Wrote to the FWC to enquire about the progress

Got told it has been signed off TODAY.

Is it just me or recruitment getting more competitive?

For context, I’m a grad secondary teacher, teaching Science & Maths, and looking for a new position next year as my MACS school can’t offer me a load next year.

I have been applying around, had 1 interview at a local public school, no feedback for a month, no reference check - an automatic fail.

I also applied to other schools and haven’t heard back at all.

Compared to last round, I was contacted by multiple schools, interviewed at 4 different schools and received 3 contracts.

Is it actually a lot more competitive or it’s too early to say….

It seems QLD isn't happy with having the weakest industrial law; they want to give the minister the power to act like the QIRC and block public servants from striking.

Don't miss out on the headlines from QLD News. Followed categories will be added to My News. follow Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie will give himself powers to stop public servants — like police, nurses and teachers — from striking under major industrial law changes. The sweeping shake-up will also cap protected industrial action at 30 days and strip workers’ rights to be paid even if they do some duties while on strike. Under the law changes introduced on Wednesday night, Mr Bleijie would be able to step in if industrial action is happening, or is likely to happen, and he considers it could endanger lives, safety, health or welfare, in line with existing rules under the Commonwealth Fair Work Act. He could also terminate protected action if it could damage the Queensland economy or if ending it is considered to be in the public interest. This would include concerns about the impact of strikes or bans by frontline workers such as police or teachers. https://archive.is/eVf2F

I feel this is one of these very common cases of "well duh, but it'll never ever change", but still interesting to read I guess! Always uplifting to go through the list of all the good things that should be done and knowing there's no attempt at a single one at any school I've ever worked at.

Hi everyone!

I'm currently studying Secondary Education at university and have recently started looking into casual SLSO work in NSW public schools through ClassCover.

Today, I was booked for my first casual SLSO shift at a public school. However, when I arrived, the school checked my details and told me I couldn't work because I had apparently been screened as a volunteer through a previous university teaching placement at another public school.

They advised me to contact my previous placement school and ask them to update my screening so I could work as an SLSO.

The confusing part is that I already have a valid paid employee Working With Children Check, which I've confirmed through Service NSW.

I also contacted the NSW Department of Education afterwards to clarify the situation, but the representative I spoke with said they couldn't find any screening records under my name, whether as a volunteer or an employee. He advised that a school would need to initiate an employment screening request.

So now I'm a little lost, because the school I attended today said I was already screened as a volunteer, while the Department couldn't find any record of that screening.

I'm also unsure about contacting my previous placement school to change my status, since I was only there as an unpaid university placement student and was never employed there as an SLSO.

I've since emailed the school that booked me to ask for clarification, but I thought I'd ask here in case anyone has experienced something similar.

Has anyone dealt with this before, or does anyone know how the screening process works for someone starting casual SLSO work through ClassCover?

Does a school need to initiate a new employee screening request, or is there something I need to organise myself before accepting shifts?
I'd really appreciate any advice. Thank you!

Hi,

Im 22F and have a Bachelors in Math and Computer Science. Though with how the tech industry is panning out with Claude and AI prompting becoming the entire job I am considering switching career trajectories.

I am considering doing a PhD in math and trying to become an academic, but the demand in academia is dicey. The objective of getting the PhD for me would be so that I can be a university lecturer, since I enjoy teaching difficult math (I currently tutor university math classes). This does have an attractive salary progression, since most universities post this, starting is 85k ish and professor level is almost always over 200k. Though the role is not strictly teaching obviously, its also research and supervision of research students etc, with the teaching being to hundreds of student and much less personal.

On the other hand, teaching high school year 10-12 math lacks the difficult math but I'd get to teach as the sole job. I think I'd like to teach those high intensity/accelerated math programs that some schools run. But the downside is the lower pay progression since most of the time its just one level of high school teacher unless you become a head of department etc. Since the alternative has such attractive pay scales, I was wondering if theres pathways in private or IB school teaching where maybe specifically for the math subject demand, they pay more. Im thinking the top performing private schools of the state eg.

Not saying I'd only want that, but I want to know if that is an option that pays closer to 130-160k after a few years of experience.

Many things draw me to teaching, and I understand the classroom management involved etc, and Id like to connect with students and make a difference, but it does have its downsides which i am trying to justify. Thre transition would also require a year or two to complete a masters in secondary education.

Pay transparency helps us all, so if anyone is able to share any private school teaching salaries I'd be so appreciative. Also if anyone could explain the differences between Religious and non religious private education.

For anyone who's been on an interview panel, I'd love to hear your perspective.

How much weight do you place on an applicant's interview responses compared to their overall personality, authenticity and how well you feel they'd fit within the school community?

For example, would you consider someone who might have been a little nervous and didn't necessarily deliver the most polished answers, but came across as genuine, passionate and someone who would be great to work with?

I'm also curious about reference checks. How much influence do referees have on the final decision? Can an exceptional reference make a significant difference between two candidates, or is the preferred candidate generally decided before referees are contacted?

With the MACS system freezing hiring or even making teachers redundant, and the independent sector having to match public's wage increases to keep people, schools are cutting electives and/or less popular VCE subjects

So which ones do you reckon (or know) are the first to be cut?

Since I've been at the school I'm at, the principal refuses to accept stat decs for sick leave (personal leave)

According to the DET PAL,

A statutory declaration can only be used

• When it is allowed: A statutory declaration is an accepted alternative only if it is not reasonably practicable to obtain a medical certificate.

• Principal Discretion: The decision of whether it was truly impracticable

to get a medical certificate rests with the school principal, who evaluates it on a case-by-case basis.

I sent the AEU an email about this and was advised that "I have a difficult principal, and that you'll need to obtain a document that can't be questioned.....

Am I being a pita if I think the union are not being that helpful?

Keen to understand other folks opinions.

Dear Colleague,

The public sector arbitration has no direct impact on Queensland Catholic school negotiations.

Employers have circulated erroneous information suggesting the arbitration should affect how staff vote on the inadequate agreement they have proposed.

Public sector negotiations take place in the state jurisdiction, with arbitration in the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC).

Our negotiations are covered by the federal jurisdiction, so any intervention would be presided over by the Fair Work Commission, which operates under different processes and timelines.

Employers are aware of this, but they are hoping threats about arbitration will convince staff to accept an agreement that's inadequate on workload, wages and conditions.

VOTE NO to inadequate wages

The indirect impact of the public sector arbitration is the uncertainty it has created about state school wages.

This is why our union looked to leading interstate wage outcomes in New South Wales and Victorian schools when developing the employee wage claim.

The public sector arbitration outcome, whenever it is known, will not have any immediate effect on wages and conditions in Queensland Catholic schools. But the outcome of the upcoming employer ballot will.

Employers have compared an interim QIRC outcome to their wage offer. They do not know the final outcome and have made no commitment to match it if public sector wages are higher than their offer.

There is a reason why employers don’t want to talk about national wage rates: their wage offer is not good enough.

It will see teacher wages in Queensland Catholic schools fall behind, and it won’t address the 10-25% wage deficit faced by teaching assistants and other school officers compared to staff in New South Wales Catholic schools doing the same work.

If a majority of staff VOTE NO, the immediate step is not arbitration – it's for employers to return to the bargaining table.

More reasons to VOTE NO

In addition to inadequate wages, the employer agreement means:

❌ Zero action on workload and work intensification.
❌ Substandard reproductive health leave that is heavily restricted.
❌ $500 (approx.) pay cut for school officers caused by two-month wage increase delay.
❌ Union education leave cut for members.
❌ Appraisal principles that ensure fairness removed.
❌ No additional allowance for staff who administer medication to students.
❌ No additional support for teachers of inclusive student support.
❌ No enhanced conditions for senior leaders.
❌ No recognition of primary program leaders (however named).
❌ No significant additional support for staff in flexi schools.
❌ No protection for staff in the use of AI.
❌ No additional support for library staff.
❌ No additional support for counsellors.
❌ No additional support for instrumental music teachers and tutors.

Find out more about what the agreement means for all categories of employees by reading the employee claim/employer offer comparison.

Join with 94% of IEU members and VOTE NO

94% of IEU members have already rejected the inadequate employer agreement in an advisory vote.

When voting opens on 19 October, all staff will have the opportunity to have their say.

Join with 94% of IEU members and VOTE NO.

Secondary teacher for a few years here, and I have to admit that I am tired of being the “I don’t use AI” guy in the office. Been teaching for a bit now, and I’ve seen the shift. It was silent, and now even people I respect and look up to in leadership are vocal about it, which bothers me more than I can admit.

A couple of things to note:

- I don’t police anyone in their use of it. There’s only been one time where I’ve explained my view on it aloud (which is that I understand why people might use it to lessen workload, but that I myself would not use it), and that’s only when I’ve been asked my opinion of it directly. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut in the spirit of maintaining positive relationships and peace in the office.

- I’m just ethically opposed to the use of generative AI. As an English teacher, I find it hypocritical to the students if I ask them not to use it and I end up doing that. (How am I meant to lead by example?) I am more than aware of how LLMs work, and how it’s built off the practice of poorly-disguised intellectual theft; how companies are looking to replace the human workforce in service of machine efficiency rather than some Marxist idea of providing comfort in lieu of actual work; how it affects the environment on top of all the other things that humans do. It seems impossible to reconcile ease and comfort with good conscience. I genuinely don’t know how people do it.

- All I’ve seen in defense of its use is that it cuts out the boring work, the timeslop, the tedious work. This is why I’m of two minds about it. On one hand, I often wish that that kind of work is lessened, as with any other. (It’s hard fuxkin hard yakkas out here!) So, I get the concept of using a tool to lighten the load. On the other, I again cannot reconcile with the use of theft as a shortcut, and one we encourage students not to do. Do we not teach them the value of being bored? Of spending their time working at their craft because it is and can never be perfect? Of persevering through the tedious? Why would I take a shortcut when it means burning down a forest, or taking someone else’s hard work and passing it off as my own?

I’ve tried to summarise my points here, but I’m happy to elaborate. I don’t want to seem like I’m morally grandstanding, but I also don’t see how it is an issue beyond the ethical, given that neither I nor anyone else can “do anything about it”, and so have little power beyond personal choice. Again: I see the practical benefit.

So, my question is: Is anyone else in the same boat?

Or, alternatively, does anyone else have a really compelling reason as to why I’m fighting a losing battle between my conscience and the general teaching populace? Should I just give up and use it?

EDIT: Saw a comment, wrote an entire response to it to clarify my point, thought I'd put it down here just because I hate wasting my time lmfao

> Putting the entire generative AI into the category of unethical means you have an illogical fight for it.

You're right! I am generalising. To be specific: Claude, Chat, etc. There are places where generative AI is nigh unavoidable: Copilot, Google, Reddit, even. These are beyond the scope of my concerns because it has become, at this point, more tedious to avoid them; I just scroll down if I need to verify.

> There is a long long list of things you can do at school that students can't do. You've turned this into a moral compass situation rather then teaching students.

Should I not have a moral compass when teaching students? Can these two things not exist at the same time?

> And what you are doing is getting yourself as well as your students replaced as soon as possible. We can't control the world, AI is already here to stay.

I'm not sure how what I'm doing right now is enabling this to happen. I would assume that my usage of it would make this happen instead. You're absolutely right. We can't control the world. I don't think AI is leaving any time soon because the powers that be deem it so. For example, governments and big business can't afford to admit that companies like OpenAI have overvalued themselves, which means that they'll do anything to support these companies to ensure some sort of RoI. However, unrestricted development of AI has led to multiple data breaches; full investment into generative AI by companies like Micron have led to a massive increase in RAM prices, which will have a flow-on effect on to other tech spending; and, from the mouth of a trusted friend who works in developing AI: it's not only flawed, but accepted and adopted for its flaws, which is not to be said for the workforce that has built it. I would love to be replaced by AI in the workforce, but the current socioeconomic system is not robust enough nor is it utopian enough to support a liveable, sustainable lifestyle for the people who do get replaced.

>AI only affects the environment if you use a service that affects the environment. If you are truly against AI because of the environmental impact, there are options that make it produce 0% environmental impact.

I would actually love to know what options these are. But I also think it's a little naive to think that "XYZ only affects the environment if you use a service that affects the environment". I am not claiming to have lived or be living a net zero life. It takes a lot of effort and people are doing it better than me. The concept of individuals being responsible for the effect of climate change is, I think, a conspiracy that shifts the blame from big businesses that profit off of people like myself feeling guilty. Yet nothing I use, consume or produce is without environmental impact. My environmental conscience is a small drop in a big ocean, but I can make choices of my own volition to ease it.

> So teachers shouldn't be using Textbooks or Google right? Because students can't just copy from the textbook or Google right?

Google really isn't Google anymore, though. Not as it used to be, anyway. Looking for information yourself and verifying its verisimilitude is surely cognitively different from having Chat GPT summarise it. I'm seeing your argument without the condescending tone: Chat GPT is as much of a search engine because it summarises all the information of the internet. I struggled to trust it, though, with what I think is a healthy degree of pessimism and doubt; not that I think it's 100% inaccurate, but that the system itself is built on flaws, and students often do not have the temerity to differentiate accuracy between a textbook and AI imagination.

The reason they're coming up with new models is because, time and again, generative AI has straight-up imagined sources (which then becomes an issue of academic integrity), or provided incorrect information for the express purpose of cutting down for efficiency (in the same vein that a summary is not an analysis, and vice versa), or has been trained on such a wide range of different people who feed it different versions of the truth (at which point, the ideas that it comes up with is, at its core, innately biased, rather than machine-precise-objective). This is not to say that Google and textbooks were ever 100% accurate either; there's a reason textbooks have multiple revisions, and a Google search is just a search of what's out on the internet, truth or no -- because the wealth of human information is, of course, very, very human. In saying this, again I repeat that I see your point. I understand it. I just wish you'd said it without such derision.

> your post doesn't articulate anything that makes me believe you have made an informed decision.

I am not beholden to justify myself to a stranger on the internet. And I haven't made a clear decision, if all the questions I'm asking at the bottom of the post indicate anything. That's what the post is actually articulating.

I'm curious, what is the best year you remember being a teacher? And why? What grade?

Teaching students with behavioural needs or students who need extra support due to disability or cognitive function, has always brought me the most joy and has been my greatest strength as a classroom teacher in a mainstream school. I would always nominate myself to take on difficult students due to behaviour, or those with low academic performance. I love seeing the progression they can make within the right environment.

This love has died. Why? It’s not because the students became tiresome, it’s because of the bureaucratic red tape that now comes with having these students in your class.

Having these students now brings a monumental amount of paperwork and meetings, and if you’re willing to take on a bulk of these students, you’re not offered a reduced class size or extra pay, but you may be offered teaching aides and an hour two throughout the year to “catch-up on, or revise plans.”

The aides becomes a series of different adults coming in and out of the classroom who also need to be managed as they’re employed off a whim and often don’t have the skills or confidence to manage themself. The time off to catch up on plans is more of an inconvenience.

Then PLP’s brings a whole other argument into play, which isn’t a good one. Do we start separating students requiring PLP’s evenly across classes equally for teacher workload equity? I’m not saying we should, but between all the paperwork and extra meetings due to students with any kind of “plan”, it is clearly becoming insurmountable.

Hi Team!

I’m applying for a MTeach internship in QLD. Looking at either the career change internship program (state) or the all points to teaching program (catholic). Both look pretty similar, other than starting out in a state vs catholic school.

Has anybody done either one or have some insights what the difference between the two are further down the track? Planning on doing secondary math and science.

Just not 100% on the difference in the contracts between the 2. Leave, salaries, non contact times etc.

Thank you!

I'm looking at running a whole-school charity fundraiser and would love to make it as student-led as possible rather than having staff do all the heavy lifting. This will be with students in Stage 3.

I'd like to have them take ownership of things like promotion, fundraising ideas, event planning, communicating with the school community, etc. The goal is to build leadership, problem solving and not just to raise money. This fundraiser is for a cause that is special to these students and I believe there will be immediate buy in, so that is not an issue.

For those who've done similar projects:

• What responsibilities did you hand over to students?
• How did you avoid students just asking the teacher what to do next?
• How did you organise the students to work well together?
• What worked well and what would you avoid?
• How much guidance was necessary without taking ownership away from them?

Would love to hear any examples from upper primary teachers who've done something similar. My biggest concern is finding the balance between authentic student leadership and ensuring the event actually gets off the ground!

I was told that we are entitled to special sick leave after 10 years. Is this true? When does it show up on our sap portal?. In december, I will be teaching the 10 year mark.

Does anyone have the proposed pay scales for QLD Catholic Schools EB11 negotiations? I’m trying decide what to vote next week. I’m leaning strongly towards a ’no’ but want to be as informed as possible!

Hi guys,

I have received an offer from SCU "Gold Coast Campus" to pursue a masters of secondary teaching with specialising in Information Processes Technology and Software Design Development. My questions are the following.

• How hard is to find employment upon finishing the program if I am only specialising in IT area of teaching especially considering the fact that I am an international student?
• After doing a bit of research I found mixed opinions about the quality of teaching at SCU. Some claiming that they don't care about teaching and all they care is about our money. How truthful is that statement?

Feel free to comment anything else you like regarding this topic.

Hi all

I just got offered to study Mteach at uni melb with psych and bus man as my learning areas! I’m quite excited by this and wanted to hear of anyone’s experience at Unimelb? If there are any teachers who have the same learning areas and what subjects they teach from yr 7-10?

Thanks

Hi everyone this is such a random post but my school has a school disco coming up for our primary students and I’ve convinced our admin to change up the playlist this year due to feedback from our Year 4s who said they’re tired of listening to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off a million times😂

Just wondering if anyone had any kid friendly song recs that are a bit more current. I’ve got Kpop demon hunters in mind (dunno if that’s outdated now haha). When we asked students to submit their preferences a lot of them either couldn’t remember the name or just wrote silly things on the slips.

Is anyone else experiencing a massive uptick in sexism, disrespect and sexual harassment from male students directed at female staff?

Context: co-ed, public, middle/high school. Over the past 6 months I’ve personally experienced more disrespect from male students and several specific incidences of gender-based harassment - from little things like refusing to follow my instructions, but immediately acting when a male staff member says the same, to bigger concerns such as being told things like “you’re just a woman” or “you’ll rage quit soon enough, females can’t handle the pressure”.

I’ve reported all incidences and issues to my leadership team and the overwhelming response has been to either dismiss my experiences or to issue an informal warning to the students involved and continue on as normal afterward. I will note that the majority of the overall leadership team are men and the executive leadership team is made up of only men, as I do think this may have some impact.

When I’ve spoken to a range of other staff at my site about this it seems that either:
A) other women aren’t experiencing the same issues I am
B) other women aren’t recognising that they’re experiencing the same issues I am
C) other women don’t feel comfortable to honestly report or comment on whether or not they’re having similar experiences.

It’s starting to feel a bit like I must be overly sensitive, overreacting, or bringing this upon myself in some way so I wanted to see how other teachers across the country are feeling to possibly gain some sort of clarity or perspective. I can’t possibly be alone in noticing this shift, right?

Hi there!
I’m currently a 3rd year uni student studying a bachelor of science and master of secondary education at one of the major universities in Melbourne.

I currently work fast food and after about six years I’m just over working and fast food so wanting to move my career more towards my future tertiary qualifications.

Just seeking advice and recommendations of good steppingstone jobs whilst still at university for somebody that is interested in going to teaching as a university graduate.

Thanks