Courageous Aussie Teachers Plan Strike to Save Education

Australian teachers deserve the respect and support from educators the world over. Their courage should be inspiration to us all:

Australian schools are no strangers to industrial action by teachers. In fact, teacher strikes are commonly used bargaining tools, usually in the fight for better pay. But the Australian Education Union's planned boycott of NAPLAN testing represents a style of industrial action that's almost unheard of in the Australian education sector.

In an extremely rare move, the AEU have resolved that teachers take industrial action on a curriculum matter. This issue has little do with professional remuneration or working conditions (although it can be argued that the publication of league table data would affect these) and more to do with student learning. The move represents a huge shift in teacher unions' agendas as it makes them an active force to be reckoned with in the implementation of the Rudd government's education plans. . . .