Brayden Holland regularly has the “impossible” task of supervising 150 teenagers in the yard during what should be class time due to a shortage of teachers.
Key points:
- Dubbo’s teacher shortage worsens with 56 full-time equivalent jobs vacant, up 12 compared to last year
- The union says students are increasingly being told to stand outside and do nothing due to the shortages
- It says a now-axed teacher recruitment program failed after only hiring 13 staff
The NSW Teachers Federation representative works in Dubbo in the state’s west, which now has more than 56 teacher vacancies due to recruitment failures — up from 44 last June.
Mr Holland said the shortages meant more “minimal supervision” classes, where students were made to stand outside and do nothing.
“Plain and simple, these are bored kids who are acting out because they know their education is not valued at that moment,” Mr Holland said.
“Antisocial behaviour, abuse of staff, violence amongst the students, those are always a natural consequence of students not having a routine.
“What are these kids’ futures going to look like if they don’t have a qualified teacher standing in front of them?”
He said he had witnessed students assaulting teachers, throwing themselves into windows, and provoking fights for no reason.
Mr Holland said the violence had steadily grown worse since he started in the profession eight years ago.
He said during that time he had seen several government teacher programs fail or turn into “onerous administrative burdens” that only increased teacher workloads.
He said the money from failed recruitment programs could have been spent on incentivising mature-age students through teaching degrees.
Recruitment failure
The union has declared the state government’s $14 million Recruitment Beyond NSW project a failure after it only managed to hire 13 teachers in two years.
A NSW education department spokesperson said the program was cancelled in April as part of an election commitment by the new state government.
“Two teachers were recruited to the [Dubbo] region as part of the Recruitment Beyond NSW program,” the spokesperson said.
“As of June 13, there are 56.2 full-time equivalent vacant teaching positions across 22 schools in the Dubbo electorate.”
The vacancies persist despite Dubbo teaching roles being advertised for $134,000 per year, plus a $20,000 recruitment bonus and up to $8,000 relocation assistance.
The spokesperson said there were also four school counsellor vacancies in the town.
Looking ahead
Mr Holland said the union wanted the decasualisation of the workforce and more permanent teachers filling vacant roles.
He said the union was optimistic now that it had the chance to negotiate with a new government.
“I could see deputy principals cheering,” Mr Holland said.
“Right now there is a lot of optimism. I’m seeing happier staff than what we’ve had in the past few years.”
NSW Education Minister Prue Car was contacted for comment.
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