23 August 2022
TEACHER SHORTAGES BILLBOARD TRUCK COMING TO A TOWN NEAR YOU
Media alert for: Lithgow, Rooty Hill, Liverpool, Granville – Wednesday 24 August
The Independent Education Union’s mobile billboard truck has taken to NSW’s streets for two weeks. While its big digital screens bear several messages, there are two key issues: Fix teacher shortages now! Pay support staff properly!
We invite media to view the truck on Wednesday 24 August and talk with the teachers it represents:
- 7.45am to 8.20am: St Patrick’s Primary School, Mort St, Lithgow
- 10.15am to 10.55am: St Agnes Catholic High School, Evans Rd, Rooty Hill
- 1.15pm to 1.55pm: All Saints Catholic College, 53 Bigge St, Liverpool
- 2.45pm to 3.45pm: Delany College, Grimwood St, Granville
The truck has a packed itinerary. The first week includes the Illawarra region and Nowra; Queanbeyan Goulburn and Bathurst; and Sydney’s western, northern and eastern suburbs as well as the city itself. In the second week, the tour continues north to the central coast, Newcastle and Port Macquarie; then inland to Armidale and Tamworth and back south to Singleton and Maitland.
“The IEU is seeking the support of the public, politicians and parents of students in Catholic systemic schools in particular to back the union in striving to have the teacher shortages taken seriously,” said IEUA NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Mark Northam. “As the truck makes its way around the state, delegations of IEU members will also be visiting NSW politicians and writing to them with a clear request: fix this crisis in education.”
The IEU represents the industrial and professional interests of 33,000 teachers and support staff in non-government schools in NSW and the ACT.
“We’re seeking a range of straightforward solutions,” Northam said. “Fair salaries for teachers; pay parity for support staff with their counterparts in government schools; adequate planning time; a reduced administrative load; and practical strategies to end the disastrous staff shortages afflicting all schools – government and non-government – as well as the early childhood sector.
“The IEU recently spoken up at the NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Teacher Shortages, at Federal Education Minister Jason Clare’s Teacher Workforce Roundtable, and at a meeting with Early Childhood Education Minister Anne Aly about teacher shortages in her sector,” Northam said. “Now we’re taking it to communities throughout NSW. Teacher shortages impact everyone, from the teachers themselves and their students, right through to pre-schoolers and their parents.”
IEU President Christine Wilkinson said: “Teacher shortages are having a detrimental impact on our members’ health and wellbeing. Ever-increasing workloads, supervision of multiple classes (with attendant duty of care concerns), and too little planning time are causing new levels of stress. Prompt action must be taken. It is time our voices were heard.”
This is about the future of education. “We welcome meetings with employers and politicians,” Northam said. “Let’s sit down and fix these issues together.”
Contacts
Mark Northam, Secretary, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch, 0427 667 061
Media: Monica Crouch 0411 645 751 monica@ieu.asn.au
The IEUA NSW/ACT Branch represents over 33,000 teachers, principals and support staff in Catholic and independent schools, early childhood centres and post-secondary colleges.
Authorised by Mark Northam, Secretary, IEUA NSW/ACT Branch