With the number of new students projected to rise by 26% by 2022, the high number of teachers leaving the profession in their first five years has triggered fears that there will be a shortage of teachers in Australia. ABC News reports that there will soon be an additional 92,000 primary school children by 2020 in New South Wales alone, and that the ratio of teachers to students is projected to fall during this period. This seems to be at odds with previous reports that there is a large oversupply of teachers, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2014. Despite the high number of teaching graduates, 30% to 50% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years of teaching, with the most common reason being the heavy work load.

High growth in student numbers

As the population grows, strain will be placed on Australian schools to cope with the increased number of students. The Age reports that between 140-220 new schools are required in Victoria over the next 10 years to absorb the increase in that state. In the absence of new facilities, schools are using portable classrooms in the playground to house their students, and are staggering break times so that there is adequate space for children to play.

Given the scale of the increase in school populations, there naturally must be a corresponding increase in teachers if schools wish to maintain current classroom ratios.

Why are teachers leaving?

Despite evidence that there will be future demand for teaching positions, over one in five teachers leave the profession within five years of beginning their career. Teachers reported that the lack of support combined with the heavy workload led to increased strain and exhaustion. These factors are combined with the lack of job security as more teachers are employed on a short-term, casual or part-time basis, giving teachers multiple potential reasons to leave. The inability to find a permanent position was a factor for many young teachers who have chosen to move to a different industry.

Although there have been many reports about the oversupply of teachers, these figures often fail to recognise that there is an ageing workforce or increased demand in disciplines such as mathematics, physics and IT. As more senior teachers leave the profession, demand in these areas will become even more pronounced.

Coping with a teacher shortage: lessons from the UK

Unlike Australia, the UK has been suffering from a shortage of teachers for some time. The Telegraph reports that schools are responding to this shortage by providing additional perks to staff to incentivise teachers to join their school. These include gym memberships, yearly public transport passes, child care vouchers and ‘golden hello’ payments which gave new employees a bonus of over AUD$10,000. These packages came after the government gave greater flexibility to schools in recruiting and paying their staff, and a spokesperson for the Department for Education stated that these incentives show that schools are embracing the changes to attract the best candidates. However, school leaders have expressed concerns that these new perks for teachers cannot fully address the shortage of teachers for schools with less resources.

What’s next?

Currently the reports of a future teacher shortage remain just that – reports. However, as the UK has shown, schools may need to be proactive in their recruitment strategies using the resources available to them to try and engage and retain teachers who are likely to stay.