Kylie is one of the many Teacher Assistants helping Tassie kids overcome barriers so they can achieve their dreams. She’s worked as a Teacher Assistant for more than a decade.
She adores the children she helps and the school she works in.
“I just love the children. I’m very passionate about high needs children and being able to be there for anyone who may be slipping through the cracks or not getting the funding they need. That’s what Teacher Assistants do.”
Kylie has spent the last four years working as a Kinder Assistant for three days a week and helping pre-kinders in the school’s Launching into Learning Program.
“It’s really rewarding to see them prosper. I want to help them achieve what they want to achieve. That’s why I do it.”
Kylie says she is still in contact with many of the pupil’s she’s worked with: “one of my eldest is 18 and we still keep in touch”.
“Every year it is a nerve-wracking time to wait and see if you will have those same top up hours to provide at least some job security for a Term or two. My permanent hours are 7.5 per week. I have been topped up with an extra 11.5 to 12 hours per week for now. What I would like is an opportunity to increase my permanent hours so I have work I can count on.”
“It’s about income security. It’s about fairness – a fair go for people who’ve worked consistently but are denied permanency. That uncertainty, not knowing your hours for the following year, it wears you down. If we were to lose funding for half a dozen children, I’d have to rely on 7.5 hours a week. I don’t know how I’d make ends meet.
We only get paid 42 weeks a year, we’re stood down in school holidays. We want to see fair treatment for people who’ve consistently worked top-up hours instead of being treated like an afterthought.”
CPSU: Keeping your allowances updated!
With cost-of-living biting, every penny counts. Your union recently updated allowances for workers covered by the Tasmanian State Service Award,
14 September, 2023
