SSTUWA says workloads and safety have led to teacher vacancies

The State School Teachers' Union of Western Australia (SSTUWA) said the State government's recent incentive programs, designed to help lure teachers to hard-to-staff regional and rural schools, as well as a change in the eligibility criteria for graduate teachers, had failed to address the underlying issues plaguing the public school system.

Excessive workloads and teacher safety

In a 2021 Grattan Institute survey of 5442 Australian teachers and school leaders, more than 90 per cent of the participants said they did not have enough time to prepare effectively for classroom teaching.

SSTUWA president Matt Jarman said high workloads were a core challenge identified by their teacher members as well as a lack of teacher safety in schools.

"When we last surveyed our members, workload was the number one issue," Mr Jarman said.

"Salaries will always be important to retain people in the public sector but, right here and now, the shortage is being driven by workload and safety.

"If the government was genuine about fixing the public education system, it would do something to address the workload issues teachers are facing which have forced many of them to leave.

"More also needs to be done to address violence and other abuse in schools which has made teaching a very difficult job."

The Nationals WA education spoksman Peter Rundle said the flow-on effects of COVID-19 had also placed extra stress on teachers and principals.

"Over the past couple of years, principals have also had to almost be health department officers and teachers have been forced to implement additional strategies in their classrooms due to the changing environment," Mr Rundle said.

"Add to that the world of bureaucracy and our teachers are reporting that about 60 per cent of their workload is administration and only 40pc is actually teaching."

Inexperienced teachers a concern for the regions

In an effort to avoid a looming teacher shortage in 2023, in December the government announced three-year education degree students (instead of four years) would be eligible to apply for public school teacher positions and that the pool of registered pre-service teachers to be employed in WA schools in their final year of study had also been expanded.

To help support graduate teachers, the Department of Education has a mentoring graduate teachers program, designed to develop the skills and knowledge of in-school mentors working with graduate teachers who participate in an in-class coaching program.

However the SSTUWA has raised concerns about the government's decision to send three-year degree students into short-staffed schools, labelling it as a "short-sighted move" which has the potential to do more harm than good.

"Teaching is a complicated skill and it's a profession - and you don't muck around with professional qualifications," Mr Jarman said.

"Particularly in our country towns, it's really important to retain experienced, highly qualified teachers as they mentor and provide support to new teachers coming into country areas.

"But we are losing our highly qualified and experienced people right across the system, and when you lose that local intelligence around how your country school is operating - you lose a lot."

These sentiments were echoed by Isolated Children and Parents' Association (ICPA) president Sally Brindal, who questioned whether enough training and support was being provided to graduate teachers taking up positions in the State's regional and rural schools.

"At our country schools, it's more common for year groups to be amalgamated because of the lower student numbers, so there is some concern as to whether these graduates have enough training and experience to be teaching multi-age room classes," Ms Brindal said.

"While some metropolitan schools might have a couple of levels combined, many of our remote schools have multi-stream classes which often include three levels, so that becomes an even harder challenge for a teacher who might not have the necessary training and experience to be able to manage that."

Provision of regional housing

A shortage in the provision of suitable and affordable housing for teachers in regional and rural areas is another critical issue raised by both the ICPA and SSTUWA.

"Whether you can first get the staff is one issue, but then whether you have enough quality, affordable housing available for those teachers is yet another ongoing challenge for the regions," Ms Brindal said.

Mr Jarman said the SSTUWA had been trying to engage with the government to help address issues the union had identified with the Government Regional Officer Housing (GROH) program, which aims to provide suitable accommodation for government employees living in the country.

READ MORE:

"There is a lot wrong with GROH so we really need to sit down with the government to address some of the local definitions that apply in different parts of the State," he said

"We can't turn off our graduates turning up to a country town by them paying Perth rental prices when they don't have the facilities and the support that they might be able to access in Perth."

Mr Rundle said the quality of housing in the regions was not only important for our teachers, but for the State's doctors, nurses and police as well.

"Allowances for living in the regions and quality housing are the big factors from my perspective," Mr Rundle said.

While he commended the government for the incentive package it introduced to help draw teachers to fill positions at 48 regional and remote schools at the end of 2022, he said the measures came in a bit too late and were "a bit of a last gasp effort".

Current teacher vacancies

At the time of writing, the number of teacher vacancies listed on the Department of Education website was 235.

While the department failed to confirm how many of these vacancies were located regionally or answer questions around the retention rate of its teachers, Department of Education director general Lisa Rodgers said "the number of advertised positions frequently fluctuates, and a vacancy does not mean that a classroom is without a teacher".

"For example, some vacancies will have been filled but the paperwork is being finalised," Ms Rodgers said.

"Others will be vacancies for permanent positions that are currently being covered by fixed term arrangements, while being filled on a longer-term basis."

Ms Rodgers said ongoing recruitment across the summer holiday period ensured there was a qualified teacher in front of every public school classroom on the first day of the semester.

"School principals did a fantastic job of filling 5,670 teacher vacancies at public schools across the State for the start of the 2023 school year," she said.

Independent review into the public school system

Due to the overwhelming feedback from their members around issues including excessive workloads, teacher safety and the Independent Public School (IPS) structure, the executive of the SSTUWA decided to commission an independent review into the state of WA's public education system late last year.

Led by former WA Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence, the review's regional consultation process began in Northam on Monday and is expected to visit 12 locations including New Norcia, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Katanning, Albany, Geraldton, Broome, Bunbury, Busselton, Karratha and Manjimup.

Mr Jarman said the review was designed to identify and examine the problems in the public education system, what effect they are having on teachers and school leaders and how those staff can be best supported.

The review will also examine factors such as the effect of State government policies on schools, the impact of COVID-19 and changes in reporting, expectations and accountability.

The regional consultations will take place over February, March and April with those interested in attending encouraged to visit sstuwa.org.au/review for times, locations and to register.

Online submissions close on April 21, 2023.