In opposing the Federal Government’s position on performance pay, the AEU is proposing Professional Pay. While it is not as prescriptive, with its major focus on student performance, the proposal for professional pay will still require classroom teachers to do something extra. It may be professional development in their own time including holidays, mentoring students or implementing programs in their classrooms which they then have to evaluate and report on.

This is a flawed proposal. The argument is that teachers should be able to access higher levels of pay while still staying in the classroom. The fact is that the vast majority of teachers are primarily in the classroom. The few teachers who make it to Principal Class are the only teachers who are not in the classroom for most of their time at school. Even Leading Teachers are mainly in the classroom.

Teachers Alliance calls for:

• All teachers should get a decent pay rise.
• Special payments should be $6000 which is around 9% of the top of the incremental scale as they were in the 1980’s.
• All the jobs in the school should be given appropriate time and/or money. Eg lockers could be given 1 period a week plus $1000, a KLA Leader 3 periods and $4000 and the Awards Night time release as required plus $1000.