Changes the thin edge of wedge

The dismantling of the transfer system sets the pre-conditions for the full deregulation of staffing and the devolution of teacher salaries to school budgets.

The following is an extract from a document produced by the Secondary Principals' Council and Primary Principals' Association entitled Sustaining Quality Schools - Joint Position Papers. It was distributed for discussion at a principals' meeting in western NSW in August 2007.

Point 7 below shows the degree to which the proposals of the 1991 Your School's Right To Choose

discussion paper still have currency. It reinforces the messages of Federation's current staffing campaign, that the dismantling of the transfer system sets the pre-conditions for the full deregulation of staffing and the devolution of teacher salaries to school budgets, as occurred in Victoria.

"Local selection of staff

"Within the broad framework of schooling in NSW, parents and communities value the capacity of the school's leadership to effectively support student learning opportunities and outcomes. While public education in NSW is delivered in a state-wide system, schools need to be encouraged and given the capacity to develop solutions to local and sometimes unique challenges. Principals operate optimally when given the capacity, resources and substantial authority to address school-level needs. This includes improving student learning and behaviour, raising expectations and enhancing professional learning.

"The key to making these improvements is the supply, quality and deployment of the staff of a school, particularly the teaching staff. The ongoing dichotomy in the staffing of schools in a large and dispersed system is between the needs of the system as a whole and the needs of individual schools. While staffing will always need to address the needs of students and schools in all parts of NSW there is still scope to better match the supply, quality and deployment of staff to meet local needs.

"Joint Position

"The PPA and SPC jointly

"1. Support increased local selection within a statewide framework of staffing schools to match and address local needs.
"2. Believe that staffing policy and processes can and must be flexible enough to meet the specific contexts of schools, while providing quality teachers to even the most difficult to staff schools.
"3. Recognise that while there is a need, on occasions, to place Principals and executive staff via incentive, nominated and compassionate transfer, the rules and regulations for determining such transfers need to be strengthened so that only genuine and compelling cases are given this status. While priority placements are supported, consideration should be given to a better matching of these applicants against available positions through selection procedures.
"4. Believe schools should choose all Principal and executive teaching staff through local selection. The current procedures, with Expressions of Interest (EOI), followed by wider advertisement where necessary, are a positive step in the local selection procedures.
"5. Believe that principals should be able to select all administrative and support staff for their school and explicitly advertise for the specific skills (eg science skills, library etc) needed to fill a position on their administrative and support staff.
"6. Support optional local selection to employ staff with specialist skills - for example, community liaison officers, school counsellors or social workers, staff with experience in Aboriginal communities and experienced executive to lead and manage mentoring and/or professional learning.
"7. Believe schools should have access to the details of their staffing budgets and the choice to determine the particular staffing needs of the school based on the total staffing budget or the choice to remain within a state wide formula for staffing."

The following extract from the Secondary Principals' Council Fast News bulletin (April 28, 2008) reveals more about the position taken by this organisation in the current schools staffing dispute.

"Staffing

"The procedures are on the DET website at: https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/employment/promotion/index.htm https://webmail.det.nsw.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/employment/promotion/index.htm

"Nearly all of our principals are members of the NSW Teachers Federation and should contact the union for support if they feel it is necessary. The SPC Position Paper remains the basis of our policy, and although the changed staffing procedures are a very small step in the direction of our policy, we still need to assert that further changes are needed [Federation's emphasis].

"No doubt regional and local SPC meetings might like to discuss this, and as I mentioned in earlier Bulletins, our members should feel free to debate the issue at those meetings and send proposed motions through to Bill Kennedy."

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Last Modified: 08 May 2008