MIA educators gather at Griffith Leagues Club to hear of system in peril

Some 30 teachers from across the area came together at the Griffith Southside Leagues Club on March 3 to hear federal president of the Australian Education Union, Angelo Gavrielatos.

Mr Gavrielatos delivered a scathing albeit passionate outcry over what he described as 'negligent' handling by the current government of an industry in 'crisis'.

He believes the upcoming election will be the most important in living memory not only teachers and educators, but also parents and guardians.

"There is not one school I have been to across NSW where I haven't been confronted with stories validating a system in serious trouble," he said.

"I don't recall another time in my four decades of education policy work that remotely resembles the crisis we are experiencing. It's been years in the making, and the responsibility lies exclusively with the current state government."

He said warnings that the industry was teetering into it's current state had been clear for years and ignored by the Liberal/Nationals.

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"When you get a one thousand page briefing in 2018 and 2019 that says we will run out of teachers in five years and the government does nothing about it, that's called negligence," he said.

"When you get a graph that reveals aggregate supply gaps and you don't put in risk mitigating strategies, that's negligence.

"When you get briefings that say increased expectations and lack of reward are not presenting enough incentive to recruit and obtain teachers and you don't act on it, that's also negligence. That negligence has brought us to the worst teachers shortage in living memory.

"It's not the role of the union to tell teachers who they should vote for, but it is our role to give them the analysis.

"The predictions are that by the end of the decade we will need an extra 11,000 teachers in our system just to cope with student enrolment growth. Catholic education has predicted a shortfall of 4,000 teachers in that time.

"For the first time we've reached a point where resignation rates have outstripped retirement rates and fifty per cent of those enrolling in teaching courses aren't completing their degrees.

"Of course, the situation will only get worse if there is a refusal to change the settings as there is by the Perrotet/Nationals government."

He warned it would take years for the industry to recover, and can only do so at the hand of careful voters.

"Every day, kids are being denied their learning, not at the fault of teachers. They are only trying to cover for the mess we find ourselves in. Teachers are burning out, not just in Griffith but across the state.

"You can't just turn this around tomorrow, but until we are given the option to start turning it around it won't change," Mr Gavrielatos.

"I want to wake up on March 26 ready to continue fighting rather than waking up with no hope at all."

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