Howard's "solution" for male teachers

Peter Mac

Education authorities and teacher unions around the
nation have pointed out that the real issue behind
the low percentage of male teachers in Australian
public schools is inadequate teacher salaries and
conditions. The answer does not lie in the Howard 
Government's recommendation of repealing anti-
discrimination legislation or special offers of
scholarships for new male teachers.

Nor does the Howard Government's blaring announcement
last week of a special funding grant for education
address this problem. The "extra" funding, which
was anticipated in the last federal budget, does
little more than keep up with inflation, and the 
bulk of the funds go to private schools, not to
public schools.

The Government's move to overturn the anti-discrimination laws 
follows the rejection by the Human Rights and Equal Employment 
Opportunities Commission of an application by the Catholic 
Education Office for it to be temporarily exempted from the Sex 
Discrimination Act.

The Act forbids education authorities from advertising for 
teachers of one particular sex. The Church argued that they 
needed to advertise in this way to attract more male teachers to 
amend the gender imbalance in schools, and thereby provide male 
role models for boy students.

Such a precedent would undermine the whole basis of anti-
discrimination legislation in Australia.

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson defended the 
Government's move. Showing what he really thinks of women's 
rights, he declared arrogantly: "It will do this country no good 
if we spend the next decade hand-wringing and clinging to 
misplaced but well-guided ideological purity."

As the President of the Queensland Teachers Union, Julie-Anne 
McCullough commented, "We should attract a wide range of teachers 
to our schools, including more males, more Indigenous people, 
more people with disabilities and a variety of other skilled 
people from differing backgrounds.

"Attempts to change the law to allow male-only scholarships show 
the Federal Government is out of touch and just doesn't 
understand the challenges facing schools."

There is an overall shortage of teachers which is a direct result 
of the general downgrading of the public school system by 
governments. Schools are under-funded and under-staffed, and 
teachers' incomes are low relative to many other professions 
requiring four years of university studies.

The Federal opposition's spokesperson for Education, Jenny 
Macklin, agrees. "The evidence shows that the real barriers to 
men becoming teachers and staying in our schools are pay, career 
structure and status compared to other professions."

(Nevertheless, when interviewed on ABC TV last week, Ms Macklin 
would not be drawn as to whether she would try to talk her 
counterparts in the various state ALP governments into giving 
teachers a better salary deal.)

Meanwhile, teachers in a number of States have taken strike 
action over salaries and other issues. In NSW they are protesting 
against cuts to Technical and Further Education funding, which 
have caused huge rises in course fees and reductions in the 
number of student places in some courses. Some 23,700 students 
have missed out on TAFE courses this year as a result.

Last week the President of the NSW Teachers' Federation, Julie 
O'Halloran, stated that some course fees have risen by 230 
percent, with a three-year hairdressing course now costing 
students $10,000.

"There are a number of places where courses  are now being 
offered on a commercial basis", she commented.

The Commonwealth has now locked TAFE funding at 2003 levels, 
which will cause an effective loss of $30 million by 2007.

The TAFE system, in particular, is of crucial importance to 
working class students and their prospects of employment. It is 
noteworthy that among the universities worst hit by the Howard 
Government's recent funding restrictions, is the University of 
Western Sydney, which serves a predominantly working-class area.

The well-being of working people is not uppermost in the Howard 
Government's scheme of things. There are justified fears among 
teachers and others that TAFE is being starved of funds as part 
of a process of turning them into commercial education 
organisations which will then be offered off for piecemeal sale 
to the private sector.