New School Staffing Agreement signed

A new School Staffing Agreement will operate from day 1, term 3, 2021, until the end of term 4, 2023.

The agreement, signed by Federation and the Department of Education, ensures protection of existing provisions and incorporates new and improved terms that will benefit members.

Across term 3, joint training will be delivered by Federation and Department officers to principals and Federation Representatives, who will be released to attend. This will be followed by training at the school level, which will be conducted by the Federation Representative and principal.

The Agreement retains the keystone features from previous agreements since 2009, including:

• preservation of permanency and retention of a statewide transfer system, including priority for incentive transfers and Aboriginal employment applicants
• continuation of the Teacher Employment Priority Scheme, recognising temporary and casual service to elevate the priority date for appointment on the approved to teach list
• temporary to permanent appointments in hard to staff rural and remote schools, including into Above Centrally Identified Positions funded by school budgets in 8-point schools

Improvements negotiated in the proposed Schools Staffing Agreement include:

• the return of the Approved to Teach list as a central appointment type
• reinstatement of nominated transfers as a priority appointment type alongside incentive transfers and Aboriginal employment applicants, which will be matched only on approved to teach codes
• within central appointments, prioritisation of transfers for Aboriginal teachers, teachers in special education settings and service transfers in 4-, 6- and 8-point schools. Priority will also be given to service transfers in approximately 100 outer regional two-point schools
• a one-off process of temporary to permanent conversion for teachers with three continuous years’ service in 1-point schools as a local choice option for vacancies which arise and are declared before the end of term 4, 2021
• an explicit procedure to request an alternative first referee to a permanent teacher’s current principal (including circumstances in which it may be approved) for merit selection processes and that first referees for casual and temporary teachers can be a supervisor from the past 12 months
• provision of early priority appointment for pre-service teachers up to 12 months before completion of their studies, under the graduate recruitment program

The new Staffing Agreement will also incorporate changes to merit selection processes including sharing of eligibility lists from nearby schools, appeals/complaints, reduction in the number of referees which may be contacted.

The Federation will issue full details and advice to members as soon as the Staffing Procedures are finalised.