In a historic move, teachers in the Southern Tablelands and Highlands in both the public and private sectors have gone on strike to demand better work conditions and pay.
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NSW Teachers Federation Goulburn branch president and primary school teacher Cara Robinson said striking was not something teachers wanted to do.
"It's never a choice that we enter lightly," she said.
However, teachers across the state have felt that their voices have not been heard.
Cara said she had reached out to Goulburn MP Wendy Tuckerman to voice the federation's concerns.
"I was asked by the federation to contact our local member because of the ongoing teacher crisis, and the lack of adequate response from the government," she said.
"We were asked to try and make meetings during non-sitting weeks with our local members to discuss the symptoms of the crisis as they are getting worse.
"I engaged in some correspondence with Mrs Tuckerman. I was told that my request had been passed on to her, but there was no offer of a meeting."
According to Cara, Ms Tuckerman declined to meet with her, leaving Cara "gobsmacked".
"Children in her area are missing out. We don't have enough teachers for other classes," she said.
"A high school in Goulburn has had several staff members leave since the start of the year, and the situation is getting worse.
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"There are positions that are not being advertised, positions that are not being filled quickly enough, and classes that have to be collapsed because there's nobody to run them.
"We thought that would probably be worthy of a meeting."
It's not just understaffing that has frustrated teachers, but also the lack of funding that has impacted teachers.
"It's like the whole education system is underfunded, and teachers are putting a lot of their own money in because we want our students to have the best of everything," she said.
"We want them to have a world-class education, and we're just under-resourced. We don't have time. We're just constantly under the pump and at every stage.
"During the COVID pandemic, teachers showed up. We were in classrooms throughout, you know, risking our and our family's health to be there.
"We are understaffed and to be told otherwise is a slap in the face."
Cara said there have been almost no casual teachers available.
"If you have to be away, it's very unlikely that there will be a casual able to cover your class, particularly in country and regional areas," she said.
"COVID exacerbated the problem because there wasn't that graduating class as they couldn't go on their placements.
"There was a hole in the casual pool, and it's gotten even bigger and more pronounced.
"I feel like a lot of time we're being gaslit, and that we're whinging about nothing."
She said it was hard enough that people thought of teachers as glorified babysitters.
"The nature of teaching has become more difficult in the last 10 years," she said.
"The workload is one of those things.
"I see these really brilliant teachers just going 'I can't keep up with the pace of this.'
"The amount of admin and compliance work teachers do each week takes away from lesson planning time.
"We're happy to do the extra admin and compliance, but we need the time to be able to do that instead of just being thrown onto our usual workload.
"Lesson planning, admin compliance, all that stuff is meant to be factored into our working week, but those hours haven't changed since the 80s."
Cara said she felt teacher salaries were going backwards as well.
"We deserve to be paid for the work that we do," she said.
"The cost of living has gone up dramatically. Our wages have been kept low for a very long time, and the government's not offering any relief.
"We're just asking to keep in line with the cost of living, which isn't a huge demand.
"We want our work to be valued."
Despite the government thanking teachers for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cara said it wasn't enough.
"I think every school in the state got a certificate from the government saying we did well," she said.
"But that doesn't put food on our tables, and it doesn't help us save for house deposits."
Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman and Member for Wollondilly Nathaniel Smith were contacted for comment.
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Vera Demertzis
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
Journalist at the Southern Highland News covering council yarns and community news. Got a tip or a story to tell? Email vera.demertzis@southernhighlandnews.com.au or call on 0427 250 908.
