Dubbo: NSW Teachers Federation campaign for more resources, funding in regional, remote and rural schools

Many regional students across the state are having to complete subjects via distance education due to a lack of resources, according to the NSW Teachers Federation. Here’s the latest.

Students in regional communities have been suffering from a lack of resources and qualified teachers for almost a decade, according to the NSW Teachers Federation.

Federation vice president Natasha Watt said the state’s education system faced a current annual shortfall of $1.9 billion, equating to 10,000 teachers across the state.

“We have about 300 schools in rural, south and west … and 297 of those schools have a shortage,” Ms Watt said.

She said primary schools had experienced collapsed classrooms and programs, having larger classes, while high school students experienced a lack of choice in their subjects and underqualified teachers for specific subjects.

“It’s very problematic for students,” she said.

“We need a sustainable workload that’s actually about educating kids to attract and retain people into what is an amazing profession – a hard profession – but a very, very good profession.

NSW Teachers Federation vice president Natasha Watt and local representative Rod Brown. Photo: Tijana Birdjan.

Ms Watt said elite private schools had received public funding to splurge on “unnecessary vanity projects” like equestrian centres and Scottish castles while public schools in regional areas missed out.

“There’s no better investment than giving students the education they need and deserve,” she said.

“It allows them to explode out of the starting blocks and contribute back to their community and the nation.”

Ms Watt said some subjects were taught via distance education or completely cut from regional schools.

Teachers and school staff protesting the state government inaction on teacher shortage. Picture NCA NewsWire / Aaron Francis

“They [students] have the right to be taught face-to-face by somebody with a qualification in that subject area,” she said.

“Distance education is a part of our system, it always has been, but it’s not the answer to providing the curriculum and the right level of teaching for our senior students in rural and remote areas.”

Local representative Rod Brown said class closures and minimal supervision delivered to students are “getting worse”.

“Teaching needs to be made a more attractive profession because we need more people to come in and need the resources to be able to deliver programs as well,” he said.