Unions furious that Teachers Registration Board of SA might have no teachers on it anymore
Teachers are railing against proposed laws that could result in them having no representation on their own registration board, which is entirely funded by their fees.
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Teachers are railing against proposed laws that could result in them having no representation on their own registration board, which is entirely funded by their fees.
Unions have made scathing submissions to the State Government on the legislation, arguing teachers have the right to be assessed by others in the profession on both registration and disciplinary matters.
They also say slashing the board in half would overload its members with work, resulting in long delays to decisions.
Under the current law, the 16-member board must include seven registered teachers nominated by the Australian Education Union and the independent Education Union, five of whom must be practising.
There must also be a lawyer, a parent, a teacher educator employed by a university, and Education Department and Catholic and independent school sector officials.
The proposed change would see the board slashed to as few as eight members and would be “skills based”.
Members would “collectively’ need to have “knowledge, skills and experience” in preschool, primary and secondary education, teacher education, and parent and community issues.
The IEU’s submission says that imposing “a corporate ‘trend’ for smaller boards” on a “quasi-judicial” authority made no sense.
“At worst, it has the potential to see a board that has no real expertise or understanding in or of the profession,” it states.
IEU secretary Glen Seidel said the board dealt well with “complex professional issues, not in spite of teachers being involved in the decision making, but because they were involved”.
“Teachers understand the context of schools but they tend to be tough on teachers who bring their profession into disrepute.
“The TRB is not broken. It doesn’t need fixing on policy, political or practical grounds.
“A group of eight faceless bureaucrats chosen by the (education) minister will not cut it.”
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Other union concerns include the addition of another code of conduct and giving the board’s registrar power to temporarily suspend or cancel registrations, without a hearing, if they suspect a teacher poses an “unacceptable risk to children”.
The AEU submission “vehemently rejects” the move to alter the board’s makeup and says cutting it in half will lead to “excessive workloads for board members or unacceptable waiting times for urgent matters”.
Education Minister John Gardner said smaller skills-based boards were now considered the best option for good governance.
He fully expected at least three members of a smaller board would be teachers – one preschool, one primary and one secondary.