The Federation says government figures show there are more than 2,400 vacant permanent teaching positions across the state, an increase of almost 150 per cent since June last year, however Education Minister Sarah Mitchell says the number of teachers has risen by almost 10,000 since 2011.
NSW Teachers Federation (NSWTF) president Angelo Gavrielatos says the latest data – shows 31.9 teaching positions vacant across 18 schools in the East Hills electorate, 23.2 across nine schools in the Canterbury electorate and 22.2 across 10 schools in the Bankstown electorate – coupled with alarming new Government research showing two-thirds of teachers feel burnt out, underlined the extent of the classroom crisis in NSW.
“Children are missing out and teachers are burning out because of the shortages,” he said.
NSWTF organiser Hope Atkins said teacher shortages were a huge issue for schools.
“A parliamentary inquiry found 60 per cent of teachers want to leave in the next five years because of the crippling workload and salaries.”
Ms Mitchell said it was misleading of the NSW Teachers Federation to compare data from June 2021 with data from Term 4, 2022, when positions are being advertised for the start of the following year.
“They know vacancies don’t mean a missing teacher,” she said.
“While the number of permanent vacancies fluctuates throughout the year for a range of reasons, around seven out 10 schools have one or zero vacancies and our vacancy rate is stable for a system of our size.”
