Georges River College Peakhurst is among the schools that will benefit from reduced workload in administrative paperwork, as the plan to address teacher workload falls into place.
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The NSW Government is appointing hundreds of extra specialist support staff who will lighten the workload of public school teachers throughout the state.
It follows a stakeholder roundtable discussion with Deputy Premier and Minister for Education, Prue Car, formed to urgently address challenges facing teachers.
From Term 3, another 284 public schools will be able to employ the equivalent of 400 full-time extra administration staff, or offer more hours to existing staff.
The new staff will join the 203 administration roles already in 128 schools as part of the School Administration Improvement Program since Term 3 last year.
The expansion of the program to about 20 per cent of all public schools, will help identify the best way to scale-up the program for implementation across all 2200 schools in 2024.
Tasks from the new administration staff include preparing excursions, liaising with bus companies and their drivers, and organising permission slips, inputting student performance data into spreadsheets, managing parental payments, updating newsletters, social media, school apps and texting parents about events, filling out health plans for students and lesson timetabling.
Addressing workload challenges was one of four focus areas of a new Statement of Intent agreed to by the NSW Teachers' Federation, Public Service Association, and other key stakeholders. Feedback from the initial trial showed a marked reduction in administrative workload on teachers.
It's being applauded by GRC Peakhurst School Principal Diane Wilson, who said administration had increased in the past decade.
"Teachers tend to pick up more and more. They just get on and do things that are needed to be done for the benefit of students. But it got to the point where it's taking all the time the teachers have spare, where they could be preparing lessons, developing units of work, teaching and learning - which is the focus of the school," she said.
Head teacher of PE teacher Stephanie Yates, knows all too well that teachers are a "jack of all trades".
"A lot happens as a teacher - we are not just standing in front of a classroom delivering content," she said.
"In my role there are plenty of sporting opportunities and that comes with quite a bit of paperwork. We have moved to different software to make it more progressive with online, but that still comes with challenges, such as changes to an excursion and gala days.
"Recess and lunch time is spent chasing students up to finalise details. It will alleviate that burden where we can focus more on teaching and learning, and look at activities we don't necessarily have time to flesh out before they are delivered.
"Students will also have that one point of contact to go to to ask questions."
Lea Pracy, who works in the school office said it would enable greater collegiality with teachers.
"It's fabulous that we will be able to further support our teaching staff - to take away that burden of admin that they really need in their lives," she said. "We will be able to better streamline processes and make like easier for them."
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