Page 139 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 13 February 2019
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MS BERRY: I said I would check with the directorate and if it is available I will provide it.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, how can the directorate professionally manage bullying if central information on incidents is not available?
MS BERRY: It is available, and I am going to check on that as I referred to in my response to Ms Lee’s earlier question.
Education—teacher exit surveys
MS LAWDER: My question is to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development. Minister, when teachers leave the ACT education system or request a transfer, do they complete exit surveys? If not, why not?
MS BERRY: I am not sure whether they do. The ACT government does provide opportunities for public servants to give information on reasons why they leave. Anecdotally, teachers often leave the education systems across the country because of burnout, because of lack of respect and because of the lack of value given to their profession. We have been hearing a lot about that, and particularly around the requirements for teachers to implement NAPLAN testing across our schools.
I have been talking with teachers about the kinds of things they need to support them and to get them to stay in the education system. One of those things that the government has funded—and we talked about it in this place yesterday during question time—is ensuring that they get opportunities for professional development, that they get extra support in schools through mentoring programs and that the leadership in the schools also gets development and support, so that they can best make sure that the profession as a whole is professionally developed, that individuals have the chance to continue to learn, to update their skills and to hone the methods they provide in the classroom.
There are lots of reasons why, but one that I have been hearing more and more is that they do not feel that they are valued in this community for the important roles they play for our children.
MS LAWDER: Minister, how many teachers have cited fear of violence or experience of violence as a reason for leaving a school?
MS BERRY: I do not have that figure on me and I am not sure if it is available, but I will check with the directorate and find out.
Of course the Australian Education Union has conducted surveys of its members around violence in the workplace, and the government works very closely in implementing our policy on violence in schools and making sure that we work closely with the teachers and their union to support them in the workplace and make sure that there are proper policies and procedures, a plan, for a way forward to ensure that teachers are not harmed in our workplaces. They are absolutely vital and, with such an
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