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Staffing system destroyed?
24 November 2004
By Angelo Gavrielatos
Senior Vice President
On 18 November, 2004, the new Deputy Director-General (Schools), Mr Trevor Fletcher, declared that in his view 90% of all school vacancies should be filled by local selection with only 10% being available to meet "system needs." The effect of this would be that the staffing system would be destroyed and job security/tenure would be lost!
The Federation is concerned that the "consultation" surrounding the DET "Excellence and Innovation" document (The Futures Project) will be used as a Trojan Horse to usher in a deregulation agenda. The statement by the Deputy Director-General which follows statements by the Premier and Director-General adds further weight to these concerns.
From February 2003 to February 2004 there were 2,443 vacancies in schools. The effect of a staffing operation as desired by the Deputy Director-General would have been as follows:
There would have been
i) NO incentive transfers;
ii) NO compassionate transfers;
iii) NO service transfers; and
iv) only 240 nominated transfers would have been placed.
In that period there were almost 1,800 nominated transfers, including classroom teachers, executive and principals. Given that only 10% of vacancies would have been available for "system needs", only 240 teachers would have been placed. Approximately 1,560 teachers would have lost their jobs.
The statewide staffing system and its centrepiece, a system of transfers, is the essential element in ensuring the appointment of teachers in every school across the state and therefore a curriculum guarantee for all students. The statewide staffing system is also the most efficient way of staffing our schools. Filling each vacancy by local selection would result in schools waiting between 6-8 weeks to fill vacancies. The resulting domino effect of necessary backfilling would cause further instability.
Members are reminded that it is of utmost importance to respond to the DET "Excellence and Innovation" document (The Futures Project) highlighting the importance of a statewide staffing system. The "consultation" period has been extended to 28 February 2005.
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