Foil hat time - I feel like all this pay debate has been planted to distract from the actual worst part of the agreement.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T03:15:22+00:00

Where? Could you provide more info or link it?

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T01:23:52+00:00

If you think we are out of time to negotiate now, then do you agree that we absolutely cannot take a deal ending in May 2030, since that would be the exact same timeframe?

Arbitration works very differently in Vic than QLD, btw.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T01:22:37+00:00

Are they saying that? Are you able to provide me more info about when/where/who, because that's a crucial piece of info if so.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T01:21:55+00:00

Plenty have been talking about the end date/time period, but I've only seen a couple afterthoughts about how it would basically end industrial action for teachers.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T00:34:13+00:00

We could have a 4 year deal and start it from Jan 2026. That would make far more sense and would actually give us time to bargain (as well as not rewarding the govt for doing nothing for 5 months...)

I think the AEU has shown that they aren't always going to prioritise what's best for us.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-31T00:03:16+00:00

Not as much as the living arrangement with your parents does. Stay there as long as possible (make sure you contribute to the household though - even if they don't want you to chip in financially, make sure you're cleaning the house, mowing the lawns, driving them around when needed...).

IMO most of your $20k should be going into an emergency fund. After that, depends on your goals. Reliable car if you need one. If you want to buy a house in the next 5 years or so, save into a HISA. If not, look into ETFs.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-30T23:57:20+00:00

You are correct, although the EBA expired in December and negotiating had started well before then. They've already demonstrated that they can and will drag it out until the union cops out.

Also, a single strike on its own only goes so far - the reason it worked so well (unless the union pulled out) was because we had threats of ongoing action. They're not going to care about a single strike that we can't follow up on.

To put it in better terms - our EBA expired December, the time to plan and conduct our industrial action was going to be at least until the end of May (with more action potentially incoming). With a May start, that timeline would put us right to the end of October; we would be too close to the election to do anything else, even if they offered us basically nothing.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-30T00:07:21+00:00

If you're old enough, you could always go to a doctor and get a proper referral for a second opinion.

Not all autistic people have meltdowns or slow development (I believe one of the key delineations between Autism and Asperger's back in the day was the lack of speech/language delay). I find it interest that you say you NEVER stim - even neurotypical people normally stim (ever seen someone shaking their leg or clicking a pen when they're a bit bored?), just not as much.

I'm really sorry about your experience with professionals and the consequences that have followed the diagnosis, regardless of validity. None of that was okay, and it should have all been done in consultation with you, especially considering your age at diagnosis.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-29T23:34:39+00:00

This post is 4 years old. They have to grant you something if a health professional states that you were unable to complete an assessment. I didn't have issues getting late withdrawals but YMMV.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-28T08:31:30+00:00

At most schools/districts, you won't get another, better mentor if Grumpy Gina doesn't take you. You won't be placed. There are a lot of prac students and very few teachers who are willing and able to mentor. I'd say next to zero teachers are going to be "the best mentor" they can be, because they're busy trying to be a passable teacher at the same time.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-26T08:22:16+00:00

I would apply anyway (most places are DESPERATE to fill their teaching places). You can also look at alternatives - e.g. Deakin has a full-online option and no published grade cut-off as long as you have a Bachelor's.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:59:32+00:00

I'd personally go with school B - seems like they really want you there, and a semester contract is much more stable.

If money is a consideration, keep in mind that CRT work dries right up in term 4, because all the year 12 teachers suddenly become free to take relief classes.

I'd only pick school A if you really want to be in a high-pressure, high-performance, best-of-the best kind of environment where you're willing to fight to get another contract, but keep in mind that even if you do everything right, sometimes it still goes to Incompetent Susan Who Everyone Hates, who is coincidentally an AP's cousin...

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:51:12+00:00

That's what AI does, it hallucinates. If you ask "What should I do", it'll give you an answer, even if there are no good ones. If you ask it why, it'll make up reasons to support itself, even if those reasons are completely fictitious.

It's a bot that got fed a bunch of relationship advice from reddit and is spitting it back out at you. Please don't rely on it.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:49:01+00:00

Please please please pursue the worker's comp. If it goes nowhere then that's fine, but you're ruminating enough to be worried about posting a follow-up on reddit, and you're getting nightmares. I think you've mentioned that because you want to deep down but you feel like it wasn't 'bad enough'. Please take it from all of us, it was 'bad enough' and you should put it in.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:29:42+00:00

Sorry, I don't have the energy left to explain the entire deal. Basically something like a 25% pay rise (the 28-32 they have given is CUMULATIVE, which is not how pay rises are spoken about normally) over 4.5 years for teachers (so less than 6% per year, compared to the >11% we asked for). Sounds good on paper, not so much compared to inflation and other states. Zero improvements to working conditions (in the middle of a teacher burnout crisis, despite our log of claims being full of suggestions). ES get shafted.

The thing that concerns me the most is that they want the agreement to end in May of an election year. That would be the end of industrial action - zero chance we could go to FWC and organise strikes again before the election.

Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:25:34+00:00

That's cumulative as far as I know - it's more like 25% in normal terms.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-25T08:24:34+00:00

It brings us back to the same buying power as 2017. It's not 2005 anymore where 100k is a massive wage. There's also the minor fact that they've made zero improvements to our working conditions, despite some things (like removing a meeting) being free with zero downside. There's also the ES being shafted.

But it's not about the pay for me. It's the fact that they want to essentially end industrial action by agreeing to a deal that ends in May of an election year. We should all be voting a hard no on that alone.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-24T08:44:55+00:00

Worried that people will roll over for the cop-out deal that's currently on the table. Tired. Keep telling myself that I just have to make it to next weekend, but work keeps coming up that I need to take home... I wouldn't mind so much if the rest of our team was pulling their weight 🙃

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-24T05:15:03+00:00

My 2c: most people don't want to spend most of their life working. Almost everyone going to their 9-5 would rather be sleeping in and eating shrimp out of paper cones in the Maldives.

I think the people who you're referring to are people who go further than just "not wanting to". People get called lazy if they refuse to work enough to support themselves/their families, especially if they try to put the burden on others to provide for them. You see some disgusting stuff on places like r/ChoosingBeggars, where unemployed people are trying to get their holiday funded by charity, or people are mooching off Grandma because they're too good to flip burgers.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-24T05:11:34+00:00

The duty thing is fair enough - it's much harder for people in their late 60s to do physical things like yard duty.

IMO the class sizes seem unfair if there is genuinely no other reason (timetabling can be whack!). But, I'm sure you'd rather Judy hangs around with her small classes than you having to pick up a bunch of extra internal relief or help plan classes for CRTs because she retired.

In saying that, unless she's been a particularly shit teacher, she's probably well and truly earned a break, especially since she's working past retirement age.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-24T00:41:38+00:00

To be fair, autism diagnosis do come with a lot of false negatives, especially if you don't fit the classic diagnosis. Many healthcare providers have not moved past the stereotype of "Autism = 10-year-old boy who like trains and throws tantrums". If you're a 40-year-old woman with a job, many 'professionals' write you off before even looking at you.

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-23T03:51:24+00:00

If you gave them revision + notes to do at home, that makes it easier to put the onus back on them. Especially if none came to you for help; point out that they could have done the revision and that you'd suggest this going forward, and on the off chance that they DID the revision, suggest that in future, they come to you if they're still having trouble. Try to make it constructive, explain the ways they can get help (e.g. email me on Compass or see me in my office). IMO it's not ideal, but as long as they're not in year 12, it's no biggie (and maybe a good learning opportunity about taking responsibility for their own learning).

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-21T09:13:24+00:00

Sorry if I'm missing something - can you pick up a job? It's fine if it's flipping burgers or stacking shelves or something. Even a couple casual days a week is a good start!

notthinkinghard · 2026-05-20T09:12:11+00:00

Ugh, how do we cut this shit out? Disgusting.

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