5 October 2010 is World Teachers’ Day; a day to celebrate teachers and the central role they play in guiding children, youths & adults through the life-long learning process.
This year, all teachers who have been directly or indirectly affected by a major crisis are recognised.
Be it a humanitarian crisis, such as the earthquake in Haiti and China, the flood in Pakistan,or the global economic crisis that has devastated many developed economies over the past year, the role of teachers is vital to social, economic and intellectual rebuilding.
Recovery begins with Teachers.
Time to Invest in Teachers.
World Teachers’ Day is not only occasion to celebrate teachers, but also to draw attention to their status, employment conditions.
Teachers are the most important education resource. Quality education cannot happen without them.
Investment in Australian Schools: Investment in Teachers.
If the Australian Government is serious about nation building and ensuring equitable education for all, then a well funded education system is vital.
The vast majority of Australian schools are chronically underfunded. While there are a few ( both government and non-government ) schools which have adequate levels of funding, there are thousands of Australian schools in both sectors which are significantly underfunded.
Too many schools do not have the resources to meet the needs of their students and in particular, the increasing demands or behavioural problems.
Investment in Early Childhood Education
Public investment into early childhood education is essential to the delivery of quality education.
Quality early childhood education and care is provided only through tertiary qualified and registered early childhood teachers supported by qualified early childhood teacher assistants/childcare workers.
Yet, Government funding for early childhood education remains inadequate.
Salaries and conditions for many teachers employed in early childhood education and care are not comparable to the terms and conditions in other educational settings. These differentials places stress on existing teachers and causes ongoing staff shortages in the sector.
Government investment in early childhood education and care must provide ongoing security for salary parity and working conditions for those who work in the early childhood sector.
For Quality Education for All, we need:
· A national resources standard for schools in order to provide for the educational needs of every Australian student, particularly those with special needs and those in early childhood years.
· The requirement that equity measures target extra funding across all schools where relevant student and/or school needs are identified
· Public resourcing of schools and early childhood education centres to the actual benchmark needed to provide quality education for every student.
· Both non-government and government schools to be publicly accountable on the same basis and to be funded by government on the basis of need, with reference to a national resources standard.
· Development of clear principles to bring the differential funding from state and federal sources into a consistent framework.
Recovery begins with Teachers; Quality Education begins with Quality Government funding.
October 5th is a day to celebrate the pivotal role of teachers in the provision of quality education.
But our teachers can not continue in this role without appropriate government funding support
On World Teachers’ Day, the IEUA calls upon Governments to guarantee support for teachers by addressing shortfalls in funding and providing mechanisms for better resources, better salaries and better conditions.