Rural teachers make up 40 per cent of exits from the industry

A staggering 40 per cent of Australian teachers who left the profession between 2016 and 2022 had resigned from positions in regional and rural schools say researchers looking into the issue.

Led by Robyn Brandenburg and published in The Australian Educational Researcher, the study cited an intensification of workload, a general lack of respect for their roles, and not acknowledging a teacher's skill and expertise as some of the reasons teachers were leaving the profession.

"It's a very sophisticated level of skill that a teacher needs to educate every child in their care," Professor Brandenburg said.

"Education is facing a crisis as many teachers are leaving teaching positions that just can't be filled.

"The narrative, typically, is that up to 50pc of teachers will leave in the first five years - and this survey challenges that as there are teachers with many years' experience who are also leaving, and that is a critical issue for schools, students, the education system, and for communities."

She said the industry needed to continue preparing graduates for varying contexts, and one key skill needed in graduates was adaptability.

"And once they are in schools, we must continue to mentor, nurture and support them," she said.

Jamestown Community School teacher Helen Lehmann retired from teaching at the end of last year after a lengthy career and said teachers could find work tomorrow if they wanted it.

"Anyone that wanted to come and do temporary relief teaching would get work tomorrow," she said.

"They are finding it very hard to find people to go in and do the temporary stuff when people are sick or when they have training.

"I think COVID made a lot of changes to society and for a while there jobs were advertised everywhere and there was somewhere for them to go.

"The other reason there are exits is because some people are not prepared to put in the time, and there is a lot of unpaid time."

Mrs Lehmann said teaching was a constant grind with a lot of out of hours work.

"I've really enjoyed this year with not having to work on a Sunday or at night," she said.

"It was mostly planning lessons, marking and reports but you'd always have a list - but I'm married to a farmer and they're married to their work so it didn't seem too strange that I was putting in so much because my husband puts in so much.

"But any teacher coming into the role, wouldn't do it if they didn't care about their kids.

"There is a lot of learning and development but the best learning is on the job compared to uni."

She said the role had changed with extra workload within her time.

"There is more and more paperwork that they're asking teachers to do that were done by ancillary staff in the past especially since IT has got so important," she said.

"There are more aspects to teaching than there was when we were young teachers."

Mrs Lehmann started as a secondary teacher at Lucindale Area School in 1977 before she taught at Jamestown High School for about six years.

"Then I had my children and started doing (temporary relief teaching) at Caltowie primary and I just loved it because you are teaching the whole child," she said.

"I was lucky enough to be given a contract as a primary teacher at Laura and did three years before being offered permanency in primary education at Jamestown in about 2001 and I've been there ever since.

"But there are many people that are on a contract forever and that is sad.

"I think that would be one of the reasons they're leaving the industry because if you're a contract teacher, a bank won't give you a loan for a house and that is really tough."

She says teachers have to be a people person and interact with staff, parents and students.

"One of my advantages was that I had taught some of the kids parents and that was fantastic," she said.

"I suppose you would get that in some city schools but not as much as you would in the country - that's a gift."

Local statistics have backed up Prof Brandenburg's research with the most recent data from the state government showing an increase in resignations.

An education, training and skills spokesperson said the latest data from June showed there were 15,500 full time educators in the state education department.

"Numbers have remained similar, fluctuating between 15,300 - 15,500 over recent years," they said.

They reported 139 resignations in the 2021 to 2022 period while 266 teachers resigned in 2022 to 2023.

But retirements dropped from 530 in 2021 to 2022, down to 311 in 2022 to 2023.

The spokesperson said there was 53 unfilled vacancies across the state.

"This is a reduction in the number of vacancies, at the same time of year, when compared to 2023 and 2022 - and markedly smaller than the thousands of vacancies in Victoria and NSW," they said.

While Association of Independant Schools of SA chief executive Anne Dunstan said the AISSA hosts a suite of professional learning opportunities for early-career, mid-career and leadership aspirant teachers to support their practice, wellbeing and connect them with supportive professional networks.

"We give advice to school leaders regarding a range of strategies to support them to address teacher workload in their schools," she said.

"The AISSA is working in partnership with the Department for Education, Catholic Education SA, the Teachers Registration Board and universities to inform and support quality pre-graduate teaching experiences and mentoring of pre-service teachers in all schools to provide a positive foundation for teachers new to the profession."

Statistics from Australian Bureau of Statistics show there are approximately 4980 teachers and 3679 non-teaching staff employed in independent schools in SA and 70pc of AISSA schools are located in major cities with 28pc regional and the remaining 2pc in remote areas.

University of SA program education futures Dean Anne-Marie Morgan said UniSA had developed teaching degrees in the regions to support the needs of communities and the education sector and had been providing teaching education at the Whyalla and Mount Gambier campuses since 2013.

"Our staff live and work in the regions and education students benefit from the many professional connections UniSA has forged in the local communities," she said.

"Across the suite of UniSA's Bachelor of Education degrees, enrolments and student demand have remained consistent across metro and regional campuses in recent years, including pre, during and post-Covid, and despite reduced enrolments nationally in some education degrees.

"ATAR cut-offs for entry to these degrees have held steady at around 70 -73 for the last five years."

While University of Adelaide school of education head Susan James Relly said the number of international students studying teaching had returned to pre-Covid levels.

"In 2023, 92pc of students in the Bachelor of Education course completed their degree," Prof James Relly said.

"While domestic student enrolment numbers have been decreasing, which is not out of kilter with other states, there has been a slight upturn this year.

"There are several initiatives in place to encourage students to undertake initial teacher education degrees in South Australia, which includes the Enabling Educator Excellence (E3) scholarships provided by the South Australian Department for Education."

She said recent figures from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership show that across Australia 95pc of 2019 initial-teacher-education (ITE) graduates were registered the year following graduation, which is a steady increase from 86pc in 2012.

"ITE graduate numbers in the workforce remain high at 91pc in the five years following graduation, which suggests that graduates find teaching a rewarding profession," she said.