The Queensland Teachers' Union which represents more than 45,000 teachers has called for school term dates to be changed because of a lack of air conditioning in the state's schools.
QTU president Kevin Bates said conditions in classrooms and a lack of climate control have been identified as major issues by students and staff as part of a year-long wellbeing campaign.
He said the union had asked teachers to record classroom temperatures during the year. Ipswich schools reached 42 degrees during a summer heatwave and schools in other parts of the state recorded one degree in winter without heaters.
Bates said while no specific date changes had been chosen by the QTU, the general idea was to move the school dates to avoid the depths of winter and height of summer.
"We can’t expect students to learn and teachers to teach in that environment," he said.
Bates said the QTU is seeking climate control in every classroom across the state.
Queensland Minister for Education, Grace Grace, said more than 380 state schools in the hottest and most humid parts of the state were already air conditioned through the Cooler Schools program.
Grace said that while heat management during the summer months is an important issue, state schools are among the government's largest energy users with an annual energy bill of more than $50 million.
She said the government was working to address the climate control issue but also to implement clean energy strategies to keep costs down.
“That is why our government is partnering with schools across the state to help them reduce air conditioning costs through our Advancing Clean Energy Schools (ACES) program,” she said.
The ACES program is a $97 million investment over three years to reduce energy costs across Queensland state schools through solar and energy efficiency measures.
"The Queensland Government is committed to a clean energy future and the ACES program is one strategy that will help contribute to the State's renewable energy targets," Grace said.
While 1,200 of Queensland's 1,240 state schools already offset energy costs with small solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and other energy efficiency strategies, advice from the energy industry in 2017 confirmed that there was room for more savings through the installation of additional solar systems and energy efficiency systems tailored for individual site conditions.
The ACES program will support initiatives across more than 800 of Queensland's 1,240 state schools over three years. The selection of schools is based on the potential for solar and energy efficiency measures to reduce energy costs and provide an economic return on investment.
It will be implemented over three years, with phase one expected to commence with up to 30 state schools in each of the department's seven regions during the December/January school holidays. Phases two and three will occur during 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Just last month the department commenced a procurement process to select lead partners to design, supply, install, operate and maintain solar and energy efficiency measures for the ACES program.