Leading principal calls for aides to take burden off Queensland teachers

A leading Queensland principal says urgent action must be taken to address teacher burnout, which he says is behind a national staff crisis.

Less roll calls, note taking and playground duty and more time in the classroom would help address teacher burnout that’s sparked a national shortage, according to a leading Queensland principal.

Cairns-based principal Gavin Rick said teachers were spending too much time on “administrative” tasks that could instead be done by support staff or aides.

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The principal of Catholic primary St Joseph’s School said allowing teachers to spend more time “actually teaching” could help prevent so many leaving the industry.

It comes on the back of two independent education reports which revealed teachers were “overwhelmed” by their current workloads.

Cairns principal Gavin Rick said allowing teachers to spend more time teaching could help prevent so many leaving the industry.

The annual state of the sector report, released this week by education experts PeopleBench, revealed chronic staff shortages and Covid-19 disruptions had put existing teachers’ wellbeing at risk.

Mr Rick, an educator of more than 30 years and the president of the Queensland Catholic Primary Principals Association, said too much of a teacher’s time was being taken up by administrative tasks.

“Marking roles, note taking, recording and data collection, it’s taking a big portion of time up. It’s all important but it takes the teacher offline, support staff could be used,” Mr Rick said.

“This could be some of the tasks to give teachers that down time.”

Mr Rick said teachers were also going out of their way to do playground duty and monitor school pick-up and drop offs “in their own time” or on lunch breaks.

The PeopleBench report named maths teachers as the most in-demand position for high schools, followed by senior teachers and vocational educators.

For primary schools it was Year 3 to 6 teachers where supply was the most concerning.

“It certainly has been challenging to not only find staff, but challenging staff,” Mr Rick said.

“People in leadership roles are going back into classes, consultants going back into schools but it’s only a band aid on a problem.”

PeopleBench research officer Mick Hennessy said teachers were “overwhelmed and exhausted” by current workloads.

“Throughout my time supporting the industry, it’s become evident the pressures that face the sector nationally are often exacerbated regionally, particularly staff shortages,” Mr Hennessy said.

“As such, educators in rural and regional schools are continually stretched to deliver learning experiences day to day.”

PeopleBench chief education officer Vicki Cameron said the industry was facing a significant risk of “unsupported or unsatisfied” staff exiting the industry.

Mr Rick said Cairns had schools that had been unable to fill vacancies for the entire year.

His call was backed up in the release of The Productivity Commission report last week which suggested “low-value” tasks be removed from a teacher’s duty to give them more “face-to-face” time with students.

The report suggested teacher aides could do playground duty, school pick-ups, photocopying and chasing student permission slips instead of teachers.