NSW education officials sent back to classroom

Fat cat bureaucrats in the education department will be sent back to school for a reality check on how their decisions affect students and staff, waking them up to the everyday classroom challenges teachers face in 2023.

Exclusive: Fat cat bureaucrats in the education department will be sent back to school for a reality check on how their decisions affect students and staff, waking them up to the everyday classroom challenges teachers face in 2023.

All new corporate hires to head office — from accountants to human resources, legal counsel, call centre operators, procurement managers and curriculum assessors — will now be forced to undergo a week-long intensive placement in a local school as part of their ­induction process.

For his first major shake-up of internal processes since being formally appointed secretary in June, new boss of the Department of Education Murat Didzar will also require the nine members of his senior executive team to undertake school placements in term 3.

Mr Didzar said he wants every corporate employee of his department to be cognisant of how their work materially impacts schools.

“You might be in finance working balancing the books for the entire organisation, but you may be making decisions in that role that can have ­impact at the school gates,” he said.

Department of Education secretary Murat Didzar, with Seth Correa, 11; Maahe Chauhan, 12; Stirling Hobb, 12; Zeki Ozturk, 11; Sienna-Rose Kocis, 11; and Kevon Weerapperuma, 12, at John Palmer Public School in The Ponds. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“I want (my team) to have their finger on the pulse. A day in a school is not a wasted day, it makes you acutely aware of the challenges that are faced in the operating rhythm of a school.

“When you’re embedded in a school for a week, there is no glamorised version, you’re going to see it warts and all.”

Executive Director of Employee Relations Donna Wilcox is one of his test subjects, undertaking school experience in Orange which she hopes will ‘freshen her memory’.

“I’ve not been in a primary school since I went to school in the 70s,” she said.

“The group of people that I’ve been placed with are very, very pragmatic … they’re really clear that they want to show me all of the aspects of the school rather than giving me the golden tour.”

One Western Sydney principal, not authorised to speak publicly, hailed the move as “outstanding” and said the scheme “can only be a benefit” to school leaders and teachers.

Donna Wilcox (centre) is the department’s new Executive director of Employee Relations, and is undertaking her placement in Orange. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

“The void between schools and the corporate department has never been bigger than under the previous leadership,” he said.

“The departments work in absolute silos, and they tend to forget that at the end of the funnel is a school … I’ve got to then make head and tail of what falls onto my desk.”

The principal said he’d be glad to host the bean counters and policymakers in his own school every week; “We can’t throw stones and not be part of the solution.”

NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos also voiced support for the scheme, but said teacher shortages and salary negotiations were far more pressing problems that the government is “dragging the chain on”.

Education Minister Prue Car said: “This is a superb initiative that will give central office staff a valuable insight into the day-to-day challenges teachers are facing in our schools.”