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“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) seeking official recognition of the essential role that Home Tutors play in the delivery of Primary Distance Education through the introduction of a wage/ salary for Home Tutors who, despite their role being a compulsory requirement for Distance Education, are presently not remunerated by the DoE at all.”
It is 51 years since Blackall Branch sought to have Home Tutors paid an allowance - $400 at that time. Much has changed in those 50 odd years. Advances in communication technology have made a huge difference to the delivery of Distance Education. (Snail mail and HF radio were the only forms of communication back in the seventies) and the Department of Education now provides $900 per DE student to the schools they attend for the provision of computer hardware and internet costs.
Perhaps the biggest change we’ve witnessed though has been in society attitudes. No longer is it accepted that the males are the sole breadwinners. Nearly all women, urban and remote, now expect to be part of a two-income family but this is well nigh impossible for the mothers of Distance Education students. Their ability to gain employment off-farm or on-farm beside their husbands is hampered by the need for them to be in the classroom in a role which the DoE mandates as compulsory. They are an essential part of the team who deliver Distance Education but they are the only members of this team who are not paid for the work they do. Why?
