Strathcona Girls Grammar teachers to take action over workload, pay disputes

Teachers from elite private school Strathcona Girls Grammar are threatening to walk off the job after stalled talks about working hours and pay.

Staff at one of Melbourne’s most prestigious girls’ schools could go on strike over stalled talks about working hours and pay, the Herald Sun can reveal.

Teachers and teacher aides from Strathcona Girls’ Grammar have been granted the right by the Fair Work Commission to take industrial action ranging from a 24-hour stoppage to handing out flyers to parents and bans on meetings and out-of-hours events.

Conciliation between the school leaders and the Independent Education Union (IEU) failed to settle disagreements over a number of issues including pay and the amount of paid scheduled teaching and preparation time.

The current Strathcona Girls’ Grammar agreement expired on January 31 2025 and required teachers to be at school for 195 days a year, with teachers paid between $109,000 and $146,000 depending on seniority.

Unlike similar agreements at other private schools, it doesn’t set limits on scheduled teaching and preparation time.

External view of Strathcona Girls Grammar. Picture: Supplied

Negotiations over the new agreement have been underway for six months.

The dispute comes as some of Victoria’s most prestigious private schools are facing increased pressure to give teachers workload relief after Catholic sector educators received a reduction in teaching time of one hour a week in 2023 and half an hour in 2024.

Meetings before and after school were also limited to no more than two hours a week under the recent Catholic agreement.

IEU general secretary David Brear said the union was “engaging in conciliation at the Fair Work Commission in good faith and hope that this matter can be resolved without the need for our members to resort to industrial action”.

Strathcona Girls’ Grammar’s principal Lorna Beegan said the school “is in the process of negotiating an enterprise bargaining agreement and this is a part of the process”.

“We are working collaboratively to reach a fair and balanced outcome that benefits both our staff and the broader school community,” she said.

Strathcona Girls Grammar school principal Lorna Beegan. Picture: Supplied

The union was granted permission to hold a ballot of employees from the school by the Fair Work Commission this week, opening the way for protected industrial action.

The ballot will be concluded on March 26, with the union agreeing that teachers will perform work in an emergency situation or where there are risks to personal health or child safety.

Only a small number of high-fee private schools have voted to take industrial action in recent years, including Xavier College and Scotch College.

Xavier College staff voted on action including not attending Saturday sport and issuing detentions through to a 24-hour stoppage over workload negotiations in 2023.

Scotch College staff were also unhappy with a stalled pay deal back in 2024, leading to threats of industrial action.

Strathcona Girls’ Grammar’s latest financial report shows the school made a loss of $4000 in 2023 from a total income of $31m. It paid ten executive personnel a total of $2.2m. Its year 12 fees are nearly $40,000 annually.