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To: Education Minister Ben Carroll

Paid placements for all pre-service teachers

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch

Recently, the Albanese government delivered on what AEU members have been campaigning for. They will pay pre-service teachers whilst undertaking school practicum placements required as part of their courses.

Make no mistake, this decision was only made because union members stood up, campaigned, and demanded the government do more to support pre-service teachers. This is how union action works.

UPDATE: The Federal Government has just released the ‘Australian Universities Accord – Final Report’ which calls for the introduction of paid placements for Pre-Service Teachers!

The Accord contains the recommendation that mandatory placements for courses such as teaching, need to be paid.

Without everyone who has signed so far, we would not have achieved this significant win.

But we need to ensure that paid placements are delivered without delay. Minister Caroll, Pre-service teachers have waited long enough!

What we need now is action. Sign the petition and join the effort to make paid placements a reality.

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Pre-service teachers in Victoria are required to complete up to 80 days of unpaid professional placement. This makes it really difficult to balance their unpaid placement with their regular paid job and cover rent, food, transport, and other living expenses.

Many are forced to defer their studies to save up money, extend their course completion time, or drop out of their studies because of the financial burden. This ultimately reduces the number of new teachers entering the workforce.

We call on the Education Minister Ben Carroll to ensure the recommendation for paid placements for all pre-service teachers is implemented without delay.

Why is this important?

Financial stress means many aspiring teachers struggle to manage their living expenses while undertaking unpaid teaching placements. Some ask family and friends for financial assistance, and others take on personal loans. The impact of unpaid placements is particularly severe for those with families or caring responsibilities, regional and rural students, and students from marginalised communities.

Too many pre-service teachers are unable to complete their studies, making Victoria's teacher shortage even worse. Without enough teachers in our schools and kindergartens, students are denied access to the full range of learning and support programs they need.

How it will be delivered

Once we reach 15,000 signatures, we will be teaming up with pre-service teachers to deliver the petition, in person, to Education Minister Ben Carroll.

Victoria, Australia

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Updates

2024-05-15 12:20:20 +1000

Recently, the Albanese government delivered on what AEU members have been campaigning for. They will pay pre-service teachers whilst undertaking school practicum placements required as part of their courses.

Make no mistake, this decision was only made because union members stood up, campaigned, and demanded the government do more to support pre-service teachers. This is how union action works.

The AEU believes that more must be done by the government to address the significant dropout rates from these degrees. Alarmingly, 20% of graduates will also leave in the first three years of entering the workforce due to mounting pressures including increased workload, class sizes and contact hours.

If you're a pre-service teacher, we encourage you to join the pre-service community here: https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/join/student - together we'll keep up the fight for wage justice for pre-service teachers!

2024-05-15 12:19:52 +1000

Petition is successful with 13,763 signatures

2023-10-19 16:46:20 +1100

10,000 signatures reached

2023-08-04 09:35:38 +1000

Another update - AEU member and preservice teacher Siane was on the ABC's Q&A program this week. Siane directly asked Finance Minister Katy Gallagher whether the government would fund paid placements, and brought more attention to this important issue.

https://twitter.com/QandA/status/1685989848593895425

2023-05-18 14:19:37 +1000

Great news - our petition was picked up in the Herald Sun! We can't link the article here as it is paywalled, but it's great to see this story get some media interest.

Let's keep the pressure on!

2023-05-18 08:10:03 +1000

5,000 signatures reached

2023-04-28 19:33:04 +1000

1,000 signatures reached

2023-04-28 13:43:07 +1000

500 signatures reached

2023-04-27 21:22:31 +1000

100 signatures reached

2023-04-27 17:55:52 +1000

50 signatures reached

2023-04-27 17:02:34 +1000

25 signatures reached

2023-04-27 16:34:16 +1000

10 signatures reached