Dixon won't rule out increased class sizes
12 May 2011
Education Minister Martin Dixon has refused to rule out an increase in class sizes under a Coalition government.
At a parliamentary hearing yesterday, Dixon tied class sizes to wage negotiations, refusing to “pre-empt definitions of productivity”.
AEU branch president Mary Bluett said the announcement comes as a shock “after years of investing in keeping class sizes down”, particularly in primary schools.
“This will undermine the quality of education and take us backward,” she said.
Dixon’s announcement came on top of yesterday’s revelation that the department would be slashing $481.1 million from the education budget — $143 million more than previously stated.
The Government has reiterated that no frontline staff will lose their jobs as part of cuts to the education budget.
But Bluett says this is impossible. “The Government promised no cuts to frontline services, but half a billion in cuts can’t be made just through cuts to advertising and travel. It’s got to mean job cuts,” she said.
Going in to the election, the Coalition promised to make Victoria's state school teachers the best paid in the nation. It now says it will not be granting pay increases above 2.5% unless offset by productivity gains.
Parity with Australia's best-paid teachers in Western Australia would require an 8% pay increase.
The Baillieu Government has already been forced to backtrack on proposed cuts to school nurses, which would have seen thousands of prep students miss out on important health checks.
But Dixon continues to defend his decision to cut 200 teaching and learning coaches and 45 literacy specialists from struggling schools.
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