Just 33 extra teachers have so far been lured from overseas to understaffed public high schools in the bush in a recruitment campaign the teachers’ union has labelled a “short- term fix”.
In September, the Education Department began targeting qualified teachers from the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand in response to growing teacher shortages.
Qualified overseas teachers are being offered generous relocation support packages and visa sponsorship in return for working in regional high schools.
Education director general Lisa Rodgers said 13 of the new recruits were from New Zealand, so they did not require visa sponsorship.
“In addition to the 33 teachers who have been appointed, there are a further 48 who have been assessed as suitable and are able to be sponsored,” she said.
Another 41 teachers were currently being assessed for suitability, while more than 1300 had expressed interest in visa sponsorship. “We will continue to assess and place high-quality candidates in our schools,” Ms Rodgers said.
State School Teachers’ Union of WA president Matt Jarman said while the department’s “short-term efforts” were welcome, they were not enough.
“The reality is that even if every single one of those teachers arrives, and if they all stay, we might fill one fifth of the current vacancies in country areas,” he said.
“That’s assuming nobody else retires or resigns for better-paid jobs elsewhere. We need long-term solutions for recruitment and retention, not short-term fixes.”
WA District High School Administrators’ Association president Kevin Brady said staffing in rural areas was “in crisis” and principals welcomed anything that would help alleviate it.
But he cautioned against sacrificing quality in pursuit of numbers.
“Schools who have engaged teachers from overseas are generally very satisfied that people come prepared and are able to engage with students in a West Australian context — but we don’t want to lose that,” he said.
The overseas recruitment strategy follows a State Government cash incentive plan, ann-ounced last year, offering up to $17,000 to lure local teachers to the bush.
One of the foreign teachers to answer WA’s call was physical education specialist Albert Ellis, 56, who moved from a boys’ school in Hamilton, New Zealand, to Kalgoorlie-Boulder Community High School in January.
With more than 30 years teaching experience, Mr Ellis said he had been ready to try something completely different and had no regrets, describing his new students as “wonderful kids”. “I just needed a new challenge in life,” he said.
Mr Ellis praised Education Department representatives for making him feel “like a million dollars”, saying they had “really looked after us” and had followed up regularly to see how he was going. But he and wife Tracey found Kalgoorlie-Boulder’s temperatures challenging.
“When we first got here it was 43 degrees we couldn’t believe the heat,” he said.