‘Not good enough’: Why education staff are having 4630 years’ worth of days off in one year

Victoria’s public teachers and school staff were absent from work more than 900,000 days last financial year, as pressure continues to mount on the state’s struggling education sector.

Staff were absent for a total 926,177 days in the 2023-24 financial year due to injuries sustained in the workplace.

Victoria’s teaching and school staff missed more than 900,000 days of work last financial year due to injuries, in a sign the workforce is buckling under the state’s strained education system.

Staff were absent for a total 926,177 days in the 2023-24 financial year due to injuries sustained in the workplace – up from 883,074 days in the 2022-23 period, alarming new occupational health and safety data released by the Department of Education has revealed.

This figure equates to injured staff having a collective 4630 years off work in just 12 months, if broken down by the number of teaching days in one calendar year.

The staff counted in these figures include those working across the corporate, administrative, teaching, education assistant and leadership sectors in Victoria’s public education system.

Victoria’s teaching and school staff missed more than 900,000 days of work last financial year due to injuries.

Australian Catholic University School of Education associate professor Paul Kidson said workplace injuries could range from slips, trips and falls to poor workplace culture and psychosocial safety.

“So much of the stress (educators) experience is because parents and caregivers will at times make unreasonable demands,” he said.

“There’s also the stress of teacher workload … so we have to take a seriously good hard look at what we actually require teachers to do and what we can take away.”

The report comes six months after the Herald Sun revealed more than $50m was paid out to Victorian teachers and tertiary staff who were injured on the job in the past two years.

Associate Professor Kidson said one of the biggest repercussions of workplace injuries and teacher absences was the impact it posed to the continuity and stability of classes.

“The impact discontinuity has on students is not ideal,” he said.

“Parents don’t like split classes, or their child having multiple teachers … so anything that can be done to fix up the likelihood of absenteeism occurring in the first place is a good thing.”

Meanwhile, the Department’s performance against OHS management measures report also revealed the number of incidents that occurred at schools and education workplaces surged by 40 per cent between 2022-23 and 2023-24, with 30,833 incidents and 2864 hazards reported last financial year.

The Department has attributed this rise to increased workplace engagement with EduSafe Plus – the reporting platform teachers use to make incident reports – and staff making multiple reports for the same hazard or incident.

A Department of Education spokeswoman encouraged teachers to report incidents and hazards through its improved systems.

“We work with schools to make sure all staff and students have safe environments to teach and learn,” she said.

“In 2022, we implemented a new hazard and incident reporting system, EduSafe Plus, which has simplified incident reporting.”

As for risk management, WorkSafe Victoria inspectors conducted 1023 visits and issued 138 compliance notices to workplaces in the early learning and school space across both public and private education sectors.

This included 158 strategic visits and 865 visits in response to an incident, dispute or concern for health and safety.

“Schools play an essential role in our communities and duty holders must do everything they can to ensure they are safe places to work and learn,” a WorkSafe spokeswoman said.

WorkSafe Victoria inspectors conducted 1023 visits to workplaces in the early learning and school space across both public and private education sectors. Picture: Supplied

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch president Justin Mullaly said the union wanted the Department to be more proactive and make investments to significantly reduce health and safety incidents.

“It’s not good enough for these numbers to be going up; they need to be heading in the other direction, and that’s the Department’s responsibility,” he said.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said with thousands of education staff unable to work due to injury, “the drivers of this trend must be urgently addressed”.

“These absences mean fewer teachers available, a greater workload for those in the classroom and ultimately poorer educational outcomes for Victorian students,” she said.

Originally published as ‘Not good enough’: Why education staff are having 4630 years’ worth of days off in one year