The teachers' union says it does not accept assurances from the WA government that there will be no forced redundancies as it works to cut hundreds of jobs out of education.
State School Teachers Union president Pat Byrne said the government planned to cull 800 education jobs as part of 3000 to be cut across the public sector by March next year.
As of this week, 282 people had expressed interest in voluntary redundancy, Education Minister Sue Ellery said.
The 800 jobs would be from across 1200 positions, Ms Byrne said.
"I don't see how it's possible to achieve the 3000 positions without some element of coercion," she said.
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The jobs were not school-based, meaning teachers will not be affected.
The so-called targeted voluntary separation scheme would have a devastating effect on WA's public school system, Ms Byrne said.
CPSU WA secretary Toni Walkington said the cuts contradicted the governments pre-election "WA Jobs" catchphrase, and would adversely affect the education of young people.
"To say we are disappointed is an understatement, we are outraged," she said.
Nationals Leader Mia Davies said regional areas with non-Labor seats would suffer most, and the McGowan Government would start removing education staff forcefully to achieve their targets.
The savings would be ploughed straight back into Labor's $5 billion worth of election commitments and Metronet rail project rather than addressing state debt or education, Ms Davies said.
Ms Ellery insisted it was a voluntary redundancy scheme, that the 800 figure is not accurate, and no-one would be forced to quit their job.
"I can understand that there's a lot of chatter about how we get there and a lot of uncertainty, and I do want to reassure people and reassure staff that this is not about any forced redundancies," she told ABC radio.
The government has promised to cut $750 million in costs out of the public sector in four years and is also merging departments.
