‘Big breakthrough’: Private schools to disclose teachers’ extra hours under new deal

Private schools will need to be “transparent” with teachers about how many hours they will spend running extracurricular activities after class under a new wage deal through which experienced staff will out-earn their public school colleagues.

Graduate teachers will be paid $90,000 from this year – about $2000 more than their public education counterparts, according to pay tables published by the Independent Education Union.

Private schools must provide information about face-to-face teaching hours and extracurricular requirements under the new enterprise agreement.Credit: James Alcock

Union secretary Carol Matthews said under the agreement, which she has encouraged staff to formally vote to support this month, schools would need to be clear about the time teachers are required to run weekend and after-school activities such as music and sport.

“We’ve achieved a big breakthrough in that independent school employers will now be required to notify teachers of face-to-face teaching loads, extracurricular requirements and the reduction of face-to-face teaching time for teachers in leadership positions,” Matthews said.

“This information must be provided when new teachers start at a school. It has clearly been an issue in a significant number of schools – our members have told us this.”

Public school teachers won a historic $10,000 pay hike in 2023 after years of a worsening teacher shortage, and another rise in 2024 of an extra 3 per cent a year.

This week the government said teacher vacancies had reached a four-year low thanks to the pay rise. In rural and regional parts of the state, vacant positions fell to 654, a decline of 47 per cent between 2023 and this year.

Association of Independent Schools of NSW acting chief executive David Buley said amendments to the agreements would “clarify that schools inform teachers of the usual number of face-to-face teaching hours per week or per cycle”.

Public school teachers last year reached a wage agreement that gave them extra pupil-free days and capped weekly staff meetings to one hour outside class time.

SCEGGS Darlinghurst principal Jenny Allum said private schools were always clear about the teaching load and extracurricular activities required of teachers.

“These are made clear in the recruitment process for all new staff, and to all staff when circumstances change in a school from time to time,” she said.

“I would always say to my staff to please come and talk to me or the business manager if they had any questions and concerns because I want staff to really value working at SCEGGS.”

The most experienced private school teachers will earn $127,281 from this year, slightly above the $125,763 salary currently paid to top-band public school teachers.

Teachers will transition from a number of different agreements, each with different pay scales, to a seven-step scale.

Matthews said the deal had come after months of “intense discussions” between the union and the Association of Independent Schools. Last year the union called for private school teacher salaries to be lifted by 5 to 7 per cent above educators in the public system to “maintain the traditional premium.”

Many high-fee schools including Newington, King’s and Shore have historically paid well above award rates for teachers.

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