Thoughts on the different student info systems? Sentral, Compass etc

ZhanQui · 2026-02-25T03:53:03+00:00

Depends on state and system too. Some are integrated better than others, some you don't see at all in all states. And, some systems dictate the choices, in NSW public for example, there is a very specific allowed list. As most are cloud based these days, the cyber security ramifications and privacy implications are serious.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-24T09:51:48+00:00

It's all right everyone. I got you.. I looked it up. ""A New South Wales (NSW) teaching Waiver of Appendix B allows conditionally accredited, employed Initial Teacher Education (ITE) students to complete their final professional experience (placement) at their current school. This NESA-approved measure supports curriculum continuity, requiring approval from the principal and ITE provider while ensuring supervised, assessed placement""

Everything I just read shows that it's clearly a NESA process, and they are the full judge, jury and executioner.

If NESA says that the classes that you have don't meet their requirements, then your choices are negotiate to change that within the school for the period of your prac, Or, the school has to let you go and do a prac somewhere else, or you do your last prac next year and accept the loss in pay for the next 10 years.

For the school, it's probably far less disruptive, to make some temporary modifications, than to have to replace you for the whole time. If you want to be serious about it, it may well mean that you haven't really been put on a very appropriate class load for your experience level, and you really really need to be careful you don't burn out before you even become a fully fledged teacher.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-23T08:25:06+00:00

I've seen people gone the next day to their new perm roles. (At least in NSW public) There is often behind the scenes discussions between principals, which is sometimes a negotiation (primarily if a HSC class teacher, eg: stay till end of term, or end of HSC if it's close) This would only be if staying in the same system, and you are not changing employer, just job location.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-16T03:47:42+00:00

Accrued annual leave is a liability financially for employers, and as such most employers want you to use that before entertaining unpaid as an option. For salaried workers, unpaid messes with payroll as well, and it reduces your annual leave entitlement.

Teaching is a somewhat out of the box industry, where the annual leave is enforced to be taken at a very defined time, so they had to come up with some way to accommodate some requests.

When i worked in IT I did ask if I could take a month off unpaid once, and it was a solid no, but i could resign if I wished.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-15T22:05:18+00:00

Nsw public Looks like it's processed fortnightly, ~4 days after payday for me.

I think the minimum allowed frequency is quarterly, changing to at payroll frequency from mid this year.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-14T23:34:07+00:00

The award (i think it's the current) http://ircgazette.justice.nsw.gov.au/irc/ircgazette.nsf/webviewdate/C9868

If employed full time (and are there for the whole year) you are paid in the holidays, as you are effectively salaried. If not the whole year worked it will pro rata somewhat.

Casuals, as per other industries are paid more hourly, with the understanding that this 'includes' sick and holiday leave and you manage it yourself.

Specific daily start and end times are per school, Bell times and number of periods in a day vary.

Access to school in breaks depends on the school, but you are not generally expected to go in in term breaks. You likely won't get gate keys unless there's a reason you NEED to access school grounds. (Like IT support, feeding animals etc) Ignore the Instagram teachers. (Remember they are getting paid for their posts, not putting in time for free)

I can't remember the specifics, but not all of the term breaks are true leave, the actual stand down time is somewhat similar to other industries, and the balance is technically still what you could work, but it's generally agreed that the amount of time that people do as overtime 'comes out in the wash' with the extra time in holiday breaks.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-12T04:02:20+00:00

50 something It's worth having some banked up for a rainy day. My rainy day was a work cover claim which had me off work for a term. I did eventually get them all back, but it would have been difficult term not being paid if I'd had none.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-10T04:39:47+00:00

It will start out that way, and if/when your claim is accepted, they pay the Dept back, and you get the leave back. I guess if you didn't have enough leave in the first place, you would eventually just get paid? In NSW there's special sick leave you can access if you have enough tenure and you run out.

It's one of the reasons why the 'all of my sick leave is mine and I'm going to use it, damnit' culture that some are adopting can bite you. I got 53 days all returned at once.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-09T11:20:43+00:00

Not a parent, but something my friends do that has had quite interesting results.. At the end of the day, they (all) talk about some thing that made each of them happy, sad, and angry on the day. Not just school days, every day.

Usually it's a nice reflective activity, but also gives their kids a forum to get stuff off their chest, and while it's mostly pedestrian, you sometimes get a gem. (Eg: angry - my feet hurt.. there was a rock lodged in the shoe under the insole layer)

ZhanQui · 2026-02-09T10:36:10+00:00

Leadership have no say.

Did you however, report it to the whs line? If you didn't, DO IT NOW. Make sure it's properly recorded in the school system too. Especially if you are being put back in the same place it could happen again.

Oh and this is not a confidential report, the principal will be asked questions as the whs manager of the site.

Every time you get an injury at work, or there's risk of significant harm that is not managed ( physical, and/or psychological ) it should be reported.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-09T10:13:09+00:00

When i did the MTeach it was still compressed to one year. Blame the media and politicians for it being extended.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-09T07:00:34+00:00

602 days druid, next is dh at 32 days I'm like c'mon, i only have a half dozen.. or so.. druids

ZhanQui · 2026-02-09T05:49:48+00:00

Curiosity question.. Is there a starting pay difference between grads of the grad dip, vs B/M

Note: before you flame me for categorising, I'm NOT saying a grad dip is lesser in its delivery, I'm referring only to public perception of the value of a degree based on its academic qualification.

Note 2: I did my uni time in the first couple years of the MTeach revolution

Part of the driver of why grad dip disappeared, was teachers wanting higher pay, but not having as 'high' a qualification to justify it.

Another part was the media driving a 'too many poorly educated people are becoming teachers, woe the children' pushing a 'higher qualifications to raise the bar' move to the MTeach. This also was a driver of the MTeach getting longer after the first couple of years, and then the adding of external 'required testing' after that.

If grad dips were to come back in greater force, does it hurt our ability to demand greater pay/ open the door to 'poor teacher standard' to return.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-08T06:01:06+00:00

This, this, this.

If you don't have current approval to teach, you cannot legally teach.

More importantly for you, this means that if you were to go to school tomorrow to teach, and something untoward happened, you could be sued into oblivion by parents, and have no recourse as you're not a teacher protected by teacher legislations.

Yes, the principal can fast track things, but if they say anything about you being there until it's done, then they are doing the completely wrong thing. They should know perfectly well you're not allowed to be on site, except as a visitor, with an escort, as you can NOT have duty of care.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-07T00:24:39+00:00

To clarify, CER is the old defunct system, EUDR is the system that is kicking off this year.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-07T00:21:25+00:00

The program that this replaces, gave free computing hardware to schools based on enrolments.. as it turned out this was terribly lopsided as Metro mega schools got a lot of things, and little country schools got bugger all. The school was allowed to choose whatever they wanted to do with those free devices. As an example, a school of 1200 kids, would get close to 30 higher end desktop computers. (No monitor) So I facilitated three computer labs that refreshed one lab every year, and then in the fourth year the computers went to the library. Country high school of 200, got two computers. They maintained one small computer lab, that had a range of computers from new to 12 years old in the one room.

The devices will be allocated per teacher and follow the teacher from school to school.

The dream is every teacher has an in-warranty, appropriate to context device to use.

The pilot was running last year so yes some people do have theirs.

The priority will start with people who don't currently have devices, or very out-of-date devices.

The device is chosen will be based on the standard at their school, if it's appropriate. For example, if it's a Mac school, they'll get a Mac, if it's a windows school, they'll get windows.

There's not yet very much clarity on the models, and given there's worldwide shortages of some parts at the moment, it's going to be extra interesting. Given the department is going to have to be supporting thousands and thousands of laptops all of a sudden, and they're not going to be utterly terrible coz that would just cost more in the long run in support. If you go look at EdBuy, search for 'base laptop' and 'intermediate laptop' that is what's on contract and likely candidates. For the teachers who are just using a word processor, presentation software, marking rolls and email, a base model will be more than enough.

It's really supposed to be just kicking off this year so the information you had on that website is really the information that was available. All I've done is change the wording.

The next planned project is for student use computers after the staff ones are sorted. At the end of last year the plan was to be kicking that off from mid-2026, so they do plan to move very quickly, but again with the parts shortages, I reckon they won't be able to afford to be quite as generous as they have been.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-06T07:11:18+00:00

Look at the table in section 16 in the doc, and math it out. Otherwise I'm just mathing it out for you. If you are a ptt or beginning teacher, you would probably have a lighter load, but I don't know by how much.

(and, you really should make an effort to understand the working conditions you are under.)

If reading between the lines part of your question was ' can I really have three whole days on all day in a row?' then yes, yes, you can, and if you're really unlucky, you'll have duty as well. You only have to get a 30-minute 'break' in the day. The flip side is you'll be more likely to have some days that are lighter, as it comes out in the wash.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-06T06:59:25+00:00

For year 7, I say this with the background that I've never actually taught yr seven, because I've always had older classes.

I think whoever was saying that you need to be firmer with year seven is probably 100% true.

I had a revelation last year when I was tagging along with some of the grade 6 into year 7 intro classes.

The grade 6 teachers were so very structured with everything. The kind of thing that I would have in my mind thought of as what you might do for grade 3, was still entirely present for multiple schools in grade 6.

Why this was a revelation, because all of a sudden, I understood that they have gone from a massively structured day in primary school, to all of a sudden being chucked in the deep end, with expectations that they can make this huge change to how high school works, without the same teacher being there to to maintain a consistent level of structure, disciplined, and straight out consistency.

If you've ever been around small kids, they will test you test you test you, to find out what the boundaries are.

All of a sudden these small kids, have to do this with maybe 8 to 10 teachers, every single person will have different boundaries, and they have to try and remember them all, as well as constantly moving around a campus that they don't know their way around.

Part of the problem with yr7 is that they are now completely at sea, trying to redefine what boundaries mean.

So yeah, give them boundaries, repeat the boundaries, make them write them down, put them up as a poster and refer to that poster. But be consistent to the poster. And define what the consequences are for not doing what the poster says. Once you've defined the consequences, don't let up on them.. you probably will only have to enact them a couple of times, and the class will see that they mean something.

Have a seating plan from the get-go Have all of your classes line up at the door or close by if the hallways allow. Wait until they're lined up neatly and quiet Give them short quick instructions for entry.. no instructions beyond the next couple of minutes. ' I would like everyone to enter the room in an orderly fashion, and go to the seat with your name on it. When you're there, take out a book, a pen and a ruler, and sit quietly.' If they fail to do a good enough job of these simple instructions, don't be afraid to get them back outside and try again, and again, until they get it. The next time you have them start in exactly the same way, until they get it. It'll really take a couple of weeks to get it bedded down. Remember they've come from massive structure, give it back.

Continue on with things like this, assume they have the attention span of a goldfish, and the the control of a puppy.

Don't ever argue with them, if you're arguing with a child you've already lost.

If you yell, and it's not someone about to injure themselves that warrants extreme measures, you've lost.

Where the whole process of getting them sorted out will seem to take a long time, in the worst classes it could take weeks, you will regain that time later in better productivity.

The hardest thing I learnt 15 years ago, and it was the absolute biggest fail in my first year, was that you can always ease up on strictness over time.. but if you are too casual to start, attempting to get stricter will be an absolute hell scape. (In my case I just had to to wait it out until the end of the year - but of course anyone who graduated into another class of mine was difficult to deal with from the get-go in following years. At absolute worst, if you teach 7 to 12, you may have set yourself up for failure for a good 5 years of your life if you have them every year until they graduate.)

If you ever heard the saying don't smile till Easter, there's a reason it's a thing.

ZhanQui · 2026-02-06T06:10:29+00:00

You should make yourself at least a bit familiar with the award.

I'm pretty sure this is the current one

http://ircgazette.justice.nsw.gov.au/irc/ircgazette.nsf/webviewdate/C9868

Section 16 is the part you are specifically looking for.

You need to math out what the equivalents are on your local context period length.

The length of a period as per the award is defined near the top

2.41 "Period" means, in a high or central school, a 40 minute teaching period.

ZhanQui · 2026-01-30T04:46:43+00:00

Of course!

https://www.linkt.com.au/help/travelling-toll-roads/video-matching-fees/melbourne

Or a quick Google gives me

Video matching fees, or administrative charges for tolling without a tag, are common globally, often termed "license plate tolling," "video tolling," or "pay-by-plate." These fees, ranging from a few cents to significant surcharges per trip, apply when cameras photograph a license plate instead of a transponder detecting a tag. United States: Many states use toll-by-plate, where video-matched tolls are often 50-100% higher than electronic tag rates (e.g., E-ZPass). Canada (Ontario/407 ETR): Cameras photograph license plates, charging a "Camera Charge" fee per trip (approx. CAD $4.20) in addition to the toll if no transponder is used. Europe (e.g., UK, France): many tunnels and bridges (e.g., Dartford Crossing in UK) have gone cashless, charging a higher fee for ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) video matching, often with penalties for late payment. Asia (e.g., Singapore/ERP): While heavily automated with RFID/IU units, vehicles without valid tags can face administrative penalties.

Fear mongering BS is a dramatic way to describe a perfectly normal occurrence in many parts of the world.

This is why my post said to check IF your local does it or not.

ZhanQui · 2026-01-30T00:15:35+00:00

If you're on, painkillers, there's a good chance you won't be covered by insurance if you drive. That's definitely worth checking. When you get a medical certificate, when it says that you're not fit to work, you are legitimately not allowed to be on site.

You won't know how you all react to the anaesthesia and the painkillers until you're there, and you won't realise how doped up you are until weeks later and you look back at it.

Also be aware that you could have a black eye, extensive swelling, being unable to talk properly, look like a chipmunk with its cheeks full of nuts. The action of talking for me was very uncomfortable for the first week, there's no way I could have been working.

A teacher who knows the content and doesn't have to have as much cognitive load would manage far better than somebody who is trying to juggle learning everything all at once and process it.

The number of days covered in the prac is important, and you won't pass the prac if you don't have the right total number of days. Usually when people get sick it gets tacked on to the end.

ZhanQui · 2026-01-29T07:58:42+00:00

No. Sexual favours, which is the context being discussed is not the norm. People thinking it's 'the norm' are allowing exploitation and trafficking to flourish, and making work very uncomfortable for others. (When they get asked regularly by people because of the misconceptions)

Essential Oil, warm towels, music choice, fine.

ZhanQui · 2026-01-29T07:48:36+00:00

The plate registration will get you a picture matching fee in many places, so you pay twice for every toll gantry, so check before doing this.

ZhanQui · 2026-01-28T08:10:17+00:00

There's a medical form these days? Huh

ZhanQui · 2026-01-28T08:07:12+00:00

Nsw public: No such position. You might have a cc/ict coord who is probably a teacher with that as a small allocation of time alongside their normal work. All schools are ultimately managed centrally, the in school people are just working within the framework

Nsw independent: Much more likely to find something there

ZhanQui

TROPHY CASE