6. Staff in demand
Overview
Rural and remote schools confront a number of problems related to the recruitment of ESL, Maths science and IT teachers. Attracting these teachers is only part of the problem. Satisfying staffing criteria to warrant a non-core-curriculum teacher is another concern for school principals (Wudinna school meeting, SA, 11 August 1999). This is particularly problematic for the smaller schools where there is a lack of student numbers to satisfy the staffing formulae. This means that smaller schools miss out on curriculum options.
Where there are teacher shortages related to particular disciplines in metropolitan regions, the problems are amplified in the regional and remote areas. Information technology is an area of great shortage in non-metropolitan schools across Western Australia (Kururrungku Catholic Education Centre meeting, Billiluna WA, 14 May 1999).
There are currently few pre-service training incentives to encourage staff to take positions in rural and remote Australian schools. When positions cannot be filled in schools, or student numbers do not warrant an additional staff member, Distance Education is substituting for face-to-face teaching.
Various education stakeholders have suggested a range of pre-service incentives. Some of these incentives include, teaching scholarships for remote school trainees, access to subsidies such as Abstudy and Austudy, teaching practicums in rural and remote schools, deferment or reductions of Higher Education Contribution Scheme repayments and teacher training programs for Aboriginal and Islander Education Workers.
Evidence to the Inquiry
Small rural schools have always had a problem with finding then keeping specialist staff. A looming teacher shortage will exacerbate the problem; however, a lack of Maths, Science and Information Technology teachers has had an impact in our area already. Consequently in all rural schools you have staff teaching out of their faculty areas. This cannot be for the overall good of the student (Submission 11, Trangie Central School, NSW).Last updated 2 December 2001.When you consider that Lajamanu Community Education Centre has a large number of students with high support needs, that the Special Education teacher's position is only .5, and that the current Special Education teacher is not trained in this field; then the lack of service to our students becomes an even greater access and equity issue. The Department of Education is not meeting its obligations to an inclusive school environment by the provision of a range of consultancy and visiting teacher support (Lajumanu Community Education Centre 1999).
