Two hours to change everything
5 December 2025
Section: Columns
Every teacher knows this reality: it’s 3.30pm, students have left and you face a mountain of work that can’t be…
Three young men told me I didn’t belong here, but they’re wrong
7 September 2025
Section: News
Last Monday morning at Darling Harbour, three young men approached me with a swagger that felt newly emboldened. Their words…
Active engagement in democracy is critical
12 December 2024
Section: Columns
Recent history reminds us that we should never take democracy for granted. The rising threat of authoritarian populism and the…
You can’t rebuild the public education system by dismantling support for schools
27 September 2024
Section:
“… to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies, to hold simultaneously two opinions which cancelled out,…
Kids the victims of teaching aid cuts
15 September 2024
Section: News
The real victims of the NSW Department of Education’s illogical decision to cut 485 non-school based teaching positions during the…
The latest State of Our Schools survey is another sober reminder of the urgent need to rebuild public education.
12 July 2024
Section: Columns
The survey paints a dire picture of severe teacher shortages, unsustainable workloads, and concerning declines in student wellbeing and engagement.…
The stakes are too high for complacency
19 April 2024
Section: Columns
The need to comprehensively overhaul the NSW public school system has never been more urgent. Our mandate, to provide a…
Investing in the future demands better resourced schools
1 February 2024
Section: News
Australia numbers among a small elite of the world’s most prosperous, stable and democratic societies. How is it then that…
Stand united for high-quality public education
14 November 2023
Section: Columns
We are at a crucial juncture in the fight for the provision of high-quality public education in NSW. The salary…
Government on notice: it will be held to its commitments!
18 May 2023
Section: Columns
It was prescient that Minister Prue Car should thank The Hon Dr Geoff Gallop in her speech at our recent…
Change for the better
24 April 2023
Section: Columns
Welcome back to term 2! Today’s live stream broadcast with the Education Minister Prue Car and Acting Secretary Murat Dizdar…
25 March – the future of public education is at stake
22 February 2023
Section: Columns
What is at stake for teachers in this election?
Everything.
All the way to the ballot box
11 November 2022
Section: Columns
Members were out in force on 12 October as part of a Day of Action protesting the Perrottet Government’s imposition…
We aren’t giving up and we aren’t going away
15 September 2022
Section: Columns
As part of our campaign, Fed Reps in recent weeks have been sending emails to their local MPs about the teacher shortages and the debilitating impacts they are having in schools.
Facta Non Verba
9 August 2022
Section: Columns
Indulge me for a moment as I meander down memory lane. My life-long commitment to social justice and the transformative power of public education was forged in the classrooms of Punchbowl Boys High School where a bunch of inspiring teachers taught me many decades ago.
When you fail teachers, you fail children
22 June 2022
Section: Columns
We are in serious danger of burning out a generation of teachers, lost through overwork and disenchantment with the way their focus is constantly taken from their students to a mind-numbing amount of administration and compliance work. They also see a government in denial, unwilling to stand up for the profession or address the root causes of the shortages: the uncompetitive salaries and crippling workloads that are turning people away from teaching.
The collective spirit of our union will see us through the challenges of 2022
31 January 2022
Section: Columns
I would like to start by extending a warm welcome to all teachers who are beginning their careers. Like our…
A day 10 years in the making
14 December 2021
Section: Columns
Tuesday 7 December, 2021 has been etched into the history of the NSW Teachers Federation. For the first time in…
Why we must take industrial action over salaries and workloads
27 November 2021
Section: Columns
Politicians and public servants love to talk about “evidence-based policy making”. They trot out the phrase to accompany all sorts…
It’s up to all of us
29 October 2021
Section: Columns
The road to winning this campaign lies ahead of us.
Government’s great deceit … (and we have the proof)
15 October 2021
Section: Columns
There is often a gap between what governments say and what they know.