TAMWORTH and Glen Innes educators are standing firm with the Teachers’ Federation, as the State Government moves to axe more than 100 teaching jobs from the prison system across NSW.
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It follows a day of action last Thursday, in which union officials and teachers met across the state and launched a social media campaign.
NSW Teachers’ Federation organiser Robert Long said meetings and protests would continue across the state and in the North West region over the coming weeks, as the union stands firm in its opposition to the planned changes.
“We're going to do a series of visits to local jails across NSW and teachers will be in Sydney for a meeting with Corrective Services to discuss what’s happening. The campaign is ongoing and we will be rolling it out until we get a stay on the decision to sack the teachers and to keep those qualified teachers in jails,” Mr Long said.
The Leader revealed last week that six positions from the Tamworth and Glen Innes correctional facilities were earmarked for the chopping block, after a review into the education system determined the programs delivered by the educators should be more’ job focused’.
The move caused an uproar within teaching ranks, with union officials accusing NSW Corrective Services of replacing prison educators with under-qualified clerks and outsourcing the education services to third party providers. The Federation was also concerned this move could spark changes in wider education systems.
Minister for Corrections David Elliott announced in May that the delivery of most education and training courses in NSW prisons will be outsourced to specialist training organisations. A spokesperson said under the new system, more inmates will participate in literacy, numeracy and training programs as part of reforms to reduce re-offending and improve the performance of the prison system. The reform is expected to double the number of inmates completing literacy and numeracy courses.
