Victorian schools continue to grapple with chronic teacher shortages

Victoria’s education staffing shortage has reached new crisis levels with more than 1500 positions vacant, leading to some lessons being cancelled.

Victoria’s education staffing shortage crisis has reached new crisis levels Picture: Getty Images

Victoria’s education staffing shortage has reached new crisis levels with more than 1500 positions vacant, leading to some lessons being cancelled.

Principals and teaching staff from state and independent schools have told the Herald Sun teacher shortages were “dire”, with fears the situation could worsen by the end of the year.

Recently, more than ten schools have addressed the issue in newsletters and emails to parents, saying they were “desperate” for staff and relying on casual relief teachers.

As of Saturday evening, there were 1556 teaching and education staff vacancies at over 400 Victorian government schools, with 771 jobs posted in the past week.

In a letter to families, St Ita’s Primary School in Drouin said if the school could not source teachers, it had “no option” but to split classes or close down a specialist class for the day.

Berwick Lodge Primary School principal Henry Grossek also told families in a recent newsletter that the school was facing “critical” teacher shortages.

“There are several ways that we are managing this shortage – including cancelling specialist programs and having specialist teachers take on class teaching for the grades that cannot be filled with CRTs when the class teacher is absent,” he said.

Schools have sent out newsletters informing parents they are struggling with teacher shortages.

Mr Grossek told the Herald Sun his school was registered with two large casual relief teaching agencies, but still struggled to cover teacher absences on some days.

“This is term two, but term three is historically the most challenging term to get short term teachers and I’ve spoken with our agencies and they’re telling me that the situation isn’t going to get any better.

“Splitting and cancelling programs looks like it will continue throughout this year. The situation is truly dire.

“I think teachers deserve better conditions including fast-tracking EBA negotiations and better pay because it’s a crisis and these changes would signal to people out there that teaching is worth going into.”

A teacher, who works at a primary school in Melbourne’s east, said she was “extremely concerned” about the situation.

“It’s really only getting worse,” she said.

“There are some days when specialist classes are cancelled and it’s upsetting because the children are missing out on a quality education.

“We need better incentives as teachers including better pay and conditions.”

But a Department of Education spokeswoman said vacancy numbers were consistent with recent years, as schools start to advertise teaching roles for term three – many to backfill short term planned leave.

“Since 2019, the Victorian Government has invested more than $1.6 billion in school workforce initiatives, with about 8000 more teachers registered now than there were in 2020,” she said.

Some schools are also struggling to find CRTs to teach classes.

Victorian Catholic Education Authority chief executive Professor Elizabeth Labone said all sectors nationally were facing the same significant issue.

“As a national problem, we believe that all sectors must work together to resolve this issue,” she said.

“Unfortunately, many of the recently announced initiatives exclude the Catholic sector. This does not solve the problem of teacher shortages, it just shifts it between sectors.”

Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said many students were left without permanent teachers for extended periods, “creating additional pressure during key assessment periods, and impacts on their learning”.

“The Allan Labor Government must take urgent action and make further investment to address these workforce shortages, starting with the introduction of a retention payment for existing teachers, education support staff and principals,” she said.

Opposition early childhood and education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said students were missing out on the high-quality education they deserve due to the shortages.

“Cancelling classes and sending students home at lunchtime is not a solution and learning outcomes will continue to suffer for as long as these shortages persist,” she said.