9.0 Prioritise First Nations education and employment
9.1 Prioritise First Nations education and employment
The QTU acknowledges that strong Language and Culture links are central to social, educational, and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Supporting the educational outcomes of First Nations students, improving employment opportunities for First Nations’ educators, investing in First Nations Language and Culture teaching across the state, and developing a safe place for First Nations people to teach and learn require significant investment by the state government.
A genuine commitment to building better employment opportunities requires enhanced career progression opportunities for First Nations teachers and teaching assistants, who face structural and geographical inequities in accessing professional development opportunities. The QTU believes that improvement and expansion of the funded programs encouraging First Nations students to enter the teaching profession needs to occur. The QTU calls for enhancements to the Remote Area Teacher Education Program (RATEP), which provides direct pathways for First Nations people to become registered teachers. The QTU also calls for funding to mentor and support the career progression of First Nations teachers. The state government must deliver on its First Nations Employment policy and work with the QTU to develop a career progression pathway that includes highly remunerated teaching and leadership roles dedicated to Culture and Language.
The equitable funding of schools as outlined in Section 1.0 requires the state government to guarantee that additional funding needed to address the educational inequities that First Nations students face is provided. This needs to include the funding of appropriate programs that support student retention and support their access to post school education and employment pathways
The QTU believes that the public service has a duty of care for its employees to provide them with safe workplaces free from racism. The QTU calls on the government to employ measures that ensure and monitor the safety of its employees by providing them with an avenue to safely report acts of racism, both personal and systemic, in a culturally appropriate manner.
9.2 Improved employment opportunities and career pathways
- Improve and enhance the RATEP program.
- Develop and promote culturally appropriate recruitment programs to attract First Nations teacher entrants.
- Fund culturally appropriate mentoring and retention programs to support the retention of First Nations graduates.
- Fund programs that support First Nations teachers who are beginning their leadership journey and provide ongoing support to First Nations principals as they continue their career progression.
- Support current employees’ access to RATEP and other PD via the provision of dedicated learning spaces in their current location.
- Enhance permanent employment for First Nations employees.
- Develop employment opportunities and career pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees that are consistent with DoE’s (2018b) “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy 2019-2021”. That would involve commitment to:
- the development of classification structures that acknowledge the value of “cultural and language knowledge”, by way of better salaries for those who have this prior knowledge
- significant further increases to the community teacher and assistant teacher (CTAT) stream
- the addition or amendment of clauses within the certified agreement and award to include a “Recognition of First Nations Culture and Language Knowledge”.
- Utilise the review of the allocative model to reconsider the current ‘Schedule A’ schools list, with a view to the including a Culture and Language teacher for schools on the list
- Develop “career pathways” information for First Nations education employees that outlines the various career options, qualifications, available courses/departmental career and study support/leave options, and salaries paid, so that they have easy access to employment and study information to inform their employment and education choices. This should be updated annually and communicated on a termly basis.
9.3 Equitable funding for First Nations students and schools
- Ensure that funding of programs and staffing for schools with First Nations students is prioritised to address the urgent need to address educational disadvantage and to close the gap in educational outcomes.
- Fund culturally appropriate support programs that focus upon increased retention of First Nations students and their pathways into post school education and employment.
9.4 Improve access to Culture and Language programs
- Utilise the review of the staffing model to review the current ‘Schedule A’ schools list (Specified Schools Serving Indigenous Communities) with a view to including a Culture and Language teacher within the allocative model for schools on the list.
- Commit to the creation of a head of department/culture and language role.
9.5 The provision of workplaces free from racism
- Collect data on the prevalence of the problem and commit to addressing the issues that arise out of the data.
- Educate the DoE workforce about the issues facing First Nations peoples via mandatory training.
- Fund culturally appropriate and supportive reporting mechanisms:
- create a safe way for employees to report instances of racism, both observed and systemic
- provide a confidential mechanism to report.
- Create cultural liaison positions statewide
- Fund positions in regional offices for cultural liaison officers to provide ongoing support to employees.
- Utilise these positions to provide support for employees who experience all forms of racism.
RECOMMENDATIONS
51. Commit to development of meaningful and accessible career progression pathways and permanent employment for First Nations employees.
52. Commit to improvement and enhancement of the RATEP program.
53. Develop and promote culturally appropriate recruitment programs to attract and retain First Nations ITE entrants and graduate teachers.
54. Fund programs that support First Nations educators’ leadership aspirations.
55. Utilise the schools staffing review to review the current ‘Schedule 3’ schools list, with a view to including a Culture and Language teacher within the allocative model for schools on the list.
56. Prioritise funding to address the ongoing educational disadvantage experienced in First Nations school communities.
57. Improve access to Culture and Language programs.
58. Actively develop safe and culturally appropriate workplaces that are free from racism.
QTU State Budget Submission 2023-24