Education assistants and Aboriginal and Islander education officers
Statement
Ms Sabine Winton (Wanneroo—Minister for Education) (1:20 pm): Last week was national appreciation week to celebrate our fantastic education assistants who do invaluable work every day in schools right across WA. From my 27 years as a classroom teacher, I know firsthand the extraordinary difference EAs make in supporting our teachers, students and broader school communities. In WA, we have over 13,000 EAs and Aboriginal and Islander education officers with a variety of different skills who work in different school settings to provide supports such as helping teachers with daily teaching and learning tasks; supporting students with additional needs or disability, including in our education support centres and schools; and assisting those who have English as an additional language or dialect.
The Cook Labor government is committed to building inclusive communities and delivering access to the services people need where they live. Ensuring families can access quality public education is in Labor's DNA and EAs play a critically important role. But we know that kind words and thankyous, whilst appreciated, are not always enough, so I am proud to be part of a government that shows through real action that we value EAs right across the state.
In 2017 we honoured our commitment to put over 300 EAs and 50 Aboriginal and Islander education officers back into WA schools. We have delivered a major boost to the individual disability allocation to support students with disability. It is designed to address the unique needs of individual students, including accessing EAs. More EAs in our schools means more targeted support for students with additional needs, allowing EAs to deliver the fulfilling quality support they are so passionate about. Our government has delivered multiple pay increases with the latest Education Assistants' (Government) General Agreement 2025 delivering a pay increase of $65 a week over both 2025 and 2026. This could see an EA working this full school year up to $2,600 better off.
By delivering opportunities to upskill and develop, we demonstrate that we recognise the true professionalism of their work. For example, over 122 schools in the Mid West, South West and Wheatbelt education regions received funds to build educator capacity for Aboriginal and Islander education officers and EAs. The funding was targeted to support literacy learning for students in kindy and pre-primary settings. I visited schools that benefited from this training in Northam during the last term of government and was blown away by their commitment to supporting our young learners. This passion is shared by our incredible EAs right across our state. To them I say: the Cook Labor government values you, respects you and we support you.
