This week The Age published the results of a survey into teaching workforce challenges across the state. The survey found that nine out of ten principals in the state school system predicted that they would face teacher shortfalls in the coming year and that this would inhibit their capacity to place a qualified teacher in every classroom.

The survey of 242 state school principals also detailed a litany of concerns principals faced with attraction and retention of teaching staff. Equivalent surveys published across a number of workforce sectors, including education, point to what has been characterised as both ‘the great resignation’ and ‘the slow resignation’. These phenomena describe the reappraisal of priorities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and highlight a significant segment of the workforce who have expressed the desire to change or cease work with their current employer.

While the situation amongst independent school employees is likely to be less severe than that experienced by their state counterparts, it would be naive to presume that King David will be immune from the disruption caused by workforce challenges.

Across the teaching profession concerns have been raised regarding increasing workloads, teacher accountability out of school hours and unrealistic expectations of teachers. An added, and disappointing, factor has been an increased propensity for school staff to face inappropriate criticism, abuse and disrespect from school families.

Thankfully, the occurrences of this at our school have been infrequent. However, there are still occasions when they occur.

You may recall previous communications from me requesting that our families be mindful of when they contact educators. In particular, I asked that our families recognise that educators should not be expected to respond after school hours, on Shabbat or weekends.

I have also shared with you our Parent Code of Conduct which aims to define the parameters of the respectful staff-family relationships that best support our student outcomes.

Our school prides itself on the positive and constructive relationships that sit at the heart of our community and at the base of our effective classroom practice. In conversations with other principals I often express how lucky I am to work in a community where our educators are so valued – just this week I have had three emails and a phone call from parents who wished to say thank you and offer a shout out to the teachers that had so positively impacted their child.

One of the great pieces of advice I was given as an early career teacher was to try to “catch my students doing good things”. This encouraged me to take a frame of reference where I was looking to praise and extend positivity, rather than focusing on only addressing the negative.

I take the liberty of extending this piece of advice to our families – like the parents that communicated with me this week, catch our educators doing good things! I’d love you to be generous and frequent in your acknowledgement of the many small and large ways that our teachers so powerfully impact students.

My hope is that by showing our educators the recognition, support and indeed love that they deserve, we will remain an employer and community of choice and will be well placed to weather any workforce challenges that face the teaching profession.

Of course respect for our educators is a Jewish imperative. Our Talmud explains that: “there is no greater honour than that due a teacher, and no greater awe than that due a teacher.”

Shabbat Shalom,

Marc Light