SA Education Department data reveals more female teachers quitting than males

Increasing numbers of female teachers are abandoning the classroom, with one key issue to blame.

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The number of female teachers deserting public school classrooms has more than doubled in the past five years, well above the number of resignations by male educators.

Authorities say “disrespectful behaviour” and misogynistic attitudes among students are playing a role in driving women away.

Data released following requests by The Advertiser show 196 women resigned from their role in public schools or preschools last financial year, up from 71 five years ago.

That compares to 77 male teachers who quit last financial year, up from 40 over the same period.

It comes in the wake of revelations on Tuesday that students at elite Pembroke School created a spreadsheet of fineable “offences” levelled at their peers, with crude labels that denigrated women.

Educators have said these attitudes were present in both private and public schools, directed toward students and staff.

They include Unley High School principal Greg Rolton, who back in 2022 made global headlines for his school’s approach to stamping out behaviour that included boys “barking” at a female teacher.

Australian Education Union SA branch president Jennie-Marie Gorman said the “behaviour of students towards teachers has changed” under the impact of influencers like British-American former kickboxer Andrew Tate, who shares largely misogynistic content on social media.

Australian Education Union president Jennie-Marie Gorman picture: supplied

As a result, Ms Gorman said female teachers were telling the union they wanted to reduce their hours or leave the profession “for their own mental wellbeing”.

Education Department chief executive Martin Westwell acknowledged teachers were being confronted with “increasingly more complex” conditions in the classroom.

To help them manage, the department was “prioritising respectful relationships within the classroom, and updating that curriculum to ensure students focus more on misogyny, disrespectful behaviour and gender-based violence”, Professor Westwell said.

Premier Peter Malinauskas has also raised concerns about how influencers like Tate are “driving this type of behaviour” among students, and has widened the scope of a royal commission into domestic violence in SA to include sexual violence and related online content.

There are more than 15,800 teachers working in South Australian government schools and preschools, or as temporary relief teachers. Almost 12,000 are women.

The numbers of teachers who have left the system include people who have transferred to another government agency, but do not include teachers who retired.

Opposition education spokesman John Gardner said it was “really concerning to see any story of people feeling discouraged from continuing in their profession because of bad behaviours”.

Professor Westwell said other supports to improve teacher retention included professional development opportunities, more options for permanent employment, extra lesson planning time, reducing the paperwork burden and help managing interactions with parents.

Many of these changes were agreed as part of a record $1.6bn enterprise bargaining agreement between the state government and public educators.

Originally published as SA Education Department data reveals more female teachers quitting than males