Foreign teachers are being forced to work on farms to comply with outdated visa rules

Desperately needed foreign teachers are being forced out of Victorian classrooms to work on farms in order to comply with outdated visa rules.

Desperately needed foreign teachers are being forced to stop working in Victorian schools and toil on farms instead.

Many experienced, fully trained teachers on working holiday visas are leaving classrooms because they need to do 88 days agricultural labour in order to qualify for a second year in Australia.

Principals and agency heads are calling for the federal laws to be overhauled to allow the teachers to remain on the job instead of picking fruit and vegetables.

Irish teacher John Treanor spent the last three months sorting potatoes instead of educating kids despite widespread staff shortages in Victorian schools.

Mr Treanor, 28, spent five years working full time in Dublin as a teacher and came to Australia for a career break with his girlfriend Kate Walsh, 27.

He said the three months they spent on the potato farm in Tasmania was “miserable although there were some good times”.

John Treanor had to stop teaching to sort potatoes. Picture: David Geraghty

“We were close to throwing in the towel a few times and had to remind ourselves why we were there,” he said.

Mr Treanor said he’d prefer to be working in a rural school rather than sorting potatoes.

“The regional schools are carrying out for teachers, and we should be able to do three months there instead,” he said.

Tim Arnold, managing director of Free Agency, which places casual relief teachers in schools, said the rules showed a “serious lack of commonsense”.

“It’s outrageous for qualified teachers to be working in fields when they are needed to educate our kids,’’ he said.

“It’s ridiculous that trained teachers are forced out of the classroom,” he said.

Mr Arnold said having “qualified teachers in our classrooms should be the state’s number one priority”.

“Anyone can sort potatoes or pick fruit. Only a small number can educate our next generation,” he said.

“They need to be used in our regional schools.”

Wodonga Secondary College principal Vern Hilditch said teacher shortages in rural areas were “pretty dire”.

“We are down 15 teachers and use CRTs from countries such as Ireland and South Africa to fill these roles,” he said.

“The Irish fit in extremely well and have a very similar education system.’’

Jobs currently on offer for working visa holders to meet their agricultural requirement include picking mangoes in Darwin, bananas in Cairns and harvesting pearls in Broome.

At the same time as Irish teachers in Australia are forced to take such jobs, educational bodies are recruiting in Ireland for teachers under skilled visa requirements.

Tom Sexton, executive director of Catholic Education in Ballarat, has just registered 300 expressions of interest from Irish teachers looking to be sponsored to come to Victoria on skilled visas.

“The response has been far in excess of expectations,” he said.

Many Victorian schools are struggling to attract teachers.

It comes as state government financial incentives of up to $50,000 to teach in regional Victoria are set to end on June 30, exacerbating shortages in rural areas.

The Member for Indi Helen Haines said schools in regional areas were facing “serious problems in recruiting and retaining teachers”.

“The Government must look at new solutions to incentivise teachers to come to the regions and to stay, including HELP debt forgiveness which is offered to doctors and nurse practitioners,” she said.

The Minister for Immigration Andrew Giles and the Department of Home Affairs have been contacted for comment.

From the middle of next year, the 88-day rural requirement will not apply to UK citizens.

A Department of Education spokesman said the working holiday visas were a matter for the Commonwealth. Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins and the Department Secretary have raised the issue with their federal counterparts.