Illawarra teacher Jenna Hogan should have been resting after she fell ill with COVID, but instead she spent her time in isolation working through her administration duties.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
She said it was an example of the workload burdens placed on teachers in the Catholic education system, which take them away from the classroom and the work that benefits students.
This is one of the reasons she, and scores of her colleagues from the Catholic school system, went on strike and rallied in Wollongong on Friday to demand improved pay and conditions for both teachers and support staff.
The Independent Education Union is asking for a 10 to 15 per cent pay rise for teachers over two years, pay parity for support staff with their public sector counterparts, cuts to paperwork, more time for planning, and an end to staff shortages.
Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong said in a statement that it was committed to working with employees and the IEU to "deliver reasonable and responsible pay and conditions".
"Our teachers and support staff deserve recognition, not just for the commitment they have shown over the last two years, but for the important work they do every day educating our students," the organisation said.
For Mrs Hogan, the issues became so pressing that last week she penned a four-page letter to the union outlining her concerns, becoming emotional as she read through it again on Friday.
"I was so distraught with the current climate of the teaching profession," Mrs Hogan said.
She said she and her husband, also a teacher, would "easily" do three hours' work each night after leaving school.
Mrs Hogan knew of five teachers who left within a month, a loss to the profession she described as a "tragedy".
While the demands were serious, the mood during the rally in MacCabe Park was mostly jubilant as those gathered cheered on the speakers and sang songs.
"It is the teachers and the support staff who are the backbone of the systemic education system... we are the ones that make it work," the IEU's Bernadette Baker said.
IEU South Coast sub-branch president and St Joseph's Catholic High School teacher Glenn Lowe said the industrial action, for him, was more about looking after the teachers of the future.
"If we don't make a stand now, when do we make a stand? Because it's falling to bits... The things that we're doing now, the pay rises we're pushing for, are going to make the profession more attractive," Mr Lowe said.
Carolyn Collins, the IEU's support staff vice president, said she was in her 36th year in the Catholic system, yet she was "not recognised for the high qualifications I bring to my job, nor my years of work experience".
The demonstrators marched from MacCabe Park to the Catholic Education office in Market Street as they chanted "Hear our voice" to the beat of a drum, then waited outside while union representatives went inside to talk to Catholic Education.
Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong said dioceses had responded to all union claims and agreed to at least match the pay increases awarded to public school teachers; address inequity between its support staff and those in the public sector; and give teachers an extra pupil free day this year for planning and professional development.
Dioceses have also agreed to work with the IEU to address workload concerns; recognised the service support staff have given at other dioceses; and improved parental leave.
To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.