everything you need to know

The new School Staffing Agreement between the Federation and the New South Wales Department of Education came into effect on the first day of the second semester of 2024 and will run until the start of the first semester of 2029.

The Agreement reintroduces the essential personnel mechanisms that the Federation has been applying in accordance with the decisions of the Annual Conference and the State Council.

The previous alternating model of appointing classroom teachers and school counselors has been replaced with a three-step process consisting of:

Step 1Transfers and other appointments of permanent teachers, in order of priority as follows:

1. Transfers made by the Department under section 51A or Part 4A of the Education Services Act 1980
2. Applicant for motivational transfer
3. Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander job applicant
4. Approved Section 51A Transfer Applicant (Compassionate)
5. A teacher employed on a permanent basis at a school under the temporary staff transition initiative for 2023 (see below)
6. Nominated Transfer Applicant
7. Priority transfer of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander teacher or a teacher from a special education setting
8. Applicant for transfer of service
9. A permanent teacher appointed to a position equivalent to ACIP (Above Centrally Identified Position) in a school
10. A part-time teacher employed by a school and not otherwise eligible shall be eligible for an increase to a permanent full-time position and/or an increase in the full-time equivalent (FTE) of his or her permanent part-time position if he or she is not otherwise eligible for an in-service transfer.

Step 2in no particular order, centralised permanent appointments of scholarship teachers, sponsored teachers, postgraduate target teachers and through the approved teaching list (prioritising the appointment of temporary teachers currently working in schools with 4, 6 and 8 points to vacancies).

Step 3through local selection options.

Due to the flawed architecture imposed by the previous NSW Liberal and National Government, Tranche 1 Temporary Workforce Transition Initiative teachers are currently employed in schools in over-the-top positions, a situation that both the Federation and the Department have identified as requiring resolution. The process for appointing these teachers will be:

• be in Step 1 after section 51A (sympathetic) transfers and before nominated transfers
• apply for a vacancy at the teacher’s current school
• require that a teacher meet the “Approved to Teach” codes for the position
• operate only for a limited period of time, not exceeding last day of semester 4, 2026.

Matching of teachers applying for transfer to vacant positions will continue to be based on: approved for teaching codes only (not the “willing to teach” or “skills and/or experience” codes). The agreement also provides for the introduction of an “imperfect match” for Step 1 and Step 2, where if a match is not achieved, the matching process will be repeated using one less subject code.

Teachers and principals will be able to apply for redeployment to junior management positions or to classroom teaching positions through service transfer, and permanent part-time teachers and teachers in management positions will have the opportunity to increase their FTE to permanent full-time employment or increase their part-time FTE, if this is feasible within their school.

Where a teacher is a nominee transfer, every effort will be made to place the teacher (including teachers returning from off-site placements) in a suitable vacancy within approximately one hour of the residential address associated with their current place of employment as recorded in the Department’s HR system. Teachers returning from off-site placements will have the option of having their nominated transfer made on the basis of their current residential address or their last permanent school posting. The placement procedure specifies that if the travel time from this address to their current school exceeds one hour and/or there has been a recent change of address reported by the teacher at a time coinciding with their nominated transfer, the Department will require the teacher to provide documentary evidence that they are living at their registered SAP address.

Section 51A compassionate transfers will be approved in accordance with exceptional and/or compelling circumstances, which may include a situation where a teacher is unable to permanently return to their school due to medical constraints acceptable to the Department. It has been agreed that updated procedures for compassionate transfers will be implemented in Term 3, 2024, including a move to a more centralised approval model to enhance consistent decision-making on compassionate transfers.

The previous transfers of directors and academic teachers will be maintained in priority order, and from the first day, i.e. the third semester of 2024, the long-awaited service transfers will be restored for academic teachers (assistant directors, school directors, deputy directors, senior psychologists, teachers and leaders, psychology practitioners) with four years of experience in their current position, as follows:

1. Appointment under Section 51A (non-compassionate) or Part 4A under the Teaching Service Act 1980 is required.
2. Applicant for motivational transfer
3. Approved Section 51A Transfer Applicant (Compassionate)
4. Nominated Transfer Applicant
5. Priority transfer of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander executive teacher or principal or an executive teacher or principal from a special school
6. Candidate for service transfer
7. A permanent executive teacher appointed to a position equivalent to, or higher than, the ACIP (Above Centrally Identified Position) position in a school.

There is a tentative agreement to substantially overhaul the Merit Selection Procedure, with an interim updated procedure currently underway and the new procedure to be implemented no later than Day 1, Semester 1, 2025. The changes will include:

• centralization of initial eligibility checks
• limiting the number of specific selection criteria that can be used in ads
• introducing a consistent approach to collecting declarations from panel members, including declarations of conflicts of interest
• unification of job advertisements and descriptions for classroom teachers and management staff
• developing a unified bank of detailed selection criteria, initially for classroom teacher positions
• Removal of mandatory requirement for “first” references, while retaining the requirement for a principal/current supervisor to provide certification as part of the merit review process, consistent with other personnel changes
• introduction of online reference checks
• an overview of the requirements for reference checks, with comprehensive reference checks only being required for recommended candidates or candidates who are to be recommended for shortlisting
• introducing a consistent approach to recording panel results
• providing clearer guidance to schools on best practice for local EOI processes, including closed merit pool and selection processes for temporary appointments and opportunities for secondment to senior positions.

The Federation has secured a reduction in the size of some practical classes, which will apply to classes planned for the 2025 school year. Starting in 2025, agriculture and visual arts classes from years 7 to 10 will be formed on the basis of the principle that no class must exceed 20 students.

Finally, the Department has committed to working with the Federation throughout 2024 on matters related to the Staffing Agreement, including:

• personnel rights, including school counseling services
• recruitment strategies for schools that are harder to staff
• Staffing patterns for specialist schools
• Out-of-school learning service.

Work will continue in the coming months to develop updated procedures that will provide greater transparency into the processes outlined in the Staffing Agreement.

Category: Schools, Staff, Teachers
Tags: EQ Issue 10, Staffing, Casting Agreement