Teachers protesting over children on Nauru is misplaced

The classroom is no place for partisan politics. That’s why Queensland Teachers’ Union is out of line with its protest over relating to children on Nauru, writes The Editor.

TEACHING can be a tough gig.

Between troublesome students and equally problematic parents, limited resources and poor pay, the role of a professional educator is a challenging one.

Many good teachers leave the industry because of these issues.

However, there is also a stigma around teaching that it is a cushy job that offers great holidays, short working days, no weekend demands and very little accountability around performance.

Some of this might be partly true.

However, anyone who has been a teacher or knows one would readily defend the dedicated professionals of the industry and the countless hours many commit to preparing lessons and marking student work.

But teachers have often been their own worst enemies.

The introduction of so-called “student free days” where teachers are supposed to be onsite conducting professional development long riled parents before they were eventually wound back.

The profession’s opposition to standardised testing and benchmarking of school performance jars with the wants of parents and has long been part of a backwards mentality under which there is opposition to any form of scrutiny.

A protest against the treatment of children on Manus Island and Nauru. Picture: Danny Aarons

Revelations in The Courier-Mail today that some Queensland state school teachers will cut out of class early on November 20 in protest over the children of asylum seekers being on Nauru is another own goal by teachers that does the profession’s credibility no favours.

It comes as no great shock that behind this indulgence is the Queensland Teachers Union, an industrial outfit which has stood against almost every reform proposed for the profession for decades while obsessing over issues that have nothing to do with why their members pay annual dues.

This is nothing but a political act by the QTU, perversely aimed at helping their Labor comrades yet so ham-fisted and illogical that it’s likely to achieve the exact opposite.

Some will argue that the 2.30pm “walk out” is the least disruptive option.

Tell that to working parents.

Some will face the prospect of having to tell their boss they have to leave early because the teachers have taken off.

Others will have to endure the worry over whether their little ones will catch the correct bus or be left waiting in the street for a ride home.

Some schools will be able to keep students on their premises.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan. Picture: AAP/Mick Tsikas

However, this means that the action of a few teachers will have a cascading effect on others classrooms because their colleagues that remain will have to ditch their lesson plan to look after additional students.

If this was a matter that impacted teachers then parents would reluctantly accept there is a place for legitimate and sanctioned industrial action and adjust their schedule accordingly.

But it has nothing to do with the QTU, apart from, of course, its role as a fully-fledged spear carrier for Labor’s Left faction.

Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan has rightly questioned why a non-workplace issue has been subjected to such industrial action.

“What people do in their spare time is their own business but parents and hardworking taxpayers expect that when teachers are being paid to teach that they should actually teach,” he said.

Mr Tehan’s view will be echoed in households across Queensland today.

Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled

Common sense dictates that Queensland Education Minister Grace Grace would intervene.

However, given Ms Grace is a former union boss who has continued to strongly support her brethren within Labor’s industrial arms in both voice and deed throughout her time as a minister that is unlikely to happen.

This provocative action by the QTU and its members just demonstrates the unbridled chutzpah of unions under the Palaszczuk Government which has curried favour with their chief financiers at every available opportunity since taking office in 2015.

Just like the classroom is no place for partisan politics, the time when teachers are being paid to teach shouldn’t be either.

This is another “fail” for the QTU which clearly hasn’t learnt from past lessons.

BRING ON THE NEXT BIG THING

NEWS that the Queensland town of Chinchilla is erecting a giant watermelon as a tourist attraction will no doubt produce a contagion of cultural cringe.

These wowsers will argue that “big things” attractions are so passe and surely Queensland has become a more sophisticated state since those days when we were the capital of oversized monuments. To this view, we give a big thumbs down.

These attractions might be considered naff by some.

However, for many people they remain a bit of fun and a great way to keep the kids happy on a road trip.

They are also part of Queensland’s culture and something we should not so readily be prepared to junk. According to one book that catalogued Australia’s “big things”, Queensland at one stage had 41 such attractions stretching along our vast coastline and throughout regional areas, which was more than any other state.

Tilly Hart, 10, from Chinchilla gets a look at the new attraction for the very first time. Picture: Adam Head

The Big Pineapple on the Sunshine Coast is probably the most well-known.

The 16m behemoth was heritage-listed a decade ago and actually only became the largest pineapple in 1993 after another in Hawaii was dismantled.

Hopefully, the renewal currently being undertaken by its owner will bring the crowds back. So bring on the Big Watermelon.

Hopefully, it will be a fresh slice of fun that will attract tourists for decades to come.

Responsibility for election comment is taken by Sam Weir, corner of Mayne Rd & Campbell St, Bowen Hills, Qld 4006. Printed and published by NEWSQUEENSLAND (ACN 009 661 778). Contact details are available at couriermail.com.au/help/contact-us