Peter Rundle opinion: New Minister for Education Tony Buti has big job ahead with depleted education system

With the 2023 school year less than two weeks from starting, the rush for books, stationery and uniforms will start to pick up as parents and students turn their mind to Term One.

For our worn-out teachers and principals, they’ve been focused on the new school year for weeks already. The new Minister for Education Tony Buti, has a big job ahead and it is heartening to see he has turned his attention to our depleted education system.

The minister has been quoted claiming “processes are in place to ensure all classrooms would have a teacher in front of them for the first day of the new school year”.

However, similar words were spoken by the former minister last year and the year before, only for huge holes in the number of teaching and education staff to deepen. I can only presume the processes the minister speaks of include the plan to send underqualified teachers into short-staffed schools, as well as offering random cash payments.

In less than two weeks, we will see if those processes have been successful. Somehow, I doubt it, particularly in regional areas where teacher shortages are amplified.

As of this week, there were nearly 40 teacher vacancies advertised on the government jobs website. There are 15 principal positions available, with seven of them based at regional primary schools.

Put yourself in an educators’ shoes — if you were applying for a principal position, would you take a job in one of those regional areas, where housing might cost you an extra $30,000 in rent each year?

Lately, there has been a great focus on the reduced number of students who elected to take ATAR subjects last year, prompting the Premier to consider a review on university pathways after implying that it is too easy to get into tertiary education.

In his first opinion piece as Minister for Education, Tony Buti inferred the education system rewards mediocrity with a pathway to acceptance to a university. There’s no doubt we’ve seen a rise in the number of early offers from universities, some given as early as April, which has resulted in many students achieving lower than anticipated ATAR results.

This is concerning as those West Australian students begin university lacking the life skills which develop in those final months of Year 12. Abstract thinking, problem solving, resilience and the ability to reflect are skills needed for any occupation and for life.

Different subjects offer these skills in different ways and developing these abilities during the final year of schooling has enormous flow-on effects for the rest of their life.

I agree that all students should strive to reach their potential and for the school they attend to support them in their choices. However, this debate has come as a cleverly disguised distraction from the critical issues within the education system.

The minister needs to ensure West Australian students are supported by their teachers, principals and school staff, but how is this possible when our educators are not being supported by Government? With teachers spending 60 per cent of their time undertaking administration work and just 40 per cent of their time in the classroom, it is not possible for our students to achieve the best education outcomes.

I note the minister would like all schools to provide a broad range of educational opportunities, from academia to music and drama to sport. It is a noble aspiration, but it is unrealistic with WA’s current staffing shortages.

I invite the minister to visit some of the schools in my regional electorate and tell me how they can offer this variety in education when most schools cannot house teachers, let alone specialist staff.

There is a raft of other day-to-day calamities that have been the norm in the education portfolio over the past six years and deserve the new minister’s undivided attention. This includes the lack of relief teachers, lack of housing in regional communities, and the high number of over-worked teachers, principals, and education assistants who are leaving the sector in droves.

Our education system needs a plan to address these critical issues, rather than temporary solutions such as bringing in teachers who are yet to graduate.

Our education staff need more support whether it be extra resources, time, or training.

Minister Buti has an enormous task ahead and our students, parents, teachers, and principals deserve his attention, as the start of the 2023 school year fast approaches.

Peter Rundle is the Opposition education spokesman.