Page 2328 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 22 June 2011
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occasions and then in frustration they finally sought intervention from Minister Barr on 12 May this year. The minister did not intervene in this matter and I believe it is now time to get it sorted out.
The Greens understand that it is unreasonable for a minister to micro manage their department. That would be a ridiculous situation to be in. In saying that, there does need to be a commitment to an outcome and we would urge the minister to ensure that there is a resolution to this matter. That is why the Greens will be putting forward amendments in order to achieve that.
In 2011 there simply must be a more efficient method to record the absences of teachers, just like there are more effective techniques to determine particular officers that are failing to comply, without punishing an entire workforce by making them fill out unnecessary forms, which, as I said, can make them feel like they are drowning in paperwork.
While the figure of 1,600 discrepancies seems quite high, it is important to note that with a complex and inefficient system many of these discrepancies may be of a genuine nature and not from officers intentionally failing to submit a leave form. On the other hand it should be understood, if anyone has ever worked in a workplace and has been a manager and has needed their staff to fill in timesheets, that not every staff member is as diligent as some others and that it does take time for managers to be able to chase those up. Having run an organisation myself, I know of that battle sometimes where you do have people who are regular as clockwork and then you have people who are not as regular in that sense and who really do need a little bit of encouragement to get their timesheets in.
At the end of the day we do need to keep records. It is about accountability and it is about finding a system that the vast majority of the workforce can comply with, to ensure that accountability is met and that at the same time we do not burden those on the front line with a system that they find difficult to comply with. So the amendments that I am putting forward today will go to the heart of how we can move forward on this issue and get it sorted out.
We need to be supporting our teachers. We know that it is important to ensure that there is high morale throughout schools. We need to hold on to that workforce. There are some very dedicated teachers across our system. There are some new things in the budget that Mr Barr has spoken about in the last day or so that are also about reflecting the importance of and value that teachers bring to our system and how they need to be rewarded for that.
It is always important to be looking at it, from the very small things to the larger things—the teacher quality institute, ways to be able to give six-figure salaries to those who have shown their capability, their ability, their dedication to being great teachers. We do need to be looking, as I said, from the small, the administrative, through to the professional development areas and make sure that we have in place good supports, good systems, that are going to support our teachers to get a good outcome.
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