ACT can lead the way in addressing teacher workload, says ACT branch president of the Australian Education Union

As the leader of the union that negotiated it, I have some reflections of my own.

The AEU's negotiations at the bargaining table are guided by what our members tell us every single day. They are tired. The kind of tired that is in your soul, in your bones, the kind of tired that makes every day hard.

Teachers are tired because they have been on the front-line of a pandemic. They are tired because threadbare social services sometimes can't ensure their students have secure housing, mental health support, or a meal for lunch. They are tired because their responsibilities have increased exponentially - they must tailor learning to every student's needs, but there are no extra hours in the day to make this happen.

Our journey to this enterprise agreement began two years ago, when we launched our biggest ever member survey. Members told us that the teacher shortage wasn't just making their jobs harder; it was making their work unsafe. It was making them sick. It was hurting students too.

The teacher shortage is a national crisis and it's revealed the significant limitations on what governments can actually do to grow and shape an essential workforce.

For a union, the industrial system gives us two levers we can try to pull: the first is to pay people more, the second is to make their experience of work better.

Research suggests that the pay deal achieved by the AEU ACT will make our salaries for beginning teachers high enough to get new recruits into teaching. It will make our experienced teachers the highest paid of any jurisdiction.

It goes without saying that we have mixed feelings about the interstate competition for teachers. In the ACT we'll come out on top for pay, but this will only widen the gap with NSW, who are also feeling the incredible strain of the teacher shortage. A good outcome soon for NSW teachers will help us all.

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But pay is only part of the story. The other is workload.

Teacher workload is a challenge to solve because it is a systemic issue that has individual impact, and for too long we have seen attempts at small-scale solutions. These attempts to decrease workload have not kept pace with the increase in demands on teacher time. It's like trying to plug leaks while the tap is still running.

It's a problem that has been building for a long time, and we need sustained and strategic collaboration with the ACT government to unravel it.

We know from experience that quick fixes don't solve workload problems. This isn't about deleting any particular task from a teacher's to-do list. It's about a cultural reset. We must, for the health and safety of our teachers and principals, reset our expectations of how schools serve communities.

The proposed enterprise agreement tackles the problem in a few ways. It establishes a committee that must examine the workload impact of all existing and any new programs, initiatives or requirements, and put a stop to anything that doesn't meet strict requirements. It also carves out protected time every week where a teacher works on their own lesson planning, marking, and so on, and can't be directed to do anything else.

The AEU knows an enterprise agreement is only as strong as its implementation. Our members are tired of well-intentioned words that don't bring about action. They are reasonably suspicious of committees and statements of intent in enterprise agreements. I am, too.

No state or territory has fixed teacher workload. In the ACT we've got the best possible context: a community that understands the value of public services, parents who want the best for their public schools, a supportive Minister, and in the AEU a union with robust democratic structures, staunch political independence, high density and visibility, and a record of putting member's views clearly to government. We are wholly focused on outcomes, not appeasements - or its equally impotent cousin, empty aggression.

If this enterprise agreement is endorsed by members, it will be the beginning of the biggest challenge this union has embarked upon: that of changing the way teachers do their job.

We've got the right things in place to make this happen. This round of enterprise bargaining established a deeply consultative process that has enabled every single AEU member to have a say and has put rank-and-file AEU members at the negotiation table. Our views are always underpinned by our professional expertise as teachers and our vision for excellent public education.

The proposed agreement will now come down to a vote of members. We want every single AEU member to vote. This will show the government that every single AEU member means business. It will remind the government that every single teacher and principal is a person who has dedicated their life to education, and who deserves our highest respect.

We know that our teachers are not alone in experiencing a crushing workload burden. Teachers all around the country universally report workload as their overwhelming concern. The AEU ACT can lead the way to address this workload burden and in doing so bring back the joy in teaching.