It pains St Josephs Catholic High School Albion Park teacher Glenn Lowe to say 'education in NSW is a mess'.
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For more than 10 years Mr Lowe and fellow teachers have been discussing looming shortages, while somehow "working their magic" to defer the shortages for longer than expected.
But he said things now were becoming unsustainable.
This prompted Mr Lowe and fellow members and delegates at the Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch Council to unanimously vote for teachers and support staff who work in Catholic systemic schools to move towards taking protected industrial action.
Mr Lowe, president of the IEUA NSW/ACT South Coast Sub Branch, said the time for real action was now.
"Multiple government enquiries into educational issues have been undertaken and they all point to the same concern and they are all ignored or put into the too hard basket.
"The EA and Hear Our Voice Campaign being negotiated right now is in part an attempt to rectify the shortages we have," Mr Lowe said.
"Improve the supply of teachers and support staff through appropriate pay, recognition of workload and provide time to prepare engaging lessons."
He said the current staffing shortages were having a major negative impact on the ability of schools to go about their core business of education. "On top of the daily staff absences, schools are dealing with major shortages," Mr Lowe said.
"I have fielded reports of staff shortages on a daily basis. Anywhere between 18 and 28 staff unavailable from most secondary schools within our system.
"Classes are regularly combined and supervised, completely exceeding staffing and supervision ratios.
"These shortages are having a compounding effect on the ability to deliver appropriate content every day."
A statement from the Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong said it valued "our teachers and support staff and the contribution they make to our school communities".
"We have already provided a pay increase of 2.04 per cent this year and Catholic Education Diocese of Wollongong will be engaging in bargaining alongside the other 10 Dioceses covering New South Wales and the ACT.
"The Dioceses are committed to prompt and meaningful dialogue so a new Enterprise Agreement can be settled as quickly as possible.
"The Independent Education Union (IEU) has put forward a number of claims and these will be assessed as part of the good faith bargaining process. We look forward to concluding the principles of agreement in the weeks ahead."
There are 38 primary, secondary and K-12 schools in the CEDoW, which includes Catholic schools in the Illawarra, Macarthur, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
