Militancy delivers salary growthCopies of the Department’s salaries offer were thrown over the fence of Parliament House during a rally in Macquarie Street

on 18 November, 1999.The salaries round was a particularly

turbulent one. Education Minister John Aquilina had refused to meet with Federation’s senior officers for more than six months, then on 1 November 1999, in a calculated attempt to bypass union negotiations, Director-General Dr Ken Boston directly issued the Department’s salary offer to teachers online, dubbed the “website offer”.

The offer of 9.6 per cent over four years for a significantly increased workload inflamed the passions of members. Schools were to be open from 7.30am to 10pm and secondary teaching loads were to become open-ended (without a maximum number of lessons or hours defined). PP5s and PP6s were to receive only 3–4 per cent over four years. TAFE

teachers would be required to teach an additional three hours per week.

It was not until June 2000 that Federation members endorsed a signifi-cantly revised salary offer, which secured a historic recognition of equal pay for equal work for casual teachers. From 1 January, 2001 to 31 December, 2003, salaries were to increase 12 per cent.

Members engaged in significant indus-trial action during salaries rounds from 1990 to restore salaries relativity lost during a period of federal wage fixation. This included strike action associated with the 2003/04 salaries campaign, as an extensive work value case was argued in the Industrial Relations Commission. It took until 2006 for the real purchasing

FOR CLASSES,

SIZE MATTERS

By the time the Carr Labor government was elected in March 1995, NSW public school students endured the worst class sizes in Australia. Despite releasing a 60-page educa-tion manifesto in 1995 and styling himself in opposition as the “education premier”, Bob Carr failed to implement any meaningful reforms in relation to class sizes.

Federation’s 2001 Annual Conference resolved to seek commit-ment from all parties to reduce class sizes to a maximum of 20 for K-2 classes, initially in econom-ically disadvantaged areas and then across all of NSW.

The months leading into the state election in 2003 were dominated by recommendations from three reports from the Vinson Inquiry into Public Education 2001-2002, which had been commissioned by the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations (P&C).

Professor Tony Vinson addressed a Public Education Forum at Sydney Town Hall on the eve of the election, in February 2003. His priority recommendation that class sizes for the first four years of school be reduced to 20 as a matter of urgency resonated with teach-ers, parents and the Public Education Alliance (Federation, the P&C, the NSW Secondary Principals Council, the NSW Primary Principals Association, the NSW Federation of School Community Organisations, and the Public Schools Principals Forum).

The organisations had been emboldened by the Vinson Inquiry recommendations and demanded a commitment from all political parties to six major educational reforms, the first which stated, “reduce class sizes in the early years of education by lowering class

sizes to a maximum of 20 students from Kindergarten to Year 3.”

On 3 November 2002, state Opposition Leader John Brogden assured NSW voters and Federation that should he win the election, he was prepared to lower class sizes for early

years of schooling and promised K-2 classes would be lowered to 21 by employing an additional 2000 teachers. Labor indicated it would continue with its $5 million pilot program of class-size reduction but only in 60 schools.

On 22 November 2002, The Sydney Morning Herald reported 1300 K-6 classes were currently larger than 31 students, with 15 classes larger than 35 students.

Documents explaining the case for reduc-ing K-3 class sizes were issued to members, along with a 17-minute video for all schools. “Twenty is Plenty” leaflets and postcards were distributed to parents.

Professor Vinson’s media interviews exerted more pressure on the Labor government. He explained that reliance on average class sizes constituted flawed policy because averages were deceptive, especially when some classes in remote rural regions were smaller.

A media release from Premier Carr on 9 March 2003 considerably shifted Labor’s position:• 1400 new teachers for K-2 classes• $329 million to reduce class sizes in NSW

public schools (including $107 million to build new classrooms and modify existing spaces)

• reductions to be rolled out from 2004 after the pilot was completed

• all Kindergarten classes reduced to 20 by 2005

Federation establishes the Oral History Project

Schools Enterprise Agreement with the Fahey Coalition government delivers an additional 3163 Advanced Skills teachers to NSW schoolsFollowing years of campaigning, retention of transfer rights for teachers is

Conservative commentators heavily criticise the new 1992 History syllabus

Family and Community Services leave improvements granted to teachers

The National Strategy for the Education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 1996-2002 is adopted by the NSW Department of Education

Teachers make their feelings known about the Department’s salaries offer at a NSW Parliament rally. Photo by Brendan

1 9 9 1 1 9 9 2 1 9 9 3 1 9 9 4 1 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 3 2 0 0 5 2 0 0 6The Greiner government releases the controversial Your School’s Right to Choose document

confirmed by the Coalition government years 7-10, which mandates questions about Aboriginal history and women’s history

The Deferred Salary Scheme — often referred to as the “4 for 5” scheme — is introduced for all teachers

Federation establishes the New Activist Project, focusing on recruitment of activists and future union leaders

Temporary Teacher classification is confirmed giving

Issue 6 Centenary Special Edition

Union stands guard over prison education

The Public Education Bus was the focus of the 1999 campaign, Public Education in Corrective Services — Quality Worth Fighting For. The bus visited Lithgow, Bathurst, Kirkconnell and Long Bay gaols.

Hundreds of visitors to the gaols signed petitions to retain public education services in NSW prisons. Community and family members supported the union campaign to ensure 75,000 inmates in 26 correctional centres across the state could continue to access courses that would secure a more positive future after serving their sentences. Inmates’ literacy and numeracy levels were well below educated adult standards.

Industrial campaigns and petitions to Corrective Services Minister Bob Debus resulted in a new award from October 2002, which removed short-term casual contracts from the Corrective Teaching Service. From 2003, teachers were retained

on a permanent or temporary status. New courses from 2003 were accredited according to United Nations international guidelines for the education of prisoners.

In the early years of the 21st century the federal sphere was hostile, as the Howard government pursued a privatisation agenda for both compulsory and post-compulsory education.

Despite ongoing attacks on public education provision in Corrective Services, Federation membership of Corrective Services teachers increased from 128 in 2005 to 145 in 2006.

This small but vital group was galvanised by the ongoing ruthless privatisation agendas of both state and federal governments since 1988.

Successful OH&S cases bring welcome change

Federation successfully prosecuted the Department of Education in the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) under the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Act 2000 for failing to provide a safe working environment for teachers at Dover Heights High School over two days in December 2001.

In March 2006, the IRC fined the Department $220,000 — the largest fine ever imposed for school-based OH&S breaches.

Federation applied for 50 per cent of the fine, which was awarded by Justice Kavanagh. The $110,000 was used to fund professional learning materials and training for teachers around OH&S.

In 2008, the Department was again fined a total of $105,000 for two beaches of the OH&S Act for failing to ensure the health, safety and welfare of teachers at Rowland Hassall School at Parramatta in 2003.

The two successful prosecutions by Federation eventually resulted in several welcome developments, including:• an overhaul of enrolment procedures by

the employer, especially regarding the

disclosure of the previous history of violent students

• circulation of Legal Issues Bulletins addressing various aspects of OH&S and related matters including the enrolment and suspension of violent students

• the formation of an OH&S Committee in each school assisted with clear guidelines concerning site inspections, the identifica-tion and reporting of hazards and the assessment of risks

• clarification of the roles and responsibili-ties of principals in relation to the legislation.

Federation continued to issue guidelines to schools regarding the management of risks associated with violent behaviour and relent-lessly pursued any issues relating to unsafe or unhealthy work environments in which students were learning and teachers were teaching.

The Carr and Iemma Labor governments attempted to water down the OH&S provi-sions of the 2000 legislation from 2005 after a series of violent incidents in schools in 2001 and 2003 before Federation’s prosecutions

could be heard in the courts. Unions, including Federation, strongly

opposed the amendments which would have compromised the rights of workers and reduced the opportunities for workers to sue employers.

Labor’s Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca announced a review in June 2005 but the objections largely prevailed despite ongoing attempts by the successive Iemma, Rees and Keneally Labor governments to compromise the rights of workers until the Work Health Safety Act of 2011 was introduced by the O’Farrell Liberal government.

Teachers Health at 50In 2004, Teachers Health celebrated its 50th anniversary. It was established by Federation as the Teachers Health Society in 1954 with 2600 members. The new health fund provided cost-effective private health insurance for teachers, administration staff and support staff and their families. By 2004, it had become the seventh largest private health insurance provider in NSW.

Teachers in time: 1990s to mid-2000s

Casuals access top of pay scaleIn 2001, the Department agreed to create the new classification of temporary teacher so long-term casuals could access the top of the pay scale and some benefits enjoyed by permanent teachers.

This followed the 2001 ruling in the Administrative Decisions Tribunal of NSW that the Department had practised unlawful sex discrimination in failing to close the pay gap between casual and permanent teachers for the same work. The NSW government disputed the ruling all the way to the High Court, which ruled 6:1 in its favour.

Educational leadership uncertaintyFrom 1990-2005, NSW turned over five NSW education ministers. Virginia Chadwick took over from Terry Metherell in July 1990 and held the position for almost five years. John Aquilina was minister for more than six years, followed by John Watkins for just 16 months, Andrew Refshauge for almost two years, and

Carmel Tebbutt for two years.

Department head not a teacherOn 22 January 2004, NSW Education Minister Andrew Refshauge appointed Andrew Cappie-Wood to the Education Department’s Director-General’s position without the job being advertised. Teachers were disappointed the new Director-General came with no experience or professional

knowledge of schools, teaching and learning.

Paying union fees onlineIn 2006, new technology provided Federation members with access to a secure 24/7 system to pay union dues. The Make the Switch campaign aimed to shift all members from paying union fees via payroll deduction to direct debit or credit card payments.

The new payment method would provide increased security for Federation’s income. In 1972 and 1994, vengeful NSW Coalition governments stopped deducting member-ship fees to punish the union for aggressive industrial campaigns. By 2005, it was clear the Howard government’s WorkChoices legislation threatened the rights of workers and the income of collective organisations and unions — it was illegal for federally registered workplaces to deduct union fees.

Successive governments put migrant education on hold

The ongoing privatisation agenda of the Keating federal government and the NSW Greiner government were condemned by Federation’s 1991 Annual Conference. Employers were not willing to apply the newly introduced “user pays” system on behalf of their employees for access to English in the Workplace programs.

In 1996-97, the Howard federal govern-ment slashed 60 per cent of funding to the Adult Migrant Education Service (AMES) and gave $100 million to private, for-profit providers protected by commercial in- confidence legislation.

In 1998, Federation campaigned to save 5000 AMES jobs, which were slated to be cut by July 1998. Only 155 jobs could be saved from the funding that was not yet transferred to private providers despite every legal channel being pursued. More than 300 AMES teachers took voluntary redundancy.

The Access to Quality English Campaign was launched in 2000 in an attempt to overturn the privatisation agenda and restore the provision of AMES language programs. However, the relentless privatisation agenda continued in the early years of the 21st century and the AMES

budget declined each year.

Lower paid Adult and Community Education tutors were supported by Federation in securing higher award agree-ments in 2005. At the same time, AMES teachers secured contracts to deliver language programs in three of the five NSW regions until June 2008.

A time for women to take the leadAt the turn of the 21st century, very few Australian unions, if any, claimed an all-women presidential team. But from 1999-2001, Federation’s three senior leader-ship roles were held by women.

During a particularly turbulent time for the union, they led campaigns including:• a bitter salaries dispute• increased resource and staffing levels for

the introduction of the new HSC from Year 11 in 2000

• opposition to school closures and the residualisation of local comprehensive high schools

• resistance to the privatisation of TAFE, Adult Migrant Education Service and Corrective Services education provision by state and federal governments

• the reduction of class sizes, especially for K-3• lobbying against opposing indefensible

increases in funding to publicly funded private schools.

The female face of Federation in 2000: Senior Vice President Maree O’Halloran (President 2002-2008), President Sue Simpson and Deputy President Jennifer Leete

cap_004_demise

The Public Education Bus visits Bathurst Goal during the campaign

New report card rejectedIn 2005, the Howard federal government demanded the learning achievements of K-12 students be reported to parents on a common A-to-E scale. The political rather than educational agenda revealed itself when the government demanded compli-ance from states and territories, or funding would be in jeopardy.

Federation defended professional judgement and teaching standards, campaigning against the narrow reduc-tionist “naming and shaming” or “one size fits all” assessment regime demanded by the government.

NSW Education Minister Carmel Tebbutt argued parents wanted A-E report-ing. This was news to the Federation of

Parents and Citizens Associations, which campaigned with the union, saying teachers rather than politicians should manage teaching, learning, assessment and reporting.

In September 2006, Federation placed a professional ban on the new govern-ment-imposed student report requirements, especially the use of standardised A-E grades. The Department failed to secure a dispute order from the Industrial Relations Commission, upholding professional judgement of teachers in the assessment and reporting process.

The class the media failedThe apology to Mount Druitt High School students and their families (shown above) was published in The Daily Telegraph on 13 November, 2000, four years after the News Limited publication had vilified the whole year 12 cohort of the western Sydney high school in a front-page story under the head-line “The Class We Failed” in January 1997. News Limited agreed to pay damages in an out-of-court settlement.

The Supreme Court ruled that the front-page article, which featured a photo of the entire Year 12 cohort in 1996, had defamed 28 Mount Druitt High School students.

Nineteen students filed proceedings with the assistance of the National Children’s and Youth Law Centre and Gilbert and Tobin lawyers for damages to reputation, reckless indifference and failing to check basic facts. Federation supported the defamation action from 1997 until the Supreme Court ruling against The Daily Telegraph and News Ltd was delivered in 2000. Federation insisted the article had exposed the students, teachers and the school to ridicule and scorn.

The Minister for Education in the Carr Labor government was decidedly less than helpful when he was cited in The Daily Telegraph article blaming the school for “failing to turn extra resources and funds allocated under the disadvantaged schools program into better marks”.

From the day the offensive and mislead-ing article was printed in January 1997, Federation officers defended the school, the students and their teachers in the absence of a defence from Department of Education personnel or from the Minister’s office during the January 1997 vacation.

In 2000, Khrise Toledo, one of the 1996 year 12 students, addressed Federation Council about the impact of the defamatory article on her life over those past four years. Khrise was pleased about both the printed apology and the settlement ordered by the Supreme Court.

League tables or education as a spectator sportAfter the successful prosecution of the defa-mation case, Federation campaigned for protocols to be estab-lished to protect data relating to year 12 students’ university entrance scores from misreporting and abuse.

The proto-cols around reporting of Early Learning Languages Australia (ELLA), School Certificate and Higher School Certificate data were legislated in 1997.

With the implementation of the new HSC in 2001, only band 6 results (91-100) for each individual HSC subject could be published while the TER (Tertiary Entrance Rank), the UAI (University Admissions Index) and from 2009, the ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) issued by the University

of Sydney and not by the Board of Studies/NESA remained confidential and available only to the students upon application. Not all newspaper organisations and media outlets welcomed the legislated protocols. They did not heed the lessons from the damage done in the Mt Druitt reporting in January 1997.

They seemed determined to mine any data available to rank schools in “perfor-mance” hierarchies, borrowing the term “league

tables” from international soccer parlance. Soccer league tables determine “winners” and “losers”. Uncovering “failing schools” acquired a missionary-like zeal.

Schools relegated to the bottom of the league tables were stigmatised as failing schools.

The crude league tables took no account of the complex enrolment mix in so many schools, especially those in western Sydney and remote and rural regional areas.

How could a single ranking factor in low income, unemployed households, learning disabilities, a high proportion of ESL students and/or a significant number of academically capable students siphoned off to a selective school at the end of year 6?

The selective school was unlikely to find itself named and shamed at the bottom of the table.

In 2009, the Rees Labor government attempted to repeal the 12-year test data protec-tion protocols but was prevented from doing so by an unlikely alliance of the Liberal

Opposition led by Barry O’Farrell and the Greens.

By 2009, NAPLAN testing had been imposed on all Australian schools by the Rudd/Gillard Labor government and the teaching profession and teacher unions were engaged in a rear-guard defence of profes-sional teacher judgment and standards in the assessment of student achievement.

The Labor government was opposed by parent organisations, academics, teacher unions, principal organisations and

conservative members of the parliamentary cross bench supporting the Liberal Opposition and the Greens.

The teaching profession was mortified that a Labor government failed to understand that the creation of league tables reflected the enrolment profile of schools rather than the value of what the school was providing for its students.

The campaigns against the misuse and abuse of student test data by state and federal governments and private for-profit media outlets were to continue beyond 2009. There were still lessons to be learned from the Mount Druitt High School experience.

Vinson inquiry

informed debate The Inquiry into the Provision of Public Education in NSW, announced in 2001 and sponsored by Federation and the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, provided a wealth of testimony for future campaigning.

Inquiry head, Professor Tony Vinson, tabled his report in three stages throughout 2002 and his findings resonated across NSW with parents, academics, teachers and public education activists.

His recommendations received wide media coverage and enjoyed strong endorse-ment in editorials and articles.

“The public education system has been steadily bleeding over the past three decades. In his recent report, Tony Vinson concluded that teachers in public schools are underval-ued, underpaid and overwhelmed by curric-ulum change and extra duties, and that many

school buildings are seriously inadequate.” (The Sydney Morning Herald, 26 August, 2002).

Key recommendations included:• allocation of an additional $460 million

over three years to address chronic underfunding of NSW public schools

• reduction of class sizes K-3 to 20 students, firstly in disadvantaged schools and then implemented across all schools

• appointment of 700 additional school counsellors

• reduction in the number of selective schools, which had increased alarmingly since the Greiner government’s election in 1988

• immediate increase of five per cent for all teachers’ salaries to bring them in line with other professions at the time

• incentives to attract teachers to disadvan-

TAFE suffers under ongoing attacks

The Australia Needs TAFE campaign, launched in 1992 by Federation, was deter-mined to combat the disastrous effect of the Greiner Coalition government’s callous disregard for the TAFE system as a public education provider for school leavers and adult learners.

The 1991 TAFE award imposed by the Greiner government resulted in the loss of 100,000 student enrolments and a signifi-cant loss of permanent teaching positions.

By 1994, 45 per cent of all TAFE teach-ing was done by part-time and casual teachers.

The reduction in funding, introduction of TAFE fees and complex new enrolment procedures disrupted opportunities for students seeking to further their post-com-pulsory education options and gain work-place skills.

Immediately after Labor won the 1995 election, incom-ing Premier Bob Carr announced that Dover Heights TAFE would be sold. The much anticipated election of a Labor government following the onslaught on public education of succes-sive Coalition governments since 1988 offered no respite from attacks on the TAFE sector.

taged schools.The Vinson report had a major impact on the 2003 state election, with the Carr Labor

Vigil protests property saleThe Federation-funded vigil held on 20 March 1990 to save the Department of Education building at 33-35 Bridge Street, Sydney, from sale made an impact on the Greiner government.

The building had been vacated in 1989, with the exception of its photo-graphic studio, which was considered too expensive to relocate to the Department’s Parramatta office. Thousands of people gathered at the Farrer Place entrance to register strong protest about the proposed sale of the historical building, which had been the Department’s head office since 1914.

The teachers, parents, students and community members who gathered at the vigil were also protesting about the Greiner government’s fire sale of an extensive list of public schools, TAFE colleges and other public assets. The vigil made it clear the Greiner government was betraying a public legacy.

The following day, Premier Greiner announced that the Bridge Street head office would no longer be sold but only leased, indicating it would be available for future generations as a public asset. In April 1996, the Department head office was re-estab-lished in the Bridge Street building following a major refurbishment.

Bob Carr was elected as Labor Premier in April 1995 and he promised to re-open any public assets that had not been sold. However, a majority of the schools which were closed could not be reopened as they had been sold to private schools.

The reprieve granted to the Bridge Street building by the Vigil of 1990 lasted 25 years. In August 2015, Premier Mike Baird announced that both the Department of Education and Department of Lands buildings would be leased for 99 years to the Singapore-based Pontiac Land Group for the purposes of establishing a 300-room hotel near Circular Quay.

The last Department head office personnel from Bridge Street vacated the building in May 2018. They have been relocated to Parramatta, in Sydney’s west.

Union exposes report as code for

devolutionIn May 1991, the Greiner government was forced into minority government after losing 10 seats and its substantial majority from the 1988 election. Federation campaigns against the corporatisation and deregulation of the public education system had resonated with voters since the release of the Scott Report, Schools Renewal, in 1989. It was very clear to the families of NSW that the agenda was a cost-cutting political one and had nothing to do with providing quality teaching and learn-ing experiences for K-12 and TAFE students.

Your School’s Right to Choose The blueprint for the deregulation of the NSW public education system, Your School’s Right To Choose (1992), was widely rejected by teachers as soon as it was issued in June 1992. Federation responded in kind with its own publication, Your School’s Right to Say NO, in August 1992. A series of union radio and press advertisements explained very clearly to parents and students why the deregulation would affect the learning opportunities for all students.

“Failing schools”, those with falling enrolments or named and shamed as “under-performing” were to be closed, amalgamated or rebadged as partially selective, fully selec-tive, performing arts, technology or sports specialist high schools.

From 1999, collegiate groups of schools were established in various parts of the state

as a knee-jerk reaction to the appalling press coverage of Mt Druitt High School’s 1996 HSC results. No one in the Department seemed to understand how such diversifica-tion and specialisation would affect local comprehensive, co-ed high schools.

From 1992 to 2005, an increasing number of rebadged specialist high schools were marketed aggressively in seductive “parents’ choice” language.

When enrolments declined at local comprehensives, in some cases alarmingly, principals were targeted for their schools’ poor test results in the School Certificate or the HSC. A vicious spiral developed where falling enrolment resulted in nominated transfers which then resulted in fewer viable curriculum offerings which resulted in a further enrolment decline.

School staffingThe flexible staffing trial of 1991 caused a great deal of concern. Retention of the state-wide transfer system had been a cornerstone of the NSW public education system as early as the 19th century and teachers were deter-mined to retain it. Without it the government could “devolve” (shift) whole-system respon-sibility for the access of all students to a quality public education, to individual schools and principals.

In Schools Renewal (1989), author Brian Scott states “very significant devolution is called for” and “the traditional centralised

system is no longer appropriate for today’s schools needs”.

The statements provide very clear exam-ples of “corporate speak” for the devolution of (government/employer) responsibility. A deregulated staffing operation resulting in insecure employment and reduced career opportunities for promotion and transfer was simply unacceptable.

References to “local autonomy” and “local management” proved to be code for the removal of tenure and job security. The removal of the statewide transfer system would also weaken union solidarity and the capacity for united action from teachers.

Schools were encouraged to trade off teaching positions and promotions positions for additional cash as part of the rejected flex-ible staffing trial and Your School’s Right to Choose policy.

In May 1993, Federation and the Department reached an agreement that state-wide transfer rights for all teachers including principals and teachers in promotions posi-tions would be retained. Executive teachers were to be returned to primary schools.

Premier John Fahey and Minister Virginia Chadwick were no longer commit-ted to the radical deregulated staffing agenda of their predecessors.

In August 1994, the Fahey government allocated 1446 additional teachers for the 1995 staffing operation, thus partially restor-ing the devastating loss of 2500 teaching

Marching under the one banner

The United Nations International Year of the World’s Indigenous People in 1993 raised community awareness of many complex issues facing Aboriginal Australians. It followed the historic High Court Mabo land rights legislation in June 1992, and the landmark Redfern speech by Prime Minister Paul Keating in December 1992. Federation President Phil Cross wrote: “How we deal with Mabo will very much deter-mine our nation’s development as a

multicultural society and whether or not our country believes in equity and social justice for all.” (Education, 19 July 1993)

Federation’s Indigenous Peoples banner, which was commissioned by the union’s Aboriginal Members Committee as part of the 1993 International Year of the World’s Indigenous People,

Families attended the rally to save the Bridge Street offices and schools threatened with closure

Show of support for cleaners In 1993, the Fahey Coalition government privatised the government cleaning service. Over time, the number of cleaners in each school was gradually reduced and contrac-tors attempted to introduce awards that would compromise accumulated superan-nuation and leave entitlements.

In 1999, the Carr government announced it would issue revised private cleaning contracts. Early in Term 1, 2000, cleaning companies sent time and motion experts to school sites to investigate ways to cut cleaning costs and maximise profits. The experts were attached to stopwatches, clipboards and spreadsheets. The compa-nies clearly stated their intention was to cut cleaning hours by 30 per cent.

Cleaners were allocated between six and nine minutes to clean each classroom. The

stringent new guidelines made no allow-ances for graffiti, chewing gum and other unmentionable items that find their way into classrooms.

The cleaners’ strike of September 2004

lasted four days, during which time 75 schools were closed and 50 were partially closed. Teachers and parent groups supported the cleaners, insisting they could not maintain high standards under the time

and motion guidelines imposed by corpo-rate managers, who demonstrated little understanding of school cleaning requirements.

Some principals were admonished by the Department for working with parents to close or partially close schools when it was clear it would be impossible to keep some toilet blocks open.