Theme — Valuing public education, teachers, students, communities

Few things are more important to the well being of our children, our students and society than public education. The ability to maintain social cohesion in a pluralist society, the strength of our democracy and the realising of aspirations for all children are directly related to the strength and quality of public education.

Public schools, TAFE colleges and other public education communities educate and pursue excellence for the individual. They are also the places where "a sense of the common good is fashioned" (Professor Alan Reid) and a civic entity forged. Public education communities are united with each other by this broader, societal purpose and therefore these communities are inclusive. Public education is one institution with many faces. It is defined by its capacity to be transformative for individuals, communities and society.

Public education laid the foundation for an egalitarian society and maintains social cohesion as inequality increases and respect for difference declines. Public education is also the key to the future as the globalisation process necessitates cultural contact, interaction and the ability to cross differences. A successful future for our students will be achieved in an open environment. Fear of the heterogeneous environment of public education communities is deliberately heightened by the Howard Federal Government and advocates of its agenda.

That the Australian community values public education is undisputed. This is evidenced by parent, community and school partnerships as well as fundraising. It is also evidenced by recent opinion polling. Further, the electoral mood has shifted from the late 1980s to 2001 when the latest Australian Electoral Survey showed a large majority would eschew tax cuts for increased government spending on services. Yet, perversely and wilfully, federal and state governments continue to put public education at risk by chronic under funding and public policy frameworks that damage public education.

Valuing our students, teachers and communities must be demonstrated by governments ensuring:

1. a safe, well maintained and attractive teaching and learning environment
2. professional respect, remuneration and industrial security for the profession including manageable workloads
3. government primacy and effort given to promoting, funding and recognising the value of public education
4. the human, social, cultural and individual rights of our students are recognised and met
5. strong local comprehensive schools being resourced and supported as the heart of their communities.

Instead governments under value and under invest in public education. This is magnified by damaging public policy frameworks whereby federal and state governments divert massive amounts of funding to private schools and encourage competition and contestable funding in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. Just as the Howard Federal Government hides behind their idea of "choice" when they divert funds to the private sector, the State Government's dezoning of schools to legitimise "choice" within the government system is as destructive as the funding of non government schools at the expense of the public education. The dezoning policy damages rather than builds communities.

The Howard Government's agenda is to destroy the transformative nature for public education so it becomes a residual system replicating the current inequities of class and privilege in society. As a result of the Howard agenda, as a society and as individuals, we have competing and contradictory values at play. The first are the values of Australia as a democratic, egalitarian society where public education and health care are fundamental to a sense of fairness and egalitarianism. This is the society prepared to pay for services whilst those values are being swamped by a deliberately generated fear of rising internal and external threats. In the "moral panic" created, we see hostility, rejection and "gated communities". While the Howard Government generates fear and spends staggering amounts of money on private schools and providers, we look to the Carr Government to redress inequities, not exacerbate them. Instead the Carr Government has in the very recent past undervalued:

i. students by directly increasing TAFE student fees and abolishing course exemptions
ii. teachers by a paltry wage offer of three per cent per annum and cutting support to schools and TAFE colleges by more than 25 per cent in the proposed Department of Education and Training (DET) restructure
iii. public education communities by cutting the State Budget's commitment to public education in real terms and refusing to provide the funding increases essential to affecting the upgrade in public education identified through the Vinson Inquiry process
iv. the consultancy and administrative support provided to schools, colleges and communities by its recent proposal to cut up to 1000 jobs from the DET. NSWTF will fully liaise with the Public Service Association (PSA ) to gain maximum support through common concerted action for District Office administrative staff in the current proposed DET restructure Lifelong Learning.

The Carr Government has also refused to make sensible savings which should be used to enhance public education by:

i. allowing the wasteful student transport scheme to continue in its current form
ii. maintaining the non means tested Back to School allowance
iii. refusing to cut back funding to elite private schools and low interest loans to private schools.

The Vinson Process -- The contribution of teachers and parents

Conference resolves to:

1. continue the theme of "valuing" for the new school and TAFE signage in term 3

2. continue the Public Education Alliance and the public education lobbies for the federal election campaign in conjunction with the Australian Education Union

3. fund a series of projects auspiced by Professor Vinson to be undertaken and released in the lead up to the Federal election. These projects are to be funded from the Public Education Fund. The projects may include: "Youth at Risk", "Where is Government money going?", "Aboriginal Education", "Teacher Supply issues" and a TAFE project

4. produce a series of booklets authored by Professor Vinson based on the 2002 Vinson Report. Such booklets to be mass-produced and distributed

5. develop and produce a 'NSWTF Values Education in Public Education' statement.

6. hold Public Education Day on May 20, 2004. Schools, TAFE colleges and Federation workplaces will be encouraged to take part in activities to celebrate and promote public education. The Federation will organise a major event to focus attention on the Howard Government agenda in the lead up to the Federal election. In keeping with activities on previous public education days, Professor Vinson will be asked to release some of his new project findings on the day

7. NSW Teachers Federation calls upon the AEU and other related unions to organise a "National Day of Action to Save Public Education". This mobilisation is to take place either on Public Education Day 2004 or another date suitable to the lead up to the next Federal election in 2004

The "National Day of Action to Save Public Education" must mobilise teachers, parents, students involved in all aspects of public education; schools, technical colleges and universities. It must aim to be the single most massive event of its kind in this nation's history and it must send the message that current governmental funding arrangements that aim to promote privatisation of education will continue at those governments' peril

8. each year the NSW Teachers Federation will produce a report card on the Carr Labor Government's implementation of the six key demands of the Public Education Alliance arising from the Vinson Inquiry. This report card will be published and advertised widely

9. produce announcements/promos for broadcast on community radio stations across NSW promoting public education.

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005