eNews - 3 October 2023 (New educators)

A message from our WA For Every Child campaign coordinator

Hello new educator,

Part of the role of the SSTUWA is advocating for public education and as such, we have joined our fellow branches and associated bodies of the Australian Education Union in campaigning for public schools funding.

Ten years ago, the Commonwealth government adopted a method that worked out the minimum funding our schools needed to ensure every child had the opportunity to achieve learning outcomes above the minimum standard in NAPLAN. The government called this minimum the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).

In 2018, the federal government set up a bilateral agreement between state and federal governments, which defunded 98 per cent of public schools across Australia.

In Western Australia, our schools are funded at 91 per cent of the SRS. That means one in 10 children currently in public schools in WA are not funded. At the same time, every single private school is funded at or above 100 per cent of the SRS.

We must restore funding to public schools. The federal government is currently formulating the 2024 budget, and we all need to speak up and be heard.

Please head to foreverychild.au and sign up in support of the campaign.

Your family and friends know and love a public school educator, so encourage them to sign up too!

This is a community campaign to ensure every child has the right to learn and to be supported to reach their full potential. The more people from across our diverse communities supporting the campaign, the stronger the voice for our public schools.

Teaching tip of the month

There are so many different pathways that a career in public education might take. Do you have an idea on how you might choose yours?

Here are our top five career-planning tips:

1. Identify your strengths and passions – what part of the job are you excelling in? What part of teaching do you just love?
2. Find out what your options are – jump on jobs.wa.gov.au and look around. You’ll find a huge range of different roles and contexts.
3. Talk to others – ask your colleagues about their work, what it involves and what they love about it. You might be surprised at what some jobs entail!
4. Do the job you’re in – and do it well. It’s great to look ahead, but it’s also important that you lay the groundwork where you are.
5. Stay flexible – your ideas and circumstances might change, so make sure you’re prepared to adjust your plan if needed.

Know Your Rights

Performance management might sound scary, but you can leverage the process to get the most out of each individual year, as well as your professional career.

Before you go into your first performance management meeting, you might spend some time reflecting on your practice. It’s a good idea to have two goals prepared:

• One goal that is strongly aligned to the school business plan. This could be something like “maintain an orderly learning environment through implementation of the strategies learnt in the Classroom Management Strategies PD.”

• One goal that is more closely linked to your personal/professional aspirations. As you gain experience, this might be something that will help you progress your career in a particular direction. As a new graduate you might pick something like “Transition to full registration by evidencing my practice at a Proficient Level” or “Experience modelling of effective teaching and learning strategies through attending graduate modules one and two.”

As part of your performance management cycle, you are required to be observed in the classroom for the purposes of feedback. You can choose who observes you – a peer or a superordinate of your choice. If it’s helpful to you, you can choose to use a record of that observation as part of evidencing your achievements against your goals.

For more information on performance management, head to our Know Your Rights sheet available to members at sstuwa.org.au

What we're reading

"[Jason] Clare points to ongoing work around new school agreements, for example, and linking education funding with improved outcomes. But he says that would not be enough."

“If we’re really going to fix some of these massive gaps, we’ve got to do more than just change laws and change the things we do, we’ve got to change the ways we do these things,” he says. Read more here.

ICYMI

As teachers, our salaries and working conditions are laid out in the Schools General Agreement and Award. This is negotiated between the Department of Education and the SSTUWA every few years. But did you know that every SSTUWA member gets a say in the negotiation process?

Find out more about how our Agreement is negotiated here.

Get to know the Climate Action Working Group

The Climate Action Working Group is made up of a number of engaged SSTUWA members who are passionate about taking action on the climate emergency.

The group meets termly, in person and via Zoom, to discuss operational, industrial and curriculum aspects of climate action. The group plans and implements top-down and bottom-up actions to further the principles of education for sustainability within TAFEs and Department of Education schools, and acts as a conduit between the SSTUWA and TAFEs, schools and networks.

If you, or an SSTUWA member colleague, are interested in being part of the Climate Action Working Group, we'd love to have you join us. To express interest in joining the group, please email neweducator@sstuwa.org.au for more information.

What's on in October

Education and Training Centre courses

Live online courses

• Leading Lesson Observation and Feedback Models
  Thu 12 Oct | 2 - 5pm
• Differentiation for Students with a Learning Disability (K-8)
  Thu 19 Oct | 11am - 4pm
• Leading Data Informed Change in Schools
  Wed 1 Nov | 2 - 5pm

Conferences and forums

• 2023 Women's Conference: Strong Women, Strong Voices
  Fri 27 Oct | 9am - 3.30pm

Get involved with your union

For Every Child

Full funding for public schools is the only way to ensure every child gets every opportunity to succeed. It means more one-on-one support for children, more time for teachers and better results. Sign up to the For Every Child campaign here.

School holidays wellbeing webinar

No need to turn on your camera, or even your mic - get ready with your questions and suggestions via the live chat. This holidays, join us for a teacher wellbeing webinar with a difference. You won’t hear about meditation, yoga or even work-life balance. But you will learn about some of your key industrial rights at work, with a focus on protecting your wellbeing. Join us on Thursday, 5th October at 3pm for this 45 minute FREE webinar. Head to the New Educator Network on Facebook to RSVP.

Don't forget about graduate modules

It’s your monthly reminder – you need to complete all four graduate modules within your first 30 months of teaching. Head to PLIS to find a module near you.

We're here to help!

Have a question about a workplace issue? Call Member Assist on 9210 6060 or 1800 106 683.

As well as the many benefits of union membership available to all members, the Growth Team provides specialised support for new educator members. To learn more, get in touch with the Growth Team by emailing neweducator@sstuwa.org.au.

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