Teacher Shortage Taskforce: Final Report
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A joint report by the Australian Education Union (ACT Branch) and the ACT Education Directorate.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report outlines the work undertaken by the Teacher Shortage Taskforce to investigate and gather information about teacher shortage and discuss existing or ongoing measures to address this challenge. Further and more importantly, the report highlights the outcomes delivered by the Taskforce and makes findings and recommendations on the identified workforce challenges.
The work of the Taskforce has been informed by a suite of ACT Education Directorate (EDU) workforce data and insights from the Australian Education Union (AEU) Staffing Shortage Survey.
In gaining a better understanding of teacher shortage in ACT Public Schools, the Taskforce acknowledges that the demand for teachers in the ACT will continue to grow and recruitment will be increasingly challenging in the context of a national teacher shortage and ongoing impact of COVID-19 in our schools and broader community. Given this, it is important to have a future-focused approach to workforce planning and develop incentives and initiatives for ACT Public Schools to be the education system of choice for teachers, both graduate and experienced.
Further, the Taskforce agrees that the current casual relief model no longer meets the day-today staffing requirements in schools. Consequently, there is a need to develop a model that will increase teacher availability to cover unplanned absences and support schools in the day-to-day management of their operations.
With teacher supply in a decline and COVID-19 impacting our staff availability, the Taskforce agrees that there is a need to continue to invest in retaining our current teaching workforce. At a system level, new educators should continue to be supported and engaged during their five-year transition into the teaching profession. It is also important that teacher and school leader workloads are sustainable and effectively managed.