NSW tackling teacher shortage head on

NSW tackling teacher shortage head on

Nearly 17,000 temporary teachers and support staff have accepted a permanent position at their current school, new figures shows.

In just six months, more than 16,700 temporary teachers and support staff accepted a permanent position at their current school, exceeding the Government’s expectations and moving ahead with the goal of improving education outcomes for students in the state’s public schools.

Under the first tranche of offers, some 10,000 teachers were offered permanent roles, with almost 9,000 accepting a permanent position so far. Some 7,700 temporary school support staff have also accepted a permanent role, which goes above the NSW Government’s election commitment to deliver 6,000 of these roles.

The Department says work is now underway on preparing for the next tranche of offers.

“After just over six months in office not only are we delivering on our commitment to make thousands of temporary teachers and support staff permanent – we are going even further,” NSW Education Minister Prue Car said in a statement.

“We have exceeded our expectations on where we thought we would be in our efforts to provide job security to temporary teachers and staff. I am so pleased that an overwhelming majority of 10,000 offers we have made to teachers so far have been accepted.”

Car said bringing job security back to teaching is just one way to restore pride in the profession and keep teachers in the classroom.

“As we continue to provide more permanent roles in schools, I look forward to providing more teachers and support staff the certainty they need to make teaching their life’s work and make long-term plans like applying for a mortgage or putting down roots”.