Educational Services (Post-Secondary Education) Award

Coverage depends on both the kind of institution and the staff stream, so those two questions have to be answered together.

• Confirm that the institution is operating in the post-secondary educational services industry as defined by the award.
• Place the employee in the correct stream: academic teacher, teacher or tutor-instructor, general staff, or sessional where applicable.
• Exclude trades, cleaning and maintenance staff from this award analysis.
• Use extra care at the school and higher education boundaries, because similar teaching work can sit under a different award.

Appointment letters and written part-time patterns are core compliance documents under this award, not optional admin paperwork.

• Give each non-casual employee a letter of appointment stating classification, rate of pay and whether the employee is full-time, part-time or sessional.
• For a sessional teacher, state the cessation date as well.
• Put every part-time regular pattern in writing before the work starts.
• Record any change to the part-time pattern by written agreement.

Minimum engagement rules differ across the streams, so a single casual template is risky in a mixed education business.

• A part-time employee must be rostered for at least 2 consecutive hours on any day.
• Casual employees can be paid at the end of each engagement or through the usual full-time payment method.
• Casual teachers and tutor-instructors have a 2 hour minimum payment per engagement.
• General staff casuals have a 3 hour minimum payment per engagement.

Teaching time under this award is not a simple clock-hour concept, so budgeting and rostering need to follow the award formulas.

• General staff ordinary hours operate within their own spread, including limited later evening work until 8.00 pm on up to 8 weekdays in a 28 day period if cycle hours are not exceeded.
• Academic teachers can have hours annualised over 12 months, with lectures, tutorials and repeat lectures or tutorials counted using clause 14.2 formulas.
• Teachers and tutor-instructors also use annualised hours and counted-work formulas, with each teacher contact hour counting as 1.5 hours and each tutor-instructor contact hour counting as 1.25 hours.

Allowance compliance is stream-specific and work-specific, so it should be checked role by role rather than assumed across the whole institution.

• Check whether first aid duty has been appointed in writing and whether the employee holds current qualifications.
• Review whether clothing, protective footwear, laundry or meal allowance obligations are triggered for the particular work being done.
• Do not assume the same allowance settings apply across teaching staff and general staff.

Post-secondary providers often sit near other award boundaries, and coverage has to be tested employee by employee where the work is mixed.

• Do not overlook the standard exclusions for enterprise instruments and State reference public sector awards.
• On-hire workers can still fall under this award while performing covered work for a post-secondary provider.
• If a provider runs mixed operations, do a fresh coverage check for each role rather than assuming one answer for everyone.

PR799280, PR799355, PR799511

The current consolidated award incorporates these recent variation determinations. Use the consolidated wording when checking any affected clause, schedule, rate or allowance.

Affected: 16 - Minimum rates, 18 - Allowances, Schedule D - Summary of Hourly Rates of Pay - General Staff, Schedule E - Summary of Monetary Allowances, Schedule F - Supported Wage System