❓ A parliamentary question addresses a predicted teacher shortage in WA schools by 2012, questioning the government's response and alleged attempts to conceal the issue. The Minister acknowledges the potential shortfall and outlines planned reforms and recruitment efforts.
AnsweredQoN 78Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TEACHERS - PREDICTED SHORTAGE OF 3 000 BY 2012
Earlier this week, Mr Robert Lindsay, acting director general of human resources in the Department of Education and Training, presented a briefing at the district directors’ meeting. (1) Can the minister confirm that, according to Mr Lindsay, by 2012 Western Australian schools will face a shortage of 3 000 teachers? (2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN
Earlier this week, Mr Robert Lindsay, acting director general of human resources in the Department of Education and Training, presented a briefing at the district directors’ meeting. (1) Can the minister confirm that, according to Mr Lindsay, by 2012 Western Australian schools will face a shortage of 3 000 teachers? (2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(1) Can the minister confirm that, according to Mr Lindsay, by 2012 Western Australian schools will face a shortage of 3 000 teachers? (2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(1) Can the minister confirm that, according to Mr Lindsay, by 2012 Western Australian schools will face a shortage of 3 000 teachers? (2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(2) Can the minister also confirm that his department is estimating that over the next five years, almost 40 per cent of secondary school teachers will retire? (3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(3) Why has the government attempted to hide from the public this unprecedented crisis in our education system? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Bunbury for the question. It is true that Mr Lindsay, who is the director of workforce planning, or some such thing, in the Department of Education and Training, has made a presentation to officers in the department about future workforce planning issues. As part of that presentation, he provided a snapshot of where the teaching workforce could be placed in 2012. In that presentation he used figures from the national report that had been put out at the last meeting of education ministers, which indicated that across the country there is expected to be a shortfall - or there is predicted to be a potential shortfall if nothing is done - of 30 000 teachers in all the states and territories. He extrapolated from that that because this state comprises one-tenth of the nation’s population, the potential shortfall in Western Australia will be 3 000 teachers by 2012. That is a potential shortfall of 3 000. It depends on what we do about it. This has been a predicated problem for decades. I remember that when I was at school, it was predicted that one day there would be a shortage of teachers. The most important thing is what a state government does about that. We have started to take action. We expect to roll out a series of reforms on this important issue later this year. I conclude by saying that recruiting teachers for the workforce earlier is one of the initiatives that we can - I expect that we will - take to address the situation. We are now recruiting in other states and internationally to try to address the problem. We have approached the commonwealth about putting in place some relief from the higher education contribution scheme. The federal opposition has a proposal for relief from HECS in some of the subjects, particularly maths and science, for which we expect to have a shortfall of teachers. Those are the sorts of initiatives that are out there. As minister I will always support our teaching workforce. I will always back them and seek to improve their status and morale so that we can address this long-term problem.
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.