Rural teachers need relief too: Dalton

Mrs Dalton said teachers across Murray are being swallowed up by bureaucracy, unnecessary administration and red tape.

“Teachers are leaving schools, burnt out from increased workloads and it is time to look outside the square for solutions,” Mrs Dalton said.

Mrs Dalton said an internal department of education document states vacant teacher positions had surged to more than 2000 places in 2022, with stagnant salaries and increasing workloads turning people away from the profession.

“Schools right across Murray are struggling to fill vacant teaching roles which is impacting on the education of our children; additional administration roles will help make teaching more attractive and lighten the workload,” she said.

Mrs Dalton said she would also like to see increases in the point incentive status system implemented across rural areas.

“We need access to the pilot administration program, financial incentives, access to housing and a decrease in red tape.

“Once we start implementing these initiatives, we will start to get more teachers back into rural areas and the education opportunities for our children will certainly improve, along with the health and welfare of our very important teaching staff.”

In announcing the program, NSW Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said it was “in the first stage of an innovative plan to lighten teacher workload”.

She said the findings from the first stage will also help determine how effective additional support roles in schools are in freeing up time for teachers.

It will also inform how to improve administration functions in all schools across the state.

“We have heard from our teachers that it is not one policy or thing they need removed to help them with their workload, rather they need holistic and flexible support to lighten their workload,” Ms Mitchell said.

“We want our teachers to do what they do best – teaching and supporting our children in their learning – and spend less time on admin tasks.”