Teachers applying for permanent positions or applicants applying for new positions in Tasmania will now be shortlisted by an Education Department team.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The change has been made by the Education Department to assist with the recruitment of an extra 250 teachers as announced by Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff at the state election in March.
The decision on new hires for teachers, whether they were permanent positions or new ones, used to sit with individual school principals.
An Education Department spokesman said the additional recruitment practices had been put in place to assist with the extra recruiting needed to fill the extra 250 teacher positions.
“These practices [the additional recruitment practices] sit alongside other existing recruitment processes, including appointment from the fixed-term register through which schools can recruit directly. Principals will continue to have a role in recruitment activities,” the spokesman said.
RELATED STORIES:
The recruitment changes are believed to impact teachers applying for permanency as well as those applying for new jobs.
Tasmanian Principals Association Malcolm Elliott said the changes had been put in place to assist with the large volume of recruiting activity being undertaken.
“It’s a strategy to take away the stress and strain of recruitment from principals,” he said.
“We are moving towards a central model of recruitment, to bring all of the applicants into one central place."
A central recruitment team has been created by the Education Department to assist with administrative support related to the recruitment activities.
The Education Department spokesman said the shortlisting of teacher applicants was being jointly managed by the department, principals and schools.
“In relation to this specific additional recruitment activity, the shortlisting of applicants is being jointly managed to identify the highest quality applicants for further consideration by panels, which include principal membership.”
Australian Education Union Tasmania branch president Helen Richardson said the union was aware of the changes but was unsure of its impact at this stage.
“We have asked some really detailed questions of the department on this,” she said.
She said until they had more detail, the union was yet to make a formal position on whether they support it.
“We have been working with the department for about a month on this,” she said.
The department spokesman said all recruitment processes in the Education Department were undertaken in accordance with the merit principle and assessments were made against established criteria and standards.
While you're with us, did you know you can now sign up to receive breaking news updates direct to your inbox? Sign up here.