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Media Mentions

to contact the executive directly email:

hotline@tpaa.asn.au - ATTN: TPAA Secretary

Go Local Campaign

Based on analysis by TPAA, a shift to put teachers in charge of schools can create savings that can be reinvested in higher pay for teachers.

In Australia there are 4 administrators for every 10 teachers. In France and most of Europe, there is 1 administrator for every 10 teachers.

All References and detailed Calculations can be found at the bottom of the page. In summary, by reducing the Administrator to Teacher ratio from 4:10 to 1:10 in Australia would cause a saving of:

  • QLD: $1,071,449,375 per year
  • NSW:  $1,312,943,007 per year
  • ACT: $85,466,913 per year
  • NT: $64,466,097 per year
  • SA: $376,167,482 per year
  • VIC: $1,791,667,961 per year
  • TAS: $149,415,472 per year
  • WA: $1,307,071,371 per year

If these savings were passed on to teachers in the form of a pay rise, the government can afford to pay teachers on average 25% more without increasing the budget. 

Sign the Petition:

Steps to Fix the System:

 

Australia's education system, much like the country's broader approach to centralisation, is failing—not just for teachers in terms of professional fulfilment and remuneration but also for  students and their families, (If you want proof see the excellent report from the IPA here) Find the link from IPA about the work that Bella Dabrera has done

The system, which once began with simple locally-run, autonomous schools, has evolved into a gargantuan structure that serves the interests of a tribal network of politicians, bureaucrats, and unions rather than focusing on the needs of students, teachers or our communities. The decision about who teaches and what is being taught to their children is denied parents and in the main denied teachers as well. Unless parents withdraw their children from public schools and pay extra to send them to private schools then they have no effective say in their children's education. 

2-Apr-18-2023-06-48-36-9333-AM
 

Here is the TPAA solution

We say fully empowered School boards, elected by parents, will bring focus, transparency and accountability that public service bureaucracies can never achieve. More importantly, every teacher can be paid at least 25% more from day one from the savings generated by letting the school principal and the local board decide what staff are necessary and hire and fire them from the school itself.

They can also determine the curriculae, disciplinary policy and who can and can't attend. Let us see the end of departmental bureaucratic ideologues bullying our teachers and forcing the indoctrination of our children.

Such a simple change will guarantee the deliverables that parents want for their children and the professional recognition and remuneration teachers deserve in the workplace.

Step one; How the funding works is crucial. Here is how the parents choose what is taught to their own child.

 

3-Apr-18-2023-06-50-21-5419-AM
 

Let’s make our local schools autonomous, with an elected school boards, run by parents.

While anyone, including teachers, can be elected, the power remains with the parents. This places parents in charge of school policy, not teachers. In such a system, teachers would naturally have far more influence over policy decisions than they do now, as parents are more likely to listen to their insights compared to distant bureaucrats.

Go Local - Decentralised

Step one:

How the funding works is crucial. Here is how the parents choose what is taught to their own child:

 

Part 1: A School Elected Board

Let’s make our local schools autonomous, with school boards, elected by parents not appointed by politicians or bureaucrats.

While anyone, including teachers, can be elected, the power remains indirectly with the parents. However, in such a system, teachers would naturally have far more influence over policy decisions than they do now, as parents are more likely to listen to their commonsense insights compared to distant bureaucrats. The real power for parents to determine what is taught to their own children is that like Medicare instead of the government funding going directly to the bureaucratic supplier, the government funding goes to the user, the student in this case via a voucher.

This voucher is then cashed by the school that the parent has decided to send their student to. So each parent individually decides where the money goes and what their child is taught by virtue of having the power to move their child and the associated tuition fees to the school of the parent's choice.

Vote
 

Part 2: Empowering Teachers in School Decision-Making

Teachers at the schools  would be able to have a much greater level of input into effective policy than under the current system where centralised edicts from bureaucrat often stifle education outcomes.

Schools that wished to succeed would use traditional private sector mechanisms which would allow the school to dramatically reduce the cost of administration which means there will be a minimum extra available to increase teacher pay by 25% plus much more left over. The TPAA is for teachers not bureaucrats. TPAA would make sure that was the end result on pay. 

Empower Nurses

Step TWO:

Pay Teachers 25% more

The current unbelievable ratio of teachers to bureaucrats at about 2-3 for every bureaucrat is counterproductive. In a locally autonomous school environment, barely one administrator for every ten teachers will be needed. The savings from the retrenchment of 80-90% of these bureaucratic parasites will more than fund a 25% pay rise with more than that left over to improve school facilities as well. In fact it is a condition of TPAA teacher support for these reforms that they get this pay rise. 

Step THREE:

Let us honour our teachers and abandon the vast majority of teacher university training qualifications. Yes, teachers need a vocational training qualification such as a relevant degree or diploma so that they have a sufficient knowledge base in what they are teaching, but as for learning how to teach, which is more art than science, they should be assessed under an "apprenticeship style"  system where they learn the skills and be assessed by their peers whilst on the job.

Promotion should be based mainly on meritorious performance, not academic qualifications.

 

If you want to help us deliver local teacher-run schools for your communities - Sign the Petition

TPAA Logo Circle

Research Papers & References:

 

TPAQ Media Release on QLD Education Bill 2024

16th April 2024 - Media Release

TPAQ Media Release on QLD Education Bill 2024
 

TPAQ Parliamentary Submission on Education (GP) Bill 2024

Submission to the Education, Employment, Training and Skills Committee

25 March 2024

TPAQ Parliamentary Submission on Education (GP) Bill 2024
 

Calculations & References

Click to expand the state: