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If you are in your first five years of teaching, or are a pre-service teacher, you are eligible to be a new educator member of the SSTUWA and be supported by the union’s Growth Team with targeted visits, information, advice and training.

Private schools in WA have outspent public schools on capital works by $3.2 billion over the past decade, including $515 million in 2023 alone, exposing a widening infrastructure divide driven by the absence of ongoing Commonwealth capital funding for public schools since 2017.

Former SSTUWA General Secretary Mary Franklyn has been made a life member of the Australian Education Union in recognition of her outstanding service to the union movement and to public education. Click here to read an excerpt of the nomination speech given by SSTUWA President Matt Jarman.

*Disclaimer: in this article the term teacher is used intermittently in reference to teachers and school leaders. How often do we hear that the need to fix the teacher shortage is to show teachers more respect?

In the last issue of Western Teacher, I spoke about leadership, service and collective strength. In this issue, I want to focus on what that means in practice.

I want to thank all our members who responded to our start of term survey on teacher shortages.

Only nine per cent of Canadian students learn about climate change often in school, while 42 per cent say it’s rarely or never discussed in the classroom.

Education leaders from across Australia have written an open letter to News Corp Australia, calling on them to immediately cease the publication of misleading school league tables.

As the School Curriculum and Standards Authority updates its curricula, it is even more important for schools and teachers to take a fresh look at how they teach about the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, not to mention how that lines up with staff professional learning, schools plans and policies and the Aboriginal Cultural Standards Framework.

Inequality is one of the most urgent challenges facing Australian schools. For decades, governments have invested billions of dollars in schools with the promise every child should have the opportunity to succeed.

I became a member of the SSTUWA in mid-2024, inspired by the industrial action taking place prior to the new lecturers’ award being won and was then voted in as the branch representative earlier last year.

Clause 47 – Bereavement Leave of the Western Australian TAFE Lecturers’ General Agreement 2023 deals with a member’s entitlement to leave on the death of a family member or member of the household.

Educators from across Australia and the Pacific converged in Brisbane last November for the 2025 National New Educators’ Conference, hosted at Brisbane State High School.

SSTUWA member and union scholarship recipient Trish Chapman reflects on how deeper study strengthened her teaching and community connections.

Excessive workloads, administrative burdens and lack of support continue to drive public school teachers and leaders away.

I am honoured to have been elected as the new general secretary of the SSTUWA and grateful for the trust members have placed in the new Executive team.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that this article contains names of deceased persons. Kaya! Welcome back members to the new year – a year of new beginnings and, as always, new challenges.

Welcome back and happy new year to you all. I am honoured and deeply grateful to have been elected as the new senior vice president of our union.

There is constant change in education and as educators we are built to sustain and manage that evolution. In fact, as history continues to show, our members are heavily leaned upon to manage these changes and those that impact our community.

Australian teachers are more likely to be using artificial intelligence than their counterparts around the world, according to a new international survey.