ACT teacher attraction and retention plan finds up to 350 teachers needed annually

Education Minister Yvette Berry tabled a teacher attraction and retention plan for the next five years in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday.

The plan requires recruitment targets to be published each year, with between 210 and 348 educators expected to be needed annually depending on the number of teachers who leave the system.

"Australia is facing a nationwide teacher supply and retention challenge with a shortage of teachers regarded as one of the biggest issues facing education systems across the country," Ms Berry said.

The plan shows that nationally demand for teachers is growing but the number of teaching graduates is falling.

This trend is even more pronounced in the ACT, where the number of university students completing teaching degrees has been in steady decline since 2014.

The number of people signing up for teaching degrees in the territory fell sharply in 2018 by 20.2 per cent and a further 17.3 per cent in 2019 to 518.

The number of people completing teaching degrees also plummeted to 285 in 2019. Since 2015, teacher graduate numbers have been below 2005 levels, when the ACT had 100,000 fewer residents.

Most new teachers employed by the Education Directorate have studied in the ACT (60-70 per cent).

The number of new teachers registered with the Teacher Quality Institute fell from 787 teachers in 2015 to just 413 registrations in 2021.

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Opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said the the report highlighted significant problems but did not provide any meaningful solutions.

"There is already a critical shortage of teachers across the ACT and projections in the report show up to 1,956 new teachers may be needed by 2028," Mr Hanson said.

"Given the significant ongoing shortfall of resources across schools and other areas of government like police and hospitals it is unlikely the ACT government would ever deliver the needed increases in front line teachers if they continue spending billions of dollars on the next stages of a tram."

Ms Berry said all ACT public schools were well-resourced. and funding for teachers for this year was already in the budget.

The report follows work from the ACT teacher shortage taskforce which provided 20 recommendations to the government.

Nationally, all education ministers agreed to a teacher workforce plan in December following a roundtable discussion on the issue.

Ms Berry said the ACT government was committed to nation-leading salaries and working conditions as it continues to bargain with the Australian Education Union on a new enterprise agreement.

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