The IEU’s close relationship with our national office
Throughout 2024, the federal office (the IEUA) has worked on unsustainable workloads, restoring professional autonomy and leveraging recent industrial reforms passed by the federal government.
Compliance and workloads
The IEUA again collaborated with federal authorities and agencies to push for greater transparency around compliance requirements, which have contributed to increasing workloads for staff in schools.
There was active participation in federal government initiatives aimed at addressing teacher shortages, including the review of the National School Reform Agreement (now called the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement) and the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
The federal office also contributed to the Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework (created by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, AITSL) and the Educational Program Documentation required under the National Quality Framework and National Quality Standards, which are overseen by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).
The IEUA worked with AITSL and ACECQA to develop information sheets that clarify compliance documentation and highlight duplicative or excessive practices. A growing collection of materials, including NCCD collection guidelines, now offer guidance to members challenging unreasonable workloads.
The IEU also secured important protections in the new Australian Framework for the Use of Generative AI in schools.
Industrial challenges, wins and next steps
Industrial rights and protections for IEU members have improved dramatically under the current federal government. However, challenges remain to win the further reforms needed to bring better balance to workplace laws.
IEU members contributed to passing the Closing Loopholes Bill #2 in federal parliament, achieving reforms for more secure jobs and fairer workplaces. Key improvements include new delegate rights and the right for employees to disconnect, which are especially relevant to IEU members.
The IEUA will continue to advocate for changes to the excessive restrictions imposed on members seeking to take industrial action, and wind back the ability of employers to lock out staff for taking minor work bans.
Discrimination law disappointment
The federal government’s decision to seek bipartisan support from the coalition for changes to federal discrimination legislation undermined their clear election commitment and once again delayed basic protections for thousands of employees and students.
The IEU will continue to campaign for the commonsense changes needed to anti-discrimination exemptions in faith-based schools. We can support our communities of faith while also ensuring these laws reflect modern community standards.
Inquiries, reviews and commissions
The IEU lodged 15 submissions to education and industrial reviews and inquiries over the last 12 months, including on the ALRC review of Anti-Discrimination provisions, the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023, the VET Workforce Blueprint, the NSRA review and Covid-19 Royal Commission.
We made several submissions specifically on the perils and promises of AI in education, and on Early Childhood Education and Care.
Feature submissions:
IEU Submission VET Workforce Blueprint 2024
IEU Submission to Productivity Commission ECEC Inquiry 2024
IEU Submission – Jobs & Skills Australia 2024
IEU Covid Royal Commission Terms of Reference 2023
IEU Submission – Covid Inquiry 2023
IEU Jobs and Skills ECEC Submission 2023
IEU Submission on the Closing the Loopholes Bill 2023
IEU Submission to the ACCC Inquiry (Interim Report) into Childcare Services 2023
IEU Submission on Review of NSRA 2023
IEU Submission to the AI Taskforce 2023
IEU Submission to the AI Inquiry 2023 (House Standing Committee)
Copies of all IEUA submissions can be found at www.ieu.org.au/policy-submission
Federal Budget
The 2024 Federal Budget included key outcomes for our sector, including government support for increased wages in the early childhood sector, cost of living support, affordable housing measures, paid practicum placements, lower HECS/ HELP indexation, domestic violence payments, and super payments on government parental leave.
Voter mapping
A data project identified a high concentration of non-government school enrolments in certain electorates represented by Greens MPs. This served as a foundation for the IEU’s engagement with the crossbench with the goal of representing the diverse needs of workers and families in those electorates.
Enterprise Agreement workload provisions
The IEU federal office is working on a project to build a comparative data source of workload provisions in Catholic systemic school Agreements across all states. The aim is to provide branches with user-friendly, one-stop documents that allow for quick comparisons of each type of provision addressing workload. This will help identify innovative provisions in some states, which could inform decision-making in areas like logs of claims during collective bargaining.
International Solidarity and Action
Council of Pacific Education (COPE) regional conference 1 – 3 March 2024
COPE met in Fiji to discuss efforts to improve public education, social equity, and climate justice. Affiliates shared their challenges in delivering quality education and worked together to draft a climate justice motion for the 10th Education International (EI) World Congress in July-August 2024.
COPE Executive Meeting, Vanuatu 13 – 14 June 2024
This meeting discussed the financial report, country updates and issues related to the upcoming Education International (IE) World Congress. The Executive visited members of the Vanuatu Teachers Union (VTU), who were engaged in stop work industrial action while awaiting government action on their long-standing claims. The COPE Executive also addressed participants at the VTU union training workshop on the challenges in delivering quality education in the Pacific and strategies for women’s empowerment and leadership.
APHEDA
The IEU proudly supports Union Aid Abroad APHEDA and encourages branches and members to join in helping build workers’ rights around the world. The IEU remains active in our region through support of the Timor Leste Farm Workers Union.
EI World Congress 2024, August
The world’s teacher unions gathered in Argentina for the EI World Congress, for their first meeting since 2019. The event brought together 380 unions, representing over 30 million members. During the Congress, 1,200 delegates developed the policy and action framework that will guide EI’s work until the next Congress in 2029.
Key discussions focused on the UN’s High Level Panel on the Teaching Profession and global issues relevant to IEU members, including teacher workload, school funding, recognition of support staff, pay rates, and workplace rights. 2024
ACTU Congress
The triannual policy-setting forum of the ACTU took place in June 2024, with the IEU sending a larger delegation and receiving more votes due to the union’s growth since the last Congress.
At the forum, the ACTU developed and endorsed many policies on educational issues, including industrial rights, and equity and anti-discrimination protections in faith-based schools.