PRIMARY school teacher Milly Lindus is just six months into her career and already juggling three roles.
She is a temporary teacher on a trio of contracts, which includes teaching year one at a Catholic school in the Maitland area three days each week.
"They needed a COVID support teacher and couldn't find one so I put my hand up, they needed a year three teacher for one day and couldn't find someone so I put my hand up for that as well," Ms Lindus said.
"I am stressed, incredibly stressed. It is so much trying to get my head into three different jobs of, 'Okay, who is more important to me now, year one or three? Because I have stuff to do for both of them and I don't have time to do all of it'.
"With COVID support what has been happening regularly is I haven't been able to do that job because 'Someone is sick and we need someone to teach year two, can you go on year two this morning?'
"I've been a COVID support teacher since week three of term one and I probably have actually done that role five days."
Related: NSW Teachers Federation, Catholic diocese teachers to strike in Newcastle on Thursday June 30 2022
Ms Lindus was one of thousands of teachers across the state who rallied on Thursday in a historic joint strike organised by the NSW Teachers Federation and Independent Education Union NSW/ACT branch.
Federation regional organiser Jack Galvin Waight estimated more than 3000 people attended Civic Park before marching to the state government offices in Bull Street, waving flags, holding signs, singing and shouting chants, including 'Three per cent is not even half way there, Perrottet you're living on a prayer', in reference to Premier Dominic Perrottet giving public sector workers an annual three per cent pay increase.
The unions are calling for annual increases of five to 7.5 per cent, a reduction in paperwork, an increase in preparation time and an end to staff shortages, which they say are caused by non-competitive pay and unsustainable workloads and leading to schools splitting or merging classes.
The IEU is also calling for Catholic employers to immediately give support staff the full pay increase their public school colleagues received in 2019.
Ms Lindus said her mother and other family members were teachers and she'd always been interested in education - not administration.
She had been warned about the profession. "I just thought 'They're exaggerating, I'm sure it's not that bad' - but it is," she said.
Ms Lindus said she left work only to do more work, bringing her laptop to her boyfriend's Friday soccer games and turning down Sunday lunches with friends to prepare for lessons.
"I don't turn off teaching, all I do is teach and think about 'How am I going to get all this stuff done, what do I have to do, which is the most important thing to get done first because I'm not getting all of it done'," she said.
"I always grew up thinking I wanted kids. Hell no, I could not take care of my own child right now if I had one... I would not have time. I do not have time for me."
Ms Lindus said there was "no sustainability in the career".
"People who are experienced know that this isn't what the career should be and they're leaving and then people like me who are coming into it are going 'Oh my God this isn't sustainable' and are leaving - and what happens when everyone makes that choice?"
St Paul's Primary Gateshead year four teacher Michael Deed said workload was growing each year and he too felt like he was "on the clock 24/7".
He and his wife Nicole, a high school teacher, brought their two children to the rally to "experience a community that is standing up for itself".
"When you're at the supermarket with your family on the weekend you're buying things for class, when you're putting the kids to bed you're thinking about what book you're going to do with the class the next day," Mr Deed said.
"Not being able to ever switch off means that people just burn out too quick and I witness more and more people burning out every year and giving up the profession."
Casual teacher Jessie Henderson said burn out was the reason she resigned from her full-time role at Hunter River High.
"I've returned to casual teaching," she said.
"I love teaching, but I just couldn't manage my wellbeing and the workload at the same time. It was a tough choice, a really hard choice but it was the right one in the end for me and my family."
Ms Henderson said she had been unwell and not sleeping.
"I had massive anxiety just trying to always do my best and do the best for my students and never feeling like I was meeting the target and then that was just in my work life.
"People in my family and friend circles just didn't get my best at all. I would go through this cycle each term of survive, crash and recover and then it would start again so I needed to break the cycle."
She said she now works three days a week, sleeps well and has time to spend with her family and to pursue her art practice.
"People when I haven't seen them for a while they have to take two looks at me," she said.
"I feel like myself again and I wish I could give that to my kids, but each time I've tried it's not worked."
She said an audit was needed of the "ever changing expectations on teachers".
"Actually dedicate times to what's expected and look at the workload and see what can be done, because it's not realistic," she said.
"But if there's an audit maybe they can see each time they add something new you're not given time to do it."
Wallsend South Public support teacher Anna Moran said she resigned from her permanent teaching position 12 years ago "as an act of self preservation".
"I knew I wouldn't have maintained my energy and passion for the job in that system," she said.
"That was unusual then, it's not unusual now."
Ms Moran said the pressure on teachers had "slowly gotten worse every year" and students were bearing the brunt.
"My children are going to enter the education system next year and the following year and I am absolutely terrified about what it's going to be like for them, what it's going to be like for every student," she said.
"By the time they get to high school will they be able to do woodwork, food technology?
"At the moment all we do is assess and data track. There's a saying 'You don't fatten a lamb by weighing it' and all we do is weigh the lamb."
The teachers heard from speakers including St Therese's Primary teacher Joel Hartcher, who posed a series of questions starting with the word when.
"When will our employers realise they have spent all our goodwill? When will they realise there's nothing more to give? Nothing more that they can get?" he asked.
"When will they realise that student learning is more often coming second to child minding?
"When will our families get us back from the relentless list of jobs, expectations and box ticking that has become our work?"
IEU Newcastle organiser Therese Fitzgibbon said teachers needed to say no to their employers.
"As long as we are carrying the additional workload they are saving money at your cost," she said.
"As long as we continue to say yes this issue will not be addressed. Stand up and say no.
"We have to stop paying for the failures of governments and employers."
Newcastle Teachers Association president and Kotara High teacher Sean Brown said "we should never forget the thousands of our colleagues whose health is destroyed by this job".
"If the government doesn't want to change then we will change the government," he said.
Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the decision to strike was "disappointing" and the action "unnecessary".
"After two and a half years of learning disruption due to COVID-19, another day out of the classroom is the last thing our students need," she said.
"The wages policy sets out a pay increase for teachers which is the most generous in the country.
"The government must take a balanced approach that allows us to also build schools, reform early education and work with the teachers to modernise and grow their profession."
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said it was committed to reducing teachers' administrative burden and on track to meet its target of a 20 per cent reduction in low value tasks by the end of the year.
NSW teachers have received a 7.66 per cent increase in pay since 2020, including a 2.5 per cent increase in effect since January 1 this year.
Director of Catholic Schools Gerard Mowbray said the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle supported teachers and school staff "receiving a meaningful pay increase and improved benefits", had provided a backdated increase above the current agreement and would "at least match any pay increase our government counterparts provide to public school teachers".
"We will continue to advocate for our teachers, but the reality is we are bound by the funding we receive from government and the fees we ask our parents to pay."
EARLIER
THOUSANDS of Hunter public and Catholic school teachers have rallied in Civic Park to demand their employers improve pay and conditions, saying their current workloads were not sustainable and students were suffering.
NSW Teachers Federation regional organiser Jack Galvin Waight said more than 3000 members of the federation and Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT attended the rally, before marching to state government offices on Bull Street.
They wore red and yellow shirts, waved flags, held signs and shouted chants, including 'Three per cent is not even half way there, Perrottet you're living on a prayer'.
Newcastle Teachers Association president Sean Brown told the crowd Premier Dominic Perrottet deserved an 'E' for elementary on his report card.
"Out of that E for elementary we'd need an interview and what would we say with the interview?" Mr Brown said.
"Number one he's got an inability to listen, number two complete lack of planning and preparation for major tasks like getting enough teachers in front of classes.
"Three, he's arrogant when he's cornered.
"Four, his poor behaviour and poor choices, particularly when he's hanging with his mates [like Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell]."
Ms Mitchell said it was "deeply disappointing" the federation and IEU had decided to strike.
"This strike is unnecessary and will cause major upheaval for hardworking parents," she said.
"After two and a half years of learning disruption due to COVID-19, another day out of the classroom is the last thing our students need.
"The wages policy sets out a pay increase for teachers which is the most generous in the country.
"The government must take a balanced approach that allows us to also build schools, reform early education and work with the teachers to modernise and grow their profession.
"I am meeting with the federation regularly and we are engaged in a genuine discussion, making the strike very disappointing."
A Department of Education spokesperson said the best place for students was at school, for both their education and wellbeing.
The spokesperson said it was committed to reducing the administrative burden for teachers, to reduce their workload and free up time for learning and professional development.
"We are on track to meet our target of a 20 per cent reduction in low value administrative tasks by the end of 2022," they said.
More to come
