Andrew Charlton (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today in support of the motion moved by the member for Reid. Teachers are the architects of our future generations. Not only do they empower our youth with knowledge, skills and values; they inspire students and foster their curiosity and creativity. Without teachers, we would have no leaders, no thinkers and no doers.

Today, to be a teacher is to be an educator as well as a mentor. In many cases, teachers have to double as de facto social workers and counsellors. While there is no shortage of roles and responsibilities that teachers have today, there is a shortage of teachers themselves. The demand for secondary teachers is forecast to exceed the supply of graduates by over 4,000 between 2021 and 2025. That means there'll be fewer teachers in classrooms, higher workloads on those who remain and poorer quality of education for our children.

This shortage did not develop overnight. Over the last 10 years, enrolments in teaching degrees have fallen by 16 per cent. Only half of those who start a teaching degree end up completing their degree, compared to 83 per cent of graduates across the board. Many of those who do complete their degrees don't stay in the profession. Approximately four out of 10 teachers have left teaching in their first five years.

Time and again, you'll hear the same stories and experiences from teachers right across Australia about the pressures they're facing. Last year I spoke to Alan, a local teacher from North Rocks, who told me about public schools having overloaded classes, forcing teachers to leave due to the intense workload. In some cases, the shortages were so severe that principals had to step in and teach classes.

We know that students have better school engagement, connect better with educators and behave better when they have consistent teaching staff. All too often, Alan witnesses the cycle of attrition. When a new teacher steps in to replace one that's left, they're forced to catch up and rebuild connections. That only adds to the mountain of pressures that teachers face on a day-to-day basis.

It's incumbent upon us to support our teachers, retainer our educators and encourage our communities best and brightest to take up teaching as a career. This won't be easy. It will take a long time to undo a decade of damage. Our government is working hard to deliver real changes to this system and to break the cycle of attrition. This starts with a $328 million targeted investment into our teachers through the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan. It sets out 27 actions that the state, territory and federal governments will implement, including $159 million to train more teachers, $56 million for scholarships to encourage our best and brightest to become teachers, $68 million to triple the number of mid-career professionals transitioning into teaching and $30 million to help find a trial for new ways to reduce teachers' workloads and maximise the time they have to teach in the classroom.

I am a strong believer in the power of education to lift our kids out of poverty and to help empower people to achieve their aspirations. I believe every child deserves the opportunity to access good education. But to have a good education, we need good support for our teachers and educators. For a decade, we've let our teachers down, and it's time to put that to an end.

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