Teacher quality concerns prompt call for crackdown on invisible underperformers

A tiny fraction of NSW school teachers – less than half a percent – have faced disciplinary action for underperforming. But parents say there’s a lot more flying under the radar.

Parents are calling for a crackdown on subpar teachers in NSW classrooms in response to concerns only a tiny fraction of school teachers are facing repercussions for misconduct and poor performance.

New figures show only 0.05 per cent of NSW schoolteachers, public and private, lost their accreditation for misconduct reasons last year, but Northern Sydney District Council of P&C Associations president David Hope believes a far greater number are technically “qualified, but not skilled”.

“There’s a culture in the [Department of Education] that virtually every teacher is satisfactory, and it’s only really on the ... fringe where teachers are not,” Mr Hope said.

“I’d say the top 30 per cent are really excellent teachers, the middle 40 per cent are good ... and the bottom 30 per cent, if you’re a parent, you’d rather your kid not be in that person’s class.

“Clearly you can’t sack a third of your workforce, so you’ve got to work out ways to improve them.”

(File image) New figures from the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) show only a tiny number of teachers have been removed from the system over serious matters.

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) revoked the accreditation of just 55 teachers between July 2021 and December 2022 due to misconduct, and suspended 39 others – a vanishingly small fraction of the 168,000 teachers in NSW.

In the public sector alone, 83 teachers were either fired or voluntarily quit in the last reported period over “performance concerns” – approximately 0.15 per cent of the workforce – and 53 others commenced 10-week “improvement programs”.

“Increasing professional development … is okay in theory, except where the person doesn’t have the skill level to be any better, or if they’re ... worn out and don’t want to try anymore,” Mr Hope argued.

A recent study found as many as one in ten Australian students are taught by a teacher who is “less than satisfied” with their job.

Adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said teachers can unintentionally project feelings of burnout and disenchantment on their students.

Leading psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg says teachers have enormous influence on teen students – for better and in some cases, for worse. Picture: Supplied

“If you’ve got a teacher … who has their eye on retirement, that’s going to come across and is going to have many deleterious effects for a young person, not only in terms of their learning but also their attitude to school,” Dr Carr-Gregg said.

A NSW Department of Education spokesperson said individualised support programs are put in place when concerns with a teacher’s performance are identified.

“Thousands of teachers are making a positive difference to students’ lives every day,” they said.

“NSW is the only jurisdiction that has local, expert teams to help address underperformance of school staff which enables the Department to address performance concerns in a timely and effective manner.”