With Term 3 coming to a close, we hope you all have a well-deserved break over the school holidays.

Throughout the term your PSA industrial representatives and committed delegates have been working hard on the issues and concerns most important to members. Below is a wrap up of the significant issues the PSA and delegates have been working on.

In this update:

1. School Development Days and Professional Learning
2. Executive Teaching Time Review – impact on SASS
3. Student Records Project
4. WHS – Digital Incident Form
5. Driving School Buses
6. School Community Charter – dealing with inappropriate behaviours
7. Educational Paraprofessional Employment Changes
8. Move to Online Declaration Process – conflicts, gifts, secondary employment
9. TWT Tranche 2
10. eFPT Working Group

School Development Days and Professional Learning

The PSA continues to advocate for School Administrative and Support Staff (SASS) to have better access to face to face and role specific training and will be seeking to raise more specific issues around this with the Secretary. Following improvements to the Teachers Award in 2024 in gaining additional School Development Days (SDD), concerns have been raised that some schools have sought to only commence long-term temporary employment contracts for SLSOs from when the students are in class, reducing their contract and impacting on vacation leave.

The PSA is strongly opposed to this and is seeking to have consistent recruitment practices across NSW public schools and equal training and development opportunities for SASS.

Executive Teaching Time Review

Improvements for teaching staff as a result of the Executive Teaching Time review that are impacting on SASS include a reduction in communications with SASS in some schools. The PSA has provided the department with examples and is waiting on a further response.

Student Records

Following from the last Joint Consultative Committee (JCC), delegates form the Schools Administration Working Group met with the People Leader and Customer Champion who is involved with the digitisation of student records project. Some key points from the meeting were that it was still very much a work in progress and they are committed to ongoing consultation with schools as they design and build the system. The PSA will continue to engage with this.  There is no requirement for schools to do anything at this stage.  The Department will provide further information when resources are made available for schools.

WHS Digital Incident Form

The PSA was pleased to see, after a successful trial period and extensive consultation, the rollout of the Digital WHS Incident Report Form to all schools, and it is a timely reminder for members to report all incidents when they occur.

School Buses

PSA restated our concern regarding the lack of clear responsibly and procedures for driving school buses. We have previously raised concerns that GAs are maintaining and driving school buses while not engaged under the Driver- General Assistant classification, and we are increasingly hearing of SLSOs who have obtained valid driver’s licences who are now driving school buses, something that the department maintained they were not aware of.

PSA reiterated its concern about the potential risks to students and the community, requesting information about the number of schools with one bus or more, and the number of engaged Driver GAs. We will continue to advocate for the Department to better consider the potential risks and provide clarification around responsibility for this duty.

School Community Charter

The proposed School Community Charter includes a ‘Code of Conduct for School Communities’ and a ‘School & Community Partnership Commitment’ document to clarify appropriate behaviour and dispute resolution for situations where the Codes of Conduct for Students and Staff do not apply.

These documents have been developed by the Department in consultation with the PSA to ensure staff feel confident in responding to challenging and/or unacceptable behaviour where those involved are not students or staff. The documents make clear that respectful communication and behaviour includes social media and any form of online interactions.

PSA has been engaged early in this consultation process, as the Department acknowledges the value of PSA Schools Delegate feedback to the development of these resources, as it is often SASS who are the first to experience this behaviour.

Educational Paraprofessionals

The PSA has been advised that as of 1 January 2026, Educational Paraprofessionals (EPs) will transition from the Teaching Services Act to SASS.

There will be no impact on the current pay or conditions of employment for EPs. Their duties (providing in and out of classroom support to teachers) will remain unchanged.

With EPs becoming SASS, they will be eligible to join the PSA, and for those SLSOs on the Grow Your Own Program who are in their final year of the program, transition to being an EP will enable them to continue their PSA membership.

Online declaration via SAP

The Department has advised the PSA that SASS will now be able to make declarations for conflicts of interest, gifts, benefits or hospitality, private and secondary employment and private interests online through SAP ESS from 25 August replacing the paper-based process.

Temporary Workforce Transition (TWT) Tranche 2

While there were some hopeful signs in 2024 that the department might be looking to a second round for the Temporary Workforce Transition (TWT Tranche 2), this unfortunately did not eventuate. However, until such time that we have a pathway towards permanency for long-term temporary employees, the PSA will continue to advocate for long-term temporary conversion to permanency, be it by TWT or other means.

The PSA will be meeting with the Secretary in Term 4 to discuss this, along with other significant claims to the SASS Award, such as the staffing formula and professional learning.

In the absence of a TWT, the PSA will revert to unfair dismissal applications to the NSW Industrial Relations Commission where possible to support members.

EFPT Working Group

PSA Schools delegates have met with key Department stakeholders from Schools Planning, Budgeting & Reporting, and Finance, Strategy & Performance, to discuss ongoing concerns with the eFPT.  We will continue to advocate for improved resources, genuinely simplified processes, and clarity around the responsibility for various budgeting tasks.  We are pleased that, through consultation, further enhancements are being investigated, however these are not likely to be ready to ease members’ workload in time for the preparation of 2026 budgets.

Two easy things you can do to support your union:

1. Support the work of the PSA and delegates by asking your colleagues to JOIN their union. And remind them of all the member benefits that are available to PSA members!
2. If members you work with have not received this bulletin and are already members forward this bulletin to them and ask them to update their details through our MEMBER PORTAL

If you have any questions about this bulletin, please email