Victorian classrooms to be left without teachers next year

Victorian principals are “greatly concerned” about their ability to fill teacher vacancies for the start of the 2023 school year.

Some Victorian classrooms won’t have teachers next year, with principals predicting dire staff shortage to worsen in 2023.

A new survey by the Australian Education Union shows nine in ten principals are gravely concerned there won’t be enough teachers for every classroom.

The survey of 242 primary and high state school principals shows 50 per cent say they are “greatly concerned” and 40 per cent are “concerned” about their ability to

fill teacher vacancies for the start of the 2023 school year.

Eight in ten principals said it had become much harder to fill vacancies throughout the year.

Many are reporting having to collapse classes, team-teach in halls, cancel specialist lessons and even request children learn at home on certain days.

The report, set to be released on Tuesday, shows teachers are leaving the profession due to burnout (16 per cent), workload (12 per cent) and early retirement (eight per cent).

Eight in ten principals said it had become much harder to fill vacancies throughout the year.

Eight out of ten high school principals said they had to readvertise vacancies as they couldn’t fill them the first time around, and 98 per cent said the number of applicants is fewer than expected.

The Victorian Government November 2021 Teacher Supply and Demand report shows one in five new teachers leaves within five years.

There are 6200 vacancies in primary schools, with eight per cent not filled, rising to 14 per cent unfilled in western Melbourne. There are also 5100 vacancies in high schools, with one in five resulting in no appointment. The highest is in the Mallee, where 29 per cent of vacancies are left unfilled.

Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said the Andrews Government “must act boldly and immediately to address the shortage to avoid a disaster”.

“We’re seeing unprecedented levels of staffing vacancies in learning areas such as Generalist Primary, English, Maths and PE,” she said.

“If the Victorian Government wants to stem the current teacher shortage crisis and ensure that students across the state have qualified teachers in front of them, they must first look at the retention of existing teachers,” Ms Peace said.

The Australian Education Union in Victoria has released a ten-year plan calling for retention payments for existing educators, financial support for education students and further workload reductions.

The federal Jobs Summit called for HECS fees for nurses to be met, but the same undertaking has not been given for the education system.