Revolving door of teachers: Lucindale students write to their MP over fears they will fall behind

SA’s teacher shortage is so bad that in one regional school the students are seeking help from their local MP because they’re falling behind in maths and science.

National workforce shortages have forced some SA regional students to accept a revolving door of relief teachers that changes every 19 days.

South Australian Area Schools Leaders Association president Chris Roberts said four regional schools were struggling to fill vacancies for any longer than 19 days, the maximum length of a relief teaching contract.

Mr Roberts said the association would conduct an audit of schools to see if others were struggling in regional areas.

It comes as almost 20 Lucindale Area School students – nearly 10 per cent of the student population – wrote to their federal MP Tony Pasin about the four-month absence of a specialist maths and science teacher.

Lucindale Area School is struggling to find a permanent maths/science teacher. Picture: Arj Ganesan

The school has been unable to find a permanent replacement to teach year 8 to year 10 maths and science since the start of the year.

Lucindale student Beth Schubert, 15, told the Messenger students were worried they would fall behind.

“In between substitutes there were occasional gaps of up to a week where the students had lessons, but wouldn’t have a teacher,” she said.

“We'd have to copy from the textbook. But we weren’t doing the right units because we didn’t know what we were supposed to be doing.”

An aerial image of Lucindale Area School. Picture: Supplied

Australian Education Union of South Australia president Andrew Gohl said finding qualified educators was a widespread problem.

“Most country schools will be experiencing this now or have experienced it in the past 12 months,” he said.

Mr Gohl said Lucindale Area School had done what it could, but was hampered by systemic issues that need to be addressed.

Short -erm solutions, such as offering $10,000 extra as an incentive to find a qualified maths/science teacher are proving ineffective Mr Gohl said.

“We’ve got to address the excessive workload for teaching,” he said.

The union and the Education Department are currently in the early stages of broking a new enterprise agreement to address some of these issues.

Mr Gohl said there needed to be additional country incentives, such as access to quality housing.

“Some teachers are starting their teaching career in a caravan or in a motel room.”

Mr Gohl added the agreement had to be competitive with other states with teachers in Mount Gambier, Lameroo and Pinnaroo getting poached by Victoria.

Mr Pasin said the unequal access to education was an utter disgrace.

“Imagine having a different teacher every 19 days, I don’t think that teachers, as good as they could be, would even get to know the students names, let alone their needs,” he said.

A spokesperson at the Department for Education said the principal at Lucindale had been exploring several options to continue delivery of the required maths and science curriculum for the students.

The spokesperson also disputed any suggestion that students were left without an adult teacher.

“A qualified teacher has been in the class at all times,” a spokesperson said.

“While the school is recruiting for the role, there has been a permanent relief teacher, and there are arrangements being finalised for term 2 with a specialist maths/science teacher.”

Education Minister Blair Boyer said it was disappointing Mr Pasin preferred to have the issue played out in the media instead of speaking to him.

“It’s a shame that Tony Pasin hasn’t taken the same constructive approach as Nick McBride,” he said.

“We recognise teacher vacancies are part of a wider national teacher shortage, particularly in regional and rural areas.”