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Those
Damned Teachers - What's Wrong With Poverty Ya Bastards!
Well
it appears that the teachers in NSW (and potentially other
states) are about to go on a further strike over pay and
conditions. The NSW State Government will play the
"tsk tsk, aren't those teachers naughty for depriving
your children of an education card" and the media will
roast the Teachers for it.
The
pressure will build until the two parties settle for a
government favoured compromise. Which will hold the
wolves from the door for another 18-24 months.
Teachers
will end up with the "Black Hats" whilst in the
layman's eyes, the Government will come out looking like the
"White Hats". But has anybody seriously asked
why these industrial actions need to take place?
Before
I continue, a disclaimer - I am not a teacher. My wife
however is, so I speak from a knowledge base that is
reasonably first hand.
NSW
Public School Teachers are pitifully paid. A typical
class room teacher of 10 years experience would be in today's
world earning around $45,000 per annum. This is for a
university trained individual with 10 years practical
experience. Some of you may say "$45K, that's good
money" but lets compare it to other practices....
An
Engineer, upon graduating should be getting $45K. That's
before 1 single day of work experience....
A
CPA trained accountant after a few (say 3) years of
experience, should be
earning $50K....
A
Personal Assistant of 7-8 years experience should be earning
$50K minimum and I have employed and know of women working in
that field who are on a lot more for less experience.
Ray Williams, CEO of HIH Insurance's PA was on a generous
$110K per annum. That's a secretary people....
earning nearly 3 times the salary of a highly qualified and
experienced teacher.
So,
teaching, a profession that has extensive dealings with every
human being through their formative years is hamstrung by a
government that refuses to meet market salary demands.
This year, the teachers are asking for a 25% increase over 2
years, which would raise my "typical teacher" to a
salary of a bit over $56K. Still hardly comparable to
the salary brackets exhibited above.
The
government responds with an offer to settle at 6% - and I
would suspect that this would have been after some already
protracted negotiations behind closed doors.
But
what are teachers supposed to think when they read of
Australian Federal funding of Private Schools that rings like
international phone numbers. Last year, Trinity Grammar
a well supported and sponsored private school in Sydney
received over $5,000,000 (yes, that's MILLION), in funding.
One school of say 1000 students received $5M whilst public
schools in Sydney's West receive only enough funding to allow
each teacher only 500 sheets of photo copy paper. That
equates to about 1 sheet of paper per student per fortnight...
ridiculous!
So,
their schools receive nothing, their own back pockets receive
a pittance and the standard of public schooling deteriorates
dramatically.
But
its the poor teachers that cop the criticism...
So,
in summary, Private Schools mean Private Funding. Stop
sending our tax dollars (which teachers contribute to) to
Private Schools and start pumping it into the public system
and their staff back pockets.
PS
- Teachers, you should also move into the corporate times and
have your personal performances contribute to your personal
remuneration... no more hiding dodgy teachers in the system
either!
RELATED
READING
http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6830925%255E26462,00.html
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