The state’s teacher shortage has tripled under 12 years of the Liberals and Nationals, documents obtained by NSW Labor reveal.
An internal Department of Education “teacher dashboard” has revealed the extent of the Liberal-National Government’s disastrous record on teacher supply.
The department’s dashboard shows that vacancies in 2011 were below 1,000.
It then shows that vacancies exploded to 3,253 by November 2022 – triple the number of vacancies in 2011.
The documents reveal that the teacher Turnover Rate has increased from 2.7 per cent in 2011 to 4.0 per cent in 2022.
This means that the rate of teachers leaving the profession has increased by 48 per cent since 2011.
The “North” region of Sydney has the highest number of vacancies across NSW, with 538 empty positions.
This is followed by “South & West” which has 469 vacancies, and then “South” which has 461 vacancies.
Overall, 45 per cent of vacancies were in Metro regions and 55 per cent were in Regional and Rural areas.
Quotes attributable to Chris Minns, NSW Labor Leader:
“Teachers in NSW are forced to leave in droves because they are overworked, underpaid, buried in administrative paperwork and working on temporary contracts when they should be focused on improving student outcomes in the classroom.
“This is a clear result of 12 years of Liberal-National Government in NSW. We have seen Victoria and Queensland recruit more teachers than NSW over the last decade due to the mismanagement of the Liberals and Nationals.”
Quotes attributable to Prue Car, NSW Shadow Minister for Education:
“Providing enough teachers for rural and regional schools is challenging enough yet the NSW Government’s own scheme to try and fix this has only recruited seven teachers.
“After 12 years in government, the NSW Liberals and Nationals do not have the ability, ideas or willingness to fix the teacher shortages and worsening education outcomes in NSW.”
CHRIS MINNS MP
NSW LABOR LEADER
PRUE CAR MP
NSW DEPUTY LABOR LEADER
NSW SHADOW MINISTER FOR EDUCATION
