Al Martin (Compnow), Ben Percival (John Curtin College of the Arts), Jarrod Bastin (Ridge View Secondary College & Coastal Lakes College) and Ross Oakes (WATSSA President)
Welcome to our WATSSA Newsletter
From the Pres...
Well... what a year it has been. In a year full of change @ WATSSA. With some big resignations from the Executive Team, a new team has come to the front to lead the association onto bigger and better things. The new Exec would like to acknowledge one final time, all the efforts of Mike Raymond, Jon Stanley, and Astrid Morris in getting WATSSA to where it is today. Moving forward we have an exciting year ahead, with new partnerships forged with DoE and the Private schools. Private school IT Staff can now join the association and pass on their expertise to existing members from a different perspective. The 2024 WATSSA Conference in May is looking to be a banger event, with lots of great speakers covering a variety of topics with breakout sessions from all the big players, it's an event that promises to cater to everyone in Education not just from a technical standpoint.
We would really like to thank our key partners including CompNow, SolutionsIT, Superloop, Apple, R1I Technology, Jamf, Paperly and Ricoh Australia who have helped us out with PD opportunities at our end-of-term events. Special thanks to Compnow and Zagg for co-sponsoring the WATSSA Awards night.
Finally, on behalf of the whole Exec team, Scott, Jen, and Mike B, I would like to thank everyone for attending the events throughout the year and acknowledge everyone's efforts at their respective worksites over the year. I would like to wish all a wonderful Xmas and New Year, enjoy time with family and friends. Please, enjoy any time off you may have.
Roll on 2024 and what promises to be a massive year...
Ross Oakes - WATSSA President
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Your WATSSA Executive Team
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Our rescheduled AGM was held on Wednesday, 20th December 2023 due to a quorum not being present at our original meeting on the 13th of December. Congratulations to the elected Executive Team and Committee, we look forward to working together to bring some fantastic networking and learning opportunites to our WATSSA members in 2024.
Your Executive Committee are:
- President - Ross Oakes (Mount Lawley SHS)
- Vice President - Scott Davies (Riverton Primary Campus and Rossmoyne Primary School)
- Treasurer - Michael Boughton (Leeming SHS Education Support Centre)
- Secretary - Jenny Lawrence (Atwell Primary School)
Your Committee are:
- Brian Lowry (Butler College)
- Junaid Khan (Karratha SHS)
- Radia Lyon (North East Metropolitan Language Development Centre)
- Michael Power (Wanneroo Secondary College)
- Rowan Salberg (Wanneroo Secondary College)
- Paul Norris (Darling Range Sports College)
- Jarrod Bastin (Coastal Lakes College & Ridge View Secondary College)
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2023 WATSSA Awards Night
Our WATSSA Awards night was held on Friday 10th November at the Pan Pacific Perth. It was a fantastic evening, providing the opportunity for us to recognise excellence in the area of school-based technical support. We would like to congratulate our 2023 award recipients:
- Michelle Martin (Aubin Grove Primary School) - Technical Support Staff Member of the Year.
- Ben Percival (John Curtin College of the Arts) - Innovator of the Year.
- Jarrod Bastin (Coastal Lakes College and Ridge View Secondary College) - IT Support Leadership Excellence Award.
We would like to thank those who nominated their colleagues for one of the awards. We had a record number of nominations this year, with some impressive submissions, making it a very difficult job for the judging panel.
Our guest speaker for the evening was paralympian Brant Garvey. It was a privilege to hear Brant's inspiring life story "No Xcuses - A true story of resilience and grit".
A special award was presented to WATSSA's inaugural president, Michael Raymond for his outstanding contribution and service to WATSSA over the years, since its inception.
We would like to sincerely thank our amazing sponsors of the 2023 WATSSA Awards. Thank you to Al Martin from Compnow, who attended along with co-sponsor Mark Hodgson from ZAGG, to present the awards to our worthy recipients.
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2024 Conference Update
Plans are well underway for our 2024 conference on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd May 2024. We are excited to make the conference one to remember, with some fantastic keynote speakers along with a wide range of concurrent information sessions for attendees to select from. The conference will again be held at Perth's premier conference venue, the magnificent Crown Perth. Keynote sessions will include the following presenters:
- Department of Education ICT
- Rae Johnston - Journalist, Science & Technology Editor, Actor, Commentator, Podcast Producer and Host
- Dr Steve Kiely (Thrive Organisational Wellness) - Performance psychologist, physical and psychological health and well-being coach
- Kay Hargreaves - Co-Chair of Women in Technology WA (WiTWA)
- Shane Parnell - Director of Technology for Anglican Schools Commission
Our WATSSA Conference brings together a wide range of vendors and industry experts in one location. It is a fantastic opportunity to network with other school-based technical support staff, teachers and administration staff in the area of educational technology and STEM. We look forward to welcoming both new and past attendees in 2024 and would like to thank our sponsors and guest speakers for their support of the event.
Further details of our full program will be sent out in early 2024, so save the dates in your calendar and we look forward to seeing you there.
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Term 3 Networking Day
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Our Term 3 Holiday Event was held at the North East Metropolitan Districts Language Development Centre, kindly hosted by Radia Lyon who along with Michael Power from Wanneroo Secondary College, did a stellar job at recording the presenters on the day.
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Mike Barrett and Mark Henderson from Ricoh Australia spoke about the servcies they offer, not only in terms of photocopiers or multi-functional devices, but also around digital transformation, IT Services and Interactive Whiteboards. They highlighted the benefits of Papercut and how printing can be managed effectively within our schools, including features such as:
- User authentication via PIN or card
- Keeping track of usage
- Enabling profiles under different learning areas or departments
- Comprehensive report generation
- Enabling print policies
- Pop-up alerts to redirect users to the most cost effective device, using rule-based routing
- Secure print release requiring users to authenticate at the printer
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Our friends from Solutions IT, Paul Marshall, Earl Menezes and Brennan Godfrey spoke about the services they offer including network integration, infrastructure configuration and installation, IT support, training and professional learning and ICT audits and recommendations. They currently provide services to around 400 schools across W.A. each year and are the largest supplier of services on the DoE Integrators Panel.
Solutions IT are authorised suppliers of Apple products, Microsoft Surface devices, Cisco Network Infrastructure, APC UPS's, BenQ displays and ClassVR Education focused VR solution for schools.
Brennan provided information about the Keycloak Single Sign-on solution, to enable users to securely authenticate with the same credentials across multiple applications, simplifying the end-user experience. Keycloak can customise the logon experience for programs that support SAML or OpenID Connect protocols. Each platform implements features differently, some have full SSO integration, for example Adobe Creative Cloud. In this case Keycloak is able to provide full automatic user-provisioning with integration via DAM, meaning students can be loaded in automatically and within their DAM year groups. This is based on utilising a School Domain. Other platforms may have partial integration, for example SSO but no provisioning.
Popular integrations include Adobe Creative Cloud, Clickview, Snipe-IT, Zammad, FreshDesk, Accessit Library and Vivi. Contact the team at SolutionsIT for more information about Keycloak.
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We were fortunate enough to have Ada Tang, Record Keeping Consultant from DoE Corporate Information Services, speak about managing school records and the school file classification system. Ada provided in-depth information about the School File Plan, the levels, conventions and access permissions associated with record keeping. Aside from a wealth of information available in IKON, there are mandatory and optional online record management courses available to DoE staff, along with the option of school workshops. Representatives are also able to provide schools with an information managment overview. This is a 'health check' of hard copy and electronic records, which is followed up by an on-site visit.
More information can be found on IKON or by contacting the Corporate Information Services help Desk on Ph: 9264 4867 or email recmanhd@education.wa.edu.au
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Ralph Tan and Tim Saultry spoke to us about CyberEdge by Superloop, an advanced security platform that provides category web filtering, deep packet inspection and student safeguarding for schools. Features include a LiveZone Portal, Classroom Control, enhanced visability and detailed reporting.
The Classroom Control feature acts as a web-filtering override and allows access to specific content per class, which can be enabled by teachers. LiveZone Portal allows teachers to search through users and see internet activity, Youtube analytics and any device a user has logged into. Reports provide an in-depth insight into general usage and applications, with email alerts to administrators linked to student searches.
Tim led us through the deployment of the system and a live demonstration of the platform including filtering, access policies, automatic email alerts, Youtube analytics, reporting, dashboard customisation and network monitoring.
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We welcomed Michelle O'Driscoll and Rachel Cowcher from the CPSU/CSA union who spoke about the strong relationship that the union and WATSSA have in representing technical staff in schools from an industrial and a professional stand-point. Michelle spoke about the work that has been and continues to be done by CSA Union delegates and WATSSA, to address concerns that have been raised through surveys and discussions with DoE School-based Technical Support staff. She provided an update on behalf of the union delegates involved in the ICT Working Group and stressed the importance of a strong union membership, particularly coming into the next round of School Support Officer Agreement negotiations.
Michelle provided some background to the DoE Red Tape Project, the possible impact this could have on School Support staff and the work the union has done to provide a submission regarding this, to the Department. She provided information about the concept of non-teaching, ministerial staff who are currently employed under the Public Sector Agreement moving over to the School Support Officer agreement. This agreement is specific to employees in schools and is negotiated between the Department of Education and the CSA. The move would be under the condition that all entitlements and conditions are either maintained or improved for all school employees and could allow increased flexibility in areas such as working weeks of the year.
There is also a push for a review of all JDFs in schools, including a review of the classification of positions. Many members feel that their role has changed significantly since they started, or that there are discrepencies between staff performing the same role at a different school and being paid at a different level or performing different tasks.
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We would like to thank our WATSSA members who attended the networking day, NEMDLDC for hosting the event and our sponsors for presenting some excellent sessions, answering our questions and providing catering.
We hope you all enjoyed the day and headed back to school with some really useful, practical information to assist you in your roles and with your forward planning.
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Department of Education - WA Technical Support in Schools Award
Congratulations to Scott Davies, Network Support Officer at Riverton Primary Campus and Rossmoyne Primary School and WATSSA Vice President, on being awarded the Department of Education's WATSSA award. This is separate to our association and is awarded to a technical support staff member who has demonstrated excellence in their role throughout the year.
Scott was presented with his award by David Dans, Chief Information Officer for the Department of Education Information and Communication Technologies, at the annual DoE ICT Christmas and Awards morning tea in the ground floor atrium of DoE Head Office.
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Jamf Nation User Conference
"JNUC 2023 got off to an announcement-packed start with our brand-new CEO John Strosahl. He and other members of the team, along with our partners, spoke about the growth of Apple, the introduction of Trusted Access and Jamf Pro 11— and how closely security and management must work in harmony to keep businesses and schools productive and secure."
Access the full Jamf JNUC 2023 Keynote Blog HERE
Here is a list of some great JNUC 2023 Education sessions you can access:
- Education State of the Union
- What's next for MDM?
- The Education Endgame - Deployment Doesn't Stop at the Classroom Door
- Deploying macOS Sonoma
- Mind the Gap: Bridging the Distance Between Technology and the Educator
- Advanced Mac Deployments with Jamf School
- Between Two MDMs: Jamf Pro and Jamf School
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CSA ICT Working Group Update
Term 4 saw some great progress for the ICT Working Group and its aim to address key issues identified by School-Based Technical Support Staff. The group met with Chief Information Officer of ICT, David Dans and Director of ICT Operations and Customer Services, Tim Yorke on the 18th of October.
Discussion points included a request for suitably experienced and qualified DoE employees to be offered training, that would enable them to be granted the same access to tools that external panel integrators are provided. Mr Dans advised that integrators are offered the same SOE Fundamentals course that is available to DoE employees. The Department is not involved in the accreditation and certification provided by companies such as Cisco and Fortinet.
The group also addressed the current technical support staff JDFs and the inconsistencies and outdated roles associated with these documents. Mr Dans offered to provide the CSA ICT Working Group with documentation around the Skills Framework for the Information Age, that would provide information to assist with the review of current JDFs, in order to provide a consistent platform around training and access. It would then be possible to align particular levels or job classifications with the required access to tools or training.
Mr Dans advised that the Department is looking at taking an ICT 'Roadshow' out to the regions to provide targeted assistance and information sessions, that are particularly relevant to these schools. The Department is keen to have input from regional schools to ensure they deliver the type of information that is required.
On the 25th of October, three CSA delegates along with CPSU/CSA Branch Secretary, Rikki Hendon and Branch Assistant Secretary, Melanie Bray, met with Minister for Education, Dr Tony Buti. The key questions the group had prepared for the minister centred around the Red Tape Report, however the minister had not yet received the recommendations, so delegates were unable to address these. The Minister did however invite questions to be submitted to his office for his consideration once the report had been received.
The Minister suggested that the Red Tape Project was about identifying and reducing tasks that are not required, not about redirecting current procedures onto support staff. He provided examples such as some reporting functions and the automation of administrative forms.
Delegates raised the issue of inconsistencies in JDF role responsibilities and classification levels across same or similar roles in different schools. This is leading to confusion, especially for the allied professionals in those roles. Concerns have been expressed that schools having complete autonomy over JDF creation, without a centralised approach, can lead to incorrect classification and scope of roles. There are also concerns about the increased 'blending' of roles, whereby two separate roles with different business functions within a school are combined into the same JDF. There has been a lack of union consultation around changing existing or creating new JDFs for some time.
The Minister was advised of the recent meeting with the DoE ICT CIO and Director of ICT Operations and Customer Services around the need to review current JDFs in the area of Technical Support at all levels, in order to address inconsistencies and to align roles with access permissions.
Subsequent to these two meetings, the ICT Working Group met with John Rossi, Manager Workforce Policy and Coordination on the 7th of December to discuss JDFs and how to move ahead with a review of these documents across School-based Technical Support roles.
Mr Rossi provided terrific insight into the considerations of job design and was supportive of the group's concerns and desire to revisit the current JDFs, from the perspective of staff working in these roles. He gave his support to working with the group through the process of redesigning these documents. The CSA ICT Working Group look forward to commencing this review of JDFs in consultation with members, the CSA and DoE Workforce.
All in all, a very busy term for the group and a lot of work to be done to address the long-standing issues our members have raised. We look forward to seeing real change and progress towards the resolution of these key issues and hope to have the input of as many members as possible. If you are not yet a member of the union, we strongly suggest you join to add your voice and bring our collective power to resolving these issues that affect us all and will influence the way school-based technical support is structured, conducted and supported going into the future.
We thank WATSSA for their support of the CPSU/CSA Union and will continue to update WATSSA members on our progress.
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