Submissions to the Workload Advisory Council
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 123 No 4, 5 June 2020, page no. 14
The QTU anticipates that agreement will soon be reached with the department on a submission process for the Workload Advisory Council (WAC).
Negotiations continue, but the Union now expects submissions to be called by the end of June and received throughout Term 3.
The WAC, which like the local consultative committee at your school includes equal numbers of departmental and QTU representation, was established as a result of the negotiations for the Department of Education State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement 2019. Its function is to ensure that the Principles of Good Workload Management, contained in Schedule 6 of the certified agreement, are followed and to:
- collect information about issues contributing to workload pressures
- monitor emerging workload issues
- inform workload reduction initiatives.
Clause 2.18.5 of the certified agreement prescribed the timelines for submission to the WAC. Submissions were to be called within the first six months following certification of the agreement. However, the COVID-19 pandemic necessarily delayed progress on agreeing a submission process, and so the department agreed to the QTU suggestion that the timelines for submission be extended.
The submission process has been the subject of QTU Officer negotiations with the department. The QTU believes that the WAC process must ensure respect and dignity for our members as they engage in telling the story of workload pressures and recommending workload reduction initiatives.
We have recommended a way to achieve this is by ensuring the submission process adopts a model of data collection that will enable employees to make a fulsome submission to the WAC, and that demonstrates the complexity of workload as it is experienced by members in classrooms, administrative buildings, wider school contexts, and where work has intruded on members’ home life. Such a model of data collection might include allowing the provision of supplementary information like de-identified timetables or emails.
The QTU also believes the process should be available to employees covered by the agreement, and QTU members should be able to make a submission to the WAC through their organised branch, sub-branch, special interest group and other formal and informal QTU structures.
For the latest information on the WAC, visit the QTU website at www.qtu.asn.au/workload-advisory-council
To make a submission to the WAC or for further information on the QTU’s work with the WAC, members can contact QTAD on 1300 11 7823, or email workload@qtu.asn.au