NSW Teachers
Federation members at South Grafton High School have walked off the job over
the staffing crisis at their school which has been unable to find replacement
teachers to fill vacancies or to cover for colleagues on leave for more than a
year.
NSW Teachers
Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra said the situation at South Grafton
High had resulted in some classes being combined when casuals were unavailable.
In some cases, individual teachers were forced to supervise up to 70 students
at a time.
South Grafton High
staff are demanding that the NSW Government immediately appoint five additional
teachers to allow normal timetabled classes to proceed.
“Teachers are being forced to take extra
classes and playground duties when they should be preparing lessons or taking a
lunch break,” Mr Rajendra said.
“What is happening
at South Grafton is unacceptable and a direct result of the NSW Government’s
failure to adequately staff public schools across the state.”
“Every child in
every class has the right to be taught by an appropriately trained teacher and
it should be the responsibility of the Education Department to provide enough
teachers for every school.”
Mr Rajendra said
morale at the school was very low. Teachers had been working under extremely
stressful conditions for the past 18 months because of the teacher shortage.
“The staffing
crisis has been caused by the failure of the NSW Government to address the
teacher shortage over more than a decade.”
“They have let
down students, parents and the wider community.”
“Previously
successful processes that ensured adequate staffing of all schools across the
state have been weakened.”
Mr Rajendra said the
recent Gallop Report showed that the recruitment and retention of teachers will
require a significant increase in salaries.