What mandated phonics means for Victoria’s haemorrhaging teacher numbers (2024)

Last week, I heard about a secondary school in eastern Victoria that is still trying to fill over 25 teaching positions that have been listed since the beginning of the year. At the same time, state Education Minister Ben Carroll announced changes that will mandate the method of reading instruction and the “science of learning”.

Come 2025, Victorian government schools will be forced to move away from the current reading system, which allows principals and teachers to choose educational approaches based on student needs. Taking its place will be a mandated systematic synthetic phonics policy for students from prep to year 2.

What does this have to do with teacher retention rates? More than you might think.

Though many are singing Carroll’s praises, these swift and encompassing changes ultimately disrespect and fundamentally undermine teacher professionalism and judgment.

Like any other profession, teachers value freedom and agency when it comes to doing the jobs they are trained to do. This includes determining the best methods to use when teaching their students core skills like reading. The methods applied change from year to year, class to class, moment by moment. It is one of the most rewarding parts of the job and why I love teaching so much.

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But taking away this freedom and introducing a blanket one-size-fits-all approach across the state is more likely to exacerbate the increasing exodus of Victorian teachers, especially those with years of experience behind them, than it is keep us.

It’s no secret that staffing the education sector, in Victoria and nationally, is reaching crisis point. The main reasons for this are school leadership and workload. Teachers who are burnt out, over-extended and forced to make difficult decisions daily are leaving the profession at record rates.

In January, just weeks before term 1 started, there were 801 vacant education positions within Victoria being advertised. By March, the government had published its long-overdue reporting into teacher supply and demand, which predicted the state would reach a shortfall of more than 5000 teaching staff by 2028, and forecast demand for teachers across early childhood education and schools would increase by 12.8 per cent, while staff supply would increase by only 10.6 per cent.

Stripping away even more agency from teachers is likely to make this increasingly bad situation worse. Introducing changes that mean leadership handing down more mandated material that teachers need to familiarise themselves with and incorporate in their practice means more leadership issues. More workload.

In announcing the changes, even Carroll himself noted there would be pushback from teachers, saying: “I’m stepping on potentially a hand grenade.”

It is often argued that teachers are the most important factor in a child’s education. But understandably – as I’m sure Carroll will agree – we can’t expect to be the “education state” if we don’t have enough teachers to teach.

Teachers have for a while now felt the pinch of public disrespect and a sense of being underappreciated in their work as professionals. The glory days of teachers receiving praise for their valiant efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic are well and truly over.

Carroll’s announcement simply further entrenches the existing (and arguably growing) disrespect for teachers’ professionalism and learned expertise, as it implies teachers aren’t doing their job right and that the righteous and mighty hand of the government is now stepping in to save the day.

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Teachers know that teaching is complex and requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach – we live this reality every day in our classrooms. But changes like these pretend that it isn’t the case.

If we really want to remain the education state, we need to invest in changes that celebrate teacher professionalism and keep them in front of classes, not drive them away.

We’re mid-way through the school year and there are still mountains of teachers needed to fill the vacancies seen across the state. Carroll’s changes are going to turn these mountains into an Everest.

I hope you’ve packed your hiking gear.

Tom Mahoney is a mathematics and psychology teacher at a Victorian government school, and is completing a PhD in education.

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