Not two weeks ago the Department of Education and Training of Western Australia made a pay offer to teachers that was little short of insulting. In it the DET offered nothing more than the paltry 14% they had previously offered and sought to reduce conditions by foisting a one-hour compulsory, out of hours staff meeting per week, 15 minutes compulsory after school everyday and 15 hours of out of school compulsory PD per year.
It seems that they expected that this completely unreasonable offer would be forced on teachers by the Industrial Relations Commission. As the SSTUWA noted in their response “it certainly is not a set of working conditions with associated salary which could be viewed as a strategic response to the current teacher supply crisis facing this Carpenter Government”. Quite so.
It would seem that while the DET had assumed that they were in bed with the IRC, as I had, they were, in fact, actually taking into consideration the facts of the situation, as highlighted in the Twomey report.
I believe that even the DET must have been surprised by the pay offer that they put on the table on Monday of this week. Although the IRC seemingly had no hand in the offer I can imagine that behind closed doors the DET was told, in no uncertain terms, that if they didn’t make an offer that was reasonable then the IRC would.
The information released so far concerning the new offer is positive and the spin put on it by both the Minister of Education and the Director-General makes it seem very generous. Briefly:
- pay rises of between 15.85% and 21.67% (the higher percentage going to teachers at the highest pay level) over three years
- 17.56% pay rise for administrators
- a $3000 salary increase for starting teachers
- 10 minutes more primary DOTT (Non-teaching time)
- increase allowances for remote and regional school teachers
It is a good offer and I believe that it will be embraced by teachers. However I don’t believe that it goes far enough. To be truly effective as a means of attracting and retaining teachers more needed to be done. Salary increases should have been an immediate 15% and then 5% per annum for 3 years. Pay structure and career paths should have been refined. Allowances for commencing teachers and senior teachers should have been greater. The DET had the opportunity to make WA teachers the envy of the world and make a real difference. Instead they have made an offer that, while worthy, only vaguely disguises itself as an election year sweetener to a vocal and large group of government employees.
[...] deal also includes a compulsory 15 hours out of school hours professional development. “In Missed It By That Much” I said that I thought that the offer was reasonable. Since then more information has come to light [...]