States eye New Zealand and bonuses to stem teacher crisis
States are looking at poaching teachers from New Zealand and millions are being thrown at coaxing people to change careers amid an exodus of teachers
Teacher resignation numbers have surged across every state amid what experts fear will be a looming crisis for schools across the country.
Some states are looking to poach teachers from New Zealand and elsewhere while governments are setting aside tens of millions of dollars to try to coax people from other sectors into the profession.
Data collated by The Australian shows that every state that shares information about teacher resignations has experienced a sharp rise in the number of teachers walking away from the job.
Teacher resignations in NSW, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania have doubled in the past few years. Queensland saw a 34 per cent jump last year and is on track for a big surge this year if resignations continue at the same rate as in the first six months.
Queensland will launch a campaign targeting teachers outside the state later this year, while Victoria – the only state that did not release details of teacher resignations – is pumping more than $1.6bn into efforts to lure more people to the profession.
The latest figures show the situation has worsened since state and federal education ministers agreed last year to a $337.4m National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
The increased of departures comes amid a shortage of new teachers entering the system.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare told The Australian there had been a 12 per cent drop in the number of people enrolling in teaching courses over the past decade, with about half those enrolling failing to finish.
“We have a teacher shortage crisis in this country,” Mr Clare said. “Not enough people are enrolling to become teachers, not enough are finishing teaching courses, too many leave after a couple of years.”
Saul Karnovsky, a senior lecturer at Curtin University’s School of Education who has studied teacher wellbeing for more than a decade, said the exodus was due in large part to frustrations among teachers around workloads and compliance requirements.
He said the usual workload around lessons and engaging with parents was being increasingly swamped by “administrivia” on accountability and performance requirements and documentation.
“The thing under ministerial and policy control is supporting teachers to ensure they can really focus on that teaching and learning space and the community and family engagement space, rather than collecting reams and reams of data to report further up the chain,” Dr Karnovsky said.
“Unless some of these fundamental aspects of teachers’ work shift, we’re going to see teachers leaving in greater numbers. I think next year will be a watershed moment for the profession.”
The 1854 teacher resignations in NSW in 2022 is up from 929 in 2020.
A spokesman for NSW Education Minister Prue Car said “The Minns Labor government is committed to tackling the teacher shortage crisis by delivering a significant pay rise for teachers, reducing workload and lifting the status of the profession,” he said.
Victoria’s latest spending commitments included almost $100m in new scholarships to cover the cost of teaching degrees, $12m to “re-engage” teachers who have left the profession, and $4m for a targeted recruitment campaign.
Teacher resignations are also on the rise in Queensland, but the state is ahead of its targets on plans to deliver more than 6100 new teachers by 2024. The state is preparing to launch a campaign later this year aimed at luring teachers from interstate and New Zealand.
South Australian education minister Blair Boyer said the state was recruiting mental health and learning support staff as part of its efforts to reduce workload on teachers.
WA Education Minister Tony Buti blames a rise in resignations on the strong labour market and a rethink of career choices post- pandemic.
In Tasmania, the government has announced increases in teacher salaries as well as additional payments and incentives for teachers in isolated schools or working with disengaged students.
Additional reporting: Sarah Elks, Alexi Demetriadi, Matthew Denholm
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