QTAD Q&A

Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 131 No 7, 2 October 2026, page no.22

How can I make up for lost non-contact time?
All classroom teachers are entitled to access non-contact time (NCT), and NCT lost due to planned school activities should be replaced/made up.

Planned school activities are those events that form part of the school calendar and are known, e.g. excursions, school camps, sports carnivals (swimming and athletics carnivals), school assemblies, graduations, QCS, exam blocks, practice fire drills, and practice lockdowns.

Unforeseen activities, such as evacuations, visits by Parliamentarians, critical responses (e.g.: lockdowns) are not seen as planned school activities.

Additionally, sick leave, carer’s leave, student free days, professional development (where the teacher requests to attend rather than being required to attend by the school), industrial relations education leave, and public holidays are not recognised as planned school activities, nor are they recognised as a way to repay lost NCT.

A process to replace lost NCT should be agreed following consultation through the local consultative committee (LCC). This process should include the timeframe in which NCT lost as a consequence of planned school activities will be replaced and options for how it may be replaced. NB: The arrangements for replacement of NCT lost due to planned school activities need to be determined in advance. These should not include going below the minimum NCT award-entitlement in future weeks, even when there is additional NCT in previous weeks.

Further information can be accessed from the QTU document: Unpacking the Non-Contact Time Clause from the Certified Agreement. 

What about swimming carnivals? Can schools simply direct teachers to access their NCT as normal?
Generally, a swimming carnival would be considered a variation to the normal school routine. As such, if a teacher loses their scheduled NCT because of the event, that time should usually be made up in accordance with industrial provisions and local arrangements.

Where a swimming carnival is held on the school site, it may be reasonable for a teacher to access their allocated NCT in their usual workspace, provided there are sufficient staff available to supervise students at the pool.

However, expecting teachers to undertake NCT at an off-site swimming carnival is not necessarily reasonable. Effective NCT requires access to appropriate resources. At an external venue, teachers may need to transport laptops and teaching materials, find a suitable quiet workspace, and secure reliable internet access, potentially relying on personal hotspots or devices. In these circumstances, it may not be practical for teachers to use their NCT in the same way they would while at school, and alternative arrangements may need to be considered.

Can the school bank NCT in advance, i.e. can an over-allocation one week be used to under allocate the next week?  
NCT is a weekly entitlement. Award NCT lost due to a variation in the school routine should be banked and subsequently repaid within the same school term in which it was lost. As NCT is a weekly entitlement, any NCT provided in excess of the weekly allocation cannot ordinarily be used to reduce a teacher’s entitlement in another week. Any alternative arrangement would require an explicit written agreement between the parties.