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32 Speech Pathology Australia: Speech Pathology in Schools Project
There may be several options such as:
• sharing a speech pathologist between
schools (e.g., same speech pathologist for
primary schools who feed students to the
secondary school); or
• the school employing their own speech
pathologist; or
• contracting a private practitioner to work in
their school as an independent contractor.
You as a speech pathologist may be employed
as a private practitioner to work with a school
as an independent contractor. You may be
engaged on a contractor’s agreement, engaged
to perform a specific task or you may be
engaged to provide a service under a contract of
indefinite duration.
In the latter case, it is important that you have
a well-planned written contract with the school.
This allows you and the school to identify the
working relationship, rights and responsibilities,
and expected outcomes before commencing
work at the school.
Alternatively, you may be engaged as an
employee. In this instance, like any other
employee, it is important that you receive a
position description with key selection criteria
(KSC). It has been recommended to school
principals that another speech pathologist
be a part of the interview panel and that your
references are substantiated.
If you are employed as a school employee,
then your employment conditions will need to
abide by the industrial agreement that covers
your employment. The Health Professional
and Support Services Award (2010) covers
employees (including speech pathologists)
working in employment arrangements whether
it be private practice, private health industry
and the public health sector. Awards and/
or terms can vary between states so you will
need to check the appropriate one. Some
organisations or individuals negotiate above
this award or provide additional benefits or
alternative working arrangements. This award
is seen as the basic entitlement. Search for
the health professionals and Support Services
Award (2010) at FairWork Ombudsman: Award
Finder. FairWork have produced a
to determine base pay rates, allowances and
penalty rates for the Health Professionals and
Support Services Award 2010. They also
provide information about pay obligations, pay
slips and superannuation. For advice about the
award, contracts and other employment issues,
Speech Pathology Australia members can
contact Anna Pannuzzo at r on
0419 533 433 for free initial advice. Other useful
SPA documents which address awards, wages
and employment conditions; and employment/
contractor contracts for private practice are all
available under Professional Resources on the
SPA website:
SPA Professional Resources
Clinical supervision and mentoring
It is common practice in health professions for
practitioners to have formal requirements for
clinical supervision and mentoring to ensure their
practice is contemporary and evidence based.
Speech Pathology Australia advocates minimum
standards of professional support and clinical
supervision for speech pathologists including
newly graduated speech pathologists.
It is reasonable for the principal to ask you
what arrangements you have in place regarding
clinical supervision and mentoring. In an
employment situation, it is expected that you
would negotiate a need for supervision with the
principal as part of your employment conditions.
Speech Pathology Australia has information on
the
Resource requirements
The cost of speech pathology services in
a school includes more than your salary or
contract costs. Consideration must be given
to the nature of the service, the number of
students requiring support, the wide range of
support needs within the local area, the number
of schools receiving service and any specialist
What you need to consider when working
in schools