Australian Teacher Workforce Data

This data includes all registered teachers, except for those registered in WA, as registration data is not available for WA. As a result:

The number of registered teachers in ‘all participating’ states and territories is not yet a national number.

Individuals with limited registration/permission to teach are included.

Some teachers who are currently recorded as registered in just one state or territory may also be registered in WA, and registered in multiple states or territories.

A national estimate is derived in this reporting based on the known number of registered teachers in WA and the patterns of registration in multiple jurisdictions observed in other states and territories.

Under the label 'all registered teachers' the ATWD reports on everyone who is registered or authorised to teach in schools and early childhood settings. The pathways to this are described below.

All teachers must be registered to teach or hold alternative authorisation to teach if they are employed in schools. Traditionally, to register as a teacher, one must be qualified with an accredited initial teacher education (ITE) qualification and meet the relevant requirements in accordance with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. In all states and territories, alternative authorisation to teach under limited circumstances can be provided by regulatory authorities to individuals who do not meet the requirements for registration.

Graduates of accredited ITE programs in Australia are eligible to apply for provisional registration or accreditation. As these early career teachers gain experience and are able to demonstrate evidence of performance at the Proficient career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, they can apply for full registration (which includes Proficient accreditation in New South Wales).

The ATWD numbers capture a picture of registered teachers supply rather than the number of teachers in schools on an ongoing or fixed term contract in the ABS Schools data.

The ATWD reports on all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres, including those who are working as casual/relief teachers (CRTs), and those who are not currently working as teachers. As a result, the number of registered teachers reported in the ATWD is higher than the head count of teachers in schools reported in the ABS Schools. ABS Schools data does not include casual/relief teachers and only includes teachers in primary and secondary schools.

It is not possible to calculate the exact number of unique registered teachers nationally, but a high-quality estimate can be made from the available data. This estimate assumes that patterns of registration in multiple jurisdictions are comparable in WA to other states and territories a best estimate national size of the registered teacher workforce can be produced. This assumption may not hold true due to the geographic separation of WA.

The national estimate is 543,952 registered teachers in Australia, with 527,399 registered in a single state, and 16,553 registered in multiple states, with 96.96% estimated to be registered in a single state.

The process of deriving this estimate is outlined below.

The number of registered teachers in WA who were invited to participate in the ATWD Teacher Survey was 57,789 in 2022.

Across the other states and territories, a median of 93.57 % of teachers were registered in just one state/territory. When applied to the number of registered teachers in WA, this would mean that the best available estimate of teachers registered in only WA in 2022 is 54,073; with 3,716 registered in multiple jurisdictions.

Those registered only in WA add to the known national supply of registered teachers, increasing the number registered in just one state from 476,899 to 530,972. However, the 3,716 registered in multiple jurisdictions will lead to a reduction in this number, as those currently classified as registered in just one jurisdiction are re-classified to registration in multiple jurisdictions.

Based on the data from other states and territories, these 3,716 teachers, almost all of these individuals would be registered in just one other state (mean of 1.04 other states). As a result:

• 143 of these teachers are likely already accounted for among the 12,980 individuals already identified as having registration in multiple states; they lead to no change in any estimates.

• 3,573 of these teachers are likely currently included in another states registration as registered only in one state, and increase the number with registration in multiple states from 12,980 to 16,553; while also reducing the number registered in just one jurisdiction from 530,972 to 527,399.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

In 2022, 28% of full-time classroom teachers were in the 30-39 age group and 74% identified as Women. Of those full-time teachers, 29% were in the early stages of their career and 25% had been working professionally for between 10 and 19 years.

The proportion of school teachers who were born overseas has been relatively stable between 2020 and 2022, at 16%.

While the proportion of women among part-time teachers has fluctuated since 2020 (2020:85%; 2021:82%; 2022:88%), the proportion of women among the school teacher population as a whole has held steady at 77%.

A similar fluctuation in the 2020-2022 period was observed in relation to years in the profession, with an initial drop in early career teachers followed by an increase almost to 2020 levels (2020:27%; 2021:22%; 2022:25%). This occurred across both part-time and full-time teachers.

While the trend has been similar, part-time teachers are overall a more experienced workforce, with 10% of part-time teachers having 40 or more years of experience vs only 4% of full-time teachers.

This is in line with the fact that part-time teachers are an older population than full-time teachers: 19% of part-time teachers are over 60 years of age vs only 10% of full-time teachers.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In 2022, 48% of ATWD Teacher Survey respondents were aged between 40 and 59.

In 2022, the highest proportion of registered teachers aged over 60 were in TAS (15%).

Between 2020 and 2022, the percentage of respondents who were born overseas stayed at 17%. In 2022, at a state and territory level, WA had the highest proportion of teachers born overseas (24%), while TAS had the lowest proportion (9%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

In the period between 2020-2022, the proportion of teachers who completed 40 or more hours of professional learning almost doubled (2020:23%; 2021:35%; 2022:42%). This increase was observed across both full-timeand part-timeteacher populations.

Following a slight increase in the proportion of teachers working 60 hours per week and over, this figure decreased below 2020 levels (2020:27%; 2021:28%; 2022:23%).

On the other hand, there was a notable increase in the proportion of teachers with 30 or more of face-to-face teaching hours (2020:17%; 2021:27%; 2022:22%).

The proportion of teachers with no career gap continues to increase, especially among full-time teachers, who experienced a five-percentage-point increase during this period (2020:64%; 2021:65%; 2022:69%).

A four percentage point drop was observed in the proportion of teachers working under fixed-term contracts of a year or less of duration (2020:23%; 2021:22%; 2022:19%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In 2022, NSW/ACT had the highest proportion of the teacher workforce (deployed in schools or ELC settings) who worked more than 60 hours per week (60+ hours: 33%). This proportion for other states and territories ranged between 20% to 24%. Working hours data is not available for SA and NT.

In 2022, out of all the jurisdictions, NSW/ACT had the highest proportion of the workforce engaged in 30 or more hours of face-to-face teaching (29%), while the lowest proportions were observed for TAS (15%), VIC (16%), and QLD (16%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across 2018-2019, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Everyone in the teacher workforce and deployed in a school was asked about the school they work in or had worked in most recently. Responses were sought through a drill-down menu which first required the selection of the school’s state, the school’s suburb, and finally the name of the school. If a teacher could not find their school in the list an open text box was provided.

The drill-down menu was populated with schools from ACARA’s records. When a teacher responded using the open text box it was not always possible to identify a clear match.

The percentage of school characteristics are calculated using only data from those with a school which could be conclusively identified; it does not include the teacher workforce who are not in schools, the non-teacher workforce, or those in schools but where the specific school could not be conclusively identified.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

Of those who were deployed in schools as teachers in 2022, 71% worked in major cities and 29% in regional and remote schools. In 2022, 68% of classroom teachers worked in government schools, 16% in catholic schools, and 16% in independent schools. In 2022, the most common school type for classroom teachers was primary (43%), followed by secondary (34%) and combined schools (24%).

Among classroom teachers in 2022, 35% taught senior secondary, 15% did not teach senior secondary, and 50% did not teach secondary at all. This proportion is lower for senior leaders with 26% teaching senior secondary. By contrast, the proportion of middle leaders who taught senior secondary was the highest (57%).

In 2022, for the first time, learner levels at new sub-levels such as early childhood, primary and primary early childhood are reported by the ATWD using a new program-type classification approach. The most common learner level for classroom teachers in 2022 was primary (47%), followed closely by the secondary learner level (45%).

The proportion of classroom teachers who taught at the secondary learner level remained stable at about 45% in the 2020-2022 period. The same was the case for primary and secondary learner level (2020: 5%; 2021: 7%; 2022: 5%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across 2018-2019, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Everyone in the teacher workforce and deployed in a school was asked about the school they work in or had worked in most recently. Responses were sought through a drill-down menu which first required the selection of the school’s state, the school’s suburb, and finally the name of the school. If a teacher could not find their school in the list an open text box was provided.

The drill-down menu was populated with schools from ACARA’s records. When a teacher responded using the open text box it was not always possible to identify a clear match.

The percentage of school characteristics are calculated using only data from those with a school which could be conclusively identified; it does not include the teacher workforce who are not in schools, the non-teacher workforce, or those in schools but where the specific school could not be conclusively identified.

In 2022, QLD had the highest proportion of the teacher workforce working in regional or remote schools (36%) among all the states and territories where remoteness data was available. For all other state and territories, the respective figures ranged between 25% and 30%. Remoteness data was not available for NT or TAS.

Primary schools were the most common type of schools in which respondents worked in for all states and territories, except for SA where the most common type of schools was combined schools. In all jurisdictions, government schools were the most common school sector in 2022. The highest proportions of those who worked in government schools were in WA (75%) and NT (73%), whereas the lowest proportions were in NSW/ACT (63%) and VIC (61%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

There has been a notable 150% increase in the proportion of school teachers spending 10 or more hours per week supervising students (2020:12%; 2021:32%; 2022:30%). This increase can be seen across both full-timeand andteachers.

This increase is also observed, to a lesser extent, in relation to other teacher duties. For example, while 1 in 10 teachers reported spending 10 or more hours marking in 2020, that figure rose to 16% in 2022.

Similarly, the proportion of teachers spending 10 or more hours in collaborating in teams per week rose from 4% to 7% during the same period.

The same pattern can also be observed in relation to planning duties (2020:30%; 2021:39%; 2022:38%), extra-curricular duties (2020:2%; 2021:4%; 2022:4%), and administrative duties (2020:9%; 2021:14%; 2022:17%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In the 2020-2022 period, the proportion of deployed teachers who spent 10 hours or more per week on supervision tasks increased by at least 19 percentage points across all jurisdictions other than VIC, where it increased by 7 percentage points.

The proportion of deployed teachers who spent 10 hours or more per week in administrative tasks also increased across all jurisdictions. These increases were smaller than those for supervision tasks and ranged between 4 and 13 percentage points.

In 2022, about one in four (25%) teachers in NSW/ACT spent 10 hours or more per week on administrative tasks, which was the highest proportion among all states and territories. In all other states and territories, the proportion of deployed teachers who spent 10 hours or more on administrative tasks ranged between 12% and 17%.

NSW/ACT also had the highest proportion of deployed teachers who spent 10 hours or more on teamwork activities per week (2022: 9%), followed closely by NT (8%) and SA (7%). TAS had the lowest proportion of deployed teachers who spent 10 hours or more per week on teamwork (3%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

The duty categories for which the largest proportions of senior leadersspent 10 or more hours per week performing were administrative tasks (85%), interacting with students (62%) and instructional leadership (54%). Almost three in four (74%) senior leaders spent 0-4 hours on community-related activities and just over half of the senior leaders (52%) spent 0-4 hours on professional learning for school staff.

Middle leaderswere less likely to spend 10 or more hours per week on administrative tasks (63%) and instructional leaderships (33%) than senior leaders (administrative tasks: 85%, instructional leadership: 54%). A higher proportion of middle leaders spent few hours on community engagement (0-4 hours: 83%) and professional learning (0-4 hours: 66%) than senior leaders (community engagement: 74%, professional learning: 52%).

There were increases of 10 percentage points or more from 2021 to 2022 in the proportion of middle leaders spending 10 hours or more on interacting with parents (2021: 9%; 2022: 23%), on professional learning for school staff (2021: 7%; 2022: 23%) and on instructional leadership (2021: 23%; 2022: 33%). Senior leaders saw increases of 11 percentage points or more from 2021 to 2022 in the proportion spending 10 hours or more on professional learning for school staff (2020: 13%; 2022: 30%), interacting with parents (2020: 17%; 2022: 32%), with students (2020: 50%; 2022: 62%) and with the community (2020: 4%; 2022: 15%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

1. A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

2. A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

In 2022, full-time classroom teachers reported a median of 50 working hours. Overall, the median working hours for Fclassroom teachers fluctuated slightly but remained relatively stable in the 2020-2022 period (2020:50; 2021:53; 2022:50). The same was the case among Paclassroom teachers (2020:35; 2021:36; 2022:35).

By contrast, the median working hours of casuals increased in the same period (2020:20; 2021:25; 2022:24).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

1. A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

2. A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In 2022, NSW had the highest working hours per week (median: 55 hours, 75th percentile: 60 hours) among all the states and territories where the data was available. For all other states and territories, the median working hours per week was about 50.

The 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile for working hours of full-time classroom teachers remained relatively stable in the 2020-2022 period in all states and territories. The only exception was NSW, where a slight reduction in the 75th percentile of working hours per week occurred from 2020 (64 hours) to 2022 (60 hours).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across 2018-2019, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents: The sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

The proportion of early career teachers who received a formal induction process has remained relatively stable from 2021 to 2022, after experiencing a drop from 2020. During the 2020-2022 period, the proportion of early-career teachers with 1-2 years who received formal induction dropped by 5 percentage points (2020:58%; 2021:53%; 2022:53%). Similarly, the proportion of early-career teachers with 3-5 years of experience who received formal induction dropped by 4 percentage points (2020:60%; 2021:57%; 2022:56%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across 2018-2019, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

This question is asked to all early career teachers who indicated that they received a formal induction process and provides an understanding of what that process involves.

Some activities were removed from the 2022 ATWD Teacher Survey. This means that some activities only have data for 2018 to 2021, while others have data for 2018 to 2022.

In 2022, of those participants who received a formal induction, 33% of early career teachers in their first 1-2 years in the profession indicated mentoring as their best induction experience.

Similarly, 30% of early career teachers in their first 3-5 years indicated mentoring.

Between 2020 and 2022, there was a stark decrease from all participants who had indicated they had engaged in targeted professional learning (TPL): A 33 percentage point drop among those with 1-2 years in the profession (41% said they had undertaken TPL in 2022, compared to 74% in 2020); A 38 percentage point drop among those with 3-5 years in the profession (44% said they had undertaken TPL in 2022, compared to 82% in 2020).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

1. A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

2. A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In this tile, subjects are grouped by Key learning Area (KLA). As KLAs combine multiple subjects, all of the subjects a teacher taught are identified for each KLA and if any are in-field they are classified as in-field in the KLA, if none are ‘in-field’ but they have ‘some training’ in any then they are classified as ‘some-training’, otherwise they are classified as ‘no-training’. At the KLA level, being classified as in-field indicates that a teacher is ‘in-field’ in one or more subjects that they taught within the KLA in that year.

Those in the teacher workforce were asked which subjects they taught and the level of tertiary education they had received in that subject. Teachers were recorded as teaching in-field when they had received at least one semester’s worth of tertiary learning in both content and pedagogy.

Three levels of teaching in-field are reported. Those who are potentially in-field (‘in-field’) have had at least one semester of tertiary training in both content and pedagogy in the subject. Those with ‘some training’ reported one semester of either content or pedagogy in a subject, and those with ‘no training’ reported no content or pedagogy in a subject. Those with ‘some training’ and those with ‘no training’ are both classified as out of field.

This data should be interpreted as the proportion of teachers of a subject who are out-of-field/in-field, but it does not indicate the proportion of classes taught by out-of-field or in-field teachers. This data does not include those who might be in-field for a subject but who did not teach it in that year.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

Rates of out-of-field teachingremain high among classroom teachers. In 2022, at least, one-in-five secondary classroom teachers (19%) were teaching at least one subject in a KLA out-of-field. Teachers of technology were most likely to be out-of-field (40%).

One-in-four classroom teachers of English (24%) and performing arts (26%) were teaching out-of-field. Furthermore, one-in-three classroom teachers of visual arts (34%), mathematics (32%), and health/PE (34%) were teaching out-of-field in 2022. The rates of out-of-field teaching in languages other than English (LOTE) (29%) and the humanities (30%) was about three in ten.

The extent of out-of-field teaching in 2022 had somewhat improved compared to 2020, with fewer or at least the same number of teachers having taught subjects in KLAs that they had not studied during ITE across all KLAs.

Arts: Visual arts, Media arts

Technology: Design and Technologies, Digital Technologies

Science: Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Human Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, Psychology

Performing Arts: Dance, Drama, Music

Mathematics: Mathematics, General Mathematics, Essential Mathematics, Specialist Mathematics, Mathematical Methods

LOTE: Languages other than English

Humanities: Geography, History, Economics and Business, Civics and Citizenship, Accounting, Legal Studies, Modern History, Ancient History, Philosophy, Theory of Knowledge

Health/PE: Physical Education, Health Education

English: English, Literature, Essential English, English as an Additional Language or dialect.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Teachers who reported that they intended to leave the profession before retirement are asked this question. However, they are re-categorised into the ‘remain until retirement category’ if (1) they indicated that retirement was a reason for intending to leave or that (2) their age + years intending to remain exceeded retirement age.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

Between 2020 and 2022, there was a 13 percentage point increase from all respondents (inclusive of teaching, non-teaching, deployed and casual staff) who said they intended to leave the profession before retirement; 35% in 2022, up from 22% in 2020.

Looking at data that reflects classroom teachers specifically, 40% of full-time teachers in 2020 indicated that they would choose to stay in their profession until retirement. This decreased in 2022, to just 27% of respondents.

When comparing groups within the teacher workforce, 34% of those deployed in early childhood settings indicated they would leave before retirement, 29% indicated they would stay and 37% indicated they were unsure.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Teachers who reported that they intended to leave the profession before retirement are asked this question. However, they are re-categorised into the ‘remain until retirement category’ if (1) they indicated that retirement was a reason for intending to leave or that (2) their age + years intending to remain exceeded retirement age.

The proportion of the teacher workforce across all participating states and territories intending to leave the profession before retirement increased 12 percentage points from 23% in 2020 to 35% in 2022. By contrast, the proportion of teachers intending to stay until retirement decreased by 13 percentage points from 41% in 2020 to 28% in 2022. As a result, this makes 2022 the first time since the commencement of the ATWD initiative that there were more teachers in intending to leave the profession prior to retirement (35%) than intending to stay (28%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Teachers who reported that they intended to leave the profession before retirement are asked this question. However, they are re-categorised into the ‘remain until retirement category’ if (1) they indicated that retirement was a reason for intending to leave or that (2) their age + years intending to remain exceeded retirement age.

In 2022, 93% of full-time classroom teachers indicated ‘workload and coping’ as their primary reason for intending to leave their profession (increasing from 87% in 2020). Among this group, the lowest indicator for wanting to leave was ‘not suited to teaching’ (24% in 2022; 21% in 2020.

Out of all participating respondents, inclusive of full-time employed teachers, casual workers, and leaders, 91% indicated that a reason for leaving was ‘workload and coping’ (increase from 84% in 2020). In 2022, the least likely reason to leave, across all respondents, was ‘break from teaching’ (24% in 2022). It is worth noting that in 2020 however, there was a 10-percentage point increase in respondents who indicated a ‘break from teaching’ (34%)

In the areas of ‘administrative workload’ and ‘behaviour from parents’, data was only collected for 2022: 68% of respondents indicated ‘administrative workload’; 38% indicated ‘behaviour from parents’.

When comparing separate workforce groups, the data shows that casual employees were much more likely to indicate ‘not suited to teaching’ as a reason to leave (40%), while only 24% of deployed teachers indicated this as a deciding factor.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Teachers who reported that they intended to leave the profession before retirement are asked this question. However, they are re-categorised into the ‘remain until retirement category’ if (1) they indicated that retirement was a reason for intending to leave or that (2) their age + years intending to remain exceeded retirement age.

There were two reasons for intending to leave the profession that were highly variable across states and territories in 2022. The demands of ‘professional regulation’ ranged from 40% to 50%, with QLD (39%), the NT (39%), and WA (42%) lower than the proportion in all states and territories (50%), and NSW higher (65%). ‘Recognition and reward’ reasons also varied by jurisdiction, with a range from 68% to 84%. ‘Recognition and reward reasons’ were least likely to be cited in TAS (68%) and QLD (70%), whereas this category of reason was more likely to be cited in NSW and the ACT (84%).

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In 2022, for the first time, registered teachers were asked ‘what are the reasons you choose to stay or might choose to stay in the profession’.

Teachers were presented with a list of reasons for staying in the profession as well as open text boxes to provide additional reasons. This analysis presents data on the list of presented reasons.

The reasons presented were:

I enjoy face-to-face teaching.

Teaching is a personally rewarding profession.

School culture / environment.

I am well paid relative to my skills and experience.

My skills are not transferable.

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

Out of all participating respondents, inclusive of full-time employed classroom teachers, casual workers, and leaders, 72% indicated enjoyment as their primary reason to stay in the profession. Of all respondents, 16% of them indicated pay relative to their skills and experience, and 10% that they felt their skills were not transferable.

The data shows a slight contrast when looking at motivations between casual and full-time staff: 25% of casual staff indicated pay relative to their skills as a primary reason to stay, compared to full-time classroom teachers, of which only 14% indicated remuneration as a deciding factor.

Only 6% of casual staff believed their skills were not transferable, while this increased to 11% among those deployed in schools.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

In 2022, for the first time, registered teachers were asked ‘what are the reasons you choose to stay or might choose to stay in the profession’.

Teachers were presented with a list of reasons for staying in the profession as well as open text boxes to provide additional reasons. This analysis presents data on the list of presented reasons.

The reasons presented were:

I enjoy face-to-face teaching.

Teaching is a personally rewarding profession.

School culture / environment.

I am well paid relative to my skills and experience.

My skills are not transferable.

In 2022, 72% of the teacher workforce indicated enjoyment as their primary reason for staying in the profession, 15% of respondents indicated pay relative to their skills and experience, and 11% that they felt their skills were not transferable.

There were no major differences between states and territories.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

The data in this tile was first collected in the 2022 ATWD Teacher Survey.

Teachers reported the year they last worked as a teacher or leader and could indicate if they were still working as a teacher or school leader. This ensures that individuals who may be temporarily between positions are not included.

For years since leaving the profession, two groupings were identified, those who most recently worked within the last two years, and those who had not (including where the exact duration could not be determined).

• Registered teachers – all individuals who are registered with a teacher regulatory authority.

• All respondents - the sample of registered teachers who participated in the teacher survey.

• Teacher workforce – registered teachers who are deployed in schools or early childhood services, including classroom teachers, middle leaders, senior leaders, casual/relief teachers.

• Casual – Casual/relief teachers are the registered teachers who have casual contracts. They do not work under a fixed-term or permanent/ongoing contract. They may be referred to variously as ‘casual’, ‘relief’, ‘supply’, or ‘temporary’ teachers.

• Deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools and early learning centres (ELC), excluding those who have a casual contract.

• Non-deployed – registered teachers not working in schools or early childhood services (not deployed in a school, and early learning centre), or on an extended leave of absence from either of these settings. These can be further separated into those that are:

o Non-deployed (other): registered teachers that are employed in education, but not directly in a school, preschool or early childhood service, employed in the education sector, employed as a teacher or educator outside of Australia or not in paid deployment.

o Non-deployed (leave): registered teachers that are on an extended leave of absence from a school, early childhood setting or preschool.

• School deployed – all registered teachers deployed across schools, excluding those who are casuals.

• School leaders – registered teachers who are deployed in schools and have formal leadership responsibilities. These can be further separated into:

o Middle leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a middle leader (such as heads of department). A middle leader can also be a teacher, and typically engage in face-to-face teaching.

o Senior leaders – the part of the teacher workforce in schools whose main or other role is as a senior leader (such as principals, deputy principals). A senior leader can also be a teacher, or engage in face-to-face teaching.

• Classroom Teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in schools. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers, those with leadership responsibilities or those who are school leaders.

o Full-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work full-time in schools.

o Part-time classroom teachers – classroom teachers who work part-time in schools.

• ELC deployed – all registered teachers deployed across early learning centres, excluding those who have a casual contract.

• ELC leaders –registered teachers who deployed in early learning centres and have formal leadership responsibilities.

• ELC teachers – The largest part of the teaching workforce in early learning centres. This group is contracted on an ongoing/permanent or fixed-term basis, and does not include casual/relief teachers or those with leadership responsibilities.

Registered teachers who are not currently deployed are evenly split in terms of the number of years since leaving the profession, with 49% having left within the last two years and 51% having left three or more years ago.

While 44% of non-deployed registered teachers reported that they would not consider returning to the profession, 49% said they would consider returning, and a further 7% reported that they were actively looking to return.

In 2018, NSW, SA and NT participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. In 2019, VIC and QLD joined the ATWD Teacher Survey and in 2020, all remaining states and territories joined (WA, TAS and ACT), providing national coverage.

When examining the data, year-to-year total counts increase due to the growing number of participants responding to the ATWD Teacher Survey. The percentage should be used to understand changes in relative proportions over time, with counts only being compared within the same year.

When comparing data across years, a change in a reported percentage could reflect a change in the composition and experiences of the national workforce. However, it might also reflect the fact that:

A new state or territory with a different workforce composition joined the ATWD Teacher Survey in a certain year.

A state had a very high response rate relative to the other states and territories. This occurred in SA in 2018 and QLD in 2022 and resulted in a large portion of the sample coming from these states.

The figures presented are weighted percentages. The weighting helps to address the under or over representation of responses from different states to more accurately represent the national population.

A change in percentage from year to year is more likely to reflect a change in the national trend when it is present in more jurisdictions, and when the newly joined jurisdictions and those with higher response rates have a similar percentage to the jurisdictions that have previously participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey. National trends that are reported based on data collected over a period of time (i.e. longitudinal data) refer to the participating states and territories in the ATWD Teacher Survey for each of those years.

Registered teachers who participated in the ATWD Teacher Survey provided information about where they are deployed. Those not deployed in a school or early childhood setting (the teacher workforce) were then asked what year they stopped ‘working in schools and / or early childhood setting as a teacher / leader?’. Those who confirmed that they had stopped working in the teacher workforce were then asked how likely they were to return to the workforce. Respondents could choose between “I am actively looking to return to teaching”, “I would consider returning to teaching”, and “I would not consider returning to teaching”.

All respondents not deployed in a school or early childhood setting were then asked what would need to change for them to return to teaching from the following factors:

More teaching jobs in my subject area

More jobs in the area I want to live

A higher salary

A reduction in workload

More pathways to leadership

Multiple options could be selected.

In addition, registered teachers could select “nothing would need to change”. If they selected this option, then no other options could be selected.

In 2022, when asked what would need to change for a person to return to the teacher workforce, the most frequently cited factor was a reduced workload (54%), followed by a higher salary (33%), and more pathways to leadership (13%).