More than 10,000 NSW teachers left the profession last year but the education minister rejects the assertion her department is in "crisis".
Documents showing the number of new teacher accreditations in NSW reveal a total 10,198 educators lost their accreditation in a single year - with those numbers confirmed by Paul Martin, CEO of the NSW Education Standards Authority.
The documents were brought to a NSW budget estimates education hearing on Wednesday by Labor MLC Anthony D'Adam.
"The total number of people who have ceased having proficient accreditation is 10,198, isn't that correct?" Mr D'Adam asked.
Mr Martin responded it "appears that is correct".
Figures show that in 2020, 144,482 teachers were classed as "proficient" but in 2021 that figure fell to 140,747 - a net reduction of 3735.
However, 2021's "proficient" teachers included 6463 who had only recently joined the system, and had their status upgraded from "provisional" - making the net loss of accreditations more than 10,000.
Mr D'Adam said experienced teachers were leaving and in many cases were being replaced by inexperienced teachers.
Education Minister Sarah Mitchell signed off on the documents, but questioned the veracity of the numbers.
"The reality is there would be a range of reasons why people would move on," Ms Mitchell said, adding she wanted to check the numbers on the document.
"The reasons aren't relevant - it's the absolute number, surely?" Mr D'Adam said.
Ms Mitchell said there were 3700 teachers slated to start at schools as part of the government's teacher supply strategy.
"That is in addition to what the government knows we are going to need," Ms Mitchell said.
"We are working extremely hard in terms of our teacher supply strategy, and I don't agree that we have a crisis," Ms Mitchell said.
Public school teachers voted to strike last November, with the Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos saying the state was facing a "a large and growing shortage of teachers".
"The teacher shortages are too large and their cause - uncompetitive salaries and unmanageable workloads - too great for teachers and principals not to proceed with this action," he said at the time.
Australian Associated Press
