Revised plan still cuts education jobs

A revised restructuring proposal for the University of Otago College of Education will still see significant job cuts among teacher educators, the Tertiary Education Union says.

The university announced in May it planned to cut staff numbers by between 15 and 20 full-time equivalent positions by the end of 2012, including 23 teacher educators, and employ some staff with different skills.

The move was designed to save money and increase the number of "research-active staff".

Teacher educators, who are mainly responsible for teaching student teachers about classroom practice and supervising their work placements, strongly opposed the proposal.

After considering submissions, the university decided in June to rewrite the proposal.

The revised version, announced to staff yesterday, had not changed the number of job cuts or where they would fall significantly, union southern organiser Kris Smith said yesterday.

The loss of 12 teacher educator positions was expected initially - 11 in Dunedin and one at the college outpost in Invercargill - as well as the loss of 3.6 general staff positions across both campuses.

Further jobs would go when a contract to train Malaysian teachers finished at the end of 2012.

The revised proposal included education support services staff in the restructuring for the first time and indicated two full-time equivalent positions would go, Ms Smith said.

The university had called for further submissions by August 16.

Staff were not happy about the revised proposal, Ms Smith said.

"Morale is very low. Teacher educators are still being targeted."

The college of education review is one of four being carried out at the university.

It has also confirmed plans to phase out the design department (although some design courses will still be offered), merge two departments in the School of Business and merge two departments in the humanities division.

Despite repeated requests, the university has declined to provide information about when and how the mergers will happen, how many jobs might go as a result of each merger, and when staff will learn whether their jobs are at risk.