State Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe said a chronic teaching shortage is threatening students’ learning at the school, suggesting at least 10 teaching staff were unable to complete student reports due to a lack of “staffing continuity”.
“I’ve had grave concerns about the school and despite raising them with the Minister for Education (Natalie Hutchins), they have fallen on deaf ears,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
“I have been continually calling for assistance and support for the school and its families.
“I have asked to meet with the minister and I urge her to urgently work with the school to find a solution.”
Shadow Education Minister Matt Bach said the state government should have been able to fix the teacher shortage by now.
“The Andrews Government has had nine years to fix the teacher shortage crisis in Victoria,” he said.
“Parents are fed up with the excuses and blame shifting from this inept government.”
The college was created by the amalgamation of four Shepparton secondary schools in 2020 and state Member for Northern Victoria Region Wendy Lovell said education in the city was suffering through it.
“Since its creation, I’ve been fighting to ensure that Greater Shepparton Secondary College lives up to its promise,” she said.
“Instead, we’re seeing learning outcomes and student wellbeing suffer as a result of the Andrews Government’s mismanagement.”
A spokesperson for the government said it had taken a number of measures to ensure quality of education was maintained where there were teacher absences.
“We’re recruiting more staff and helping GSSC retain great teachers to make sure students are getting the very best learning,” they said.
The spokesperson said domain leaders, qualified casual relief teachers and retired teachers have all been mobilised to help assess student progression where there have been teacher absences.
It said a range of measures, including financial incentives, accommodation and travel support, and hiring education support staff, have been implemented to cover shortages.
“We won’t be taking lectures on education from the Liberal Party whose record is closing schools, cutting school funding and sacking teachers," they said.
The Australian Education Union did not comment directly on the Opposition’s claims about the college but said teacher shortages were being felt across the state.
“Many public schools across regional Victoria are grappling with the teacher workforce shortage crisis,” AEU Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said.
"The Andrews Government must take urgent and bold action to address this crisis, starting with a retention payment to keep our highly experienced existing principals, teachers and education support staff, and paid placements so student teachers can get the classroom experience they need to finish their studies.
“Full and fair funding for public schools is also required, which the Premier (Dan Andrews) committed to at the AEU’s state conference last year.”
The union called on the Opposition to make its commitment to public education clear.
“The Victorian Opposition also needs to show their commitment to public schools and make a commitment to ensure every student and every school is funded to a minimum of 100 per cent of the schooling resource standard, the minimum standard agreed to by all governments over 10 years ago,“ Ms Peace said.
“Currently Victorian schools are funded to only 90 per cent, while private and Catholic schools receive 100 per cent and more in many cases.”
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