New faces: Director-General Michael Coutts-Trotter and Education Minister John Della Bosca.

New Minister and Director-General take over

By Bob Lipscombe

Education in NSW has two new people at the helm following the state election.

The new Education and Training Minister is John Della Bosca, and Michael Coutts-Trotter is the new Education and Training Director-General.

Mr Della Bosca replaced Carmel Tebbutt, who chose to stand down for family reasons. Although he is the 5th Minister in the last six years, Federation is hopeful that the portfolio will gain some stability under the new Minister. Mr Della Bosca will also retain his role as Industrial Relations Minister. In this position, in 2006, he was responsible for important legislation that protected young people and TAFE teachers from the Federal Government's unfair industrial laws.

In the days following his appointment, the new Minister forcefully challenged in the media Federal Education Minister Julie Bishop's seriously flawed proposal for performance pay. This was followed by playing a significant role at the meeting of the federal and state ministers of education in Darwin which opposed the Federal Government's ill-considered and ideologically-driven positions on performance pay, national testing and national curriculum. The outcome of the meeting demonstrated the strength of the state ministers when they are prepared to stand together against Federal Government attacks.

Mr Della Bosca's removal of Director-General Andrew Cappie-Wood and appointment of Michael Coutts-Trotter, the former head of the NSW Department of Commerce, caused considerable controversy as a result of Mr Coutts-Trotter's criminal conviction more than 20 years ago when he was a young man. While noting that a person in similar circumstances who wished to enter the teaching profession would find it very difficult because of the stringent assessment undertaken as to a person's suitability and character, Federation indicated that it did support the rehabilitation principles of the criminal justice system. Of most concern to Federation, however, is Mr Coutts-Trotter's lack of experience in the public education system. Unfortunately, his two predecessors, Andrew Cappie-Wood and Jan McClelland also came from non-education backgrounds. Federation strongly believes that the Director-General needs to have a demonstrated commitment to the value of public education, a strong understanding of public schools and TAFE colleges, their purpose and their operations and a preparedness to provide independent advice to the government. The union also believes that the position should be appointed following a transparent process.

Despite any reservations Federation may have about the appointment of the new Director-General, the union looks forward to working with both the new Minister and the Director-General to improve and promote public education in NSW. Federation's Senior Officers have already met once with Mr Della Bosca and will meet again shortly to put the Federation's view on the implementation of the ALP's state election promises.

Bob Lipscombe is the Senior Vice President.

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