[5] Members include teachers and allied educational staff, principals and administrators mainly in government school and TAFE systems.

Teachers working in the private schools system are covered by the Independent Education Union of Australia (IEU).

This involves industrial research, negotiation and advocacy over a wide range of matters including salaries and teaching and learning conditions."

Teachers were low-paid government employees and controlled by a series of moral codes that restricted their professional, personal and sexual conduct.

The Catholic education system usually shared the poor working and teaching conditions of the state schools.