The Australian and Queensland Governments are co-funding a $1.88 million pilot program in Queensland state schools to reduce teacher workloads. The program will employ 11 specialist staff to support teachers and principals across 33 state schools, this includes primary, secondary, and special schools.
The new staff will manage administrative workloads across health, safety and wellbeing which will allow teachers to spend more time focusing on teaching students in the classroom.
The pilot delivers on Action 12 in the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan which sets out a clear pathway for addressing the national issue of teacher workforce shortages.
The pilot has been co-designed with key education stakeholders, including principal associations and unions. The Commonwealth funding is part of the Workload Reduction Fund and will be matched with equal co-investment from the Queensland Government to implement the pilot.
The selection process included a cross-section of schools, including those with large and diverse facilities, smaller schools, and schools with a health and safety advisor in a teaching or principal role.
At the end of this year, participating schools will assess whether having dedicated staff in schools to undertake these tasks has reduced administrative burden.
Read the joint media release by Minister Clare, and Minister Farmer.