Your union wants to hear from school teachers about the extent of inadequate targeted support funding for students with additional needs, as part of the Time to Act campaign.
The campaign demands:
- equity and support for students with disability — the only group of students not to have received any additional loading from the Resource Allocation Model (RAM) funding
- an immediate redress to understaffing, under-resourcing and underfunding in support settings and Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs), such as release time, executive entitlement and subject specialist teachers.
A 2017 Australian Education Union survey identified that most public schools have insufficient resources to meet the needs of students with disability, said City Organiser Hannah Archer Lawton.
“Despite this funding situation, federal governments have continued to cut funding for students with disabilities and failed to fund loadings through federal/state funding agreements. It’s time to act to address inequality for students with disability in public education — our students and staff can wait no longer,” she said.
“A well-resourced public education system — one that values diversity, understands social and cognitive development, reaches out to all learners through inclusive processes and is responsive to fundamental human needs — has the potential to develop actively engaged, resilient and connected individuals who lead lives with hope as productive members of the wider community,” she also said.
Workplace meetings
To assist in the collection of vital evidence to advance to objectives of the Time to Act campaign, Federation Representatives in schools will be calling workplace meetings to collectively complete survey questions by week 8 of this term. All financial members are asked to attend.
The data will be used to pressure the Department and government to make much needed improvements in support settings.
For further information and updates on this campaign, please follow #TimeToActNSW on Federation’s social media, visit the campaign page at www.nswtf.org.au/timetoact, and contact your local Organiser with any questions.
— Jason Gerke and Kerri Carr