The Department of Education has repeatedly called on the Federation to put students first and call off today’s industrial action.

The Government has indicated its intention to consider wages as part of the budget process which concludes in June.

The Minister and Secretary will seek to defer the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) arbitration on the salaries component of the Award to enable us to factor any outcomes of the budget process into the Teacher Award process.

The Department will do all it can to minimise disruption to teaching and learning, especially given the difficulties and challenges students, parents and families have experienced over the last two years.

School principals will have communicated arrangements for today for their school with parents and carers.

During industrial action, principals have a duty of care to ensure students and staff are safe, and will advise parents and caregivers of operational arrangements at their school.

Some public schools will only be able to offer minimal supervision to students due to the impact of the strike.

Minimal supervision means teaching continues but temporary class structures and a modified timetable will be enacted to meet student safety requirements.

Teacher salaries

NSW public school teacher salaries are competitive with those offered by other state education systems.

From the first full pay period after 1 January 2022, an increase of 2.5 percent (comprised of a 2.04 per cent salary increase and 0.5 per cent increase to the Superannuation Guarantee Contribution) was paid to teachers and related employees via an award variation to ensure they were not financially disadvantaged pending the award arbitration in the Industrial Relations Commission.

Teacher Supply Strategy

The NSW Government is working on a number of initiatives to deliver a sustainable supply of quality teachers, including in critical subjects and locations, and is on track to deliver its commitment to deliver 3,700 teachers with the right subject qualifications in the right locations over ten years. This includes delivering 1,600 of these teachers over the first five years of the strategy.

We have filled over 6,400 teaching positions for 2021, and since 2017 we have appointed more than 26,000 teachers.

In the 2021/22 NSW Budget, $125 million was committed over four years to deliver the initiatives included in the Teacher Supply Strategy.