Workloads Better practice, less process

Is the annual goal-setting and professional development process at your school too demanding? Get the facts from the AITSL Australian Teacher Performance and Development Fact Sheet, developed in collaboration with the IEU in 2024.

Download a PDF of the 4-page liftout

Download the Fact Sheet

Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework (ATPDF)

The IEU has worked with the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to clarify what is – and is not – required for compliance with the annual goal-setting and professional learning process in the Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework.

The ATPDF was implemented in 2012. As with many other policies and frameworks, the quantity and type of documentation demanded of teachers has intensified exponentially over time, thereby increasing teacher workloads unnecessarily.

If you believe the current ATPDF process in your school or system is unnecessarily onerous, talk to your colleagues and contact your organiser to discuss options.

The IEU has requested that employers consult with IEU members as they look to evaluate and amend their ATPDF processes.

Let us know what’s happening in your school by contacting your organiser.

An ongoing process

The ATPDF Fact Sheets form part of an ongoing process the IEU has undertaken with a number of government and regulatory authorities, with a view to addressing, at a structural level, processes that lead to excessive teacher workloads.

The NCCD Fact Sheet

The first of these was the NCCD Evidence Fact Sheet. The IEU approached the Department of Education to raise the concerns of IEU members struggling to manage unsustainable workloads and who were alarmed by the impact of excessive documentation on the delivery of practical support for students with disability, the purpose for which the NCCD was designed. The NCCD Evidence Fact Sheet addresses unnecessary practices and was developed in a collaboration of the federal Department of Education and the IEU. In many schools, the NCCD Evidence Fact Sheet has been used to review and dispense with unnecessary processes and documentation.

• IEU NCCD fact sheet with commentary:
• Australian Government Department of Education NCCD Factsheet:

The AITSL ATPDF Fact Sheet

The AITSL ATPDF Fact Sheet continuesthis important work of aligning theofficial advice from regulatory authoritieswith the on-the-ground experience forteachers, ensuring that systems, schools,or individuals within schools are notinadvertently creating workload issues forteachers and support staff:bit.ly/AITSL-ATPDF fact sheet

The AITSL ATPDF Fact Sheet

The AITSL ATPDF Fact Sheet continuesthis important work of aligning theofficial advice from regulatory authoritieswith the on-the-ground experience forteachers, ensuring that systems, schools,or individuals within schools are notinadvertently creating workload issues forteachers and support staff:bit.ly/AITSL-ATPDFfactsheet

Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) Compliance Processes

The IEU has been working with ACECQA to bring some much-needed balance to the administrative and work processes in the early childhood education and care sector. Access the information sheets here:

• Educational Program Documentation forEducators and Teachers – Early childhood-bit.ly/Educatorteacherfactsheet
• Educational Program Documentationfor Educators – School age care-bit.ly/schoolfactsheet
• Educational Program Documentation forApproved Providers – Early Childhood-bit.ly/ECprovidersfactsheet
• Educational Program Documentation forApproved Providers – School Age Care-bit.ly/schoolprovidersfactsheet
  

The NESA Curriculum Fact Sheets

For NSW members: The IEU advised theNSW Education Standards Authority(NESA) that members were being asked to undertake many administrative processesin the name of ‘compliance’, despite NESA confirming it did not require many of these processes at all. At the union’s urging, NESA produced its School Registration and Programming and Record Keeping Fact Sheets, which clearly state what is and, most importantly, what is not required for compliance purposes. Members have reported that the NESA Fact Sheets are beginning to have a positive impact in reducing unnecessary workload practices.

• IEU NESA fact sheet:bit.ly/ieunesacompliance
• NESA fact sheet:bit.ly/nesafactsheet2023

The common theme running through all these documents is that a teacher’s professional judgement should be paramount in determining what constitutes an appropriate level of documentation for teaching and learning, administrative, and data collection processes.

The IEU is constantly working with employers, regulatory authorities and governments to achieve positive industrial and professional outcomes for members. Encourage your colleagues to join their union to ensure the voice of the profession is heard at every level and in every forum