School leaders say the staffing crunch is plain to see,particularly in Melbourne’s growth corridors and rural and regional Victoria. They expect staffing shortfalls to persist in the near term despitepolicies designed to entice Victorians into the profession.
Tarneit P-9 College principal Anne-Maree Kliman spent much of the holidays ensuring adequate staffing for the school in Melbourne’s west,which has more than 2300 students.
“There is definitely a workforce shortage that we are aware of that has been coming for a number of years,” she said.
Kliman and her assistant principals will each be teaching a subject this year to ensure all classes are covered.
She said she still had several teaching positions to fill,with early secondary English and humanities teachers particularly tough to find.
The school has seen lots of interest from teachers from overseas,but recruitment timelines for international staff can be as long as six months.
“It’s quite an arduous process. We are getting a lot of support from the department[for international recruitment],but it’s such a drawn-out process.”
Wodonga Senior Secondary College executive principal Vern Hilditch said his school had also turned to international recruitment to help fill positions,particularly from South Africa.
Hilditch said the school is starting this year in a good position on staffing,but a shortage of teacher supply had hit regional and rural areas hardest.
“The issue is that it’s a limited pool. It’s a supply-driven situation whereby people who supply their labour are in a situation where they can pick and choose,both the area[they work in] and the school.”
Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said the failure to publish teacher supply and demand reports suggests a lack of transparency and accountability.
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“These reports are vital in providing accurate staffing and recruitment data about teachers,principals and support staff. Without any recent updates,we’re unable to verify the exact number of vacancies in our schools,” she said.
“Withholding the release of these teacher supply and demand reports means that Victoria’s educators are being kept in the dark on the actual extent of Victoria’s teacher workforce crisis,and leaves us wondering whether the state government has a plan to invest and address these staffing shortages and increased workloads.”
The state opposition says its attempt to obtain more information on teacher resourcing – via a freedom-of-information request to the Education Department – was knocked back on cabinet confidentiality grounds. An appeal has been lodged with the Office of the Victorian Information Commissioner.
Opposition education spokeswoman Jess Wilson said the Allan government was hiding the true state of Victoria’s teacher shortage crisis.
“There are no other reasons to keep these key documents hidden,” she said.
“In a matter of days Victorian students will be returning to school,yet we still don’t know how many will be without a permanent teacher or forced to learn in a doubled-up classroom.
“Labor’s teacher shortage crisis is of their own making and it is robbing students of the high-quality education they deserve,continuing to have a detrimental impact on learning outcomes,which are already at record lows.
“A stable learning environment is fundamental for students to get the most out of their education and the Allan government must stop hiding the true state of this crisis and take action to address it.”
The Victorian government on Wednesday said there was no set date or deadline for publishing the supply and demand report.
“The number of teachers in Victoria has grown at twice the national average and that’s no accident,” an education department spokesperson said.
“We’re delivering a range of initiatives that have grown our workforce by 8000 extra teachers between 2020 and 2023 and[these are] keeping the vast majority of our schools fully staffed.”
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