NSW Premier Chris Minns has made a special visit to Parramatta East Public School today, announcing the start of the first of red tape cuts to slash workload for teachers.
It was an even busier first day of term two than normal for parents doing the drop off at Parramatta East Public School, with the new Premier stopping by to shake hands with both students and teachers.
Minns was joined by Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car, as well as State Member for Parramatta Donna Davis, to announce plans to reduce the administrative burden on teachers.
Speaking to the press, Minns revealed that from today the NSW Government will be halving more than 70 mandated changes to policies and processes that were due to roll out in term two, to only those that were essential and have minimal impact on frontline teachers.
There will also be a pause and review of all pilots and programs that were meant to start in term two, in order to consult teachers on which ones to continue. Among the changes stopped are activities relating to the surveying of teachers, the reporting of information, and administrative work.
Minns said teachers should be in front of students in classrooms, not “bogged down” with admin work.
“This is an important initiative and announcement from the incoming Government and that is to reduce the administrative workload for teachers in NSW’s classrooms,” he said.
“I want to make this clear, no one joins the teaching profession to fill out paperwork, but that’s exactly what’s happening in NSW’s public schools.
“We need to be in the best position possible, and the only way to do that is to build up the teaching profession, reduce the administrative burden, attract more people to this wonderful vocation and profession, and see that NSW schools become world-leading educational institutions.”
Davis welcomed the announcement, adding that Parramatta East Public School is “such an important public school” and is doing an amazing job.
“It’s always a really critical day, the first day back, for the teachers because they’ve all spent time preparing,” she said.
“We all forget that it doesn’t all just start when the school bell rings on day one of term, they’ve done a lot of work preparing for this day.”
Car will also hold a roundtable in coming weeks, with all the key partners in public education, including the NSW Teachers Federation, to agree on future actions targeting the workload challenge of teachers.
Further actions to support teachers include expanding the school counselling service, strengthening wellbeing support for teachers to address burnout, improving the way schools support students with additional needs and simplifying reporting to parents.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.