Australian Education Union SA president Andrew Gohl said teachers had made “welcome gains” in negotiations with the state government following a strike on September 1 which closed or impacted hundreds of schools.

The latest offer which includes salary increases of 3 per cent per year was a “good jumping-off point for further negotiations” said Gohl.

Education Minister Blair Boyer made the improved offer after meeting with Gohl.

“I met with the AEU twice last week, including a meeting with the Premier, and the discussions were very positive,” Boyer said in a statement.

“The State Government has today provided the AEU with a revised offer of more than $1.3 billion. This offer does reward our incredible school and preschool staff with the improved conditions they deserve.

“We welcome the AEU’s decision to not proceed with industrial action as we continue to work together on a final agreement as soon as possible.”

Gohl said the offer “reflects just how much of an impact our campaign has had”.

“We expressed our determination to reach an agreement that meaningfully reduces your workload and values our profession,” Gohl said in a letter to union members.

“The offer we received today represents a significant shift from the State Government, demonstrating a commitment on both sides to reach agreement soon.”

Gohl said the new offer included:

• 60 minutes of additional non-instruction time each week in schools and preschools
• Salary increases of 3 per cent per year, with two one-off payments of $1500
• The extension of Country Incentives beyond five years protected in the Agreement
• Public holiday pay plus 16 per cent loading for SSOs (school services officers)
• Permanency for principals and preschool directors
• Three days of relief per year for each mentor of an early career teacher
• Review and removal of unnecessary administrative tasks
• Right to disconnect from digital communications after hours
• Legislative change to protect educators from parental abuse
• IESP (Inclusive Education Support program) reform to reduce administrative work for teachers
• Continuation of complexity funding

The proposed raise is still below AEU demands for between 5 and 8.6 per cent per year for three years, with the 3 per cent offer branded “insulting” and below inflation before the last strike.

“The revised offer includes some welcome gains, but we remain concerned about several aspects, including salary,” Gohl said.

“The Government has indicated they are open to some further improvements to today’s offer, the detail of which will be determined at our upcoming meetings.

“We will continue to meet in hopes of achieving the best possible result for members.”

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner told InDaily that he was concerned the union had not ruled out further strike action.

“It strikes me that there’s still a long way between the union’s ask and the government’s offer, to the point that if the movement that the government has made to avert this Friday’s strike action was all that was required to avert a strike then there’s frankly no justification for the strike that the union had two weeks ago,” he said.

“I am concerned that there may be further industrial action and what I would hope that the union can do is give comfort to families and students and teachers around South Australia that they’re not going to hold this threat of further strikes over our state going forward.

“What I hope is that we don’t have a series of threatened strikes and the government offering these short-term boosts. What we need is for both sides to sit down in good faith without a threat of industrial action that will satisfy the challenges that teachers are facing and help us deal with what is an escalating crisis in the recruitment of teachers.”