Mr BAYLEY – Minister, limited authorities to teach have increased dramatically over the last couple of years, and currently, teaching graduates who have previously taught under a Limited Authority to Teach (LAT) don’t have this experience counted towards their pay rate. However, a minority of teachers on placement programs such as Teach for Australia or the Teacher Internship Placement program that undertake a similar on‑the‑job experience do have their do have experience recognised and can start work with a two‑year pay disparity compared to other graduates with similar experience. They will have to start at a band 1 level 8. This seems fundamentally inequitable.
I asked this question because we’re aware of a specific situation where the department has lost a specialist teacher, a language teacher, in a hard‑to‑staff school simply because they couldn’t get equity of pay and couldn’t get their prior experience recognised.
Why are certain forms of experience recognised above others? If we all agree that teacher retention rates are a major priority for the department and for the state, should it not be the policy of the government to recognise both these forms of on‑the‑job training and have that reflected in their pay rates?
Ms PALMER – I’ll just make some opening comments and then I will pass to the deputy secretary. A limited authority to teach, which we know is a LAT, can be issued to an individual by the School Registration Board to address a workforce shortage and provide a sustainable pathway towards teacher registration. There are three categories under which a LAT can be issued, which are: school specific, generic relief, or internship. I’m advised there are 452 individuals with a LAT in 2023‑24. Of these, 21 are in the 2023‑24 TFA cohort, and 34 of them are TIPP (Teacher Intern Placement Program) participants. There’s a lot of acronyms across education.
Mr BAYLEY – I guess the fundamental question is equity of pay across those programs.
Ms PALMER – For more details, I’ll pass to Mr Salter, the deputy secretary.
Mr SALTER – A person undertaking a LAT, who obtains their qualification, will be appointed as a band 1 level 5, so that being the entry level for a four- or five‑year qualified teacher for teachers that are coming through programs such as TFA, TIPP and isolated schools’ package. Recognising the particular elements of those programs, they do have a varying level to start at, based on the programs that they’re coming through.
Mr BAYLEY – Level 7 or 8, along those lines? There’s a disparity of a couple of bands at least, is that correct?
Mr SALTER – I haven’t got those levels in front of me, but, yep.
Mr BAYLEY – Can I just ask what the logic is behind that? It sends a poor message to aspiring teachers that if you’re in one program, you’ll get your experience recognised. If you’re in another, you’re not. And, as I say, I’m asking this question because of the real‑life experience of a constituent who left one of your schools in a very hard to staff area because of this issue, and I’m sure that’s not an isolated situation. What is the logic behind the disparity of graduating teachers through these programs starting on quite significantly different bands?
Ms PALMER – I understand that there is a difference in commencement salaries for teachers coming from different LAT category backgrounds and I need to keep working with the department to understand the reasons behind those differences.
As a new minister in this portfolio, issues with workforce and workforce retention are front and centre. That’s something that is very much in our thinking and in our discussions. I don’t know if you’ve got anything to add to that.
I might be able to actually add to that, Chair, if I could call someone to the table if you’re happy with that. I’ll just check she’s in the room; she is. I’ll ask Katharine O’Donnell. Katharine is the Director Education Regulation.
Ms O’DONNELL – Basically, the situation is that the scholarships that you’re talking about, things like Work for Australia, the programs involve additional learning on top of the ITE qualification. There’s additional side programs that are run and additional learning and additional things that the people who are on those scholarships work through, which I understand, although the Teachers Registration Board (TRB) doesn’t set the pay rates, is what differentiates them.
Whereas the LAT purely gives an Initial Teacher Education (ITE) student the opportunity to earn some money and some experience while they’re working through their program. My understanding is that the reason there’s a difference at the end is because the students that are enrolled through the scholarship programs, they are designed to give them more learning support and I guess they come out with added value on top of their degree.
Mr BAYLEY – They come out with additional qualification, effectively?
Ms O’DONNELL – Effectively. That’s my understanding.
