The Labor Party has promised to spend $63 million to boost the education workforce by 179 teachers and 107 education assistants in state schools from 2019, if it wins government.
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The new recruitment regime will include 40 early years teachers and 50 teachers transferred into schools from the Education Department.
Thirty teacher assistants and administrative staff will be employed as will 30 professional support staff, such as speech and language pathologists, school psychologists and social workers.
The party wants to reinstate 17 Pathway Planners – positions that were scrapped over the Liberal government’s term – and to keep 22 Early Childhood Intervention Service teachers.
The service has been only extended to 2020 at this stage.
Eighty-nine teachers will be employed.
The party has committed $12 million for six new Child and Family Centres which will employ 30 staff.
Labor Leader Rebecca White said the state’s schools were struggling after the Liberals’ 2014-15 budget which saw teacher numbers cut.
Labor education spokeswoman Michelle O’Byrne said the Labor in government would halt year 11 and 12 extensions in schools but maintain those extensions which had already been funded.
Ms O’Byrne said the party would discuss with communities the future plans for five more schools which had been nominated by the government to receive extensions.
Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said the party's planned audit of the 38 schools with extensions was a smokescreen for a plan to rid those schools of year 11 and 12 classes.
Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations president Lisa Gillard said it was important that through boosting professional support staff, appropriate incentives were offered as vacancies had been left wanting in the past.
She said Labor’s $82 million commitment to build a new school in Hobart and update two in Penguin and Sorell might be better redirected to schools in greater need of upgrades.
Australian Education Union state president Helen Richardson welcomed the announcement – even though it fell short of the union’s target of 250 new teachers in schools.
“The Hodgman Government axed 180 teachers and there are now fewer in classrooms than when it came to office but Will Hodgman is in denial about the truth,” she said.
Premier Will Hodgman said there was 107 more teachers in the school system under this term compared to the last one.
