Hours of Duty: teachers in schools and colleges work 70 hours per fortnight and on average 200 days per year. This time excludes lunch breaks except when on duty during this break; then it is included in the hours of attendance.
What’s my start time?
You should be at your school at least half an hour before beginning lessons.
Hours of duty
Secondary Colleges
College teachers’ normal hours of duty are from 7.45 am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. A teacher is not required to work more than 8 hours on any work day, unless approved by the Principal in exceptional circumstances.
Kindergarten to Year 10
There are no daily prescribed start and finish times for Kindergarten to Year 10 workplaces. However, teaching staff must be in attendance a half hour before lessons.
Lunch breaks — don’t give them up!
Your lunch break should be between 30 minutes and one hour and taken between the hours of 12 noon and 2.00 pm, each day. A lunch break, of a minimum of 30 minutes, is safeguarded in your Award and you are obliged to receive and take this important break.
Instructional load means regularly, timetabled face-to-face instruction of students. It includes:
- timetabled class teacher periods, when a class is together for the purpose of receiving administrative instruction and discussing problems which are common to the group
- timetabled electives offered in the school curriculum
- timetabled tutorial periods
- timetabled pastoral care periods
- timetabled periods for recreational and sporting activity
- timetabled assemblies — does not include end of year assemblies
Both daily PE and timetabled supervised eating in the teacher’s classroom are activities that are to be included when calculating instructional load.
Activities that are voluntarily undertaken and are not approved variations of your instructional load will not form part of the instructional load.
The instructional load for a full-time unpromoted teacher shall be no more than:
- Kindergarten to Grade 6: 42 hours per fortnight;
- Grade 7 to Grade 12: 40 hours per fortnight;
- Every hour of instructional load (as defined) undertaken after 5pm shall be counted as 1.5 hours towards an employee’s fortnightly instructional load.
- Approved time spent after 5pm by VET teachers on workplace visits for the purpose of student assessment will be credited at the rate of “time and one half” against the teacher’s fortnightly instructional load.
Instructional Load and DOTT (duties other than teaching)
Primary School Teachers
| Employment status | Hours of Work per fortnight | Instructional Load per fortnight | DOTT per fortnight | PA Days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fulltime | 70 | 42 | 28 | 5.0 |
| 0.95 | 66.5 | 39.9 | 26.6 | 4.75 |
| 0.9 | 63 | 37.8 | 25.2 | 4.5 |
| 0.85 | 59.5 | 35.7 | 23.8 | 4.25 |
| 0.8 | 56 | 33.6 | 22.4 | 4.0 |
| 0.75 | 52.5 | 31.5 | 21.0 | 3.75 |
| 0.7 | 49 | 29.4 | 19.6 | 3.5 |
| 0.65 | 45.5 | 27.3 | 18.2 | 3.25 |
| 0.6 | 42 | 25.2 | 16.8 | 3.0 |
| 0.55 | 38.5 | 23.1 | 15.4 | 2.75 |
| 0.5 | 35 | 21 | 14 | 2.5 |
| 0.45 | 31.5 | 18.9 | 12.6 | 2.25 |
| 0.4 | 28 | 16.8 | 11.2 | 2.0 |
| 0.35 | 24.5 | 14.7 | 9.8 | 1.75 |
| 0.3 | 21 | 12.6 | 8.4 | 1.5 |
| 0.25 | 17.5 | 10 | 7.5 | 1.25 |
| 0.2 | 14.0 | 8.4 | 5.6 | 1.0 |
| 0.15 | 10.5 | 6.3 | 4.2 | 0.75 |
| 0.1 | 7.0 | 0.2 | 2.8 | 0.5 |
