Guidance Matters No. 6 - September 2022

Guidance Matters No. 6 - 13 September 2022

In this edition of Guidance Matters **** 

EB 10

The EB10 statewide ballot saw more than 20,000 members cast a valid vote, with more than 84 per cent of them voting to accept the offer. Since then, the QTU has been in active communication with members through member Newsflashes. The most recent Newsflash is here.

The QTU and the department are currently working on finalising the drafting of the agreement, implementation of which will be backdated to 1 July 2022. Once this is complete, the department has to conduct its own ballot of employees. If employees vote yes, the agreement can be certified by the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC), which will enable the 1 July increase to be back-paid and the other initiatives in the offer to become part of your working conditions.

Of particular significance to guidance members will be a comprehensive review of school resourcing, including methodologies, procedures and systems, that will consider contemporary approaches to needs-based school resourcing.  The department has committed to a review of duties associated with all teaching roles within a school. Workload cannot be addressed without clarity around the core duties of each role, which would allow the things that people do that are additional to their role to be removed.

It will be crucial for guidance members to engage in the review process. 

Get active in the QTU’s democratic structures

The QTU again invites guidance members to become active in the democratic structures of the Union, including attending branch meetings.  Invitations to branch meetings are directly emailed to members. 

Get involved and consider nominating for branch and area council representative positions.  Each branch and area council has an elected representative to the QTU’s State Council and a delegate to the QTU Biennial Conference, which in 2023 will be held during the June vacation period.

At long last - Senior guidance officers fully covered in the teachers’ award

Senior guidance officers’ long-held aspiration of being fully covered under the teachers’ award has been achieved.  An anomaly stemming from the 1991 classification review meant that senior guidance officers had previously only been included in the teachers’ award for salary purposes.

Due to the tenaciousness of senior guidance members, the 2019 certified agreement included a clause that allowed for negotiations on coverage.

On 28 June, the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) published its decision on the application to vary the award, approving the proposed variations, including the transition of senior guidance officers and regional school sport officers into the award. The QIRC ordered the variations to the award to operate from 28 June.

So, after an arduous journey in relation to negotiating both the changes to the award and the development of a specific memorandum of agreement (MoA) the changes have been secured.

In addition to the award variation, the QTU has been in negotiation with the department around a MoA that recognises that the nuances of the senior guidance officer role do not fit neatly into the award. 

There are some significant wins for guidance members arising from the award variation and the MoA, including but not limited to:

• transition into the Teaching in State Education Award 2016
• provisions enabling the subject officer to cash out accrued annual leave and TOIL
• the ability to continue to accrue TOIL when directed to perform work outside of the span of hours (in specific circumstances)

• workload and fatigue management considerations.

Applying for permanency under Directive 13/20 - Use the process and see it through

As many of you would be aware, the pathways to permanency for permanent public service employees undertaking higher duties changed significantly with the introduction of the Public Service Directive 13/20 in late 2020.

Directive 13 provides guidance members with a process through which to request permanency in a higher position.  And many guidance officers relieving above level (RAL) are using this process to access permanent appointments.

At times, members indicate a reluctance to engage in the process or see it through its different stages.  From experience, engaging in the formal process of review by the public service does lead to greater permanency.  Sometimes it occurs soon after the first request is made, sometimes once the appeal is lodged, and at other times, after the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission (QIRC) has heard the appeal. 

It is more than worthwhile to engage in the process.  The Queensland Government, through the directive, has made it clear that permanency should be the default employment model within the public sector.  Directive 13 gives those relieving above level an opportunity to have their entitlement to permanency considered outside of the department. 

In accordance with s 5.3 of the PSC Directive 13/20—Appointing a public service employee to a higher classification level, an employee may make a request one year (12 months) after being seconded to, or assuming the duties and responsibilities of the higher classification level. They may then apply each subsequent year they continue to be engaged in the higher classification level, provided they remain in the same role. The employee is also entitled to make an additional request in the event that their higher classification role becomes substantively vacant, pursuant to s 5.4 of the PSC Directive 13/20—Appointing a public service employee to a higher classification level.

It is at the appeal step in the process that guidance members are likely to give up. It is in the individual’s interest not to.

I recently contacted a regional human resources manager to advocate on behalf of a guidance officer.  The manager indicated that she would consider the person, but that the best process to use was the Directive 13 process.  The process makes decision-making transparent and, should conversion not happen within the department, the department needs to make a sound case to the QIRC. The QIRC’s decisions are transparent and published, and members are securing permanency through this process.

For more detailed information, please consult the QTU information brochure: Directive 13 - Appointing a public service employee to a higher classification level.

Update 14 May 2024:
Please note the above QTU information brochure has been replaced, please consult the QTU Information brochure: Directive 03/23 – Review of acting or secondment at higher classification level

 Authorised by Kate Ruttiman, General Secretary, Queensland Teachers' Union
21 Graham Street, Milton, QLD, Australia, 4064