Teacher shortages across the New England North West are having a "critical" impact on students' learning opportunities in the public education system, says New England North West NSW Teachers' Federation organiser Katie Sullivan.
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Her comment follows an opinion piece published in the Leader by the NSW Teachers' Federation president, Henry Rajendra, about the release Department of Education figures in late January which showed New England and North West schools had 132 full-time teaching vacancies in Term 4 last year.
This means 48 per cent of the region's 120 public schools had a vacancy.
"Teacher shortages across the region are having a huge impact," Miss Sullivan said.
"We've got classes uncovered, teachers that are stretched and teachers teaching outside their specialist area - our children's education is definitely being affected by the shortages.
"Things are at a critical level."
Miss Sullivan said the most impacted schools in the region tended to be rural schools, those with a high indigenous population, and those with students with disabilities.
There had always been teacher shortages across the region, but not at the current "critical level".
"Schools were feeling the pinch across all subject areas, and at primary and secondary level," Miss Sullivan said.
"Students are not being exposed to the full curriculum because a lot of classes are being collapsed, being merged, and some classes are not functioning as they are out in the playground just having menial supervision.
"When you've got your class plus another class you can't run the class you planned accordingly.
"In primary they'll also often get split students - three or four students from another class - and those students may not settle which can lead to disruptions in the classroom and students in the actual class miss out on quality teaching time."
Miss Sullivan said teacher shortages had always been an issue further west, but the 5.2 per cent salary cap imposed in 2012 by the NSW Liberal/National government, combined with unmanageable workloads, had led a lot of teachers across the state to leave the profession.
"With no one coming through the system to replace them, resources have become stretched and we find ourselves in the current situation we're in," she said.
The Government had been warned of the potential for this situation to arise when the cap was introduced, Miss Sullivan said.
"They didn't listen and this is the result of that cap - we're seeing the crisis right across the state," she said.
Miss Sullivan said there was no quick fix to the situation.
"It will take a long time, because at the moment we've got a 50pc completion rate [among teaching students at university] and of that 50pc, about half will leave teaching within the first five years because of the unmanageable workloads," she said.
Miss Sullivan said teachers could work upwards of 65 hours a week undertaking planning, preparation, lesson and resource organisation, and ensuring resource availability, particularly IT.
She said this workload, combined with a pay scale that was low in comparison with other professions, made teaching an unattractive career for many.
CEO of the P and C Federation of NSW, Jane Miller, said the body was conscious of the impact teacher shortages had on schools, students, and communities.
"Across NSW over-crowded classrooms are a serious issue facing public schools in part due to teacher shortages," she said.
"The P and C Federation is committed to championing full funding for public schools and implore the government to meet the resourcing standards that allow all children to learn, grow, and thrive in our education system.
"For P and Cs in rural and remote areas, we know there can be particular funding and resourcing challenges."
As many students return to school for a new year, Ms Miller said it was yet another year in which a funding gap brought unnecessary challenges.
"Teacher shortages put strain on all members of our school communities and resourcing the education of our young people should be the government's top priority," she said.
A spokesperson for the NSW Education said the department's teacher recruitment team worked closely with all schools to fill vacancies as soon as possible.
"Thirteen schools in the Tamworth and Northern Tablelands electorates receive dedicated support for permanent and temporary teacher recruitment under the department's Priority Recruitment Support (PRS) model," the spokesperson said.
As of 29 January 2024, there are 50 vacant positions (equivalent to 48.2 full time) in the Northern Tablelands electorate and 44 vacant positions (equivalent to 44.0 full time) in the Tamworth electorate. Of those vacancies, 66 per cent of these are at high schools, 19pc at primary schools, with positions at central/community schools, infant schools and schools for specific purposes making up the remainder.
The state electorates of Tamworth and Northern Tablelands are part of the operational directorate Rural North, which encompasses 270 schools and had a vacancy rate of 3.42 per cent as at 22 January 2024.
