“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Department of Education (DoE) to lower the threshold enrolment requirements deemed necessary for two full time teachers in a small rural school, from 21 to 16 enrolments.”
Small rural schools currently need a total of 21 enrolments from years Prep to 6 for the DoE to supply two full time teachers. For schools that do not meet this threshold – even by one enrolment - it means that the DoE does not provide adequate resources to employ a second full-time teacher. In such cases, the small rural school would only have one classroom, with one full-time teaching principal, and a fractional teacher, for up to 20 students across, potentially 7-year levels. Unlike most of their metropolitan colleagues, these teachers are required to teach and support seven different year levels from Prep to Year 6 – a task that can be extremely challenging and stressful. In many cases, the expectations and demands on these teachers are extremely high and their ability to provide equity and excellence in their teaching is severely compromised. Lowering the threshold of total enrolments to 16, to gain the second full time teacher would allow each student in a small rural school to receive the quality of education and support they need and deserve from their teachers, as is expected in larger regional and urban schools.
