Thousands more children will now have a qualified teacher in front of them when school returns this year with new data released today showing teacher vacancies falling to a four-year low.
There are now 1,294 vacancies in NSW public schools - a 40 per cent reduction since the same time in 2023 before the Minns Labor Government came into office and the lowest number of vacancies at the start of a school year since 2021.
While there is more work to do to improve the teacher retention and recruitment record left by the former Liberal National government, the Minns Labor Government is continuing work to rebuild public education which started with scrapping the wages cap that saw teacher resignations and retirements reach record highs.
As a result, the rate of attrition is also consistently falling as more teachers - including those with decades of experience - see the value of remaining in the profession.
At the same time as thousands of classes were merged each day and resignations outstripped retirements for the first time, the former Education Minister Sarah Mitchell denied a teacher shortage crisis was occurring, and continued to advocate for a wages cap which suppressed teachers' pay. Under her watch, vacancies peaked at 3,311 in 2022.
The Minns Labor Government was elected with a commitment to rebuild public education across the state, improve teacher recruitment and retention and lift student outcomes. While this work is ongoing, it 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.
Premier of New South Wales Chris Minns said:
"It's hard to measure the impact that public school teachers have, but I think almost everyone has a teacher they can point to as being an incredible, positive influence on their lives.
"We respect teachers, and we want them at the front of our classrooms doing what they do best. That is what we committed to before the election and that is what we are continuing work to deliver.
"We know there's more to do, but it's brilliant that thousands more kids will return this year to a qualified teacher at the front of their classroom."
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:
"Labor was elected to rebuild essential services after a decade of neglect under the former Liberal National government and I am proud the Minns Labor Government is delivering.
"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 every day.
"The massive fall in teacher vacancies shows what you can achieve when you actually 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 that the uplift in teachers' pay - opposed by the Liberal and National Parties - means so many more of our students now have a teacher in their classroom, which can only lead to better outcomes.
"The drop in resignations and retirements shows teachers are hearing that we value their work and they feel supported to focus on the job of delivering quality teaching and learning."
