NSW Teachers Federation members at Forster Public School walked off the job today over the NSW Government’s failure to properly staff schools in rural and remote parts of the state.
NSW Teachers Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra said staff at Forster were concerned that there was no guarantee that the crisis in school staffing would be solved by the time schools resume for term 2.
“This staffing crisis is not just a problem in remote areas. Already this year Forster Public school has been unable to staff classes for 40 days for colleagues who were absent,” Mr Rajendra said.
“The NSW Government has failed to staff schools adequately resulting disrupted learning for many students.”
Mr Rajendra said staff at Forster Public School have passed a motion saying, ‘It is a fundamental right for children, no matter what their circumstance or postcode to have access to a quality public education’.
“Members at Forster have voted to take further action should the NSW Government and the Department fail to address the staffing crisis.”
“Teachers and principals around the state are fed up with the poor response from the Education Department and will continue their campaign to highlight the staffing shortage.”
Mr Rajendra said the teacher shortage was made worse by the fact that it has been nearly 20 years since the Department of Education conducted a comprehensive workforce analysis.
“The NSW public school system faces a massive boost in enrolments of over 200,000 additional students, a 25 per cent increase, over the next 20 years.”