Education Department head office staff growing at more than twice the rate of teaching staff

The number of education bureaucrats working in head office has ballooned by 40 per cent in the past five years — growing at more than double the rate of teachers — figures released in Parliament have revealed. Since 2020, as the Education Department has been struggling to find enough teachers to staff schools, the number employed at its head office in Royal Street, East Perth, surged from 849 to 1192 by January this year. Data from the department’s annual reports show the number of teachers employed in public schools grew by just 7.5 per cent in the same period, from 17,510 to 18,826. But figures captured at a different point in time — supplied by the department on Thursday — show teacher numbers grew by 15 per cent, from 21,891 in 2020 to 25,230 this year. Shadow education minister Liam Staltari said it was important for teachers to be backed by quality central services, but when head office staff grew more than twice as fast as the teaching workforce “serious questions need to be answered”. “Teacher resignations, stress and burnout have soared under Labor,” he said. “Schools are struggling to fill classrooms with teachers and yet head office keeps expanding. The Minister needs to explain how that adds up. “West Australians want to see more teachers and education assistants in classrooms — not more bureaucrats in the city.” An Education Department spokesperson said 96 per cent of its staff were based in schools, with support provided by staff located in the Perth metropolitan area and regional offices. “Only four per cent of our staff work outside school settings and their role is to support school leaders, teachers and school staff to improve outcomes for students,” the spokesperson said. “Since 2020, the majority of full-time equivalent growth has been in schools, with an additional 3,339 teachers and 4,020 additional school-based support staff of which the majority are classroom-based. “Outside of school settings, there has been an increase of 656 additional full-time equivalent staff to support WA’s growing number of schools and students.” Additional positions were created in central office after the Federal Government’s Better and Fairer Schools Agreement was signed in 2024, to deliver small group tuition and more support for students with complex behaviours. “A lot of the new support initiatives are directly responding to what teachers say they need to do their jobs in schools,” the spokesperson said.