The PSA has been campaigning around the workload crisis in schools, pushing the department to acknowledge the huge workloads our administrative members are struggling under.
We have raised the increased administrative burden for SAS Staff members in schools with the Chief People Officer and the Department of Education Secretary. Over the past few years, with schools’ responses to the pandemic and natural disasters, our members have seen a massive increasing in their workloads – often, with little or no additional staffing resources.
Earlier this week, Premier Perrottet was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald as saying:
“We need to look at having more admin staff in schools,” he said. “It’s taking them away from what they are actually qualified to do. I’m on it, and it’s not going to be tinkering around the edges.”
PSA writes to Premier seeking urgent meeting about increasing admin resources
The PSA has written to the Premier and welcomed his comments about increasing administrative support in the public school system.
The union’s letter to the Premier pointed out that the current staffing formula has not been substantively adjusted in decades. The staffing formula is now totally inadequate for ensuring appropriate levels for non-teaching staff in our schools.
The union has requested to meet with the Premier to learn what his goals are regarding our members who have worked hard to keep NSW schools operational under trying conditions over the past few years.
The staffing allocation across all schools is woefully inadequate
We will be telling the Premier that using student numbers does not truly reflect the real staffing needs of our schools in today’s highly regulated environment. We will be particularly highlighting the needs of primary schools who already receive less entitlement to staffing despite having much of the same work as high schools.
The union will also be seeking the Premier to decrease the reliance on temporary and casual employment in schools. We will be continuing to push for permanency for our long term temporary members in schools.
Often, our members in schools take on the extra workload and this must stop. The first step Premier is to stop the crap, scrap the cap and give our members in schools a decent pay increase.