The looming teacher shortage,detailed in internal NSW Department of Education documents,is due to a declining number of people choosing it as a career,a significant proportion of the workforce heading to retirement,and growing enrolment numbers.
The department’s strategy,released this week,involves recruiting teachers from overseas and interstate,improving perceptions of teaching - including with an advertising campaign - and accelerating the careers of high-performing teachers.
The department will also encourage more teachers to train in high-needs areas by providing mid-career pathways in those areas;helping teachers’ assistants become fully qualified;and training teachers in high-demand skills such as maths.
It aims to get teachers to regional and rural schools with a new incentive scheme and scholarships.
The plan for the bush also includes a pilot scheme to identify high school students in regional areas who have the potential to become teachers,and offering them a year’s paid experience in a school before supporting them through university with scholarships.
“There’s a lot of elements to it,and that’s for a reason,” said Education Minister Sarah Mitchell. “There’s a number of issues and complexities in terms of how we manage staffing in our schools,and the challenges are nuanced.