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New staff to help stretched NSW teachers

Ethan JamesAAP
Hundreds of staff members will be hired to help NSW public school teachers cope with their workloads (Kelly Barnes/AAP PHOTOS)
Camera IconHundreds of staff members will be hired to help NSW public school teachers cope with their workloads (Kelly Barnes/AAP PHOTOS) Credit: AAP

Hundreds of school administration, leadership and support staff will be hired in NSW to help under-pressure teachers.

More than 200 new administrative positions will be trialled from term four to assist public school teachers with tasks including data entry, paperwork, and co-ordinating events and excursions.

Thousands of teachers walked off the job in late June over wages and conditions, with the NSW Teachers Federation describing the state government's three per cent pay increase offer as an insult.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the new roles would reduce the administrative burden on teachers and open doors to people wanting to re-enter the workforce or upskill.

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"Our teachers are skilled professionals and their time is precious. However, they are stretched across too many non-teaching and low-value activities," Ms Mitchell said on Sunday.

"Running a modern-day school is complex. We need to look at the work staff do in schools and think differently about how it gets done."

Ms Mitchell said it was a "great opportunity" for parents and carers to fill the roles and work during school hours.

But Labor shadow treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the government announcement was a "band-aid solution" to an immense problem.

"It is sad that the government has had to issue an SOS to parents to come to the rescue to solve their failure to generate enough teachers for our kids," he told reporters.

Ms Mitchell said recruitment had also started for 780 assistant principal positions.

"This is only the beginning, and we will be scaling up what we see working once this trial concludes next year," she said.

The teacher strike on June 30, shortly before the start of NSW school holidays, was the third in six months.

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