QTAD Q&A
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 125 No 1, 21 February 2020, page no. 29
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 either the Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016 or 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 of unpaid meal breaks per week. 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 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 during which the teacher could be allocated PGD.
In this example, the school has agreed to reduce the uninterrupted meal break to a minimum of 30 minutes per day through the LCC. Therefore, a full-time teacher must receive a minimum of one 30-minute uninterrupted meal break and one 10-minute rest pause in opposite breaks daily and will receive at least 275 minutes across the week.
I am a primary specialist teacher – do I have to do playground duty?
Specialist teachers who service more than two schools cannot be allocated playground duty or bus duty.
What is the maximum number of students teachers should have in their class?
Under the certified agreement, classes in years one to three and eleven to twelve should have a maximum of 25 students per teacher, and a maximum of 28 in years four to ten. 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 through the local consultative committee (LCC) (in schools required to have one), in accordance with the consultative principles contained in the certified agreement. Where composite classes exist across cohorts, the class size target would be the lower cohort target, e.g. classes in years 3/4 should have a maximum of 25 students.
Can I be asked to attend a meeting during my NCT?
The award entitlement to non-contact time may be used for the preparation, planning and correction of class activities. Teachers make decisions regarding what tasks they will complete during non-contact time (Reference: 2.3.3 Certified Agreement 2019).
The award entitlement to NCT is 210 minutes per week for secondary teachers (full-time) and 120 minutes per week for primary school teachers (full-time).
The principal may decide how teachers with an over-allocation of NCT (i.e. above-award entitlement) use this additional time (Reference: 2.3.6 Certified Agreement 2019).