Australian teachers, like their counterparts all over the world, are quitting due to unmanageable workloads (Arnold & Rahmi, 2025). These workloads are excessive both in the time demanded and the intensity of teaching work in modern, complex classrooms. If teaching is to be a manageable and healthy profession that nurtures students through the challenges of the modern world and into thriving communities, policy responses must prioritise actions that will retain and sustain current teachers. This is opposed to the more common approaches that aim to attract more teachers to – what is for so many – a problematic profession.

There is ample evidence of students and communities impacted by teacher shortages in Australia. In New South Wales almost 10,000 lessons each day were not covered (NSW Government, 2023) and in Victoria, 90 per cent of public school principals felt that they would not have enough teachers to staff their schools (AEU, 2022). Along with declining enrolments in teaching degrees and increasing school student numbers (Australian Government, 2022), there are challenging years ahead for staffing Australia’s schools.

There are clear indications that those who currently work in schools are disillusioned and many are considering leaving the profession. Our most recent research surveyed 8,000 teachers, school leaders and education support staff in Victoria. It found that only 31 per cent intend to remain beyond 10 years, and 76 per cent of those who plan to leave, intend to do so within five years (Longmuir et al., 2024). These rates are consistent with other national studies reporting intentions to leave the profession (see for example AITSL, 2024).

Alongside policies that focus on attracting new educators, we believe that retaining teachers already in the workforce should be the priority, both to sustain current staff and to attract future teachers. We found that parents and carers of school-aged students understand the challenges for teachers (Longmuir et al., 2025) and that most members of the public would not recommend teaching to someone they care about (Heffernan et al., 2021). This suggests that the problematic working conditions of teaching are visible to communities, and that until they improve, attracting prospective teachers will be challenging.

‘Contrary to popular beliefs, it is no longer early career teachers who are most likely to leave but rather those in their mid-career years.’

Contrary to popular beliefs, it is no longer early career teachers who are most likely to leave but rather those in their mid-career years (Arnold & Rahmi, 2025; Longmuir et al., 2024). This requires a focus beyond the common refrain that teachers are not well-enough prepared for the profession. Instead, the higher rates of experienced teachers who are leaving points to the drain on teachers due to their extended exposure to damaging working conditions in schools (Lampert et al., 2024).

We need to validate and better understand the concerns about workload that educators are sharing. Teachers tell us that their workloads are ‘not sustainable’, require ‘work from home, through breaks, on weekends, not because I want to but because if I don’t, everything would fall apart’ and that they ‘never feel like [they] can get it all done and it’s stressful trying to squeeze it all in’ (Longmuir et al., 2024, p. 15).

Understanding the multifaceted burden of workload for educators and developing both broad policy and local school-based solutions to better support teaching work is an imperative for the viability of Australia’s schools and our society.

References

Arnold, B., & Rahimi, M. (2025). Teachers’ working conditions, wellbeing and retention: An exploratory analysis to identify the key factors associated with teachers’ intention to leave. The Australian Educational Researcher, 52, 1947–1973. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-024-00794-1

Australian Education Union [AEU]. (2022, August 30). Teacher shortages reach crisis point. https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/teacher-shortages-reach-crisis-point

Australian Government. (2022). Teacher workforce shortages. Department of Education (issues paper). https://ministers.education.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Teacher%20Workforce%20Shortages%20-%20Issues%20paper.pdf

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2024). Teacher workforce characteristics. https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/atwd/reports/atwd-key-metrics-dashboard—key-findings—june-2024.pdf

Heffernan, A., Bright, D., Longmuir, F., & Magyar, B. (2021). Perceptions of Australian schooling: What matters in 2021. Monash University. https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/2705748/perception-of-australian-schooling-2021.pdf

Lampert, J., McPherson, A., & Burnett, B. (2024). Still standing: An ecological perspective on teachers remaining in hard-to-staff schools. Teachers and Teaching, Theory and Practice, 30(1), 116–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2023.2294791

Longmuir, F., Delany, T., Lampert, J., & Wilkinson, J. (2024). What the profession needs now for the future: Discussion Paper 1: Work in Victoria’s Public Schools. Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch. https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/3757599/What-the-profession-needs-now-AEU-Paper-1.pdf

Longmuir, F., Delany, T., Lampert, J., & Wilkinson, J. (2025). What the profession needs now for the future: Discussion Paper 3: School staff, parent, carer and community partnerships in Victoria’s public schools. Australian Education Union, Victorian Branch. https://www.aeuvic.asn.au/sites/default/files/2025-02/AEU%20Monash%20Paper%203.pdf

NSW Government. (2023, October 24). True impact of teacher shortages in NSW public schools revealed: Nearly 10,000 lessons without a teacher each day [Ministerial media release]. https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/public-school-teacher-shortages#:~:text=Students%20in%20almost%2010%2C000%20lessons,Department%20of%20Education%20has%20found