Vic teachers one step closer to WFH

“The Victorian government on Tuesday introduced legislation that would protect the right for most of the state's employees to work from home two days a week. The amendment to the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 will come into effect on September 1. Victorians who can work from home will officially have the legal right to do so two days a week. Regular casual and part-time workers are also covered by these new laws, but teachers may need to wait longer to start working from home, if their workload allows. Monash University education research fellow Tim Delaney said the implementation of these legislative arrangements will likely flow through industrial agreements over time. “For example, the in-principle VGSA 2026, which is currently being voted on by AEU members , includes ‘right to disconnect’ , which was legislated in 2024 and is now included in the Victorian public sector industrial relations policy suite,” he said. “The in-principle VGSA 2026 does not include provisions for teachers in public schools to work from home, with the exception of a brief clause relating to medical requests. “It is likely that future negotiations between unions and governments will engage with the new work from home legislation.” Trials could show how teachers could work from home. Picture: iStock/Julia Gomina. Teachers would most likely work from home when completing non-instruction tasks like planning, assessment, and research relating to curriculum and pedagogy. Mr Delaney estimated these tasks could afford teachers one day a week at home. Details about how the policy might be implemented in schools is expected to come when the legislation passes. More on this story: How would flexible WFH work for teachers? | Teachers push for four-day work week in Victoria | ‘Eyes up, screens down’: New device rules in Vic “There are a range of ways that trials could work through modifications to existing timetable arrangements,” he said. “There are [also] many other four-day week models in use around the world and this new legislation could spur important conversation about the challenges of the traditional school time arrangements for school employees and inspire interest in responding to concerns of work-life balance and workload that teachers report contribute to their decisions to leave the profession.” Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan on Tuesday night told 7.30 her government is responding to appetite for long-term change from the electorate. “There needs to be long-term change ... to systems that are not working for working people anymore,” she said. “This is where working from home is an important step in that direction, because it is about giving people the right to work from home, and we know that working from home is good for families. “It saves them time and money. It's also good for the economy because it makes people more productive.” She has previously said working from home two days a week would save Victorians $5,000 a week, reduce traffic congestion and cut commute time an average of three hours per week.

Summary generated from the RSS feed of Education Review AU. All article rights belong to the original publisher. Click through to read the full piece on www.educationreview.com.au.