“That ICPA Qld lobbies the Queensland Department of Education to implement a staffing supplementation model for small rural and remote schools that recognises enrolment growth, instructional complexity, and multi-age classroom delivery, including provision for fractional or second-teacher allocations.”
Case Study
Attracting and retaining high-quality teaching staff in rural and remote Queensland remains an ongoing challenge. Workforce shortages are well documented across the state, particularly in small and isolated communities. To support retention, teaching positions must be secure, competitive, and aligned with Department of Education salary scales and conditions.
Bollon State School currently has 18 enrolled students across Kindergarten to Year 6. At this enrolment level, the school is required to deliver the full primary curriculum across multiple year levels within a single classroom yet does not qualify for a second funded teacher under existing Queensland staffing models.
Under the current staffing framework, small schools are typically resourced for a single classroom teacher, with the principal included as that teaching allocation (Department of Education Queensland State Schools Staffing Allocation Guidelines, 2022, p.11). Classroom teacher entitlement is calculated using an average student-teacher ratio across Prep to Year 6 and is subject to rounding rules that provide a minimum allocation of 1.0 FTE, regardless of the number of year levels being taught. As a result, principals in very small schools are required to carry a substantial teaching load, often up to 0.9 FTE (DoE SSSAG, 2022, p.10). As enrolments increase within this range, teaching complexity and workload rise significantly, yet staffing entitlements remain static until much higher enrolment thresholds are reached (DoE SSSAG, 2022, p.12).
Data from the Queensland Government Department of Education Schools Directory demonstrates that this staffing structure affects a significant number of schools. Schools with a total Prep to Year 6 enrolment of fewer than 25 students generate less than 1.0 Classroom Teacher Full Time Equivalent (FTE) under the staffing model and are therefore rounded up to a minimum allocation of 1.0 FTE, which is most commonly filled by a Teaching Principal responsible for both school leadership and classroom teaching duties. Within the Remoteness Area Classification, there are 32 Queensland schools with enrolments between 10 and 26 students located in Remote and Very Remote Australia, comprising 16 schools in each classification. These schools operate within similar staffing constraints, where enrolment growth within this band increases instructional complexity but does not automatically generate additional staffing support.
Interstate models demonstrate that small-school staffing can be supplemented through formula-based allocations, rather than relying solely on whole-teacher thresholds. For example, NSW applies a small-school supplementation formula of 0.042 FTE per K–2 student (capped at 0.63 FTE) for primary schools that fall within specified K–6 enrolment bands (NSW Department of Education, 2026, Teacher staffing entitlements, Section 1.4: Small school supplementation). While Bollon State School does not fall within the current NSW eligibility band, applying a comparable per-student supplementation approach to Bollon’s current K–2 cohort (approximately 11 students) would equate to around 0.46 FTE, which is nearly half a teaching position.
This contrast highlights that Queensland’s current approach relies heavily on fixed thresholds, whereas other jurisdictions have adopted more flexible supplementation mechanisms for small schools.
In isolated communities such as Bollon, school staffing levels also influence community sustainability. Where staffing models require enrolments to reach fixed thresholds before additional support is provided, this can unintentionally limit a school’s ability to attract and retain families, reinforcing a cycle of constrained enrolment and under-resourcing. In highly isolated settings, small differences in enrolment (for example, 18 versus 21 students) are not indicative of reduced educational complexity, but can nonetheless result in materially different staffing outcomes.
A staffing supplementation model that recognises both isolation and enrolment complexity would help break this cycle by ensuring small, remote schools can provide stable, high-quality education before enrolments reach critical thresholds, rather than only after they are exceeded.
In addition, principals in small rural schools are frequently required to deliver specialist curriculum areas such as Physical Education due to the absence of specialist staff. They are also responsible for preparing students for secondary education pathways that commonly involve boarding school, as the nearest high school is over 100 kilometres away. This requires intentional preparation of students not only academically, but also socially and emotionally, including fostering independence, resilience, and the capacity to meet high academic and behavioural expectations in a boarding environment.
At present, the second teacher at Bollon State School is funded through community fundraising and grant funding. According to the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census, the population of the locality of Bollon in Queensland was 174 people. While the community strongly supports its school, relying on fundraising to sustain what is effectively a core staffing position makes it increasingly difficult to offer salary packages that remain attractive and able to increase in line with departmental norms. This creates uncertainty for staff and limits long-term workforce stability.
Since the introduction of a second teacher (made possible by P&C fundraising and grant funding), students have been grouped into Kindergarten to Year 2 and Years 3 to 6 cohorts. This has facilitated a more appropriate and supportive learning environment and has had a positive impact on student behaviour, engagement, and academic outcomes. It has also reduced the complexity of multi-age classroom delivery and improved the overall functioning of the school.
Small schools with enrolments above ten students face significant teaching demands, including delivery of the full Australian Curriculum across multiple year levels, differentiated instruction, and behaviour management within a single classroom. A sole-teacher model in these circumstances places unreasonable expectations on staff and limits educational outcomes.
In many cases, the instructional complexity in these schools is comparable to that of significantly larger schools, despite being delivered by a single teacher responsible for multiple curriculum levels simultaneously.
Any staffing support model should also include a transparent escalation pathway so that staffing can increase progressively as enrolments and complexity continue to grow, rather than relying on fixed thresholds that lag behind workload.
Introducing a clear staffing supplementation mechanism for small rural and remote schools would improve consistency, equity, and stability across Queensland. It would also support workforce retention by ensuring teaching positions are securely funded and appropriately remunerated, rather than reliant on ongoing community fundraising to sustain essential staffing.
