Pay rises for teachers solve only part of NSW’s education problems

The Minns government’s once-in-a-generation deal making NSW teachers the highest paid in the country is a welcome development that clears a key stumbling block that has long hindered provision of a good education in this state.

Under a four-year agreement with the NSW Teachers Federation that has potential to alleviate the chronic teacher shortage, salaries would rise for both beginners and top-of the scale teachers by nearly $10,000 a year while teachers in middle salary bands receive increases of between 4 and 8 per cent. Starting salaries for public school counsellors will rise by 25 per cent. The increases apply for one year and come into effect next month.

NSW Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car speaks about the pay deal.Credit: Janie Barrett

In an attempt to address the crucial issues of teacher workloads and burnout that have driven so many from the state system, the deal also includes provisions that veto contact by principals or parents outside work hours. An agreement between the union and NSW Catholic dioceses means the salary increases to government schools will flow on to the Catholic system.

The new four-year industrial relations award allows Premier Chris Minns’ government to kick the salary can down the road without revealing how much teachers will receive in the following three years. Exactly how much money teachers will receive in subsequent years will be dependent on the government’s wages policy. “All that will be clear in the budget in a few weeks time,” said NSW Education Minister Prue Car.

So, pay uncertainty lies in the future for the state’s teachers. But the deal did settle an embarrassing impasse between their union and the government. Minns’ election promise to scrap the 2.5 per cent public service wage cap came back to bite him last month when negotiations with the NSW Teachers Federation stalled and the government withdrew a deal proposing one-year pay rises.

Instead, it tendered a new four-year agreement which, in part, would include a 2.5 per cent cap on wages from the second year.

Unions claimed the pay offer was little more than a variation on the Coalition’s controversial wages cap. Angelo Gavrielatos, the powerful federation president, accused Labor of an “act of betrayal”. He clearly has strong behind-the-scenes influence on the government because teachers received a lot more than the nurses union who narrowly agreed to a one-year 4 per cent pay increase last month, or the Public Service Association, which represents a range of workers from prison officers, park rangers and Rural Fire Service employees, who also accepted a 4 per cent wage deal in July.

The collapse of government negotiations with the teacher union suggests a better way is needed to handle wage deals. In the same way remuneration tribunals determine parliamentarian salaries and conditions, some advocate the establishment of an independent arbiter to avoid the arm wrestling just endured on teachers salaries, as well as address such urgent issues as staff shortfalls.

But those reforms are in the future. The pressing need is how to fund the salary increases. A re-arrangement of the education budget is unavoidable. Minister Car provided no detail on potential cuts. “We will be working with the federation on where we can streamline, where we can cut red tape, where we can make sure every single cent we are spending on education in this government goes towards the education of our children,” she said.

Rewarding teachers is only part of solving the state’s education problems. A good school education must rely on teachers who exhibit the highest level of professionalism, value the needs and preferences of individual students, and deliver a curriculum that is relevant and up-to-date. Ensuring those three requirements is the task ahead for the Minns government.

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