How to roster students around uni and school timetables

Written by Roster Flow. Published 24 August 2026.

A secondary student who can work from 15:45 on a Thursday and all day Saturday. A uni student with classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this semester and a different timetable next semester. A TAFE student who is away for a three week placement. An international student whose hours are limited while their course is in session. Each can wreck a roster that treats their availability as fixed.

This article is about term time: building the roster around classes, exams and placements, and keeping the rules straight.

Collect timetables as availability, one term at a time

A student’s timetable is availability with an end date. Ask for it at the start of every term or semester, not only when they start with you, and record it for that period so it does not quietly carry over into the next one.

1. Set a deadline before each termAsk for next term’s availability two to three weeks before it starts, so the first roster of term is built from the new timetable.
2. Record it with datesEnter the availability for that term only. A staff availability template gives everyone the same form.
3. Mark the exam period nowExam dates are usually known early in the semester. Put them in the calendar with the availability, not the week before.
4. Ask for changes in writingTimetables change in the first weeks of semester. Ask students to update their availability as soon as they know, and review it once the timetable settles.

Build the week around the gaps

Students usually follow a pattern: short windows on weekdays and longer ones at weekends. Match those windows to the parts of your week that need extra people.

• After-school windows suit the late afternoon rush in a takeaway, a supermarket or a cafe that trades into the evening.
• Uni students’ free days can cover weekday mornings that parents and school students cannot.
• Weekends are when most students have the most time, so they can take longer shifts that give permanent staff a weekend off.
• Exam periods need a lighter roster for students and more hours for others. Plan the cover when you mark the dates, and publish the roster early so everyone can plan around it.

Short shifts for school students

The shortest shift you can roster depends on the award, and one common award has a narrow exception for school students. These are from four awards, so confirm yours with the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Find my award tool.

All of the conditions in the Retail exception must be met, so it does not cover a 1.5 hour shift on a Saturday or in the school holidays. Under the Restaurant and Hospitality awards, an employer must not require an employee under 18 to work more than 10 hours in a shift (clause 13.3). The glossary explains minimum engagement if the term is new to you.

Junior pay rates

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s junior pay rates page explains that junior pay rates are specific rates paid to employees under 21, set by some awards and enterprise agreements but not all. The General Retail Industry Award, for example, sets junior rates for retail employee levels 1, 2 and 3 (clause 17.2). Take current rates from your award’s pay rates page, such as the General Retail Industry Award pay rates.

School-age workers: check your state or territory

The Fair Work Ombudsman’s minimum working age page says the minimum age for working depends on the state or territory, and that someone who wants to work during school hours usually needs to be of the minimum school leaving age or to have completed the minimum year of schooling. Before you roster a school-age student, check with the contact it lists for your state or territory.

The same page lists each state and territory’s education authority for questions about leaving school.

Uni and TAFE students: semesters, exams and placements

For older students, the pressure points are the start of each semester, the exam period and any placement. Part-time students need the most care, because their availability or pattern of work is written down.

• Restaurant and Hospitality awards. When a part-time employee is engaged, the employer and employee agree in writing on their guaranteed hours and their availability (clause 10.4), and they must not be rostered outside that availability (clause 10.7(a)). If there is a genuine and ongoing change in their personal circumstances, the employee may alter their availability by giving 14 days’ written notice (clause 10.11). If the employer cannot reasonably accommodate it, the guaranteed hours cease to apply and a new set must be agreed (clause 10.12).
• General Retail Industry Award. A part-time employee has a regular pattern of work agreed in writing, including the hours each day and start and finish times (clause 10.5). The employer and employee can agree to vary it, recorded in writing (clause 10.6). The employer can change the pattern, other than the guaranteed hours, with 7 days’ written notice, or 48 hours in an emergency, but not from week to week or fortnight to fortnight (clause 10.10).

Whether a new timetable is a change in circumstances under clause 10.11 depends on the facts, so talk to the student well before semester starts, and contact the Fair Work Ombudsman if you are unsure. Before changing any employee’s regular roster, the Restaurant, Hospitality and Retail awards also require you to consult them, including about the effect on their family or caring responsibilities (clauses 33, 39 and 35). Rostering part-time and casual employees together covers the wider differences.

International students and the fortnightly limit

Student visa holders have a limit on how much they can work while their course is in session. The Study Australia website says the maximum is 48 hours per fortnight. The limit applies during study terms and semesters, including when exams are being held, and before the course starts, unless the student holds a different visa that permits work. Hours are unlimited during scheduled course breaks, and students in a Masters by Research or Doctoral degree program may work more than 48 hours per fortnight once their course has started.

• Ask for the course dates, including scheduled breaks, and note which fortnights the limit applies to.
• Ask students to check their own conditions in the Visa Entitlement Verification Online system (VEVO), which Study Australia points students to.
• Ask about other jobs, as you would with anyone, and roster inside the hours they tell you are free. Rostering staff with second jobs covers how.
• Pay every hour worked. The Fair Work Ombudsman’s visa holders and migrants page says visa holders and migrant workers have the same workplace rights and protections as all other employees. In its example, a student made to work beyond their visa limit is still entitled to the pay and protections under the Fair Work Act.

The limit is a visa condition, not an award rule, so questions about how it applies to a particular student go to the Department of Home Affairs.

Exam weeks, swaps and saying no

Students ask for time off at the same points every year, and they want to swap shifts when a class moves at short notice. A few habits stop that landing on the same permanent staff every time.

• Plan exam cover early, spreading the extra shifts across the team rather than giving them all to the most willing person. Building a fair roster for casuals covers sharing hours.
• Use the normal swap process when a class or exam moves. Handling shift swap requests sets out the checks before approving one.
• Make it easy to say no. A student who feels unable to turn down a shift before an exam is more likely to miss it on the day.

A worked example: a cafe week around three students

A cafe covered by the Restaurant Industry Award trades from 7:00 to 17:30 every day and is closed up by 18:00. This semester three of its staff are students.

• Ari is 16, in Year 11 and a casual. School finishes at 15:10, and the walk to the cafe takes 20 minutes. Ari is available after school on Thursdays and all day on Saturdays.
• Bea is a uni student and a casual. Their classes this semester are on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and they are free on Tuesday and Thursday mornings until 12:00.
• Chen is an international student on a student visa and a part-time employee. Their written agreement guarantees 20 hours a week, with availability on Wednesdays from 12:00 to 17:30 and on Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00 to 17:30.

Ari’s Thursday shift is exactly the 2 hour minimum in clause 11.3, which is why it runs to 17:45 and includes closing duties rather than ending at 17:00. Ari’s Saturday is 5.5 paid hours, so it includes an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes after the first hour and within the first 6 hours (clause 16.2). Before Ari started, the owner checked the minimum working age with the contact the Fair Work Ombudsman lists for the cafe’s state, and none of Ari’s shifts is in school hours.

Chen works 20 hours a week, or 40 a fortnight, inside the 48 hour limit while their course is in session. Chen’s Saturday finishes at 16:30 and Sunday starts at 8:00, 15.5 hours later, well clear of the 10 hour break in clause 15.1(e), and Chen has four days off each week, more than the 2 days in clause 10.7(c). If Chen asks for extra shifts during a scheduled course break, the visa limit does not apply then, but check how your award treats hours beyond a part-time employee’s guaranteed hours before offering them.

Bea’s exam period covers the last three weeks of semester, when they are available on Saturdays only. The owner gives Bea’s weekday mornings to another casual for those weeks and offers Bea a Saturday shift if they want one.

Roster Flow keeps term by term changes manageable: availability and leave from staff phones, the roster published to everybody at once, clock ins that become timesheets, and approved hours sent to Xero, MYOB or a CSV file.

A checklist for rostering students

• Availability is collected before each term or semester, with dates and travel time
• Exam periods and placements are in the calendar early in the semester
• Short after-school shifts meet the minimum engagement in your award
• The Retail 1.5 hour exception is used only when all of its conditions are met
• Under 18s are not rostered beyond the shift length your award allows
• Minimum working age has been checked with your state or territory
• Part-time students are rostered inside their written availability or pattern of work
• International students’ course dates are recorded and their hours stay within the limit while the course is in session
• Changes to regular rosters are consulted on first

Sources

• Fair Work Commission: Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119]
• Fair Work Commission: Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009]
• Fair Work Commission: General Retail Industry Award 2020 [MA000004]
• Fair Work Commission: Fast Food Industry Award 2020 [MA000003]
• Fair Work Ombudsman: minimum working age
• Fair Work Ombudsman: junior pay rates
• Study Australia: Student visa (subclass 500)
• Fair Work Ombudsman: visa holders and migrants
• Fair Work Ombudsman: find my award

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