Casual Relief Teachers (CRTs)

Policy and Guidelines

This page is currently being updated to reflect Ministerial Order 1389

Pre-employment requirements

It is the responsibility of the principal (as the school council’s representative) to ensure that only suitable and eligible persons are employed in the school. Prior to the engagement of a person as a casual relief teacher, the principal must be satisfied that the person meets the following requirements:

• is registered or has permission to teach from the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) under Part 2.6 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006, in addition to having completed an approved course of teacher training
• is a fit and proper person to be an employee, and suitable for child-connected work, and
• has not received a Voluntary Departure Package in the 3 years immediately prior to employment as a casual relief teacher, or any lesser period as authorised by the Voluntary Departure Package, and
• meets the pre-employment medical requirements, and
• does not have any employment or re-employment restrictions placed on them. To ascertain this, a pre-employment check must be done on eduPay. Any enquiries arising from this check should be made to the Employee Conduct Branch.

The principal must ensure that all of the pre-employment requirements are met in the employment of the casual relief teacher. When employing persons not known to them, principals are advised to check with previous employers to ensure that such persons are suitable to be employed.

Persons seeking employment as a casual relief teacher should consider outlining their employment interest and availability by lodging their details on Recruitment Online.

Principals and School Councils should also be aware of their obligations as a Public Sector Employer to avoid or manage Conflict of Interest in employment. Further information can be found in the conflict of interest policy on the Victorian Public Sector Commission website.

Conditions of employment

The conditions of employment for casual relief teachers including rate of pay are set out in Ministerial Order 1039.

Casual relief teachers are paid for the actual hours of employment to the nearest 15 minutes, up to the maximum daily rate, and must be paid for a minimum of 3 hours for any one engagement. The hourly rate of pay equals one-sixth of the daily rate based on the average school day (excluding 30 minutes for lunch) and is linked to the classroom teacher salary subdivision 1 to 5 in the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2017. Casual relief teachers who are employed for a full day are paid the maximum daily rate. The casual relief teacher rate of pay includes a 20% loading that reflects the casual nature of the work and is in lieu of annual leave, personal leave, and public holidays.

The maximum hours of duty of a casual relief teacher are 38 hours per week which should be applied on a pro rata basis if the period of employment is less than 1 week.

In determining the duties to be undertaken by a casual relief teacher, it is important that the work required of the casual relief teacher is neither excessive nor unreasonable having regard to the nature and duration of the engagement. The range of duties that can be required of a casual relief teacher will vary depending on the circumstances of the engagement. For example:

• a casual relief teacher employed for 1 week or less to replace a staff member would normally undertake a combination of face-to-face teaching and student supervision
• a casual relief teacher employed for more than 1 week to undertake the scheduled duties of a staff member can only be required to undertake those scheduled duties. Where a casual relief teacher is not engaged to undertake the full range of scheduled duties that casual relief teacher can be assigned other duties consistent with the work requirements of a teacher
• a casual relief teacher employed to undertake a specific task or activity would undertake the duties required of that task or activity irrespective of the period of engagement.

In addition to scheduled duties, a casual relief teacher is entitled to an unpaid luncheon period of not less than 30 minutes, free from assigned duties between the hours 11:30am to 2:30pm. However, payment must be made for any school recess periods.

School councils are encouraged to ensure casual relief teachers are provided with the resources and the support they may need to effectively discharge their duties. Principals are encouraged to include regular casual relief teachers in whole-school professional development opportunities where possible.

A casual relief teacher experiencing any personal or work issues may access the Department's Employee Assistance Program, which is a short term, solution focused and strictly confidential counselling service (refer to Employee Health, Safety and Wellbeing (OHSMS) — Expert supports for your health safety and wellbeing)

Record keeping

The provisions relating to the creation and retention of employment records for staff also apply to school council employees. In particular, records relating to qualifications, teacher registration and details of hours worked must be retained in the school. This is of particular importance as casual relief teaching from 1 January 2005 is included as approved teaching experience for commencing salary purposes in respect of any future employment as a teacher in the teaching service.

To ensure that accurate information is maintained on casual relief teacher employment undertaken on and from 1 January 2005, principals are asked to provide a letter to casual relief teachers on school letterhead detailing the extent of the casual relief teaching work undertaken in each financial year. It is suggested that this letter be included with the casual relief teacher’s statement of earnings.

Grievances

Casual relief teachers have access to procedures to resolve grievances that may arise. These grievance procedures are set out in Ministerial Order 1039.