Opinions of those following the 24 hour strike that is officially going to occur?Select to expand quoteBeginning teacher salaries have fallen behind that of the average weekly earnings of workers in Australia. Currently the salary of a beginning teacher is 81.7 per cent that of the average weekly ordinary time earnings for Australian workers(AWOTE). In 1984 beginning teachers' salaries were 101.4 per cent in comparison to AWOTE. In the last 25 years beginning teacher salaries have fallen by over 19 per cent in comparison to AWOTE.http://www.qtu.asn.au/387.html
I support the teachers....striking in this day and age is usually the last resort of a desperate cause .....
^^^ especially when you work for yourself and the surf is up or the wind is good, then i get desperate and go on strike.
did anyone mention they have 12 weeks fully paid holidays!!!!!!!!
and there workday is 9-3!!!!
so there wage should be a little less maybe!!!!
whoops, i'm the spelling nazi and i faultered! 
but i don't use capitals on the internet. (not worth the effort!)
thanx for the analysys walster.
still doesn't explain 12 weeks paid holiday! [;)
p.s. the only people reading this thread are in teaching positions anyway and like red thumbing dissent!
p.p.s. i have to employ the little sh1*s that the teachers release into society!
lord have mercy.....bring back the cane! 
From my experience, I can tell you that many teachers who took the opportunity to go on the "teacher release into industry" program (Gov initiative to give teachers the chance to experience life in the real world with the hope of them returning to the classroom better able to pass experiences on to their students)
Guess what? .....Many never went back to teaching! Guess the holidays didn't quite swing it, Greeny.
BTW, if you think 9 to 3, then you are dreaming! Just about all preparation and correction has to be done at home these days. There's also no option of overtime, time and a half, or RDO's, like some other occupations enjoy.
It comes down to 2 things.
- You've got to see what you're doing as valuable
- You've got to enjoy working with the pro's and con's of young people
there also seem to be an alarming number of "pupil free days" where school children seem to be able to wander the malls whilst the teachers prepare for teaching. whats going on there?
no emoticons this time.
Cheers guys
It was interesting to see some of your opinions; Greenie, I expected you to stir the pot.
9-3 HAH lol.... It's 12:30am and I'm just going to bed after marking 27 books with today's reading activities from five different books; let alone entering my soccer teams details into one school; marking the QCATs and submitting the results; e-mailing parents, organizing buddies, managing behaviour.. planning.. I'm stopping there as this space doesn't give me enough room! lol
As a first year out teacher, I personally think it will be interesting to see what effect the strike has on salaries, if any (let alone a fairly new QTU member).
i'm all for teachers getting paid more money,
ie. better wage better outcome.
but i don't believe the private school teachers are striking?
that says it all really.
get rid of the unions and the teachers will get paid more.
excuse me while i step into my flame suit.
Private teachers have their own union and most private school teachers, except those with strong anti-union ideologies would be supporting public school teachers.
Why do people think that teachers only work during class time? How is it possible to prepare four to six hours of activities every working day during class time? Do people in other professions prepare seminars and sales pitches during those activities? In the first couple of years of teaching as a rough estimate an hour of preparation is needed for every hour of class time. Then you see that preparation go down the drain half the time but thats part of the learning experience.
Its like saying a shop keeper works from 9 to 5 on his own with twenty five customers inside. It would be impossible. People moan and groan about the amount of school holidays. However if you look at many other jobs with flex time and RDOs along with seeing how most public holidays fall in school holidays, there is little difference between the amount of leave taken.
If you need leave as a teacher during term time you have to prepare lessons for your replacement. What other jobs requires you to do this?
The main fact that comes out of this strike is Queensland puts itself up as being the smart state. At the same time the QLD government wants to pay its teachers less than any other state in Australia. Do Queensland politicians get paid considerably less than those in other states too?
I used to date a school teachers daughter, every night I would be kicking back drinking a beer and watching tv after dinner while she did marking....there are some teachers I am sure who do not go to alot of effort but most I would argue put in more than a 40 hour week, probably closer to 50 or 60 hours.
I want my daughter to be inspired, excited and motivated to attain the highest standard of education she can.
To achieve this she needs enthusiastic, inspiring and motivated teachers who get great job satisfaction seeing their pupils succeed and go on to bigger and better things
To have teachers like this they need to feel supported, respected and valued.
Substantial pay rises will go some way to achieving this. So i'm all for it.
Pay peanuts - you get monkeys.
Teachers are a bit like nurses (and probably coppers/fireies etc) in that most of the people who go into this career do it for the desire to be a teacher and be good at the job (obviously not for the glamour or $$$ 
). This is consistantly taken advantage of by every govt and they are very undervalued.
BTW Liz - you haven't been on the job a year yet and already walkin out?? WTF?? You haven't even earnt a nice teacher's jacket with padded elbows yet? Just kidding.. good luck getting some decent pay/conditions Lithbeth.
Surely if they are doing 10 - 20 hours a week OT thats unpaid it works out as time in lui with all the holidays they get? Suer pay them more but only pay them for the time they work not the time they are on holidya or on student free days etc etc.
What performance standards do teachers have?
What about payment or bonuses on achieving results. Literacy and numeracy standards have dramatically declined in recent years. If a student does not achieve the required competency standard by the end of the year, has the teacher performed their role competently?
Are a students skills and abilities measured at the beginning and end of the school year to show the progress made?
I know we could debate the students prerequisite achievements, testing methodology and many other variables that could have an effect, but it's something to consider...pay them a base rate and bonus if the students achieve the required level of learning.
Can I borrow that suit Gestalt?
well i figure it's like this notwal,
it's easier to ask for a raise if you are one person,
if you ask for a raise and that menas 10,000 other people need to get one then you are going to get short changed somewhere.
allowing teachers to agree on their own individual value will go a long way to giving them the ability to increase there wage.
those that are very good and comitted at teaching... ie. those that live and breathe it will always get more than those that just go through the processes when you don't have union involvment.
Go Broncos 
As far as literacy levels go..
Dunno about other states or schools by my 1st grader is expected to be a very good writer and reader by now. Personally, I was shocked at the level expected at this age and it seems to me another education dept knee-jerk reaction to the previous decade of decline.
Whilst it is good to aim high I think there is already too much pressure on 5/6 yr olds and that seems a bit rough to me.
My lad has been lucky enough to have 3 exceptional teachers and one nutcase (who basically burnt out and brokedown). The school's principal, unfortunately, is an incompetant knob but I can't help but be impressed with the involvement, interest and extra efforts the 3 teachers mentioned have gone to. They deserve better than they get for sure.
If everyone, in every profession worked as hard and commited as the above teachers, for the same reward, we would be living in utopia. And everyne would have deluxe holidays too.
BTW I agree that the results = reward philosophy is flawed. You would simply end up with lower socio-economic area schools being a dumping ground for dud teachers, creating even more of a cycle of ill-educated. Not that that doesn't happen to an extent already - but it would increase the problem I reckon.
Rock on Lithbeth - hope your kids gave you a nice juicy apple when you came back. 
Teachers should be only partly paid by the Government.....
The majority of their pay should come from the private sector.
One day your kids will be attending a MAC-UNI where they can gain their PhD in the flipping of burgers.
Schools are just human resource factories and teachers are the assembly-line operators manning the collegiate conveyor belt.
The workers of the future are mass-produced and off-loaded onto the factory floor where the corporate world eats them up and spits them out.
lol.
only now. 
