The school year is back in full swing; a flux of new students and teachers set for the year. Research has shown that today’s Australians are more educated than ever before, with the number of students enrolled in full-time education at new records. But with the number of students set to rise over the next decade, how will this affect the future work structure of teachers?

Teaching is increasingly a part-time profession

Even though student numbers are set to rise significantly in the coming years, universities are currently preparing more teachers than full-time positions available. For this reason, many teachers have looked to casual or relief teaching to secure a steady flow of work. Other’s look to a more flexible option for differing purposes such as ageing or to keep up with the demands of a young family. As a result, roughly 27% of primary teachers and 20% of secondary teachers are now working part-time hours. The various influences indicate the workforce is experiencing a shift away from traditional teaching contracts.

Where to from here?

While the available data is a little patchy as to how many teachers will be needed, the current projections are that there will be an additional 92,000 primary students in New South Wales alone by 2020. With significant increases across all other states too. The demand for teachers is likely to experience a strong upwards trends over the next couple of years. Whether the shift towards part-time will continue to grow is remained to be seen. But rising demand in the number of teachers will most certainly see an increase in the number of supply staff required to fill unexpected shift vacancies.

In a contingent workforce, technologies like ShiftMatch will be required to aid in the management of casual and part-time staff. No more scrambling to find a relief teacher at the last minute. Our the sophisticated software will automatically fill vacancies with the most cost-effective, qualified and available teacher. To find out how ShiftMatch can help in your school, contact us here.