Quirindi mother begs Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell and Department of Education to take more action

With two kids attending Quirindi High School and Quirindi Public School, Tracy Goodwin said her kids had been left at a "significant disadvantage" due to teacher shortages, and she wants answers.

As an active member of both school communities, Ms Goodwin said by no means was she blaming the staff in Quirindi. Instead, action needed to come from the top.

Describing the situation at the schools as "dire", Ms Goodwin wrote to the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning Sarah Mitchell in February, expressing her concerns.

READ ALSO:

In the letter Ms Goodwin said she felt her children were "suffering" with their education put on the "back burner" and begged for more action to be taken to relieve the shortages.

After not hearing back, Ms Goodwin sent another letter in April before submitting both letters to the Inquiry into Teacher Shortages in New South Wales, which was held in June.

It wasn't until mid-August when Ms Goodwin heard back from the minister.

In the response, the department told Ms Goodwin they were focused on three key priorities: growing the workforce, retaining and upskilling more teachers in high demand subjects and specialist areas, and boosting the supply of teachers in regional and remote communities.

"They need to get down to the teacher's level to find out what they need," Ms Goodwin said.

"At least come to the areas and explain it to the parents.

"Explain why they can't do things, or why things aren't feasible options."

Since the school year began, Ms Goodwin's son and daughter have been dealt cancelled lessons and combined classrooms as the schools struggle with staffing.

"It's going to take years to bolster the teaching profession, my son will be finished school by then," she said.

"What sort of education is he going to get in the meantime?"

The Goodwin family moved to Quirindi from Walgett specifically to give their kids better educational opportunities.

But now, Ms Goodwin said the pinch of the teacher shortages had led them to consider the independent school system.

Ms Mitchell said she was "continuously" visiting schools across the state to speak with teachers.

"I am committed to working constructively with them to implement real solutions to staffing challenges," she said.

Ms Mitchell said the state government were focused on "modernising" the profession to improve the workload and career development and encourage teachers to stay in the job.

A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the public school system was facing a vacancy rate of around 3 per cent, which is "very low" for a system this size.

Teacher absences were attributed to COVID-19, influenza and other illnesses, with teachers on sick leave up 60 per cent since 2019 and 38 per cent compared to last year.

The spokesperson said to schools were utilising the casual teaching workforce, retired teachers, conditionally accredited final year university students and teachers from nearby schools to bolster numbers.

"The NSW Government's $125m Teacher Supply Strategy has a range of initiatives to make sure we have the quality teachers we need, in the right subjects and the right locations," they said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: