ACT teacher shortage taskforce report recommends new casual relief system

A teacher shortage taskforce has handed down a report which documents the extent of the shortfall of educators and presents 20 recommendations for attracting and retaining qualified staff.

The report shows a chronic shortage of casual staff which has worsened over time.

On any given day this year, an average of 162.2 full-time equivalent roles went unfilled, up from an average of 59.7 full-time equivalent positions unfilled in 2019.

During Term 2 this year, an average of 339 classes were split up and 210 classes were combined across the system daily when absent teachers couldn't be replaced.

The ACT public school system has 65 classroom teacher vacancies, made up of 22 permanent positions and 43 temporary positions.

The report found the casual relief model no longer meets the day-to-day staffing requirements in schools as the pool of casual teachers has been ageing and shrinking.

Instead, schools would be encouraged to move to having inbuilt relief teachers that would be employed permanently or on a long-term temporary basis.

It recommended the Education Directorate put in a five-year classroom teacher attraction and retention plan by 2023 with the aim to recruit about 250 to 300 teachers annually to meet demand.

The directorate will also explore incentives to encourage recently retired teachers or those on long-term leave to maintain their registration and come back to work.

Australian Education Union ACT president Angela Burroughs said the report laid bare the scale of the teacher shortage but provided some hope for a profession suffering from burnout.

"We want a dedicated teacher in every classroom every day and this taskforce report has shown that every day thousands of students in the ACT go without a dedicated teacher," Ms Burroughs said.

"Our students deserve better. Our teachers and our school principals deserve better."

Ms Burroughs said the union was pleased to see the taskforce's recommendations about reducing barriers for people to register as relief teachers, including improving access to childcare and providing funding for registration and mandatory professional learning.

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Education Minister Yvette Berry said the ACT Government strongly values the teaching profession.

"The ACT government has appointed nearly 900 teachers in the last three years through local and national recruitment campaigns and have permanently appointed 285 teachers in 2020 delivering secure work outcomes for teacher across our system," Ms Berry said.

"However, we also know a national teacher shortage is impacting all Australian schooling systems, including here in the ACT, and we are committed to ensuring all steps are taken to build and retain our teacher workforce."

The taskforce report identified 16 schools in February this year where more than 25 per cent of staff were new educators in their first three years of service.

The report found experienced teachers should be more evenly distributed and that all new educators should get access to supports they were entitled to.

While student enrolments have grown by 14 per cent since 2016, full-time equivalent teachers have grown by 13.5 per cent. There were 3821 full-time equivalent teachers in June this year.

Education ministers and teachers from around the country attended a roundtable discussion earlier this month to discuss the ongoing impacts of teacher shortages.

The ACT teacher shortage taskforce had members from the Education Directorate and Australian Education Union. It was set up in response to a survey of union members which highlighted the effect that the teacher shortage was having on the workforce morale.

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