Few people enjoy reading and interpreting enterprise agreements, which is why the AEU employs people who do. We wrote the AEU Workload Handbook to help you access all the entitlements our union has won for members, without the hassle of trawling through the EA yourself.
The Handbook talks about the entitlements related to the work of teachers and school leaders. It describes your entitlements in plain language. It answers questions that the AEU office is frequently asked by members.
For members new to ACT schools, the Handbook is a great introduction to how your industrial entitlements work in schools. For members who have been around for a while, there might be things here and there you’ve never been sure about – and a flip through the document might offer information that could improve your working life.
The Handbook covers:
- Face-to-face teaching hours
- Release time
- Hours of work and excessive hours
- Hours of required attendance
- Core role of teachers (what’s your job, and what isn’t)
- Maximum working days and stand down
- Class sizes
- Meetings and other required activities
- Professional learning
- EA Implementation Plans
- ICT and the right to disconnect
- School leader and principal workload
- Resolving workplace issues.
Click here to download the Handbook. (You’ll need to be logged in to do so – the good stuff is members only!)
Here’s some pointers from the Handbook about face-to-face teaching hours.
Face-to-face teaching hours
Maximum teaching hours are defined in the enterprise agreement (EA) to limit workload. They are 21 hours/week for primary and 19 hours/week for secondary, less if you’re a new educator or school leader.
While there are some averaging provisions for secondary, your maximum teaching hours cannot be exceeded. To do so is to breach the EA, which is against the law.
These are the limits on face-to-face teaching:
The limits above are maximums, but sometimes schools don’t need to roster everyone on for their full maximum time. This is good – it means more time for you for lesson planning, collaborating with colleagues or other assigned tasks.
The EA states that face-to-face teaching loads should be equitably distributed, and that the teaching load of an individual teacher must not be unreasonable or excessive. In allocating teaching hours, the employer must take into account each teacher’s total contribution to school operations, such as the time they spend running extra-curricular activities or their duties as a year coordinator.
Teachers (including school leaders) should expect to have a teaching load that, when balanced with their other duties (such as extra-curricular, leadership, pastoral care or parental engagement activities) does not require them to work unreasonable additional hours.
My school does not have enough staff. Can we ask new educators to cover classes beyond their face-to-face teaching limits?
No. The reduced hours are an entitlement under the enterprise agreement, and they are not optional or discretionary. Failure to provide anyone with their entitlements is against the law.
What counts as face-to-face teaching?
The EA defines face-to-face teaching as “sessions of direct student instruction” including both normal classes and in-built relief, as well as any session requiring “curricular or pastoral functions involving student supervision, student counselling or consultation”. This means that the following would generally count towards your face-to-face teaching load limit:
- Scheduled classes
- In-built relief
- Assemblies
The following generally does not count towards your face-to-face teaching load limit:
- Playground duty
- Supervising a club that is not related to the curriculum and does not have a pastoral function (like chess club after hours that you might volunteer to run)
If you’re asked to be involved with activities like excursions, camps or assemblies, and your involvement includes student supervision (as mentioned in the definition above), it should be counted as face-to-face teaching. As a general rule, the AEU recommends that a teacher attending a camp or excursion should be credited with at least the amount of face-to-face teaching they would ordinarily have undertaken during the time where the camp/excursion occurs.
⭐ Industrial tip from the AEU office ⭐
We often receive questions regarding supervised eating time in primary schools. The key factor in determining if supervised eating time counts as face-to-face teaching is whether it fulfills curricular or pastoral functions with student supervision.
Here’s how the AEU office interprets whether something should count as face-to-face teaching.
It does count as face-to-face teaching when:
- The student-to-teacher ratio matches regular classroom ratios
- The time includes educational or pastoral activities, such as
- Teaching social and emotional skills around eating behaviour
- Incorporating activities like reading or music
It does not count as face-to-face teaching when:
- The supervision ratio is similar to playground duty ratios
- The supervision is purely for safety or duty of care
- There are no curricular or pastoral functions involved
What if I work part time?
If you work part time, your face-to-face load should be proportionately reduced. For example, a full-time classroom teacher working in a primary school has a maximum teaching load of 21 hours/week. If you are working part-time at 80%, your maximum teaching load would be 16.8 hours/week (80% of 21 hours).
Can maximum face-to-face hours be exceeded one week and ‘made up’ later in the term?
If you are a primary or preschool teacher, no.
If you are a high school or college teacher, it depends. The EA allows for the 19 hours per week limit to be averaged over a year, mostly to account for some high schools having a fortnight schedule. You can be asked to work up to 20 hours in any given week without the principal being required to gain your agreement. Beyond this, you must genuinely agree to the arrangement (meaning you can say no), and your maximum hours of 19 per week must still be averaged over the year.
Exceeding anyone’s maximum face-to-face hours is a breach of the EA, which is against the law.
I have concerns about how teaching hours and release time are distributed at my school, and/or concerns about my workload. What should I do?
You should have enough time away from your classes to complete your duties as a teacher. If you do not have enough time to complete your duties within scheduled work hours, your concerns need to be raised with your manager to start a discussion about your workload and where necessary, negotiate a revision. It might be that your manager doesn’t see the full extent of your responsibilities, and the school needs to become aware of what these are.
You should keep some record of the issue you raised and any response from your manager. It’s easiest to do this by sending them an email. If you are unable to resolve the issue after talking to your manager, we recommend reaching out to the AEU office for further advice about possible options.
Release time
For the first time, the 2023-26 EA defines release time as reasonable time for curriculum planning, lesson preparation, assessment and reporting. The allocation for this is 10 hours a week.
Three hours of this release must be scheduled during hours of student attendance (generally between 8:30am and 3:30pm). You can’t be rostered on to teach, attend meetings, or do playground duty during this time. For primary school and specialist school settings, scheduled release time must be provided in blocks of no less than 45 minutes, with blocks of one hour or more scheduled wherever possible. In secondary settings, release time must be scheduled in blocks of at least one lesson period.
School leader release time
The EA is clear that release time applies to school leaders C and B who have a teaching load.