Abstract

Each year, the Queensland Teachers’ Union hosts the Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture, which aims to bring people together and call First Nations Peoples and non-Indigenous people to action in the pursuit of justice. This year’s lecture was supported by Hon. Lance McCallum M.P., a Gubbi Gubbi man and Queensland’s Minister for Employment, Small Business and Minister for Training and Skills Development. Minister McCallum supported arrangements for the Dr Evelyn Scott Memorial Lecture to be held in Queensland's Parliament House.

Dr Janine Gertz delivered this year's lecture on 9 August, the United Nations International Day of the World's First Peoples. Dr Gertz is a Research Fellow with the University of Queensland’s Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures, and last year’s recipient of the prestigious Stanner Award for her PhD thesis “Gugu Badhun Sovereignty, Self-Determination and Nationhood”, which was described by the judging panel as “exciting,” “beautifully written,” and something that “imagines otherwise”. Those qualities were evident in Dr Gertz’ lecture, which proposed, post last year’s referendum, that reconciliation ought to be about honouring and incorporating political difference in a manner that enacts honesty, respect, and justice. Dr Gertz reminded us that these are three enduring principles that Dr Evelyn Scott endeavoured to apply in her advocacy and fight for social justice.

A video recording of Dr Gertz’ lecture is available here on the QTU website. The QTU thanks Minister McCallum for supporting this year’s event in Queensland Parliament's Undumbi Room.​​​​​

The Time-Use, Time Poverty and Teachers’ Work research is an Australian Research Council Linkage Project, on which the QTU has been proud to partner with Queensland University of Technology, University of Sydney, and University of New South Wales. The QTU welcomes the announcement that project team member Dr Meghan Stacey (UNSW) has been awarded a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellowship that will investigate teacher workload reduction policies. The QTU congratulates Dr Stacey and looks forward to supporting her DECRA Fellowship.

The QTU also welcomes a recent article in Critical Studies in Education, by Keith Heggart, Naomi Barnes, Steven Kolber, Thomas Mahoney, and Cameron Malcher (doi:10.1080/17508487.2024.2382134). The article, “The role of online crisis actors in teachers’ work and lives,” recognises that the consequences of pandemic policy have provided opportunities for groups to exploit the cascading crises facing teachers. The authors detail how teachers were targeted as political leverage through a process they call digital astroturfing, and that this process sought to weaken traditional union movements in Australia. The authors contend that such a development poses an existential risk to existing teacher associations and trade unions and, more broadly, to the health of democracies.

The QTU’s Lawrence Grulke Library hosts a treasure trove of Queensland’s archival history. There are records and publications dating back to the 1800s that deal with policy, teachers and teachers’ work, and QTU campaigns. The library includes the voice of QTU members and their democratic engagement at work, as recorded in meeting resolutions and correspondence.

QTU education research partners and alumni are welcome to access the Lawrence Grulke Library collection at library@qtu.asn.au or by contacting our Research Officers, Natalie Montague-Clarke and Craig Wood via services@qtu.asn.au 

The QTU has a proud history of partnering with education researchers where such research establishes demonstrable links to the Union’s values and priorities. In October, there will be a state election in Queensland, and the QTU has prepared our 2024 State Election Asks for the political parties, current Members of Parliament, and candidates. The QTU’s elections asks are underpinned by our values and priorities, which are informed by member engagement through our democratic structures and processes.

The QTU views the Queensland state election as a critical time in the state’s four-year electoral cycle, and it is an opportunity for politicians to address issues affecting Queensland’s teaching professions and to improve public education.

The QTU 2024 State Election Asks fall under the following areas: