Solving the teacher shortage crisis

It’s no secret there’s a severe teacher shortage in Australia, with public schools in disadvantaged, rural and remote areas among the hardest hit.

Associate Professor of Pedagogy, Curriculum and Professional Learning, Jane Hunter says it’s critical that state and federal governments act now to solve the problem, so that all children and young people in Australia can get the education they deserve.

"We cannot afford to pay lip-service to the many research studies, inquiries and reports to address systemic education issues, it’s time to put long-term, consistent and bipartisan solutions into practice.

"The current shortage predicament has not just arisen overnight - what we are seeing now are the consequences of the inability of successive governments to not tackle inequities in funding, lack of investment in teachers and inadequate workforce planning.

“These are problems that must be addressed, and ones that require sustained actions,” said Associate Professor Hunter.

We cannot afford to pay lip-service to the many research studies, inquiries and reports to address systemic education issues, it’s time to put long-term, consistent and bipartisan solutions into practice.

Associate Professor Jane Hunter

The challenge in rural and remote Australia

One of the major challenges is how best to attract and retain teachers in rural and remote areas.

Given the choice, the majority of new and established teachers prefer to teach in city-based or coastal schools. However, with the right support, Associate Professor Hunter says teaching in a regional school has the potential to be rewarding and transformative.

Teacher education student Rose O’Donnell chose to undertake a rural placement for her pre-service professional experience to better understand the unique challenges and opportunities of teaching in a regional school.

“Although teaching a combined four-year composite class was difficult, being able to accommodate so many different needs greatly improved my differentiation and planning skills, both essential for teaching,” said O’Donnell.

As a result of her positive pre-service experience, O’Donnell applied for and was awarded a Teach NSW Rural Scholarship which is now supporting her to work in a rural school for the first three years after graduation.

Ending the three-year cycle

Associate Professor Hunter argues we need more of these kinds of scholarships, with added incentives for teachers to stay beyond the three-year period.

“I taught in a rural high school some time ago, and more recently spent three weeks visiting three high schools in far western NSW.

“Something I noted in the many conversations with teachers and students during both experiences was the strong attachments students and teachers form – it happens very quickly in the country but often begins to wane at the end of a teacher’s second year – student behaviour deteriorates as they know the ‘new teacher’ will be moving on soon.

“It’s a self-protection measure,” said Associate Professor Hunter.

New research from a large-scale study by Professor Paul Burke and Associate Professor John Buchanan proposes a number of targeted or bespoke incentives to attract more teachers to rural and remote contexts, for example, generous living allowances, provision of a 4WD motor vehicle, and access to regular professional development.

"Remote incentives buoyed by a tied scholarship of at least three to four years for course work, and packages to stay longer including reimbursement of HECS costs will assist attracting school leavers into initial teacher education and subsequent retention once in the field,” said Associate Professor John Buchanan.

A holistic approach needed

Attraction and retention of teachers in rural and remote areas is just one facet of the nationwide teacher shortage crisis. Increasing workloads, uncompetitive pay, unrelenting curriculum changes, and a lack of time for planning and professional learning are also contributing factors and must be addressed said Associate Professor Hunter.

Meanwhile, the NSW State Government is advancing on reforms centred on higher paid roles for outstanding teachers, a move intended to stem the exodus of teachers from the profession and entice new teachers.

“The weight of evidence to support performance-based pay is lacking”, said Associate Professor Hunter.

Findings from an Independent Inquiry into the NSW Teaching Profession chaired by Emeritus Professor Geoff Gallop released in February 2021 found that, in recent decades, there had been a significant increase in the volume and complexity of teachers’ work.

“For many years educators have argued that performance-based pay creates competition between teachers, negatively impacts teacher collegiality, and creates a culture of fear and isolation rather than growth and collaboration in schools.”

Senior Lecturer in Initial Teacher Education, Dr Don Carter agrees that performance pay is not the solution, due to the complexity of comparing the work of one teacher against another.

“Who deserves the reward? The teacher in a well-resourced school whose students perform well in NAPLAN, or the one who teaches in a disadvantaged school and has increased student attendance rates?

“So much of teaching is complex and, to an ‘outsider’, invisible. The practices of the corporate world don’t translate easily into education,” said Dr Carter.

Who deserves the reward? The teacher in a well-resourced school whose students perform well in NAPLAN, or the one who teaches in a disadvantaged school and has increased student attendance rates?

Dr Don Carter

Next steps

Experts agree that meaningful systemic reform in the schools’ sector is long overdue, and the current teacher shortage cannot be solved without it.

“There is no need for more inquiries, further reports nor roundtables – teachers need to be listened to, their professionalism valued, immediate action to reduce their administrative burden, and competitive salaries that say, ‘in Australian society we value what you do’ in teaching children and young people in our communities,” said Associate Professor Hunter.

Initial teacher education commencements and completions have been declining for some time. This means fewer pre-service teachers are moving through the supply chain.

How to address that reality is the subject of considerable debate, and organisations like the Australian Council of Deans of Education are committed to finding immediate and long-term solutions.

Warren Poole, a former school principal who has worked as a Tertiary Supervisor in the School of International studies and Education at UTS for eight years, is optimistic about the future of the profession despite significant current challenges.

“The professional experience program we offer continues to provide teacher education students with high quality school-based experiences across the broad social, cultural and economic spectrum of society.

“Feedback from the schools we partner with indicates graduating cohorts are ‘classroom ready’ for teaching.

“Our graduating teachers are sought after for employment in all school systems,” said Mr Poole.

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