WHY TEACHER SHORTAGE IS NOT REAL
Gold Coast teachers are in short supply, but the real crisis is the number of qualified and registered educators who have fled the classroom
COLLAPSED classrooms, a “flying squad” of emergency teachers and critical vacancies in schools . . . there is no doubt we are in the midst of an education crisis.
But the issue is not a teacher shortage. Not technically, anyway.
In fact, it’s worse than that. The true problem is that there are not enough teachers teaching.
There are hundreds and hundreds of trained, qualified and experienced teachers in our city right now who would not dare darken the door of a classroom.
Immense workloads, increased paperwork, demanding parents, a spike in behavioural problems for a wage that, for many, is just not worth it. And so our teachers walk away.
A study released by the federal government’s Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership in December found a quarter of teachers said they intended to leave the profession before they retired, and more than half of those planned to leave within the next decade.
It found one in three teachers aged under 30 intended to leave over the coming 10 years.
Combine that with Covid shortages and a reduced international workforce and we’re seeing the introduction of emergency measures to keep our classrooms in operation.
A new “flying squad” of metropolitan teachers has been created to fill regional classrooms with the teacher rapid response team being piloted this year to address the increased number of critical vacancies in Queensland schools.
The Queensland Teachers Union says critical teacher shortages have led some schools to group multiple classrooms together, called “collapsed classrooms”, with students supervised rather than receiving face-to-face teaching of subjects.
“Schools are having to cover the gaps as best they can. I have been advised that some classes are being placed together in multi-teaching spaces and supervised by heads of departments, deputy principals and principals, because they couldn’t get the necessary supply teachers,” says QTU general secretary Kate Ruttiman.
“I’m also aware of deputies having to take on a teaching load for one day a week, and heads of department – who are meant to have a maximum teaching load of 40 per cent – reducing their release time to ensure that students have a teacher to work with them.”
While the Queensland government ensures us there are plenty of future teachers in the pipeline, with Education Minister Grace Grace saying the state is “on track” to meet its commitment to employ 6190 new teachers and 1139 new teacher aides over the next four years, that is of little real solace.
After all, when the problem is that your professional workforce would rather walk away than continue their career, how will training more teachers ever be a solution?
We can absolutely make more teachers . . . but can we make them teach?
We need to change the environment, the conditions and the treatment of our teachers. We need to find a way to woo our educators back to the blackboards and smart screens.
An increase in pay could certainly form part of this
package of pursual, but that’s not the crux of the problem.
Ask Luke Eisenhuth. The former teacher and education consultant with Schoolhouse, a targeted recruitment service for schools and educators, says the agency is actively trying to attract teachers back to their profession.
“The question is whether there really is an actual teacher shortage . . . because there are a lot of registered and qualified teachers out there. But how do we attract them back in?” Mr Eisenhuth says.
“So many have opted out of the system and many who stay no longer want to work fulltime because the pressure is too much. They would much rather do casual work where they can earn more with less responsibility and stress. That’s not how the system should work.
“Unfortunately, I know from my own personal experiences I’ve had in schools, so often it’s the good teachers who just quietly slip away . . . they receive no recognition, no support, so why stay?
“There’s also a real wellbeing crisis. With our agency we’re trying to target that, to work with teachers and schools to see how they can be better supported so they are not crushed under the pressure.”
But one agency can only do so much.
If we really want to address our “teacher shortage”, we have to change the professional environment of our schools. We have to find a way to remove the excess paperwork, debilitating stress and unnecessary admin and let our teachers teach.
It’s the only way to ensure that the classroom door is no longer a revolving door.
One in three teachers aged under 30 intends to leave