New teachers pay deal offered to end strike threats
NAPLAN assessments could still become a truly national benchmark, with an eleventh-hour pay deal offered to teachers who refuse to run the tests.
The Tasmanian government announced on Saturday that it had made a new pay offer to the Australian Education Union to end strike action that began throughout the week.
Union members had stated that they would not hold the national literacy and mathematics exam taken by children in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 unless a better deal was offered.
Teachers and support staff wanted a match consistent with the agreement agreed by state police officers in December, which Premier Jeremy Rockliff said had been met under the new proposal.
“We believe this should end work bans so that our teachers can continue their invaluable work in our schools,” he said.
The Prime Minister said the offer included a three per cent pay increase in the first and second years and a 2.75 per cent increase in the third year, as well as “a range of incentives and conditions”.
Before the proposal, striking teachers had pledged not to support any NAPLAN activities, including practice tests, for 2026 and 2027.
The window for the national test, which provides a snapshot of performance to Australian standards, is March 11-23.
The union has been at loggerheads with Tasmania’s Liberal government over wages and negotiations, as well as public sector job cuts aimed at cutting government debt.
The government has said it wants to cut 2,500 public sector positions in a bid to control ballooning net debt. The Treasury says it could reach $146 billion by 2040 unless corrective action is taken.
“Our members are pretty angry,” said the union’s Tasmanian president, David Genford.
The union said it wanted to deal a “devastating blow” to the government by accelerating actions such as closing schools by the end of March.
It is not yet known whether the proposed deal will be enough to remove the threat, but Mr Genford said on Wednesday that NAPLAN’s work stoppage could have been avoided if a better offer was received.
Mr Rockliff said the offer was on the table until March 20.
