“I love teaching but I’m so tired.”
It was a sentiment echoed by more than 3,000 teachers who rallied at Newcastle’s Civic Park on Thursday morning, calling on the state government to fix a profession they say is in tatters.
Donned in red and yellow to symbolise a united front from both the public and catholic education sectors, teachers voiced their frustrations over pay, shortages and workloads.
“This is an historic moment,” said St Patrick’s Primary School’s Liz Walker.
“It’s time we had our voices heard.”
The one-hour rally included pleas from NSW Teachers Federation regional organiser Jack Galvin Waight, Hunter Workers secretary Leigh Shears and Independent Education Union of Australia representative Therese Fitzgibbon.
“This is the first time since 1996 that both unions have gone on strike together,” Swansea High School teacher Adam Young told the Newcastle Weekly.
“That shows how important this is.”
The NSW Teachers Federation say the state government’s recent offer of a 3% pay rise is not enough.
The unions are calling for between 5% and 7.5%.
“It’s not just about the pay,” says Irrawang Primary School teacher Chelle Robertson.
“It’s about the conditions. We’re losing a lot of teachers, we really need the support of the government to help teachers.
“We’re so burned out.”
For Nicki Graham, who is an assistant principal at a Catholic school in Swansea, the frustration of staffing is a daily issue.
“I could send out 50 messages in a morning and I can’t even get one teacher,” she said.
“It’s dire. And, that’s every day.”
Belair Public School teacher and mother-of-two Kellie Bevan says additional administration demands on them have meant there is now less time spent actually teaching.
In what she calls “a defining moment’” Ms Bevan says she was given a Mother’s Day card earlier this year that stated her occupation as “she works on a computer’”
“I realised that day that my five-year-old son did not even realise that his mum was a teacher,” she said.
What saddens wellbeing teacher Sarah Gardiner most, she says, is that her profession now lacks longevity.
“I’m tired of meeting interns who have already decided it’s too unsustainable to be a teacher, before they’ve even finished their final placements,” she told the crowd.
“I see teachers leaving a career they’ve invested years of study, hard work and tens of thousands of dollars to be in.”
Rousing a round of applause, Kotara High School teacher Sean Brown said it was time Hunter teachers presented NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet with his own school report.
“It’s an F,” he yelled. “A fail for not listening.”
The crowd then took their message to the streets of Newcastle, marching from the Civic Park, along King Street and Union Street to the NSW Education Department on Bull Street, Cooks Hill.
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