Australian Education Union Survey
Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes: My question is directed to the Attorney General, representing the Minister for Education and Training. Is the Minister aware of a survey released today by the Australian Education Union, which found that almost 60 per cent of schools have trouble getting the teachers they need and that about 58 per cent of secondary teachers are teaching subjects that are outside their area of expertise? Is the Minister aware that schools have difficulty in recruiting and retaining qualified teachers in mathematics, technology, computer science and languages?
In particular, is the Minister aware of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD] Education at a Glance report, which ranked Australia as second last of the 27 OECD nations in public expenditure on public institutions, and that experienced teachers are paid significantly less than the OECD average, despite teaching longer hours and more weeks than in most OECD nations? With 16,000 teachers retiring in four years, what is the future of public education in New South Wales as more and more teachers are underqualified and underpaid?
The Hon. John Hatzistergos: I am happy to refer the honourable member’s question to the Minister of Education, but I caution the honourable member to reflect on some of the recent achievements of education, particularly public education, in both the Higher School Certificate results late last year and also in the basic skills test results, which were released relatively recently. If he reflects on those results, he will see that some of the criticisms that have been directed towards schools, and in particular public schools, are quite unfounded.
Deferred answer
On 27 October 2009 Reverend the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes asked the Attorney General, representing the Minister for Education and Training, a question without notice regarding teachers. The Minister for Education and Training provided the following response:
All teachers employed in NSW public schools must have met the academic requirements for teaching, be personally suitable for teaching and have satisfied relevant probity checks.
The Department of Education and Training regularly undertakes a comprehensive analysis of schoolteacher supply and demand to ensure that NSW public schools are staffed with qualified teachers and to identify potential shortage areas so that suitable strategies to address them can be implemented. This process takes into account a range of factors including teacher retirement rates.
Currently, there is an adequate supply of primary teachers, except in a very small number of geographic locations.
There is also an adequate supply of secondary teachers, except in the areas of mathematics, science with physics, some specialist teachers, and some specific subjects in particular geographic locations.
To address any potential shortages the Department offers teacher education scholarships and retraining programs to support people to train or retrain in these areas.
The Department also implements a range of strategies to ensure that teaching remains an attractive and rewarding profession. New South Wales public school classroom teachers are among the highest paid public school classroom teachers in Australia, they have access to a comprehensive range of professional development programs, and the Department offers a range of incentives to assist in attracting and retaining teachers to isolated rural areas of need.
In 2009/10 the NSW Government has provided for record funding of $14.7 billion for education and training, an increase of $8.7 billion, or over 146% compared to when the Government came to office in 1995.
The average recurrent funding per public school in 2009/10 is $12,316 the highest per capita amount in the history of public education in this State. This is up from $5,273 in 1994/95, an increase of 134 per cent.
It is clear that the efforts of this Government are working to ensure that students in New South Wales have access to high quality teaching.