Minister's staffing vision is 'suck it and see'

The Minister faced questions about the proposed staffing system.

Principals gasp at Minister's admission.

By Kerri Carr

The thought that the architects of the NSW Government's proposed staffing system have not modelled its impact drew gasps from principals at a Federation Conference on April 1. Education Minister John Della Bosca was answering general questions following a speech about the future of the national industrial system. The first three questions focussed on staffing.

Lockhart Public School principal Brian Buckley asked what modelling had been done about the efficiency of the proposed staffing system.

In response, Mr Della Bosca said: "The current proposal is to suck it and see."

In response to the unsettled principals, Federation President Maree O'Halloran interrupted to say: "I think we're shocked?what might happen to our system."

"It's not the words you used, it's the implication of the lack of public policy thinking," she said.

Mr Della Bosca responded: "I was using the colloquial to say that's why we've invited the Teachers Federation on to the implementation committee, on to the monitoring committee, on to the process to make sure that it does do in fact what we believe it will do."

©2000-2002 NSWTF Online is a resource for teachers
provided by the NSW Teachers Federation.
[Authorisation of election comment] [Privacy]

http://www.nswtf.org.au/journal_extras/itsee.html
Last Modified: 07 Apr 2008