Teachers galore? A brief analysis of the 'Oversupply of Teachers' in NSW

This information represents a relatively narrow sample size of the total teaching population of NSW. The private school system provides permanent jobs to roughly 29% (20 000 approx) of all qualified teachers in NSW. If their teacher age demographic is similar to that of the NSW public school system, this could mean that an additional 2000 – 3000 jobs could also be available to teachers under 45 by 2017.

The Geographical Distribution of the NSW DEC Employment List

The casual and temporary teaching workforce is under represented in discussions about teaching in NSW. These teachers are required to deliver long-term and short-term education in often challenging circumstances where a permanent teacher is unavailable (illness, maternity, transfer, etc.). Without high quality teachers on the state employment list the quality of state education would be compromised. The Teacher Employment list does not provide an exhaustive summary of those qualified to teach in NSW.

Since 2011, the NSW DEC employment list has grown by 10 748. Certainly, a 32% increase in teachers unable to find permanency could suggest a 'glut'. Figure 2 shows this growth has been comparable in both the primary and secondary fields. This is quite rapid growth in NSW and appears to support the claim that there is a backlog of primary teachers. This problem appears to be exacerbated by the number of primary graduate teachers exceeding the need of NSW DEC schools.

Figure 2: DEC Employment List change by year

Inland NSW is not experiencing the same 'oversupply' of casual and temporary teachers as the rest of NSW. Figure 3 shows the Employment list numbers by year in the different areas of NSW. The imbalance of supply teachers between Inland NSW and Isolated NSW is perplexing. Inland NSW has a student population and permanent teaching workforce that is nearly double the size of Isolated NSW. Yet, Isolated NSW now has access to an additional 4095 temporary and casual teachers across both primary and secondary fields. Even more concerning then the gap itself is the disparity in growth. Over the last two years, the DEC employment list for isolated NSW more than doubled (53.2%) as an additional 3000 teachers are seeking employment in this region of NSW. Conversely, during the same period, Inland NSW's DEC Employment list has grown by a comparatively paltry 5%, a total of merely 217 teachers.

Figure 3: NSW DEC Employment list trends by location

This information may suggest a 'bush' or 'beach' mentality from teachers which leaves Inland NSW a forgotten and potentially disadvantaged entity. The NSW DEC relies primarily on teachers younger than 30 to fulfil these valuable roles. Australian universities are producing higher numbers of teaching graduates, with a noteworthy spike since 2009. Unfortunately, Inland NSW has clearly not reaped the same benefits of the increasing graduate numbers in recent years. Clearly, these findings show that the widely reported 'oversupply of teachers' may be a fallacy of division. The details and unique circumstances of the different areas of the state needed to be considered fully before blanket statements are made.

The role that universities are playing in the composition of the NSW teaching workforce should be analysed fully before we dismiss our teaching institutions as "cash cows". On October 20^th, Professor Stephen Dinham was quoted as saying:

"It is quite unethical to let people train in an occupation they are not going to be employed in".

As educators, we are ingrained with the belief that we must account for the individual needs of our students. Should not the unique contexts of our tertiary institutions also be considered prior to such condemnation?