Premier Will Hodgman has labelled a union-backed report into Tasmania’s teaching staff numbers “fake news”.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
On Sunday the Australian Education Union released a report into Tasmania’s classroom staffing levels, which showed about 68 base grade teachers were cut from state schools since 2014.
Burnie Council alderman, Labor member and professional demographer Dr Amina Keygan conducted the research into teacher and support staff numbers for the AEU Tasmania branch.
Dr Keygan used public data from the Education Department’s annual reports as well as data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the OECD Education at a Glance report.
AEU Tasmania president Helen Richardson said the report showed a need for all political parties to commit to hiring an additional 250 teachers and 200 support staff for Tasmanian schools.
“We’re the most disadvantaged state and our students have high and complex needs,” Ms Richardson said.
“Any state government serious about lifting the educational achievements of students needs to be increasing classroom teacher numbers not cutting them.”
Mr Hodgman said the report showed “fake news” had arrived in Tasmania.
The report showed a ratio of one school psychologist to 927 students, one social worker to 879 students, and one speech pathologist to 1278 students, all full-time equivalent, which was a “small but welcome increase” on staffing numbers.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the report’s statements were “false”.
“The fact is, there are 107 more teachers now than when we came to office, and 74 more support staff than the previous year, and the reinstatement of 20 school nurses which were axed under Labor,” he said.
“The union claims in a report written by a Labor staff member have absolutely zero credibility.”
Opposition skills and training spokesman Josh Willie said he was a teacher in the state system when the state government cut teachers in 2014.
“I can tell you first-hand that had a dramatic impact on teaching and learning in all of our schools,” he said.
“What it did was put a lot of pressure on teachers, a lot of stress, and I believe in the report there are a number of indicators suggesting that is true.
“It’s disingenuous for the Hodgman government to claim there are more front-line teachers in our schools when they are counting principals and senior staff who … aren’t delivering front-line teaching.”
Mr Willie would not commit to the AEU’s push for additional teachers but said Labor would work with the sector to ensure schools were suitably resourced.
