Nearly nine out of ten public school administrators in Victoria expressed concern that they would not be able to fill all teaching positions for the following school year due to the state’s severe teacher shortage.
Due to the present scarcity, schools have had to postpone specialty programs and tutoring sessions for pupils who fell behind while engaging in remote learning. A poll of 242 school administrators found that although urban and regional towns also suffer from teacher shortages, rural schools are hit the most. Schools are having to rely more heavily on substitute and “out-of-field” instructors because of this problem.
The study found that 80.5% of principals said it was “far tougher” to recruit the number of competent teachers and support personnel they needed this year, while 17% said it was “harder.” It’s only been easier for 3% of the population. Forty percent of principals reported some worry, and 49 percent reported “great worry” about being unable to fill teaching shortages for the following school year. In a survey, 11% of people said they didn’t care.
The Australian Education Union polled principals at publicly funded schools to learn more about personnel issues. According to the poll, a growing number of teachers are considering leaving the profession altogether, prompting the Australian Education Union to call for incentives for present educators to stay in the classroom. In the words of Meredith Peace, president of the Victorian chapter, a lot of people are worried that we won’t be able to replace them quickly enough, and that’s causing a lot of vacancies. If we can’t find teachers with the right qualifications to fill every classroom, we have a serious issue on our hands, and our kids will suffer as a consequence. When asked about the difficulty of finding qualified educators, David Adamson, head of Essendon Keilor College, said he had never seen anything like it. He claimed no one had ever applied for a post that was listed. The occurrence of this is repeated. Because of a dearth of qualified candidates, the institution has had to rely more on the services of professors who are not subject matter experts and therefore lack the requisite background knowledge to effectively instruct students in the classroom. “They are fantastic educators, but the problem is one of subject matter expertise: how to help students who are falling behind and challenge those who are excelling.” Since they may be more selective about which schools to enroll their children in, parents and students have benefited from the teacher shortage. Sometimes, as Adamson put it, “we’re even in the situation where we’re shortlisting and I’ve rang up someone to say, ‘Can you come in for an interview?’ and they have already secured another job.” In one instance, we were “shortlisting,” and I called a candidate to ask, “Can you come in for an interview?” Due to strong demand and a little supply, they might be more selective.
The country’s education ministers convened at the start of the month to talk about ways to attract more individuals into the teaching profession. Accelerated degree programs and teacher internships were among the themes to be discussed. Victoria’s Education Minister, Natalie Hutchins, said that despite the state government’s best attempts to address issues with school personnel, they would not allow the quality of its teaching staff to suffer. The Andrews administration and the union recently struck a new school agreement, with the latter promising to hire an additional 1,900 educators over the course of the next two years at a cost of $779 million. In 2018, Cheryle Osborne has been in a position to see firsthand how the teacher shortage affects classrooms in metropolitan Melbourne and rural areas of Victoria. Located in Melbourne’s southeast, Osborne serves as principal of Aspendale Gardens Primary School. The public schools had to make some difficult decisions and cut down on the number of activities they provided in order to guarantee that every classroom had a teacher this year. Osborne said that there have been times when shortages of teachers have forced them to cancel specialized programs and the COVID-19 catch-up sessions offered under the tutor learning initiative. According to Osborne, the university is not currently receiving any fresh applications for employment. Two years ago, when we advertised job openings online, we would receive a hundred applications; today, we are lucky to receive three, and even then, we have to wonder if they are qualified. Osborne is currently serving as acting principal at Mallacoota P-12 College, the easternmost school in the state, due to a lack of permanent principals. Osborne agreed to fill in for the first semester because the school was having trouble finding a permanent candidate for the role. Because the organization was still seeking qualified candidates, she agreed to stay on until the end of the year. The issue, she said, was not the poor compensation but the sheer volume of labor. There is a lot going on in the classrooms. There are fewer people vying for the position because of the difficulty of the work involved. People are leaving the field in large numbers. We were wiped out by COVID. According to the study of school administrators, 16.7% of teachers left their positions during the last year owing to stress or burnout, 12.7% departed because of excessive workloads, and 8.7% retired early.