Prompt action needed on staffing review

Media Release
14 Dec 2007

Prompt action needed on staffing review

PPTA president Robin Duff welcomes government plans to conduct a review of secondary school staffing but says action needs to be taken now if it is to have any impact.

Education Minister Chris Carter announced this afternoon that there would be a review of secondary school staffing, aiming to ensure that schools had the resources and flexibility they needed to “meet the demands of delivering a 21st century education”.

This comes just after the PPTA has kicked off a campaign focusing on increasing secondary staffing and reducing class sizes.

While Mr Duff felt this was a positive step, he also wanted to see a timeline put in place to make sure the review was completed by early next year.

“The government has finally put its glasses on and worked out what’s going on out there. The teacher shortage is affecting subjects and schools across the board and the quality of our children’s education.
“We need to focus on getting more quality secondary teachers and the importance of encouraging teachers in specialty subjects.

“A review needs to happen quickly. It can’t be an excuse to waste time in a situation that has already got quite serious. We have been promised staffing would be addressed for quite some time, but that hasn’t happened. Recently at our negotiations it was totally ignored,” he said.

“Principals and boards of trustees should heave a sigh of relief that their concerns are to be addressed. We just have to make sure it happens quickly”.

Mr Duff felt the review should be completed within the next school term.
“We can’t have teachers getting their hopes up only to have them dashed again by a refusal to follow through, or a change of government,” he said.

ends

© Scoop Media