The number of students being left in merged and cancelled classes has almost halved over the last year, as the NSW Government makes progress tackling the teacher shortage crisis it inherited.

The NSW Government has reduced the number of merged and cancelled classes from close to 10,000 a day in 2023 to 5669 in 2024, a new survey from the NSW Department of Education has found.

This year, about half a million hours of lost learning for students has been regained through our work to rebuild public education in NSW, according to these results.

The former government dismissed the teacher shortage crisis and the former minister refused to collect data on the true impact of merged and cancelled classes on students.

Last year, the inaugural Alternative Supervision Survey found students had lost close to a million hours in learning over the year due to the teacher shortages inherited by the newly-elected Labor Government.

The 2024 Alternative Supervision Survey tracked merged and cancelled classes across the state, which we know creates a disruptive environment for students.

While there is more to do to, the results of the second Alternative Supervision Survey show the NSW Government is making progress in addressing the impact of teacher shortages on student learning, which had escalated to crisis levels under the former government.

The 2024 survey found:

• The number of merged and cancelled classes each day has almost halved to 5669, down from close to 10,000 in 2023.
• The number of casual teachers required to cover classes each day fell from 7500 in 2023 to 6800 in 2024. This is a nine per cent reduction year-on-year.
• The shortfall of casual teachers each day fell from 3180 in 2023 to 1970 in 2024 – a 38 per cent fall.
• Shortfalls in primary school casual teachers decreased from 1550 in 2023 to 940 in 2024 – a reduction of 39 per cent.
• Shortfalls in secondary school casual teachers fell from 1310 in 2023 to 850 in 2024, a 35 per cent decrease.

More experienced teachers are also set to re-enter the classroom, including more than 650 deputy principals, assistant principals and head teachers from 2025, following the NSW Government’s review of classroom executive teacher time.

Since being elected in March 2023, the NSW Government has made progress in addressing the teacher shortage left by the former government, including scrapping the wages cap and delivering teachers the largest pay rise in a generation.

The NSW Government has also converted the roles of more than 16,000 temporary teachers and school support staff to permanent roles and banned mobile phones in all public schools to help foster a more positive school environment. We are also continuing to make progress on reducing the workload of teachers through the School Administration Reduction Program trial.

These efforts have helped reduce teacher vacancies to a three-year-low, with NSW public schools reporting 24 per cent fewer vacancies at the start of Term 3, 2024 than at the same time last year.

This is all part of our long-term plan to build a better education system in NSW and turn around the declining outcomes left by the previous government.

Premier of NSW Chris Minns:

“We are getting more teachers in classrooms, and that's making school less disruptive for our kids.

"This is good for children and a relief for their parents.

"Parents can be reassured that we are addressing the teacher shortage crisis we inherited and we are seeing improvements.

“We know there is more to do, but we are making progress to rebuild our teaching workforce to give NSW kids the best education possible.”

Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:

“It’s no secret that the way to improve our students’ outcomes is to make sure there is a qualified teacher in front of every classroom, doing what they do best – teaching.

“The Liberals and Nationals’ neglect of our education system caused student outcomes to go backwards, and while it cannot be reversed overnight, we are making important progress.

“Under the Minns Labor Government, we are seeing less merged and cancelled classes and more learning every day.”

NSW Department of Education Secretary Murat Dizdar said:

“We know the best learning for students happens in a classroom with a qualified and supported teacher leading from the front. Having dedicated and passionate teachers in every classroom, every day, helps to lift the academic and wellbeing outcomes of all students.

“I am thrilled to see our teacher recruitment and retention initiatives having such a strong impact in meeting this ambition.”