Regional teacher shortage: Which regions are worse off

As students prepare to head back to classrooms, analysis shows regional Victoria has more than 300 teaching positions vacant.

More than 300 teaching positions are vacant at government schools across regional Victoria, as students and staff prepare to head back to classrooms this month.

But despite the shortage, the Victorian Government has refused to release details of teacher incentive program uptake in regional areas for the past 12 months.

A Weekly Times analysis of the CareersVic website showed 340 vacancies for teacher or teacher aids in regional Victoria at present. There were 92 positions in the North East region, 85 in the North West, 70 in the Western region, 62 in Gippsland, 17 in Geelong and 13 in the South West.

In contrast, the Melbourne region has 572 positions advertised.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the “overwhelming majority” of Victorian schools were fully staffed for 2024, with targeted financial incentives payments having supported recruitment of about 600 teachers to “hard-to-staff rural and regional roles” since 2019.

When asked by The Weekly Times for more details regarding incentive program uptake in specific regions of regional Victoria, or which schools in the regions remained understaffed heading into 2024, the department declined to provide further details.

Teacher application rate data published by the Department of Education in late 2023 showed outer Gippsland secondary and primary schools received an average of 0.7 and 1.9 applications per job in 2022 respectively.

Seaspray Primary School in Gippsland will be closing its doors for 2024.

Other regional areas worst struggling to attract teachers were Goulburn education region secondary schools with an average of 0.9 applications per job, Mallee secondary schools with an average of one application per job, and Goulburn primary schools with an average of 2.1 applications per job.

Shadow education minister Jess Wilson said Victoria could not afford to have students across the state attending school without permanent teachers, or being forced to learn in a doubled-up classroom.

“To attract and retain the workforce we need, the state government must ensure teaching, particularly in regional areas, is an attractive profession with genuine opportunities for career development,” she said.