Teacher’s vow to turn kids off Libs

A public school teacher vowed on social media to “ensure that the next generation of voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal’’.

Woodville High School teacher Regina Wilson.

A public school teacher vowed to “ensure that the next generation of voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal” in a social media post she thought would never become public.

South Australian Treasurer Rob Lucas yesterday lashed Woodville High School teacher and union delegate Regina Wilson over her inflammatory post on the Australian Education Union’s Facebook page, which he described as “outrageous and unacceptable”.

Ms Wilson’s post said: “I am going to try to ensure that the next generation of voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal, without being political of course, as I won’t tell my students what to think, but I teach them how to be critical thinkers who question those in power and especially those who seek to keep the status quo for the rich, upper classes and refuse to acknowledge the rest of us.

“Try and take away my rights as a teacher but you can’t take away my voice. Increase my class size and it will just increase my chance to help MORE students become critical thinkers and help to get rid of those who treat them and me as worker bees, there to support their greed and corporate power.”

The controversy will reignite debate about political interference in the classroom by union-affiliated teachers and comes amid escalating tension between the Australian Education Union and South Australia’s eight-month-old Liberal government over stalled enterprise bargaining negotiations.

 

Mr Lucas, who did not publicly name the teacher, said her “grossly inappropriate behaviour” was a breach of the Education Department’s values and the public sector’s code of ethics.

“I will call out outrageous behaviour by union bosses and their lackeys within the union movement wherever and whenever I see it … they (Ms Wilson’s comments) are clearly an indication of a deliberate decision to introduce partisan politics into that particular teacher’s classroom with an intention to, as that teacher indicated, ‘try to ensure that the next generation of ­voters in my classroom don’t vote Liberal’,” Mr Lucas said.

Ms Wilson, 58, is a former Fair Work inspector who joined Woodville High, in safe Labor-held federal and state electorates in northwestern Adelaide, as a teacher in 2010. She is the school’s international student program manager and teaches classes in Years 8, 9 and 11.

Ms Wilson yesterday told The Australian she was “not legally ­allowed” to do what she had posted. “I am not legally allowed to; so what I posted was just a comment but I am not legally allowed to as a teacher speak to my students about anything political,” she said. “I just made a comment to my (Facebook) friends because I didn’t think it would go public. I would never, ever do that and I have never, ever done that.

“Even when students have asked me how I was going to vote, I’ve never, ever done it; I’ve ­always behaved professionally.”

Ms Wilson insisted she had ­always acted appropriately in the classroom and “never influenced them (students) in any way with politics, religion, sexual orientation or anything like that”.

“When I made the comments, I guess they would be public, (but) I wasn’t thinking at the time that it would become public … just ­because someone says it, doesn’t mean they are going to do it,” Ms Wilson said.

“We have some debates about things in the classroom, because students are always interested in wanting to know what you think as a teacher, but I choose my words carefully. I’ll never say nothing but I’ll never say anything that will influence students to make choices or decisions ­because I believe every student has a right to make their choices and their decisions themselves — it’s not for me to tell them what or how to think.”

Ms Wilson’s post was removed from Facebook last night, following The Australian’s inquiries.

An Education Department spokesman said last night: “While we are not in a position to comment on individual employment matters, the public sector code of ethics requires impartiality and employees must be detached from political influence.”

Ms Wilson, who said she was not a member of any political party, strongly supported proposed strike action by teachers next week.

Mr Lucas said he had raised Ms Wilson’s Facebook post with union bosses last week but they had failed to counsel Ms Wilson or ask her to remove the post.

Mr Lucas had told parliament he wanted to raise the matter with AEU state president Howard Spreadbury to “ensure that their union delegates don’t do as this particular teacher has clearly ­indicated she intends to do; that is, to introduce partisan politics into the classroom to try to influence her students in the interests of supporting the industrial pursuits of her union bosses”.

“Someone needs to stand up on behalf of the taxpayers of South Australia, the students of South Australia and the overwhelming majority of teachers who are prepared to express their particular views in a lawful and appropriate way,” Mr Lucas told parliament.

“It is only that very small number of union bosses and their lackeys who behave inappropriately.”

Mr Spreadbury said yesterday he had attempted to contact Ms Wilson but was unsuccessful.

“I think teachers have to be very careful in relation to political statements, particularly in relation to students,” he said.

Woodville High is in the state seat of Cheltenham, held by former Labor premier Jay Weatherill, and the federal seat of Port Adelaide, held by Labor frontbencher Mark Butler.

Mr Butler did not comment yesterday. South Australian Labor’s education spokeswoman, Susan Close, a former education minister, did not respond to a ­request for comment.

Woodville High School principal Meredith Edwards also did not comment.