Instrumental music teachers/instructors

Awards and agreements

• DoE and QTU Joint Communiqué – Instrumental Music Teachers and Instructors
• QTU document: Unpacking the Joint Communique - Instrumental Music Teachers and Instructors
• Instrumental music program guidelines for managing hazards associated with COVID-19
• MOA Instrumental music teachers/instructors, Jan 2019
• Industrial Relations Act 2016
• Teaching State Education Award 2016
• Certified Agreement 2019

Support Materials

QTU guide to consultation and agreement when varying the hours of work of instrumental music teachers/instructors
 

Audience

All state school principals

Instrumental music teachers and instructors

Queensland Teachers’ Union Workplace representatives

Regional music coordinators.

Purpose

The QTU has strong views on consultation and agreement. This QTU guide supports local decision-making pertaining to consultation and agreement when varying the hours of work of an instrumental music teacher or instructor.

Overview

The hours of work for an instrumental music teacher or instructor are prescribed in clause 15.2 of the Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016, particularly 15.2(d) Rostered duty time.

Rostered duty time will commence no earlier than 0800 and conclude no later than 1600.  An instrumental music teacher/instructor will not be required to instruct for more than 7 hours in any one day or commence duty more than once on any one day.

In addition, clause 11.2(c) of the Instrumental Music Teachers and Instructors Memorandum of Agreement allows for the hours of work to be varied by consultation and agreement.

…rostered duty time to commence no earlier than 0800 and concluding no later than 1600, however through agreement with the subject employee and LCC, duties can commence or conclude outside the span of hours, provided that the parties agree that duties cannot commence earlier than one hour prior to the start of the school day or cease later than one hour after the end of the school day.

The QTU recognises that school start and finish times will vary throughout the state and that there are a range of reasons for the variance. The MOA provision, which is subject to consultation and agreement, allows for instrumental music programs, specifically ensemble rehearsals, to occur.

Consultation and agreement

In some workplaces, consultation is viewed as a barrier to change rather than a means of achieving positive outcomes for teachers and students. The QTU believes that effective consultation recognises the views of teachers as professionals and can achieve great results. The Department of Education broadly supports this position, and in 2016, schools received a message from the Director-General outlining the need for more local consultative committees (LCC) in schools. However, the mere existence of an LCC does not of itself meet the requirement for members to be consulted on matters pertaining to their working conditions and changes in their workplace. The LCC should be used as a vehicle for consultation.

The Department of Education State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement 2019 provides a clear expectation of what constitutes consultation.

Consultation involves more than a mere exchange of information. For consultation to be effective, the teacher must be contributing to the decision-making process, not only in appearance, but in fact.

As the Privy Council said in the matter of Port Louis Corporation v Attorney General of Mauritius

The requirement of consultation is never to be treated perfunctorily or as a mere formality.

In the context of a case concerning the statutory obligation to consult in relation to decisions regarding variations in public transport routes, Sachs LJ observed:

Consultations can be of very real value in enabling points of view to be put forward which can be met by modifications of a scheme and sometimes even by its withdrawal. I start accordingly from the viewpoint that any right to be consulted is something that is indeed valuable and should be implemented by giving those who have the right an opportunity to be heard at the formative stage of proposals – before the mind of the executive becomes unduly fixed.

Commissioner Smith in the matter of The Community and Public Sector Union v Vodafone Network Pty Ltd stated:

Consultation is not perfunctory advice on what is about to happen. Consultation is providing the individual, or other relevant persons, with a bona fide opportunity to influence the decision maker. Consultation allows the decision-making process to be informed, particularly as it may affect the manner in which work is undertaken in the course of employment.

Responsibilities

Principal

Ensure that a proposal to vary an instrumental music teacher or instructor’s hours of work will not adversely impact on the employee’s working conditions, including the employee’s health, safety, and wellbeing.

For example, will the variation to hours mean that the employee could be:

required to drive at unsafe times either to or from a workplace

undertaking roles and responsibilities associated with ensemble rehearsals (i.e. set up and pack up) at a time when there are no other employees present in the workplace

required to lock and secure the workplace, which is not a responsibility of an instrumental music teacher/instructor?

Local consultative committee

Consider any proposal to vary the hours of work of an instrumental music teacher or instructor.

Apply a decision-making flowchart, like the one set out in the next section, to review the instrumental music teacher/instructor weekly timetable.

Seek further advice from the Queensland Teachers’ Union, if required.

Make a decision about the proposal.

Instrumental music teacher or instructor

Consider the impact on work-life balance that any proposal to vary their hours of work will have.

For example, will the variation to hours impact on:

• caring responsibilities
• study
• ability of the instrumental music teacher/instructor to work and rehearse with their own band?

Decision making flowchart

The local consultative committee (LCC) should look at proposals that will result in a change within the school. A variation to the hours of duty of an instrumental music teacher or instructor will impact on the working conditions of an employee and needs to be considered by the LCC.

The QTU position is that it is reasonable for a school principal or an instrumental music teacher/instructor to propose to vary the hours of duty of the instrumental music teacher or instructor. However, the proposal should not be endorsed by an LCC unless there is clear evidence that consultation and agreement has occurred.

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This is an example of an instrumental music teacher/instructor timetable that complies with the industrial instrument. This timetable complies because:

✔ ensemble rehearsal time does not exceed five hours per week

✔ there is no more than seven hours of rostered duty time in any one day

✔ there is no requirement to commence duty more than once on any one day

✔ there is no requirement to attend staff meetings conducted outside of rostered duty time.

The next example also complies with the industrial instruments. However, as the school day commences at 8:40, the LCC has had to consider whether or not consultation and agreement has occurred. Importantly, if the QTU representatives on the LCC are not satisfied that consultation and agreement with the instrumental music teacher/instructor has occurred, the timetable should not be supported. This timetable complies because:

✔ ensemble rehearsal time does not exceed five hours per week (it is 4 hours, 20 minutes)

✔ there is no more than seven hours of rostered duty time in any one day

✔ there is no requirement to commence duty more than once on any one day

✔ there is no requirement to attend staff meetings conducted outside of rostered duty time.

The next example does not comply with the industrial instruments. Even if consultation and agreement has occurred regarding the start at 7:40am, the LCC should not support this timetable. In this example, on Monday the rostered duty time for the instrumental music teacher/instructor is more than seven hours.

Useful links

                Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016

                Department of Education State School Teachers Certified Agreement 2022

                Instrumental Music Teachers and Instructors Memorandum of Agreement 2022

                QTU’s Consultation for union reps and school leaders

Further assistance

The Queensland Teachers’ Union has Organisers in every region throughout Queensland. QTU members can find contact details for their local Organisers on the QTU webpage here.

The QTU’s Queensland Teacher Assist Desk is also available to provide QTU members with general information, or it can refer you to our services team for assistance. Call QTAD on 1300 11 7823.

News feed

 QTU Research Officer (acting), Meegan Jackson