Revealed: 28 teachers to be missing from one school due to border closure

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School on the Gold Coast is facing a massive shortfall of 28 teachers when classes resume on Monday, with NSW-based teachers locked out of Queensland.

Schools in the state’s border zone are facing critical staff shortages with teachers locked out of Queensland after the profession was removed from the list of essential workers.

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School is facing a shortfall of 28 teachers when classes resume on Monday with the school warning parents most students would see “a change in their teaching and learning experiences”

Burleigh MP Michael Hart raised the alarm regarding schools in his electorate being impacted by the border closure and said he wanted to know how the government planned to make sure learning was not disrupted.

Palm Beach Currumbin SHS principal Peter Hughes said where a student’s regular teacher was not able to attend school most classes would be delivered virtually under supervision or by a replacement teacher.

If a student from a border town was not able to attend school the teacher would contact the student to outline a plan for remote learning, Mr Hughes said.

Palm Beach Currumbin State High School will be missing 28 teachers from Monday, as NSW-based teachers are shut out of Queensland. Picture: Jerad Williams

Opposition Education spokesman Dr Christian Rowan said while the government was acting on the health advice it could have easily foreseen what was happening in New South Wales and supported schools sooner.

“A contingency plan should have immediately been put in place to deal with the workforce implications,” he said.

Dr Rowan said appropriate measures could have included contacting part-time staff to see if they could pick up more hours, reaching out to supply teachers earlier and keeping teachers about to retire on the books for longer.

But Education Minister Grace Grace hit back saying planning actually began last week for the possibility of NSW going into a statewide lock down.

“Work has already begun with affected staff to plan for the continuity of learning in schools,” she said.

“Our priority is the health and welfare of students, staff and parents.”

Ms Grace said teachers would continue working from home and that her department was working closely with schools impacted.

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said while it was not business as usual, affected schools were working as hard as they could to ensure students would not be let down.

“Our principals will need support as will our teachers, and the department is doing the best they can,” she said.

“There will be some hitches that is for sure and they will be sorted out so things can continue to flow as well as they can,” she said.