DET district offices to be all at SEA

Cuts to the Department of Education & Training’s District Offices will put an end to the “one-stop-shop” service to teachers, parents and schools.

"One-stop-shop" services have been strongly promoted by the Government for the benefit of clients. DET has decided to ditch this Government policy.

There are 40 District Offices across New South Wales, each providing property, pay, welfare, specialist education advice, complaint handling for parents, students and staff, etc.

There are 24 District Offices in the regions and 16 in metropolitan Sydney. Each one services about 55 schools.

The District Offices will be renamed School Education Areas (SEA). Under the plans released so far they will lose office managers, property officers and other support staff positions.

Sue Walsh, President of the the Public Service Association, said that, "The changes to District Offices proposed by the department will take away the personalised face of public education in local communities."

"Support for parents, staff and students will evaporate."

The cuts to District Offices are part of the Government's plan to cut 1,000 jobs out of TAFE & DET.

The plans which have been released are unclear about the functions of surviving staff. The Department has adopted the peculiar practice of deciding what staff it will have first and then deciding what they will do. A sensible organization would determine what work is to be done and then employ sufficient staff to do it.

The School Education Areas will employ two administrative/corporate services clerks, a staff welfare officer and a variable number of teacher consultants. It is envisaged that the number of consultants will increase but their administrative support will not.

The Public Service Association has tried to extract more information on roles of the proposed staff but the Department is unable to explain.

It is clear the Department will increase workloads for the remaining support staff. This will not work. It will lead to backlogs and service breakdowns. These are pressures which will have teachers and support staff actively seeking better employers, and will leave parents and students angry with frustration.

The effects of job losses, and of dissatisfaction with inadequate services, are felt more acutely in country regions.

Further information:
Anne Kennelly, Industrial Officer,
9220 0944, 0418 166 005

District Offices (district name in brackets where different from town/suburb) are at: Albury, Armidale, Riverwood (Bankstown), Batemans Bay, Bathurst, Seven Hills (Blacktown), Bondi, Broken Hill, Campbelltown, Gosford (Central Coast), Grafton (Clarence/Coffs Harbour), Deniliquin, Dubbo, Chester Hill (Fairfield), Strathfield (Granville), Griffith, Hornsby, Charlestown (Lake Macquarie), Goonellabah (Lismore), Glenfield (Liverpool), Maitland, Moree, Emerton (Mt Druitt), Adamstown (Newcastle), Dee Why (Northern Beaches), Orange, North Parramatta (Parramatta), Penrith, St Peters (Port Jackson), Port Macquarie), Queanbeyan, North Ryde (Ryde), Warilla (Shellharbour), Arncliffe (St George), Miranda (Sutherland), Tamworth, Forster (Taree), Murwillumbah (Tweed Heads/Ballina), Wagga Wagga, West Wollongong (Wollongong)