NSW Teachers Federation host rallies across regional NSW to fight teacher shortage

The calls are from the state's public school educators, as a shortage of more than 1490 teachers reaches a tipping point.

So far this week, the NSW Teachers Federation has held rallies in Armidale, Tamworth and Narrabri with more scheduled in Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst in coming days, all with an aim of shining a light on the issue.

Speaking in Tamworth on Tuesday, federation members highlighted the issues in the state's North West as about 50 per cent of schools reported having staff vacancies, while in the Central West-Orana region, the number of schools reporting vacancies is about 90 per cent.

Lower wages, as well as increased workloads and a lack of new teachers entering the system are among the reasons identified by NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos, who said the state could run out of teachers within five years if no action was taken by the state government.

"If the NSW government doesn't act now, the teacher shortages will only get worse and it's country kids who will pay the price," Mr Gavrielatos said.

"Every parent in country NSW wants to be reassured that in every classroom there will be a teacher with the time and resources to meet their child's needs. Yet the government's inaction has seen the shortages grow and it is only going to get worse without real action.

"At the moment, there are not enough teachers coming through the tertiary education system to replace the teachers we would lose through natural attrition and reports have shown that if no action is taken, the state could run out of teachers within five years."

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One of the hardest hit regions by the shortage is Griffith in the state's Riverina, which Murray MP Helen Dalton said was the result of "decision paralysis" by the state government.

"A crisis looms for schools right across regional NSW," Mrs Dalton said.

"The NSW government has reviewed its incentive systems but hasn't made any real decisions at all and they are still shifting their weight from one foot to the other.

"In Griffith, the merger of the two public high schools has been a disaster and it has really exacerbated a lot of the problems of the teacher shortage, which is leading to kids slipping through the cracks as a result."

A former teacher, Mrs Dalton said more government-funded scholarships targeted at rural students attending regional tertiary education facilities could go a long way to helping solve the problem.

"I was lucky enough to receive a scholarship to study teaching at what is now Charles Sturt University," she said.

"Without that scholarship, I know there's no way I would have been able to go on and become a teacher.

"I have no doubt there are many other kids in a similar boat and I think offering regional kids scholarships to study education at regional universities would be a massive help.

"You have to target students completing their HSC and by allowing them to learn in the bush, you have a better chance of keeping them in the bush."

The Isolated Children's Parents' Association (ICPA) has also voiced its concerns regarding the problem, because it fears schools in remote areas of the state could be the hardest to find teachers for.

"Incentives [to attract teachers to remote areas] were needed a decade ago," ICPA state councillor Deborah Nielsen said.

"It's frustrating because during that decade, the ICPA and other rural advocacy groups, have been campaigning for resolutions to the above issues."

However, NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell hosed down the fears, saying the state government had filled almost 5000 teacher vacancies this year and had appointed more than 26,000 teachers since 2017.

"The union are currently in an award negotiation with the Department of Education and are actively encouraging their members to agitate and disrupt schools across the state as part of their campaign," Ms Mitchell told The Land.

"We have not seen any unexpected increases in teacher vacancies and overall our vacancy rates remain low for a system of our size.

"The NSW Government is committed to ensuring a steady pipeline of teachers coming into the workforce now and into the future, which is why we have recently released the $125 million Teacher Supply Strategy, which has a strong focus on rural and regional schools.

"Building on our existing successful supply line of teachers, the Teacher Supply Strategy will deliver 3,700 teachers with the right subject qualifications placed in locations of need. This includes delivering 1,600 of these teachers over the first five years of the strategy."

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