Queensland Catholic school employers have been called out for their failure to address, or even have a plan to fix, the current workload crisis facing the sector's teachers.
Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEU-QNT) Branch Secretary Terry Burke, representing staff in Catholic schools, said workload and work intensification were preventing teachers from having time to teach.
"The current workload crisis is fuelled by additional administrative tasks, data collection and paperwork," Mr Burke said.
"Meaningful interventions are needed to ease workload pressures caused by new employer initiatives, government regulations and growing parental expectations," he said.
Mr Burke said employers had the opportunity to address the crisis as part of current enterprise negotiations addressing the working conditions of Queensland Catholic school employees.
"Our union has put forward a significant set of items that would address the workload crisis currently experienced by Catholic school employees," he said.
"Queensland Catholic school employers have put forward none.
"They simply have no plan to address this crisis in their schools.
"No plan to support and assist their teachers and other school staff.
"No plan to protect the future of quality education provided to students in Queensland Catholic schools.
"Workload and work intensification aren't issues that have suddenly arisen.
"Queensland Catholic school employers have had close to a decade of calls to address these issues – yet have done nothing.
"What is even worse is that employers are pushing back on sensible, negligible cost proposals to address the workload in schools."
"No wonder teachers and other school staff are saying enough is enough and leaving the sector.
"This isn't a sustainable situation, and Queensland Catholic school employers are failing the sector and failing their employees," Mr Burke said.
