G’day comrades – Bianca here, the AEU ACT Branch’s Research and Policy Officer. I’m writing to tell you a good news story about some policy advocacy that’s been happening over the past year.
The short story is that we’ve put Branch resources into developing some recommendations on how to get our school infrastructure up to scratch, and it’s paid off. Read on for the longer story, and for a look into how the policy advocacy sausage gets made.
About a year ago, we made a submission to a Legislative Assembly Committee Inquiry into the Future of School Infrastructure in the ACT. The inquiry’s terms of reference asked us to dream big – what will better, future schools look like? What’s optimal? We decided to make a detailed response that took seriously the experiences and dignity of every teacher and student at school right now.
The union has a unique position when we make submissions like these. We speak with the voice of over 4,000 educators who’ve dedicated themselves to public education. We’re the experts who make our schools function. Without us, there are no schools. No other stakeholder can claim this.
Recognising the opportunity of this inquiry, we decided to make sure our submission was as helpful as possible to the Inquiry Committee. I spent the summer of 2022-23 learning all about asset management. I learned about best practice and researched the current state of our school maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and new builds. With the Branch leadership, we analysed the gaps in the Education Directorate’s current practices and developed recommendations that would make infrastructure management cost effective, reduce workload burden on staff, and improve the organisational clarity and function of the Directorate across the board.
Our vision was – and still is – for every school to be clean, safe, and comfortable; and for our system to be equitable, cohesive, and show every person that they are genuinely valued.
Branch Secretary Patrick Judge probably saying something very smart at the Inquiry’s public hearing; Bianca probably nodding furiously
What happens next in an Inquiry process like this one is that the Committee look over all the submissions received and any more information learned from hearings, and they put together a detailed report of their findings and recommendations. For a Legislative Assembly Inquiry, the ACT Government must respond to the recommendations formally through the relevant minister – so the stakes are high.
The final report for the infrastructure inquiry was released on March 21. We were thrilled to see that our perspectives had been taken very seriously by the committee. All of our recommendations are represented in some way in the committee’s recommendations – sometimes, taking our words verbatim.
Here’s my (nerdy) favourite outcome. We recommended the following:
… and backed it up with plenty of evidence as to why these actions are necessary and sensible. Here’s what the committee recommended:
Sound familiar?
It would be tempting, perhaps, to claim that an outcome like this is the result of good research and writing. That certainly helps, but it’s only ever part of the story. The real secret sauce (to the policy sausage) is you, dear AEU member. Rather, it’s about lots of members, standing together.
The thing is, there are plenty of clever people in this world who have solutions for our problems. The thing stopping their solutions being implemented is power. The union has power, because the union is its members. Every single member is a crucial part of every single win. This is not a political slogan designed to make you feel good, I promise. It’s just how power works.
We’re going full steam ahead on school infrastructure this election year. Every member and every student deserve nothing less than quality, comfortable and safe schools and classrooms.
I’m excited for all of us to be part of this win.