No Teachers: Crisis, what crisis?

The teacher shortage crisis is unacceptable and highlights the failure of Labour's centralised policy for paying for teachers, ACT Education spokesman Deborah Coddington said today.

The MP was responding to reports that up to 350 primary and secondary teaching positions remain unfilled - just two weeks before schools return for the new year.

"Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope denies there is a crisis, despite the fact that many students will be without a teacher come their first day at school," Miss Coddington said.

"Scholarships to fill traditionally hard-to-staff subjects such as mathematics, physics and technology have failed to solve the problem.

"Labour's failed education policies make teaching one of the only professions where you have to threaten industrial action to get a pay rise.

"ACT would reward merit and excellence in teaching by allowing schools the freedom to pay good teachers more.

"This would make a real difference in attracting and retaining high-quality teaching professionals," Miss Coddington said.

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