Catholic Education Tasmania must treat teachers and school staff with the respect they deserve
Frustrated staff in Tasmanian Catholic schools have been campaigning for over two years to get a new Agreement that brings their working conditions up to standards long ago reached in the state sector. They need wide support to boost their campaign, including from parents of students and the local community.
Staff take steps towards protected industrial action
The Tasmanian Catholic Agreement is two years overdue. Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) continues to delay bargaining and stick with untenable anti-worker claims like the forced transfer of employees up to 65kmh from their place of residence and the extension of the school year.
Frustrated, overworked members have told their union that the campaign needs to go to the next level to force meaningful, respectful action from their employer. The Independent Education Union, which covers all staff working in non-government schools, is currently in the process of getting approval from the Fair Work Commission to take industrial action.
It didn’t have to get to this. Staff demands are entirely reasonable and the CET’s continued inability to finalise an Agreement is exacerbating the workload of staff during a worsening teacher shortage crisis.
A worsening of the crisis impacting schools
The IEU is surveying teachers and school staff in Catholic schools across Tasmania and the results are grim. Staff repeatedly communicated how the delays in reaching a new Agreement make them feel disrespected making them want to leave the sector entirely and impacting the quality of the education they can deliver to students.
Here is just some of what they are saying:
“Our workload is ever increasing, with no decrease in sight, our mental and physical wellbeing is at capacity, we no longer have to time to plan a meaningful and effective curriculum, teachers are increasingly needing to support high pastoral needs of students and take on roles more similar to that of counsellors, social workers and parents.
Staff understand that what hurts them hurts students.
“Support is well overdue and not only are teachers suffering but as a result students are suffering with learning outcomes due to the unsustainable expectations of staff members”.
Staff are also upset that CET is refusing an IEU claim for Teacher’s Assistants to receive planning time for the important work they do supporting students in schools. Teacher Assistants themselves expressed their frustration:
“We work with the hardest students, know them best and how to adjust for them but work 6 lessons on with no planning time. Any planning is in our own time.
We had hundreds of responses to our survey. Time and time again we heard the same sentiments.
Listen back to an ABC Radio segment on the campaign
Stand with teachers and school staff fighting to get a new Agreement
It’s vital that the community supports the ongoing campaign by staff in Tasmanian Catholic schools. Whether you’re a parent of a student at a Catholic school, a friend of a staff member, or just a concerned community member, everyone has a role to play in pressuring the CET to get the deal done.