Number of Qld teachers set to leave before retirement doubles: survey

More than 2350 state school teachers and principals have had their say on teacher shortages, workloads, whether they will stick it out to retirement, and which students are being left behind.

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The number of Queensland teachers who plan to leave the industry before retirement has doubled in four years, while almost 80 per cent of principals have struggled with teacher shortages in the past year, according to a new survey.

The polling results also reveal continued increases in staff workloads and significant under-resourcing concerns for students with a disability or learning difficulties.

The national State of our Schools Survey 2024 was conducted by Insync Research on behalf of the Australian Education Union from March 6 to April 10.

The Courier-Mail can exclusively reveal the specific results from the more than 2350 Queensland state schoolteachers and principals who participated.

Public school teachers were asked whether they plan to leave the profession permanently prior to retirement. In 2020, only 13 per cent said ‘yes’, but this year, it was 27 per cent. The number of ‘possibly’ responses to this question have also risen from 31 to 42 per cent.

Department of Education teachers reported they now spend, on average, 46.8 hours per week on all school-related activities. This is up from 43.3 hours in the 2020 survey results.

Furthermore, 71 per cent of teachers said they are working more than 40 hours per week, and more than one in five reported working 55 hours plus each week.

More and more Queensland teachers are looking to get out of the industry before retirement. Picture: istock

State school principal responses when asked whether their school has had teacher shortages in the past year have risen from less than 52 per cent in 2020 to more than 78 per cent in 2024.

In addition, more than half of principals (53.8 per cent) said their public school currently has unfilled teaching positions, which is particularly concerning early in the school year.

When asked about their school’s resources in 2020, only 7 per cent of teachers reported their school was ‘significantly under resourced’, while 34 per cent chose ‘under resourced’.

In the 2024 results, 35 per cent of Queensland teachers now report their school as ‘significantly under resourced’ and 46 per cent said ‘under resourced’.

When asked which students would benefit the most from extra funding if available, the clear top three responses – indicating the groups currently being left behind – were students with disabilities or learning difficulties, those who have fallen behind in literacy and/or numeracy, and students who need specialist support such as speech pathology or behavioural therapy.

AEU federal president Correna Haythorpe said Queensland had the highest of any state, with 53.8 per cent of public school principals saying they currently had unfilled teacher positions.

“The proportion of Queensland teachers who say their school is significantly under-resourced has dramatically increased, showing that funding increases are not matching the increases in the needs of students,” she said.

“The diversity and complexity of student needs has never been greater, and teachers and

principals are reporting alarming declines in student and teacher wellbeing.

“Teacher shortages are having a detrimental impact on teaching and learning with schools forced to merge classes, run classes without a teacher and reduce the range of specialist classes offered.”

Australian Education Union President Correna Haythorpe. Photo: James Ross / AAP

Central to these issues is the National School Reform Agreement – a bilateral school funding agreement which expires at the end of this year and is the subject of lengthy negotiations.

Education bodies are demanding all levels of government to improve the level of taxpayer funding allocated to state schools across the country, with multiple research reports finding private schools are overfunded and public schools are underfunded.

The aim of the new NSRA is to raise public school funding to meet the Schooling Resource Standard, which was recommended by the Gonski Review in 2012 and is the minimum level of government funding required to meet the basic learning needs of all Australian students.

Currently, Queensland state schools are officially funded at 90.5 per cent.

The state government and Federal Education Minister Jason Clare have committed to closing the education gap and ensuring every school gets all its fair funding level.

Ms Haythorpe said the 2024 survey results again emphasised the need for state schools to receive boosted funding at 100 per cent of the Schooling Resource Standard.

“It’s a start, it’s the absolute start that we need,” she said.

“Once that funding is agreed to, more teachers can be brought into the system, and more specialist support for those students who need extra help.

“If the worm doesn’t start to turn very soon, we’re in trouble.”

In response, Education Minister Di Farmer said Queensland is the most decentralised state in the country and with that comes additional staffing challenges in regional areas.

“This week I am hosting a roundtable bringing together a wide range of education and workforce stakeholders and the Department to look at options to improve teacher attraction and retention in Queensland,” she said.

“Our government has already been working to attract new people to teaching as well as supporting teachers in the classroom.

“We remain on track to deliver on our commitment to employ more than 6,100 new teachers and we have already surpassed our target of employing 1,100 new teacher aides over four years.

“We have worked closely with the union, teachers and principals to find solutions to these issues.”

Ms Farmer pointed to the Turn to Teaching Internship Program, Trade to Teach paid internship program, and $288 million Youth Engagement Strategy in her government’s efforts to boost teacher recruitment.

LNP opposition education spokesman Dr Christian Rowan accused the state government of “failing to listen to frontline principals and teachers for years”.

“As a result a school workforce crisis has developed in Queensland,” he said.

“Our students are suffering as a consequence, with less than optimal literacy and numeracy outcomes being achieved across our state.

“Frontline teachers continue to report under resourcing, a broken student behavioural management framework and growing red tape as being major issues for teacher workforce recruitment and retention.”

On the ongoing NSRA negotiations, Ms Farmer said the Queensland government was asking for an extra 5 per cent in federal funding for state schools.

“With a short fall in Commonwealth funding, there is no way I can explain to Queensland schools, students and parents that they don’t deserve 100 per cent funding,” she said.

“The 5 per cent extra each state, except WA, are asking from Canberra, equates to more than $2 billion over five years for Queensland State Schools.”