Education Emergency in 2023

Independent member for Murray Helen Dalton is calling on state government to include rural schools in the pilot administration program.

The program will free up to 200 teachers from some administration tasks but is only being rolled out across schools in Sydney, Lithgow and Port Macquarie.

Mrs Dalton said teachers across Murray are being swallowed up by bureaucracy, unnecessary administration and red tape.

“Teachers are leaving schools, burnt out from increased workloads and it is time to look outside the square for solutions,” Mrs Dalton said.

Mrs Dalton said Murrumbidgee Regional High School currently has 14 vacancies, five of which have been unfilled for longer than six months.

It is not the only school grappling with falling staff rates.

An internal department of education document states vacant teacher positions had surged to over 2000 places in 2022, with stagnant salaries and increasing workloads turning people away from the profession.

“Schools right across Murray are struggling to fill vacant teaching roles which is impacting on the education of our children; additional administration roles will help make teaching more attractive and lighten the workload.”

Mrs Dalton said she would like to see the increases in the point incentive status system implemented across rural areas.

“We need access to the pilot administration program, financial incentives, access to housing and a decrease in red tape.

“Once we start implementing these initiatives, we will start to get more teachers back into rural areas and the education opportunities for our children will certainly improve, along with the health and welfare of our very important teaching staff.”