Staffing entitlements under siege in several states

By

Brenda Seymour

Staffing issues interstate are relevant to the current staffing dispute in NSW.

The South Australian Government has proposed the removal of the teacher to student ratio formula (akin with what is in operation in the teacher staffing entitlement policies in NSW) and is proposing a "per student" funding model.

The South Australian union has said this "per student" funding model "will reduce funding to at least one in three schools".

Such is the concern of the South Australian public school teacher union's members that on August 6 almost 100 schools closed on the third day of rolling half day strikes and the union and the government remain "miles apart" (Adelaide Advertiser August 7).

In Western Australia, the state government has demanded that high schools cut teacher numbers by reallocating to public servants some school jobs now being done by teachers.

The Western Australian state opposition says it "is a devious way of hiding the full extend to the teacher shortage".

The Western Australian shadow education minister Peter Collier said the move was an attempt to disguise the full extend of the teacher shortage by making teaching positions disappear from the books. (West Australian, August 20)

"It's just another way to hide the severity of the teacher shortage," he said.

Western Australian State School Teachers Union president Anne Gisborne said while the department could be engaging in some "sleight of hand", it was also facing a teacher shortage crisis that was likely to continue for the next five years and needed to find ways to cut corners. (West Australian, August 20)

Federation seeks the regulation of staffing formulas such that there can be no erosion of teacher staffing entitlements as experienced and evident in public schools in Victoria and now proposed for public schools in South Australia and Western Australia.

An application for an award to cover staffing entitlements for schools in NSW has been before the President of the Industrial Relations Commission Justice Boland who has set the scheduled hearing of the award for the first two weeks in December.

Dispute to go to the Industrial Court

This follows from the Department of Education and Training remaining obstinate in its view to proceed with its new system largely intact, while the dispute was being dealt with in the Industrial Relations Commission.

The remedy in the Industrial Court may be to seek a declaration that transfer points are part of a teachers' contract of employment.

Federation seeks that the genuine value of transfer points be restored as transfer points have been part of teachers' contract of employment since at least 1988.

Transfer points

The value of transfer points has been diminished under DET's imposed staffing procedures. Indeed, transfer points may have no value in the future.

Also, below is an example of a calculation:

Classroom teachers

Executive staff (other than principal) and principals

For further information

August 2008 contents