Gold Coast schools to end 2020 school year two days early, finish December 9
Parents have been shocked by news that the school year is to be cut short by two days. It has now emerged that the decision was taken to stave off a bigger problem.
Gold Coast
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QUEENSLAND Teachers Union president Kevin Bates says cutting the school year short by two days was agreed to by the State Government because “angry teachers” were about to take strike action.
The change was agreed during negotiations after teachers reacted angrily to news a 2.5 per cent pay rise for public servants was to be deferred until 2022.
“We needed to do something about it, and the reality was teachers were about to lose $100m from their pockets and were about to take strike action,” Mr Bates said.
Mr Bates said while yesterday’s announcement came as a shock to parents, the deal was negotiated 10 weeks ago as part of a package agreed for members with the State Government to address workload issues and provide recognition for teachers under immense pressure during COVID-19.
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He acknowledged that some teachers were concerned about having two less days to get their work done, but said that the move was widely supported by members.
“At least 84 per cent of members agreed in a vote to the additional days of leave and there were 10,000s of teachers who had their say,” he said.
“What we’ve been able to achieve is a shortening of the school year by two days and there’ll be many who welcome that.
“But I acknowledge that a teacher’s work is never done and they’ll still have to work over the Christmas period to get ready for the year ahead.”
Queensland schools will now officially have their last day on December 9, with December 10 and 11 declared student-free days.
Traditionally staff still had to attend during student-free days, but the Department of Education’s Director General Tony Cook declared December 10 and 11 discretionary special leave, so schools will be closed to everyone.
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IN an unprecedented move, the Department of Education’s Director General Tony Cook has changed the end of the 2020 school calendar in Queensland, making the last two days of the school year student-free days.
This means for all public Gold Coast schools the last school day of 2020 is officially Wednesday, December 9.
The Department of Education’s website says: “In recognition of the efforts of school-based staff during the COVID-19 health pandemic, the 2020 school year will end two days early.”
The last two days of the school year, Thursday, December 10, and Friday, December 11, 2020 would be student-free days and schools would be closed on these days, he said.
For some regional, rural and remote schools that finish the school year earlier, the student free days will be Thursday 3 and Friday 4 December.
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In a social media announcement, the Education Queensland said the student-free days were added “in recognition of the outstanding efforts of school staff during the COVID-19 pandemic”.
But the move has angered some parents, with thousands of comments on the Queensland Department Education Facebook page.
“The children have already missed out on enough this year. Why take more from them. How are parents who had to take time off work for home schooling meant to find more days off than the already large amount of school holidays,” wrote one person.
“WHAT? NOT FAIR!” wrote another, “Now we have to put up with our kids at home for two extra days?
“Would’ve been nice to have more notice to plan around,” said another.
“What a ridiculous idea! The kids have already had enough days off this year. This seems like a blatant attempt for the teachers union to grab a few extra days off to gain popularity with the teachers,” wrote one man.
“What happened to Every Day Counts?” asked another.
Education Minister Grace Grace previously called the extra leave a “big thankyou” for teachers’ efforts.
“We want to make sure that we recognise the extraordinary efforts of teachers and principals. And we as a government make no apologies for that,” she said.
Originally published as Gold Coast schools to end 2020 school year two days early, finish December 9