Younger teachers giving away the job amid shortage concerns
Young teachers are leaving their jobs by the thousands each year, with fears a shortage of quality educators is coming. So why are our teachers giving the job away?
Education
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Abour 2000 younger Victorian teachers are quitting each year amid concerns of imminent staff shortages at a time student populations are booming.
One in 30 teachers cancelled their registrations in a year, according to the latest Department of Education data.
The 2018 figures show a total 4115 teachers cancelled or did not renew their registration — among them, 1715 people were well below retirement age.
The 2017 data showed greater numbers of younger teachers giving the job away, with 2025 people under the age of 55 forgoing their registration.
But the true number of younger educators quitting is expected to be much higher, given teachers are able to continue being registered when they’re not working.
Those who did choose to stop their registration — both younger and older — made up about 4 per cent of all Victorian teachers over the two years.
It comes as recent Monash University research found three in five Aussie teachers intend to leave the profession, citing extreme workloads and feeling undervalued by the community.
The Australian Education Union’s Victorian president Meredith Peace said schools were already facing shortfalls of specialist teachers.
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She called for better co-ordination between the federal and state government so the supply of students trained at universities met the demand for teachers in Victoria.
“We need to make sure we have the right people in the right courses,” Ms Peace said.
“You don’t want to be in the position we’re already in where we have shortages in some areas.”
Ms Peace said the union was aware of younger teachers leaving the profession due to stress and workload.
“We could do a lot more to support new teachers,” she said.
Victoria’s student population has exploded to more than one million pupils this year.