Regional teacher shortage fuels huge rise in School of Isolated and Distance Education enrolments

A lack of teachers prepared to go bush has sparked a massive spike in the number of West Australian kids studying school subjects online. Nearly 4000 students are now taking at least one subject through the School of Isolated and Distance Education, new statistics have shown. Education Department figures show enrolments in SIDE have surged 42 per cent in the past three years, from 2824 in 2022 to 3998 in February this year. The State School Teachers Union called for a public commitment to face-to-face instruction for country pupils. “Since the pandemic, many regional students have struggled to access in-person teaching, affecting both primary and secondary education,” the union’s school leader consultant Lindsay Hale wrote in the Western Teacher magazine. “Ensuring equitable instructional standards for regional students is essential.” SSTU president Matt Jarman said SIDE had become the largest school in the state, based on student enrolments. “This increasing trend towards students that have online learning platforms as opposed to face-to-face, out there over the Darling Range, is really quite unacceptable,” he said. Regional Principals Association president Kevin Brady said SIDE enrolments had grown rapidly in the past five years. “It’s students in rural locations and it’s some students in metropolitan schools that haven’t been able to access subjects at their local school,” he said. “Either because of a lack of specialist teachers, or because the number of enrolments for that subject in that school is so low that the school can’t justify offering it.” Mr Brady said SIDE provided an “outstanding” product, but was adamant face-to-face learning was also crucial for young learners. “It’s always far better and far more effective if you have a competent, qualified face-to-face teacher in front of those students, delivering the program,” he said. Education Department deputy director-general for people and student achievement Melesha Sands said SIDE played a key role in providing all students with access to learning. “SIDE continues to expand delivery in response to school and student needs,” she said. “The department anticipates that there will be a modest increase in SIDE enrolments in 2025.” Reasons could include an increased number of students from regional schools learning through SIDE, a small increase in students studying while travelling overseas and the delivery of English-language programs for newly-arrived non English speakers. The Cook Government delivered a $10 million funding boost to SIDE in last year’s State Budget.