As a Catholic school parent I was alerted to Stephen Elder’s opinion piece and was then immediately motivated to comment.
Surely I, as a tax paying citizen, deserve the benefit of government funds to educate my children just as much as my next door neighbours who chooses to send their children to a public school.
Isn’t that the issue here. Choice.
And if we then agree that every family should benefit from some of their tax dollars assisting their children’s education then what is wrong with those dollars being guaranteed to allow the schools we chose to plan for the future.
I don’t know much about the politics of the AEU but I do know that everyone has to be in this together.

Hi Hasbeen,
if that has been your experience I'm sorry, no one should be put in that position - that sounds not only unprofessional, but negligent. Maybe my kids are lucky, as the teachers I've seen are more than diligent, they are devoted to their students. As far as I'm concerned, you couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher - I'm in awe of the ones I know. It hurts me to see school teachers denigrated. But I accept you have seen the opposite.

BJelly, my daughter went to a "State Centre of Excellence" at Summer Hill (NSW). A large Primary where she was bullied, their entire bloated apparatus failed for years to be effective so we moved her to a Catholic Primary. Surprise, surprise, they had control of the kids, no nasty little "Madam Mao"s running around and even the daughter said the education was better than the "Centre of Excellence".

Don't give me garbage about how good the State system is, we've been their with nothing but regrets. Kids need protection from the grasping Teachers Union.

well McCackie, my child attended a NSW public primary school without a hint of bullying, and now attends a state high school also without a hint of bullying. The seniors were very supporters of first years in each occasion.

McReal you must have been extremely lucky. My father was moved around a lot, so I went to 17 different schools. From about 5Th class I would be picked by the bully at every new school within 3 days.

As the schools offered no help, my WW11 commando father taught me how to fight, not box, but fight. Once you have taken out the first bully your school life is easier. Making the school football or cricket teams will help further.

My last school, Young high had a brilliant head master. It was like moving from hell to heaven when we moved from Bathurst to Young. Nothing wrong with Bathurst, a great town, but the high had a lousy headmaster.

The headmaster is critical to the school. I bought our property when we came south to have my kids able to go to a particular high school, although it gave me a 60 kilometre commute. The head was often in trouble with the department for suspending too many kids. Drugs, fighting, bullying or theft led to suspension with him, with no exceptions.

It was he who conned my wife & I to establish the textbook scheme. It will run it's self he said, but he got that $170,000 PA for improvements to "his" school.

When he was head hunted by a smart private school, the new bloke started sweeping things like drug possession under the carpet. The P&C had to come down very heavy, with a promise of legal action & charges, to teach him how to run a safe, drug free school. When the head is a wus, & allowed to get away with it, the school will be a catastrophe.

Hasbeen,

Your post rings some bells (school!!); my first wife was a primary school teacher of great ability.
We moved from Sydney to the country when we married and she got a position at a two teacher school in a small town near Bathurst, the head master waas a top bloke but after about 6 months he got a promotion and moved on.
His replacement was a useless place server although a very pleasant person and she and I got on well with him.
Because of her experience he never interfered with her work and it was not until about 12 months later that he began to show his true colours.

The wife was expecting and left the school and all seemed well until the her young replacement called in one afternoon for a chat and suddenly broke down sobbing.
It was her first appointment and the Head (or more correctly 'teacher in charge') was giving her hell.
He would walk into her class and criticize her in front of the children and embarrass her in other ways; he gave her no support whatsoever, instead of being a mentor he was a tormentor.

She left the school and it was only a week or so before her replacement was sobbing in our kitchen, ditto the next one.

By this time the parents were up in arms at the way that their children were slipping back from the standard that they had reached under my wife.

Public meeting, and a delegation to the office in Bathurst, where there was an attempt to fob them off, but my wife was one of the delegates and met the official's blurb with "Balderdash!"
and read him a few salient points from some of the relevant rules/acts/whatever and a brief rundown on her teaching career.

Up shot: he was removed from the school by being promoted to a senior teaching position at Bathurst High School.
His father was high up in the Education Dept. of NSW, which may have helped!!