School Leadership - Unions are not your enemy

Principals and Senior Executive teams should aim to build strong working relationships with teacher unions rather than seeing them as a threat to their authority. At the core of this relationship is reciprocal respect and mutual understanding of the various awards and determinations that dictate teachers' and support staff's basic entitlements. Apart from the legal requirement to follow awards, there are a range of other benefits to a productive relationship with the teachers unions.

Leaders and unions can work together to advocate for better funding, resourcing and policies. In doing so, the needs of leaders - taking into account all the accountability, departmental and legal requirements that they have to meet; and school teachers and support staff - taking into account competing demands and the realities of working at the coal face; can be taken into account. This creates policies and practices which reflect a broader understanding of the reality of schools at various levels.

Honouring the basic rights of teachers as outlined by awards and determinations, creates a culture where teachers feel respected, trust is built and workplaces are generally happier. Staff morale is important in ensuring people work well together, are happy to do extra-curriculum activities and are willing to put their hand up for leadership positions and participate in whole school teams. If teachers feel like they have unreasonable workloads, or feel that they are not being treated respectfully they will withhold their labour outside of the basic expectations.

Principals are under pressure to make funds stretch to meet a huge number of competing demands, and the temptation can be to just expect teachers to do more and more. At the same time, teacher burnout is a significant issue, with over 70% of teachers in a recent survey by Black Dog Institute reporting experiencing burnout. Working collaboratively with unions can ensure that teacher burnout can be minimised, reducing leave taken for mental health management and creating more stable staffing.

The same Black Dog Institute survey mentioned above indicates that nearly half of teachers are considering leaving the profession. Teacher retention in individual schools can also be an issue, and instability as a result of teacher retention issues can impact on student learning. Managing teacher workloads and expectations on staff is something that can be collaboratively managed with a productive relationship between Senior Executive and unions.

In short, both principals and unions should be focused on the wellbeing and health of teachers. Better care for teachers will result in better outcomes for students.