NSW may fire 610 school tech support officers in March

The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities has written to staff, advising them that 610 Technical Support Officers (TSOs) in the State's schools may lose their jobs in March if the federal Digital Education Revolution program is not offered renewed funding. The Reg has obtained an email sent by Greg Prior, the …

[Harry WWC]

snarky blow

> Teachers are, of course, paid for the school holiday period.

this is a low and snarky blow.

Yes, teachers at schools _are_ paid over the holiday period - as are most "full time employees" who take their 4-weeks annual leave entitlements. The difference is, however, that teachers are *required* to take their *full* 4 weeks annual leave over the Christmas / New Year period (i.e the "peak holiday time"), whether they wish to, or not.

And before you come back with "yeah, but teachers get lots of holidays through the year", this is known in the Award as "Agreed Non-Attendance" - teachers don't attend, and the department agrees not to pay them for that.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: snarky blow

Balls. Teachers in Victoria get 9 days at the end of term 1, 10 days at the end of term 2, 10 days at the end of term 3 and 23 days at Christmas.

Granted, they will need to use some of those days as prep days. However, to argue that teachers have the same holidays as the rest of us is just foolish.

I have a lot of respect for teachers. My GF is one. But I am sick of the unionized teachers whining about the poor deal they get. You knew what you were signing up for when you took the job. If you no longer like the job, get another one and give yours to someone who actually cares about educating children.

[Combat Wombat]

I used to work in the Vic program

Vic govt did the same thing to us... sacked them all.. and hired people at half the price, on a per hour contract.

No pay on holidays, xmas etc.

[EvanPyle]

Re: I used to work in the Vic program

>Vic govt did the same thing to us... sacked them all.. and hired people at half the price, on a per hour contract.

I do work for that program, and I have never heard of any mass firings. The program has been going on for 10+ years now and is fantastic.

[Diogenes]

Ouch, many schools, including mine, are paying the TSO a little extra to also be the computer coordinator, rather than paying a teacher wage. I was asked if wanted to do it & have my teaching load reduced 50% - but the problem is NIRTS problems always seem to occur when you do have a class and then all your "down" time is spent on admin & chasing suppliers, which is not fair on the kids so I respectfully declined. I have already spent the greater part of every free period over the last 3 weeks resetting passwords for staff and students.

[Anonymous Coward]

To get a proper digital education in Australia...

...you really have to go to a Catholic School, huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hardly a surprise....

I thought the TSO's all signed on knowing it was probably only going to last 4 years.... Didn't they even sign them all up on 4 year (or less) contracts?

I quit my non-TSO school IT job roughly 2 years ago, so I've been out of the loop a little. But I was sharing an office with a TSO until then. She seemed to be very aware of it being a short term job, and extremely aware of political changes having a possible impact.

[Pac_Man_60]

I am a NSW TSO

Maybe I shouldn't be mentioning this, but I was paid over the last Christmas school holiday period, the same as the previous 3 Christmases in the job.

Of course, I was only away from the school for the manditory 2 week minimum, as there is always a lot to do that can't be done while the computers are in use for classes.

Latest news is that, IIRC, the Commonwealth has agreed to pay about half the remaining money in March.