Earlier this year, Mount Alvernia College in Kedron lost a specialist teacher and had to temporarily run classes after school, simply because of lack of teacher availability to deliver the course content.
Read: Locals at Odds Over Kedron State High School’s New Security Fence
The Catholic school for girls joins many other Brisbane schools that are now dealing with teacher shortages, adding extra strain to already stretched resources.
Recruitment is taking up huge amounts of time according to principal Samantha Jensen. She believes there is a real possibility for the teacher workforce crisis to worsen.
According to a 2023 report by school workforce improvement company People Bench, “supply” has emerged as one of the factors that could have the greatest negative impact on the school workforce over the next three years.
One principal surveyed in March-May 2023 said the increased competition for qualified teachers will make it harder to attract and retain staff.
“The most striking of these findings was that the most commonly cited supply issues (21% of responses) related to the availability of teachers on a casual, relief and short-term contract basis,” People Bench stated.
“An interesting counterpoint to this, however, is that around 6% of responses referenced candidates’ increasing expectations for more part-time and flexible work options, which schools were unable to meet, further constraining potential supply.”
In an issues paper, the Education Department highlighted that this is a global problem, with the competitive teaching market and COVID-19 ongoing impacts affecting teacher supply worldwide.
Read: Community Outcry Over Brisbane Racing Club’s Plans for Former Stafford Bowls Club Site
The paper outlined that addressing shortages cannot be solved by one jurisdiction or sector alone, but requires collaboration across governments, systems and schools.
Published 15-August-2023