Today in Parliament, Abigail passed a motion expressing gratitude for all NSW primary, secondary and early childhood teachers for their work, dedication and commitment to their students and communities.

Abigail said:

I move:

(1) That this House notes that:

• Friday 31 October 2025 was World Teachers' Day in New South Wales, which celebrates all primary, secondary and early childhood teachers across the State and recognises the important contributions they make in classrooms and communities;
• there are over 170,000 primary, secondary and early childhood teachers working in New South Wales, according to the New South Wales Department of Education;
• on World Teachers' Day and every day, it is important to recognise the entire teacher workforce in New South Wales and the unique role that each and every teacher plays in New South Wales' education system, including permanent full-time teachers, casual, temporary and relief teachers, learning and support teachers, specialist teachers with expertise in a particular field, teacher librarians, English as an additional language/dialect teachers, principals and unemployed teachers;
• building and retaining a stable, well‑supported and highly skilled teacher workforce is necessary for delivering safe, quality, universally accessible and inclusive education to people at all stages of life;
• all teachers deserve to be genuinely respected and valued, and should be properly paid, supported, trained and respected;
• the teaching profession in New South Wales, and across all of Australia, is in crisis, with more teachers increasingly reporting high levels of stress, burnout, unmanageable and unsustainable workloads, and a lack of resources, training and structural support;
• according to the latest OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey released in October 2025, Australia ranks among the worst‑performing countries for teacher shortages;
• concerningly, this is most prominent in public schools, with Australia now among the top three OECD countries for teacher shortages in public schools, and in schools with more than 30 per cent of socio‑economically disadvantaged students, which are the very schools that rely most on stable, experienced teaching professionals; and
• according to the Australian Teacher Workforce Data released in June 2025:
  • New South Wales has the highest number of registered teachers in Australia;
  • Australia has an experienced and dedicated teacher workforce, with 66 per cent of the teacher workforce having at least 10 years' experience;
  • migrant teachers represent an important part of Australia's teacher workforce, with approximately 6 per cent of the teacher workforce reporting being born overseas and holding initial teacher education qualifications from overseas;
  • men are proportionally over‑represented in school leadership roles, in that they comprise 22 per cent of the teacher workforce but 30 per cent of school leader roles;
  • teachers and leaders report working more than the standard 38 hours per week on average;
  • 75 per cent of teachers cite workload as a primary reason they intend to leave the profession, 68 per cent cite stress, mental health and wellbeing, 63 per cent cite administrative workload and 52 per cent cite insufficient pay; and
  • by contrast, just 2 per cent of teachers indicated they never planned to stay long term as the reason they intend to leave the profession, and 2 per cent cited not being suited to the work.

(2) That this House recognises the important role that each professional plays within New South Wales' diverse teacher workforce in contributing to the support, education, growth and wellbeing of students and responding to the diverse needs of students and their families and carers, and expresses its gratitude and appreciation to all teachers across New South Wales for their work, dedication and commitment.

Motion agreed to.

Read the transcript in Hansard here. 

19 November 2025