By Tanya Faulkner
As Victoria sinks into a state-wide crisis, the cost of education is soaring
News is widespread across the state as Victoria experiences one of the biggest teacher shortages it’s experienced in a long time, and unfortunately for locals, the Knox municipality is also facing struggles in the education sector.
The news does not come as a surprise, after the City of Knox recent decision to reduce council-provided kindergarten services in the municipality.
Earlier this year the Australian Education Union (AEU) met with Mayor Marcia Timmers-Leitch and several council members to put forward their views of the impact this decision would have on the community, should it choose to walk away from the approximately 30 sessional kindergartens it was providing.
The AEU said almost 1,100 three-year-old and four-year-old children and their families are being “abandoned” by Knox council, and are at risk of missing out on accessing two years of free kindergarten.
A Facebook group said “it’s shameful that Knox is even considering abandoning these children and their families”.
They also provided a petition containing over 2,000 names which was deemed “unacceptable” by Cr Darren Pearce due to the lack of signatures and addresses provided alongside the names, and should not be accepted in the decision at the council meeting on Monday 14, August.
However, Knox Council decided at that meeting to step back from being a kindergarten provider, and will reduce their services to two hubs.
Additionally, one local teacher came forward saying there are schools in the Knox municipality experiencing shortages of as many as 30 teachers.
In light of this decision, the state is experiencing its worst teacher shortage.
According to the AEU, there are at least 2,175 vacant positions advertised in Victorian public schools, as of Tuesday 15 August, with those numbers expected to continue rising in the near future.
It said this number has more than doubled since January this year.
A quick search on Seek showed approximately 100 jobs available in Knox and its immediate neighbouring communities, from early childhood to high school, including vocational and disability positions.
News of this crisis aired on television earlier this month, and continues to be an issue both in Knox, and wider Victoria.
Alongside the crisis of the teacher shortage, teaching students and those seeking to upskill in the teaching industry are also struggling.
One student, who had reached her final pre-service teacher placement recently, admitted she had been bullied out of her placement and was treated “appallingly” which has delayed her graduation for six months.
They said her whole placement experience was “absolutely appalling” and her university told her that “toxic environments exist in schools everywhere, as a pre-service teacher you just have to take it as a lesson on what kind of teacher you don’t want to be”.
The student was told they could either withdraw from the unit and re-do it next year, or go back to her placement and the terrible teachment.
They chose to withdraw and lodge a complaint, which now means they cannot complete their studies until next year.
Additionally, in an ABC Q&A episode from Monday 31, July, AEU member Siane expressed her concerns about the struggles of required unpaid placements that students and educators must endure, and the particular struggles in the current economic climate and the rise of the cost of living.
She is a master of teaching student moving into her second round of month-long unpaid placement training, during which she is unable to work, which she said is not uncommon for teaching students.
In the same interview, Minister for Finance Katy Gallagher said it’s not only teachers going through these struggles, so are other industries like healthcare where nurses must undergo required placement training before graduation and often lose the jobs they have to participate in placements.
She said the federal government is looking into making these placements paid, with several ministers and experts undertaking work in these industries.
Earlier this year the AEU launched its For Every Child Campaign in Victoria, in attempts to resolve the current crisis and bring attention to the education sector in the state.
The campaign aims to highlight that students deserve the best education, parents deserve fully staffed schools, and teachers deserve manageable workloads.
More information on the petition can be found at megaphone.org.au/petitions/save-teachers-jobs
