Principals union outline EBA priorities

Pay variations and stable housing for teachers in Western Australia’s regional schools have been drawn as key battle lines ahead of next month's collective bargaining negotiations.

That’s according to the Australian Principals Federation, headed in WA by Bevan Ripp, which has said the existing salary classifications for school leaders in the state are antiquated.

Starting salaries for principals and deputies is currently set at between $118,626 and $129,810, which is about the same for the state’s highest paid teachers, who can earn between $115,287 and $118,626 per annum under the current agreement.

“This not only fails to address the differences in the levels of leadership required for a school to be effective but also fails to incentivise teachers to aspire to the highest levels of school leadership,” he said.

“We all know that teachers do not go into the profession for the money; however, we need to give them some incentives to want to progress in their careers and to ensure enough teachers are motivated to work towards the higher levels of leadership the system desperately needs.”

Mr Ripp also mentioned adequate housing for teachers in regional and remote areas, as well as the ability to approve pay variations for teachers above the existing public sector standards, as key issues for the group ahead of negotiations.

“The current lack of available, quality teachers continues to impact on school performance, workload, recruitment and parent satisfaction in schools across our state,” he said.

“Only innovative and incentive-based strategies will exact the changes our sector so urgently needs to incentivise not only current teachers and school leaders but also the teachers and leaders of tomorrow.”