Once in Your Education Career you get an Amazing Opportunity

And It’s Now!

We are asking you to make a submission on the Education and Training Bill to try to get pay parity into law.

Thank you for signing the petition.  Getting more than15,000 signatures has certainly attracted political attention. 

We presented the pay parity petition to parliament on 4th December. Presenting the petition to parliament, rather than to the Minister of Education, means that we should get the opportunity to go before the select committee and explain why pay parity for qualified teachers in ECE is so important.

Now we have an amazing opportunity to maintain momentum.

And it’s easier than online shopping!

The current Education Act dates from 1989.  It has passed its use by date, so the Government is rewriting it.  The Education and Training Bill had its first reading on 5th December, the day after we presented the petition.  It has now been released for public input to the Education and Workforce select committee.  The deadline for submissions is 14th February 2020.  Anyone is allowed to make a submission, but the process, whilst simple, can seem intimidating.

We have identified this Bill as an opportunity to try to get pay parity for qualified teachers working in ECE cemented into law. 

If we are successful then ECE teacher pay would be automatically linked to school teacher pay, so we would automatically keep up, and not slip behind again.

To get this done we need everyone possible to make a submission to select committee.  The challenge is that time is short, so we must move swiftly.

We have drafted a submission.  It is a Word document, so it is easy for you to add your name to, and to change anything that you disagree with. 

The draft submission is here for you to download and put your name at the top

What we would like you to do is this:

• Download the draft submission, save it as a document. Make sure you have typed in your name at the top of the document so that they know its from you. 
• Now go online to the Education and Training Bill  Press the big long yellow button that you'll see as you scroll down the page link to the Bill.
• Click the blue button that says “I am ready to make a submission”.
• Just follow the on-line process, completing their online form. You will find there is the option to upload the document that you have just personalised and submit this document.

Anyone can make a submission, so please get your family, friends and colleagues to do their own submissions. 

Organisations can submit, so please get your workplace to put in their own one.

We understand that this is a bit more complicated than just signing the petition.  That has made a big difference to political opinion.  Being able to submit on the Education and Training Bill now is a wonderful opportunity to make the most of the impact that the petition has had. 

This is a once-in-an education career opportunity.

Please help.

If you would like to know about how to make a submission online details can be found at Education and Training Bill 

Thank you from The Pay Parity Steering Group (David Haynes, Karen Girvan, Dr Sarah Alexander, and Bethany O'Hagan)