“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education Queensland to review and substantially increase the rural locality allowance, in relation to the current salary schedule for teaching staff who are employed in a rural or remote school.”
An extract from the Queensland Rural and Remote Benefit Booklet, released last year, explains that:-
A locality allowance is paid to employees specified in Directive 16/18: Locality allowances. The payment varies across rural and remote centres and is reflective of the school’s location, quality of life factors and cost of living. The amount is displayed as an annual figure in this booklet, however, it is paid fortnightly.
https://teach.qld.gov.au/teach-in-queensland-state-schools/pay-benefits-and-incentives/rural-and-remote-service-calculator
https://teach.qld.gov.au/teach-in-qld-state-schools/Documents/remote-teaching-booklet.pdf
Concerningly, the last time these figures and allowances were reviewed was 11th of May 2018 which superseded the previous figures done in 1999. Also curiously, a measure of “quality of life factors” is surely subjective, and unable to be quantified, or differentiated between localities. We would suggest that ALL rural and remote locations have unique challenges and should ALL receive a component of allowance recognising this.
We are seeking that there be immediate review of these figures, as the locality allowance is not accurately or appropriately covering the true cost of living in these rural areas, and it further fails to be attractive to warrant those considering leaving larger towns and cities to live and work in rural and remote areas. We wish to highlight that there are significant undertakings professionally and personally when taking on a role in a rural or remote setting, when compared to those in metropolitan settings. These teachers or principals often lack adequate support staff, and their school environments often have many gaps that are taken up by them, with no further remuneration, yet an expectation to undertake in order to keep the school functional – such as librarian, admin, financial, health and safety, HR, groundskeeping, fundraising, tuckshop, uniforms, water pumps, and everything in between, all whilst juggling a multi-age class of kindy to grade 6, planning all lessons, full supervision and accountability across the board, coupled with limited internet and phone, isolation, and an array of other practicalities that are less than favourable. There is simply no attractive incentive to teach outside of a metropolitan area, that compensates for the abovementioned increased undertakings that are inherent with a rural teaching position. A recent news article in the Queensland Country Life on April 7 2023, featuring member for Burdekin Dale Last, spoke at length of the teaching shortage crisis in central Queensland, where he is quoted “There needs to be a recognition that positions in rural and regional areas, are vastly different to those in larger regional cities and because of this there needs to be packages in place to encourage them to these areas”. Attraction and retention of staff in rural localities is becoming a critical issue, with little incentive or improvement on the horizon. This has devastating effects for children and families of school communities who suffer through high teacher turn over as the staff quickly seek out return to larger regions. At the heart of the issue is that rural areas simply cannot compete with larger city offerings, therefore, the only factor that can make a difference is increased remuneration.
We have tabled figures received by someone working in our central area, to see what the real take home amount is, and how that equates in dollar values per week, after tax and these tables have been provided to State Council and are available in the Motion booklet online and printed.
The current locality allowance, on average in most of these transfer 5 rating schools, and most only being eligible if they are permanent, for the half rate (no dependents), is dismal, at approximately $48.00 a week. We ask you to consider, would you live and work outside of a city for less than $50.00 a week to cover all of the above mentioned significant increased costs of living?
