The Teachers Are Blowing Their Whistles!

I lived on Thursday island for three years.

I travelled to each of the schools on the Torres Straits islands.

It was an experience that I will always value.

The greatest danger on Thursday island is falling in love with the place and never wanting to leave.

 Robina Cosser

Why do so many Queensland teachers give up teaching?

Because they are sent to some miserable schools across the state and left to rot,

while watching favoured others transferred to pick spots at a moment's notice.

• Fred, a teacher with 30 years of classroom experience, quoted by Des Houghton in Teachers' view on the "missing" , p. 54, The Courier-Mail, May 30-31, 2009

My son's friend graduated as a teacher.

At 21 years old, his first posting was to Saibai Island in the Torres Strait.

It is very close to PNG.

He was the only white male living on the island.

He repeatedly asked for a transfer.

He stuck it out for six months and then resigned because he could not stand the isolation.

• Posted by "Roscoe of CQ", 9:44 pm on January 26, 2009. Comment 26 of 27. Readers Comments, Teacher numbers don't add up, Saturday 24 January, 2009, The Courier-Mail : http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/comments/0,23836,24957439-3102,00.html

The Queensland Department of Education requires all teachers who want full-time employment in a Queensland state school to spend a minimum of two years posted in a remote area.

Not all student teachers seem to realise that this is the case.

They spend four years at uni training to be a teacher and then find that they can only ever obtain contract work because they are not willing to "go remote".

Living in a remote community can be a very, very interesting and rewarding experience.

It could also be a good alternative to volunteer work overseas.

But the requirement to go remote may be quite a significant disincentive to young women teachers.

When I visited remote communities around the Cape I saw some young women teachers who seemed to be trapped in unpleasant situations.

The years from 22-26 are quite important years for a woman, because they are the years in which you are probably going to meet your future husband. It is to your advantage to meet as many people as possible.

Young women teachers in Queensland are sent off to live for two years in very remote towns. They meet local farmers, butchers and policemen.

So if you want to marry a farmer, a butcher or a policeman and live in a remote community for the rest of your life, teaching may suit you.

And it will suit the Department of Education to have a teacher married and living in a remote community, with her accommodation provided by her husband.

But if you dream of living a more sophisticated lifestyle, you may need to look for teaching work overseas, in England, for example.

Last month Paula Shaw published a novel, Seven Seasons in Aurukun, based on her experience of teaching at the primary school in Aurukun in Far North Queensland.

She began teaching at the school in 2003, when she was 26.

My own feeling is that the older you are when you go to a remote community, the better.

You have more to offer as a teacher and you have more experience of the world - you are aware of your options.

Paula Shaw enjoyed the small-town experience of walking down the street and being greeted by almost everybody that she passed.

She was made very welcome by the families of her students. She gained an insight into the local indigenous culture, values and beliefs.

She enjoyed going hunting, fishing and boating.

I will never forget my many boat trips around Thursday Island, Cape York and the Torres Straits Islands.

And the flights to schools on remote islands.

You have many really, really amazing opportunities in the remote areas.

Paula Shaw says that there were problems in Aurukun.

"When I was there it was not the nicest community ... Certainly after dark you didn't go walking. That was tavern time."

And when I myself went out to Aurukun for a few days in 1987, I was accommodated in what looked like a chicken hutch - a hut in the school grounds that was entirely covered in security wire and fastened with a huge padlock. The kitchen of the hut was a disaster area, so at night I had to walk quite a distance through the town to and from a teacher's house to have dinner. The grass around the chicken hutch was covered in broken glass and there were no lights. Walking through Aurukun at night was risky, to say the least. It was a really dangerous situation.

There was a lot of pressure on teachers not to complain about the dreadful living conditions.

The Northern Territory Government is offering free airfares from anywhere in Australia to teachers who are willing to try life in a NT remote community for at least one term. 

The Queensland government offer teachers in remote areas a small allowance.

The allowance pays for your airfares in and out of the community, the higher costs for food in remote areas, expensive phone calls to family and your hotel accommodation during school holidays or medical trips to cities.

The remote allowance for Queensland teachers is not very generous.

And if a Queensland teacher resigns before the two-year period is complete, all relocation costs must be refunded.

In some cases these costs total $20,000 or more.

So, if you are really unhappy in your remote Queensland posting, you may feel that you are being held prisoner.

But you can save money teaching in the remote areas.

I taught for three years on Thursday Island (TI) and I often had three pay cheques in my wallet because there was so little to spend your money on. We used to order most of our food from Cairns and have it sent up by boat. We had to pay the shipping costs, but it was much cheaper than actually going shopping because there was no opportunity to impulse-buy, and no opportunity to have coffee and cakes while you were shopping.

Families could buy an investment house and have it paid off by a tenant while they were living in Departmental accommodation. The rents charged for Departmental housing in remote areas were really low.

The housing on TI was of a poor standard - the flats were small and single teachers had to share them with a stranger. There were constant, horrible battles over accommodation. Some of the flats on TI were very run-down, poorly furnished and smelled of mould.

The first house I lived in on TI was a very romantic old wooden house overlooking the sea. But I had to share it with a young de-facto couple and so I spent most of my time sitting in my bedroom - a small partitioned section of the balcony.

Security was non-existant, but I never felt at any risk during my three years on TI.

The Queensland Department of Education find it difficult to staff the remote schools, so teachers working at remote schools often have very little teaching experience.

Laura O'Hare is a teacher at Mornington Island State School.

It is her first permanent position since graduating in primary education from Queensland University of Technology.

• Advantages of isolation, Katherine Hartmann, page 1, Weekend Professional,The Australian, May 2-3, 2009.

Mel Burke is a teacher at Cooktown State School in Far North Queensland.

Mel is worried about the security of her Queensland Department of Education accommodation.

... "We had an attempted break-in less than a month ago."

There are no security lights around her home.

She has reported the security concerns but nothing has been done.

The roof is leaking into the walls.

There is mould growing out of the floor.

Mel is very worried about the effect on her health of breathing in all of the mould, mildew and fungus.

And there is not enough accommodation for every teacher, so Queensland teachers working in remote areas have to share accommodation.

When you come home tired after a hard day at work and wanting to relax, you have to share your kitchen, bathroom and living room.

So there really isn't anywhere where you can ever relax.

And you simply have to endure it day by day until you are able to leave.

It is not much of a reward for all of those years spent studying at uni.

Why would anybody want to be a teacher if they knew the way that Queensland teachers have to live?

Mel says that teachers do not want to stay at Cooktown State School because of the poor standard of Education Queensland accommodation.

Paying the price for government indifference, p.10, Queensland Teachers' Journal, Volume 31, number 6 : 22 August, 2008.