Principal Wellbeing | Deputy President Bob Willetts

NSWPPA Response to key aspects of the
2022 Australian Principal Occupational Health & Wellbeing Survey

The NSWPPA notes with dire concern the alarming statistics released in the Australian Principal Occupational Health & Wellbeing Survey today, as we have every year since 2011.

The data contained in the report represents an extreme occupational health and safety risk to the leaders in NSW Public Schools who “have shown abiding dedication to jobs which expose them to frequent physical violence, threats and the highest burnout rates in a decade”.

Of major concern is that the research statistics represent the impact on REAL PEOPLE in our profession in huge numbers. Fathers, Mothers, partners, husbands, wives and people’s children who are leading our schools are subjected to risks of harm significantly higher than the general population.

KEY FINDINGS

• 44 per cent (5.7 times more than the general population) of school leaders were subjected to threats of violence
• 39 per cent (10.1 times more than the general population) were subjected to physical violence
• 29 per cent of school leaders received a “red flag” alert email
• Burnout (physical and mental fatigue) and cognitive stress levels were the highest since the survey started in 2011.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• ADVOCATE for the NSW Government and DoE to act on their moral obligation as the employer work in partnership with the Professional Associations to codesign solutions that address every recommendation in the report.
• LEAD conversations and workshops to address the issues and recommendations in the report.

Violence and Threats of Violence

• 44 per cent (5.7 times more than the general population) of school leaders were subjected to threats of violence
• 39 per cent (10.1 times more than the general population) were subjected to physical violence

One simply cannot argue with the data. The statistics of actual and threatened violence towards our school leaders is a disgrace and has continued to rise since 2011 and as we move through the pandemic.

The current policies and procedures in places are clearly not protecting school leaders from significant risk of harm associated with Physical Violence and Threats of Physical Violence.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• ADVOCATE for the department to immediately engage in constructive dialogue with the NSWPPA as the peak body representing over 1800 NSW Principals to put strategies in place to address these statistics.
• SUPPORT principals in complex cases with Professional Support Officers.
• EMPOWER principals to act within policy to address occupational health and safety issues.
• LEAD principal representation and ADVOCACY in partnership with chairpersons of relevant reference groups, working parties and standing committees.
  (Side note: Surely the link between teacher shortages (now the second highest stressor) and this sort of statistics is plain for all to see.)

Integration Funding Support

NSW Public schools are doing the heavy lifting with students with disabilities.

One of the major issues relating to Principal workload and stress is inadequate funding support for students with disabilities (including trauma and mental health issues) so schools are having to cover significantly additional costs for staff and resources to support these students. It is not uncommon for students who require full time 6 hours a day of 1:1 support in mainstream settings to only receive 2 hours per day.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• ADVOCATE for the FULL implementation of the Gonski Model and a massive injection of funding to support students with disabilities. Thus, lowering the thresholds for funding support and increasing equity and access for all students in NSW schools.

Sheer Quantity of Work

“The shameful treatment of our overburdened educators to stop”

The sheer quantity of work remains the greatest source of stress, pointing to the cognitive overload associated with managing policy changes and curriculum changes in schools with inadequate resourcing, not enough time, not enough training, and tools that are not fit for purpose. The latest IER Strategy is a perfect example of this.

The Deloitte Principal Workload and Time Use Study 2017 showed that only 25% of Principals thought the workload was achievable. Last week at the NSWPPA State Council 0% believed it was achievable in the current environment.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• ADVOCATE for the NSW government and Department of Education senior executive to take immediate steps to address the sheer quantity of work associated with policy implementation and curriculum change. We implore the department to immediately demonstrate clear action on recommendation 3: Engage directly with principals on reducing job demands or increasing job resources to allow school leaders to cope with the increased demands (Hunter et al., 2022). Better still, do both. This will help to increase the level of social capital in schools.
• SUPPORT Principals by continuing to fulfil Recommendation 6: Calibrate professional learning priorities for differing career contexts.
• SUPPORT members by providing Professional Learning and models that EMPOWERS principals to fulfil:
  o Recommendation 10. Ensure your passions are harmonious
  o Recommendation 11. Take Responsibility for your personal work-life balance

Protective Factors and support

Social Capital

The Executive Summary notes that:

“School leaders continued to report high satisfaction with Meaning of Work, Commitment to the Workplace, and Self-efficacy. Support from professional colleagues continued to increase. Social Support from External Colleagues is at its highest since the survey began. Taken together, these suggest school leaders coped better than expected. This is particularly encouraging, given the challenge of the pandemic”

Comment: The increase in social capital is no surprise given the culture of leadership and social support that exists in our profession. Which, coupled with the actions of the NSWPPA who partnered with Dr Adam Fraser and Headspace to deliver programs to effectively manage stress, enhance psychological safety, and improve relationships during covid made a huge impact. We have continued to do so already in 2022 while the department continues its decade long “Discovery Phase”.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• The NSWPPA to continue to SUPPORT Principals to increase social capital and psychological safety through practical strategies in local PPC meetings, including partnerships with Headspace. EMPOWER Principals to; attend their PPC and Network meetings,

Professional Support Officers

The NSWPPA now employs 3 professional support officers to provide high level support to Principals and manage an exponentially increasing number of complex cases.

The professional support officers are required due to the inadequate support structures provided by the department for principals who are the public facing managers of department policies which increasingly are not student centred, do not come adequately resourced, and are not supported by effective training, infrastructure or implementation tools.

NSWPPA ACTION:

• Continue to employ PSOs to SUPPORT principals with complex cases.
• EMPOWER Principals to utilise SUPPORT including the PSOs as required.

Personalised Wellbeing Programs

The NSWPPA has long acknowledged the recommendations of the report and taken direct action on every recommendation within our circle of influence.
The association has partnered with Dr Adam Fraser to deliver the Flourish Project to school leaders in NSW since 2016. This research evidence-based program has resulted in significantly enhanced wellbeing outcomes and productivity gains for participants.

The results of the program and recommendations have been shared with the Department of Education and largely ignored.

The delivery of the NSWPPA suite of professional learning including the Flourish Program, Covey Programs, The Art of Leadership, and Principal Credential have completely addressed the related recommendations for associations showing the NSWPPA has stepped up and acted.

• Recommendation 6. Calibrate professional learning priorities for differing career contexts
• Recommendation 10. Ensure your passions are harmonious
• Recommendation 11. Take Responsibility for you personal work-life balance

NSWPPA ACTION:

• ADVOCATE for all barriers to accessing such proactive programs to be removed and school leaders must be encouraged to devote their energy to deliberately planning to enhance their own wellbeing due to the research evidenced link between staff wellbeing and improving student learning outcomes.
• ADVOCATE for the Principal Support Budget in the SBAR to be increased to allow school leaders to access programs.
• EMPOWER and SUPPORT Principals to access professional learning to address recommendations 10 and 11, including building them into their PDP goals.

Finance and Administration | Vice President Michael Burgess

New Excursions Policy

Following feedback from Principals there have been changes made to the excursion policy.

Key changes include:

• more explicit instructions relating to risk management, child protection and safety, and refunds of unspent excursion money
• clearer instructions in relation to privately arranged tours, events or other activities
• streamlining the overseas excursions application and approval process, including the introduction of a common application pack for all department schools.

Details are available at this link: Updated Excursion policy link

A new Variation to Routine webpage is also being developed to bring together all aspects relating to excursions, sports, arts and other events. The draft webpage can be found here.

QR CODE CHECK-IN

The QR Code provided to schools will continue beyond COVID. The roll out of the QR system was in train before COVID to improve visitor sign in and facilitate checking Working With Children status and consequently Vaccination status.

The list of visitors registered through the QR code can be checked in the Check In Log App in your essentials. This can be accessed by a mobile phone in case of evacuation.

A concierge iPad will be provided to school shortly. Schools should complete a short survey to identify their needs for the iPad by 18th March. Link to survey

Technology | Vice President Michael Burgess

DIGITAL LEARNING SELECTOR

The Universal Resource Hub is a new section of the Department’s staff portal. It brings together all teaching, learning, assessment and technology resources together in one place to make it easier for staff to find what they need.

Part of the Universal Resource Hub features the Digital Learning Selector. All of the tools on the DLS are pre-qualified to meet DoE policy and standards for security. Staff can choose from over 100 tools with confidence. The DLS also contains more than 50 activities to support learning.

NSW Police Legacy, Child Safety Handbook | Vice President Jude Hayman

Please click here to view your letter from Detective Superintendent, APM and NSW Police Legacy Chair, Gary Merryweather.

The “NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook” is a comprehensive resource to assist parents, carers as well as teachers on a range of topics essential to child safety.

The handbook has been updated to include key messages about storm and flood safety, covid safety, children's personal safety and online safety.

The updated digital edition (link below) also includes important content updates from: NSW Ministry of Health, NSW Police Force, Fire and Rescue NSW, Rural Fire NSW, Transport for NSW, Sydney Trains, NSW Department of Family & Community Services, eSafety Commissioner and NSW Office of the Children's Guardian.

Please click on the cover below to view the updated digital handbook.

Here are also a couple of other links where the digital handbook can be viewed:

We strongly request that you forward the Child Safety Handbook via email communication to all parents/carers and teachers of your students. The handbook is also available to download for free on all the App stores.

Suggested wording that can be included in your newsletter or other communication with parents is on the child safety hub website and also includes imagery and links - 

If you have any questions, please feel free to email childsafetyhub@amgroup.net.au 

Closing the Gap Day | Vice President Jude Hayman

The Aboriginal RG would like to remind everyone that this Thursday, 17th March is Closing the Gap day. The DoE is livestreaming at 10am, discussing the importance of Closing the Gap 

Please email Paul Byrne, ARG Chair, paul.byrne@det.nsw.edu.au, any feedback about the Universal Resources that are available to support Aboriginal Education resources as well as any suggestions about what is needed.

Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful Schools Reform | Vice President Trish Peters

Now that the Inclusive, Engaging and Respectful Schools Reform has started to roll out after a couple of years in the making, we now confront the reality of the nuts and bolts of implementing the three components of the reform. The values that we hold as principals in our public schools are universally shared and the NSWPPA is fully supportive of the intent of each of these aspects of the reform; after all, it is what we stand for! The “devil is in the detail” as they say, and there are certainly many details for us to work through.

A suggested timeline for a staged implementation has been provided and this should be viewed as a support rather than a firm plan – you are in the best position to make decisions about what is right for your school. There are some firm deadlines though:

• all prohibited restrictive practices (i.e. those ones that break the law) should be eliminated by the start of Term 2
• all planning for students should include informed consent from families about practices that are considered restrictive and existing plans need to be reviewed over Terms 2 and 3
• all schools need to revise their current student welfare procedures and school-based policies onto the new school behaviour management template which includes the current anti-bullying template by the beginning of Term 1 2023

The workshop presented at last week’s State Council gave an overview of the PPA’s involvement and the background to our position which aligns with both the NSWSPC and NSWTF with regard to the suspension procedures. (The workshop and presentation have been provided to delegates who attended last week’s State Council for sharing at local PPC meetings if you choose). The two issues we continue to have the biggest concerns with are:

• five day suspensions for K – 2 students – a big issue for the principal members of the NSWPPA in terms of the short timeframe to plan and provide support for a quick return to school
• the need for DEL permission to extend a suspension and for the DEL to decide the length of the extension – principals should have the confidence of the system to make the call on this.

Crucial to the successful implementation of the total reform is the quality and coverage of the support – human and other resources.

Your feedback through your local PPC meetings, from your local area contacts to the various reference groups and standing committees, to the chairs of the RGs and SCs and to NSWPPA State Executive has never been more important as we seek to support, advocate, empower and lead in this transformative space for our students and schools.

New Universal Resources Hub | Vice President Norma Petrocco

New Universal Resources Hub

The Universal Resources Hub - a much-anticipated feature of the School Success Model - has launched.

What is it?

The Universal Resources Hub is an enhanced version of the Digital Learning Resources Hub and has expanded to host high-quality, evidence-based school improvement resources along with teaching and learning resources. These resources aim to support student learning outcomes and school improvement in identified priority areas.

The Universal Resources Hub currently includes Reading and Numeracy, Attendance, Aboriginal HSC Attainment, Financial Management and School Excellence resources, with subsequent releases soon to include resources for Curriculum, Inclusive Practice and Wellbeing.

What’s different?

• Easy access to quality assured, evidence-based resources
• New resources that will support school improvement such as attendance and financial management
• Profile personalisation options such as creating links to your favorite resources, and using additional filters in your searches
• A better user-experience with more functions to generate popular resources tailored to your specific preferences

Resources are:

• developed by subject matter experts based on robust evidence
• are quality-assured through a new standardised quality assurance process and standardsmapp
• ed to either the Teaching and Learning cycle or the School Improvement cycle to help teachers, school leaders and school-based staff utilise within their daily teaching and school practices

For more information you can also visit the Universal Resources Hub inside the department.

NSW Curriculum Reform is Underway | Vice President Norma Petrocco

The NSW Government is reforming the curriculum from Kindergarten to Year 12 so every student is prepared and ready for their future. The NSW Curriculum Reform will deliver a new curriculum for Kindergarten to Year 12 from 2024. The new curriculum is being developed by the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA).

The department is committed to providing support to leaders and teachers to implement and teach the new curriculum by providing relevant and timely professional learning, advice and comprehensive resources.

Upcoming public consultation – ‘Have Your Say’

NESA will soon open a new round of Have Your Say consultations on draft syllabuses for mathematics 3-10, English 3-10 and languages (Auslan, Classical and Modern) K-10. The Department recently conducted information sessions on these draft syllabuses in advance of the consultations.

Recorded copies of those information sessions will be accessible on the department’s Curriculum Reform webpage in the next week.Principals are urged to engage with the draft syllabuses and give their feedback via the NESA consultation surveys and also to encourage all teachers to actively participate in those consultations.

Accelerated adopter initiative

Currently, nearly 400 early adopter schools are implementing the English and mathematics K-2 syllabuses for their Year 1 cohorts. These Accelerated Adopters and Self-Select schools, are piloting resources and providing essential feedback on the department’s model of support for the Curriculum Reform.

I’m not an Accelerated Adopter or Self Select school, what can I do to prepare my teachers?

New planning and preparation pathways describe how leaders and teachers can prepare to implement new syllabuses.

Fact sheets for each new syllabus provide leaders with an overview of key information and whole school considerations. The Curriculum Professional Learning webpage will be the place where schools can learn about all the professional learning being developed by the department.

Other recent resources include the K-2 Research toolkits for English and mathematics which include a research snapshot and a professional learning activity to help build understanding of the evidence base behind the syllabuses.

Further information and resources

The Curriculum Reform webpage will also provide departmental updates on the reform and links to resources for school leaders and teachers.

School’s Records Management | Secretary Greg McLaren

If you are short of space in your administration area the following article may assist. The furphy or untruth in administration land is to keep all documents for 7 years.

Before I put you to sleep, whether as a Principal you send this article to your SAM or Business Manager, a reminder you are responsible for the action of retention and disposal of records and documents. At any time, you may be served with a subpoena or other similar court-issued processes which require the production of documentation to the Court (more information found in Legal Issues Bulletin #25 Subpoenas).

Quick Quiz:

How long are teacher program documents kept?
Minimum of 2yrs after action is completed, then destroy
How long do you keep a record of playground duties?
Minimum of 3yrs after action completed then destroy
How long do teachers keep submitted student work if not collected by students?
Minimum of 4 months after results finalised, then destroy
How long do you keep records of serious incident management in your school?
Minimum of 45yrs after action completed
How long do you keep records relating to the planning and action of excursions?
Minimum of 5yrs after action completed then destroy
How long do you keep records relating to students’ daily attendance?
Minimum 3yrs after action is completed, then destroy
How long do you keep records relating to child abuse?
Minimum of 99yrs after date of incident
How long do you keep school management plans?
Required as State archives

The decision of how to dispose of records is made according to disposal authorities approved by NSW State Records. The retention and disposal authority covers records documenting the function of primary and secondary education aka FA387 (formerly FDA60) as per State Records Act 1998 (NSW).

Two types of disposal authorities are used within the Department of Education, general disposal authorities and functional disposal authorities:

• general disposal authorities (GDA) developed by State Records Authority which apply to common records held by all agencies (e.g. administrative, financial etc.) and
• functional disposal authorities (FDA) developed by this and other agencies to cover records specific to them (e.g. school records).

Disposal is the term used to describe the action taken when records are no longer needed by the department.

For more information:

NSW State Archives & Records: General retention and disposal authorities website:

and

NSW DoE Schools Records Management website:

The available records management courses include:

The importance of records management The importance of records management

Best practice guide to school record keeping Best practice guide to school record keeping

Disposal of school records