Teacher Unions.
Whilst I have put Teacher Unions in ‘The Problems’ category there are two sides to consider. They have played a very constructive and positive role in the overall history of this nation’s education system. However it is their protection at all cost of failing and incompetent teachers that is the real problem to the profession they represent. Education Minister at the time, Stuart Robert, famously pointed that out, labelling them the ”Dud teachers in public schools.” This puts them at odds with those who see the damage such teachers cause to the children in their care. However the positive contributions they have made far outweigh the negatives. It would be my wish that they were far more active and persuasive in using their voices to instigate a dynamic Re-Form model for the nation and take a much greater role in the professional development of their members.
Their concern and objection to the adoption of the Global Education Reform Movement, the GERM, during the Howard government years was missing at the time and they have been playing catch up ever since. Teacher strikes in Queensland, Victoria and the ACT in 2026, whilst pushing for higher wages, also pointed out the real crisis points in the profession as a result of their inaction, as described below. Some of their greatest achievements of last century were the campaigns to get equal pay and conditions for female teachers and a strong support for the professional development for all teachers, Bardon Professional Development Centre (1977-1995) in Queensland being a prime example. The granting of non-contact time for preschool and primary school teachers in 1997 was a major step in the right direction but has been greatly compromised with the teacher shortage crisis.
The role of unions in Australian education is to represent the teachers regarding pay, working conditions and work intensity. The major concerns across the board in 2026 are student behaviour, workload intensity and teacher shortages. Industrial action has increased as a result with teachers in two states and the ACT resorting to Teacher Strikes which have brought intense public awareness of the many crises schools currently face. Though the wages debate has headlined the strikes the underlying concerns are teacher wellbeing, pupil and parent school violence and the inequity of funding to public education. The feminisation of the profession is of great concern but to my knowledge is not an issue on which unions tend to focus. It is an issue with young children who have limited access to gender based teaching experiences, especially those from single mother families having relationships with mainly female teachers. The other is in secondary schools where the dominance of alpha male type students can make life hell for their female teachers, more especially when the number of men on staff is minimal. The current teacher ratio of 84% female teachers to a diminishing 16% males in primary schools and 68% female to 32% female in secondary schools, is a blight on the profession, some say a disaster.
Australian teacher unions are over 135 years old, with the oldest, the Queensland Teachers' Union (QTU), established on January 9, 1889. All states have their own independent Teacher Unions. While state-based unions formed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the federal body, the Australian Education Union (AEU), formed later, tracing its roots to 1930 and adopting its current name in 1993. Our major unions, primarily the Australian Education Union (AEU) (public sector) and Independent Education Union (IEU) (private sector), represent over 190,000 educators regarding pay, working conditions, and workloads. Key concerns in 2026 include managing complex student behaviour, workload intensity, and teacher shortages.
A major push of the AEU has been the funding of public schools to the SRS (School Resourcing Standard) levels as recommended by David Gonski in 2011. Some success on that front has been achieved with all states except Victoria signed up with the Commonwealth for the new funding agreement, albeit to take a further decade and with some very explicit conditions for public schools attached.
If nothing more, union membership for legal representation is crucial for our teachers in the ever growing climate of teacher abuse and unfair treatment by their employer. The insurance policy that membership provides is a guarantee of legal advocacy in this tumultuous period of rapid change as we transition to a new world that brings forth challenges of this Info/Technological Revolution that will have lasting effects on all facets of society. Teaching and schooling will not be able to avoid being affected as we already see AI fear a reality. The four videos by Sal Kahn give a positive perspective of how AI might make teachers even better at their craft - "Sal Kahn interviews."
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I give the final word to Albert Einstein who is purported to have said about teaching “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” He also said, “I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”