Western Australian College of Teaching commonly referred to as WACOT is a defunct teachers registration board set up in Western Australia by the Gallop Labor Government by the then education minister Alan Carpenter in 2004. Carpenter introduced the Western Australian College of Teaching Act 2004 which was passed by Parliament in June 2004. [1]
The purpose of the College was to enhance the status of the teaching profession and teachers and to administer the registration of teachers in Western Australia.
The act requires a board of 19 members, nine to be appointed by the minister and ten to be elected by members. When WACOT was established in 2004 the minister appointed all 19 members with ten being temporary appointments until an election could be held, at some point in time after March 2006. [2]
The foundation chair of WACOT was Brian Lindberg, [3] who later faced criticism for his decision to deregister teachers who had refused to pay their registration fee, despite acknowledging there was a teacher shortage at the time. [4]
In October 2006 the election of the board by members was declared void by the electoral commission after the discovery that the rules that governed the election were illegal. [5] The WACOT board then rewrote the election rules and submitted them to Parliament, who found them unsatisfactory, resulting in an even longer election delay. [2] In September 2007, about 1,600 teachers faced deregistration for refusing to pay membership fees. Many teachers were boycotting WACOT for their inability to hold an election or effectively represent teachers. [6] The election was eventually held in December 2007 with the ten board members elected. [7]
By 2008, about 2,000 teachers were facing deregistration despite a teacher shortage for non-payment of their fees. The board of WACOT had held an extraordinary meeting and had agreed to deregister non-paying members. [7] Complaints levelled at WACOT included lengthy delays in processing registrations, sending out multiple demands for payment despite payment having been made, teachers having no involvement in the board, the board failing to hold elections, poor value for the fees being paid and a poor level of service offered by the college. [8]
The executive director of WACOT, Dr Suzanne Parry, said "the majority of teachers whose registration had been cancelled should be able to be reinstated within a day of supplying their paperwork" and that "many teachers were confused about the difference between annual membership renewal and re-registration" to justify why schools would be left without teachers. [9]
WACOT was eventually dissolved in 2012 by Peter Collier following a litany of failures, and replaced with the Teacher Registration Board of Western Australia. [10] Collier had remarked that the implementation of the TRBWA had been made necessary by the "high level of dissatisfaction among teachers in relation to the manner in which the registration process was being managed". [11]
A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching.
The College Board, styled as CollegeBoard, is an American not-for-profit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a membership association of institutions, including over 6,000 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations.
The Fishing Party (TFP) was a minor Australian political party whose primary support base is found among recreational fishers. The party was founded by Robert Smith in July 2000 and it had branches in several Australian states. It was headquartered in Singleton, New South Wales (NSW).
The Outdoor Recreation Party (ORP) was a minor political party originating in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It professed to represent the outdoor community and interests such as cycling, bushwalking, camping, kayaking, 4WD motoring, skiing, fishing and shooting. It was formally allied with the Liberal Democratic Party.
Peter Charles Collier is an Australian politician who has been a Liberal Party member of the Legislative Council of Western Australia since 2005, representing North Metropolitan Region. He served as a minister in the government of Colin Barnett from 2008 until its defeat at the 2017 election.
Michelle Hopkins Roberts is an Australian politician currently serving as Speaker of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. She has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly since 1994. She served as a minister in the governments of Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter between 2001 and 2008. In November 2015, Roberts became the longest-serving female parliamentarian in Western Australia's history, breaking the record set by Liz Constable. She was a high school teacher, civil servant and local government councillor before entering politics.
Malek Fahd Islamic School is a multi-campus independent Islamic co-educational primary and secondary day school, with its main campus located in the south-western Sydney suburb of Greenacre with smaller campuses in Hoxton Park and Beaumont Hills, New South Wales, Australia.
Fidelma Healy Eames is an Irish former politician. She was first elected to Seanad Éireann in 2007 by the Labour Panel. As a member of the Reform Alliance group, she sat as an Independent senator, having lost the Fine Gael parliamentary party whip in July 2013. In March 2016 she announced her retirement from politics. In April 2019, Healy Eames was a candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election in Ireland for the Midlands-North West constituency.
Cherylin Naylor Peniston is a former legislator in the U.S. state of Colorado. A career public school teacher, Peniston was first elected as a Democrat in 2006 to the Colorado House of Representatives. She represented House District 35, which encompasses most of Westminster, Colorado and portions of Arvada. Term limited, she did not seek re-election in 2014.
The Institute for Learning (IfL) was a voluntary membership, UK professional body. It ceased operating on 31 October 2014. Although precise membership figures and statistical details had been removed from IfL's webpage prior to its closure, at the end of financial year 2013-2014 IfL were reported as having only 33,500 of their 200,000 members remaining.
Peter James Breen is a former Australian politician. He was a solicitor before entering politics, achieving a Diploma of Law from Sydney University. He was originally a member of the Liberal Party, serving as President of the Campbelltown Young Liberals 1971–1972. From 1995 to 1998 he was Secretary of the Australian Bill of Rights Group, and in 1998 joined Reform the Legal System. In the 1999 New South Wales election he was elected to the Legislative Council.
Bartholomew O'Keeffe is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation from 2010 to 2011, Minister for Education and Science from 2008 to 2010 and a Minister of State from 2004 to 2008. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) from 1987 to 1989 and from 1992 to 2011. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 1989 to 1992.
Andy Manar is a former Democratic member of the Illinois Senate. He represented the 48th district, including part or all of Christian, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, and Sangamon counties. Andy Manar is known for being the chief advocate for SB 1947, which made dramatic reforms to Illinois’ education funding formula. Prior to his service in the Illinois Senate, he was chairman of the Macoupin County Board from 2003 to 2012.
The 21st Century Australia Party was an Australian political party formed by Jamie McIntyre. Policies include reviewing the necessity of state government to reduce Australia's political system to two layers rather than three, and reviewing certain taxes.
The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is an Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party was deregistered by the Australian Electoral Commission in 2017, revived and re-registered in 2018, and voluntarily deregistered in 2022. The party fielded candidates in all 150 House of Representatives seats at the 2013 federal election. Palmer, the party's leader, was elected to the Division of Fairfax and it reached a peak of three senators following the rerun of the Western Australian senate election in 2014. When the party was revived under its original name in 2018, it was represented by ex-One Nation senator Brian Burston in the federal parliament.
CountryMinded was an Australian political party formed in 2014 that claimed to represent the interests of regional Australians whose livelihoods depend either directly or indirectly on agricultural production. The party was founded by a group of people looking for accountable regional representation, including two brothers from New South Wales, David and Peter Mailler as the Country Party of Australia, and changed its name to CountryMinded in September 2015. In 2018, the party merged with the Australian Democrats.
The Australian Progressives is an Australian political party established in September 2014.
Civil Liberties & Motorists Party, formerly the Motorists Party; Civil Liberties, Consumer Rights, No-Tolls; Consumer Rights & No-Tolls Party; No-Tolls.org; No Tolls, No Sell Offs; and Consumer Rights & No-Tolls is a Queensland-based political party. It has been registered in Queensland since 2015.
The Seniors United Party of Australia (SUPA) was an Australian political party. It was known as Seniors United NSW until 3 March 2016. The party was founded by Ray Morritt, Nick Agnew, Frank Fitzpatrick and Neil Smith who were dissatisfied with the NSW Government's legislation on retirement villages and other seniors issues. The party was deregistered by the AEC on 29 June 2022.
The Mature Australia Party was a minor political party registered for federal elections in Australia between 2014 and 2017.