Parents demand answers after VCE students at Frankston High School forced to teach themselves
Parents are demanding answers after their year 11 students were made to teach themselves up to 10 lessons for their most crucial classes at Frankston High School due to teacher absences.
Education
Don't miss out on the headlines from Education. Followed categories will be added to My News.
VCE students at a southeastern suburbs high school have had to teach themselves in some of their most crucial classes, as the state’s stretched education system continues to grapple with teacher shortages.
In just the first four weeks of term one, some Frankston High School year 11 students have missed up to 10 teacher-led classes due to staff members being absent.
Instead, they’ve been instructed to complete assigned classwork on their own for subjects including English, Legal Studies and Philosophy in the school’s study hall.
One year 11 student at the school had no English teacher for eight sessions over the course of three weeks, according to a timetable seen by the Herald Sun.
He also missed out on multiple lessons for humanities-based subjects.
In a bid to keep them up to date with their peers, some students received an email from their absent teacher with the school work they were required to complete.
For English, this included completing “the questions on the lesson plan for today and to continue watching the film and completing the character and these sheets in the booklet”.
Despite students being assigned work to do while their teachers were absent, one parent said pupils were becoming stressed because they were lacking guidance from an educator qualified to teach the subject.
“I really feel for those kids who may get so far behind they want to drop out,” she said.
“My son already is doing work at home that should have been done with the assistance of a teacher in class.
“And even then he is not sure he is on the right track, when is there time to catch up, to ask a teach and clarify?”
A Department of Education spokesman said some of the Year 11 classes at Frankston High School were cancelled due to teachers having an “unexpected illness”.
“Students completed set work, under the supervision of a teacher, in the senior study centre,” he said.
“The Department has worked with the school to ensure classes will resume next week.”
Frankston High wasn’t the only school rocked by teacher absences this year, with senior students at Forest Hill College also left without an experienced maths teacher in the first few days of term.
Meanwhile, parents have taken to social media to vent about similar situations occurring at other Victorian schools.
As of Saturday afternoon, there were 490 teaching positions advertised on the Department’s external job applicant portal, with 247 of these roles added in the past week.
There’s also been a 58 per cent increase in teaching jobs advertised in the past four weeks, with 311 roles listed on January 29.
Is bigger better? How the nation’s largest schools rank
Enrolments are surging at Australia’s biggest schools but academic results reveal how students really fare. Search the list to see if your school made the grade.
Elite Vic private school student strapping scandal
A strapping scandal has engulfed prestigious Ballarat Grammar, with reports senior boarding school students lashed younger ones with straps when they were perceived to have stepped out of line.