Education Support staff and School Services Officers are the backbone of our schools.
Whether you work in a Catholic or Independent school, the IEU is here to support you and fight on the issues that matter to you. We have a dedicated Organiser who worked in Education Support for decades before joining the team at the IEU.
The best way to improve your pay and conditions is for you to fight collectively with your colleagues, with the support of your union.
Key concerns for Education Support staff
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The use of fixed-term contracts continues to be an issue faced by ES Staff in Independent and Catholic schools in both Victoria and Tasmania. In some cases, ES staff have been stuck on fixed-term contracts for decades when they should be have been made ongoing.
New legislation came into effect in 2023 to limit the use and duration of fixed-term contracts.
A single fixed-term contract must not be for a period greater than 2 years. An FTC cannot be renewed if this new contract would exceed the two year limit. And an FTC cannot be renewed more than once even if the period would be less than 2 years.
Basically, this means an employer cannot ask an employee to enter a third consecutive fixed-term contract. However, many employers continue to ignore their legal responsibility.
Have you ever been told you are fixed term because:
You are replacing someone?
You are on a ‘project’ or ‘specific task’?
There could be a redundancy at your school?
You need to work a few years before you can become ongoing?
Let us check your contract – in many cases, the IEU can win job security and ongoing roles for Education Support Staff. With the help of the IEU hundreds of staff have stood up and been made ongoing.
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Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is coming under the spotlight due to the rising incidence of student and parental violence. Unfortunately, support staff are often the first to face such abuse, so the IEU is working with employers to strengthen the guidelines around this issue.
In Victoria, long promised psychosocial regulations are not yet in force but they should be enacted soon. These regulations place a stronger onus on employers to ensure safe working conditions and demand regular checks of procedures and identification of risks. They will also assist support staff to raise concerns in their workplace.
You should not be working in a school which does not take staff safety seriously. We can help with these situations under Occupational Health and Safety Act provisions; contact the IEU if you have any questions or concerns.
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Reportable conduct allegations are on the rise and support staff are not immune from these often spurious and career-damaging reports. The IEU made a comprehensive submission to a review of Reportable Conduct legislation 12 months ago demanding an extensive overhaul of what has become a problematic and destructive scheme, but we are yet to see the government’s legislative response.
Sector specific information
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The most important change affecting support staff from the CEMEA 2022 was the removal of Level 1 classification, a big positive for our Learning Support Officers in particular. The removal of Level 1 means that LSOs must be employed at a minimum of Level 2, which more accurately reflects their roles and responsibilities and rewards them accordingly. This was a great win as it now means this important group can no longer be underpaid as a matter of course.
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In 2024, we reached an in-principle Agreement for staff in Tasmanian Catholic schools. There are a number of wins in this Agreement including low income payments. This $1000 payment will be made in March 2025 to most school support employees and teachers at or below Level 4 (pro-rata for part-time employees)
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The struggle continues in independent schools to get better terms and conditions for support staff. Some of these schools treat their support staff with respect, as demonstrated by appropriate pay, terms and conditions.However, some schools still refuse to bargain for an Enterprise Agreement with their ES staff. In some cases an employer will use the General Staff Award to pay a 0.8 weeks per year accrual rate for Long Service Leave for ES staff while allowing teaching staff to accrue the same leave at 1.3 weeks per year.
Teachers often have wages that match government and Catholic schools but often support staff do not!