'The worst it's ever been': teachers walk out again as negotiations continue

Gungahlin public school teachers stopped work for an hour on Monday morning as part of ongoing industrial action which will reach other regions of the ACT later this week.

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As schools closed or offered minimal supervision between 8:30am and 9:30am, teachers, learning support assistants, and other school staff took to the streets to demand a fast and fair resolution to negotiations between the Australian Education Union and the ACT government.

Dressed in education union red, staff of Throsby School gathered by Horse Park Drive to hold signs emblazoned with slogans such as "Honk if you support teachers".

Teacher Olivia Neilson, learning support assistant Tom Paterson, and principal Annamaria Zuffo took to the streets of Gungahlin. Picture by Keegan Carroll

Executive teacher Olivia Neilson said teachers were "fed up" with waiting on a satisfactory conclusion, with the length of negotiations stretching to 15 months.

"The [Education] Directorate needs to understand teachers are getting to the point where we can't continue to do what we've been doing, trying to patch up this system ourselves off our own goodwill," she said.

Ms Neilson said she routinely taught split classes of up to 50 students when other teachers were away, forcing her to focus on student safety, effectively "babysitting" large classes rather than delivering the usual individualised learning.

At Throsby School, like many others, split classes are a daily occurrence due to a territory-wide shortage of teachers; on Monday, three classes at Throsby were split.

Staff of Throsby School demanded improved working conditions and more support from the ACT Education Directorate. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"I've been teaching for 28 years," Ms Neilson said, "and this is the worst it's ever been."

The school's principal, Annamaria Zuffo, said the staff shortage often pushes executive teachers and EAL/D teachers into filling in as classroom teachers, reducing their capacity to provide support and interventions for students with additional needs.

Learning support assistant Tom Paterson had additional concerns about the occupational violence faced by teachers and learning support assistants.

"In my personal experience, I've had a student try to stab me, I've had chairs thrown at me, I've seen a colleague [have] a student try to choke her," he said.

"The violence is real, and it's not just little things."

According to Mr Paterson, the ACT government does not recognise the experiences of LSAs, the least trained members of school staff.

Olivia Neilson has been teaching for 28 years, and she says working conditions are the worst they've ever been. Picture by Keegan Carroll

"[The violence] is underreported, and the worker isn't respected," he said. "We don't get adequate training to do critical work with the most complicated students in our system."

With looming budget cuts for 2027, learning support assistants will be the first members of staff to go at some schools.

"I'm wondering which of my colleagues are not going to be here next year," Mr Paterson said. "How many kids are not going to get the support they need?"

On Friday, 16 October, Education Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said that the negotiations had progressed to the stage of discussing the exact language of certain clauses, which were "close to finalisation".

The president of the union's ACT branch, Angela Burroughs, said at the Throsby demonstration that, while "that might be the case for [the Education Minister]", union members still needed to see an improved offer from the one that was provided to members in September.

"There were some very specific requests, including the staffing guarantee," she said. "That's why we're out here today, because we cannot have this situation where schools are not properly staffed."

Towards the end of the work stoppage, parents dropping their children off at Throsby School could be heard honking their car horns in support of the staff on the roadside.

Ms Burroughs thanked parents and carers for their support of the industrial action, acknowledging that the work stoppages were "disruptive".

"This is not what we want to do," she said. "We want this to be concluded by receiving a fair and reasonable offer."

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