With the potential to have a profoundly positive impact on young lives, teaching is an incredibly rewarding vocation. Yet right now, teachers are leaving the profession in droves and students are suffering as a result.
As the new Minister for Education and Early Learning in NSW, my highest priority is to fix the teacher shortage. This is a generational crisis that needs to be addressed so that teachers get the wages and conditions they deserve and our students receive the education they need to succeed in life.
The full extent of the challenge we are facing has been brought into sharp focus in recent weeks as I have met with teachers. While I’ve been inspired by their dedication to their students, I am deeply concerned about their mounting stress and burnout from significant administrative burden, stagnant wages and the rising cost of living.
I am not going to pretend these problems don’t exist. The new NSW Labor Government has listened, and we will act.
We have seen the result of government inaction. The resignation rate of teachers in their first five years of teaching has sky-rocketed from 8.2 per cent in 2018 to 19 per cent in 2022.
Teacher workload is the number one issue raised with me by teachers, and the data reflects the seriousness of the problem. Only one in five teachers say they have time to do their job well.
That has real impact on students, particularly in schools where teachers are stretched not only by their own workloads, but by the added load of covering vacancies. Burnout is costing us teachers, with one in nine early career teachers now leaving the profession early.
To improve student outcomes in NSW we need a healthy and properly staffed teaching workforce. The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results show that between 2006 and 2018, NSW students dropped from sixth to 23rd in reading, from ninth to 31st in maths and from third to 23rd in science.
We also need to improve the attractiveness of teaching as a profession. Teaching is critical for our state’s future, but the perception of the profession has been diminished by negative media coverage and lack of respect for teachers in public debate. It takes leadership from the top to turn this culture around. We must make sure current and future teachers know their work is valued and respected throughout the community.
To rebuild confidence and trust in the education system, we must also increase collaboration between the Department of Education, the teaching profession and Catholic, independent and government schools. Government schools and non-government schools can learn from one another. Improving cross-sector teacher engagement is an invaluable reminder that, while there will always be differences of view, educators have a common cause.
I am incredibly proud to be the Minister for Education in NSW, and to be elected on a mandate of a fresh start for our education system and our hardworking educators. It is time to restore trust in the education system. Together, we can shape a system where our state’s best and brightest aspire to a career in teaching, our teachers feel valued and our students get the best education possible.
