Federation opposes the Department of Education’s plans to disestablish all 113 Home School Liaison Officer (HSLO) positions and replace them with social workers employed as clerks.
The Department is engaged in a totally inadequate consultation with HSLOs and principals about the Home School Liaison Program, which closes 1 April.
We ask that all Federation Representatives call an urgent Federation meeting in your workplaces to move the following motion:
“The NSW Teachers Federation members at _________________ vehemently oppose the deletion of 113 HSLOs and replacement with 117 social workers, employed as clerks on reduced salary rates. Further, the Department of Education is condemned for developing a plan to replace the functions of the Home School Liaison Program in the absence of any meaningful consultation with its HSLO workforce, consisting of highly qualified and dedicated teachers, and Federation as the trade union which represents them. We demand that the existing HSLO workforce not only be maintained but expanded in accordance with the recommendations in the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation report, to facilitate genuine consultation with HSLOs and the NSW Teachers Federation on changes to the Home School Liaison Program.”
Once the motion has been carried, please send copies to:
- your local Director Educational Leadership
- Secretary of the Department of Education, Murat Dizdar at secretary@comms.education.nsw.gov.au
- Federation at mail@nswtf.org.au.
Members are also encouraged to continue actively engaging in the Departmental consultation period on the Home School Liaison Program by making submissions that strongly argue that HSLOs need to remain as qualified teachers, that the Home School Liaison Program needs to be expanded by employing more teachers as HSLOs and demanding a thorough and complete evaluation of the Home School Liaison Program.