Welcome to the
2023
State of the Sector Report
PeopleBench would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the country on which we are privileged to live and work.
In the spirit of reconciliation, we recognise that sovereignty of these lands was never ceded. We pay our respect to elders past, present, and emerging and extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This, our fourth State of the Sector report, unpacks the perspectives of almost
Principals, Senior Leaders, HR/Business Managers, Middle Leaders + Teachers.
- 000.
- INTRODUCTION.
WELCOME.
Welcome to the PeopleBench State of the Sector Report. This report summarises the results of a survey that was conducted in March-May 2023, and was designed to gather the perspectives of Australian educators about the challenges and opportunities they face in the school workforce.
A gauge of sector sentiment.
As K-12 education globally faces increasing pressures in the supply, recruitment, and retention of staff, this year’s State of the Sector report offers a sense of the complexity of work in contemporary Australian schools.
While the ongoing workforce crisis has led to creative approaches as schools continue to do more with less, this is demanding work. The evidence shows that the cost for the incredible humans working in the sector is high: high turnover, difficulties attracting and retaining staff, and persistent staff stress, burnout, and low morale.
Entwined among the difficulties, is hope for the future. Schools continue to be places of purposeful and meaningful work. There is a recurrent sense that schools are places where people’s efforts make a real difference in the lives of students, their families, and the community. What is important for many people working in the sector is that young people’s academic, social, and emotional development remains the core priority of education.
This year, the growing awareness of technologies in and for education is tangible. As artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT raise new opportunities and challenges for work in education, they also highlight the sector’s approach to change. The willingness and ability to respond to technological changes and leverage those capabilities occurs alongside resistance.
The intent of this report is that the insights within provide a stimulus for thinking anew about the challenges and opportunities of contemporary education. The information – presented at the national level – can support thinking about how to mitigate and manage workforce risk and how to effectively plan and prepare for the future that is emerging in K-12 schools today.
Who is PeopleBench?
PeopleBench is an Education sector workforce improvement company. We build software tools and provide advisory services and research to help Education leaders make schools great places to work, so they can be great places to learn.
The State of the Sector project forms part of our suite of research initiatives into what makes an effective and impactful school workforce.
We want to understand how leaders and policy-makers in the sector can use data to make smarter workforce decisions and build better school workforces.
If you’re interested in learning more about us or joining us on this quest, please visit www.peoplebench.com.au or contact us here.
How to use this report
This is a semi-interactive report. As you scroll down, you’ll be presented with the key finding from each section in the survey—just like in a conventional report.
In some sections, you have the option to learn more about a particular topic from a different perspective. Hovering on some charts will reveal additional detail, including participant quotes. Once you’re done, you’ll return to the main body of the report. When you see 
, you can dive deeper into the data by clicking on each section to expand.
This report reflects the responses of:
Across Australia.
While this represents a small slice of the Australian K/P–12 school landscape—there are over 9,600 schools in the country—it is reasonably representative of the population in terms of school sector (the split of Government, Catholic, and Independent schools), school type (Primary, Secondary, and Combined Years), school size, and geography.
Sample & Methodology
The State of the Sector survey was distributed to Australian School Leaders (Principals, other Senior Leaders, Middle Leaders), Teachers, and Business/HR Managers via direct email, social media, and industry media campaigns.
The survey included a total of 57 questions. Respondents were asked to nominate which of the above role types best described their current role; their response determined which questions they would complete. All questions were presented to Principals and Other Senior School Leaders; a subset of questions was presented to other respondents.
This year’s survey featured the highest number of open text questions of any State of the Sector project. In a time of massive change, we wanted to listen to educators’ perspectives in their own words. Open text questions were coded using a combination of manual thematic analyses and automated machine learning models.
To dig deeper into respondents’ experiences, we also conducted follow-up interviews with a selection of eight participants who generously volunteered their time to contribute.
For most questions, responses were analysed in five ways: as a ‘whole sample’; separated by school type (Primary, Secondary, and Combined Years – e.g., K/P–12); separated by school sector (Government schools/Catholic schools/Independent schools); by geography (e.g. major cities; regional; remote) and by the five role types mentioned above.
Like all observational survey-based research, sampling bias may limit the generalisation of results. For example, participants may have completed the survey because they have front-of-mind concerns about the school workforce, because they’re familiar with/supportive of PeopleBench’s work, or because they have a special interest in human resources. The sample therefore may not fully reflect the breadth of perspectives in the Education sector.
The response counts from Middle Leaders and Other Senior Leaders in this year’s sample were small. While all commentary accurately reflects the views of these respondents, we urge caution when generalising these findings to the sector as a whole.
It is also important to note that this is not longitudinal research; we have not ‘followed’ the same cohort of respondents from year to year. Each year, our survey sample will be a little different, and this may explain some of the differences in results over time.
- 001.
- Section One.
SECTOR SENTIMENT.
Sentiment /ˈsɛntɪm(ə)nt/ noun a view or opinion that is held or expressed.
With three years of pandemic disruption in the rear-view mirror, Educators could be forgiven for expecting a reprieve from constant change. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for most, as societal shifts that began pre-COVID, morphed and accelerated during the pandemic, and continue to affect schools everywhere. And, as if right on cue, mass-market generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has “entered the chat” in the form of ChatGPT and similar tools.
In this section, we seek to understand how these circumstances are affecting how leaders and teachers experience their work now, and how they expect that to shift over the coming years.
- Graph 1.1
In one word, how do you feel about your role in the school workforce today?
To get a quick gauge of educator sentiment, we asked respondents to sum up how they felt about their current role in one word. The responses to this question speak to what it feels like to work in a school in 2023.
When coded into positive (e.g., Valued/ Important, Energised/Engaged), negative (e.g., Overworked/Pressured, Undervalued/Unimportant), and neutral (e.g., Adequate) sentiment categories, the 2023 data shows a comparable proportion of our respondents felt positively about their roles compared to those who felt negatively.
Looking at our sample as a singular whole, however, conceals the real story…
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 1.2
In one word, how do you feel about your role in the school workforce today?
As we’ve seen previously, the difference in the experience of work between respondents in leadership and administrative roles (Principals, HR/Business professionals, and Other Senior School Leaders) and those in teaching roles (Teachers, Middle Leaders) is substantial, and it plays out clearly in this sentiment data.
In 2022, the gap between these two cohorts widened; this year it has shifted. In 2023, responses from Principals, previously more likely to report positive than negative sentiment about their roles, are now evenly split.
The most concerning result, however, is the prevalence of negative sentiment among Middle Leaders. While this is a much smaller cohort than other role types in our sample—and we should interpret findings cautiously—the contrast between these roles’ experiences and the rest of the role types is stark.
- Graph 1.3
In one word, how do you feel about your school’s workforce overall today?
Broadening our focus, we also asked respondents to sum up how they felt about their school’s workforce as a whole in one word.
In 2023, the words chosen here reflected similar themes and patterns to the previous question, though as in previous years there were more positive responses (e.g., Optimistic for the future; Energised/Engaged) than negative (e.g., Tired/exhausted/fatigued).
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 1.4
In one word, how do you feel about your school’s workforce overall today?
Breaking this data down by role type reveals further shifts since 2022.
While previously more respondents reported positive sentiment toward their school’s workforce than toward their own role, this is no longer the case. For example, while 43% of Teachers reported positive sentiment toward their role, only 29% reported positive sentiment toward their school’s workforce overall. Still, the sentiment gap between respondents largely focused on the classroom—Teachers and Middle Leaders—and their counterparts in senior leadership and HR/Business support remains, with the latter cohort more likely to report positive sentiment toward their workforce.
- Graph 1.5
In one word, how do you feel about your school’s workforce overall today?
Explore data for different roles below.
In line with the overall findings, a majority of Principals reported positive sentiment about their school’s workforce, but this has diminished noticeably since 2022.
In 2022 a majority of Other Senior School Leaders reported positive sentiment about their school workforce; this year the majority was negative, driven by three major themes: Tired/Exhausted/Fatigued, Overworked/Pressured, and Lacking Capability/Underperforming.
As in previous years, respondents in these roles were also more likely to report positive than negative sentiment about their workforce, including feeling Dedicated and Optimistic for the future.
A substantial majority of Middle Leaders reported negative sentiment when thinking about their school’s workforce, including feeling Tired/Exhausted/Fatigued, and Lacking Capability/Underperforming. This shows a stark increase in the prevalence of negative sentiment since 2022.
A considerable majority of Teachers also reported negative sentiment when thinking about their school’s workforce, alongside a growing proportion of neutral sentiment. As in 2022, the most commonly cited themes for 2023 were Tired/Exhausted/Fatigued, Overworked/Pressured and Distressed.
- Section One.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
SECTOR SENTIMENT.
The low levels of positive sentiment we’ve seen in this year’s survey continue a trend we’ve observed in the two previous years. With the addition of more qualitative data this year, the root causes of this symptom are becoming clearer. We’ll explore these contributing factors in later sections of this report.
Results this year continued to illustrate two remarkably different experiences of work in Australian schools: employees focused on whole-of-school leadership and advisory work are much more likely to report positive experiences of work than those focused on delivering teaching and learning. This year, sentiment data starkly highlights the challenges faced by Middle Leaders in particular.
- 002.
- Section Two.
WORKFORCE CULTURE.
- Graph 2.1
In one word, describe your school’s workforce culture overall.
Participants were asked to use one word to describe their school’s culture; these words were then grouped by sentiment and themes.
While a majority of respondents described their school’s workforce culture in positive terms, this pattern did not play out in the same way for all role types.
The most common theme was Collaborative/Cohesive: almost a quarter of respondents used words like these to describe their school’s culture. The next most prevalent theme related to Optimism for the future, followed by references to an Energised/Engaged culture.
Negative-toned descriptions of workforce culture were more fragmented; the three most common themes (Overworked/Pressured; Hierarchical/Traditional; Distressed) accounting for less than 14% of total responses combined.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 2.2
In one word, describe your school’s workforce culture overall.
Explore data for different roles below.
Principals’ descriptions of their school’s culture were more likely to be positive than the overall average—over three-quarters of respondents used a positive term—and the most common themes remained consistent.
A slight majority of Other Senior School Leaders chose a negative descriptor for their culture, in contrast to Principals. Despite this, the most common single theme was positive and it centred around Collaboration and Cohesion.
As was the case last year, Teachers’ responses in 2023 included themes that spoke to cultures of Distress and Hierarchy.
On a positive note, Collaborative/Cohesive was the most frequently cited individual theme, consistent with other role types and can be a strength to tap into in the future.
Other than Principals, HR/Business Support roles were the only cohort more likely to choose a positive descriptor of their culture than a negative one. More than a quarter of responses from this group referenced the Collaborative/Cohesive theme identified elsewhere.
The breakdown of culture descriptors from Middle Leaders resembled Teachers’ responses. However, the theme of Disorganised/Uncertain/Chaotic, the second most cited negative theme, was unique to this cohort.
- Graph 2.3
Describe a situation that exemplifies the workforce culture of your school.
When we asked participants to describe a situation that exemplified their school’s workforce culture in action, we observed familiar variability in responses by role type.
For Principals, Other Senior Leaders, and HR/Business Support staff, most commonly cited examples spoke to a Collaborative culture in their workplace. This was a secondary theme for Middle Leader and Teacher cohorts.
In contrast, Teacher responses referenced themes related to Reactive cultures and Middle Leader responses most commonly referenced themes referred to siloed cultures.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 2.4
How well does your school’s workforce culture align with its goals?
The chart opposite illustrates the proportion of respondents from each role type who fell into each of these alignment categories. It shows, for example, the proportion of Principals who perceived high alignment, medium alignment, and low alignment between their school’s culture and its vision.
Consistent with our other findings about participants’ sentiment, Principals were most likely to report a high degree of alignment between their school’s culture and its goals, followed by HR/Business Support respondents.
Middle Leaders were the most likely to report low alignment and the least likely to report high alignment. Among Teachers and Other Senior Leaders, responses were evenly split between high, medium, and low ratings.
- Graph 2.5
How well does your school’s workforce culture align with your own values?
As a test of person-organisation fit, we also asked respondents to rate the perceived alignment between their own personal values and the workforce culture of the school. Compared to last year’s data, the proportion of Teachers and Middle Leaders who reported high alignment has dropped considerably.
Comparing responses from different sectors, we again found a reasonable degree of consistency, with a majority of respondents reporting a high degree of alignment across all three groups, though Government school respondents were more likely than their Catholic and Independent sector counterparts to report low alignment.
- Graph 2.6
If you could change one thing about your school’s workforce culture, what would it be?
As a sector, once we understand what culture looks like in our schools, we owe it to staff to take steps to improve it where necessary. In order to help guide leaders’ planning and action, we asked respondents in the survey to tell us directly in their own words what they’d like to see changed in their school’s workforce culture.
Responses were grouped into 10 categories, then broken into themes. Hovering on the chart opposite reveals the theme names and the percentage of responses in each. In addition to those in the chart, a further 12% of responses were not able to be grouped into a category, and 4% reported no change was required in their culture.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 2.7
If you could change one thing about your school’s workforce culture, what would it be? Breakdown by role type.
- Providing for autonomy and accountability in decision-making
- Improving acknowledgement and recognition of staff effort
- Improving the capability and/or leadership style of leaders in the school.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Section Two.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
WORKFORCE CULTURE.
The fact that culture is perceived very differently by respondents from different roles shows schools cannot take a single, uniformly positive culture for granted. Even if they see signs of positive culture in their school, leaders must be proactive and deliberate in how they demonstrate and communicate the culture they want to foster.
Concerningly low levels of perceived alignment between school workforce culture and Teachers and Middle Leaders’ personal values raise another flag. These staff need urgent support if they’re to stay in their roles, especially in light of our Workforce Indicators data in Section 5 of this report.
Our data shows many of the solutions we need to make schools better places to work are already out there—employees know what they need; we just need to ask them, take their input seriously, and do everything we can to act on it.
- 003.
- Section Three.
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES.
Strategy /ˈstra-tə-jē/ noun a plan, method, or series of manoeuvres for obtaining a specific goal or result.
Schools are complex, multifaceted enterprises with a diverse array of stakeholders and scope of impact in the community that most private sector companies could only dream of.
School leaders are stewards of considerable financial and physical assets; human resources; and the wellbeing and learning of our future generations of citizens.
This complexity and scope of impact makes it all the more important for leaders to plan—carefully and deliberately—for their school’s medium- and long-term future.
In this section, learn more about how school leaders use strategic planning to focus their attention and resources.
- Graph 3.1
Ranking school strategies from most important to least important.
For the past three years we’ve asked Principals and Other Senior Leaders to rank the importance of different types of strategy in their schools. Unsurprisingly, each year a majority of respondents identified Teaching & Learning Strategy as the top priority (see left side of the chart), with workforce strategy placing second.
In the 2022 survey the gap between Teaching & Learning and Workforce strategies had narrowed considerably. In 2023, it narrowed again, albeit slightly.
- Graph 3.2
Explore findings for different segments of our sample below.
Top strategic priorities by:
The increase in perceived importance of Workforce Strategy in our 2022 data was maintained in this year’s data; a third of respondents from all three sectors cited this as their most important strategy.
In 2021 and 2022, Workforce Strategy trailed Teaching & Learning across all school types. This year, however, for the first time Workforce Strategy was the highest-ranked strategy among Secondary schools; half of respondents in that category listed it as their top strategy.
- Section Three.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES.
The fact this year’s survey has seen workforce strategy further narrow the gap on teaching & learning strategy—and overtake it as the top-ranked strategy in secondary schools—shows our 2022 findings were not an anomaly. Leaders who have already commenced their workforce strategy journey now need to focus on effective implementation and evaluation so they can ensure their strategy delivers the intended results and desired impact.
- 004.
- Section Four.
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES.
Challenge \ ˈcha-lənj \ noun a stimulating task or problem.
Opportunity /ˌɒp.əˈtʃuː.nə.ti/ noun a time when a particular situation makes it possible to do or achieve something.
If anything, the complexity of life in schools has only increased since the end of the pandemic era, but there is also much innovation and progress taking place in spite of the inherent challenges.
This section explores which workforce challenges and opportunities are front-of-mind for educators in 2023, how these have changed since the 2022 survey, and how they’re expected to shift in the future.
- Graph 4.1
This past year, what have been the three greatest challenges facing your school’s workforce?
In previous surveys, we asked respondents to rank a predetermined list of workforce challenges in order of difficulty. From 2019 to 2022, this data illustrated the increasing prominence of challenges around constrained workforce supply and difficulty attracting quality candidates from that supply.
This year, mindful the Education labour market landscape is shifting rapidly, we took a different approach: we asked participants to tell us about the three greatest workforce challenges facing their schools in their own words.
Responses revealed eight recurring themes:
Supply & Recruitment.
Supply & Recruitment.
Workload & Wellbeing.
Workload & Wellbeing.
Leadership Pipeline.
Leadership Pipeline.
Professional Development.
Professional Development.
Student & Parent Needs.
Student & Parent Needs.
Performance Management.
Performance Management.
Flexible Work.
Flexible Work.
Funding & Resourcing.
Funding & Resourcing.
- Graph 4.2
What is the greatest staff supply challenge for your school?
To dig deeper into the supply crisis, we asked respondents to share—in their own words—their greatest supply challenge. Again, this was a departure from previous surveys where we asked participants to select the role type that posed the greatest supply issue. The key themes and their prevalence (as a percentage of total responses) are presented in the chart opposite.
The most striking of these findings was that the most commonly cited supply issues (21% of responses) related to the availability of teachers on a casual, relief and short-term contract basis. This category was not addressed in previous State of the Sector surveys, but in the current context where substantive teaching roles are going unfilled for longer (and teacher wellbeing risks remain critical), we should not be surprised casual and short-term staff are in high demand. An interesting counterpoint to this, however, is that around 6% of responses referenced candidates’ increasing expectations for more part-time and flexible work options, which schools were unable to meet, further constraining potential supply.
- Graph 4.3
What is the greatest staff retention challenge for your school?
We asked a similar question to gauge respondents’ greatest concerns from a staff retention point of view. Responses were spread across a variety of themes, but most fell into one of four macro categories:
- Concerns related to the nature of work in schools and the demands it places on staff
- Retention challenges for specific roles or staff profiles
- Employment market factors
- Contextual factors in the school environment that made staff more likely to leave.
The chart below presents a breakdown of the themes in each of these categories, along with the percentage of responses citing each theme. Consistent with our findings in other parts of this survey, the most commonly cited themes related to remuneration (11%, which was often raised in the context of increasing cost of living pressures, or in reference to the wages available elsewhere) and workload and work intensification (9%).
- Graph 4.4
What are the three greatest strengths within your school’s workforce?
For the first time, this year’s survey included a direct question about what’s going right in school workforces. We know that the incredible things happening in schools are not spoken about nearly enough. When we asked respondents to share the three greatest strengths in their school’s workforce, seven recurring themes emerged. These are presented below.
Adaptability.
Adaptability.
Creativity & innovation
Flexibility & adaptability
Cultures of kindness.
Cultures of kindness.
Care & support for colleagues
Authenticity/genuineness
Community & connection.
Community & connection.
Collegial team environments
Valued relationships and sense of community
Professionalism & expertise.
Professionalism & expertise.
Professionalism and reliability
Deep knowledge, skills, and experience
Leadership.
Leadership.
Consistent leadership practices
Listening & leading to serve
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
Staff inclusion
Valuing student diversity
Energy & resilience.
Energy & resilience.
Laughter & humour
Resilience & optimism
- Section Four.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES.
There is a widening gap between the needs, wants, and expectations of teachers and what leaders are able or willing to provide in terms of working conditions in schools. Increasingly, many teachers expect opportunities for part-time and flexible work, which schools—for multiple reasons—cannot or do not provide
Casual, relief, and short-term contract teachers are in especially high demand—and increasingly hard to find—as schools rush to fill the gaps left by dwindling teacher supply and low applicant numbers. This is compounded by changed expectations regarding the conditions of work people want to engage with; and how this aligns with the experience/qualifications needed/desired to undertake the available work
In spite of the many challenges, schools remain places where incredible work is done; our respondents place a high value on the kindness, inclusiveness, and collegiality that school workplaces can provide, and they admire the professionalism, expertise, and student-centric commitment of their colleagues. Where they are present, these strengths should be acknowledged and actively maintained.
- 005.
- Section Five.
WORKFORCE INDICATORS.
Indicator \ ˈɪndɪkeɪtər\ noun a sign that shows you what something is like or how a situation is changing.
While the sentiment of those who work in the K–12 sector is laid out clearly in this report and many other sources, what is more important is how that sentiment will affect tangible workforce outcomes like engagement, performance, and turnover. We expect these outcomes are key links in the chain to changed student outcomes, so understanding how they play out in the K–12 context is critical.
This section—a first in the State of the Sector project—aims to explore some of the possible intervening mechanisms between the sentiment expressed in the first section of this report and the potential workforce outcomes the sector may anticipate in the future.
- Graph 5.1
Psychological safety.
Psychological safety, collective belief in a workplace that team members can raise questions, ideas, or concerns, or make mistakes without fear of reprisal. Previous research has connected psychological safety to better information sharing (a necessary element in learning and improved practice) and work performance, so it is an important indicator of the ‘health’ of a workplace.
To take a preliminary gauge of psychological safety, we asked two questions: one addressing the acceptance of different opinions in the workplace and one about respondents’ level of comfort with raising concerns in the workplace.
As we’ve seen in most sections of this report, the difference in perspectives between classroom-oriented roles and others is stark in response to this question; almost half of Teachers and over half of Middle Leaders indicated disagreement with this statement.
A similar pattern played out in the responses to this related question, with almost half of Teachers and over half of Middle Leaders reporting discomfort with speaking up on matters they disagree with at their school.
- Graph 5.2
Sense of belonging.
Feeling like we belong in our social context is a key aspect of subjective wellbeing for most people, and this is equally true in the workplace where numerous positive outcomes are correlated with a sense of belonging and lack of ostracism.
To gauge this, we asked—simply and directly—the degree to which this statement rang true for respondents.
The same pattern persisted in the responses to this question about respondents’ perceived sense of belonging in their school, though to a slightly lesser degree. While Teachers and Middle Leaders were less likely to report a sense of belonging than their leadership and HR/Business Support counterparts, less than half of the respondents from these two role types reported disagreement with this statement.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 5.3
Intention to remain.
The final question in this section of the survey related to respondents’ intentions to continue working at their current school. Intention to stay can provide an indicator of future turnover risk in an organisation, albeit an imperfect one.
A majority of Teacher respondents agreed with this statement. However, this left a third anticipating leaving in the next 12 months, and a further 15% undecided.
Most concerningly, over half of Middle Leader respondents indicated they intended to stop working at their school in the next 12 months. Keeping in mind this data reflects a small sample of Middle Leaders and may not be representative, the consequences of this pattern at scale would be dire not only for the operation of schools today, but for the pool of potential senior leaders and principals in schools in years to come.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 5.4
Workforce Indicators by school sector.
- Retention intentions did not vary widely by school sector
- Respondents from Catholic schools were most likely to report feeling a sense of belonging at their school, and Independent school respondents the least likely
- Independent school respondents were most likely to indicate feeling comfortable to speak up when they disagreed with something in their school; Government school respondents were the least likely to feel comfortable in speaking up on matters they disagreed with, but they were also the most likely to indicate their colleagues welcomed opinions different from their own
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Section Five.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
WORKFORCE INDICATORS.
Just because a leader feels a sense of belonging and perceives it is safe to raise differences of opinion and concerns in a workplace, doesn’t mean Teachers and Middle Leaders will feel the same. Principals cannot see or hear everything that influences staff perceptions. Instead, they must rely on feedback and visibly demonstrate they are taking staff input seriously to make changes that ultimately build culture, one action at a time.
In our sample, Middle Leaders were least likely to report a feeling of psychological safety in their workplace, a sense of belonging in their school, and—most concerningly—intention to remain in their roles over the next 12 months. If this small sample is representative of the sector more broadly, there will be severe implications for the pipeline of future principals and school leaders.
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- 006.
- Section Six.
THE HR FUNCTION IN SCHOOLS.
Human Resources \ ˈhyü-mən ˈrē-ˌsȯrses \ noun the team or department in an organisation that seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the recruitment, development, and deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an array of cultural, structural, and personnel management techniques.
As we saw in last year’s State of the Sector report, the Human Resources (HR) function in schools is now rapidly gaining attention, as many of the loudest and most contentious public conversations surrounding the K–12 sector today relate specifically to HR issues.
This section addresses how the HR function in schools has kept pace with this shift, exploring the perceived strengths and gaps in capability and capacity to do this important work in schools.
- Graph 6.1
Who does the HR work in schools?
HR in schools is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Australian schools vary widely in terms of where HR functions are administered from, ranging from centralised support functions in systemic schools through to completely localised teams in larger independent schools, with all conceivable combinations in between.
Analysis of the distribution of HR work showed over a third of Principals spend at least half of their week “doing” HR; over 30% of Other Senior Leaders reported the same.
This significant chunk of leaders’ work relies on a skillset educators typically don’t learn as part of their formal training, underscoring the importance of preparing aspiring leaders with the right development opportunities before they move into leadership roles. These practitioners also need the right processes and systems to do the work when they formally step to leadership positions.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 6.2
The strength of school HR functions.
When we asked participants to rate their school’s strength on a list of HR functions and activities from 0 (weakest) to 10 (strongest), scores were relatively modest across the board. Naturally, responses varied substantially but grouping the averages into three categories (greater than 7 indicating strong performance; 6-7 indicating moderate performance; and less than 6 indicating inadequate performance) allowed several patterns to emerge.
This year’s results showed Supporting professional learning and development and Workplace Health & Safety topping the list.
Overall, the fact that all but two activities yielded an average rating of less than 7 out of 10 suggests schools still have much work ahead of them to develop, demonstrate, and communicate their capability and service quality so staff understand their value.
- Chart reflects all responses.
- Graph 6.3
HR Strengths by sector.
The only consistent strength across all sectors was Supporting professional learning and development.
For Government school respondents, less likely to interact directly with the HR specialists who support their school from centralised departmental functions, this was the only HR activity rated above 7 on average. Of the 21 activities in the list, 13 scored an average rating below 6.
Responses from Catholic school staff were higher than their Government and Independent sector counterparts on Creating positive experiences in the workplace and Managing workplace culture. This may be related to the higher likelihood that respondents from this sector felt a sense of belonging in their school, per the previous section.
Supporting flexible work was the lowest perceived strength rating for Independent schools and Designing sustainable jobs was perceived as lowest for Government schools, again reinforcing a consistent theme across much of the report regarding strong desires for change to the current ways of working.
- Graph 6.4
HR Strengths by role type.
- Creating meaningful careers for staff
- Creating positive experiences in the workplace
- Designing sustainable jobs
- Supporting flexible work
- Managing reward and recognition.
- Graph 6.5
HR Strengths: distribution of ratings
Examining the distribution of these responses for some activities paints an even starker picture of the different role types’ perspectives on HR issues.
The chart opposite shows this distribution for each activity. Select an activity from the drop-down to update the chart. Rating scores are presented along the X axis and the percentage of respondents who chose that rating is shown on the Y axis.
- Section Six.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
THE HR FUNCTION IN SCHOOLS.
The HR function in schools has come a long way, and deserves much of the credit for schools continuing to operate through all the disruptions of the COVID era. Our 2021 and 2022 surveys showed the HR fundamentals of Workplace Health & Safety and Industrial/Employee Relations were consistently regarded as strengths in schools of all types, and the sector has also begun to embrace workforce strategy and planning at scale for the first time in its history.
Ironically, the HR skills that got the K–12 sector to where it is today are not necessarily the skills required to get to where it needs to go tomorrow. The sector has work to do in creating meaningful careers for staff and creating positive experiences in the workplace. These are mission-critical if the sector is to address poor staff supply and retention, and will require schools to supplement their HR capability with change management and employee experience expertise.
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- 007.
- Section Seven.
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE.
Forecast \ ˈfȯr-ˌkast \ noun to calculate or predict (some future event or condition) usually as a result of study and analysis of available pertinent data.
The predictions of many futurists have come true: we are living in an age where both the severity and frequency of change is increasing—socially, economically, and technologically.
So, what does the future of the school workforce look like in this context? In this section we explore the factors most likely to shape this future—for better or worse.
- Graph 7.1
AI and the future of work in schools.
As if right on cue, months before this year’s survey was launched, the launch of the generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, ChatGPT sparked a flurry of speculation in Education.
With any new technology, uptake tends to follow an “adoption curve” whereby a relatively small number of early adopters embrace the change followed by a larger segment of curious-but-cautious adopters, then the majority, with resistors and laggards trailing behind. Given this form of AI is so new in schools, we are still at the front end of this adoption curve. Still, the responses to this question illustrate how complex this issue is in schools.
The chart opposite shows responses tended to fall into one of four broad categories, though there was considerable nuance and variation within each category. Example responses are included for illustration.
- Graph 7.2
Which factors do you anticipate having the greatest positive impact on the school workforce over the next three years?
To gauge the most important issues to watch and address, we asked respondents which factors they anticipated having the greatest positive impact on the school workforce over the next three years. Their text responses were coded into themes and eight broad categories emerged. A summary of these eight categories, along with an indicative example quote from each, is presented in the table below.
Flexibility & new models of work.
Principal, QLD
Strategy & governance.
Deputy Principal, VIC
New staff entering schools.
Principal, SA
Professional relationships & professional development.
Principal, QLD
Shift in workloads.
Principal, VIC
Improved management - student/parent behaviour.
Teacher, QLD
Leadership.
Principal, QLD
Unable to see any positive factors.
Business Support, QLD
- Graph 7.3
Which factors do you anticipate having the greatest negative impact on the school workforce over the next three years?
Conversely, we also asked participants to identify the factors that could have the greatest negative impact on the school workforce over the next three years. Their text responses were coded into themes and again eight broad categories emerged. A summary of these eight categories, along with an indicative example quote from each, is presented in the table below.
Lack of flexibility.
Other Senior Leader, VIC
Resourcing & governance.
Principal, NSW
Negativity & performance management.
Principal,WA
Professional learning & career management.
Business Support, SA
Workload & wellbeing risks.
Principal, SA
Challenging student/parent behaviour.
Principal, QLD
Leadership.
Teacher, QLD
Supply.
Principal, QLD
- Graph 7.4
When you think about the future of work in schools, what would you like to see changed?
Finally, we also asked participants to share their wishes for the future of work in schools. A summary of these eight categories, along with an indicative example quote from each, is presented in the table below.
Systemic change.
Teacher, SA
Curriculum & assessment reform.
HR Support, QLD
Equity & inclusion.
Deputy Assistanct/Principal, NSW
Flexibility & change-readiness.
Principal, QLD
Improved support.
Principal, SA
Changed allocation of time.
Principal, WA
Changed public discourse & expectations.
Teacher, WA
Listening to student & teacher voice.
Teacher, NT
- Section Seven.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
LOOKING TO THE FUTURE.
Our data shows diverse perspectives of the risks and opportunities inherent in AI and varying levels of readiness to engage with it. The next 12 months will be telling as the sector moves into the next phase of the ‘adoption curve’ and a larger proportion of educators and leaders engage directly—voluntarily or otherwise—with AI tools.
Much of the potential for positive change in schools rests on the leadership style, change management, and communication skills of school leaders. Leaders who responded to this survey are largely attuned to the importance of planning for the future of their workforces and the challenges facing staff. The career trajectory of a typical school leader, however, doesn’t always provide opportunities to develop the skills to lead an enterprise through massive change.
Many of the risks facing the K–12 workforce are related to either: a) the fact many of the jobs (and career pathways) in the sector have not been designed with sustainable performance in mind; or b) resistance to change at all levels in the sector—from teachers to school leaders to policymakers. Addressing these risks will require both systemic and local interventions.
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- 008.
- Section Eight.
WHAT NOW FOR LEADERS?
This year’s State of the Sector shows the continuation of many of the challenges we heard about in 2022. In some cases, our data points to a widening perspective gap between those who lead and those who teach, but the future doesn’t need to be this way. Magic can happen when we co-design solutions to wicked problems; it’s time to get collaborative and united on the few critical things we want to change first.
- Section eight
The greatest staff supply strategy is a staff retention strategy.
While initiatives like the Federal Government’s National Teacher Workforce Action Plan show positive intent to address Australia’s deepening teacher supply crisis, the fact is the sector may never return to the supply dynamics that have allowed it to become, in some areas, complacent about an assured pipeline of people who wish to work within it. In the meantime, schools’ best hope for creating sustainable, high-impact workforces is to make sure they retain the talent they already have.
Staff have many of the solutions already. Ask them, listen, and act.
In the context of a growing movement for greater student voice, our survey continues to find staff in schools expect clearer, more transparent, and more frequent communication from leaders. They want to have direct and genuine input into the big decisions about how work in schools might be done and experienced in the future, and to experience agency in shaping new solutions to the challenges in their work. In support of collective success, leaders will need to introduce new systems and processes to ensure staff are accountable for their piece of implementation success. Ideas without action are just ideas; with the right action from everyone involved, ideas become our pathway to a brighter workforce future.
Supplement your school’s human intelligence (responsibly).
Frequently, educators have told us the burden of repetitive, administrative process-oriented work is one of the things they’d most like changed in their workplace. In other sectors, AI and other technologies have long since automated much of this work and changed professional jobs forever. It’s now Education’s turn to find the right mix of tools to help alleviate the workload of teaching jobs and allow teachers to spend more of their time on the aspects of the role that bring them joy and a sense of meaning—and that add more value to the lives of students.
Things are moving fast. Those who refuse to engage with these technologies will have been left behind by the time our next survey launches in 2024. Those who engage with these ideas only as they relate to student learning will have missed the enormous opportunity to transform the experience of working in schools. Those who experiment—not just with the technology—but also with the schooling model redesign, job redesign, and process redesign made possible through its existence are the schools and systems who will have first pick of workforce talent and enjoy the many benefits of a more sustainable, high-impact workforce.
Design with sustainability in mind.
Having changed little over the past several hundred years, the standard model of schooling has created teaching jobs that are largely incompatible with good practice in job design. There are industrial, regulatory, and funding factors that make redesigning these roles difficult, but to accept that we cannot change a centuries-old work paradigm is to accept that we are mindfully allowing the supply of adults who wish to work in schools to continue to dwindle.
Leaders and policymakers must break the work of a teacher down into their component parts, reallocate the work that doesn’t require an educational professional to complete it, and put the remaining pieces back together in a way that creates a balance between the demands on teachers’ time and psychological wellbeing, and the skills and autonomy they need to do the work. This work design focus must also identify opportunities to maximise technology capabilities including automation (primarily focused on process optimisation) and augmentation (how to rethink work design, skills, and engagement models of work with the growth of AI). What do humans do best? What do machines do best? What are the organisational capabilities and functions, currently missing from schools, that will allow us to move to these new ways of working?
Acknowledge the struggle and celebrate progress.
One of the ironies of running a survey like the State of the Sector is that it can amplify the discussion about the problems facing Education in a way that obscures the many great things happening in school workplaces. Those of us working in the field know, however, that it is filled-to-brimming with wise leaders who work tirelessly to address these challenges, challenge their own assumptions, invite diversity of thought and practice, and enable their staff to engage in the life-giving work of building the future of work in education. While the challenges some parts of the sector face today may seem like impossible mountains to climb, progress is being made every day, in many ways, and the sector must continue to celebrate and take pride in these wins—sharing what’s working might just provide the missing piece of the puzzle for a peer or colleague elsewhere in the sector. Together, we all learn.
In this context, leaders are called to:
- Know your workforce and understand your employees’ experience of work. Use data (in the Sector we have plenty of it!) to understand, monitor, and manage workforce risks. Ask staff about their wellbeing and their experience of work and what changes would make a meaningful difference. Look at your data in the context of relevant peers—your own alone is only part of the story for informing your next best actions.
- Plan for the experience you want key roles to have. Consider: what do they need to stay engaged and feel positive about their work, their environment, and their impact? At the same time, plan for the succession of key incumbents; this includes identifying aspiring leaders early and providing them with development opportunities for people management and enterprise leadership, not just academic leadership.
- Rethink how learning can be delivered differently and plan for the likely scenarios parts of the sector will encounter moving forward (e.g., using fewer teachers and/or fewer specialised teachers). Consider what each of these scenarios will mean for the types of roles schools will need and the mix of these roles.
- Avoid winging it. Make sure you have an integrated plan for all the investments you are making along the hire-to-retire lifecycle. Invest in developing an evidence-informed workforce strategy for the future of the workforce that aligns with the likely operating scenarios you will face in your unique context, identify your school’s greatest workforce priorities, and plot a course of action to execute these priorities.
- Create an environment in which the culture and wellbeing of your workforce are working towards your goals, not against them. In most cases this should include a healthy readiness to embrace change. Building culture and wellbeing starts with measuring these factors to establish a clear baseline against which to measure change and progress.
- Get curious and analytical about the design of work. Teaching work is diverse and involves a broad mix of activities; consider which of these activities can be performed by non-specialist or non-teaching roles. Identify opportunities to reduce workload by using efficient processes, technology, and automation to better manage repetitive, standardisable chunks of work.
- Recognise technology as part of the solution, not just part of the problem. Look for the mundane and process-based tasks that can be eliminated, automated, or augmented by intelligent machines. This creates opportunities to spend more time on the more meaningful work, as well as freeing up capacity and lifting capability. Of course, apply appropriate ethical and risk management practices, but approach these as a way to enhance the application of technology rather than prevent it.
- Approach ideas from other sectors with an open mind. Education is not the first and only sector to deal with a supply and retention crisis. Consider what lessons can be learned from elsewhere, and which models can be adopted and adapted. Often there are more commonalities between sectors than meets the eye.
- Develop a practice of continuous experimentation. Use data to identify opportunities to do things differently and inform hypotheses about the likely best approach. Trial new initiatives, measure and evaluate progress, learn, adapt, and iterate.
- Build your knowledge of contemporary workforce development practices and share this knowledge with your peers and aspiring leaders. School leaders of the future need a strong understanding of what it means—not just to lead—but to manage a sustainable workforce before they ascend to leadership positions.
- Find opportunities to collaborate, rather than compete for talent. This may mean building partnerships with tertiary education providers, the private sector, other schools and, increasingly, exploring service and resource sharing models with organisations other than your own school (think community hubs, adjacent providers, industry partners).
- Thank you
STATE OF THE SECTOR
Brought to you by PeopleBench.
PeopleBench exists to help leaders in the Education sector proactively address the challenges facing their workforces. Talk to us about how to make your school a great place to work, so it can be an even greater place to learn.
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