Three Murraylands schools to close due to strike action

Callington, Mypolonga and Tailem Bend’s primary schools will be shut this Friday as staff campaign for better pay and conditions.

Mypolonga and other Murraylands public schools will be affected by strike action this Friday. Photo: Peri Strathearn.

Three Murraylands public schools will close this Friday, and others will run modified programs, as staff campaign for better pay and conditions.

The Department for Education and Child Development announced on Wednesday that Tailem Bend, Mypolonga and Callington’s primary schools would all be closed on Friday due to industrial action by the Australian Education Union.

However, the department will make sure at least one staff member is present at each school to watch any children whose parents don’t hear about the closures in time.

Some schools, such as Murray Bridge North, will watch children but offer no formal classes; others, including Murray Bridge South, will operate as normal.

Union members will go on strike for the day to demand:

• More time for teaching, instead of other jobs

• A student support officer in every classroom

• Higher wages, to attract more people to teaching

The strike action has been on the cards since November of last year, when a survey of 1600 public educators found staff shortages and increasing levels of bureaucracy were combining with increasingly complex student needs to make teaching a more difficult job than ever.

Half of the survey respondents said they would leave the public education system within five years if things didn’t improve.

Murray Bridge News has sought further comment from the AEU.

• More information: For the union’s demands, visit www.fixthecrisis.com.au; for school closures, visit www.education.sa.gov.au.

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