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Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) and the IEU continue to negotiate around our key areas of claims.

For its part, the IEU seeks workload relief, and CESA seeks greater amounts of fixed term contracts and casual engagement. Unfortunately, bargaining progress remains slow.

IEU: Workload Relief and reduced Student Contact Time (SCT)
Teacher workload remains a central concern. The IEU has tabled a comprehensive claim for workload relief including:

• Maximum contact time reductions
• Additional release for early career teachers
• Defined and enforceable non-contact time
• Limits on practical class sizes and student numbers

Despite some progress, CESA’s counterproposal falls short of what teachers in Catholic schools urgently need.

While CESA has offered a 60-minute average weekly reduction in student contact time, it refuses to commit to implementing this in 2026, citing timetabling pressures. Members have made it clear: this will be too little too late. We desperately need more time for teachers to meet all their workload demands.

This reduction offering from CESA, however, is not a reduction in your actual week-to-week workload, as the model proposed by CESA allows schools to choose their own manner of compliance without regard to teacher’s needs.

This means it could look like a reduction in the number of teaching days across the year, shorter teaching weeks or days — all strategies that do not deliver reduced workload in the way that teachers need (and want).

The employer has proposed changes to clarify and partially reshape School Directed Non-Contact Time (SDNCT). While this responds to concerns raised in the last round of negotiations, questions remain about how meaningful and teacher-led this time will be. The IEU is pressing for more genuine self-directed professional time.

Currently, the maximum teacher contact time in CESA schools sits at 24 hours in primary and 22 hours 30 minutes in secondary. By comparison, teachers in Department for Education (DfE) schools have a lower cap 22 hours 30 minutes in primary and 21 hours in secondary, with plans for a further reduction based on an index of disadvantage.

When benchmarked against Catholic systems in other states, South Australia has the highest maximum teacher contact hours in the country.

Our claim, for a maximum of 21 hours in primary and 19 hours 30 minutes in secondary is not only fair but reflects the realities of teacher workload in SA. It brings us in line with the protections already afforded to Catholic teachers interstate and acknowledges the increasing demands placed on educators across the sector.

Current Key CESA Claims: Flexibility or Insecurity?
CESA continues to push for broader rights to use temporary contracts, including to respond to changing enrolments, support individual students with additional needs, and staff seasonal roles. The IEU remains concerned that the proposed language is too broad and may increase job insecurity. We are pressing for clearer safeguards and have committed to developing an alternative proposal to better balance flexibility with certainty.

CESA has argued for greater scope to employ casual staff, particularly in OSHC, uniform shops and among early career teachers seeking flexibility. While we recognise that some casual staff prefer this model, the IEU’s focus remains on ensuring casuals are informed of their right to convert to permanent employment under the Fair Work Act. There is emerging agreement here –particularly for ESOs – with further discussion needed for teachers.

Support for Early Career Teachers

CESA has proposed extending the 0.1 FTE release currently provided in country schools to all early career teachers. This is a positive step, but, we are continuing to advocate for stronger induction, mentoring and protection from excessive demands in the first years of teaching.

What’s Next?

Upcoming Bargaining Meetings
Negotiations will continue in Term 3 on:

• Thursday 7 August (Catholic members will receive a further update on this meeting on Monday 11/8)
• Wednesday 20 August
• Tuesday 2 September
• Thursday 25 September

At these meetings, we aim to progress remaining claims, especially around workload, contract security, and support for teaching and ESO staff.

Stay Involved
Your voice makes a difference. Member feedback from our recent surveys is helping us push back against unreasonable proposals and highlight what matters most.

We will not support an agreement that entrenches burnout, casualisation or under-recognition. Our strength lies in our unity, so stay informed, stay active and stand with your union.

In solidarity,
The IEU(SA) Bargaining Team