QTAD Q&A

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 1, 20 February 2026, page no 21.

How much playground duty should a full-time teacher do each week?
The better approach is “are teachers getting their basic entitlements to meal and rest pause breaks according to the award and certified agreement?”

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 (PGD) 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 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 used for PGD. 
   

In this example, the school − through the LCC − has agreed to reduce the uninterrupted meal break to a minimum of 30 minutes per day. Therefore, a full-time teacher working at this school 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. 

Supply teachers: meal breaks and playground duty 
If you are engaged for a full day, you are entitled to:

• one uninterrupted meal break of either 30 minutes or 45 minutes, with the length depending on whether the school, through its LCC, has formally reduced the standard 45minute break to 30 minutes
• one paid 10-minute rest pause, which must occur separately from your meal break.
   

If your meal break is reduced to 30 minutes, you are entitled to an additional 15 minutes of break time elsewhere in the day.

In short, a supply teacher should receive a total of 55 minutes of breaks during a full day engagement. 

A school may assign PGD to a supply teacher as long as the full 55 minutes of required break time is still provided during the day.

Further information can be found in QTU brochures on Meal Breaks and Bus and Playground Supervision.

What is the maximum number of students teachers can have in their class?
As per the certified agreement, Years 1 to 3 should have a maximum of 25 students per teacher and Years 4 to 10 a maximum number 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 local consultative committee (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.