industry & reform
The perfect storm
Australia ’ s housing crisis could deepen teacher shortages .
By Emilie Lauer
Australia ’ s rental crisis could further deepen teacher shortages experts have warned , with a new study showing that 90 per cent of educators can ’ t afford to live where they work .
A study by UNSW found teachers are being priced out of housing near their schools due to their salaries not meeting rising rents across the state .
“ The last time a first-year teacher salary could comfortably afford the rent for a one-bedroom dwelling was around a decade ago ,” UNSW Professor and study author Scott Eacott said .
The study analysed quarterly house sales in NSW and found that more than 50,000 full-time roles across the states are located in areas where the median rent for a one-bedroom place is unaffordable for early career teachers .
“ Fundamentally , there ’ s been an increasing gap between salary and the costs of housing that the standard pay rise isn ’ t covering , and it ’ s pushing teachers further away from their workplaces or out of the profession entirely .”
Sydney remains the country ’ s most expensive city , with a median rent of $ 711 weekly .
The study showed neighbourhoods such as Bayside , Canada Bay , Sydney , and Waverley were the most unaffordable LGAs for educators .
Professor Eacott said schools would have more and more difficulties attracting early career teachers and retaining more experienced educators as cost of living and rent keep increasing .
The study showed that around 2000 full-time roles in NSW are located in an LGA where a single bedroom is unaffordable , even on a top salary .
Homeownership is also out of reach for educators on a single income , with median prices reaching more than ten times the average teachers ’ salary in some areas . ■
‘ Free up time ’
NSW : More admin staff to support teacher ’ s workload .
By Emilie Lauer
Hundreds of new support staff will be hired in Term 3 in efforts to relieve NSW public school teachers from heavy administrative burden .
In May , state deputy premier Prue Car announced that 284 public schools across the state would hire 400 full-time
Prue Car . Picture : Tim Hunter / NewsCorp .
administration staff or offer more hours to existing workers to help teachers manage their administrative workload .
Ms Car said the initiative would “ free up ” teachers ’ time to focus on teaching .
“ Teachers signed up to teach our children not to fill out paperwork ,” she said .
The new staff will join the 203 administration roles already in place in 128 schools as part of the School Administration Improvement Program before being scaled up across all state schools by 2024 .
New admin staff will , among others , help teachers prepare students ’ outings , fill spreadsheets with performance data , liaise with parents and help timetable lessons .
The announcement follows the Minns Government ’ s initiatives to reduce principals ’ and teachers ’ workload over the next two years .
Last month , the NSW premier paused the state syllabus rollout to give teachers more time to plan and prepare new materials amid shortages .
In Australia , the latest OECD report showed teachers worked , on average , 100 hours more than their OECD counterparts .
A Black Dog Institute survey released in March , showed 70 per cent of teachers reported having unmanageable workloads , and more than 85 per cent reported arriving at school early to meet job requirements .
For the past few years , the extensive workload has been a major factor pushing educators to leave the job , with nearly 50 per cent of teachers considering quitting to have a better work-life balance .
“ We can ’ t afford to see more teachers leave the profession at a time when we are already dealing with a teacher shortage crisis ,” Ms Car said . ■
10 | educationreview . com . au