School communities across NSW are being impacted by increases in cases of COVID-19.
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There have been large numbers of staff calling in sick, leaving school principals and administrators to scramble to find replacement teachers daily.
But the Department of Education quashed reports that student teachers who had not yet finished their degree were being called in to work full-time because so many teachers have been off sick with COVID.
A Department spokesperson said there were no un-accredited teachers teaching in a NSW school.
"Final year teacher education students are able to apply to the NSW Education Standards Authority for conditional accreditation to teach in a NSW school.
"This level of accreditation has been in place for some years, and provides teaching graduates with invaluable experience," the spokesperson said.
The pandemic remains a concern for the Department, which has published guidelines for the back filling of staff to support schools across NSW in managing staffing impacts related to COVID-19.
"This is to ensure that schools can continue teaching and learning, while maintaining their duty of care to students," the spokesperson said.
"Contingency arrangements include use of the casual teaching workforce, teachers from nearby schools, accredited teachers working for the Department in non-teaching roles, recently retired teachers and conditionally accredited final year university students, where required.
"As of 28 March 2022, approximately 2000 final year university students with conditional accreditation have been granted interim approval to teach and over 440 retired teachers have been paid as a result of a temporary placement."
IN OTHER NEWS:
NSW Teachers Federation deputy president Henry Rajendra said it was important not to decrease teaching standards.
"We understand we are in difficult times because of COVID but we are not interested in lowering standards for entry requirements," he said.
"The fundamental issue is not COVID but the long-standing chronic teacher shortage, which has only been exacerbated by COVID.
"What they need to do is address our concerns with teachers' non-competitive salaries and teachers' unsustainable workloads."