Teachers have endorsed a new "nation-leading" pay deal which would deliver them more than a 6 per cent pay rise over three years.
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In a major breakthrough, the Australian Education Union's Tasmanian branch council endorsed the new two-year Teachers Agreement and has recommended its members vote in support of it in a binding ballot to be held in the early part of term four.
In addition to the 2.35 per cent back pay secured recently for teachers, a 4.2 per cent pay rise over three years has been included in the agreement, bringing the total increase to 6.55 per cent.
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The detente between the union and the state government comes after more than a year of negotiations.
AEU Tasmania president Helen Richardson said the new agreement addressed the issue of excessive workloads, which represented teachers' primary concern.
"Both our executive and council have passed motions encouraging members to vote YES in a binding ballot," Ms Richardson said.
The agreement also provides for two hours less face-to-face teaching time a fortnight for primary school teachers; time that will instead be used for "tailoring learning to individual student need".
This will be achieved through the employment of additional teachers.
"There will [also] be more specialist teachers in schools for areas such as STEM," Ms Richardson said.
Teacher assistants would also be recognised in the agreement as "para-professionals", which could end the practice of them being stood down without pay during school holidays.
"New teachers will receive more support early in their careers through an extra hour per week of time release, helping us to retain our best and brightest educators," Ms Richardson said.
"The difficulty of recruiting teachers to regional and isolated schools is recognised through improved leave conditions for these hard-to-staff areas."
Paid parental leave would be increased to 16 weeks, and continual payment of superannuation while employees are on workers' compensation or family leave will be implemented.
Treasurer Peter Gutwein said he welcomed the AEU executive and council's endorsement of the latest Teachers Agreement, saying "ultimately it is the students who will be the winners".
"Members will now have the opportunity to also consider it," he said.
"We value our hard-working teachers and the work they do to support students and hope this new agreement is endorsed to ensure our teachers can receive the benefits it delivers."