Zaida Glibanovic
FEELING burn-out, overworked and overwhelmed is what education staff reported to the state education inquiry, while parents described harrowing accounts of misconduct to a parliamentary committee at a hearing held at Traralgon Century Inn recently.
Gippsland-based teacher, Stephanie Feldt gave a heartfelt testimony, citing issues with staff wellbeing and special needs support.
“The inquiry into the state schools reveals significant challenges,” Ms Feldt said.
The Grade 5/6 teacher said staff not only deal with behavioural issues frequently, but their classroom duties include taking special care and ensuring children are medicated.
The teacher finds herself in a school where parents who often come from a low socioeconomic background are unable to provide their children with external support for their special needs such as speech pathology, paediatrics and therapy.
Ms Feldt said her school was not fortunate enough to have the funding to hire an on-ground speech pathologist, and said the supply for specialists was not here in Gippsland.
With so many students needing special support, classroom teachers have had to take on the brunt of the work, which has no doubt contributed to their workload, Ms Feldt said.
“We’re putting a lot into our students, and that’s our job, but it is leading to teacher burnout … there’s not adequate support for our staff members,” she said.
Not only do students have special needs not adequately addressed, but teachers also aren’t being supported despite facing many challenges to their mental wellbeing, including frequent behavioural issues.
“A lot of staff are finding it difficult – having students swear at you every day or kick at you,” Ms Feldt said.
A recent Australian Education Union survey of thousands of public school teachers across Australia found that more than a third of teachers were planning on leaving the industry because of excessive workloads, low pay, and student behaviour.
“We’ve had to do a lot more and at capacity – you know you want to give your best to your school and that has definitely, led to one of our staff member’s burn-out,” Ms Feldt said.
The state government finally released the damning findings of the 2022 Teacher Supply and Demand Report last month.
The forecast demand for teachers is expected to outpace supply to 2028, with a shortfall of 5036 teachers expected over this period, according to the report.
Local school principal and well-known Yarram identity, Anthony Rodaughan gave an account of what it’s like to lead a school in the current climate.
“The biggest issue I’ve had to deal with is mental health and wellbeing,” he said.
The education inquiry came to Gippsland after the opposition had slammed the state government’s handling of the teacher crisis, amid the release of the Teacher Supply and Demand report.
According to the most current available data, vacancies increased to more than 26,000 in 2022, as a record number of teachers left the system.
Estimates show that chronic absenteeism levels in schools reached 49.9 per cent in 2022, with between one per cent to five per cent of all students classed as severely absent.
Not only are teachers leaving the system, but there are not enough graduates looking to fill these voids, as the reports showed 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.
