❓ Mr. Rundle questions the Minister for Education about a significant increase in teacher resignations. The Minister acknowledges the challenge but defends the department's support and outlines initiatives to attract and retain teachers.
AnsweredQoN 677Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TEACHERS — RESIGNATIONS
677. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Education:
I
welcome that regional education funding. I refer to data revealed in the
Legislative Council that shows resignations of teachers have more than
doubled in three short years from 604 in 2020 to 1 275 in 2022 and are already
1 021 to 31 August this year.
(1) What is the minister doing to reduce
the mass exodus of teachers from our education system?
(2) Does the
minister attribute this doubling of resignations to a lack of support from his
department and the increasing workloads?
677. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Education:
I
welcome that regional education funding. I refer to data revealed in the
Legislative Council that shows resignations of teachers have more than
doubled in three short years from 604 in 2020 to 1 275 in 2022 and are already
1 021 to 31 August this year.
(1) What is the minister doing to reduce
the mass exodus of teachers from our education system?
(2) Does the
minister attribute this doubling of resignations to a lack of support from his
department and the increasing workloads?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
definitely do not agree with the part of the member's question saying
that there is no support from the Department of Education. The department is
providing considerable support to our teachers, and we continue to work towards
providing much more support. I just announced the attraction and retention
incentive scheme for remote communities of over $15 million. That is there to
support our students. The attraction and retention initiative is there to
attract and retain teachers. We are also looking at other support we can
provide. We provide programs that will help teachers go on in-services and to
access professional wellbeing counselling. We are seeing what we can do to
remove red tape, which I mentioned yesterday. We are looking at how the
curriculum can be delivered in a way that reduces stress on teachers. We are
also looking at how we can improve the wellbeing of students, because obviously
if students are in a better space, they are
more likely to engage in the education process, which will then improve the job
satisfaction of teachers.
We are committed to ensuring that we
provide an environment that will attract teachers to come to and stay in
teaching, but this is challenging. It is challenging in Western Australia. The
member's question could have been asked in the Parliaments of South
Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory or the ACT. It is a common problem
throughout Australia. The question could be asked in the House of
Commons in the United Kingdom as well. Teaching today is a different profession
from what it was five, 10 and 20 years ago, but the government and I are
committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible environment for our
teachers and our students.
The SPEAKER :
That concludes question time.
definitely do not agree with the part of the member's question saying
that there is no support from the Department of Education. The department is
providing considerable support to our teachers, and we continue to work towards
providing much more support. I just announced the attraction and retention
incentive scheme for remote communities of over $15 million. That is there to
support our students. The attraction and retention initiative is there to
attract and retain teachers. We are also looking at other support we can
provide. We provide programs that will help teachers go on in-services and to
access professional wellbeing counselling. We are seeing what we can do to
remove red tape, which I mentioned yesterday. We are looking at how the
curriculum can be delivered in a way that reduces stress on teachers. We are
also looking at how we can improve the wellbeing of students, because obviously
if students are in a better space, they are
more likely to engage in the education process, which will then improve the job
satisfaction of teachers.
We are committed to ensuring that we
provide an environment that will attract teachers to come to and stay in
teaching, but this is challenging. It is challenging in Western Australia. The
member's question could have been asked in the Parliaments of South
Australia, Tasmania, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, the Northern Territory or the ACT. It is a common problem
throughout Australia. The question could be asked in the House of
Commons in the United Kingdom as well. Teaching today is a different profession
from what it was five, 10 and 20 years ago, but the government and I are
committed to ensuring that we provide the best possible environment for our
teachers and our students.
The SPEAKER :
That concludes question time.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.