Orange public school teachers are set to join a statewide strike on Friday morning.
NSW Teachers’ Federation country organiser John Pratt said the teachers would strike over concerns relating to the state government’s Local Schools, Local Decisions reforms.
He said the the reforms were “the biggest threat to the teaching profession in 50 years”.
He said the federation had a number of concerns relating to the reforms and teachers will be urged to conduct industrial action for two hours on Friday from 9am.
“Class sizes will no longer be regulated by law, teaching loads will no longer be regulated by law and permanent teaching positions can be replaced by temporary or casual positions,” he said.
Mr Pratt said under the reforms staff will no longer be allocated based on curriculum needs but will be based on budget restraints.
A Department of Education spokesmann said there is no proposal to change teacher hours or teacher workloads under Local Schools, Local Decisions.
He said the reforms would in no way affect the permanent employment status of staff.
“The tenure of permanent teachers will not be compromised and they will not be placed on individual contracts as a results of reforms.”
The spokesperson said Local Schools, Local decisions does not change statewide class size policy.
“Once teachers are allocated to schools, the principal forms class groups to best meet the learning needs of students in the school.”
Mr Pratt said he could not confirm whether there would be minimal supervision for students on Friday. He said parents need to check with their child’s school.
