If one topic in education garners more attention than it should, it’s teacher shortages. Not because we shouldn’t be discussing this topic but because it shouldn’t be an issue in 21^st-century Australia.

What’s gone so wrong?

While governments, associations and schools try to stop the bleeding, another 20,857 teachers are expected to become disenfranchised and prematurely leave the profession by the end of the year.

But it doesn’t stop there. AITSL’s 2023 spotlight report indicates that 35% of teachers intend to leave before retirement (up from 26% pre-pandemic).

The report states, “Understanding the factors exerting pressure on the teacher workforce is key to implementing targeted attraction and retention strategies.”

And it appears that everyone has an opinion on this.

The Key Issues Identified by Teachers

In response to a Channel 9 report on teacher shortages, Reddit users came out in droves to offer their impressions and points of view.

Reddit member Hurgnation echoed the anti-social classroom behaviour trope. In contrast, others blamed the media, societal expectations, teacher bashing (blaming teachers for society’s ills), and the odd jab at schools forcing teachers to orchestrate a seating plan.

The Conversation also provided insight through an article titled "No wonder no one wants to be a teacher: a world-first study looks at 65,000 news articles about Australian teachers."

But are we slinging mud in the right direction or just slinging mud?

AITSL’s report identifies the following top three factors influencing teachers’ intentions to leave the profession before retirement:

• Workload and coping
• Recognition and reward, and
• Classroom factors.

They even followed these issues over 4 years and charted their significance below:

The data highlights that 9 out of 10 teachers struggle with workload, so it seems evident that this should be the starting point for any solution.

Independent school leaders have a unique opportunity to respond to this crisis and rethink and redesign the very structure of teaching roles. At the same time, the pressures of workload, recognition, and classroom management loom. Addressing these issues solely through short-term fixes will not yield lasting results.

Instead, school leaders should turn to innovative solutions rooted in a deeper understanding of work design, psychological states, and enriched teaching roles.

Enriching Teaching Roles: Beyond the Stereotypical Classroom

Teaching has long been perceived as a role defined by classroom instruction and lesson preparation, but this narrow view fails to capitalise on educators' true potential.

What if we approached teaching as a role that can be enriched in ways that challenge and invigorate teachers? Could this singular change positively affect retention rates?

Consider this: when roles are expanded to include leadership opportunities, mentorship responsibilities, or even participation in curriculum design, teachers are empowered to engage with their profession on a deeper level.

Role enrichment increases job satisfaction and enhances teachers' sense of ownership and control over their work. This can address the familiar feeling of being “boxed in” by monotonous daily tasks, a complaint educators often echo.

Take Finland, often heralded as a model in education. In Finland, teachers are given significant autonomy in lesson planning and assessment. This autonomy translates into higher job satisfaction and retention levels, as teachers feel they have a meaningful influence on their professional environment.

By enriching teaching roles, schools can create a culture where teachers feel valued and essential to the institution’s success.

The Job Characteristics Model: Elevating Teachers’ Psychological States

One proven framework for redesigning work is the Job Characteristics Model developed by Hackman and Oldham. This model identifies five core dimensions influencing work motivation and job satisfaction: skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.

These characteristics foster psychological states that lead to positive work outcomes.

• Skill Variety - Expanding the skills required in teachers' roles can include integrating technology into classrooms and engaging in interdisciplinary teaching. The more diverse the range of activities a teacher can engage in, the more likely they will remain mentally stimulated and invested in their work.

• Task identity, or seeing a project through from beginning to end, can also be achieved by giving teachers more control over long-term student projects rather than focusing solely on daily lessons.

• Task significance is often a given in teaching—after all, few roles directly impact future generations. However, this significance must be recognised and communicated regularly. Leaders should make it a point to publicly celebrate teachers' tangible impact on their students and communities, reinforcing the value of their work.

  The annual nod to the recent World Teacher’s Day may seem more offensive than helpful.

• Autonomy empowers teachers to experiment, innovate, and take risks in their teaching practices.

  The kitchen lab is an excellent example, albeit in another industry. Chefs can create dishes for upcoming menus outside the hum-drum mis en place and meal service. They’re free to experiment and challenge their perceptions and preferences, and a model like this could only benefit schools hoping to retain their talent.

• By providing more individualised Feedback on performance—constructive feedback aimed at growth rather than punitive—leaders can further support their staff in evolving their teaching styles.

Psychological States and Work Outcomes: The Impact of Job Satisfaction

The psychological impact of work cannot be overstated, especially in the context of teaching.

A teacher’s psychological state directly influences their effectiveness in the classroom and, by extension, the success of their students. Negative psychological states—such as burnout, frustration, or feeling undervalued—have been consistently linked to reduced student outcomes and teacher attrition.

One notable concept in this regard is the emotional labour required in teaching.

The constant demand to be emotionally available, calm under pressure, and responsive to students’ needs can take a toll. This emotional labour often goes unrecognised, contributing to the high rates of burnout we see in the profession.

To mitigate this, independent school leaders must focus on designing roles that reduce emotional strain while increasing emotional rewards. This can be achieved through peer support networks, mental health days, and providing avenues for teachers to debrief and process challenging student interactions.

Further, when teachers experience psychological states such as intrinsic motivation—where they find inherent satisfaction in their tasks—they are more likely to be engaged and less likely to leave the profession.

Creating environments that nurture intrinsic motivation can be a game-changer in teacher retention. This could involve aligning teacher responsibilities with their personal interests or providing opportunities for professional development that lead to meaningful career progression.

Work Design: Rethinking the Traditional Structure of Teaching

Traditional school structures, where one teacher is responsible for an entire class and curriculum, are ripe for disruption. Modern work design principles suggest that breaking up tasks and sharing roles can drastically reduce individual burdens while maintaining, or even increasing, overall productivity.

By redesigning work, school leaders can optimise the allocation of teaching responsibilities.

For instance, some schools have experimented with “team teaching” models, where two or more teachers collaborate on lesson planning, instruction, and assessment. This lightens the load for individual teachers and fosters collaboration and professional camaraderie.

Moreover, schools can explore creative solutions such as rotating specialised roles—for example, appointing a “tech lead” or “curriculum innovation lead” for a term. This allows teachers to dive deeper into specific areas of interest while sharing the broader workload with the staff.

One critical aspect of work design is recognising that not all teachers need to engage in every part of the teaching cycle. Administrative tasks, for example, could be offloaded to specialised staff, freeing up teachers to focus on pedagogical strategies and student engagement.

Similarly, dedicated support staff could handle using data analytics to predict student learning outcomes, relieving teachers from the burden of manually processing this information.

Sharing Roles and Tasks: Collaborative Approaches to Teaching 

Teaching is traditionally a solitary profession, but the future of education may require greater collaboration among teachers. This collaboration can extend beyond simple team teaching into shared responsibilities for student outcomes.

One radical approach would be for teachers to share lesson plans and accountability for student learning. Rather than a single teacher being responsible for a class of 24 students, teaching teams could be accountable for a larger cohort.

This would allow teachers to play to their strengths—whether in subject expertise or instructional style—while sharing the responsibility for addressing students’ diverse needs.

Additionally, distributed leadership models—where teachers take on leadership roles within their teams—can create a sense of shared ownership and reduce the hierarchical pressures often present in schools.

Teachers who lead peer coaching, facilitate professional development workshops, or coordinate school-wide initiatives are likely to experience higher job satisfaction due to their meaningful contribution to the school community.

Conclusion: The Path Forward for Independent Schools

The work design of teacher roles is overdue for an overhaul.

School leaders must prioritise addressing workload issues through strategic role enrichment, collaborative teaching models, and applying the principles of the Job Characteristics Model.

This will help mitigate teacher shortages and foster a more motivated, engaged, and resilient teaching workforce. As schools embrace this future-forward approach, they position themselves as innovative institutions that attract and retain top-tier educators.

By shifting the focus from crisis management to proactive redesign, independent schools can lay the foundation for a thriving educational environment where teachers feel valued, students excel, and the profession is restored to its rightful prestige.