VSGA 2022 and unintended consequences

Over the last few years, the government education system has had to adjust to fall in line with the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022 (VSGA). I have attempted to communicate to the community some of the changes over time from camps, concerts and any other activity that occurs outside a teachers 38 hour work week.

The VSGA has made school leaders review and help manage teacher workloads, programs and aspects of schooling that we may have previously had and valued - that the teachers did, but did not get remunerated for.

The staff at OGPS have gone above and beyond in the past under different agreements or EBA’s as they are known in other sectors, but this Agreement stipulates a 30 + 8 hour work week. Anything over this, attracts Time in Lieu (TIL) or financial compensation. We are unable to offset the financial payment with parent contributions.

Schools are not funded any extra money for TIL and as the Principal, I have to make tough decisions - such as the concert and adjustments on some camps to ensure proper financial management of the school.

In previous years, family volunteers have created Mother’s/Father’s day stalls, then COVID hit and it all went pear shaped. Upon resumption of school the P&F approached the art team about creating a gift for Mother’s Day and they agreed - not knowing the workload that would be created. Many recess breaks and lunchtimes and some after school times were used to chase up missing students, follow up on those who missed a session and complete over 600 pieces of art gifts. This was on top of their program and commitment to the curriculum. While ably supported by a small financial contribution from families and the P&F for the materials, the overall workload was too much to repeat and be expected from the Art teachers. This was acknowledged by the P&F who have been discussing a ‘Carer’s day’.

We also have a sustainability lens that we have looked through and after conversations around plastic type gifts that have been sold at previous stalls, it was agreed not to proceed as we work hard to be a resource smart school and model sustainability practices.

Various conversations have recently been had at Parents & Friends and obviously within the community on social media platforms… in short, we had no one pick up the stall or art opportunities for this Mother’s Day.

If this is an aspect the community would like to resume, we need a team of volunteers to make it happen. No different from the Apple Fair, Trivia night, May Day or the Movie night. I cannot ask staff to do the ‘extras’ they may have once done in the past as I would be in breach of the Agreement.

This agreement has caused frustrations on many fronts, not least for me. We have an amazing teaching staff and some amazing volunteers that I hope we don’t exhaust. The old saying ‘many hands make light work’ is so true.

Teachers will teach! They do a great job and this agreement has delineated what teachers (and school leaders) can and can’t do. There may be even more unintended consequences we haven’t encountered yet.

I hope the community can see my point of view and the responsibility I have to the amazing staff at OGPS under the current Agreement.

Scott McCumber

Principal