As the new school year begins in Australia, a shortage of teachers is expected to impact many students. Despite efforts by both state and federal governments to address the issue, there are not enough educators, particularly in public schools.
Former AEU President, Angelo Gavrielatos, now campaign manager for Education International, a global federation of education unions, attributes significant teacher shortages across Australia to “a lack of investment in teachers and public schools.”
Root causes: Underfunding, workload, and insecure employment
Gavrielatos pointed to “uncompetitive salaries”, “unmanageable and unsustainable workloads”, and “insecure employment”.
“We have seen our teachers and principals doing two jobs, the one they signed up for teaching and the second one of administration.
“Moreover, insecure employment and the explosion of contract employment have all created a perfect storm.”
Helen Koziaris, the principal of South Oakleigh College, a public school in Melbourne’s southeast, says only one staff member has not returned this school year. “However,” she said, the “teachers’ shortage is real”.
“I have colleagues who are short 25 teachers and others seven, and that is a real shortage,” Koziaris told Neos Kosmos.
Mark Robertson, the principal of Oakleigh Grammar, a Greek Orthodox independent school in Melbourne’s southeast, stated that although the school has a “full complement this year”, he has not been able to engage “temporary teachers”.
Shortages are impacting across the board, Gavrielatos said; however, the scarcity affects public schools “more severely” because they “remain underfunded”.
“Ninety-eight per cent of public schools are not funded at the minimum government agreed-on standard – the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS).
He said governments have “failed to fulfil their responsibilities; ten years ago, governments agreed on the minimum funding levels, and a decade later, our public schools are still not at that minimum funding level”.
Gavrielatos also said that the Commonwealth Jason Clare, the Commonwealth minister of education, has agreed that public schools are still below their minimum funding.
“The federal government has just signed a pathway to get schools to 100 per cent, and all I can say is we need urgency around this matter because a resource delayed is a resource denied,” he said.
“For those who believe that teaching is an easy job, I invite them to join us and see for themselves – the line isn’t that long.”
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that for education and teaching the average weekly earnings are $1,157. The highest paying industry is mining with average weekly earnings of $2,111, while the lowest paying is food services with average weekly earnings of $700. You can refer to the table for more details.
Helen Koziaris from Oakleigh South College declined to comment on funding but stated that it was well within Angelo Gavrielatos’ remit to do so.
The Victorian education department has been “very supportive” Koziaris said, and added. She said that, like all public schools, they are given a funding allocation and work within it.
Not only funding: Teacher training, student behaviour and other factors
According to Mark Robertson, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused shortages, and led to a shift in people’s mindsets about their careers and many “re-evaluated their chosen professions”.
Robertson said that schools are now being “interviewed” by applicants more frequently, instead of the other way around.
“The other issue is teacher training; quality assurance of teacher training must be significantly raised and teaching courses need to provide a realistic picture of what the workplace is like.”
“Independent schools are attracting the best possible teachers, especially in physics and maths”, he said.
He works closely with Monash University and wants to “improve teacher training courses, making them more relevant to real life”.
“We as educators and certainly as leaders in schools need to be more public around the great opportunities and benefits and rewards that the teachers have,” Robertson told Neos Kosmos.
Burnout is a significant factor in teachers leaving the profession, according to submissions to the Senate Education and Employment Committees in 2023.
In a submission, Associate Professor Rebecca Collie from the University of New South Wales said the “impact of disruptive behaviour was an increasing concern for many teachers”.
In a study of 3,000 Australians, she identified “that 34 per cent of teachers could be considered struggling at work due to their experiences of poor working conditions, including heightened levels of disruptive student behaviour that make it difficult to teach effectively”.
Principal Koziaris said that research suggests that when “a child is misbehaving, they are crying out for something”. As far as teacher burn-out is concerned every principal she knows “supports their teachers and added it is a noble profession,” Koziaris said.
On having too much administration and principals doing two jobs, Koziaris laughed and said, “No comment” and Robertson agreed there was extra administration, much of it related to child safety, “which was necessary.”
Robertson acknowledged “outstanding government schools, such as selective schools”, however he said, some schools in low-resource areas struggle with demographics and managing students’ behavioural issues.
“The independent sector has less of those issues given parents who choose to send their children to independent schools are aspirational and want the best of their children, and the expectations align with the school expectations,” Robertson said.
He added that faith-based independent schools like Oakleigh Grammar, an Orthodox college, have a “strong alignment regarding the faith and cultural expectations”.
Koziaris, whose public school is in a multicultural and aspirational area, said that one could go at any time to Oakleigh South and see Greek, Jewish, Chinese, and Indian students all “playing together and working together”, and she said this diversity was a great strength.
Regardless it is the noblest of all professions
Tom* (name withheld), a Greek-Australian student from Latrobe University studying to become a teacher, told Neos Kosmos that teaching was his chosen “path” so he can follow his love for history and politics, and specialise in those areas.
“History and politics are essential, and it is a way for me to work with history and politics while teaching the subjects to students,” Tom said.
The 21-year-old student has no preference for independent, faith-based, Catholic, or public systems; however, he said it depends on “working conditions”.
“An issue would be working conditions and the level of resources available to students,” Tom said.
While teaching is his chosen path, Tom will seek “sustainability”.
“I want to be working for five to ten years, and while I may take a short contract; I really want stability and sustainability.”
The teacher shortage is a global issue and Gavrielatos derided the idea of Australian schools looking for overseas teaches.
“Good luck with that, UNESCO predicts a shortage of 44 million teachers by the decade’s end.” He urges local solutions and underscores again investment in schools and teachers.
“Regardless of all the challenges teaching remains the noblest of all professions,” said Gavrielatos.
Disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic, socio-economic disparities across demographic areas, competition over government funding between public and private education, family aspiration, and teacher training seem to be all contributing to serious teacher shortages.
