Tell us what the shortage of teachers in Australia means for you

Guardian staff
·1 min read

Teachers across Australia have sounded the alarm at what they say is an urgent crisis in teacher numbers.

The New South Wales Teachers Federation says that state will need 11,000 more teachers by 2030, while student numbers are forecast to grow by 200,000 in the next 20 years.

The federation says teachers need to be given more “remuneration and respect” to attract people to the job.

In Victoria, more than 40% of principals say maths and science classes are not taught by teachers qualified in those subjects, and 86% of teachers say their workload is “never, seldom, or sometimes manageable”, according to a recent survey.

Queensland’s education minister says there are “workforce challenges” at a national level and also reported particular shortages of qualified teachers in Stem and other subjects.

The pressure is extreme in rural and regional areas, according to the most recent national survey of staff by the Australian Education Union.

At the same time, the proportion of high-achieving young graduates (those under 20 with an Atar over 80) who choose to study teaching has dropped by a third, amid a general decline in the proportion of students going into teaching compared with other subjects, according to a federal government discussion paper released this week.

Tell us in the form below your experience of what the teacher shortages mean for you, your colleagues and your children. And what should be done to fix the situation? All contributions are confidential and we will not publish anything without your permission.

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