Week 6 saw the NSWPPA State Executive meet with Minister Sarah Mitchell. We had the opportunity to discuss in depth some high level issues regarding staffing. We did so candidly. Prior to the State Executive having this meeting I was afforded an opportunity to do the same with the Minister myself. The conversation and sharing of examples provides the Minister with clarity and context. It often confirms the conversations she has had and on other occasions magnifies issues we are experiencing in our schools on a daily basis.

WE KNOW there ARE significant staffing issues. The issues are NOT new. They have however been magnified during COVID. The immediacy of the situation in many schools continues to have ramifications. Just this weekend, there was significant media around the staffing issues in our schools.

These meetings are more than Q&A sessions – we deliberately set an agenda for conversation and with a goal to secure actions forward. These were the areas we drilled down into this term.

Staffing Conversations with the Minister:

• Creativity in immediate responses | opportunities
• Teacher supply strategy | next steps – immediate |short term | long term action
• Counsellors and Psychologist in Primary Schools | planning forward | responding to the mental health and wellbeing of our students across the state | COVID | natural disaster
• Staffing methodology review | increase teacher release | executive release | SASS entitlement | workforce creation to support teaching staff | benefits to be shared
• Counsellor allocation in Primary settings
• Rural Regional and Remote | initiatives of significance | engagement with NSWPPA | representation
• University graduates

Principal Classification and Reclassification:

• Application of the current policy | bracket freeze | request for intervention | moratorium | inequity between | Primary and Secondary.

Impact

• Collapsing of other programs - Learning Support, COVID ISLP, EALD programs constantly interrupted as staff redirected to cover classes | impact on targets and SIP progress | ramifications.
• New issue: casuals avoiding blocks as they are happier to select days and schools |workload | higher duties.
• Staff covering classes in their RFF, part time teachers’ coming in to work on their days off, teachers doing multiple duties, covering two classes.

Workforce Fatigue and Wellbeing

• PSL role
• workload
• SIP implications
• Goodwill | ‘more than thanks’