Union fears teachers will suffer in OP changeover

BENNET NICHOL

Queensland Teachers Union president Kevin Bates has expressed concerns that the Overall Position tertiary admission scheme change announced yesterday will place a lot of stress on high school teachers.

Mr Bates said yesterday that the Queensland Government’s plan to swap the OP ranking system with the Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR) by 2018 will place a significant amount of tension on both teachers and principals.

“Schools are already under enormous pressure, so the expectations of teachers will clearly increase during the period of this changeover,” he said.

Mr Bates said it is the responsibility of the state government to make the transition as smooth as possible for teachers, so they can deliver the best results.

“The Government should ensure that schools… are provided with the resources they need, to make sure that all this work can be done in a way that supports teachers and principals to actually deliver a quality outcome.”

Queensland Shadow Minister for Education Timothy Mander said that he supports the changeover proposed by the government, as it aligns with his previous policy.

“The education department has been consulted, and they believe that the [2018] timetable is realistic,” Mr Mander said.

“It’s now up to the current government to see how they implement it.”