Surging workloads and pay are the major flashpoints in the industrial relations dispute between teachers and the NSW government, with thousands of public and Catholic school teachers walking off the job twice this year.
The latest NSW Department of Education data shows that instances of merged or uncovered classes are worse in regional and rural areas: at Canobolas Rural Technology High School in Orange there have been more than 1500 merged or uncovered classes in the past six months. At Merriwa Central School in the Hunter region there has been almost 4000 instances of minimal and merged classes since the start of 2021.
Lauren McKnight, vice president of the Science Teachers Association of NSW, said a survey of more than 300 NSW science teachers conducted in June found eight in 10 science classes were taught by teachers without expertise in the subject.
“We are going backwards. We are jeopardizing the future of the STEM workforce and it’s a vicious cycle. We can adjust policy to train mid-career professionals, but this is not an immediate solution,” McKnight said.
Their survey found 48 per cent of respondents said there was at least one permanent vacancy for science teachers in their school, and 84 per cent of respondents said that science classes had been taught by a non-science teacher in the week they were surveyed.
“Evidence shows the teacher shortage crisis has been building for years. The pipeline of new teachers entering the profession is inadequate, and attrition rates are high,” the Science Teachers Association’s submission said. “Out of field teaching is common, and particularly problematic in science and STEM subjects, which require significant subject matter expertise.”
McKnight said major reforms were needed, including reducing administration and workloads of teachers, combined with additional funding for schools to access lab tech and administration staff.
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In another submission, a head teacher at a northern beaches public high school said: “I have been teaching for nearly 15 years and have never seen a teacher shortage like the one we are currently experiencing. On a regular basis we have senior classes uncovered and at times have junior classes collapsed as we cannot find enough casual teachers,” they said.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said the median tenure for teachers is 11.4 years, which is the second highest in the public service in NSW.