The NSW Nationals in the state government are implementing a raft of new initiatives to improve how it recruits, trains, and places high quality teachers where they are most needed.
Nationals Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell said the $125 million NSW Teacher Supply Strategy will enable the NSW Government to create new opportunities and pathways to attract great people to one of the most rewarding professions.
“The nature of work in schools has changed, people’s expectations of work have changed and people themselves have changed, however our approach to attracting, developing and retaining teachers has remained largely unchanged,” Ms Mitchell said.
“A one size fits all approach to boosting the teaching profession ignores the complexity of the modern workforce and the varied requirements of people aspiring to become teachers and of those already in our classrooms. That’s why this strategy is needed.”
The strategy consists of three main pillars:
• Grow overall supply of teachers
• Encourage more teachers to upskill
• Provide targeted support in areas of need
“The first part of the strategy is to bring more people into teaching, including through recruitment and new opportunities for more people to become teachers in our great system without compromising quality,” Ms Mitchell said.
“Secondly, we want to deepen expertise and teachers in specialist roles through scholarships and retraining opportunities for our existing staff.
“And last but not least, we need our great teachers to be in the right places, where students most need them. The strategy draws from the recent Review of Rural and Remote Incentives in NSW Public Schools, along with other initiatives, to achieve this.”
The strategy will immediately invest $14 million in an overseas and interstate recruitment drive, $15 million in a mid-career transition program and $44 million in a variety of scholarships.
More than 3,400 teachers have already been recruited as part of the NSW Government’s 2019 commitment to add 4,600 teachers to the workforce. The Teacher Supply Strategy will add another approximately 3,700 teachers to the public education system in NSW.
