Private schools oppose right to disconnect for teachers

Private schools want teachers to keep working at weekends and chaperoning overseas trips as they push to limit a new right to disconnect being considered by the Fair Work Commission.

Independent school associations representing some of the country’s most elite schools,including Sydney’s SCEGGS Darlinghurst and Melbourne’s Scotch College,have urged the industrial umpire to retain the flexibility they say they need from teaching staff to run co-curricular and other activities.

Sydney’s SCEGGS Darlinghurst,one of the schools asking the industrial umpire for continued connectivity by teachers.Louise Kennerley

The state associations’ joint submission was made to thecommission’s review of modern awards requested by Workplace Relations MinisterTony Burke last year.

The teachers’ award states employees work a maximum of 205 days over a 12-month period,with some carve-outs for tasks such as supervising weekend sports and school trips,and boarding house responsibilities.

The associations’ submission asks for “the retention of flexibility”,which a spokesperson from the Association of Independent Schools of NSW said had been a long-standing practice in teaching.

A right to disconnect has been inserted into Labor’s latest industrial reforms.

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“For decades,independent school teachers have performed work outside of normal school hours such as supervising co-curricular activities,attending overnight school trips or providing pastoral care in the event of a school tragedy,” they said.

The Association of Independent Schools of South Australia,Association of Independent Schools of Western Australia,Independent Schools Queensland,Independent Schools Tasmania and Independent Schools Victoria are the other groups behind the submission.

In February,laws were passed as part of Burke’s Closing Loopholes industrial reforms that will allow workers to take their bosses to the Fair Work Commission to stop being harassed after hours. Employers could incur fines or even criminal sanctions if they continue to make unreasonable contact,while employees will be barred from “vexatious” use of their new right.

The right to disconnect is already law in countries such as France and Germany and has been included in police andteacher enterprise agreements in Australia.

The Fair Work Commission is working on the right-to-disconnect terms and guidelines that will come into effect for non-small business employers from August 26,while small business employers have until August 26 next year.

The Albanese government is securing support for changes that would require bosses to consider what is reasonable contact outside of work hours.

The push from private schools for teachers to remain available after hours has concerned the Independent Education Union of Australia,which described the move as contentious in a reply submission.

Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT branch deputy secretary David Towson said the union welcomed the right to disconnect as a mechanism to protect teachers.

“Employer requests,parental queries and student contact regularly encroach on the personal time of staff,” he said. “Our members are not permanently ‘on call’. They need a break from work. They need valuable downtime.