Benefits of casual and temporary teaching

Casual and temporary employment provides valuable experience for teachers just starting out as well as for those seeking variety and new experiences in their careers. It is a preferred option for teachers wanting flexibility to balance work and caring or other responsibilities. For teachers seeking permanent appointment, casual and temporary employment provides great opportunities to further refine your skills, gain demonstrable experience contributing to a school, and develop professional relationships.

A casual or temporary teacher could gain an offer of permanent employment through the Teacher Employment Priority Scheme (TEPS), which enables you to enhance your priority date for permanent employment. Depending on the schools in which you work, your priority date for permanent employment may be enhanced by up to 18 months for every 50 days of casual or temporary service in NSW public schools.

Other benefits of casual and temporary employment include:

• flexible hours
• opportunities to travel throughout NSW - a great way to experience living and working in a different area without the commitment of a permanent job
• the opportunity to experience teaching in other aspects of the curriculum
• the rewards of enjoying different experiences daily.

In addition, temporary teachers may benefit from locality and climate allowances in rural and remote areas, a range of extra leave options and vacation pay.

Your contribution as a casual or temporary teacher

Whether employed on a day-to-day basis or in blocks, casual and temporary teachers carry out a vital role in public schools throughout NSW on a daily basis and we value your contribution. Casual and temporary teachers are responsible for providing proper and adequate delivery of the NSW curriculum and supervising classes or areas, ensuring the safety and wellbeing of students at all times.

As a casual or temporary teacher, you are expected to work consistently to provide relevant and educationally appropriate activities for all classes.

Your role involves:

• knowing your lesson content well
• preparing lessons
• providing homework where appropriate
• participating in whole school activities
• performing any rostered playground duty
• contributing to school or faculty activities, special events, excursions or meetings
• understanding the school community.

Becoming a casual or temporary teacher

To work as a teacher in a NSW public school, you will need to apply for approval to teach in NSW public schools, which includes:

• Completing teacher education studies at a recognised Australian teacher education institution.
• Obtaining teacher accreditation with NESA.
• Holding a valid Working With Children Check clearance.

Teachers submitting an application for approval to teach in NSW public schools must successfully meet all requirements, including their suitability interview, before receiving approval to teach.

As a casual teacher you are employed on a day-to-day basis to meet relief needs within the school. You will be paid a daily rate based on your years of training and experience, which is loaded to include a component for sick leave and holiday pay. To begin looking for work, create a profile with our preferred casual teacher booking solution, ClassCover.

For more information, see the ClassCover procedure.

As a temporary teacher you are employed full-time for four weeks to a year, or part-time for two terms or more. Temporary teachers receive most of the entitlements of permanent teachers, including annual salary, on a pro-rata basis. To begin looking for work, subscribe to our weekly update of permanent and temporary teaching positions on JobFeed.

Returning teachers

If you are an approved Department of Education teacher who separated within the last 12 months and want to return to casual teaching, you can apply using the online Casual Approval after Separation from.

If you are returning to teaching in NSW public schools following a break, you may need to renew or update the following:

• Renew your Working with Children Check (WWCC) (if expired), and/or send your current WWCC clearance to wwccrenewals@det.nsw.edu.au.
• Change your NESA Membership Status Accreditation from ‘Leave of Absence’ to ‘Active’. Please refer to How to take yourself off a leave of absence.
• Manage your NESA accreditation, or call them on 1300 739 338.
• Manage your Approval to Teach.
• Check if your mandatory training (staff only) is up-to-date so that you are classroom ready.
• Reactivate your ClassCover account.
• Log in to your departmental account through the Staff Portal (staff only) to ensure all information, including banking details, is up to date.

Finding employment

Once you receive your approval to teach, you are eligible to work as a casual or temporary teacher in our schools. Graduating teachers who have received their interim casual teaching approval can do the same.

Casual and temporary teaching positions are not generally advertised in the same places as permanent positions; however, they are advertised on the following platforms:

ClassCover

ClassCover is the Department of Education's preferred casual teacher booking solution.

As a casual teacher, ClassCover is your online resume, giving you direct access to hundreds of schools. Free to use and featuring comprehensive support and modern functions, this platform is already in use at more than 2,000 NSW public schools.

To start using ClassCover and get tips on how to make the most of your profile to maximise your chances of getting booked, we recommend visiting the 'Connecting with Schools for Relief Teaching Opportunities' webpage.

There are opportunities for casual and temporary teaching in most areas of NSW. You will greatly increase your chances of obtaining employment if you seek teaching engagements in non-coastal country, rural and remote areas.

JobFeed

Subscribe to receive JobFeed, a weekly update of permanent and temporary teaching positions in NSW public schools. Schools often advertise their temporary teacher vacancies on JobFeed.

Teacher Employment Priority Scheme

Under the staffing agreement, one possible pathway to permanent employment is direct appointment from the employment list, which comprises applicants who have the required staffing codes and location preferences for a particular vacancy. Under this staffing option, teachers with the earliest priority date will have an advantage over the other teachers in the pool.

Generally, your initial priority date is determined by the date you applied for employment with us; however, the Teacher Employment Priority Scheme (TEPS) offers teachers a chance to enhance their priority date by rewarding those who work as a casual or temporary teacher in our schools.

TEPS applies to casual and temporary service in all NSW public schools. Depending on the school, your employment priority date may be enhanced by 6, 12 or 18 months for every 50 days of casual or temporary work.

Schools and their TEPS benefits are detailed in the Organisation of public schools in NSW by staffing area (XLS 0.35MB).

Inside the department

Induction

Induction is a process in which an employee is introduced to their new work environment within the department. It may begin before an employee’s first day and will generally take place over the first six weeks, or up to six months. All employees are required to complete three components:

• Onboarding: preparing for employees to commence work in their new role. This is usually completed or mostly completed before an employee’s first day.
• Department-wide induction: providing essential department information and context, and mandatory training requirements.
• Local induction: providing information that is specific to the new employee’s work environment.

Mandatory training

As a temporary or casual teacher, it is your responsibility to ensure that you are up to date with all training. There is a range of mandatory training that new and existing school-based staff must complete to comply with legislative and departmental requirements:

• Complete necessary mandatory training (staff only), or email Learning@det.nsw.edu.au for any mandatory training inquiries.
• Locate mandatory training, professional development and relevant resources on MyPL (staff only).
• Check out the MyPL useful support documents.
• Attend or watch casual teacher information sessions (staff only) – these can be counted as professional development to help maintain your accreditation.
• Access information on the Performance and Development Framework for Casual Teachers. Further information on the Performance and Accreditation Support is available on the casual teacher information sessions webpage (staff only).
• Explore the Q+ platform (staff only) - the digital solution to simplify and modernise planning for teachers and principals. Q+ clarifies steps and provides links to tasks associated with professional planning and accreditation.

Casual teacher information sessions

The information sessions provide information on professional learning for accreditation, mandatory training, explicit learning, classroom management, and staff wellbeing. To view all sessions please visit casual teacher information sessions webpage (staff only).

Attending or watching the session can count as professional development to help maintain your accreditation. For more information, refer to NESA’s professional development requirements for teachers.

Your first casual or temporary assignment

When you commence employment in a NSW public school, you must provide your bank, tax and superannuation details to the department. You will need:

• Photo ID
• Your current Approval to Teach
• Salary Deposit Notification form
• Tax File Number Declaration form
• Superannuation Standard Choice form.

Teachers in Hunter and Central Coast, New England, North Coast, Northern Sydney and Western Sydney region schools should email completed forms to EDConnect.Newcastle.Forms@det.nsw.edu.au.

Teachers in Illawarra and South East, Riverina, South Western Sydney, Sydney and Western NSW region schools should email completed forms to EDConnect.Wollongong.Forms@det.nsw.edu.au.

Pay, leave and benefits

Visit Pay and salaries (staff only) to check what paperwork you need to have submitted, as well as the pay run calendars.

There are a number of benefits and allowances (staff only) available to school staff, including incentives for rural or remote (staff only) staff and the Fitness Passport (staff only).

Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing

Health, Safety and Staff Wellbeing offers a range of services to support the safe working and learning of everyone in our schools and workplaces. You can find more information about Work Health and Safety policies, useful forms and templates, or contact the team for further support.

Health, safety and staff wellbeing services (staff only)

Taxation and superannuation

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) requires all employees to supply their Tax File Number to the department. Tax is deducted automatically by the system in accordance with a formula provided by the ATO.

The department makes employer superannuation guarantee contributions (SGC) to your nominated superannuation fund, calculated by your fortnightly gross earnings.

Changing personal details

Once your employment has commenced and you are set up on the payroll, you will be able to update your personal data through the Employee Self Service (ESS). This includes your address, personal email, bank account, family member or dependents and emergency contact details.

Resources

Further information for teachers on the department's website:

• Our Plan for NSW Public Education
• Teaching page
• Current vacancies
• Salary and benefits
• Your career journey
• Safety, child protection and code of conduct

Contact and support

If you have further questions, please contact the Casual Workforce team at CasualWorkforce@det.nsw.edu.au.