QTAD Q&A
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 126 No 1, 12 February 2021, page no.22
I am in my first year of teaching this year. Do I receive additional non-contact time?
The Department of Education State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement 2019 (https://www.qtu.asn.au/teachers-ca2019) states the following:
2.4 Beginning teachers non-contact time
2.4.1 From the beginning of 2021, a permanent or temporary classroom teacher in their first 12 months of teaching (beginning teacher) in a primary and/or special school will be allocated an additional 60 minutes of non-contact time per week over and above their entitlement to non-contact time prescribed in the award or other parts of this agreement.
2.4.2 From the beginning of 2021, a permanent or temporary classroom teacher in their first 12 months of teaching (beginning teacher) in a secondary school will be allocated an additional 70 minutes of non-contact time per week over their entitlement to non-contact time as prescribed in the award or other parts of this agreement.
How much playground duty should a full-time teacher do each week?
There is no agreed maximum amount of time for playground duty set out in the Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016 or the Department of Education State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement 2019.
Schools should arrange the playground roster in a consultative way with the support of the LCC. Teachers should not be unreasonably deployed to undertake playground duty and should ensure that they receive their break entitlements.
Meal breaks must be a minimum of 30 uninterrupted minutes per day, with full-time teachers accessing a total of 225 minutes per week of unpaid meal breaks. In addition, teachers are entitled to a 10-minute paid rest/pause break each day, which counts towards rostered duty time. This should be provided in a break separate to the time allocated for the uninterrupted meal break and cannot be averaged across the week.
For example:
- Meal/rest break times: 40 minutes + 30 minutes = 70 minutes per day / 350 minutes per week.
- Teacher entitlement: 45 minutes + 10 minutes = 55 minutes (avg. per day) / 275 minutes per week.
- Balance = 75 minutes of spare time which could be used for PGD.
In this example, this school has agreed to reduce their uninterrupted meal break to minimum 30 minutes per day through the local consultative committee (LCC). Therefore, a full-time teacher working at this school must receive one 30-minute uninterrupted meal break and one 10-minute rest pause in opposite breaks daily as a minimum and will receive at least 275 minutes across the week.
Further reading: https://www.qtu.asn.au/bradmealbreaks
What is the maximum number of students teachers can have in their class?
As per the certified agreement, years 1 to 3 and years 11 to 12 classes should have a maximum of 25 students per teacher, and years 4 to 10 classes should have a maximum of 28 students.
Classes in excess of these maximum target sizes should only occur in exceptional circumstances. Where there is the possibility of class sizes in excess of these targets, the class arrangements shall be the subject of a timely, collaborative and consultative process with staff in accordance with the consultative principles contained in the certified agreement through the LCC, in schools required to have one.
Where composite classes exist across cohorts, the class size target would be the lower cohort target, e.g. years 3/4 should be a maximum of 25 students.
Further reading: http://www.qtu.asn.au/unpackingclasssizeca2019