The $1.6 billion education cuts announced today by the O’Farrell Government will leave schools, parents and students without support for the continued delivery of quality public education, according to the Public Service Association of NSW.

General Secretary John Cahill said the NSW Government is driving enormous cutbacks in school support staff numbers and resources, setting many schools up for ongoing failure and loss of services.

“The education cuts announced by Premier Barry O’Farrell will never heal – every school, every parent, every student in NSW will be worse off,” Mr Cahill said today.

Job cuts announced today include: 

• 400 school-based administrative and support staff; and
• 600 staff from Department of Education state and regional offices, including non-school-based teachers.

“The loss of every one of these jobs will impact on students, teachers and school communities,” said Mr Cahill. 

“School support staff are involved in a variety of roles in schools, such as student enrolments, overseeing student attendance, financial management and support for teachers in specialist areas. 

“These school support staff are also an essential line of communication for parents and community members. Education support roles form the backbone of our school system, with every support job lost placing greater burdens on principals and teachers and a drain on face-to-face teaching,” he said. 

“The loss of jobs from the Department of Education head office will hit learning support, effective administration, policy development and enrichment programs.

“This will include the loss of professionals involved in setting and supervising the school curriculum, innovative technology-based learning programs and other teacher and program support.

“Like any organisation, schools require efficient administration and support to ensure they can deliver good education outcomes for all students.

“I can’t see how the NSW education system can hope to overcome the damage done when the expertise, experience and skills of more than 1800 professionals are completely lost to the students of NSW,” he said.

 Contact: John Cahill 0419 413 577 / Jane Garcia 0434 489 533