As NSW schools grapple with a chronic teacher shortage, resignation rates are for the first time outstripping retirement rates, an inquiry has been told.
Teachers Federation's President Angelo Gavrielatos told the parliamentary inquiry the teacher shortage is worsening, with the vacancy list growing by more than three fold in the last two years, when the government announced $125 million recruitment drive.
"That often cited, much heralded strategy has delivered three people from overseas and five mid-career teachers - one of whom has already left," he said on Wednesday.
"It is a failure of delivery in education ... our kids are missing out, our teachers are burning out".
More teachers are quitting than retiring and there's an 83 per cent increase in insecure work (temporary contracts), according to official figures.
Mr Gavrielatos said regional and rural areas were particularly disadvantaged, with 55 per cent of all vacancies located outside the major cities.
He was speaking after releasing a study that found the teacher shortage in NSW is "acute".
"NSW Teachers' pay has gone from bad to worse, with the situation set to deteriorate further," according to the report by the University of Sydney Business School.
It follows an earlier report which found teachers salaries had dramatically declined between 2000-2020, especially when compared to equivalent professions.
"Over the last two years the situation has deteriorated further, particularly due to inflation which has escalated rapidly since 2021," the new report said.
The challenge was "decades in the making", the report said with "skills associated with new technology have risen, but so too have workloads".
"It will be hard to change current arrangements quickly."
With federal Treasury forecasting inflation will exceed five per cent in 2022/23 and 3.5 per cent in 2023/24, it found a wage increase of between 15.5 - 25.5 per cent "can readily be justified".
Less than two months out from the NSW election, there are more than 3300 teaching vacancies across the state.
This parliamentary inquiry, chaired by One Nation MP Mark Latham, is examining "the adequacy of the government's response to teacher shortages and education outcomes".
A separate inquiry that handed down its report in November said "failure to act decisively now, at a point where we are clearly experiencing acute teacher shortages across the state, will harm both current and future generations and their academic outcomes".
