Cash incentives used to entice teachers to hard-to-fill roles

Nearly a quarter of cash incentives originally designed to attract teachers to rural areas are being used in metropolitan Melbourne.

Cash incentives are being offered to teachers to take up hard-to-fill roles in Melbourne schools. Picture: Angelo Velardo/AAP.

Teachers have been paid thousands of dollars in bonuses to take up hard-to-fill positions in schools within Metropolitan Melbourne.

A government program paying up to $50,000 to entice teachers to hard-to-fill positions has seen educators pocket huge bonuses in 2019/20 including educators stationed in the local government areas of Frankston, Melton, Casey, Whittlesea and Wyndham.

Figures released by the Victorian government showed 50 incentive positions had been filled since 2019 with almost one in every three cash bonuses paid to a teacher taking a position at a metropolitan school.

The incentives range from one initial payment between $9,000 and $50,000, with the potential for additional annual retention payments of $9000 over three years.

Up to 15 grants awarded to Melbourne teachers included an initial $9000 plus an additional $27,000 over the next three years if the teachers stays.

The scheme was originally discussed at regional round tables and was part of a plan to attract teachers to struggling rural areas including Gippsland, Shepparton, Swan Hilll and Towong.

But the state government also included bonuses for Melbourne schools struggling to fill certain subjects like maths and science roles when the incentive was publicly announced, as well as saying schools where there was a high degree of disadvantaged students.l would be included.

Education Minister James Merlino defended the move to hand out a third of the bonuses in Melbourne areas.

“All 50 eligible targeted financial incentive appointments for the 2019-20 financial year have been made to schools across the state with the majority in regional and rural areas.

“We know how difficult it can be to fill some teaching positions in schools, which is why we are investing in initiatives to encourage teachers to take up positions in hard-to-staff areas and to support teachers develop expertise in additional fields.”

AEU Victorian Branch President Meredith Peace said the program must continue to be monitored and refined.

“While the union is supportive of the teacher incentive program to attract staff to hard to staff schools, we also acknowledge that it is a trial and should be reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure it’s effective,” she said.

“We definitely require more teachers in regional and rural areas, but this program is meant to cater for need as well as location so it is understandable that a metropolitan school may also receive an incentive if it’s struggling to attract teachers in a specialist area.”

When it came to concerns that other teachers may be frustrated by not being given bonuses despite teaching at the same school, Ms Peace said: “At this stage the AEU isn’t aware of the incentive program having any impact on staff morale.”

Victoria Association of State Secondary Principals president Sue Bell said while the incentives were necessary in rural areas, the reality was that some metropolitan schools struggled to attract quality teachers to some Melbourne areas.

“With subjects like mathematics teachers are very hard to come by and people aren’t very keen to move to that area.

“Some teachers are very happy living in a particular area of Melbourne and don’t want to go somewhere else so to actually lift the quality of the school, you need to make sure that all of your positions are fully staffed with excellent teachers.”

Opposition spokeswoman Cindy McLeish hit out at using the incentive in Melbourne and said it should only be applied regionally.

“Labor is all headline and no delivery when it comes to delivering for students in regional and rural Victoria,” she said.

“Daniel Andrews is dishonestly diverting away resources from this scheme aimed at helping country kids.”

It comes after Mr Merlino appeared before the state Public Accounts and Estimates Committee on Wednesday and revealed despite school closures in 2020, attendance in Term 4 had returned to previous levels.

About 92 per cent of primary school students and 89 per cent of year 12s had attended school in the first six weeks of Term 4.

“More students attending and engaged than this time last year” Mr Merlino said.

He also updated the committee on the government’s newly announced $250 million tutor program to be rolled out across government schools had been inundated with interest.

The scheme will deploy about 4,100 tutors across Victorian schools, but the positions did not have ongoing funding.

More than 18,000 teachers had already signed up to take part.