QTAD Q&A
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 123 No 6, 31 August 2018, page no.27
I would like to find out how much bus/carpark duty we should expect to do as teachers?
The Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016 confirms that teachers may be rostered for bus duty for no more than 30 minutes after the official conclusion of the school day.
16.3 Bus and playground supervision
a. Subject to clauses 16.3(b) and (c), teachers will be relieved of bus supervision duties and supervision of students in the playground as far as possible and where appropriate.
b. Teachers are still required to undertake some part of those duties. The appropriate mix of teachers and teacher-aides will be determined by the principal of the school, having regard to local circumstances in accordance with the applicable local consultative arrangements.
c. Teachers shall not be required to undertake bus supervision duties for more than 30 minutes after the completion of the daily program of instruction.
A bus and playground duty roster should be developed in each school in consultation with the staff and the local consultative committee. It should be noted that bus duty should apply for school buses only. There is also NO requirement that teachers perform ‘car park’ duty.
Our school has scheduled parent teacher interviews between the hours of 3:30 and 7pm. If a teacher has no interviews (e.g. no parent from their class has requested an interview) or their interviews finish early (e.g. they have completed ALL their interviews by 6pm), is it a requirement that they remain at school doing “planning and preparation” until the 7pm deadline is met?
The Education General Provisions Act (2006) and department policy requires that a parent is given the opportunity, at least twice a year, to discuss the child’s educational performance at the school with the child’s teachers.
Schools have established procedures in place for parent/teacher interviews. One of these opportunities may be in the form of a parent/teacher interview evening where interviews are conducted face-to-face. Some schools offer indications of student achievement in certain subjects at a subject/year level information evening. However, when these events are held outside of rostered duty time, attendance cannot be made compulsory. If a teacher has no interviews booked or scheduled interviews are completed by 5pm, then there is no requirement for them to remain at school.
Teacher participation outside rostered duty time should be considered voluntary. However, it is not unreasonable of a school to request that teachers arrange alternative times for parents to discuss their child’s educational performance. In this case, parent/teacher interviews may be conducted by telephone.
This assists teachers to maintain an effective work/life balance, as well as meeting the reporting requirements of schools.