'There is not a teacher shortage, there is a teacher exodus', MP warns

From students and teachers alike not feeling safe at school to principals being left powerless to act, there are calls for urgent action.

Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has raised the issue in parliament. "The burnout experienced by teachers is real," she said.

"That is why we are seeing a massive teacher shortage.

"In my electorate, schools are struggling with kids who have not readjusted after COVID with situations where assaults are taking place in school.

"There are not enough teachers to escort the children who are at risk between what are now known as 'safe spaces'.

"I still cannot get over the fact that schools have to have safe spaces and boast of how many they have. I thought all school grounds should be safe."

Ms Britnell said teachers weren't being given the tools to set boundaries for students. "The students as a consequence, are in control, not the teachers," she said.

"The amount of bullying and assaults that are taking place, and the need to have intervention orders in our schools are putting teachers under enormous pressure."

Ms Britnell said during a visit to Warrnambool recently by opposition spokeswoman for early childhood and education Jess Wilson, she heard the plight of teachers who were "begging for support" from the government.

"What they told us was there is not a teacher shortage, there is a teacher exodus," she said.

Ms Wilson called on the state government to address worsening classroom behaviour with recent reports finding one in three Victorian principals were targeted last year.

She said the number one issue across regional Victoria was the workforce crisis.

Warrnambool-based educational and development psychologist Dr Janine Bounds said there were a number of issues that needed to be addressed.

Dr Bounds said principals need to be given the power to make more decisions about what was best for their schools.

"Principals are fairly powerless," she said. "They have to maintain the safety of their staff."

She said there were staff that don't feel safe in classrooms.

"There's a lot of dedicated and very committed people trying to do a lot of good things but they are thwarted.

"They are thwarted by the department and by parents and by resources and it's getting harder and harder."

Dr Bounds said the Department of Education needed to actively encourage more options to cater for students with different needs.

"There are students who simply don't fit into classrooms and they need alternative ways of being supported," she said. "They need to be able to learn in different ways."

She said there were self-esteem and adventure programs for those children but they needed a higher staff-to-student ratio to operate.

Dr Bounds said keeping those students in class was affecting the learning of other students and impacting stress levels of teachers and staff morale.

"I think schools are in crisis," she said.

"It's in crisis for the students themselves, the teachers and the leadership in schools.

"The one-size-fits-all in a classroom is simply not working in the very changed world that we're a part of."

Dr Bounds began her education career in 1977 as a teacher in a disadvantaged school, but she said it was easier to manage students back then as a graduate teacher compared with what was going on in schools today.

"COVID has obviously played a role. But I think social media and being on the internet all the time is also having an impact," she said.

Dr Bounds said young people had learned to say whatever they liked and be nasty, and aggression had increased.

Having worked as a teacher, chaplain and educational psychologist, Dr Bounds said there was no "simple fix".

A senate report recently found teachers needed more training in behaviour management but Dr Bounds said that was just one part of the solution. "It's not enough...it's much bigger than that," she said.

"The department takes away the power of choice from the principals."

Dr Bounds said department policy was to make students stay in the class environment, leaving teachers having to "suck it up" and manage.

She questioned where the duty of care was for students, teachers and principals alike.

"No one will take on principal jobs these days. Who would take it on? They're leaving on stress leave. Teachers are leaving on stress leave," she said.

The current system was not working, Dr Bounds said, and sending in a psychologist and welfare people were also not enough.

There needed to be alternative programs for the different types of students - from those with learning difficulties to those with behavioural issues. But that meant having more staff.

She said some students needed to be in a program where they learnt about respect for themselves and others.

Dr Bounds said there were students "terrorising" other students who were trying to do the right thing.

"There are students that feel so threatened by a student wanting to target them, they're too scared to eat their lunch," she said.

"We're ending up with more and more traumatised kids."

She said there needed to be appropriate ways of managing students that were not punitive. "We don't need the big stick brought out," she said.

There were more students with increased anxiety, developmental issues and learning difficulties, she said.

Dr Bounds said principals needed to be given more power to make decisions, given resources and there has to be alternatives.

She said if a principal thought the student should be in an alternative program, the department has to resource it and the parents can't be allowed to veto it.

She said teachers didn't have the capacity to get to kids with learning difficulties. "They're just putting out fires all the time and they don't get enough time to help those kids," she said.

Dr Bounds said there was a movement towards everyone going into the mainstream rather than programs to fit the child. "It's ridiculous and I think it's going to fall on its head," she said. "We need programs to fit the child."