Need urgent help? Members call 02 8202 8900 Regional members call 1800 467 943

    The IEU Zone

TEACHER SHORTAGES BILLBOARD TRUCK COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU

Media alert for: Sutherland, Wollongong, Albion Park, Nowra – Monday 22 August

The Independent Education Union’s mobile billboard truck has taken to NSW’s streets for two weeks. While its big digital screens bear several messages, there are two key issues: Fix teacher shortages now! Pay support staff properly!

Media are invited to view the truck on Monday 22 August and talk with the teachers it represents:

The truck has a packed itinerary. The first week includes the Illawarra region and Nowra, Goulburn and Queanbeyan, Bathurst and Lithgow, and Sydney’s western, northern and eastern suburbs as well as the city itself. In the second week, the tour continues north to the central coast, Newcastle and Port Macquarie then inland to Armidale and Tamworth and back south to Singleton and Maitland.

“The IEU is seeking the support of the public, politicians and parents of students in Catholic systemic schools in particular to back the union in striving to have the teacher shortages taken seriously,” said IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Mark Northam. “As the truck makes its way around the state, delegations of IEU members will also be visiting NSW politicians and writing to them with a clear request: fix this crisis in education.”

The IEU represents the industrial and professional interests of 33,000 teachers and support staff in non-government schools in NSW and the ACT.

“We’re seeking a range of straightforward solutions,” Northam said. “Fair salaries for teachers; pay parity for support staff with their counterparts in government schools; adequate planning time; a reduced administrative load; and practical strategies to end the disastrous staff shortages afflicting all schools – government and non-government – as well as the early childhood sector.

“The IEU recently spoken up at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Teacher Shortages, at Federal Education Minister Jason Clare’s Teacher Workforce Roundtable, and at a meeting with Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly about teacher shortages in her sector,” Northam said. “Now we’re taking it to communities throughout NSW. Teacher shortages impact everyone, from the teachers themselves and their students, right through to pre-schoolers and their parents.”

IEU President Christine Wilkinson said: “Teacher shortages are having a detrimental impact on our members’ health and wellbeing. Ever-increasing workloads, supervision of multiple classes (with attendant duty of care concerns), and too little planning time are causing new levels of stress. Prompt action must be taken. It is time our voices were heard.”

This is about the future of education. “We welcome meetings with employers and politicians,” Northam said. “Let’s sit down and fix these issues together.”

Mark Northam , Secretary, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch, 0427 667 061

Media : Monica Crouch 0411 645 751 monica@ieu.asn.au

The IEUA NSW/ACT Branch represents over 33,000 teachers, principals and support staff in Catholic and independent schools, early childhood centres and post-secondary colleges.

Authorised by Mark Northam, Secretary, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch