Strathcona Girls Grammar teachers take stop-work action during sporting event

Staff at Strathcona Girls’ Grammar took unprecedented stop-work action during the school’s cross-country event on Friday, approaching parents in their fight for better working hours and pay.

Staff at an up-market private girls’ school took unprecedented stop-work action during a sporting event on Friday afternoon.

The staff at Strathcona Girls’ Grammar interrupted the school’s cross country event to hand out flyers to parents urging them to support their push for improved workplace conditions.

The Independent Education Union (IEU) said only 15 per cent of staff voted on an agreement put by the school, so talks are continuing over issues such as pay levels and scheduled teaching time.

The IEU flyer notes parents “pay good money to send their children to Strathcona — and we believe that should come with the highest standard of teaching and support. Right now, unsustainable workloads are making that harder to deliver”.

Lorna Beegan, principal of Strathcona Girls Grammar, said the vote provided “clarity”.

“Staff feedback is important to us, and we are committed to working collaboratively toward a fair and balanced outcome that reflects and supports the significant contributions and requirements of all our staff,” she said.

“With respect to today’s stop-work action, staff who are rostered on will continue their supervision duties, however, those who are eligible to take lunch at 1.50 PM may choose to participate in the action for 20 minutes.”

The industrial action is protected and legal under workplace laws.

External view of Strathcona Girls Grammar. Picture: Supplied

The Herald Sun previously reported that from this week, teachers at Strathcona would refuse to attend assemblies, wear union T-shirts at work and put industrial campaign messages on their emails.

Three quarters of the prestigious school’s staff, including 100 teachers and a dozen teaching assistants were set to begin industrial action on Tuesday amid stalled talks about working hours and pay, the Herald Sun can reveal.

Independent Education Union (IEU) members at Strathcona voted 98 per cent in favour of taking industrial action as they negotiate a new enterprise agreement, with full-day strike action still a possibility. The union members voted on Wednesday to escalate industrial action if needed from term two.

The school and union members have been in talks for the past six months, but outstanding issues include enforceable limits to scheduled teaching time, protection of time for preparation and marking, salaries and the right to access arbitration in the case of a workplace dispute.

Strathcona Girls Grammar school principal Lorna Beegan. Picture: Supplied

IEU general secretary David Brear said: “Workload limits are critical to the sustainability of the work educators do — so, of course, they need to be expressed in an enforceable Agreement rather than being relegated to policies that can be changed by the employer on a whim.”

“Strathcona is a high fee school but the wage offer on the table just doesn’t cut it for staff living through a cost of living crisis. The IEU has already won significant wage increases for staff in several independent schools and we will be campaigning hard for significant uplift to salaries across non-government education in 2026 and beyond.”

The school has been contacted for comment.

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 $126,000 after 11 years. Beginning teachers are paid $84,000, and teachers with positions of responsibility receive additional loadings of up to $20,000.

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

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.

Strathcona Girls’ Grammar’s principal Lorna Beegan told the Herald Sun last week 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.

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.