Walgett Community College teacher speaks out as NSW Federation spokesperson to shed light on their plight

Reported as being "unsafe" by the SMH despite having almost $9 million of facilities, one teacher has stepped up to share their side as the NSW Teachers' Federation spokesperson for the school.

Emma Eldridge said they wouldn't be doing what they're doing if they didn't 100 per cent believe in what they were working towards.

"Every student is known, valued, and cared for, is part of the department's strategic plan and something that the teachers at Walgett take to heart," Ms Eldridge said.

"We believe that every student regardless of where they live should have access to a high-quality education."

She said what made it hard was trying to do the job you were passionate about without the adequate support from the government.

"We believe that the department has failed to provide the students of Walgett with the same access to education as that of a student in Metropolitan Sydney."

Tim Danaher is the NSW Teachers' Federation country organiser for the region including Walgett, and said the teachers had reached the end of their tether when they agreed last Wednesday that nothing else was working, so they'd walk-off.

"There was definitely a walk-off, and it wasn't something the teachers did lightly either," he said.

He said after two letters requesting dire assistance, the government reacted by putting in a temporary acting principal before eventually advertising for temporary positions.

"It was a slap in the face," he said.

But for Ms Eldridge, what happened next was "unbelievable".

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"Unbelievably, only hours after the stop work, the Department advertised nine permanent positions," she said.

Mr Danaher said the issues experienced in Walgett, while still 'unique' to the school, were in fact similar to those being felt across a lot of the regional and rural schools in his region, and were symptomatic of a "failed system".

"It's evident that the incentives aren't working. They work in some areas. It's not working in others. The government needs to take rural and remote students seriously and work addressing that distance and isolation."

He said one school he visited on Friday hadn't been able to get a maths teacher since Term 3 last year.

Another school has had five vacancies since the start of the year, and they've had those vacancies for 12 months before, he said.

"The whole system, the structure has failed. I think they are going to see a lot more teachers upset," Mr Danaher predicted.

"Walgett set the precedent for teachers saying 'enough is enough'."

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