This year’s Victorian Teacher Supply and Demand Report forecasts the Allan Labor Government will have delivered a workforce of more than 112,000 teachers ready to teach at government schools and kindergartens by 2028, finally a word from the government on teacher shortage in Victoria.
Dismissing any thought of teacher shortage crisis, Minister for Education Ben Carroll today announced Victoria’s teaching workforce has achieved higher growth than any other state or territory – accounting for more than half the national growth in Australia’s teaching workforce in 2023.
The report found that Victoria’s teaching workforce increased by 3.9 per cent between June 2022 and June 2023, due to continued growth in student enrolments and the Labor Government’s suite of initiatives to support the state’s dedicated talented workforce.
“The Victorian Teacher Supply and Demand Report gives us a detailed look at our growing teaching workforce and will help us identify how we can best grow and support our workforce in the coming years”, Minister for Education Ben Carroll said.
“Thousands of highly trained graduate teachers are joining our education system every year, turning their passion into a career – and we’re making it easier than ever with a range of scholarships and incentives,” Minister Carroll added.
The Labor Government’s record investment in school workforce initiatives is standing the state in good stead to combat the Australia-wide issue of teacher shortages – with investments in attraction, recruitment, supporting early career teachers, retention, and career development.
These investments include $93.2 million for 8,000 new scholarships for students undertaking secondary school teaching degrees – which has already led to a 9 per cent increase in university offers for teaching courses in 2024.
The Government has invested $32.2 million for paid student teacher placements, paid placements for 1,200 postgraduates in secondary schools, and $95.7 million to expand supports for early career and returning teachers.
“Our early childhood workers play a critical role in the lives of young children and we are committed to continuing to grow this workforce now and into the future as we expand early childhood education across the state,” Minister for Children Lizzie Blandthorn said.
According to the state government, Victoria is also leading the way in attracting and retaining highly skilled early childhood workforce. The government says it is investing more than $370 million to deliver over 4,000 teaching scholarships and providing support to almost 1,700 diploma qualified educators become early childhood teachers.
But the state opposition has a very different view of the crisis of teacher shortage in Victoria and the report. It says Victorian students continue to be denied the quality education they deserve, as new figures reveal the true extent of Labor’s teacher shortage crisis.
According to the Shadow Minister for Education Jess Wilson, the report shows the true extent of teacher shoratage crisis in Victoria.
In a statement, the Opposition says the long overdue 2022 Teacher Supply and Demand Report, which confirmed:
-The forecast demand for teachers is expected to outpace supply to 2028, with a shortfall of 5,036 teachers expected over this period.
-The number of teacher vacancies grew 49 per cent for primary schools and 68 per cent for secondary schools, between 2021 and 2022.
-The number of applications per vacancy plummeted from 14.7 in 2021 to 5.3 in 2022 for primary schools, and 6.4 in 2021 to 2.8 in 2022 for secondary schools.
-The teacher attrition rate grew by almost 20 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
“These are shocking figures that will only mean worse educational outcomes for Victorian students. With ever growing vacancies, fewer applications and more teachers leaving the profession, it is now clear why Labor has kept this report secret for more than a year,” Shadow Minister for Early Childhood and Education, Jess Wilson, said.
To learn more about the Victorian Teacher Supply and Demand Report, visit vic.gov.au/statistics-victorian-schools-and-teaching.
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