TEACHER SHORTAGES IN AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS AMONG THE WORST IN THE OECD

Alarming new international data highlights the scale of Australia’s teacher shortage crisis and the urgent need for federal and state governments to address the root causes of workforce decline.

The OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) reveals that Australia ranks among the worst-performing countries for teacher shortages, particularly in public schools, posing serious risks to equity and quality education delivery.

AEU Federal President Correna Haythorpe said the findings are a stark warning about the impact of teacher shortages across the country.

“This report confirms what teachers have been saying for years, that Australia’s teacher shortage is real, it’s getting worse, and it’s impacting on teaching and learning,” Ms Haythorpe said.

“Australia is now among the top three OECD countries for teacher shortages in public schools. That is unacceptable for a wealthy, developed nation.”

“We urgently need national action to fix the teacher pipeline, from recruitment into initial teacher education to retaining experienced teachers in classrooms.”

The TALIS data also shows that shortages are most severe in schools with high levels of student disadvantage and special education needs, which are the very schools that rely most on stable, experienced teaching staff.

“When students with additional needs or from disadvantaged backgrounds are most affected, the result is a deepening equity divide in Australian education,” Ms Haythorpe said.

The data confirms Australian teachers are working an average of 46.5 hours per week, well above the OECD average of 40.8 hours, with almost two-thirds of teachers experiencing high stress and more than 80% say their job negatively impacts their mental health.

“Our public schools are under enormous pressure. Teachers are overworked, stressed and feel unsupported. Without urgent government action to fix workloads, pay and conditions, we risk losing even more teachers from the profession.”

“We need full and fair funding for public schools, a national workforce plan that tackles workload, and real support for teachers’ mental health.” Ms Haythorpe said.

The TALIS report states that: “Teachers are more likely to exhibit effective practices, experience high well-being and job satisfaction, and remain in the profession when they have sufficient support to face the challenges at hand”

“Our students deserve well-qualified and supported teachers in every classroom. There are no shortcuts to fixing the teacher workforce crisis. All governments must properly value, respect and support the teaching profession.” Ms Haythorpe said.

Key TALIS 2024 Findings for Australia:

• Teacher shortages in Australia are significantly above the OECD average. 41.9% of lower secondary principals in Australia report that a shortage of teachers in their school hinders the quality of instruction — almost double the OECD average of 23.1%.
• 58.1% of principals in public schools say they have a shortage of teachers (the third-highest rate in the OECD) — more than double the OECD average of 24.9%.
• Shortages in public schools are 33.3 percentage points higher than in private schools — only 24.8% of private school principals report teacher shortages.
• Teacher shortages are far more prevalent in disadvantaged schools. In schools where more than 30% of students come from socio-economically disadvantaged homes, 66.9% of principals report shortages — second only to Bahrain and more than double the OECD average of 31.7%.
• 64.6% of teachers in Australia say that they experience stress in their work “quite a bit” or “a lot”. This is significantly higher than the average of all TALIS 2024 countries of 43.4%.
• 82.4% of Australian lower secondary teachers and 81.4% of Australian primary school teachers said that their job negatively impacts on their mental health, the second highest country.

ENDS

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