Sam Wooster spent a year in Shepparton as a casual relief teacher and saw first-hand the challenges students faced due to the national teacher shortage.
He recently moved to the Mornington Peninsula to be closer to family and reached out to The News to share his experience at Greater Shepparton Secondary College.
“The teacher shortage has impacted students greatly,” Mr Wooster said.
“Classroom teachers and the students are the ones who are picking up the pieces for poor policy around the teaching profession.
“Policymakers should consider the emotional toll that it takes on students.
“If a class has had 12 teachers in a month, what are they supposed to think about education?”
Mr Wooster believes the solution to the teacher shortage is incentives to stay and a perspective shift on the value of teachers.
“Pretending the issue doesn’t exist is not going to solve the issue,” he said.
"Students need stability and we need to acknowledge the effects of not having a teacher.
“We should structurally support teachers to be more permanent.”
Mr Wooster was brought to GSSC with the promise of a place to live from the government; however, he ended up staying at a local motel for two months.
“You need to make it (moving to a new town to teach) easy for new staff,“ he said.
“The school also needs to be supported so they can best support their staff.
“The education budget is for learning, everything else is secondary.”
As of Monday, April 22, there are over 980 jobs accepting applications for state schools in Victoria, with roles including principals, teachers, education support and learning specialists.
Twenty-seven of those roles are for Greater Shepparton schools.
On Seek, there are currently 184 jobs accepting applications for the search “Catholic Schools” for Victoria.
Six of which are for Greater Shepparton schools.
The Department of Education said they were working to fill vacant positions.
“Since 2019, the Victorian Government has invested more than $1.6 billion in school workforce initiatives, with about 8000 more teachers registered now than there were in 2020,” a Department of Education spokesperson said.
“Our workforce is continuing to grow as we deliver these initiatives, which include targeted financial incentives for hard-to-staff roles in regional and rural areas and paid placements for trainee teachers in regional and rural schools.
“We recognise that some schools are facing staffing challenges, and the department is working closely with these schools to provide additional support to fill vacant positions.”
The News reached out to the department with questions specifically about retention rates in teachers, supporting regional areas and the impact of not having a consistent teacher on students.
The spokesperson did not answer these specific questions.
As well as the teacher shortage, Mr Wooster saw how government change impacts the students and commended the student body for their handling of them.
“The students and community have had to bear the brunt of the amalgamation and they should be commended for it,” he said.
“Policymakers should be more empathetic to the experience of the teachers and students in the classroom.”
Having gone from not knowing where Shepparton is to being an active member of the community, he said that Shepparton deserved more recognition.
“Shepparton is overall a healthy community,” Mr Wooster said.
“The values of Shepp were really family values, they were obvious and the sincerity was evident.
“When you walk around the lake, you get acknowledged and there’s just a level of belonging you don’t get elsewhere.”
His time at GSSC reflected his feelings for the town as a whole.
“The make-up of the town was evident with the school,” he said.
“The diversity in the school and the culture it creates is something that should be celebrated.”
Once he settled in, he began to really connect with the students and fall in love with the school.
“I observed a lot of really strong students and kids who were doing their best, they were really good to work with,” Mr Wooster said.
“There’s a lot of intelligence in students and sometimes teachers could be more open to the ideas and knowledge of young people.
“Regional schools and areas of disadvantage should be prioritised.”
Mr Wooster applauded the school and the students for how they have come together during the past four years with the amalgamation, global pandemics and a teacher shortage.
“Despite the circumstances of the amalgamation and bringing four schools together, the atmosphere in the class remained cooperative,” he said.