Teachers to rally over transfer snub
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Hundreds of public school teachers are expected to rally outside New South Wales Parliament today in support of a Riverina teacher denied a transfer.
The teachers' federation says Tumbarumba teacher David James has been denied a service transfer to the central coast that would have been granted before changes to school staffing.
The union says teachers across the state will walk off the job for part of the day and send protest letters to the State Government.
The Department of Education says it expects all students will be supervised during the stop-work meeting.
As a teachers' federation committee member David James says he is concerned the changes mean teachers will not come to remote areas.
"I feel that the protest is going to be quite big. In Sydney itself there's going to be a rally, but all other schools across the state are giving support to the cause as well because they are going be affected by these changes that are made," he said.
The regional director of the Hunter-Central Coast Department of Education and Training, John Mather, says the new staffing system opens up opportunities for remote schools.
Mr Mather says it allows them to choose the best teacher for their needs with a mixture of transfers and advertising.
"The reality is that there still are priority transfers available for those schools and for remote rural areas and not all schools are choosing to go to a merit selection. I think what we've seen after about eight months of the new system working is that schools are making choices," he said.
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