| SSTUWA Executive: Michelle Westlake |
 I commenced primary teaching in 1985 and in the past twenty-five years have taught Years 1-7, in Midwest, Southwest, Kimberley and Metropolitan schools, working in that time alongside outstandingly dedicated colleagues, and experiencing what I consider the best and worst that teaching can offer in a wide range of circumstances and contexts. I have a comprehensive understanding of current issues and challenges, which I balance against my historical perspective of the issues and changes that have impacted on schools and teachers. In nominating for election to SSTUWA Executive, on the Members First ticket, I am signalling a resolute intent to work for continuous improvement on behalf of all teachers and in support of the fine work they do. In a quarter-century in classrooms I have seen drastic changes in student behaviour, unceasing curriculum demands, impossible inclusivity obligations, pointless assessment and testing impositions and unfair workload increases that would have devastated a less competent workforce and destroyed education in less dedicated hands. My five years administrative experience has given me rock-solid faith in the ability of teachers and an enduring belief that the future of our kids and country rests on them. My position is that that the teachers are the school, and that both our department and our union have a moral imperative to be the supporters and enablers of those doing this vital and difficult work. I have been a union member since I commenced teaching, and in recent years have become increasingly troubled by previously unimaginable erosions in conditions which, coupled with rapidly increasing demands, have impacted on teaching and learning. In particular, I have found the constant curriculum upheaval of the past ten years, the escalating emphasis on national testing, the stingily resourced inclusion of students with disabilities and of ESL students, and the real danger created by violent students, to have been crucial distractions from the complicated business of teaching. Consequently I was shocked by our president’s out-of-touch recommendation last year that we accept the Agreement in Principle, and actively fought it. I am dismayed at government and department refusal to consult teacher expertise, at our union’s failure to take these bodies to task, and at the uninformed and damaging impositions these bodies have made on us, our schools and our students, while concurrently criticising us. As an aspirant member of Executive, my long term aim is to reverse this trend and have teachers rewarded, respected and recognised for the experts they are and for the job they do. Members First, in its first year, has already outperformed the stale Unity team. It is composed of current teachers working in current classrooms and facing current issues. Under Members First last year, we rejected the Agreement in Principle and secured a much better deal than that our president urged us to accept. Under Members First in the future, proactive leadership will take us from strength to strength. The Members First team maintains a position of integrity and does not compromise itself by acceding or bending to the department. Members First stands for us, the members, and is committed to representing and protecting our rights. In Members First I have identified the strong, representative leadership our union needs and I have joined the team with confidence in its philosophy and in its competence. As an executive member, I will be privileged to represent the teachers of this state and to give back in any way I can to the many thousands of excellent teachers I am proud to call colleagues. For the future of our profession, Vote 1 Members First. |