A Casual Word: Education Quarterly, Issue 8 2023
With the recent hard-fought and won salaries campaign and the resultant restructuring of the incremental pay scale, it is important to note that advances were made in relation to the casual teacher rates.
Since 9 October there has been a third pay rate for casual teachers, one that recognises and rewards experience.
The previous rates did not increase after two years of teaching service and achieving Proficient accreditation, while the award variation introduces an additional rate for casual teachers with two years or more equivalent post-accreditation experience.
At a time when there is a critical statewide teacher shortage, where areas that were previously not hard to staff are struggling to cover classes, recognition of the vital role that casual teachers play in ensuring the continued day-to-day operation of our schools has never been more important.
Schools have pursued retired and other experienced teachers to provide support as day-to-day casuals, but teaching experience exceeding two years has not up until now been recognised or rewarded.
The new classification structure for casual teachers starts at CT1 (Graduate) with a daily rate of $439.66 (derived from Step 1), then CT2 (Proficient) with a daily rate of $493.02 (derived from Step 3), following successful completion of accreditation at proficient and the equivalent of two years full time service (406 days).
Once a teacher has completed the equivalent of two years of full-time service at CT2 (406 days), they progress to the new CT3 level with a daily rate of $548.95 (derived from Step 5 on the scale).
All incremental progression rules are retained, so days already worked before or after being accredited are counted towards any service requirements for progression.
For the purpose of salary progression, one year of full-time service is 203 days.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Does all service as a casual, temporary and permanent teacher count for incremental purposes after the structural reset?
Yes. After the move to the new salary scales, all teachers will continue to have service for casual, temporary or permanent employment with the Department of Education counted for incremental purposes for both temporary and casual pay rates.