Almost 100 preschool teachers will be made permanent from next year – more than the past 10 years combined – creating future job security for teachers and their preschool.
The significant rise in permanency in the sector is part of the Malinauskas Labor Government's commitment to improve employment security across the entire teaching community of South Australia.
Over the past three years more than 1800 contract teachers have been converted to a permanent role. A big jump from previous years which only saw about 199 teachers converted annually between 2017 and 2022.
With preschool teachers critical to our state's future, there is expected to be increased demand as the State Government rolls out the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care, including three-year-old preschool.
Preschool for three-year-olds, to be rolled out in government sites in stages from 2026, is fundamental to achieving the goal to reduce the rate of South Australian children who are developmentally vulnerable when they start school.
The Malinauskas Labor Government has been prioritising the teacher workforce to increase stability, and to ensure it remains an attractive profession. There's also a huge amount of work that has been done to protect the State from the teacher shortages we see in other states.
There are just 44 vacancies at the moment in South Australia, with most in regional areas. This is down from 60 vacancies at the beginning of 2024, and considerably lower than the beginning of 2022 which saw 86 vacancies.
It comes at a critical time elsewhere across the country with more than 3,175 teaching roles currently advertised across VIC, NSW and QLD.
The State Government's commitment to provide employment certainty for those in critical leadership roles in schools and preschools, has also seen a proposal developed in conjunction with the principal associations, which will be the subject of a consultation process early next year.
The proposal involves increasing the initial tenure of most school and preschool leaders from five years to 10 years and streamlining the process to enable an effective leader to have their contract renewed.
As put by Blair Boyer
It's a priority of the Malinauskas Labor Government to make teaching a more attractive and rewarding profession.
That is why we are making important investments to give teachers a pay rise, massively increase permanency, reduce workload and support early career teachers with mentoring to prepare them for the classroom.
Teachers do incredible work every single day preparing the next generation. It's only right that we better support them to keep South Australia in a strong position.
Future generations of South Australians will benefit from this workforce stability, providing them with consistent staffing at schools and preschools across the state.
As put by St Helen's Park Kindergarten Director Annette Browne
I welcome this move to support and value our workforce.
This is an opportunity for us to retain professional, experienced staff creating a stable, connected workforce not just for a family when different siblings attend the same site, but sometimes through generations.
Our families value stability and connection hence this move to permanency supports the community in early childhood education.
