Public School Teacher Staffing

The Hon. AMANDA FAZIO: I direct my question to the Minister for Education and Training. Can the Minister inform the House about changes to teacher staffing arrangements in public schools?

The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: I thank the member for the question and commend her for her ongoing interest in the education of young people in New South Wales. At the start of this school term the Iemma Government introduced new staffing arrangements in public schools to provide teachers with greater opportunities to secure permanent employment and to shape their career path. These improvements also give principals and school communities more of a say in some of the teaching appointments at their schools. I know that some people in the teaching profession are concerned about these changes and I want to reassure them about the Government's motivations and goodwill.

I want to maintain and improve the quality of teaching in public schools. I know there are concerns that this may be the start of a Victorian-style agenda. It is not. I know also that there is some concern in the teaching profession that the Commonwealth bureaucracy may want to continue the Nelson-Bishop agenda. New South Wales does not, and nor does the Commonwealth Minister, Julia Gillard. I assure teachers that if these modest changes have unintended consequences for staff in some schools I will take immediate steps. That is why the Government accepted the New South Wales Teachers Federation proposal for an expert panel to be established to monitor the effects of the change. I hope the federation reconsiders its decision to withdraw from that process.

There are 474 permanent teacher vacancies across the State, including 52 in Western Sydney, 104 in south-western Sydney, 38 on the Central Coast, 25 in the Central West, 28 in the Hunter region, and 20 in the Riverina. Under the Government's new arrangements, principals will have the opportunity to advertise a number of those positions and to select the qualified teacher who best suits the needs of their school community. Qualified teachers will also have the opportunity to consider whether a job will develop their skills and professionalism, provide a challenge or match them with colleagues they admire. They will also be able to factor in any other of the range of reasons people in most professions consider when applying for a new position.

Under the old arrangements, many graduate, casual and temporary teachers were locked out of applying for jobs. Despite the benefits that these changes will deliver to school communities and teachers, needless to say, the Opposition has refused to state a consistent position. The Broken Hill Barrier Daily Truth quotes the member for Murray-Darling declaring his "total opposition to the changes" on the basis that they remove incentives for hard-to-staff schools. Of course they do not. All priority schools remain priority schools and all teachers keep their priority status. There is certainly no change in Broken Hill or in the Broken Hill area, except that Broken Hill schools will now have a choice in selecting teachers if they want. The member should support these changes.

In the Western Herald earlier this month the member for Barwon made it clear that he did not support the changes on the basis that "teacher staffing and the existing transfer system need to be balanced with local ability to employ and maintain accountability". That is exactly what the new system does. The incentive transfer system and the service transfer list will not be dismantled or abolished and there will now be local input into these decisions. The member should support this policy. We have also heard from the member for Oxley, who claims to be the Opposition's education spokesman. Initially he said he supported such a policy, but he then spent two months attacking it to get headlines. The modest changes that the Government has introduced are supported by local school communities and are designed to the give schools and teachers more options and opportunities.