The New Deal on workloads: success stories
Many schools have fully embraced workload measures from the proposed Victorian Catholic Agreement, and their example proves how beneficial the changes can be for staff and students.
St Joseph’s College Echuca made the move to reduce scheduled class time from the beginning of the 2023 school year. Teachers now have fewer lessons to prepare and more time in which to do their preparation within the school day. After thorough consultation with staff last year, the school was able to plan for the accrual of time in lieu, which operated from the start of this year. The school also made an enlightened move to a 38-hour week prior to the new Agreement being finalised.
Other schools which got on board with the new arrangements covered the gamut of the Victorian Catholic sector, from Edmund Rice schools to Mercy Education.
Our Ladies Mercy College, Heidelberg, Emmanuel College, Warrnambool, St Kevin’s College in Toorak, and Genazzano Kew all provided face-to-face teaching time reductions, made no timetable changes, made a commitment to provide TIL from the start of the year – and promised no ‘shaving’ of period lengths to achieve reduced scheduled class times.
Those schools have also all increased and successfully appointed new staff to their schools to meet the workload changes and are effectively implementing the 30+8 model.
“Staff in these schools are really happy about these results,” our Organiser reports. “OLMC report that staff now want to stay at the school because the school offers conditions that meet the intention of the workload reductions.”
Staff at Emmanuel College will immediately access some time in lieu in Term 1 to alleviate stress when camps take place.
At OLMC, the principal is allowing staff to use flexible work arrangements to work at home. This may extend to some meetings if practical.
Schools experiencing harmonious transitions started constructive discussions with IEU Organisers, Reps and members early. Principals who took this positive approach were happy to have strong IEU sub-branches put forward a “logical case” which made the work of teachers more manageable.
At Killester College, Springvale, the full-time teaching load has been reduced from 48 periods out of 60 a fortnight to 44. As a result, most teaching staff have dropped an entire class from their load. This is a huge reduction in associated work for secondary teachers; dropping a class of 25 students means 25 fewer assessments, 25 fewer families to communicate with, and 25 less reports to deliver.
It also reduces the number of individual learning plans and welfare concerns teachers must manage. Our Organiser at Killester says, “This is how the reduction in SCT was designed to work in secondary schools”.
“It might seem an expensive move, but in the long run, the costs saved from the logistics of changing the timetable two years in a row will be more than worth it.
“It also allows the College to demonstrate their appreciation for their hard-working staff and marks the school as an employer of choice for 2023 in a competitive market. This approach already looks vindicated because they haven’t had concerns with staffing their school despite the teacher shortage.
“This isn’t a case of a wealthy school making it look easy – this is a relatively low-fee school catering to a very diverse student population. The changes at Killester were achieved through good management, good consultation with staff, and a leadership team committed to working constructively with the IEU. If more Catholic schools in Victoria operated this way, I’d be out of a job!”
The changes have also been embraced in primary schools.
At St Francis Xavier Primary School, Ballarat East, our Organiser reports that the newly appointed Principal and our Rep have been “very proactive” in implementing changes and accommodating TIL effectively. “The school had a real sense of community. The new principal has been keen to listen to staff as they adapt to the new Agreement”.
At St Bernard’s Primary School, Bacchus Marsh, changes to hours have already been smoothly implemented and the Deputy Principal is focusing on supporting staff through the implementation of time in lieu.
“They had a keen focus on working with staff and the consultative committee to develop a clear way forward suiting all parties. Staff were keen to ask clarifying questions and were also positive about the Deputy Principal’s determination to ensure the Agreement would be implemented properly”.