Answers to Questions

Wellbeing Staff

12 The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (4 November 2022). With regards to the 55 new wellbeing staff that have been announced:

(a) how many have started and where are they located?

(b) when will the rest of the 55 be fully recruited?

(c) what roles will the other 45 people play (noting that the government has announced there will eventually be 100 extra staff in total)?

(d) will they be new roles in the department or repurposed from other existing staff?

(e) when will those details be announced?

The Hon. B.I. BOYER (Wright—Minister for Education, Training and Skills): I have been advised:

The government is investing $50 million over four years for 100 FTE mental health and learning support specialists to provide more support to students across South Australia. As you will be aware, I have made a number of announcements about these roles, including as recently as 10 February 2023.

There are 20.7 FTE that have commenced service delivery through the School Mental Health Service.

All positions will be advertised by 30 June 2023 with the aim that staff begin during terms 2 and 3 this year. A country-specific round of recruitment has closed and is currently in panel process in addition to a metropolitan selection panel. Positions not filled through these rounds will be re-advertised in early June.

Staff that provide clinical supervision and line management are allocated in central locations.

The other 45 FTE roles deliver important expanded services such as the social work duty line, specialist support to autism inclusion teachers and specialised support for Aboriginal students. A number of these roles have already been publicly announced, and I will have more to say regarding these roles shortly.