Thousands of children in public schools across regional and rural NSW will have a qualified teacher in front of them when school returns this week with new data showing teacher vacancies falling to a four-year low.
Teacher vacancies in schools across regional NSW have fallen by 47 per cent - or 581 - since 2023.
There are now 654 teacher vacancies in 1,369 public schools compared to 1,235 in 2023. This means more qualified teachers in front of students.
Under the Liberals and Nationals, teacher vacancies in NSW public schools peaked in October 2022 at 3,300. This has now fallen to just 1,294 teacher vacancies statewide, or 2 per cent of the workforce. This means that more students are receiving a quality, face-to-face public education.
- In the NSW Department of Education's Rural North Directorate, which covers Moree to the Northern Tablelands as well as the Tweed, vacancies fell by 58 per cent since 2023. There are now 93 teacher vacancies compared to 220 in 2023;
- In the Regional North Directorate, which covers the lower Hunter, including Newcastle, and the Central Coast, vacancies dropped by 53 percent since 2023. There are now 78 teacher vacancies compared to 166 in 2023;
- In the Rural South and West directorate, covering Broken Hill, Dubbo, Orange, Deniliquin, Queanbeyan, Griffith, Wagga and Albury, vacancies fell by 33 per cent since 2023. There are now 224 teacher vacancies compared to 332 in 2023;
- In the Regional North and West directorate, which covers Forster to Coffs Harbour, and inland including the Upper Hunter, and the Bathurst and Dubbo areas, vacancies have fallen by 47 per cent since 2023. There are now 118 teacher vacancies compared to 222 in 2023; and
- In the Regional South directorate, covering Campbelltown, the Illawarra and the South Coast, vacancies have decreased by 42 per cent since 2023. There are now 99 teacher vacancies compared to 172 in 2023.
The Minns Labor Government's ongoing commitment to rebuild public education across the state, improve teacher recruitment and retention and lift student outcomes is already delivering results and has included:
- Delivering the largest pay rise in a generation to all of NSW's public school teachers.
- Making over 16,000 teachers and school support staff on temporary contracts permanent.
- Expanding the Department's Priority Recruitment Support model from 79 to 110 schools, giving them targeted support to fill vacancies.
- Banning mobile phones in all public schools, minimising classroom distractions.
- Addressing workload by allowing additional time to roll out a new curriculum, improving mandatory training and professional learning requirements, providing access to AI assistance, providing additional administrative support in schools.
Deputy Premier of New South Wales and Minister for Education Prue Car said:
"The NSW Labor government is committed to ensuring every child in NSW has access to a high-quality public education, no matter where they live.
"We inherited a teacher shortage crisis from the former Liberal National Government that was leading to thousands of collapsed and merged classes every day. That's thousands of lost teaching hours to our kids in regional schools every day.
"The massive fall in teacher vacancies across regional NSW shows what you can achieve when you listen to our dedicated and hardworking teachers and value the life-changing work they do.
"Having a qualified teacher at the front of every classroom is vital to delivering improved academic outcomes for our students.
"These figures show the uplift in teachers' pay - opposed by the Nationals and Liberals - means so many more of our students now have a teacher in their classroom, which can only lead to better outcomes."
