Tamworth's Catholic teachers call for shortages to be addressed and better pay for support staff

A mobile billboard took to the streets of Tamworth on Wednesday, to call for better conditions for Catholic school staff.

Independent Education Union (IEU) representative and teacher at McCarthy Catholic College Fiona O'Neill, said staff were dealing with a "difficult" situation.

"There's people not going into teaching, it's not valued and respected as a profession," she said.

"We need people to come to the regions and work in our schools, sometimes if we advertise a position there's no applicants."

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The union is calling for an end to teacher shortages and support staff to be paid the same as those in the state school system.

Administrative staff, teacher aids and Aboriginal education workers are paid significantly less than their public school counterparts, Ms O'Neill said.

The dire conditions have led to the merging of classes and a lack of casual relief teachers, putting education on the backburner.

"For students who are impacted by this, it really leaves learning gaps," Ms O'Neill said.

With the truck boasting digital billboards on all sides, the pleas are directed at both the state government and Catholic employers, after striking alongside public school teachers in July.

IEU organiser Dave Towson said further industrial action could be on the cards if nothing changes.

"They need to make it a more attractive profession, they need to address workloads so teachers aren't leaving in the numbers that they are," he said.

"It's impacting dreadfully on our members who are left to pick up the load."

For almost 30 years Catholic employers have paid teachers the same rates as teachers in state schools.

Meaning action needs to come from both parties.

"The state government needs to address this urgently to fix teacher shortages in their schools, but also because of the impact this has on suppressing salaries in non-government schools."

Minister for Education Sarah Mitchell said the state government is focused on modernising the profession, to encourage more people into teaching and to improve the workload and career pathways.

"Teaching is an incredibly rewarding career," she said.

A spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said the staff vacancy rate was less than three per cent, low for a system of its size.

"Teachers have told us that one of the biggest ways we can address workload issues is by cutting red tape, reducing their admin burden, and providing them with high-quality curriculum resources - which is exactly what we've done," they said.

"This year more than 4,000 new teachers have been accredited and we are on track for 7,000 teachers to join the profession this year, as in other years."

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