Educational Services (Schools) General Staff Award 2020 - A Simple Guide for Your Business

Who Does This Award Cover?

This Award applies to a wide variety of roles within the school education industry. As an employer, you have three clear pathways for hiring under this framework: full-time, part-time, or casual. The Award covers employees providing the following essential services:

• Classroom Support: Integration aides and teacher assistants.

• School Administration: Finance, marketing, HR, IT, and clerical operations.

• School Operational Services: Cleaning, maintenance, security, gardening, retail (canteens), bus driving, and catering.

• Boarding Supervision: Employees supporting the operation of a school’s boarding house.

• Preschool/Childcare: Employees in school operated early learning centres or Out of School Hours Care (OSHC / OOSH).

• Wellbeing and Nursing: School nurses, counsellors, and therapists.

• Instructional Services: Employees providing specific instruction (such as music tutors or sports coaches) who are not qualified teachers.

Important Exclusions To avoid misapplication, remember that this Award does not cover:

• Qualified teachers engaged as such.

• Principals or deputy principals.

• The most senior administrative employee (often a Bursar or Business Manager) who has delegated authority to act for the school.

• Ministers of religion or those engaged solely for religious instruction.

Common Roles in Your School

This Award uses a classification structure from Level 1 to Level 8. Visualising where your employees fit into this hierarchy helps with budget planning and career mapping:

• Entry to Mid-Level (Levels 1–3): Teacher Assistants, Receptionists, Gardeners, Bus Drivers, and School Secretaries.

• Technical and Specialist (Levels 4–6): Laboratory Technicians, School Nurses, Music Tutors, and Senior Welfare Officers.

• Management and Professional (Levels 7–8): This is where your high-level leadership sits, such as the Information Technology (IT) Manager or the Property Manager.

Employment Types and Minimum Hours

The Award recognises three primary employment categories. Choosing the right one provides your team with the certainty they need to balance their lives outside of school.

• Full-time: Engaged for an average of 38 ordinary hours per week.

• Part-time: Works fewer than 38 hours per week with reasonably predictable hours. Crucially, you must agree in writing at the start of employment on their regular pattern of work, including which weeks of the year they will work and their daily start/finish times.

• Casual: Paid by the hour with a 25% loading in lieu of leave entitlements.

  • Minimum Engagement: Casuals must be paid for at least 2 hours per shift.

  • The OSHC Exception: For employees in Out of School Hours Care, you can satisfy the 2 hour minimum by splitting it (e.g., one hour before school and one hour after school on the same day).

Managing Hours and Breaks

Effective scheduling is the cornerstone of a happy workplace. The Award provides clear boundaries for your team's day.

The Spread of Hours For most administrative and classroom employees, ordinary hours are Monday to Friday, 7:00 am to 6:00 pm. However, the Award is flexible - gardeners may start at 6:00 am, and OSHC/OOSH or nursing employees have slightly different "day" spreads.

Meal and Rest Breaks

• Meal Breaks: Any employee working more than 5 hours must have an unpaid 30-minute break.

• Rest Breaks: Your team is entitled to a 10-minute paid rest break for every 3 hours worked (maximum of two per shift).

The Right to Disconnect

Your employees now have a legal right to refuse to monitor or respond to contact outside of working hours unless that refusal is unreasonable.

• Large and Medium Schools: This right commenced on 26 August 2024.

• Small Business Employers (fewer than 15 employees): This right commenced on 26 August 2025. This doesn't stop you from contacting employees for genuine emergencies or roster changes, but it encourages a healthy work-life boundary.

Shiftwork and Broken Shifts

Shift penalties apply if work finishes late at night or occurs overnight. However, schools frequently utilise "Broken Shifts."

The Broken Shift A broken shift is when a workday is split into two separate periods of duty (common for bus drivers). Non-casual employees are entitled to a 15% penalty for these shifts. Note that the maximum spread from the start of the first period to the end of the second must not exceed 12 hours.

Understanding Pay, Penalties, and Allowances

While pay rates are set across 8 levels, the real complexity, and risk, lies in penalty rates and allowances.

• Penalty Rates: Higher rates apply when work happens on weekends.

  • Standard Employees: Generally 150% for Saturdays and 200% for Sundays.

  • Catering and Boarding Exception: If you employ cooking/catering or boarding supervision employees, they are paid 125% on Saturdays and 175% on Sundays. Miscalculating this for these specific groups is a common payroll error.

• Allowances: These reward employees for specific duties. Common ones include:

  • First Aid: For employees designated to provide first aid or dispense medication.

  • Sleepover: For boarding or nursing employees required to stay overnight.

  • Uniform/Laundry: If you require a specific uniform but don't provide a laundering service.

The Importance of Correct Classification

"Getting the level right" protects you from back-pay claims. Classification is based on the level of supervision required, the qualifications needed, and the autonomy the employee exercises.

Within each level, there are pay points. Movement to the next pay point isn't just about "time served"; it occurs after 12 months of service following a performance review. A good idea is to link these reviews to your annual budget cycle; it ensures that pay progression is tied to satisfactory performance and that your financial planning remains accurate.

Where Employers Often Trip Up

• Verbal Agreements for Part-Timers. The Award requires the pattern of work to be in writing. Without this, additional hours might be claimed as overtime.

• The 10-Hour Break Rule. Employees must have a 10 hour break between shifts (including overtime). If they return sooner, they must be paid double time until they are released. Exception: This rule does not apply during school camps/excursions or for employees who live on-site at the school.

• Mismanaging Non-Term Weeks. If staff don't work school holidays, ensure their contract allows for leave without pay. To support your staff's financial stability, the Award provides an averaging formula that allows you to pay a consistent salary across the whole year.

Practical Tips for Compliance

To keep your school's workplace relations healthy and compliant, implement these "Pro-Tips":

• Keep a Living Award: You are legally required to make the Award and the National Employment Standards (NES) accessible. An intranet or a central office folder is perfect.

• Annual Job Description Audits: Roles evolve. Reviewing job descriptions once a year ensures that an employee's classification still matches their actual responsibilities. This is your best defense against "underpayment" claims.

• Use the Right Forms: For agreements like taking time off instead of overtime (TOIL) or annual leave in advance, use the templates provided in the Award schedules.

The General Staff Award provides the framework that allows your school to function. By mastering the basics of classifications and being diligent with written agreements, you protect the school from legal risk and demonstrate to your staff that they are respected and valued.

Stay proactive, stay documented, and to review your practices annually. Need a hand with a specific scenario or issue? FiveSeven can help .

The information above forms part of our Understanding Your Award series and provides a high-level overview only. Further obligations may apply depending on your business and workforce. This Information is current at the time of publication Jan 2026. Workplace laws and awards may change.