Union calls for cash as teachers struggle to meet demand in Victoria

With more than a thousand roles currently sitting vacant, leaders say the situation is fast becoming a crisis.

For David Adamson, it has been been a stressful start to the school year.

The Essendon Keilor College principal said his staff have been running short all term.

“The strain is really starting to show. One class we just don’t have a teacher to do it so they’ve had to do it via distance education,” Adamson said.

“It’s getting towards that place of being a crisis, if we’re not careful.”

A union survey of 430 Victorian teachers found over a third of schools are being forced to increase class sizes to manage shortages.

Almost 40 per cent said they were using principals and assistant principals to help fill gaps in the classroom.

“For the education of our children, for the sake of our children, the government must respond to this,” Victorian Branch president of the Australian Education Union Meredith Peace said.

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“The problem isn’t going away”

Meanwhile, Adamson said he is now back in the classroom due to the shortages.

“I’m teaching food technology because my food teacher’s part-time and she doesn’t come on a Friday and that’s when the class had to be timetabled,” he said.

There are currently thousands of public school teaching positions listed as vacant on Victoria’s recruitment portal.

The union stresses the impact is statewide, however Wyndham, Hume and Casey council areas are particularly feeling the pressure.

They are calling for a one-off retention payment, similar to the $3000 payment previously offered to healthcare staff.

However, the state government has shut that down.

“We did not make any such commitment in relation to teaching,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.