Build a union worth being a part of

It’s important that we all contribute to building our union. Please ask your colleagues to join and ensure their continuity of membership of the AEU community comprising of over 185,000 educators across Australia.

For more information visit www.aeusa.asn.au/join

The AEU believes strongly that government employee housing should be owned and maintained by the government. We will work with other public sector unions to oppose a sell-off to private marketeers and call upon the State Government to keep this new housing under government control and management. South Australia’s housing crisis requires real action, and the AEU will continue to advocate for improvements to your country conditions, which must include a comfortable and welcoming place to call home.

Your Union needs you!

As a member of one of the Union’s standing and consultative committees, your interests and experience can help provide important policy area and insight for Branch Executive and Council.

Nominations are open for committee positions for more information visit www.aeusa.asn.au/committees

What you need to know

+ Our 21 & Done campaign highlights the excessive workloads all educational staff face at TAFE SA

+ The goodwill of educators is being taken advantage of and a legally binding enterprise agreement is being ignored

+ Take the pledge to support 21 hours of instruction time and no more

For many years, workloads for educational staff across TAFE SA have been increasing.

TAFE educational staff are now working an average of 10 unpaid hours each week. In addition to this excessive workload, the employer is freely misinterpreting the enshrined regulation of our workload, per our Enterprise Agreement.

There are many program areas where educational leadership is unwilling to meet with the staff to discuss the benchmark hours of Instruction and Assessment to help establish reasonable workloads.

The employer is unwilling to recognise the unpaid work being completed outside of the 21 hours of Instruction and Assessment - work which is necessary to ensure quality educational delivery. This is in direct breach of the enterprise agreement and previous workload allocations set prior to this year.

Some key areas no longer recognised within Instruction and Assessment workload include course complexity, class size, student cohort, mode of delivery, vocational placement, travelling, industry-based delivery, RPL assessment, workplace assessment, resource development, mentoring arrangements, student counselling, delivery planning, industry engagement, professional development, quality assessment and audits, and regular planned TAFE SA meetings.

The employer believes that the above duties should be carried out by lecturers in the 14 hours of administrative time they have allocated each week. This is an unattainable business model developed by the current leadership at TAFE SA and is in breach of our industrial entitlements.

Our 21 & Done campaign highlights the excessive workloads all educational staff face at TAFE SA. It also draws attention to the inconsistencies in how workload allocations are applied across educational programs.

The goodwill of educators is being taken advantage of and a legally binding enterprise agreement is being ignored. Without manageable instruction and assessment time, educators are being pressured to spend personal time developing resources, providing student counselling, and undertaking coordination duties.

Educators must be given the time to perform their skilled work within paid hours so that TAFE can flourish again. Take the pledge to support 21 hours of instruction time and no more. Reclaim your work/life balance.

ANGELA DEAN, ORGANISER: TAFE FOCUS, AEU SA

STAND www.aeufederal.org.au/photography-comp Competition closes, Friday 9 June 2023. Open to enrolled TAFE students only.

To celebrate TAFE in 2023 and promote the wonderful learning environments on our campuses across the country, the AEU will be hosting a national TAFE photography competition!

The theme of our competition is ‘Life on Campus’ and aims to showcase the vibrant and dynamic atmosphere of TAFE. The competition is designed to encourage creativity and allows for both natural and staged photographs. Judges will be looking for entries which are both well-crafted and portray the vibrancy of life at TAFE.

A winner will be announced for each state, with the state winners participating in a national judging panel to award the overall winner. Each state-based winner will win $1000 and a trip to Canberra. The overall prize will be $5000, a trophy, and publication in the TAFE Teacher magazine. The runner-up will receive $1000.