The PSA will continue to press for positive changes for the formula used to calculate staffing levels for General Assistants (GAs) in schools.

Earlier this year, the Department of Education approached the PSA to discuss its staffing-entitlement review.

The PSA maintained the GA Staffing Formula is inadequate for managing the workload and resourcing needs of schools, demanding the Department to consider a method that accounts for the complexity of the assets a GA maintains rather than just student numbers.

An update on the changes were sent to schools last week. The changes will be implemented from 2026 and introduce a land-size loading for schools with fewer than 501 students.

There will also be an increase of 100 full-time-equivalent GAs across the state.

Positions are grandparented, so no current permanent GA will lose hours, and a pool of additional GA hours will be accessible via the Executive Director.

The PSA has written to the Department to raise that, while removing the disparity between primary and secondary settings and reducing the ‘golden child’ impacts are positive steps, the union would like to see a model for assessing the workload impacts from the increasingly complex assets GAs now maintain.

The PSA is concerned there may be unintended negative impacts for GAs working across multiple schools on part-time arrangements, even where a school’s entitlement is increased.