Greater Shepparton Secondary College offering teachers $80k bonus to work at troubled school

Teachers are being offered bonuses of up to $80,000 to work at a trouble-plagued secondary school amid a dire shortage of educators across the state.

Teachers are being offered bonuses of up to $80,000 to work at Greater Shepparton Secondary College.

Teachers are being offered bonuses of up to $80,000 to work at one of the state’s most trouble-plagued schools, with the union warning incentives are increasingly needed to fill classrooms due to a dire shortage of educators across the state.

The Department of Education has launched a jobs campaign to recruit teachers at Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC), with educators being offered a $50,000 sign-on bonus for a two-year commitment and an additional $10,000 a year at the conclusion of the second, third and fourth year of their employment.

The job ads are being touted by the Department as a “potential $80,000 above and beyond the remuneration package” for range one and two teachers, who currently earn a starting salary of $79,274.

Targeted Financial Incentives are available across several schools in the state.

A job advertisement showing teachers being offered bonuses of up to $80,000 to work at Greater Shepparton Secondary College.

A former teacher said educators at the school were experiencing “burnout”.

It comes after a string of longstanding issues had previously surrounded GSSCsince it opened in 2022, following the merger of four high schools in the area.

This includes schoolyard fights and incidents of bullying, causing some teachers to feel “unsafe” while others have said they’re “working in fear”.

Out of the 28 vacancies being advertised at the school, 11 of them offer financial incentives.

“I found I was working overtime and I was taking a lot of work home with me,” he said.

“A lot of students at the school do have behavioural issues and this can cause daily challenges.

There have been longstanding issues at the school since it opened in 2022. Picture: David Caird

“I do agree with financial incentives but the Department needs to ensure that they are supporting the teachers during their employment or they won’t stick around.”

But casual relief teacher Ben Richards, who initially started working at the campus in 2022 for a four-week stint as part of his university placement requirement, said he was passionate about teaching at the school.

“I loved the school and was learning heaps and the kids were responding really well … so there was no reason to not go back,” he said.

Mr Richards has since applied for a full-time teaching role at the school and said the government’s Targeted Financial Incentives Grant will ease cost of living pressures while he spends time living away from his family home in Melbourne.

“These incentives allow for people to make themselves unique and special and apply themselves to a place that may not be able to attract them otherwise,” he said.

Australian Education Union Victorian Branch deputy president Justin Mullaly said too many schools were short of teachers, with workforce shortage issues further exacerbated in regional and rural areas, where bonuses can encourage teachers to relocate for work.

“Across the state, bold and urgent action from the Allan Government is needed to further address these workforce shortages, starting with the introduction of a retention payment for existing teachers, education support staff and principals,” Mr Mullaly said.

“Schools cannot afford to lose existing staff and the government must act immediately to retain them.

“Other measures such as paid teaching placements for all pre-service teachers and further measures to reduce workloads for existing school staff should also be considered to support new teachers entering the profession and support those already in the job.”

A Department of Education spokesman said: “We will continue to work hard to attract, retain and support teachers as we face the Australia-wide issue of teacher shortages.”

“Incentives are offered for teachers to join many regional or hard-to-staff schools. As one of the largest secondary schools in regional Victoria, Greater Shepparton Secondary College continues to actively recruit for staff vacancies,” he said.

But Opposition Education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said: “With so many persistent teacher vacancies across regional Victoria, it’s clear the causes of this crisis are more than remuneration alone.”

“The education of students at Greater Shepparton Secondary College should not be put at risk because the Labor government cannot solve Victoria’s teacher shortage crisis,” she said.