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SUPPLEMENT TO THE AEU NEWS •MAy 2012

A E U h e a d o f f i c e 112 Tr e n e r r y C r e s c e n t , A b b o t s f o r d 3 0 6 7 Te l : 0 3 9 417 2 8 2 2 Fa x : 13 0 0 6 5 8 0 7 8 We b : w w w. a e u v i c . a s n . a u

TAFENEWSLETTERPublic gets behind TAFEAn AEU public forum will spotlight Baillieu’s attacks on TAFE after the success of our campus tour.

Greg Barclay deputy vice president,TAFE and adult provision

OVER the past two months I have spoken to dozens of students, teachers and members of

the public about the damage that is being done to our TAFE system.

We met on TAFE campuses across the state at lunchtime events held by the AEU as part of our TAFE4All campaign.

From Frankston to Wondonga, and Warrnambool to Preston, people have been outraged at the damage that is being done to the public TAFE system. The $40 million ripped from TAFE funding by the Ballieu Government to help cover the blow-out in costs caused by private-for-profit providers — and the expected further cuts still to come is seen as unbelievable.

As I write, the 2012 state budget has yet to be announced, but the AEU fears the Government will use it to implement more of the recommen-dations of the Essential Services Commission and slash a further $230m from TAFE budgets.

As we make people aware of what is happening, they become increasingly concerned about the future of our public TAFE system.

Our lunchtime meetings saw more than 1500 people give us their contact details so that they can be part of the ongoing campaign to save TAFE from the Baillieu Government. They can see that the Government prefers to take money out of TAFE and increase the funding it gives to businesses like Crown Casino and McDonalds to train their own staff.

The meetings followed a recognition by the AEU’s statewide TAFE committee that it was critical to engage with and inform students and the public about the Baillieu Government’s actions in TAFE.

Our next move, endorsed by the committee at its last meeting, will be a public forum to build

further alliances and support for the Save TAFE campaign and force the Coalition to stop favouring companies that just want to profit from dodgy courses that the Government funds them to run.

Further details of the forum will be announced shortly. ◆

Doubts over quality policeNew quality controls over providers sound good — but where’s the detail?

Gillian Robertson deputy secretary

SKILLS Minister Peter Hall took great pride in announcing to

Parliament that he had developed a plan to address quality issues in TAFE and other providers in Victoria, and was rolling it out as a matter of urgency.

He boasted a new set of standards that RTOs must comply with in order to apply for govern-ment funds. Some 40 RTOs that had previously received govern-ment money would no longer qualify for funding, he said.

Sounds good — but what exactly are the standards? Where can they be found so they can be critically evaluated?

Do they regulate the quality of teaching and learning or just the business plan that the RTO intends to use to make its money, like

the infamous Vocational Training Group?

Minister Hall also announced a rapid response team that will be able to quickly investigate RTOs that threaten the reputation of VET in Victoria. Again, sounds good. But will the team be proactive and instigate investigations, or just be reactive and wait for complaints before it acts?

What happens to the students who have been ripped off by the dodgy provider? Will they get their money refunded and be allowed to re-enrol in a course that has quality education as its motivation, not profit?

Will the team investigate an RTO that has a 50% increase in its funded enrolments for a year but no increase in the workforce that is supposedly delivering the training?

It all seems too little too late.And what of the COAG

agreement that Victoria has just signed with the Federal Govern-ment? How does Minister Hall propose to “… ensure the TAFE system — a major provider of high quality training — remains strong and resilient through the implementation of the reforms”?

The agreement also states: “A skilled economy and society must rest on a bedrock of public institu-tions committed to the long-term advancement and capacity of citizens.”

If the Victorian Government continues to rip funds out of TAFE to support the excesses of the private sector, how will it achieve this? ◆

2 TAFE newsletter | may 2012

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A well constructed financial strategy considers your personal income and capital needs over carefully defined planning periods. It should also address issues of taxation, social security entitlements and finally investment issues. In some cases it is wise to recognise and incorporate the need for Aged Care planning.

Unless the planning is comprehensive you may deny yourself additional benefits and inadvertently add to the under-lying cost of retirement.

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In sickness and in healthThe crisis in TAFE is starting to have an impact on the health of overworked staff as stress and anxiety spread.

Marylouise Chapman TAFE organiser

THE season of colds and flu is upon us. We often find more teachers need to access sick leave over Terms 2 and 3. Many ward off the ravages of dreaded lurgies by dosing up on vitamins, getting flu

jabs or just trying to stay fit and healthy.Unfortunately we hear from many teachers who, despite their best efforts to stay in top form and be

healthy, find their health suffers as a result of stress, anxiety and workload pressures. Worryingly, the trend seems to be on the increase as the skills reform funding cuts, pressure to

attract and retain students, staff shortages, accountability changes and auditing requirements — to name just a few — ramp up the pressure on managers and teachers in TAFE.

Pressures like these on a daily basis can have all sorts of ramifications. In some workplaces they galvanise staff who work together, support one another and have an attitude that “this won’t beat us”.

In others, staff find themselves pitted against one another, with a pervading culture of fear and no real sense of what the future holds. The ever present threat of redundancy or contract non-renewal looms large in such environments.

So it’s no surprise if the stress and anxiety manifest themselves as real health issues. The AEU frequently takes calls from teachers who are suffering from a raft of stress or anxiety-

related symptoms, often work-related — headaches, nausea, lack of focus, loss of sleep, irritability and anxiousness among them.

Our advice is always to see your doctor and be guided by their professional medical opinion. Personal leave can be taken for such illnesses and medical appointments.

Serious work-related health issues may require submitting a claim for worker’s compensation (often known as workcover). We can advise members of the process, should it be required.

Most TAFEs have an EAP (Employee Assistance Program), offering free, confidential and impartial counselling and support to staff. This too may help teachers who feel the pressure is mounting and their health is suffering.

Personal leave includes sick leave and carers leave. TAFE teachers in ongoing positions accrue 15 days of personal leave per year, or 1.25 days per month after their first year of service.

Teachers on contracts accrue personal leave pro rata depending on their time fraction and length of contract — so, a full-time teacher on a one-year contract would be entitled to 15 days.

Personal leave is cumulative. Further details can be found in the TAFE Teachers MBA, Schedule 6, Part 7, clause 22.

Our advice would be that early intervention to prevent your health deteriorating badly is far prefer-able to a long and protracted illness. ◆

Assessment time countsAssessment is not something to do in your spare time.

AGAIN and again TAFE teachers tell us that institute managers are asking them to shave

more hours and cut more contact time with students, because they struggle to cope with funding pressures.

Teaching time might get cut, but the assessment still has to be done.

Many new teachers and new managers do not realise that the time spent formally assessing students’ work outside of the regular scheduled class time must be counted as part of the teacher’s workload.

Most managers and teachers know that if you have 30 hours of contact with students (whether teaching or supervision) then the teacher has 30 teaching duty hours recorded on their work plan.

But many do not know or understand that if the teacher spends 30 hours formally assessing students’ work outside of the scheduled class or contact time, this too must be recorded on the work plan as 30 teaching duty hours.

If the time you spend on formal assessment of students’ work is not being counted in your teaching duty hours, notify your local AEU sub-branch representative or contact the Membership Services Unit at the AEU on (03)9417 2822 or email melbourne@aeuvic.asn.au. ◆ — Greg Barclay

www.aeuvic.asn.au 3

navigating the workcover mazeStress and anxiety are workplace injuries just like a twisted back or broken leg. When they happen you are entitled to compensation — and we can help.

Jeff Slingsby TAFE organiser

INJURIES and illnesses associated with work happen. Sometimes they are physical and

sometimes psychological. It is important to remember that whatever the

illness or injury, if it occurs as a result of your employment you are entitled to be covered by workers’ compensation — or workcover as it’s still often known.

Workcover provides a number of benefits over sick leave. For instance, it pays for the medical treatment to get you well again. This includes the doctors who treat you, psychologists and physiotherapists, and the cost of medication or other treatment.

When the time comes, it also offers a mechanism for you to return to work at a reduced number of hours and with modified duties, depending on what your doctor thinks you can manage.

In your first 12 months on workcover you will be paid your normal pre-injury salary.

It sounds good, doesn’t it? In theory, it is. However, many times the condition of injured members is made worse by the heartless, unthinking treatment they receive from their employers, or from WorkSafe, the agency that administers the scheme, when they lodge a claim.

TAFE teaching can be physically dangerous, especially if you teach a trade. Pressures of ever-larger class sizes in particular can make the workshop or classroom a hazardous place and injuries are unfortunately more common than ever.

However, when someone is physically injured at work the claim process is more straightforward. Stress-related claims can be more difficult to get accepted.

If you suffer a stress-related illness, and the stress was caused by work, you are absolutely entitled to claim workcover. However, there is

a catch: the notorious clause in the Act which essentially says that a claim will not be accepted if the illness is caused by the “reasonable action” of the employer.

This “reasonable action” includes the employer investigating a complaint against the teacher — and that is where the probems can begin.

Teachers are amazingly dedicated people. They are absolutely committed to their students. Unfor-tunately, this can mean that they become their own worst enemies. Frequently, we find that teachers keep going to work, even when they are very ill, because they “don’t want to let anyone down”.

Unfortunately, that’s when things can go wrong. All too often, the first the union gets to hear about a problem is when the teacher is told of complaints, or they get the “please explain” letter from their manager.

We then find a long history of stress-related

illness. If a claim is lodged at this stage, we find ourselves running up against the legislative barrier of the “reasonable action” of the employer.

So what should we all be doing?There are some responsibilities on all of us.

As individuals, we should monitor our physical and psychological health. Super-beings exist only in

fiction. If you experience physical symptoms of an injury, you go to your doctor. You

should do the same at the first sign of stress or anxiety. Get it on your

medical record. Don’t wait for a crisis in class one day.

Employers have respon-sibilities too. They have a duty of care to provide a safe workplace, and this includes safety from psychological harm. But too often an employer’s reaction to a worker’s signs of psychological illness is not to offer support but to demand written

explanations for alleged misdemeanours, or make

intimidating calls to attend meetings to discuss perform-

ance.Finally, as fellow-workers, we

too have responsibilities, to look out for each other’s welfare, and provide

support when someone is struggling.Work-related illnesses and injuries can occur

in any workplace. However, the damage to the individual can be made worse by harsh treatment from an unsympathetic or harried employer or by the bureaucrats who administer the compensation system very inflexibly.

Remember, you are entitled to worker’s compen-sation if your injury is related to work. If you believe you have a claim, there are two phone numbers you need.

The first is your doctor’s. The second is your union’s. Contact us early because we will help you

through each step along the workcover path. ◆

4 TAFE newsletter | may 2012

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Greg Barclay deputy vice president, TAFE and adult provision

UNDER our Multi Business Agreement (MBA), the AEU and TAFE employers agreed that for teachers to move beyond increment

T2.2 or take up a promoted position (SE1, 2 or 3), they must have an approved teaching qualification.

In Victoria the 21697VIC Diploma of VET Practice was developed and accepted by the AEU and employers as meeting this requirement.

However, a new national qualification, the TAE50111 Diploma of VET, was this year accredited federally and, under national agree-ments, supersedes the state qualification, which must now be discontinued.

But because it does not include a supervised practicum it is questionable at best as to whether the TAE50111 diploma meets the requirement of the MBA.

In fact, one member who undertook the new qualification has already been knocked back for incremental progression by their employer.

The 21697VIC diploma was due to expire at the end of 2011 but was extended to the end of 2012. It appears unlikely to be renewed again, because of its supposed similarity to the TAE50111.

The AEU has raised the matter with Skills Minister Peter Hall (see our letter, right), the Victorian Regulation and Quality Authority and the Victorian TAFE Association.

Given that the 21697VIC Diploma of VET Practice remains accredited until the end of 2012, we urge members who want to enrol in an approved teaching qualification in order to access incremental progression to request that diploma while they still can.

At its heart, this issue is about protecting the profes-sional status of TAFE teachers and our members. We are proud that the vast majority of TAFE courses are delivered by qualified teachers — a clear sign of the high quality education and training found in the public system and often sadly lacking in the private sector.

Full details of what constitutes an approved teaching qualification can be downloaded from the AEU website at www.aeuvic.asn.au/tafe_pay — click on “Guidelines on teaching qualifications”. ◆

23 April 2012 Minister Peter Hall Minister for Higher Education and Skills

Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession Level 1, West Wing 2 Treasury Place, EAST MELBOURNE, VIC 3002

Dear Minister Hall Further to our discussions on April 13 2012, we would like to formally raise with you our concerns

about the status of the 21697VIC Diploma of VET Practice qualification.

The qualification was developed in response to an agreement between the AEU and the Victorian

TAFE Association to jointly promote and support TAFE teachers gaining teaching qualifications to

improve and enhance the quality of provision in the TAFE system and across the VET sector

more fully. The problem was and remains that the relevant national training package does not include

assessable and mandated supervised teaching practicum. As a fully qualified teacher, you would

know and understand that whilst it is obvious that teachers have theoretical learning in their

qualification, the value of teaching practicum is crucial. It follows that a teacher must demonstrate

their ability to teach and train to become qualified. In the Victorian system, more than ever, we must ensure that qualifications and the people

delivering them, are as robust as we can make them.

The AEU and the VTA established and agreed on a set of criteria to be used to determine if a

qualification would be accepted as an approved teaching qualification for TAFE teachers in

Victoria (copy attached). The 21697VIC Diploma of VET Practice accreditation was due to expire at the end of 2011 but

that accreditation was then extended to the end of 2012 with no apparent plans to redevelop

and/or reaccredit it. The AEU is concerned that our members are being informed that the national training package

TAE50111 Diploma of VET appears to be considered to be the replacement qualification for the

21697VIC Diploma of VET Practice as the two qualifications are “similar”. The AEU agrees with

that analysis around the theoretical components of the qualification – but the problem remains as

explained above. The national training package qualification still does not include assessable and

mandated teaching practicum. The AEU is keen to ensure that TAFE teachers continue to have access to high quality teacher

training that meets a minimum ‘approved’ standard in content, methodology and practicum so we

request that this matter be attended to urgently. Please feel free to contact me to discuss how we could be involved in working towards a

resolution to this matter. Yours sincerely

GREG BARCLAY Deputy Vice President, TAP (TAFE & Adult Provision) Sector

Caution urged on teaching qualificationsA new national teaching qualification appears unfit for purpose and may not give new TAFE teachers access to the upper reaches of the pay scale.