Nana is joined by public high school teachers, Anushki and proud Menang Noongar primary school teacher, Kimberley, to break down the recent teaching strikes and the state of education system in Victoria. On 24 March, over 35,000 teachers and support staff striked for the first time in 13 years, with Victorian teachers being among the least paid in the country. Anushki and Kimberley, who are both members of the Australian Education Union, discuss the conditions that led to the strike and the union’s demands. 

Anushki and Kimberley also share their experiences inside public school classrooms - from classroom conditions to the impact of teacher shortages. They reveal classroom conditions within public schools in Victoria and how teaching shortages create increased administrative burdens on teaching staff and burn out. Kimberley, who sits on both the Education Committee and the First Nations Committee (milwarrin wiinh), breaks down the additional cultural and colonial load that First Nations teachers and staff continue to bear. 

Together, the group discuss the systemic and cultural undervaluing of teachers and how that intersects with gender and race, as well as what it says about how the government treats young people.