Teacher shortages: See where the vacancies are across Australia

In one region of Australia the number of unfilled roles for teachers has exploded. This is where our biggest teacher shortages are. Search for your local area.

Australia’s capital cities are crying out for teachers, with official figures showing hundreds of jobs unfilled.

It comes as educators say they’re being weighed down with admin, which has increased due to a spike in kids with mental health and behavioural issues.

Others cite the worsening behaviour of children – and parents – as to why they have quit the profession, with one describing modern day teaching like “death by a thousand cuts”.

New government data out this week shows the scale of the problem.

The state and territory capitals are where the biggest need is, with Sydney showing 960 teacher vacancies, Melbourne 781, Brisbane 446, Perth 378, Adelaide 139, Canberra 99 and Darwin 31.

The capital cities have seen demand for teachers jump by between 96 per cent and 195 per cent since 2019.

Teachers say they are bogged down with paperwork.

And, while the regional areas have smaller numbers, one area in the south west of WA has seen demand rise by 2100 per cent since Covid.

In NSW the Blue Mountains and Bathhurst and Central West in NSW saw the number of job vacancies for teachers jump 227 per cent with 15 unfilled jobs in 2019 to 49 in 2022. Tamworth and North West saw a similar rise with vacancies rising from seven to 22.

In Central Queensland vacancies more than tripled from 15 to 46 and on the Sunshine Coast from 13 to 39.

In Bendigo and High Country in Victoria the number of unfilled jobs jumped from 22 to 63 and in Geelong and the Surf Coast it more than doubled from 16 to 42.

While in Fleurieu Peninsula & Murray Mallee in SA the number of teachers needed rose 450 per cent from two in 2019 to 11 in 2022.

School teacher Kirstie Mason says teachers are exhausted. Picture: Jeremy Piper

Kirstie Mason, a teacher at a Sydney high school said she and her colleagues are exhausted due to Covid and weighed down with unnecessary paperwork.

“Teachers want to do a good job, but their time is being whittled away by the humdrum of admin, some of which is worthless,” Ms Mason, a teacher of 25 years’ said.

She said teachers are expected to plan for “diverse learning”, which means they have to show how they are individualising the lesson to cater for every child with mental health or learning needs such as dyslexia.

Tony Edwards, 61, is a former IT teacher from Maitland, near Newcastle, with a Masters in Education, who quit his job at the beginning of this year for an IT role in the private sector for less money.

“I started in the 1980s,” he said.

Tony Edwards, 61, from Maitland in NSW, left teaching for a job in IT due to burnout. He said he was so desperate to leave the profession he took a pay cut. He said teaching was like "death by a thousand cuts".

“Back then if a parent was called in they would take your side, now everything has changed.

“I had parents complain why their son who got a ‘C’ hadn’t got an ‘A’.

“They didn’t ask how his grades could be improved.”

He said they gave him so much hassle that when it came to marking him the next time he gave the student an ‘A’.

Mr Edwards said the behaviour of children has also got worse.

“There’s lots of disrespect and so most of the time you’re acting like a policeman,” he said.

“It’s like death by a thousand cuts.”

A spokeswoman for the Independent Education Union warned that the teacher shortage is set to become “catastrophic”.

“Teachers need better pay to attract and retain the ones we have and regulation and support around accountability and data management to allow teachers to teach, rather than do admin,” the spokeswoman said.

Federal Minister for Education Jason Clare, brought teachers, principals and other education experts and Education Ministers together two weeks ago to discuss the issue.

“We agreed to develop the National Teachers Workforce Plan by the end of the year, focused on encouraging more young people to become teachers, better preparing them for the classroom and ways to keep them in the classroom,” Mr Clare said.

Originally published as Teacher shortages: See where the vacancies are across Australia