From the President: A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step*, or ... The long and winding road!

2014 is drawing to a close. In the QTU’s 126th year we have celebrated our shared history of success in promoting and protecting public education, purposefully challenged the ill-conceived education and industrial relations policy directions of the LNP state government and laid the foundations to reclaim our profession.

The right to campaign

On coming to government, the LNP set about legislating an extreme industrial relations agenda. One particularly offensive amendment imposed a requirement that all trade unions seek approval from members (via a full membership ballot) before spending $10,000 or more for “a political purpose”. The QTU partnered with the police and nurses’ unions to challenge this legislation in the High Court and, after much obfuscation by the state government, the amendments were quietly repealed in the dead of night. The sweetest part of this victory was the fact that the state government was required to pay our costs, ensuring that members’ money could be returned to supporting other campaigns.

The voice of teachers

Teaching is one of the only professions where many believe that not only are they entitled to a view on how we do our work, but that teachers themselves need not have a voice.

There is no issue more fundamental to education than curriculum. Changes to the Queensland Studies Authority that took effect from 1 July not only renamed the authority, now the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, but removed stakeholder representation by creating an expert board appointed by the Minister. A review of the Queensland College of Teachers legislation, currently under way, has the potential to deliver the same change. However, the teaching profession cannot allow the exclusion of teachers from the governance of the body they fund. These attempts to exclude teachers from having a voice on these bodies are shaping up to be a major issue in the QTU’s 2015 state election campaign.

Give Teachers Greater Respect

The GT=GR plan announced by the state government in April 2013 outlined 15 actions for education, a few good, but most bad. The moves to impose a teacher performance assessment process on our profession were met with stoic resistance and eventually defeated, to be replaced by a new agreement for a teacher performance review process.

Abhorrent plans for rankings, bonus pay and competition between teachers were all abandoned in favour of a collegial process focused on professional development and practice. Many challenges are still to be met as this policy program rolls out, but the stand taken by members will see all the worst aspects abandoned in time.

It’s time

Swept to power just three years ago, the state LNP government appeared in an unassailable position. As we approach the 2015 state election, Queensland expects that education will dominate the future of this state now and in the long term. Education is a public good, a principled investment in our community and economy and the foundation of a civil society. The future of this government and those that come after it should be judged on their actions in education. The outstanding work of QTU members as professional teachers and principals will continue to challenge governments to rise above politics and embrace the universal truth that in education as in life, not everything that counts can be counted#.

Farewell Julie Brown

For the past nine years Julie Brown has been a key part of the QTU leadership team. A primary teacher with a passion for early childhood education, Julie was elected QTU Vice-President in 2005 and must retire this year under the maximum term limit imposed by the QTU’s rules. Having worked with Julie as a presidential officer for the past three years, I can attest to her commitment to education and her fervent belief in our Union. Julie was recently honoured with an Emma Miller Award for her work in support of women in unions, an area of particular importance for her. Thank you Julie for all that you have done and best wishes for a long and happy retirement.

Kevin Bates
President

* With apologies to Lao-tzu
# William Bruce Cameron (1963), “Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking”

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 119 No 8, 14 November 2014, p7