Review of Federation’s Organising and Industrial Structures

Overview of objectives and method

Questions being examined

The two key questions are being investigated by this review are:

1. How well do current decision making and organisational arrangements work to promote and facilitate activism?
2. How, if at all, can structures be configured to increase levels of activism in the union?

There are a number of allied questions. A full list is provided in Attachment 1

.

Process of data collection

Information to help answer these questions will be gathered from various sections of the union in the following ways:

Paid Officers

• 11 face to face interviews and 3 focus groups

• Senior Officers: Face to face interviews with selected senior officers
  
• Officers: Face to face interviews with randomly selected officers

• Focus groups determined along functional lines for other officers, including country-based officers

Executive members

• Face to face interviews. Interviews with honorary executive members were held at the December 16, 2002 Executive meeting

• Councillors: 10 focus groups and a survey

• Focus groups: Six non-metropolitan, three metropolitan and one ATSI focus groups conducted at the November 2002 Council meeting

• Survey: A short survey of all Councillors at the February 2003 Council meeting

Federation Representatives

• 5 focus groups in total (see table)

• Focus groups in four metropolitan and one non-metropolitan region randomly selected from Fed Rep lists

Members

• 15 focus groups in total (see table)

• Primary schools: Focus groups in four metropolitan regions and one non-metropolitan region randomly selected from membership lists

• Secondary Schools: Focus groups in four metropolitan regions and one non-metropolitan region randomly selected from membership lists

• TAFE: Focus groups in four metropolitan regions and one non-metropolitan region randomly selected from membership lists

Confidential submissions are being called from any member or officer of the union who is interested to put their views in writing.

A series of interviews with key informants from external organisations will also be conducted to collect outside perceptions of current Federation structures.

The research team is also examining previous review reports and other relevant material (eg Vinson Inquiry Report, Union Histories)

Outcome of the Review

The final report will be structured around the key questions and be guided by the Federation's actual capacity to effect specific changes. Consequently any recommendations will be realistic and within Federation's reach.

The scope and timeframe of the project will also have an impact on the level of detail the final report provides. It is envisaged that overall structures will be analysed rather than the minutiae of the Federation's daily operations. That level of detail may inform the review but it is not the focus of the review.

What makes this review different?

It is a Federation tradition to review its organisational arrangements. This review is larger in scale and will draw on the systematic collection of information from Fed Reps and members - as well as officials from all levels of the union. It is especially interested in the impact and relevance of union structures at the workplace level. We also plan to situate our findings in an understanding of the changing environment in which teachers live and work - in particular the changing demographic of the teaching workforce. Armed with that information it will be easier to identify what improvements, if any, are likely to benefit the Federation as a whole.

Timing

The review process commenced in November 2002 and ACIRRT will submit the final report to Council in mid June. The report will then be considered by Annual Conference in early July to enable any structural changes to be reflected in the August/September elections.

Attachment 1

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005