Consistent with Federation policy, and in response to the union’s campaign, a breakthrough has been achieved for teaching principals thanks to hundreds of members calling for an increase in the permanent principal release entitlement.
The Department of Education has announced that teaching principal relief funding will be converted to permanent staffing entitlement in all infants and primary schools with fewer than 160 enrolments and a teaching principal from term 1, 2026.
The new teaching principal release entitlement allocation will be between 0.3 full-time equivalent (FTE) and 0.4 FTE based on school size.
The announcement will result in the employment of more permanent teachers (rather than teachers being employed for individual release days with flexible funding) and protect the $10 million investment Federation was able to secure in 2018, which nearly doubled the release time available to teaching principals.
Additionally, seven isolated one-teacher schools (<26 enrolments) will be provided a full-time teacher entitlement in addition to the teaching principal. This will be enabled by the bundling of fractional teacher entitlements (teaching principal release, release from face-to-face, part-time teacher, teacher-librarian and Quality Teaching, Successful Students) plus an injection of additional funds.
The win is a significant step and builds the collective momentum we need to dismantle Local Schools, Local Decisions, and expand staffing entitlements across the board.
Federation’s campaign was triggered by a motion written by teachers in small schools, passed by Hawkesbury Teachers Association and debated at state Council, which called for “an immediate increase in guaranteed release time of all teaching principals”.
Back in 2018, while the enhancement to teaching principal release time was celebrated, it was also understood that it was allocated as a ‘bucket of money’ — in line with Local Schools, Local Decision methodology — and was never protected. Though this funding was maintained, it has not increased commensurate with the cost of employing a teacher and has remained precarious.
When the campaign was launched in August 2024, members were urged to contact the Minns Government to demand:
- a base staffing entitlement of two full-time teachers as a minimum
- a minimum 50 per cent reduction in face-to-face teaching for teaching principals, regardless of the school’s enrolments to meet the ever-increasing demands of a teaching principal.
They responded in force, and Premier Chris Minns and Education Minister Prue Car received hundreds of emails from small schools, urging the NSW Government to implement the necessary reforms to recognise the unique context of small schools.
As evidenced by the announcement, collective action and the grassroots democracy that informed it have been effective and achieved a historic improvement.
Whilst this is a significant improvement and departure from the flawed LSLD policy, the campaign continues to achieve Federation’s small schools staffing policy in full.