Teacher numbers improving

QUEENSLAND will need thousands of new teachers over the next 12 years to make up for an increase in student numbers, the Queensland Teachers Union says.

The call comes as a News Corp analysis of 2018 studentteacher ratios revealed Cambooya State School was the most crowded school in the wider Toowoomba region, with a student teacher ratio of 20.6 students per teacher, well above the national average of 13.5 students per teacher.

“This is an area where there is significant growth,” QTU president Kevin Bates said.

“There is no doubt there are pressure points like Cambooya right around the state, which are growing beyond the standard rate of growth.

“That’s why over the next 12 years we know that we’ll need another 7000 to 9000 additional teachers around Queensland to make up for the extra student numbers over that time period.”

Mr Bates said while the ratio seemed high, it only took into account the total number of full time equivalent teachers compared to full time equivalent students and not specialist teachers who were based at one school but travelled around to other schools in the region on a daily basis.

He said there had been about 875 new full time teachers employed since 2015 which had put downward pressure on class sizes around the state.

“From our perspective the smaller the class size the better the teacher can do (for students),” Mr Bates said.

“Everything that can be done should be done to keep class sizes as small as possible.”

St Saviour’s Primary School had the second highest student teacher ratio in the region at 19.4 students per teacher.