Introduction #
School assistants are vital to our public education system. We provide essential support that enables every student to reach their potential. We are at the forefront on delivering greater inclusion for students in public schools. Working on the frontline of education, we demonstrate professionalism, expertise, and dedication every day. We deserve recognition, fair compensation, and working conditions that reflect our vital contribution to student learning and wellbeing.
We are education professionals who deserve:
- Recognition of our essential role in student learning and school communities
- Fair compensation that reflects the increasing complexity and demands of our work
- Career pathways that enable professional growth and development
- Safe, supportive working conditions
- A voice in decisions that affect our work
This log of claims represents the collective voice of over 450 school assistant members of the AEU ACT Branch. Based on extensive consultation, these claims put forward a vision for school assistant workplaces that are fair, safe, and sustainable; that provide decent, dignified work; and where school assistant expertise and experience is valued and respected.
Claims #
Our claims address the five key priority areas identified by our membership:
- Fair pay and conditions that recognise our unique work
- Clear career pathways
- Enough time to do our jobs
- Quality professional learning and development
- Safe workplaces
Fair pay and conditions that recognise our unique work #
School assistant work is complex, demanding, and essential to our education system. Our pay must reflect the professional nature of our work, our qualifications and experience, and the physical, emotional, and intellectual demands we face every day. School assistants deserve employment conditions designed specifically for their roles, not tied to office-based public servants.
- Deliver pay increases that provide real wage growth and achieve nationally competitive salaries. Increases must deliver genuine increases to pay and permanently incorporate the temporary school support allowance into base salaries.
- School assistant work is frontline work. It is dynamic and unpredictable. School assistants should have pay scales that reflect the unique nature of their work rather than being tied to the Administrative Service Officer (ASO) classification.
- Recognise school assistants who hold relevant qualifications through additional remuneration.
- The inclusive education strategy has fundamentally changed the work of school assistants. Replace the outdated special education allowance with a modern compensation framework that fairly recognises the crucial role of all school assistants in delivering inclusive education.
- Provide recognition and support for school assistants performing high-complexity work, such as those working within specialist settings, or who provide complex support or regular personal care. This should also include those performing HAAS duties.
Clear career pathways #
The inclusive education strategy and growing complexity of student support requires school assistants with advanced specialist skills and leadership capabilities. However, the current classification structure provides insufficient opportunities for progression, leaving highly experienced school assistants without appropriate recognition or career advancement. New higher-level roles are essential to retain our expertise, provide proper supervision and coordination of school assistants, and deliver the specialised programs our students need.
- Implement the outcomes of the review of the ‘School Assistant Classification Standards Framework’, which must provide role clarity and definition for school assistants.
- Recognition of specialist roles, experience and qualifications through substantially expanding positions at the SA4 classification level, as well as introducing new SA5 and SA6 classification levels. This would recognise the need for specialised and experienced school assistants to assist with literacy and numeracy intervention programs, and the need for supervision, coordination and mentoring to be performed by experienced school assistants. There must be merit-based recruitment and promotion processes for these positions.
- School assistants deserve secure employment that recognises the growing need for school assistants. The Education Directorate should increase secure employment opportunities by establishing and funding a minimum school staffing structure. This structure must address the need for every school to have enough school assistants. The system must take responsibility for ensuring every school has enough school assistants, including clear system-wide workforce planning.
- Being a school assistant is a career – however those wishing to train to become a teacher should be provided enhanced support and opportunities to do so which does not result in school assistants needing to choose between further study and continuing to work. This should include the introduction of paid practicum leave for school assistants studying to be a teacher akin to leave that is currently available to permit-to-teach employees.
Enough time to do our jobs #
We consistently work beyond our paid hours to complete essential tasks including administration, reporting, collaboration with teachers, and professional learning. The current system expects us to provide work for free. This is unsustainable and undermines the quality of support provided to students. We need protected time during paid hours to fulfil all aspects of our roles, and fair compensation when work extends beyond normal hours.
- Ensure school assistants have genuinely protected time during the day to undertake tasks outside of the classroom. Current arrangements under the enterprise agreement are insufficient and inconsistently applied. This should include guaranteed paid time for school assistants to plan and collaborate with teachers, attend student support meetings, attend all staff meetings, undertake administration such as reporting in SAS and Safety Portal and participate in professional learning.
- Strengthen the entitlements of school assistants in relation to out-of-hours work including school events, camps, and extended duties which provide educational experiences for students. Those undertaking this work must be appropriately compensated.
- Introduce optional full-time arrangements for school assistants to work up to 36.75 hours per week. Initially implement this for SA4 and higher classifications, with proportionate increases in salary to compensate for the additional hours. The EDU commit to working with impacted unions and employees on the feasibility of increased hours being expanded to all school assistant classification levels during the life of the next enterprise agreement.
- Remove the requirement that SA4s work 2 days within each stand down period. All program preparation and planning should occur during paid time during the school term.
Quality professional learning & development #
We are committed professionals who want to continuously improve to better support students. However, the current professional learning requirements are poorly designed and often irrelevant to our roles. We deserve high-quality, targeted professional development that occurs during paid time and genuinely enhances our ability to support student learning and wellbeing.
- Reduce mandatory professional learning from 25 hours to 20 hours annually to align with teacher requirements. Guarantee that all mandatory professional learning occurs during paid hours and during the school term.
- Ensure professional learning offerings are specifically designed for school assistants and delivered by learning support and other specialists. Professional learning should be directly related to the work school assistants perform.
- Pupil free days should be protected time for school assistants to undertake relevant duties such as professional learning and development, planning and collaboration.
- Introduce opportunities and incentives for school assistants to undertake additional training or study directly relevant to their roles.
Safe workplaces #
We face significant workplace safety risks including occupational violence, manual handling injuries, and psychological stress from supporting students with complex needs. Despite these risks, safety protections and systems have not kept pace with the changing demands of the role. We have the right to work in environments where our safety is prioritised, risks are properly managed, and we have meaningful representation in workplace health and safety matters.
- The enterprise agreement should reflect clear expectations and processes to protect school assistant safety, including psychosocial safety. This should include system-wide procedures for preventing and managing occupational violence.
- Health & Safety Representatives perform an important role in schools. For school assistants elected as HSRs, they should be provided with appropriate resources to perform their roles. This should include at least 80 hours over the school year of paid time to perform their HSR duties.
- The role of the union in upholding workplace safety is crucial. Include equivalent conditions for school assistants elected as delegates as is contained in the teaching staff agreement, including recognised time away from duties to perform their roles.