As well as protecting the rights and conditions of its members, the QTU also sees the promotion of public education as a major part of its role.

[3] In 1967, the Industrial Commission granted the QTU's application for equal pay for women teachers, something for which the union had been campaigning since 1919.

[4] The Remote Area Incentive Scheme, which tackles teacher shortages in the state's rural and remote areas by using incentives to attract and retain teachers, was introduced in 1990, after 16 years of QTU campaigning.

[6] In 2009, QTU members staged a national strike, the union's first in nine years, in support of a campaign for a salary increase.

[7] In 2008, QTU members in remote areas of Queensland took strike action over what they regarded as the poor standard of housing supplied by The Department of Education and Training.

[8] In 2015, the QTU established in collaboration with the Independent Education Union of Australia QLD branch, the working group "Teachers For Refugees and Asylum Seekers".

This working group was established after the forced removal of Yeronga State High Year 12 student Mojgan Shamslispoor to an immigration detention centre in Darwin.