Abstract:
The challenges faced by women teachers in Australia need to be understood to address key aspects of the teacher shortage crisis in the education sector. As a research project, Women’s Work engaged with more than 40 women teachers from different contexts across Australia to unpack how they are responding to the issues they face in teaching in unique ways. Using a narrative inquiry methodology, the stories of women teachers demonstrate the ongoing and systemic gendered challenges they face in the work of teaching.
At the commencement of the 2024 school year, news agencies were reporting a teacher shortage across the state of Victoria with some statistics claiming as many as 800 positions were vacant. Research in recent years has pointed to a growing dissatisfaction amongst teachers, with 35% saying they intend to leave the profession before retirement age (AITSL 2023). Teachers are also reporting increased rates of burnout (Carroll et al. 2022), citing increased administrative tasks and extra-curricular responsibilities as a burden. Teaching is recognised as one of the most challenging professions.
At the same time, teaching continues to be one of the most feminized work forces. Recent data shows that 76% of registered teachers are women (AITSL 2023). Among Australian university graduates, 97% of pre-primary teachers, 85% of primary teachers and 68% of secondary teachers are female (Tani, 2019). This trend is not unique to Australia with large proportions of women in teaching also observed across the OECD (UNESCO 2023).
There are also cultural and societal shifts contributing to the challenges that women teachers face. Research shows, for example, that some women teachers feel unsafe in the workplace. The work of Wescott et al. (2023; 2024) demonstrates that the ‘manosphere’, or social media that is mysoginistic, is leading to teachers’ resignations. The work of Variyan and Wilkinson (2022) shows that some teachers are facing sexual harassment from students regularly. In research stemming from the COVID-19 Pandemic, women teachers also spoke of the unique challenges they faced when fulfilling the dual role of mothers and teachers (Guy and Arthur 2020; Hong et al 2021).
This paper will examine the distinctive ways that gender and teaching intersect in contemporary Australian classrooms and schools. I argue that government, leaders and stake-holders need to respond to the highly feminised workforce in a way that recognises and acts on the gendered elements of teachers’ identities.
At the commencement of the 2024 school year, news agencies were reporting a teacher shortage across the state of Victoria with some statistics claiming as many as 800 positions were vacant. Research in recent years has pointed to a growing dissatisfaction amongst teachers, with 35% saying they intend to leave the profession before retirement age (AITSL 2023). Teachers are also reporting increased rates of burnout (Carroll et al. 2022), citing increased administrative tasks and extra-curricular responsibilities as a burden. Teaching is recognised as one of the most challenging professions.
At the same time, teaching continues to be one of the most feminized work forces. Recent data shows that 76% of registered teachers are women (AITSL 2023). Among Australian university graduates, 97% of pre-primary teachers, 85% of primary teachers and 68% of secondary teachers are female (Tani, 2019). This trend is not unique to Australia with large proportions of women in teaching also observed across the OECD (UNESCO 2023).
There are also cultural and societal shifts contributing to the challenges that women teachers face. Research shows, for example, that some women teachers feel unsafe in the workplace. The work of Wescott et al. (2023; 2024) demonstrates that the ‘manosphere’, or social media that is mysoginistic, is leading to teachers’ resignations. The work of Variyan and Wilkinson (2022) shows that some teachers are facing sexual harassment from students regularly. In research stemming from the COVID-19 Pandemic, women teachers also spoke of the unique challenges they faced when fulfilling the dual role of mothers and teachers (Guy and Arthur 2020; Hong et al 2021).
This paper will examine the distinctive ways that gender and teaching intersect in contemporary Australian classrooms and schools. I argue that government, leaders and stake-holders need to respond to the highly feminised workforce in a way that recognises and acts on the gendered elements of teachers’ identities.