❓ Hon. Adele Farina questions the Minister for Education regarding apparent teacher headcount reductions at five schools between March and October 2015. The Minister refutes the claim of cuts, explaining fluctuations due to vacation periods and highlighting the use of FTE measurements.
AnsweredQoN 4236Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
(1) I refer to the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 2996, in which the Minister stated the number of teachers, by headcount, at Albany Senior High School in March 2015 was 120, and the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 3482, in which the Minister stated in October 2015 there were 97 teachers, and I ask the Minister to explain why the school cut 23 teachers in seven months? (2) I refer to the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 2996, in which the Minister stated the number of teachers, by headcount, at Australind Senior High School in March 2015 was 120, and the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 3482, in which the Minister stated in October 2015 there were 104 teachers, and I ask the Minister to explain why the school cut 16 teachers in seven months? (3) I refer to the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 2996, in which the Minister stated the number of teachers, by headcount, at Geographe Primary School in March 2015 was 54, and the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 3482, in which the Minister stated in October 2015 there were 45 teachers, and I ask the Minister to explain why the school cut nine teachers in seven months? (4) I refer to the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 2996, in which the Minister stated the number of teachers, by headcount, at Newton Moore Senior High School in March 2015 was 103, and the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 3482, in which the Minister stated in October 2015 there were 79 teachers, and I ask the Minister to explain why the school cut 24 teachers in seven months? (5) I refer to the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 2996 in which the Minister stated the number of teachers, by headcount, at West Busselton Primary School in March 2015 was 44, and the Minister’s answer to question on notice No. 3482, in which the Minister stated in October 2015 there were 35 teachers, and I ask the Minister to explain why the school cut nine teachers in seven months?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
14 September 2016
Responded by
Minister for Education
Response time
29 days
1. – 5. There were no teaching cuts applied to schools between March and October 2015.
Staffing levels in March 2015 should not be compared to October 2015. Staffing levels are measured each pay run and will always fluctuate during the calendar year, depending on whether the particular pay run falls during term or a vacation period, with staffing levels being higher during term and lower during vacation periods. There are fewer staff during school vacation periods due to a number of factors, but mostly because there is no need to backfill positions during these periods. There were no vacations falling in March 2015, while there were vacations in October 2015, giving the misleading impression that staff numbers decreased between March and September 2015.
The most accurate way of quantifying employment levels is to use full time equivalent (FTE) staffing measurements. FTE measurements take into account the paid workload of each employee converted to a percentage of a full-time employee. Further, because staffing levels can fluctuate significantly throughout a year, due to the timing of vacation periods, it is more accurate to report average FTE levels over a number of pay periods.
Under the Student Centred Funding Model, principals are responsible for determining the proportion of their one-line budgets to spend on salaries, and for determining the types and numbers of staff to employ.
The following data shows the average paid FTE January to August 2016 for teaching award staff in schools.
School Name
Jan - Aug 2015
Jan - Aug 2016
Variance
ALBANY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
78.4
80.2
1.8
AUSTRALIND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
88.2
97.3
9.1
GEOGRAPHE PRIMARY SCHOOL
34.0
33.3
(0.7)
NEWTON MOORE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
62.0
70.6
8.6
WEST BUSSELTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
27.3
28.1
0.8
*All figures rounded to the first place.
Staffing levels in March 2015 should not be compared to October 2015. Staffing levels are measured each pay run and will always fluctuate during the calendar year, depending on whether the particular pay run falls during term or a vacation period, with staffing levels being higher during term and lower during vacation periods. There are fewer staff during school vacation periods due to a number of factors, but mostly because there is no need to backfill positions during these periods. There were no vacations falling in March 2015, while there were vacations in October 2015, giving the misleading impression that staff numbers decreased between March and September 2015.
The most accurate way of quantifying employment levels is to use full time equivalent (FTE) staffing measurements. FTE measurements take into account the paid workload of each employee converted to a percentage of a full-time employee. Further, because staffing levels can fluctuate significantly throughout a year, due to the timing of vacation periods, it is more accurate to report average FTE levels over a number of pay periods.
Under the Student Centred Funding Model, principals are responsible for determining the proportion of their one-line budgets to spend on salaries, and for determining the types and numbers of staff to employ.
The following data shows the average paid FTE January to August 2016 for teaching award staff in schools.
School Name
Jan - Aug 2015
Jan - Aug 2016
Variance
ALBANY SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
78.4
80.2
1.8
AUSTRALIND SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
88.2
97.3
9.1
GEOGRAPHE PRIMARY SCHOOL
34.0
33.3
(0.7)
NEWTON MOORE SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
62.0
70.6
8.6
WEST BUSSELTON PRIMARY SCHOOL
27.3
28.1
0.8
*All figures rounded to the first place.
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