<br />
scheme, was recently abandoned by New York City<br />
authorities as a complete failure.<br />
Among other things it illustrated the perils of<br />
substituting a bonus system for an enforceable<br />
salary agreement. In the 2008–9 school year, more<br />
than 80% of participating NY schools won bonuses,<br />
costing the city $31 million. In 2009–10, that fell<br />
below 15% and cost $4m, after the state made its<br />
school tests harder.<br />
Closer to home, in a press release on May 2<br />
Premier Baillieu announced that the bonus scheme<br />
operating in his Department of Premier and Cabinet<br />
was to be “phased out”.<br />
You would never guess from the State<br />
Government’s proposals that <strong>Victorian</strong> teachers (as<br />
evidenced by the superior achievement of the state’s<br />
students nationally and internationally) are among the<br />
nation’s best.<br />
This success has been built through a system<br />
which values collaboration rather than competition<br />
between teachers. The clear evidence from recent<br />
evaluations and surveys of teacher opinion is that<br />
they do not want a competitive performance-based<br />
pay system.<br />
They do not want a system where bonuses to<br />
one group of teachers come from downgrading the<br />
salaries of another group.<br />
They do want salaries that are competitive with<br />
similar professional occupations and commensurate<br />
with the value of their social and economic contribution<br />
to the community.<br />
They also want Ted Baillieu and his Government to<br />
demonstrate that their election commitment to make<br />
teachers the best paid in Australia was not what it<br />
looks like now — a cynical con job. ◆<br />
John Graham is a research officer at the<br />
AEU <strong>Victorian</strong> branch.<br />
Ian Willson, a maths teacher at Fitzroy High<br />
School, said the Government’s conditional<br />
pay offer “sends a chill through us. To talk<br />
about decreasing preparation time and<br />
adding more teaching time shows the<br />
Government has no understanding of what<br />
we do on a day-to-day basis.”<br />
Joanne Heyman, a Deaf teacher<br />
of the Deaf at Pearcedale Primary<br />
near Frankston, said funding cuts<br />
meant deaf students’ access to<br />
school transport at her school had<br />
been restricted, as was her access to<br />
professional development .<br />
State Government funding cuts leading<br />
to the demise of the Auslan course at<br />
Kangan Institute also angered her.<br />
History teacher Tim Lambert from Bundoora Secondary College stopped work<br />
because he is sick of being treated “as being at the bottom of the food pile”. He said<br />
the Baillieu Government was making the performance of its Labor predecessor “look<br />
good”.<br />
The Baillieu Government’s treatment of the profession was “death by disdain and it<br />
won’t end here today. Kids who need the most from the education system are getting<br />
the least.”<br />
Principal Sue Muscat said the Government had gone “too far” in removing schools’<br />
component of the <strong>Education</strong> Maintenance Allowance. She said that 45% of Years 7<br />
to 10 students at Bundoora received the EMA. Bundoora’s component of this funding<br />
— amounting to “tens of thousands of dollars” — was used to help many students<br />
attend excursions and camps and pay for breakfast and lunch clubs, uniforms and<br />
learning resources. Losing this money “will have a direct, significant impact on low<br />
SES kids”.<br />
Bundoora will lose its VCAL coordinator next year as a result of the Government’s<br />
VCAL funding cuts. “I’ve done all I can to keep the coordinator’s position this year but<br />
I can’t keep finding $50,000 from somewhere to pay for her,” Muscat said.<br />
campaign<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 15
campaign<br />
David Adamson, principal at Essendon Keilor College and<br />
secondary convenor of AEU Principals<br />
Teachers at my school are really angry about the TAFE cuts.<br />
About 45% of our kids go on to TAFE and the availability of<br />
courses has been slashed.<br />
Victoria University has taken a 30% hit in its funding —<br />
they’re cutting courses and they’ll also be bumping up the<br />
price to cover their costs. Our kids, who already struggle to pay<br />
their fees, will have to pay more. Kids who need it the most will<br />
have to pay the most.<br />
Kids choose their courses next term and my teachers don’t<br />
know what to tell them.<br />
The 2.5% (pay offer) they just see as insulting, and the idea<br />
that they’ll pay the top 10% a bit extra when they all work in<br />
teams, they just think that’s really divisive. Principals hate it<br />
even more. How do we make these decisions? What about the<br />
11th per cent or the 12th per cent? How do we draw the line?<br />
It’s going to set principals against teachers.<br />
It’s not how you improve performance. If you haven’t got the<br />
skills, you’re not going to magically develop them — you need<br />
support to raise your skills base.<br />
Chris Taylor, Ashwood<br />
Special School<br />
Art teacher Chris Taylor doesn’t<br />
like the many cuts that the State<br />
Government has made to public<br />
education, or its performance<br />
pay plan. “In special education<br />
you work together and in teams<br />
— how on earth are you going<br />
to single out some teachers for<br />
performance pay?<br />
“I really oppose all the money<br />
that’s being put into private<br />
education, too. It’s pathetic and<br />
disgraceful. The state education system deals with more kids<br />
with higher needs. Extra money should be going to it.<br />
“The EMA cuts will affect us a lot, too, because we work<br />
with a lot of single-parent families (who receive the EMA).<br />
Marriages often break down when there are kids with<br />
disabilities.”<br />
Diana Santaera (right) with Joanne Elliott, Bentleigh West PS<br />
AEU rep Diana Santaera says she wants “a fair go for our<br />
ES staff. This government is making it impossible for them to<br />
live and work. A lot of them aren’t members (of the AEU) ...<br />
simply because they can’t afford it, their pay is so low.”<br />
Workload is her other big issue: “We don’t get out until<br />
5.30pm every day — we’re doing at least 40 hour weeks.<br />
Sundays are preparation days, not to mention report writing<br />
at the moment which pretty much has to be done in our own<br />
time. And it’s all at the expense of the kids.”<br />
16 aeu news | june 2012
campaign<br />
PHOTOS: MEREDITH O’SHEA<br />
Jaclynn Jones, recently retired<br />
from Sunbury Heights PS<br />
(I’m here) for better working<br />
conditions for teachers and<br />
better outcomes for the<br />
students. Baillieu has been<br />
very dishonest. He’s treated<br />
teachers very shabbily.<br />
<strong>Education</strong> should be a<br />
priority not treated the way it<br />
is by the Government. It’s a<br />
disgrace.<br />
Rosie Tyers, Sunbury Heights<br />
Primary School<br />
I don’t agree with contract<br />
teaching. I think Baillieu<br />
needs to be pulled into line.<br />
I want young kids to have<br />
the opportunity to be great<br />
teachers.<br />
Edi Candotti, Copperfield College<br />
Edi Candotti (with sons Sam, 12, and Noah, 9) says teachers<br />
need better pay and job security and more respect. The<br />
Government’s pay offer amounts to “throwing a few peanuts on<br />
the ground at us”.<br />
“I see the profession disintegrating,” he says. There’s no job<br />
stability and people are focusing on maintaining a job rather<br />
than being a better teacher. The contract system is resulting<br />
in a serious loss of consistency in teaching and learning —<br />
there’s no continuity.<br />
“I don’t want to keep losing good young men and women to<br />
other jobs or the private schools. I want my boys to have quality<br />
teachers whose bosses nurture them and spend money on PD.”<br />
Mr Candotti, a teacher for 22 years, says the Baillieu<br />
Government’s handling of public education reminds him of<br />
former premier Jeff Kennett’s reign in the 1990s. “He tore the<br />
system apart and a lot of good people left.<br />
“It’s now Jeff by stealth. Baillieu doesn’t say anything. The<br />
Government doesn’t consider or understand what teachers are<br />
doing — delivering varied programs to kids working at different<br />
levels or teaching the kids that the private schools won’t or<br />
wouldn’t accept.”<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 17
feature<br />
We give a GONSKI<br />
What difference could the Gonski recommendations make to <strong>Victorian</strong> schools?<br />
AEU members headed to Canberra to let their MPs know. Sian Watkins joined them.<br />
PRINCIPALS, teachers and parents are urged<br />
to lobby the Federal Government to enact the<br />
recommendations of the Gonski Review of federal<br />
school funding by year’s end to prevent momentum<br />
for change being derailed by the Coalition and<br />
private-school interests.<br />
About 65% of the Federal Government’s direct<br />
spending on education goes to private schools.<br />
<strong>Victorian</strong> state school parents, principals and<br />
teachers visited Canberra last month as part of an<br />
AEU delegation to remind MPs of the urgent need<br />
to enact the Gonski Review’s proposed overhaul<br />
of school funding. The review recommends that an<br />
extra $5 billion a year be spent on schools, with<br />
most of this extra money going to state schools,<br />
which teach the majority of disadvantaged students.<br />
This extra money equates, roughly, to about<br />
$1500 for every state school student. Michael<br />
Phillips, principal of Ringwood Secondary College,<br />
reckons his school would get an extra $700,000<br />
every year. Legislation before the end of the year<br />
is vital to ensure that the foundations of change<br />
are well underway before next year’s federal<br />
election. AEU federal president Angelo Gavrielatos<br />
said the Tony Abbott-led Coalition would keep the<br />
existing, indefensible funding system should it win<br />
government.<br />
Sydney University’s Dr Jim McMorrow told<br />
delegates that, under existing funding arrangements<br />
introduced by the former Howard government,<br />
federal funding to state schools will decrease by<br />
12% in real terms over the next two years (a cut<br />
of more than $670 million a year). But funding to<br />
private schools will increase by 15% in real terms<br />
(a $1.3bn increase on this year’s non-government<br />
spending).<br />
Dr Morrow said state schools were doing all the<br />
“heavy lifting” and their share of federal funding<br />
would decline further with the approaching end of<br />
National Partnerships funding. It was “time for a<br />
sustained federal commitment to public schools,”<br />
he said.<br />
DELEGATE Michael Phillips, principal of Ringwood<br />
Secondary College, reckons his school would get about<br />
$700,000 extra a year if Gonski’s recommendations were<br />
implemented.<br />
What would he spend the extra money on? “Where do I start?<br />
“More learning support programs and I’d do the ESL program<br />
differently. I’d halve their class sizes. I’d run more stuff for kids that<br />
need extending which is important when you’re competing with the<br />
private schools in the eastern suburbs.<br />
“I’d spend more money on the co-curricular programs like music and sport<br />
— we’ve got nothing when you see what the private schools have got in these areas — and deliver<br />
more PD for staff.”<br />
Phillips said that some refugee students arrived at his school with two years of education in total.<br />
“They only get three years of funded support in high school but they need it for much longer. Gonski<br />
would allow me to support ESL kids right through to Year 12.” ◆<br />
Christine<br />
Milne,<br />
Greens leader<br />
“We are in the middle of a<br />
mining boom with one of the<br />
strongest economies in the<br />
Western world. Now is the time<br />
to fix structural<br />
deficiencies in education<br />
funding.”<br />
18 aeu news | june 2012
Learning to fly in<br />
paper planes<br />
feature<br />
One teacher tells her MP the stark<br />
reality of teaching without a budget.<br />
Mr Gavrielatos urged members of the AEU delegations<br />
from all states and territories to “maintain<br />
the momentum for achieving a fairer outcome for<br />
our kids”. He said that $5bn amounted to less than<br />
1% of GDP and was only a 15% increase on 2009<br />
federal education spending. “Why do we provide<br />
billions of dollars to schools that don’t need it when<br />
so many kids are deprived of resources?” said an<br />
impassioned Gavrielatos.<br />
Greens leader Christine Milne told delegates that<br />
the $5bn could easily be raised by abolishing fossil<br />
fuel incentives and subsidies, which this financial<br />
year amount to $12.2bn, according to the <strong>Australian</strong><br />
Conservation Foundation. “Spending more money on<br />
education is a no brainer,” she said.<br />
“Five billion sounds a lot but we’d have to spend<br />
$7bn to average OECD spending on education as a<br />
percentage of GDP. And Nordic countries spend a lot<br />
more.”<br />
The Gillard Government is yet to commit to<br />
the reforms, instead allocating $5.6 million in this<br />
year’s budget, over two years, for further policy and<br />
technical work.<br />
The funding review, led by Sydney businessman<br />
and lawyer David Gonski, recommended a single<br />
funding model for all schools — public, independent<br />
and Catholic — with additional funding for disadvantaged<br />
children and schools. It was set up following<br />
increasing concerns about inequity in federal funding<br />
and the huge, increasing gap between the top 20%<br />
continued on page 20 ➠<br />
LESS than halfway through the school year, Faye Natoli’s school has $900 left in<br />
its art budget for the rest of 2012. Its annual art budget is $3000.<br />
The school’s annual PE budget has fallen from $10,000 to $1500 in the past 10 years and PE<br />
reduced from one hour to 45 minutes a week. Such a tight sports budget has made even the<br />
purchase of new netball bibs traumatic, she says.<br />
“Kids at our school are now getting less than 30 hours a year of PE. We don’t have the<br />
money to run a motor skills program — and this in an age of obesity.”<br />
Natoli, a teacher at Rangeview Primary School in Mitcham, was one of four<br />
delegates who met Deakin MP Mike Symons at Parliament House.<br />
Most state schools would get an extra $1500 per student every year<br />
under the Gonski funding formula. This would mean an extra $840,000<br />
every year for Rangeview Primary School.<br />
Natoli told Symons that teaching literacy and numeracy was critical<br />
but “kids get very excited about art and sport and music. They will<br />
keep that clay dragon they made with green glitter on it when they move<br />
out of home.”<br />
The school runs an effective literacy recovery program three hours a week. Thirty students<br />
need it “but we can only deliver it to eight. We don’t have the money to train any more staff and<br />
aides to do it.”<br />
Nine students have been formally diagnosed with learning difficulties at the school but only three<br />
are in the literacy recovery program. “We need ongoing funding to make commitments to these<br />
sorts of programs,” Natoli told Symons.<br />
She recently taught her grade six students about flight. A friend of hers who teaches at an<br />
eastern suburbs private school taught a similar unit; her students took a trip in a light plane and<br />
“had a go at the controls”.<br />
“My class made paper planes and mention was later made of me wasting paper,” Natoli said.<br />
She asked Symons to specify what he planned to do to help get enabling legislation passed by<br />
Parliament before year’s end. Symons said he would visit Rangeview soon and that better reporting<br />
mechanisms were required “to monitor how states spend federal money. It disappears into the<br />
black hole of state bureaucracy.” ◆<br />
Carmen Lawrence<br />
Gonski panel member and<br />
former WA premier, on the<br />
Government’s inaction.<br />
“I was disappointed the Government<br />
didn’t say on day 1: ‘This is what we<br />
are going to do’ and step it out over<br />
five to 10 years.<br />
I was disappointed when … they<br />
said they would have another round<br />
of consultation. We had done that<br />
— we had gone<br />
out and talked to<br />
everybody.<br />
The brief (we<br />
were given) was<br />
that no school could<br />
lose a dollar, so the<br />
only way we could start to overcome<br />
disadvantage was to recommend<br />
additional funding.<br />
The longer we wait, the more the<br />
forces of reaction will muster and<br />
position themselves in their usual<br />
arrangements.”<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 19
feature<br />
Ken Boston<br />
Gonski panel member<br />
and former directorgeneral<br />
of NSW schools.<br />
“The increasing performance gap<br />
between the top and bottom 20%<br />
of students in Australia (equivalent<br />
to about five-and-a-half years of<br />
schooling by Year 9) represents<br />
an extraordinary waste of potential<br />
human capital.<br />
The consequences … are<br />
immense. The loss accruing to<br />
the individual in terms of lost<br />
opportunity and lost earnings, the<br />
loss to the community resulting<br />
from the inability to capitalise on<br />
unrealised skills, and the associated<br />
costs to society arising from<br />
the need to support a consequent<br />
socio-economic underclass, are<br />
extraordinarily high.<br />
The growth of that performance<br />
gap is not the result of serendipity,<br />
but of deliberate funding policies in<br />
the 1990s, which sharply increased<br />
the disparity between rich and poor<br />
schools. This situation can and<br />
must be reversed.”<br />
Christopher Pyne<br />
Federal Coalition<br />
education<br />
spokesman.<br />
“We remain firmly<br />
committed to the current<br />
funding arrangements so that<br />
schools can plan with certainty into<br />
the future.”<br />
Barry O’Farrell<br />
NSW Liberal Premier<br />
Gonski’s “formula<br />
benefits public education<br />
and non-government<br />
education and it’s a formula that we<br />
would dismiss at our own peril.”<br />
➠ continued from page 19<br />
of students and the bottom 20%.<br />
<strong>Education</strong> Minister Peter Garrett spoke to<br />
the AEU delegation at an evening forum to<br />
mark National Public <strong>Education</strong> Day.<br />
Acknowledging the union’s frustration at the<br />
Government’s inaction on Gonski, he sought<br />
their continued support in the struggle for<br />
well-resourced public schools. He desired to<br />
introduce legislation to establish a funding<br />
framework by the end of the year.<br />
Work had started on technical aspects of<br />
implementing the proposed funding formula. “It<br />
is not work that grabs the headlines, but it is<br />
being done,” he said. For example, “we don’t<br />
yet have agreed measures beyond NAPLAN to<br />
choose our reference schools and we don’t yet<br />
have a definition of disability that would enable<br />
a loading to be constructed.<br />
“The review panel gave us a range in which<br />
a low SES loading should be paid, but not<br />
the precise increments or amounts in which<br />
it should be paid, or what specific conditions<br />
should be attached to its payment.”<br />
Ken Boston, a Gonski review panel member<br />
and former director-general of NSW schools,<br />
said continuing the existing schools funding<br />
system would have terrible economic and social<br />
consequences. The existing funding model<br />
expires at the end of next year and “we need<br />
the new model in place by 2014”.<br />
“We’re all pretty anxious about that.’’<br />
Coalition education spokesman Christopher<br />
Pyne told the AEU delegation that the Coalition<br />
remained “firmly committed to the current<br />
funding arrangements”. Unlike Mr Garrett, he<br />
did not stay for the post-forum reception.<br />
Delegations told MPs in marginal seats that<br />
state schools desperately needed extra money<br />
to help them bridge the huge gap between topperforming<br />
and bottom-performing students.<br />
State schools teach most children from lowincome<br />
families, single-parent families, rural<br />
and remote areas, those with disabilities and<br />
those from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander<br />
backgrounds.<br />
What would state schools do with the<br />
extra money that Gonski believes they need?<br />
Their lists are long and include more support<br />
programs in literacy, numeracy, ESL and<br />
student welfare, extension programs, more<br />
professional development for teachers, new<br />
and improved equipment and resources in art,<br />
sport and music, and new buildings.<br />
Delegations revealed the disadvantages<br />
faced by many of their students (disengaged,<br />
separated, absent or drug-addicted parents,<br />
for example) and pointed to the success of<br />
National Partnerships-funded programs as<br />
evidence of the difference increased funding<br />
can make.<br />
Helen Trickey, a maths/science teacher from<br />
Gisborne Secondary College, said the message<br />
she carried from her principal to McEwen MP<br />
Rob Mitchell was the need for consistent, not<br />
piecemeal, funding.<br />
Her teaching had improved greatly with<br />
numeracy coaches paid for with National<br />
Partnerships funding, but this ends soon.<br />
Coaches helped her and others with task<br />
creation and differentiation, questioning<br />
techniques and the use of examples and<br />
analogies to explain not just how but why<br />
different maths activities were important<br />
(extrapolating from patterns has real-life<br />
applications in medical research, for example).<br />
The coaching she has received has made a<br />
“visible differenence to kids’ learning. You can<br />
physically see them ‘get it’. There’s been a lot<br />
more lightbulb moments,” she said.<br />
Ringwood Secondary College principal<br />
Michael Phillips told Mike Symons that drip-drip<br />
state and federal funding made a mockery of<br />
the autonomy that schools were supposedly<br />
being given. A Gonski funding system would<br />
“take the politics out of funding” and allow<br />
schools to plan long term and consistently<br />
deliver learning support programs, he said. ◆<br />
20 aeu news | june 2012
profile<br />
Rallying cry<br />
Teacher Jennifer Walsh found herself in the middle of the<br />
action when the TAFE cuts were revealed. She talks to<br />
Cynthia Karena.<br />
TAFE teacher Jennifer<br />
Walsh’s fortnight<br />
involvement in the Anna<br />
Stewart Project did not<br />
go according to plan.<br />
It started with crisis<br />
meetings over the<br />
newly announced TAFE<br />
cuts and ended with<br />
her and fellow Anna<br />
Stewart participant Maria<br />
McLaverty leading chants<br />
atop a flat-bed truck<br />
at a rally outside the<br />
Premier’s office.<br />
Jennifer, recently<br />
elected AEU sub-branch<br />
rep at Victoria University<br />
TAFE, arrived for her two<br />
weeks at the AEU on a<br />
Jennifer Walsh and Maria McLaverty<br />
fraught Monday morning<br />
after news had leaked<br />
over the weekend of the devastating TAFE cuts to<br />
be announced in the following day’s state budget.<br />
The Anna Stewart project is a development<br />
program for women who want to become more<br />
involved in their union. Its usual timetable was<br />
“thrown out the door”.<br />
Instead, Jen attended strategy meetings and<br />
discussions about the impact of the $300 million<br />
cuts.<br />
“I was excited to be involved,” she says. “But<br />
at the end of the day many of the meetings were<br />
about job losses and they were not very pleasant.<br />
“When people find out about losing their jobs (at<br />
VU) it will be draining and emotionally upsetting for<br />
me and I’ll have to guard against that.”<br />
The AEU has ramped up its TAFE4All campaign<br />
as a result of the cuts, which have ripped out about<br />
a third of the sector’s funding. The TAFE Directors’<br />
Association and the AEU expect 2000 to 3000<br />
redundancies.<br />
One of Jennifer’s meetings was with Federal<br />
Skills Minister Chris Evans. “It was a productive<br />
meeting but talking to the regional TAFEs was<br />
heartbreaking,” she says. “They are so integrated<br />
into their local communities. Where are regional<br />
people going to do courses? Some of them are<br />
disadvantaged. How are they going to afford to do<br />
courses now?”<br />
Jennifer finished the fortnight with the AEU’s<br />
hastily arranged rally outside Premier Baillieu’s<br />
office. With less than a week’s notice more than<br />
1000 people attended.<br />
Does she think rallies will<br />
work this time?<br />
“They are an opportunity<br />
to express yourself<br />
in a public way. The<br />
more people that come<br />
together, the more impact<br />
the message has.”<br />
VU has set up its<br />
own group in response<br />
to the cuts, made up<br />
of teachers, students,<br />
staff and members of<br />
the public — “everyone,<br />
including future students,<br />
who may not realise how<br />
severe the impact of<br />
these cuts will be. TAFE<br />
is going under, and we<br />
want people to understand<br />
how these cuts are<br />
affecting everybody.”<br />
Jennifer, who teaches hairdressing, had already<br />
been thrown in the deep end as the new sub-branch<br />
president at VU TAFE. A first round of job losses<br />
was announced just as she was getting to know the<br />
ins and outs of the job.<br />
“I rang the union to tell them I’m a novice and<br />
I need support!” Jennifer says. “I have a lot of<br />
questions, but if I need help I can email or ring<br />
anyone at any time, and I have. The people there<br />
are so intelligent and inspiring”.<br />
Before joining TAFE in 2002, Jennifer worked<br />
with a private provider where there were large<br />
classes and no time for professional development<br />
as teachers were in class five days a week. “There<br />
is a high level of professionalism and skills in TAFE.<br />
For example, we work off-campus one day a week to<br />
do professional development or go into industry to<br />
develop our skills.”<br />
As if Jennifer’s life wasn’t busy enough, she<br />
is also doing a Masters of <strong>Education</strong> and sits on<br />
the AEU branch council. She goes to the gym to<br />
de-stress.<br />
She “really weighed up” her decision to become<br />
an AEU rep. “I’m taking on a big responsibility but<br />
I feel strongly about it. I want to be an advocate<br />
and have a voice, especially now that TAFE is being<br />
decimated. I’m here at a time in complete turmoil. I<br />
can sit here and do nothing or I can do something in<br />
a situation that is really dramatic.” ◆<br />
show& tell<br />
The most important thing I take into<br />
class every day is … A smile.<br />
The secret to coping with staff<br />
meetings is … To listen.<br />
The best piece of advice I ever received<br />
was … Live for the moment.<br />
My advice to a beginning teacher is …<br />
Learn from everyone around you, including<br />
your students.<br />
The most important thing the AEU does<br />
for its members is … Care about the<br />
members and demonstrate compassion<br />
and action, especially now that TAFE is in<br />
crisis.<br />
The most inspirational figures in my<br />
life are … My daughters. They are a<br />
breath of fresh air.<br />
In my other life, I am … Calm.<br />
The book that changed my life was …<br />
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, as it<br />
helped me view life through a different lens.<br />
My favourite teacher was … Judith<br />
Guantai, my hairdressing teacher at<br />
Flagstaff College (before it became<br />
VU) because she knew how to take<br />
me and others from the unconscious<br />
to the conscious in a way that was<br />
quite transformative.<br />
If I met skills minister Peter Hall, I’d<br />
tell him … You have made the biggest<br />
mistake of your life — what are your<br />
thoughts? ◆<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 21
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TCI COL UNION AD DRAFT FINAL.indd 1<br />
22 aeu news | june 2012<br />
5/06/12 6:14 PM
Member<br />
BENEFITS<br />
Winter travel offer<br />
STATE Schools’ Relief, the charity formed by teachers to support<br />
disadvantaged students, has teamed with Peregrine Adventures to<br />
offer private tours of China and Vietnam during the September school<br />
holidays.<br />
AEU members can take advantage of a 10% “winter warmer”<br />
discount. Part of the cost of the tour goes to State Schools’ Relief to<br />
support its work providing new school wear for students in need.<br />
The China tour takes in historical and cultural sites in Beijing and<br />
Xi’an — home of the terracotta warriors — before travelling on to<br />
Yangshuo and Hong Kong. The cost is now $1,603 plus flights from<br />
Melbourne.<br />
The Vietnam tour will explore its history as French Indochine and as<br />
a centre for traders and travellers, with stops in Saigon, Hanoi, Hoi An<br />
and Halong Bay. The cost is now $1,266 plus flights from Melbourne.<br />
For more details go to www.ssr.net.au or call Peregrine Adventures<br />
on 1300 854 439. ◆<br />
Winter wellbeing<br />
POSITIVE psychology and emotional intelligence will be the tools for<br />
giving AEU women a winter wellbeing boost in two events run by<br />
popular consultant Deb Ferguson in August.<br />
Deb will lead an all-day seminar and an after-school forum at the AEU<br />
office in Abbotsford, offering practical strategies to build resilience and<br />
improve wellbeing and health.<br />
The after-school forum on August 15 will present positive, practical<br />
ways to build resilience through emotional intelligence, while the all-day<br />
seminar on August 29 will develop skills in positive psychology.<br />
In both sessions, participants will learn strategies to feel more in<br />
control and better manage stress and stress triggers. The focus on<br />
mental, emotional and physical wellbeing will benefit participants and<br />
their colleagues, students and family.<br />
Costs to members are $30 for the forum and $50 for the seminar<br />
(including lunch). Both events meet VIT professional development<br />
standards.<br />
Book online at www.aeuvic.asn.au/calendar. ◆<br />
Women’s FOCUS<br />
Barb Jennings women’s officer<br />
Letting the side down<br />
A talk on the topic of mean girls was<br />
a stimulating centrepiece to this year’s<br />
conference.<br />
HOW prevalent are cases of women bullying or mistreating other women?<br />
The issue, highlighted in a presentation by Meredith Fuller, author<br />
of Mean Girls, proved a controversial one at this year’s booked-out AEU<br />
Women’s Conference. It is a subject that has been increasingly raised at our<br />
women’s program PDs in the past few years.<br />
Feminism has female solidarity and compassion at its core and many of<br />
us are very sad to see that some of the worst examples of discrimination<br />
against women are perpetrated by other women. We need to begin a conversation<br />
about the complexity of this issue.<br />
It was starkly illustrated once again in the recent experiences of a young<br />
woman AEU member who works at a secondary school in Melbourne.<br />
Her (female) principal refused her requests for leave to cover family<br />
responsibilities. The woman, with a four-month-old child, had no choice but<br />
to return to full-time work — where she was offered no support to maintain<br />
breastfeeding.<br />
Ironically, the woman’s partner received much support and assistance<br />
from his (male) principal.<br />
We consider this issue to be so serious that we will publicise full details<br />
as a case study once the young mum has settled into her new role. The very<br />
pregnant young member attended the conference 10 hours before giving<br />
birth. Mother, father and baby boy are all doing well.<br />
Nina Funnell, a social commentator and expert on preventing violence<br />
against women, explored young people’s use of technology and social media.<br />
She said we need to talk to young people to help them make decisions in this<br />
fraught area.<br />
Nina has worked closely with young <strong>Australian</strong>s and seen the<br />
ineffectiveness of the “Just Say No” approach. Her view is that respectful<br />
relationships and programs developed with young men and women will help<br />
them negotiate issues of consent.<br />
She advocates an ethical framework involving care of self, care of others,<br />
and reflection. This is the approach she uses in her work with elite athletes<br />
and in her advisory role on the NSW Premier’s Council on Preventing Violence<br />
Against Women.<br />
The feedback was exciting and we are trying to arrange a full-day<br />
professional development event with Nina later in the year.<br />
Conflict resolution<br />
Conflict resolution is a high priority for members and almost all the 150<br />
attendees at the Women’s Conference chose one of the conflict resolution<br />
workshops.<br />
Popular consultant Christina McMahon will run two more one-day<br />
workshops at the AEU in July. Check our website for details at www.aeuvic.<br />
asn.au/womenPD. We advise you to book quickly as her two workshops in<br />
March booked out very quickly. Maximum number of participants is 50<br />
for each. ◆<br />
inside the AEU<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 23
inside the AEU<br />
AEU TRAINING & PD<br />
Kim Daly and Rowena Matcott training officers<br />
Get your campaign on<br />
A well organised sub-branch is the key to a successful campaign.<br />
Our training program will show you how.<br />
The focus of our training is inevitably fluid during<br />
negotiations for new schools agreements.<br />
We still cover the basics of establishing and<br />
running an effective AEU sub-branch but we will also<br />
update members on the role that sub-branches play<br />
in the political cycle. It is essential that workplaces<br />
are organised and informed.<br />
CRT costs are provided for teacher and ES<br />
members and we recommend you share the load by<br />
sending two members.<br />
Our program over the coming months includes<br />
one-day and two-day AEU Active courses around<br />
the state, a consultation workshop online, ES<br />
programs, a CRT conference and another of our<br />
new GLBT professional development sessions — all<br />
details below. Bookings must be made online.<br />
Given the current campaign, we have postponed<br />
our AEU Active for special schools until later this<br />
year.<br />
AEU training is an excellent opportunity for<br />
networking and discussing how other schools and<br />
sub-branches operate. Members often comment<br />
that the courses are a chance to take time out from<br />
their huge professional demands and to consider<br />
the industrial rights and organisation of members at<br />
their workplaces.<br />
We are heartened to see a variety of members<br />
attending our courses, from those in the first year<br />
of their careers to others who have taught for more<br />
than 30 years. There are lessons to be learned<br />
from both ends.<br />
Please look at the program below and make your<br />
booking online at www.aeuvic.asn.au/calendar.<br />
We also deliver PD at schools.<br />
Email rowena.matcott@aeuvic.asn.au or kim.<br />
daly@aeuvic.asn.au for more information. ◆<br />
AEU ACTIVE<br />
TWO-DAY COURSES<br />
August 1–August 2...........Abbotsford<br />
August 1–August 2...............Bendigo<br />
August 16–August 17.......Pakenham<br />
August 23–August 24......Abbotsford<br />
Sept 12–Sept 13...................Geelong<br />
ONE DAY COURSES<br />
July 26..............................Dandenong<br />
August 10................................Melton<br />
August 30..........................Abbotsford<br />
September 7.........................Warragul<br />
AEU Active for principals<br />
September 19 ...........AEU Abbotsford<br />
Consultation: Live & Online<br />
July 25.......................AEU Abbotsford<br />
Twilight dinner workshops<br />
September 10....................Venue TBA<br />
GLBT<br />
Introduction to supporting<br />
gender and sexual diversity in<br />
schools<br />
August 22................AEU Abbotsford<br />
AEU TRAINING CALENDAR TERM 3, 2012<br />
GETTING A JOB<br />
Application writing and interview<br />
techniques<br />
July 24........................AEU Abbotsford<br />
August 7....................AEU Abbotsford<br />
August 13..............................Geelong<br />
August 14............................Wodonga<br />
August 16..............................Ballarat<br />
August 21............................Traralgon<br />
Sept 3........................AEU Abbotsford<br />
Returning to work<br />
September 19............AEU Abbotsford<br />
Application writing for leading<br />
teacher positions<br />
July 18.......................AEU Abbotsford<br />
September 5..............AEU Abbotsford<br />
Application writing for principal<br />
positions<br />
July 25.......................AEU Abbotsford<br />
September 10...........AEU Abbotsforfd<br />
OTHER EVENTS<br />
<strong>Branch</strong> conference<br />
August 4 ...................AEU Abbotsford<br />
Post-50 Retirement Seminar<br />
July 3..........................AEU Abbotsford<br />
WOMEN’S PROGRAM<br />
Conflict resolution<br />
July 30.................... AEU Abbotsford<br />
July 31......................AEU Abbotsford<br />
TAFE women councillors<br />
August 3..................AEU Abbotsford<br />
Returning to work<br />
September 19..........AEU Abbotsford<br />
Winter wellbeing<br />
August 15................AEU Abbotsford<br />
August 29................AEU Abbotsford<br />
Book online at<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au/<br />
calendar.<br />
AEU Prins Conference and Dinner<br />
August 30...............Sofitel, Melbourne<br />
CRT Conference<br />
July 12........................AEU Abbotsford<br />
K-6 Conference<br />
August 17 & 18 .........AEU Abbotsford<br />
NEW EDUCATORS<br />
Student Teachers Conferences<br />
September 28............AEU Abbotsford<br />
Young Member Activist Program<br />
Sept 10–14...............AEU Abbotsford<br />
Meet the principals<br />
August 28 (primary).AEU Abbotsford<br />
August 29 (sec)........AEU Abbotsford<br />
September 4..........................Geelong<br />
September 6..........................Ballarat<br />
September 11......................Traralgon<br />
September 13.......................Bendigo<br />
September 13................Warrnambool<br />
EDUCATION SUPPORT<br />
ES Conference<br />
August 31.........................Abbotsford<br />
ES twilight Conferences<br />
August 6...............................Swan Hill<br />
September 11........................Geelong<br />
ES Advocates<br />
Sept 10 - Sept 14......AEU Abbotsford<br />
ES Agreements<br />
August 15..................AEU Abbotsford<br />
ES=Empower and support<br />
August 20..................AEU Abbotsford<br />
All places can be booked on our online calendar. Go to www.aeuvic.asn.au/calendar,<br />
select the date of your chosen event and click through.<br />
24 aeu news | june 2012
On the PHONES<br />
Membership Services Unit — 1800 013 379<br />
Who’s paying my bus fare, your honour?<br />
Fiona Sawyer MSU officer<br />
WE GET a lot of calls about court attendance.<br />
There is no paid leave to attend court for<br />
personal matters; however teachers can apply for<br />
leave without pay or long service leave in such<br />
instances.<br />
If you attend court in your official capacity as<br />
a teacher — as a Crown witness or on summons<br />
— this is treated as duty and you can expect to be<br />
paid. You may also be entitled to claim necessary<br />
expenses on provision of receipts.<br />
Jury duty is another matter; this is a civic duty<br />
and any teacher called up is entitled to be paid<br />
under the Jurors Act 2000. The payment, made by<br />
the Government, is nominal, but is topped up by the<br />
<strong>Education</strong> Department to your normal salary.<br />
Behaviour checklist<br />
There is a checklist you can use to develop or<br />
review your school’s procedures for managing<br />
challenging student behaviour. Based on a WorkSafe<br />
document, we have developed it for schools. You can<br />
find it at www.aeuvic.asn.au/behaviour (PDF).<br />
Why we need your details<br />
About 16,000 of you voted in our ballot for industrial<br />
action which resulted in a successful stopwork<br />
rally attended by teachers and principals from all<br />
over the state.<br />
But if you couldn’t vote because you did not<br />
receive a ballot paper, it might be a timely reminder<br />
to update your details with us if you change school,<br />
address, name, or time fraction. Some of you<br />
will have missed out because the address on our<br />
records did not match the department’s payroll. You<br />
can change your details online at www.aeuvic.asn.<br />
au/update. You should also check your details on<br />
eduPay.<br />
The AEU is a national body and each state has<br />
its own branch. If you move interstate you need to<br />
change membership. We offer advice to members of<br />
Do you have an issue you’d like to see covered in<br />
On the Phones?<br />
Email aeunews@aeuvic.asn.au<br />
or call the MSU on (03) 9417 2822 or<br />
1800 013 379.<br />
other branches but if you’re working here, join us!<br />
Is my new salary right?<br />
If you are a teacher on a fixed-term contract, a<br />
retired teacher coming back to work, or a contract<br />
teacher who’s just been made ongoing, there is a<br />
clear procedure for determining your starting salary<br />
in any new period of employment.<br />
Every teacher must be paid either the same<br />
salary they received in their previous employment<br />
or a higher level determined by the <strong>Education</strong><br />
Department’s starting salary calculator, based on<br />
your total years of employment.<br />
The calculator can be found on the department<br />
website at tinyurl.com/c46uzkk and takes into<br />
account leave without pay, stopworks and in certain<br />
cases any work as a casual relief teacher.<br />
A few teachers with special salary arrangements<br />
may find on moving schools that their pay drops<br />
to the level they would have been on if not for the<br />
special arrangement. If you’re not sure if you are<br />
on the right level, ask your business manager to<br />
check. ◆<br />
inside the AEU<br />
Top up your super before the end of the tax year.<br />
The end of the financial year is the perfect time to look at your super savings and<br />
make the most of any tax advantages available to you.<br />
If you are an ESSSuper member 1 , you have the opportunity to contribute extra 2<br />
to your super. And if you contribute before June 30, you may be eligible for rebates<br />
and deductions in your upcoming tax return.<br />
Come and talk to us about how you can top up your super.<br />
Salary sacrifice into super and you may only have to pay 15% tax on those contributions.<br />
Contribute up to $3,000 on behalf of your low-income or non-working spouse and<br />
you may be eligible for a tax rebate of up to $540 3 .<br />
Make an after-tax super contribution and the Government may match what you<br />
put away by up to $1,000 4 .<br />
Take stock of your super today.<br />
You can check your current super balance at any time via the secure Members Online area<br />
at www.esssuper.com.au. Take action now, so you don’t have to worry in later years.<br />
ESS3189_(04/12)_AEU<br />
Tax time’s the perfect<br />
time to add to your<br />
super strength<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.esssuper.com.au or call<br />
1300 655 476 to book an appointment<br />
with an ESSSuper Consultant.<br />
1 Members include State Government employees who commenced employment prior to 1994. If you are not already an ESSSuper member you<br />
are not eligible to join. 2 Contribution cap limits apply and tax deductions will be assessed by the ATO (www.ato.gov.au). Limits subject to change<br />
in the 2012/13 tax year. 3 Paid into an existing or new Accumulation Plan account. 4 Provided you earn less than $61,920 in the 2011/12 tax year.<br />
This document is issued by Emergency Services Superannuation Board ABN 28 161 296 741 the Trustee of the Emergency Services<br />
Superannuation Scheme ABN 85 894 637 037 (ESSSuper). The information contained in this document is of a general nature only. It should not<br />
be considered as a substitute for reading ESSSuper’s Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) that contains detailed information about ESSSuper<br />
products, services and features. Before making a decision about an ESSSuper product, you should consider the appropriateness of the product<br />
to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. It may also be beneficial to seek professional advice from a licensed financial planner<br />
or adviser. An ESSSuper PDS is available at www.esssuper.com.au or by calling 1300 655 476.<br />
Proudly serving our members<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 25
inside the AEU<br />
New Educators NETWORK<br />
Andrew Cassidy graduate teacher organiser<br />
PHOTO: DENIS EVANS<br />
What a turnout!<br />
June 7 saw many new teachers strike for the first time.<br />
❛THIS is my first stopwork. It’s been amazing.<br />
A huge turnout. I didn’t know what to expect<br />
but everybody at our school bar three or four<br />
teachers are here.<br />
I’m not on contract myself but it’s a huge<br />
issue for young teachers — to still be on<br />
contract after seven years. For some people<br />
to be taking long service leave but still be on<br />
contract — that’s ridiculous.<br />
And the hours we put in — we deserve<br />
a good pay increase. If we want the best<br />
people in such an important job we need<br />
to pay them well and keep them in that job.<br />
That’s why I’m marching. ❜<br />
<br />
Laura Fitzgerald<br />
Caulfield South Primary School<br />
DON’T think I have ever had<br />
I as much adrenaline running<br />
through my system as I did on<br />
June 7 at the stopwork rally at<br />
Hisense Arena and then outside<br />
Parliament House.<br />
It was the biggest stopwork<br />
meeting in this union’s history.<br />
Never before has Hisense Arena<br />
been filled to capacity for an<br />
event like this.<br />
One pleasing aspect was<br />
meeting so many graduate<br />
teachers taking action for the<br />
first time. I spoke to members<br />
and it was great to get a<br />
genuine sense of why teachers<br />
were there — to send a clear<br />
message to Ted Baillieu that<br />
public education must be valued.<br />
For one graduate, the idea of<br />
performance pay was “extremely<br />
divisive and no good for<br />
teaching teams”. For another,<br />
two years into teaching, the idea<br />
of leaving the public system<br />
for a more attractive wage was<br />
“very appealing”.<br />
<strong>Victorian</strong> government schools<br />
have some fantastic graduate<br />
teachers and many of them<br />
did their part in sending their<br />
message to Ted Baillieu.<br />
The other pleasing feature<br />
of my day was meeting up with<br />
former teaching colleagues.<br />
There were five AEU members<br />
when I started at my school.<br />
Now, thanks to the fantastic<br />
work of some excellent AEU<br />
representatives, there are<br />
27 members and 22 of them<br />
stopped work on June 7.<br />
It is important now to keep<br />
up-to-date with the latest<br />
information about the campaign.<br />
Keep an eye on the AEU website<br />
— www.aeuvic.asn.au — and<br />
read information from the AEU<br />
when it comes your way.<br />
You can also keep in touch<br />
through our Facebook site —<br />
www.facebook.com/aeuvic<br />
and follow us<br />
on twitter at @AEUVictoria. ◆<br />
❛I’m supporting all my colleagues and<br />
supporting the movement. I’ve been teaching<br />
for two years. I teach the VCAL program.<br />
A lot of the program has been slashed<br />
which is unfair for those students. I’ve got<br />
a big concern about TAFE programs getting<br />
slashed as well because that’s where my<br />
students end up.❜<br />
<br />
Curtis Parker<br />
Braybrook Secondary College<br />
❛<br />
26 aeu news | june 2012
Budget<br />
sacrifices<br />
The federal budget has put new limits on<br />
salary sacrifice schemes.<br />
Geoff Allen Retirement Victoria<br />
MANY AEU members salary sacrifice into their superannuation fund and<br />
some of you could be affected by a policy announced in last month’s<br />
federal budget.<br />
The amount of “concessional” contributions (by your employer, through<br />
salary sacrifice or personal tax deductible) that can be paid into superannuation<br />
in any given year is capped. Exceeding the cap can result in heavy tax<br />
penalties, so care is needed.<br />
Until now, this cap has been age-related. In 2011–12 it was $50,000 a<br />
year if you were aged 50 or over, and only $25,000 for the under-50s.<br />
From July, the start of the 2012–13 financial year, the cap will be $25,000<br />
for all contributors, regardless of age or level of superannuation savings.<br />
Many contributors will need to reduce their level of salary sacrifice or risk<br />
facing the excess contributions tax of 46.5%.<br />
To illustrate the potential impact, consider “Annette”, a 55-year-old teacher<br />
with a salary of $84,100 a year.<br />
Her employer is paying superannuation guarantee contributions of 9%<br />
($7,570) into her fund. Annette salary sacrifices $41,600 a year into the<br />
same fund. Her total contributions are $49,170, just below the existing cap.<br />
From July 1 she will need to reduce her contributions significantly. Assuming<br />
her employer continues to contribute $7,570 a year, Annette’s contributions<br />
need to fall to $17,430 ($670 each fortnight) or less.<br />
AEU members who belong to the defined benefit schemes run by ESSSuper<br />
— the Revised, New and SERB Schemes — face additional complications.<br />
Members of these funds must determine the level of their “notional contributions”<br />
before working out the appropriate level of salary sacrifice.<br />
Some principal class members may no longer be able to salary sacrifice at<br />
all, given that their notional contributions are close to the cap.<br />
These changes affect your potential savings and could affect your retirement<br />
planning strategies. A review may be needed to take into account<br />
financial and lifestyle factors and ensure you get maximum savings efficiency.<br />
For example, a member retiring in the next 12 months should consider<br />
maximising salary sacrifice contributions while still working.<br />
Some members pursue “transition to retirement” strategies that<br />
incorporate superannuation transition pensions and salary sacrifice to superannuation.<br />
These strategies should be revisited and fine-tuned if necessary.<br />
Whatever your circumstances, now is the time to review your planning to<br />
ensure your objectives can still be achieved. ◆<br />
Dollar Notes is an occasional column featuring updates on financial and superannuation<br />
matters for members.<br />
Retirement Victoria is the preferred provider of financial planning services for AEU<br />
members. Appointments: (03) 9820 8088. Information in this column is general in<br />
nature. No person should act on its basis but should seek appropriate professional<br />
advice based on their circumstances.<br />
Safety<br />
MATTERS<br />
Janet Marshall OH&S organiser<br />
Striking a balance<br />
Overwork puts a strain on families and<br />
does little to improve productivity.<br />
THREE-quarters of education workers work more than 45 hours a week, and<br />
the number who feel “rushed and pressed for time” is above the average<br />
for <strong>Australian</strong> workers.<br />
These statistics and others were presented to our occupational health and<br />
safety conference this month by keynote speaker Natalie Skinner.<br />
They form part of the evidence collected by the Centre for Work and Life at<br />
UniSA in developing a national index of teachers’ work and wellbeing to inform<br />
education policy.<br />
Natalie’s research was timely given the teachers’ dispute with the Baillieu<br />
Government. Despite numerous findings of the hours we work, the Government<br />
wants secondary teachers to work even longer, adding an hour to their<br />
teaching time and potentially increasing the number of meetings they must<br />
attend.<br />
Almost 100 elected health and safety representatives and other educators<br />
from all sectors of the AEU attended the conference. Its starting point was the<br />
idea that the way we work is at least as important as what we do.<br />
Work — as much as we love it — often conflicts with our family and<br />
community lives. The consequences of excessive work-life conflict and long<br />
work hours for individual health, family strain and dysfunction and organisation<br />
productivity are well documented.<br />
We need to raise awareness of the right to part-time work and flexible<br />
work options and help people to access it. We must also regulate our hours by<br />
maintaining good labour and OH&S laws.<br />
A highlight of the day was hearing from HSR Bryan Woollard from Galvin<br />
Park College, where years of neglect followed by heavy rain rendered buildings<br />
unsafe. Many rooms had dodgy electrics and mould infestations were a health<br />
hazard.<br />
Bryan explained how the OHS Act had enabled him to issue four provisional<br />
improvement notices (PINs), resulting in the closure of several buildings. He<br />
explained the challenges and successes in that process.<br />
The conference was far too short to achieve everything we’d hoped but it<br />
did raise lots of issues and questions.<br />
OH&S is about procedures and systems but it is equally about communication.<br />
Health and safety reps need to meet and talk to learn from each other.<br />
The AEU is keen to re-establish regional network meetings to address this<br />
need.<br />
Another strong message from the conference concerned the importance<br />
of health and safety reps accessing relevant five-day training, which they are<br />
entitled to receive under the OHS Act.<br />
The AEU recommends the <strong>Victorian</strong> Trades Hall training, which is offered in<br />
Melbourne and regionally. It’s designed for education department workplaces<br />
but is relevant to other education settings.<br />
Bullying in <strong>Australian</strong> workplaces<br />
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has asked the<br />
House of Representatives’ education and employment committee to investigate<br />
and report on bullying in <strong>Australian</strong> workplaces.<br />
The inquiry will examine the nature of workplace bullying and consider<br />
proposals to address bullying cultures and prevent their development at work.<br />
The AEU will be providing a national response to this inquiry. ◆<br />
inside the AEU<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 27
classifieds<br />
TRAVEL AUSTRALIA<br />
AIREY’S INLET HOLIDAY RENTAL<br />
Holiday rental, 3 bdrms, 2 living, large<br />
decks, 1 acre garden, bbq, woodfire.<br />
Phone 0416 234 808,<br />
(03) 4208 0668.<br />
AIREY’S INLET<br />
SATIS BEACH HOUSE<br />
Stylish and comfortable 3 bdrm house<br />
for six on the beach side of Great Ocean<br />
Road. Paddle our canoe on the inlet, walk<br />
to the lighthouse, cliff walk and beaches.<br />
Phone (03) 5380 8228 or email<br />
melrose@gjr.net.au.<br />
Website: www.satisbeachhouse.com<br />
HOLIDAY HOUSE<br />
PHILLIP ISLAND, VENTNOR<br />
Two bedroom sleeps 6, available<br />
weekends and holidays. Jane<br />
(03) 9387 9397 or 0431 471 611<br />
or Louise (03) 9343 6030 or<br />
0413 040 237.<br />
WILSONS PROMONTORY<br />
Promclose Cottage.<br />
www.promclose.com<br />
0418 125 412.<br />
TRAVEL INTERNATIONAL<br />
driveEUROPE<br />
Peugeot Citroen Renault<br />
2012 European specials out NOW<br />
Our 38th year of service to the<br />
European traveller. Email: enquiries@<br />
driveeurope.org (02) 9437 4900<br />
FRANCE<br />
Five cottages for rent. Provence,<br />
Dordogne, Burgundy, Ile de France.<br />
Only $1175 pw.<br />
Contact maxtens@gmail.com<br />
www.stayinafrenchcottage.com<br />
FRANCE — LANGUEDOC<br />
Two renovated stone houses in tranquil<br />
village near Carcassone, sleep four<br />
or eight, from $600 a week. See<br />
website at www.frenchrentalhouses.<br />
bigpondhosting.com; or phone<br />
(02) 4757 1019; 0414 968 397;<br />
email marjen1946@hotmail.com<br />
FRANCE — PROVENCE<br />
Restored 17th-century house in<br />
mediaeval fortified village of Entrevaux.<br />
Spectacular location, close to Côte<br />
d’Azur and Italy. Contact owners<br />
(03) 5258 2798 or (02) 9948 2980.<br />
www.provencehousestay.com.<br />
MOBILE ACCOUNTANT SPECIALISING IN<br />
TEACHERS TAX RETURNS<br />
SPECIAL RATES FOR AEU MEMBERS<br />
TAX RETURNS FROM $80<br />
in the comfort of your own home or place of work.<br />
All possible deductions will be claimed, superannuation<br />
advice, retirement planning available.<br />
Experienced Accountant/Registered Tax Agent<br />
Call Artur on 9503 4366<br />
info@taxwindow.com.au<br />
www.taxwindow.com.au<br />
FRANCE — SOUTH WEST<br />
Renov 17thC 2 bdrm apart in elegant<br />
Figeac, “centreville”, or cottage in<br />
Lauzerte, 12thC hilltop village. Low cost.<br />
www.flickr.com/photos/clermontfigeac/<br />
or www.flickr.com/photos/<br />
les-chouettes/ Ph teacher owner<br />
(03) 9877 7513 or email jimmcdon@<br />
tpg.com.au for brochure.<br />
ITALY — FLORENCE<br />
Beautiful fully furnished apartment<br />
in historic centre. Sleeps 2-6,<br />
$1,700 pw, telephone 0419 025 996<br />
or www.convivioapartment.com.<br />
ITALY — UMBRIA<br />
Apartment. Beautiful sunny 2 bdrm.<br />
Historic Centre Citta Di Castello<br />
€625pw 2p, €675 3-4p.<br />
0414 562 659 darylhely@gmail.com<br />
ROME<br />
Studio apartment, Piazza Bologna,<br />
beautifully appointed, sleeps 2, opens<br />
onto garden courtyard, $1100 pw,<br />
telephone 0419 488 865 or<br />
www.ninoapartmentrome.com.<br />
SOUTH OF FRANCE — LANGUEDOC<br />
Two charming newly renovated traditional<br />
stone houses with outside terraces.<br />
Sleeps 4 or 6. Market town, capital of<br />
Minervois, wine growing region, close to<br />
lake, Canal Midi, Mediterranean beaches,<br />
historic towns. From $460 per week. Visit,<br />
Web: www.languedocgites.com<br />
Email: info@languedocgites.com.<br />
BENALLA COLLEGE TO<br />
CELEBRATE 100 YEARS OF<br />
STATE SECONDARY EDUCATION<br />
2012 would have been the 100 years<br />
centenary of Benalla High School.<br />
Benalla College will be hosting events to<br />
celebrate 100 years of public secondary<br />
education in Benalla. This will incorporate<br />
recognition of Benalla High School,<br />
Benalla Technical School, and the<br />
current Benalla College on the 7, 8 and<br />
9 September. For more information visit<br />
Benalla.co@edumail.vic.gov.au<br />
NOTICES<br />
CRT GUIDE<br />
Detailed and practical book to help<br />
primary teachers new to the role as a<br />
CRT. See details www.vjsalescom.au<br />
$24.95 Free postage<br />
FUNDRAISING with<br />
Little ‘smart’ Artists<br />
Let your kinder or school’s Little ‘smart’<br />
Artists make you money.<br />
Kids can now have their artwork put on an<br />
<strong>Australian</strong> made T-shirt and your kinder/<br />
school makes a percentage from every<br />
T-shirt sold. Requires minimal work on<br />
your behalf.<br />
Contact sales@littlesmartartists.com.<br />
au or 0431 995 165 (Meri)<br />
www.littlesmartartists.com.au<br />
(MPS) MELBOURNE PROPERTY<br />
SOLUTIONS<br />
VENDOR ADVOCACY — SELLING YOUR<br />
PROPERTY?<br />
Take away the stress and engage an<br />
independent advocate and a former<br />
teacher and AEU member.<br />
There is no cost when using Melbourne<br />
Property Solutions, as the agent you<br />
select pays (MPS) a set percentage of the<br />
fee from their total commission.<br />
Mark Thompson, Licensed Estate Agent<br />
Melbourne Property Solutions.<br />
Buyer and Vendor Advocate Services.<br />
Ph 0409 958 720<br />
Email: mark@mpsadvocates.com.au<br />
Website: www.mpsadvocates.com.au<br />
RETIREMENT VICTORIA<br />
Visit us at www.retirevic.com.au.<br />
RETIRING SOON?<br />
Volunteers for Isolated Students’<br />
<strong>Education</strong> recruits retired teachers<br />
to assist families with their Distance<br />
<strong>Education</strong> Program. Travel and accommodation<br />
provided in return for six weeks<br />
teaching. Register at www.vise.org.au<br />
or George Murdoch (03) 9017 5439<br />
Ken Weeks (03) 9876 2680.<br />
VISAS IMMIGRATION<br />
For the professional advice you<br />
need — contact Ray Brown. Phone<br />
(03) 5792 4056 or 0409 169 147.<br />
Email raybrown888@bigpond.com.<br />
Migration Agents Registration No. 0213358.<br />
Big Savings for <strong>Union</strong> Members<br />
bathrooms,<br />
construction & maintenance<br />
*bathrooms *en suites *new or old<br />
*evaporative cooling &<br />
all home maintenance.<br />
N.E. METRO AREA<br />
Quality work for the right price<br />
with over 18 years industry experience<br />
CALL SIMON mobile: 0414 294 824<br />
ph/fax: 9439 9223<br />
simonedgley@optusnet.com.au<br />
28 aeu news | june 2012
culture<br />
WINE<br />
TALKING<br />
Paddy Kendler<br />
Bella Bellarine<br />
THE rebirth of Geelong wine has required a long<br />
and gradual gestation but there are signs that<br />
this once-predominant region is on the move.<br />
During the 1860s, Geelong was far and away<br />
the largest wine producer in Victoria but the<br />
arrival via its busy port of the vine louse phylloxera<br />
in 1877 largely led to its demise.<br />
Why the area was not more widely planted in<br />
the <strong>Victorian</strong> wine revival of the 1960s is puzzling.<br />
And while the Yarra Valley boomed from the<br />
1970s on and the Mornington Peninsula took off<br />
during the 1980s, Geelong stumbled along in fits<br />
and starts.<br />
But more recently, there has been a remarkable<br />
increase in the quantity and quality of<br />
Geelong wine, exemplified by Bellarine Estate and<br />
Provenance. The former boasts an excellent range<br />
at cellar door while the latter is more geared to<br />
retail and restaurant sales. Both are noted for the<br />
red regional specialities, pinot noir and shiraz.<br />
Visitors to the region should consult www.<br />
winegeelong.com.au for cellar door opening<br />
hours.<br />
Meanwhile, check out these impressive new<br />
releases:<br />
MUD HOUSE MARLBOROUGH SAUVIGNON BLANC<br />
2011 ($22): Of the seemingly hundreds of Kiwi<br />
sauvignons available here, most of them seem to<br />
come out of the same massive tank and are pretty<br />
ordinary. Mud House is a truly delightful exception,<br />
a brilliant example of the style. www.<br />
mudhouse.co.nz.<br />
RIPAROSSO MONTEPULCIANO<br />
D’ABRUZZO 2009 ($10): A handy<br />
and versatile dry red, holding an<br />
enjoyable measure of sweet and<br />
savoury fruit flavours within a<br />
modest structure. Ideally suited to<br />
casual Italian meals and barbequed<br />
meats. Available from Safeway,<br />
Dan Murphy and BWS.<br />
MOUNT LANGHI GHIRAN CLIFF EDGE SHIRAZ 2009<br />
($30): A very smart wine, genuinely interesting<br />
with lovely sweet berry flavours laced with spicy<br />
and well integrated oak. The real deal. ◆<br />
Stare crazy<br />
THERE’S an overwhelming<br />
tiredness creeping<br />
around our staffroom. In the<br />
midst of reports, sickness<br />
and general “how long ’til<br />
the holidays?” vibe, teachers<br />
are flat out. There’s no<br />
sense of people slacking off<br />
or putting in minimal effort.<br />
But Ted Baillieu wants more<br />
out of us.<br />
Asking teachers to work<br />
harder proves his ignorance.<br />
We can’t work any harder<br />
— we’re already pushing<br />
it as it is. Teachers are<br />
multi-tasking masters and,<br />
even in the throes of report<br />
writing, turned out in their<br />
thousands to Hisense Arena<br />
to express their disgust at<br />
the Government’s attitude<br />
towards them.<br />
“I should be at home<br />
writing reports!” yelled one<br />
enthusiastic primary school<br />
teacher, waving a larger than<br />
life pencil in the air. “But this<br />
is important!”<br />
Groups of teachers with pre-determined<br />
meeting points greeted their colleagues excitedly<br />
before the rally. Like a well-planned excursion,<br />
they dressed in red and checked their mobile<br />
phones for other attendees — all with expressions<br />
that read “Don’t mess with us, Baillieu.”<br />
I wonder what Baillieu would think if<br />
confronted with a huge crowd of teachers<br />
all giving him “the stare”. We’ve all got “the<br />
stare”. It’s guaranteed to stop a rioting class,<br />
sends chills down the spine of even the most<br />
challenging student and, so we keep being told,<br />
irritates the hell out of our partners and families.<br />
(“Stop giving me the teacher stare — I’m not<br />
one of your students!”)<br />
I wonder how long Baillieu could keep up his<br />
deluded arguments with a mass teacher stare<br />
bearing down upon him.<br />
Only a small number of staff remained at our<br />
school. The principal team supported the strike<br />
and so did most parents. The day before, my<br />
Year 12s showed their support.<br />
“We know how hard you work, Miss.”<br />
“Yeah, all of the teachers do.”<br />
“Are you going to strike again next term?”<br />
Even though the last question may have been<br />
motivated by prospect of another school-free<br />
day, most school communities are well aware<br />
of the hours and effort that teachers put in.<br />
Of course, though, with every strike, come the<br />
teacher bashers.<br />
“I wish I had 12 weeks of paid holidays every<br />
year — stop your whingeing.”<br />
Well, we do not have 12 weeks of holidays<br />
a year — we have 12 weeks without classes,<br />
to mark, cross-mark and plan curriculum. If<br />
you don’t use that time, you will never survive<br />
in the classroom. Let’s see Ted spend one<br />
term teaching a full allotment, attending staff<br />
meetings, calling parents, running detentions,<br />
attending camps, helping out with the school play,<br />
doing yard duty and and all the other extras that<br />
come with being a teacher.<br />
I’ve got a Year 9 class I would be happy to<br />
donate for the experience. ◆<br />
Comedian Christina Adams thinks there’s nothing<br />
funnier than performance pay.<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au 29
culture<br />
Playground talk<br />
Ned Manning has distilled a lifetime of teaching into a<br />
book that tells it like it is.<br />
Cynthia Karena AEU News<br />
ITHOUT any change in pay<br />
“Wrate, my two four-hour classes<br />
morphed into four 24-hour days,”<br />
writes drama teacher and actor Ned<br />
Manning in his new book Playground<br />
Duty, as he describes the start of<br />
a funny, stressful, and inspiring<br />
excursion with some performing arts<br />
students.<br />
Teachers all know their pay is not<br />
commensurate with the hours they<br />
put in, but this book aims to help<br />
the general public reach the same<br />
conclusion by giving a glimpse of a<br />
teacher’s life and an understanding of<br />
what teaching involves.<br />
From the inner-city schools of<br />
Sydney to country NSW, this is a<br />
warts-and-all look at Manning’s<br />
teaching experiences, full of joy,<br />
exhilaration and frustration.<br />
Manning, who recently moved to<br />
Victoria, wrote the book to “paint a<br />
picture” of teachers so people could<br />
have a conversation about teaching<br />
with an understanding of what<br />
they do.<br />
“I want to change the debate. I<br />
was sick of years of attending rallies<br />
and demonstrations trying to get a<br />
point across, and then seeing how it<br />
was reported in the press. (Typically)<br />
negative about teachers, they never<br />
had anything positive to say, implying<br />
that teachers are bludgers and lazy,<br />
and it got to me.<br />
“So I wrote the book to reflect<br />
on the nature of the job, and what<br />
teaching is about.”<br />
The book is also very funny.<br />
From Manning’s sartorial choice<br />
of a purple body shirt in the ’70s,<br />
to embarrassing himself helping<br />
students understand how to perform<br />
a character, the book conveys the<br />
comedy of teaching.<br />
But what always shines through<br />
is Manning’s passion for the job<br />
and his compassion for students.<br />
Readers will see that most teachers<br />
care about their students, want the<br />
best for them, and work hard to help<br />
them reach their<br />
potential. Like<br />
most teachers,<br />
Manning does<br />
extra work out<br />
of hours to help<br />
students, without<br />
being paid for it.<br />
For teachers<br />
and former<br />
teachers, it will<br />
bring smiles of<br />
understanding<br />
and recognition,<br />
but there is<br />
nothing new for<br />
them here. Many<br />
of them could write a book like this.<br />
But this book is important for what<br />
it tells the general public.<br />
“For people that have two kids,<br />
think about dealing with a classroom<br />
full of them!” Manning says.<br />
“I want the general public to have<br />
some sort of empathy about how<br />
demanding the job is — emotionally<br />
demanding as well. Since I left<br />
full-time teaching, I am healthier, less<br />
stressed, and I have fewer migraines.<br />
“I’m not an educational theorist,<br />
but this book is about getting people<br />
to understand the value of<br />
teachers.” ◆<br />
Playground Duty by Ned Manning is<br />
published by New South Publishing,<br />
RRP $34.99.<br />
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30 aeu news | june 2012
WIN teaching resources<br />
AEU NEWS is giving members the opportunity to win a variety of <strong>Australian</strong> resources for their school<br />
libraries from our good friends at ABC Books, Ford Street Publishing and Pan MacMillan Australia.<br />
To enter, simply email us at giveaways@aeuvic.asn.au by 10am Tuesday, July 24.<br />
Include your name and school or workplace. Write “Win Teaching Resources” in the subject line.<br />
Prizes will be sent to the winner’s school or workplace with a special inscription recognising the winner. Good luck!<br />
SUBSCRIBE TO THE AEU<br />
E-NEWSLETTER AT<br />
www.aeuvic.asn.au<br />
FOR THE CHANCE TO<br />
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giveaways<br />
Fearless in Love<br />
By Colin Thompson<br />
& illustrated by<br />
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FEARLESS the bulldog was taught that<br />
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The Spies of Gerander — Book Two<br />
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ALISTAIR, Alice and Alex have returned home safe from their adventures, but now that they know their<br />
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<br />
RRP $19.99, ABC Books<br />
In the Beech Forest<br />
By Gary Crew and illustrated by Den Scheer<br />
AN ORDINARY boy takes a path leading him from the safety of his home into a dark forest. His head is full of<br />
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Congratulations to our winners from AEU News issue 3 2012: Day to Remember: the story of ANZAC Day — Kerron Worsdell, Springside P-9 College; Outpost — Tania Marshall, Kent Park Primary<br />
School; Queen of the Night — Bronwyn Knight, Oberon High School; Ten Mile River — Joanne Thompson, Western Port Secondary College; King Jack and the Dragon — Diane McLennan, Barriburn Preschool.<br />
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www.aeuvic.asn.au 31
Smile ...<br />
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