The NSW government has been accused of failing the state's students as documents show thousands of teachers are needed to fill full time positions, particularly in regional NSW.
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Schools in the bush were the worst affected, taking up more than half of the total unfilled roles, internal documents from the NSW Department of Education show.
The Permanent Teacher Vacancy Dashboard shows that as of November last year there were 3311 vacancies.
A total 1819 teachers were needed in the regions and nearly 1500 teachers were needed in metropolitan areas.
Some 228 vacancies had been filled the week the report was published, and 6476 had been filled in the year to November.
NSW Teachers Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra said the Perrottet government had failed to ensure students could secure an education.
"These figures illustrate the extent of the crisis in our schools," Mr Rajendra said.
However, the government said the opposition was misleading parents with out of date information, adding that permanent teacher vacancies are often filled by relief teachers.
"The opposition know that this data is old and that many of these vacancies have been filled over the summer holidays, which is when schools do the bulk of their recruitment," Education Minister Sarah Mitchell told AAP.
"Since November 2022, we have filled more than 2100 vacancies, and the rate of vacancies has remained stable.
"There are almost 10,000 more teachers in the system compared to 10 years ago.
"While the NSW Liberal and Nationals government is getting on with recruiting, training and rewarding our best teachers - filling around 8000 new permanent roles in the last year alone - NSW Labor are yet to explain how they would recruit a single new teacher into our public schools."
The commitment followed a decision made last year by the Industrial Relations Commission to give teachers a backdated pay rise of 2.5 per cent for 2022, and a three per cent pay rise from January 1, 2023.
Labor Leader Chris Minns hit back at the education minister on Wednesday, accusing Ms Mitchell of routinely denying there was a teacher shortage in NSW.
"Every bit of information, whether it's internal government documents, or firsthand accounts from teachers and parents indicate that this is absolutely a crisis," he told reporters on Wednesday.
"If you're not prepared to acknowledge it's a crisis in the first place, how can you develop a plan?"
NSW Labor has committed to converting 10,000 temporary teaching positions into full time roles, and scrapping the public sector wage cap if it wins the state election in March.
"Most importantly, we will end what I think is the war on teachers," Mr Minns added.
"We desperately need to attract more people to the profession, and keep the ones that are currently working in NSW public schools."
The union representing private and Catholic school teachers joined the chorus of calls for the government to scrap the pay cap, saying low pay was the main cause for the teacher shortage.
"Twelve years of the NSW government teacher wage suppression is taking its toll on the profession. The salary cap must be scrapped," Veronica Yewdall from the Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT branch said Wednesday.
"Not only are there vacancies, but teachers are being asked to teach subjects outside their area of training, skill and experience. This is not fair on teachers and their students."
Australian Associated Press
