Workload: Something must be done

The information from the time wasters survey confirms members' previous advice - something needs to be done about workload.

Consequently, workload and processes to moderate workload pressures must be front and centre in the EB campaign. Action also needs to be taken to alleviate the continued administrative burden placed on schools, school leaders and teachers.

As part of the letting teachers teach platform, the state government has committed to a review of school support allocation, which will hopefully reduce some of the pressure on schools.

However, the delaying of EB negotiations until mid next year gives the QTU time to achieve a kit of resources, including agreements with DET, to assist members in taking action at the local level in response to some of the key issues.

The Union’s approach has been to work with DET to establish joint positions on a number of matters, such as collegial engagement in classrooms, planning and preparation, individual curriculum plans, mandatory training and professional development. With these resources, members will be able to ensure that local processes do not extend beyond DET’s requirements (unless members, through proper consultation, agree to do so).

At this year’s Union Reps Conference, the panel was asked “What is the role of a teacher?” While the answer was more extensive, the fundamental role of a teacher is to plan, teach, assess and report. It is the interpretation of what each of these responsibilities means that contributes to the ever increasing workload.

In order to moderate workload, members must know their rights and working conditions, believe that these are their rights and working conditions, and expect them.

With rights and working conditions also comes responsibilities. While the Union can negotiate rights and working conditions through EB, joint statements, memoranda of understanding etc, they will have no effect on working conditions and workload if members do not assert these rights. As part of the workload response, the kit of resources available to members will not be limited to fact sheets and fact checkers, but will include actions to assist members in attaining these rights.
Everyone’s workload looks different, because every school, every context, is different. If members play an active part in defining what the excess workload looks like at a school level, this will be a start in alleviating some of their concerns.
In doing this, members must know their rights, raise the issue at the school level if they believe that expectations erode their rights or working conditions, use the consultative mechanisms to reach agreement about what works at the school, and then implement this agreement.

The first step in knowing your working conditions is the QTU fact checker and website. QTU Organisers and Officers also provide a range of training, including local consultative committees, managing unsatisfactory performance, knowing your working conditions, the annual performance review, collegial engagement and legal issues.

There is a specific fact checker for school leaders, whose role in acting as a buffer between central and regional expectations and what is implemented at a school level cannot be underestimated. In recent strategic planning exercises, education leaders confirmed that not only do they want the QTU to be their advocate, they expect it to be the source of timely, accurate information. Consequently, the school leader fact checker acts as an additional resource for them to check that what is being asked of them aligns with their rights and conditions.

One example of the local process is the “Unpacking the Joint Statement on Collegial Engagement in Classrooms” resource. Using this, members can implement the joint statement at the local level through consultation and agreement. An outline of this resource was published in the last journal. As resources are developed, they will be made available online, through Organisers and Officers, QTAD and the Journal.

The first step in unravelling increasing workload demands at the local level is to be informed. Once confident about the key issues, work with other members to identify how these issues may be addressed, and share your successes. The Union will also keep members informed as agreements are reached in response to workload pressures.

Kate Ruttiman
Deputy General Secretary

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 120 No 6, 21 August 2015, p11