Mr MILLS - 2002-08-14
This weekend, it is a year since your government promised Territory families 100 more teachers on the job. With students now facing the most critical part of their school year, the union asserts that there are 67 vacant teaching positions. The minister’s own comment gives the figure somewhere around 35, perhaps 40. By my calculations, that would leave approximately 1000 primary school students without classroom teachers, at 25 students per class, perhaps enough to fill 2.5 urban primary schools.
Whilst in opposition, the current government run a number of MPIs on important issues in education.
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The questions are getting longer and longer …
Members interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Teacher shortages were often key…
Ms MARTIN: There is a point of order.
Mr MILLS: I am sorry.
Ms MARTIN: There is a very clear line: that you keep your questions short and to the point. This is a statement from the member.
Madam SPEAKER: I do admit that the questions have been getting longer, but I am sure the member for Blain is about to ask his question. Your question, member for Blain.
Mr MILLS: It is important to see the broader context. There were a number of MPIs and a line of questioning in the last session of parliament. There was at this time in 2001 a shortage of five teachers in the teaching service.
Minister, the Martin government has failed to fulfil their election promise. Will you acknowledge that this is the worst teacher shortage the Territory has ever faced? And, short of admitting your promise was a total sham, will you explain why you have failed to fulfil your election promise?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. I can tell him that schools and teachers out there are a little bit more excited about the commitment and the emphasis that this government is putting on education, schools and training than they ever saw from the Country Liberal Party.
It is no secret that teacher recruitment becomes ever more difficult. There is a national shortage. I am sure the member for Blain knows that. That focusses this government’s attention ever more closely on this whole question of teacher recruitment and retention. It is an opportunity for me to inform the House on the accuracy of the vacancy situation in our schools without the erroneous calculations based on erroneous figures supplied to the member for Blain in the first place.
At the beginning of this week, there were 17 permanent teacher vacancies across the teaching service in government schools. Of those 17 vacancies, 10 recruits have been identified and are being processed. There are also 17 temporary vacancies, and eight potential recruits have been identified for those. So the combined number of vacancies represents 1.7% of the 1992 classroom-based teachers currently employed in the department.
Just yesterday, or the day before, there were media reports emanating through the Australian Education Union that there were four teacher vacancies at Taminmin High - not so. This is the sort of information that gets out there and the member for Blain jumps on the back of. One vacancy - and one is too many, let me acknowledge, one is too many. But there is one English teacher shortage at Taminmin, not four as alleged by the Australian Education Union. That position has been advertised both locally and interstate.
In the short term, to ensure that there are no classrooms without teachers in front of them, a number of strategies have to be put in place. School principals, as the front line management in our schools, take action to ensure that all classes have a teacher in front of them and wherever possible, relief teachers are brought in. The problem with relief teachers is that they get shorter in supply as the year goes on. As a former principal, the member for Blain would well know this, particularly if they are good and high quality, they don’t remain, unless they choose to, in the relief teacher category very long, because sooner or later a vacancy arises, and they are in the school and the principal puts them in. If they like the school, they like the community, they like the class, ‘Any chance of you staying on?’ and very quickly that is agreed and the system has one fewer relief teacher but on the other hand, the class has a quality teacher in front of it.
There is additional work load for teachers who are called upon to cover those classes, including assistant principals and principals. I commend our teachers for the selfless dedication they show in those situations. I can assure the member for Blain that everything is being done to fill these vacancies as quickly as possible.
In respect of longer term action, we recently approved a new recruitment and retention strategy for teachers. That includes the department’s current work with universities, in particular NTU, Sydney University and the University of Canberra to recruit graduates directly. Wherever possible, officers from this department attend university open days and fairs to show what the Northern Territory Department of Education can offer by way of a teaching career.
If I could concentrate on one specific initiative, and I am sure the member for Blain would join with me in commending the department for this one, and that is the 15 interns, masters students at Sydney university. These were students who had an interest in indigenous education. To that end, within their course of study, they covered cross-cultural awareness, Aboriginal history studies, teaching of the hearing impaired and the deaf because of the high numbers of indigenous students who have hearing difficulties, and they covered English as a Second Language teaching skills. They are the sorts of skills that we need right across the board in indigenous education. At an all up cost to the government of less than $100 000, we have those 15 teachers in remote community schools - I think I have exactly where they are - for the 10 weeks of this third term. We have paid their airfares, we have paid them a small living cost, nowhere near a salary. I met two of the three sent out to Shepherdson College at Elcho Island; one of them was in a homeland school at the time, and I met with about 13 of them at Mirambeena before they went out.
Early indications are that all 15, based on their experience so far, would be interested in coming back to teach in the Territory on a permanent basis. I think that is fantastic. If we get 10, if we get eight, I think the program is justified. I would see relevance for a program such as this in terms of health for nurses, that Health could have a look at what Education is doing in this regard. The linkages with other universities, such as we have established with Sydney University in this case, have to be strengthened. There is a real opportunity for us to go forward there.
They are a couple of the initiatives that we have in train in terms of where we go in the future. Obviously, the enterprise bargaining agreement, for which discussions and early negotiations will commence sometime before or around October this year, if not before, will go to the core of how well we keep teachers into the future and how well we are able to recruit. We have to be mindful of the shifts that have occurred in other jurisdictions in terms of wages and conditions and to ensure that we at the top - and should be at the top - of those salaries and conditions in order to be able to continue to recruit quality teachers to the Northern Territory.
I say to the member for Blain: I would welcome him putting his hand up at any time and coming for an accurate briefing on these matters. The media is there to report what people say…
Mr Mills: No, it is COGSO and the union that are telling me this.
Mr STIRLING: Well, whether it is COGSO or whether it is AEU, they are not necessarily accurate. My figures can be relied on. The AEU can test them against the department. Just be careful of what is out there on the media at any time. Check with this office, come in for a briefing; we would be happy to take you through it.
Whilst in opposition, the current government run a number of MPIs on important issues in education.
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Madam Speaker! The questions are getting longer and longer …
Members interjecting.
Mr MILLS: Teacher shortages were often key…
Ms MARTIN: There is a point of order.
Mr MILLS: I am sorry.
Ms MARTIN: There is a very clear line: that you keep your questions short and to the point. This is a statement from the member.
Madam SPEAKER: I do admit that the questions have been getting longer, but I am sure the member for Blain is about to ask his question. Your question, member for Blain.
Mr MILLS: It is important to see the broader context. There were a number of MPIs and a line of questioning in the last session of parliament. There was at this time in 2001 a shortage of five teachers in the teaching service.
Minister, the Martin government has failed to fulfil their election promise. Will you acknowledge that this is the worst teacher shortage the Territory has ever faced? And, short of admitting your promise was a total sham, will you explain why you have failed to fulfil your election promise?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Blain for his question. I can tell him that schools and teachers out there are a little bit more excited about the commitment and the emphasis that this government is putting on education, schools and training than they ever saw from the Country Liberal Party.
It is no secret that teacher recruitment becomes ever more difficult. There is a national shortage. I am sure the member for Blain knows that. That focusses this government’s attention ever more closely on this whole question of teacher recruitment and retention. It is an opportunity for me to inform the House on the accuracy of the vacancy situation in our schools without the erroneous calculations based on erroneous figures supplied to the member for Blain in the first place.
At the beginning of this week, there were 17 permanent teacher vacancies across the teaching service in government schools. Of those 17 vacancies, 10 recruits have been identified and are being processed. There are also 17 temporary vacancies, and eight potential recruits have been identified for those. So the combined number of vacancies represents 1.7% of the 1992 classroom-based teachers currently employed in the department.
Just yesterday, or the day before, there were media reports emanating through the Australian Education Union that there were four teacher vacancies at Taminmin High - not so. This is the sort of information that gets out there and the member for Blain jumps on the back of. One vacancy - and one is too many, let me acknowledge, one is too many. But there is one English teacher shortage at Taminmin, not four as alleged by the Australian Education Union. That position has been advertised both locally and interstate.
In the short term, to ensure that there are no classrooms without teachers in front of them, a number of strategies have to be put in place. School principals, as the front line management in our schools, take action to ensure that all classes have a teacher in front of them and wherever possible, relief teachers are brought in. The problem with relief teachers is that they get shorter in supply as the year goes on. As a former principal, the member for Blain would well know this, particularly if they are good and high quality, they don’t remain, unless they choose to, in the relief teacher category very long, because sooner or later a vacancy arises, and they are in the school and the principal puts them in. If they like the school, they like the community, they like the class, ‘Any chance of you staying on?’ and very quickly that is agreed and the system has one fewer relief teacher but on the other hand, the class has a quality teacher in front of it.
There is additional work load for teachers who are called upon to cover those classes, including assistant principals and principals. I commend our teachers for the selfless dedication they show in those situations. I can assure the member for Blain that everything is being done to fill these vacancies as quickly as possible.
In respect of longer term action, we recently approved a new recruitment and retention strategy for teachers. That includes the department’s current work with universities, in particular NTU, Sydney University and the University of Canberra to recruit graduates directly. Wherever possible, officers from this department attend university open days and fairs to show what the Northern Territory Department of Education can offer by way of a teaching career.
If I could concentrate on one specific initiative, and I am sure the member for Blain would join with me in commending the department for this one, and that is the 15 interns, masters students at Sydney university. These were students who had an interest in indigenous education. To that end, within their course of study, they covered cross-cultural awareness, Aboriginal history studies, teaching of the hearing impaired and the deaf because of the high numbers of indigenous students who have hearing difficulties, and they covered English as a Second Language teaching skills. They are the sorts of skills that we need right across the board in indigenous education. At an all up cost to the government of less than $100 000, we have those 15 teachers in remote community schools - I think I have exactly where they are - for the 10 weeks of this third term. We have paid their airfares, we have paid them a small living cost, nowhere near a salary. I met two of the three sent out to Shepherdson College at Elcho Island; one of them was in a homeland school at the time, and I met with about 13 of them at Mirambeena before they went out.
Early indications are that all 15, based on their experience so far, would be interested in coming back to teach in the Territory on a permanent basis. I think that is fantastic. If we get 10, if we get eight, I think the program is justified. I would see relevance for a program such as this in terms of health for nurses, that Health could have a look at what Education is doing in this regard. The linkages with other universities, such as we have established with Sydney University in this case, have to be strengthened. There is a real opportunity for us to go forward there.
They are a couple of the initiatives that we have in train in terms of where we go in the future. Obviously, the enterprise bargaining agreement, for which discussions and early negotiations will commence sometime before or around October this year, if not before, will go to the core of how well we keep teachers into the future and how well we are able to recruit. We have to be mindful of the shifts that have occurred in other jurisdictions in terms of wages and conditions and to ensure that we at the top - and should be at the top - of those salaries and conditions in order to be able to continue to recruit quality teachers to the Northern Territory.
I say to the member for Blain: I would welcome him putting his hand up at any time and coming for an accurate briefing on these matters. The media is there to report what people say…
Mr Mills: No, it is COGSO and the union that are telling me this.
Mr STIRLING: Well, whether it is COGSO or whether it is AEU, they are not necessarily accurate. My figures can be relied on. The AEU can test them against the department. Just be careful of what is out there on the media at any time. Check with this office, come in for a briefing; we would be happy to take you through it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016