[Greens-Media] World Teachers’ Day 2011 – Victorian teachers still the lowest paid in the nation - Pennicuik

[Amanda.Sharp at parliament.vic.gov.au]

27 October 2011

World Teachers’ Day 2011 – Victorian teachers still the lowest paid in the 
nation

The Victorian Greens welcome World Teachers' Day which is celebrated in 
over 100 countries and in Australia on Friday 28 October 2011.

Speaking on the eve of World Teachers’ Day, Greens Education spokesperson, 
Sue Pennicuik MLC, a former secondary school teacher, pays tribute and 
acknowledges teachers for their dedication to the demanding and varied job 
they do. 

“Teachers are the backbone of the education system and make a valuable and 
important contribution through their teaching role in schools and to the 
wider community,” Ms Pennicuik said. 

“Despite the vital role that teachers play, I am concerned by how poorly 
we fund education in Victoria, we are continuing to lose many of our good 
teachers to better paid jobs outside the profession.

“Although the government made a pre-election commitment to make Victorian 
teachers the highest paid in the nation, Victorian teachers at the top of 
the scale are currently paid almost 8% less than those in Western 
Australia,” Ms Pennicuik said.

“The government should improve the wages of state school teachers in 
Victoria relative to the highest paid teachers in other states rather than 
the mean 2.5 per cent offer on public sector wage rises,” she said.

“If we truly want first-class education in Victoria, we should reward our 
teachers properly for the demanding and important job they do. 

“World Teachers Day is a wonderful opportunity for the government to focus 
on supporting and properly resourcing teachers in all our schools, if we 
want our children to be happy and successful at school and in life,” she 
said.


For further information:  Sue Pennicuik   0409 055 875


///////************************************************************///////////////

Parliament of Victoria                                                                                                                    . 
Important Disclaimer Notice:


The information contained in this email  including any attachments, may be 
confidential and/or privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please 
notify the sender and delete it from  your system. Any unauthorised 
disclosure, copying or dissemination of all or part of this email, including 
any attachments, is not permitted. This email, including any attachments, should 
be dealt with in accordance with copyright and  privacy legislation. 
Except where otherwise stated, views expressed are those of the individual sender.