Full list of teacher vacancies in NSW public schools revealed

Dozens of vacancies in some NSW schools have led a desperate state government to offer eye-watering sign-on bonuses. See the true extent of the state’s critical teacher shortage here.

Teachers are getting $20,000 of taxpayer money slipped into their bank accounts as a lump sum before they even step foot in a classroom just as a thank you for agreeing to work in certain schools.

The government policy was announced in 2021 in a bid to address the teacher shortage in the most isolated corners of the state but now teachers in Sydney’s northern beaches are also trousering the payment that could see them earn more than their boss in the first year at the school.

The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that Chester Hill High in Sydney’s west is officially the hardest school to staff in the entire state with 18 vacant teachers positions in June this year.

But the teaching crisis is across the entire state, with Dubbo College’s Delroy Campus the next most in need of teachers with 12 vacancies followed by Walgett Community College High with 10 openings, according to the official Education Department data.

In Sydney’s west, Bennett Road Public School in Colyton and Plumpton High were both the next trickiest to staff both with nine vacancies.

NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos said there had been a 67 per cent increase in vacancies compared to 12 months ago while there were less people enrolling at university to study teaching.

“The underlying data shows that the crisis is deepening,” he said. “We have found vacancies in places where you would have previously never experienced vacancies.”

Sarah Mitchell said a new program to address hard to staff schools was working. Picture: NewsWire

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said since June a “priority recruitment team” had been working to fill vacancies in some of the hardest to staff schools. So far it has filled 41 per cent of vacancies at identified schools.

“The new priority recruitment team is already delivering results in hard to staff schools, with more up to date data showing an improvement,” Ms Mitchell said.

Ritzy suburbs were not immune to the statewide shortage, with Killara High and Northern Beaches Secondary College Cromer both with eight vacancies.

The school at Cromer is currently advertising for a technology teacher who will get the “$20k Recruitment Bonus” while other schools paying out cash to teachers include Chester Hill High, Dubbo College and Murrumbidgee Regional High School in Griffith.

Would you like $20k miss? Schools like the high school at Cromer are considered hard to staff so are giving successful applicants $20,000.

Principals can only dangle the cash to new applicants when they have advertised a role numerous times and been unable to attract a teacher. One Sydney principal said that in Sydney it was stealing candidates away from other schools — who are already competing against private schools who are willing to outbid the public sector wages to attract talent.

“I spend five to six hours a week trying to find staff … we can’t offer them anything,” she said.

Secondary principals council president Craig Petersen said it meant someone could be paid a total salary more than their boss in their first year at the school while doing less work.

“Where we are concerned is that in some of those schools where the teacher is getting the incentive, they will get paid more than their head teacher,” he said.

He said the government needed to develop a better policy for country towns to make them attractive places for teachers to work as employment options for a teacher’s partner with a good supply of quality housing.

“As all of those other associated services close down, country towns become a lot less attractive,” he said.