Calls for NT Government to take responsibility for education crisis
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Pay dispute could hinder interstate teachers wanting to work in the Territory next year. (ABC News: file photo)
The Northern Territory Council of Government School Organisations says the Territory Government still doesn't have a plan to deal with remote schools.
Margaret Banks suddenly left her post as the head of the Territory Education Department on Friday.
Ms Banks says she was sacked, a claim the Territory Government has refused to confirm.
The council's vice president Michael Duffy says the heads of departments and ministers bear ultimate responsibility for problems in remote Territory schools.
"There is no plan. There is a series of haphazard strategies.
"Now, I would suggest that the policy makers and the decision makers collectively are to blame for this."
The Territory Education Union's Adam Lampe says Ms Banks has been made a scapegoat.
"I think they needed a scapegoat and unfortunately it's come down to her which is very sad.
"Putting the blame on Margaret for the debacle, which is middle schools for the national testing results, she inherited all those things."
Pay dispute 'a soap opera'
Mr Duffy has also described the teachers' pay dispute as a soap opera that's spiralling out of control.
The Territory Education Union says unless the 13 month dispute is resolved in the next few weeks, there won't be time for union members to vote on any new offer before the Christmas holidays begin.
Mr Duffy says if that happens, it will make it more difficult to recruit interstate teachers to the Territory for the start of the new year.
"We keep hearing about how 'Yes, we're going to recruit school teachers'.
"If we don't get those school teachers, we're going to go backwards."
