The Queensland Teachers' Union has called for school term dates to be moved to avoid the depths of winter and height of summer because of the lack of air-conditioning in the state's schools.
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However, the state government said there are no plans to change school dates and the Queensland LNP opposition labelled the union's calls an "air-con con".
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 recording one degree in winter without heaters.
Mr Bates said while no specific date changes had been chosen by the QTU, the general idea he proposed 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.
"Air-conditioning is one way to improve the situation, but people have pointed out how expensive it is to run.
"The ACT and Tasmania don’t start their school term until the second week of February and West Australian and Northern Territory schools finish their days earlier to avoid the heat."
Mr Bates said the QTU preferred to have climate control in every classroom, but given the lack of support from the state government for the idea, he said the union was looking at alternatives.
LNP leader Deb Frecklington said the QTU's idea was "a con" and pointed out Bureau of Meteorology data showing Queensland's warmest days could occur during a period of several weeks.
“Some of the hottest days of the year occur outside of January; for example, Brisbane’s hottest day in 2017 was on February 12," she said.
“We also sweltered through a record 30 consecutive days of temperatures above 30 degrees between January 28 and February 26, 2017.
“It just shows that moving the school holidays back a week would not fix the problem.
“Instead of inconveniencing parents and students, it’s time to air-condition our school classrooms.
“That’s why the LNP has a plan to air-condition every state school in Queensland.
“We think our kids and teachers are worth it because cool kids are smart kids.”
Despite Ms Frecklington's plan to install air-conditioning in every state school, Mr Bates said that alone would not sway the QTU towards supporting the LNP at the next election.
Mr Bates said it would take more than a single issue to change the QTU's mind and that the LNP had decided their air-conditioning plan was too expensive to roll out when they were last in power.
Education Minister Grace Grace said the state government's Cooler Schools policy was ensuring classrooms in the hottest parts of Queensland were being cooled.
"The Government has no plans to change the school year," she said.
"This year, we’ve allocated $21 million for air-conditioning in Queensland state schools and we will continue to work with school communities and P&Cs; to assist with air-conditioning and classroom-cooling measures."
Mr Bates did make a point of acknowledging the state government's investment in clean energy solutions, which were helping to combat the high costs of air-conditioning in state schools.
"Many schools won’t run their air-conditioning until it is really hot, due to the cost," he said.
"The state government aims to put solar panels in every state school.
"The first part of the strategy is to install solar panels in larger state schools and then use the savings generated to put solar panels in the smaller state schools."
