❓ Hon Nick Goiran asks the Minister for Education about the process of schools reporting teaching vacancies to the Department of Education, and the number of vacancies at the start of the school year and term 3. The Minister's response indicates that vacancy numbers fluctuate constantly and are not necessarily indicative of unmet need.
AnsweredQoN 1044Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
SCHOOLS —
TEACHING POSITIONS
1044. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the Leader of the House representing
the Minister for Education:
I refer to the role of the
Department of Education in assisting schools to fill teaching vacancies.
(1) Is it
customary for schools at the beginning of each school year to inform the
department of the number of vacancies they have and/or could use assistance in
filling?
(2) What was the number at the start of this year?
(3) Is it customary for that
practice to continue for each subsequent school term?
(4) If yes to (3), what were the
number of vacancies at the start of term 3?
(5) If no to (3), is this why the
minister is unable to inform the house of how many vacancies exist?
TEACHING POSITIONS
1044. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the Leader of the House representing
the Minister for Education:
I refer to the role of the
Department of Education in assisting schools to fill teaching vacancies.
(1) Is it
customary for schools at the beginning of each school year to inform the
department of the number of vacancies they have and/or could use assistance in
filling?
(2) What was the number at the start of this year?
(3) Is it customary for that
practice to continue for each subsequent school term?
(4) If yes to (3), what were the
number of vacancies at the start of term 3?
(5) If no to (3), is this why the
minister is unable to inform the house of how many vacancies exist?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(5) The department provides support to principals in
filling vacancies when requested. Vacancies arise and are filled on an ongoing
basis throughout the year. The number of vacancies at any point in time is not
an indicator of unmet need but rather the intended recruitment activity. The
number of vacancies changes daily and
can fluctuate within a day as principals fill vacancies and record new ones.
Centralised support is available to
schools whenever it is requested. Schools will seek central support after all
local solutions have been exhausted. A vacancy can be, and generally is, listed
while there is someone in the role. Vacancies occur for a range of reasons, and a requested vacancy does
not mean that there is not a teacher in front of that classroom.
honourable member for some notice of the question.
(1)–(5) The department provides support to principals in
filling vacancies when requested. Vacancies arise and are filled on an ongoing
basis throughout the year. The number of vacancies at any point in time is not
an indicator of unmet need but rather the intended recruitment activity. The
number of vacancies changes daily and
can fluctuate within a day as principals fill vacancies and record new ones.
Centralised support is available to
schools whenever it is requested. Schools will seek central support after all
local solutions have been exhausted. A vacancy can be, and generally is, listed
while there is someone in the role. Vacancies occur for a range of reasons, and a requested vacancy does
not mean that there is not a teacher in front of that classroom.
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.