Goodstart negotiations end – pay rise included

Negotiations for the Goodstart enterprise agreement (EA) have been completed and the EA was voted up by employees. Goodstart ran webinars across each state to inform employees about changes to the EA. Teachers in NSW will receive 2.3% pay increases. The agreement contains a national wage rate for teachers, so teachers in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria, whose rates are considerably lower than those in NSW, will receive increases of up to 22%.

The starting rate for four-year trained teachers is $72,265, which is equivalent to the rate for graduates working in primary schools. This rate increases with each year of experience, with the most experienced four-year trained teachers to be paid $102,156.

However, progression past Level 6 will only be possible if a teacher has achieved accreditation at Proficient in applicable states/territories or demonstrates proficiency according to Goodstart’s internal expectations if the teacher works in a jurisdiction where teacher registration is not required.

There are some significant improvements to conditions and teachers will be entitled to 16 hours paid time to attend professional development. Increases to programming time for teachers will reflect the number of children in the room and Goodstart will introduce non-contact time of between three and eight hours per week for educational leaders, depending upon the size of the centre.

Goodstart will continue to pay an educational leader allowance of one incremental step above a teacher’s classification, or an additional $1.40 per hour if the educational leader is already on the top salary step. Paid parental leave of up to six weeks at the base rate of pay and a discount on childcare fees support employees with children.

The EA also includes a mentoring allowance of $7.82 per day for teachers and educators who mentor other employees as part of a formal mentoring program.

Maintenance of accreditation PD

NESA has released a guide to assist Proficient teachers to log their elective PD. The guide includes step-by-step screen shots of e-TAMS.

Teachers must indicate which of the five Elective PD criteria are addressed by the activity including:

  • enhancing teaching practice
  • related to improving student/ child outcomes
  • opportunities for collaboration, transference and application
  • opportunities to give/receive feedback, and
  • is research or evidence based.

Teachers must select the relevant Standard Descriptor/s and explain how the activity addressed the Standard Descriptors.

In addition, if a teacher has engaged in ‘professional reading’, they must write a statement about how this activity has impacted their teaching practice and declare that the four ‘professional reading’ criteria were met bythe activity.

No wonder they needed to release a guide:https://etams.nesa.nsw.edu.au/etams-visual-guide-how-to-evaluate-nesa-accredited-pd.pdf

NESA has also produced a guide on how to evaluate NESA Accredited PD. This involves rating the course from one to five in terms of how well the course addressed the APST, provided useful knowledge, included appropriate materials and strategies, the effectiveness of the presenter and whether the course was accurately described. The teacher must declare whether they have put what was learned into practice.

There are also three optional questions where teachers can describe what assisted/ hindered their learning, the most useful aspects of the course and the effect of the course on student learning.

https://etams.nesa.nsw.edu.au/etams-visual-guide-how-to-evaluate-nesa-accredited-pd

Don’t forget to submit your work before you leave the screen!

If you want to search for accredited PD go to your dashboard on e-TAMS and click on ‘search PD courses’.

Scroll down to ‘optional search filters – student stage’ and select ‘early childhood’.

Click on ‘search’

The IEU notes that there is currently a limited number of providers of accredited PD listed on e-TAMS, with workshops covering STEM, literacy/ storytelling and documenting observations.

Lisa James
Organiser