Education Minister concedes most new teachers hired in four-year term will replace existing gaps

The Queensland Labor government promised to hire 6190 teachers and 1150 teacher aides over four years, and while it is on track, most of those hired already will be used to fill existing shortfalls.

There will be only an estimated 400 new teachers in Queensland state schools, with the majority of the new teachers being hired needed to replace existing gaps.

The Palaszczuk government committed to hiring 6190 teachers during its current fixed four-year term, along with 1150 teacher aides.

Education Minister Grace Grace said on Monday that her department was “already halfway there” with the teacher-hiring goal, and it had already hired the number of teacher aides it had promised to after only two years of their current term.

FULL LIST: Queensland schools crying out for teachers

Education Minister Grace Grace said only an estimated 400 of 6190 teachers being hired over four years would be new, with most used to fill existing shortfalls. Picture: NCA NewsWire/John Gass

However, when pressed on how many of those new education workers would be used to fill existing losses and how many would actually be new hires, Ms Grace conceded the net increase was only a few hundred.

“They will be new teacher positions because obviously we are replacing retirees, replacing those who resign, and making sure we have the teachers that we need to fulfil our classrooms,” she said.

“We believe that the net is between 400 and over 400 net increase, but remember that our students (numbers) have remained steady … we have the best ratio in the country of teachers to students.

“The 6190 (figure) was the (number of) teachers we would need to not only maintain the number of teachers we have in the system at the moment, not only to maintain growth, but to ensure every classroom has a dedicated and expert teacher in front of students.”

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson.

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Cresta Richardson said staff shortages and increased workloads continued to dominate concerns raised by union members.

“While quotas are important, we know teachers don’t grow on trees,” she said.

“Any long-term fix of the shortage requires collaboration with universities, colleges, government departments and the QTU to raise the profile and respect of teaching as career path.

“Students have this year endured the pandemic, natural disasters and face an ever-changing employment landscape, key examples of the importance teachers and the responsibilities on their shoulders.”

Speaking on concerning NAPLAN figures for the year, opposition education spokesman Christian Rowan said he was not surprised by the results given the teacher shortages.

“At the halfway mark here in Queensland, we have only recruited 388 new teachers, and that was revealed in the Queensland Public Sector Workforce profile,” he said.

“So it’s no wonder then, with these teacher workforce shortages and a lack of plan by the Labor state government, that our educational outcomes are not being achieved.”

Ms Grace said the new enterprise bargaining deal for Queensland teachers contained incentives such as housing to encourage teachers to work in regional and remote communities to ensure the education workforce covered the entire state.