Year in review, 2025: New opportunities in training
The IEU’s 2025 training calendar delivered a comprehensive mix of skills-building, professional learning, and safety-focused programs designed for every stage of a member’s career.
Empowering our Reps: a new era for IEU training
In 2024, the Albanese government introduced new delegates’ rights to the Fair Work Act and all Modern Awards, strengthening protections for union representatives. For the first time, paid time off for training became an enforceable right across all workplaces.
Previously, training rights depended on provisions in individual Agreements – so negotiating time off and replacement costs for Reps in schools without enforceable training entitlements was a seriously limiting factor. The reforms now allow more Reps to attend training during work hours, offering the union a valuable opportunity which it embraced by appointing a full-time trainer with significant administrative support to coordinate a wider program. The results have vindicated this investment: this year the IEU is on track to deliver training to a record number of members.
The new flagship offering was the full-day workshop Building Your Team, which helped workplace leaders strengthen their sub-branches by sharing responsibilities and strategic delegation using the Individual-Team-Tasks (ITT) framework. For the hundreds of IEU Reps who completed this course in 2025, the journey continues next year with Rep Training: Conflict Resolution which draws on real workplace experiences to help Reps navigate difficult conversations, apply principles of natural justice, and build respectful, collaborative relationships within their school communities.
Independent school bargaining training
IEU bargaining training builds practical skills to navigate the clauses, conditions and Agreements that shape our workplaces. Members learn how the process works, why it matters and where they can contribute.
As more members across the independent sector understand bargaining, our collective power grows, and we build fair, respectful, and professional workplaces. IEU bargaining training taps the collective wisdom of Reps by offering a unique opportunity for networking. Colleagues get a rare and priceless chance to share stories, tips and ideas. In 2025, some of their tips for effective negotiations included: ask open questions, acknowledge responses without escalating, arrive with a plan, reference precedents and evidence, link proposals to the employer’s stated values, and know when to park an item and move on.
In 2026, the union is offering a new course on enterprise bargaining, covering the core negotiation skills that improve our working lives.
IEU Learning Hub
The union continues to offer expert-led professional learning through the Learning Hub, delivered with the Teacher Learning Network. A flagship webinar, Supporting Neurodivergent Students (presented by special educator Belinda Webb), focused on practical adjustments to content and classroom environments, strategies for removing barriers to engagement, and tools to help neurodivergent learners thrive.
This partnership remains crucial for the union to keep members up to speed with the latest professional development opportunities. And all these opportunities, focused on the needs of educators and driven by participant feedback, remain free for IEU members.
Other training
IEU training includes everything from practical workplace negotiation skills to learning how to contribute to Consultative Committees and hints on retirement and super planning via NGS Super. IEU women Reps joined union colleagues at Trades Hall for the International Women’s Day WRAW Conference and our Catholic Council event in May.
Organisers and SIA training
Our Organisers have embraced a team-based approach, standing alongside members at training events, sharing their field expertise, and offering real-world insights that have strengthened connections across our union community.
The online ‘Huddles’ for Victorian Catholic Reps exemplified this collaborative spirit, bringing members and Organisers together in online conversation and action-focused planning around our campaign. Over 300 Victorian Catholic Reps attended Single Interest Authorisation (SIA) training sessions delivered by the Organising Team. The sessions focused on workplace mapping and team building, equipping members with the skills and confidence needed to support the SIA application.
Across 2025, IEU training built capability, confidence and community. Members left sessions better equipped to lead teams, bargain well, teach inclusively, keep workplaces safe and plan for the future.
