Professional pay
Policy, April 2007
That the AEU condemns Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop's ongoing attacks on public education and teachers and rejects her attempt to tie funding to the states based on a federal agenda that is not supported by school communities.
The AEU also opposes her performance pay proposals on the grounds that they are:
- Unprofessional in that they assume teachers will not be committed to students without competitive rewards
- Ill-informed and divisive in that they reward the few for the work of many
- Anti-educational in that they fail to recognise the collegiate nature of teaching and the developmental nature and complexity of the teaching and learning process
- Nothing more than a re-run of the failed Kennett Government performance pay proposals.
The AEU believes that outstanding classroom teachers should be recognised without the need to take up administrative tasks or to promote out of the classroom. The current career structure discriminates against outstanding classroom teachers and deprives students of some of our best teachers by focussing on non-classroom duties rather than the essential task of student learning and development.
Accordingly the AEU Victorian Branch will work through the Federal Office of the AEU to develop national proposals for professional pay based on defined professional standards that enable teachers to remain in the classroom and to be rewarded for their skill and commitment.
