Answers to Questions

Department for Education Staff

423 The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (Deputy Leader of the Opposition) ().6 February 2025).

1. The number of Department for Education staff currently suspended from duties, categorised by job title, type of site (i.e. school/preschool/support services/corporate/etc.), region, and length of time suspended.

2. The number of staff, broken down by permanent, casual, or contract, or otherwise, between financial year 2022 to present.

3. The number of vacancies at the beginning of each term, between financial year 2022 to present.

4. The number of reports of incidents requiring police attendance at schools and reason for attendance from financial year 2022 to present.

5. The number of critical incidents involving assaults by students on teachers (or whatever relevant category is/was used by the department to capture incidents of this nature) from financial year 2022 to present.

6. The number of critical incidents involving assaults by students on students (or whatever relevant category is/was used by the department to capture incidents of this nature) from financial year 2022 to present.

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing): The Minister for Education, Training and Skills has advised:

Staff suspended from duties is publicly available from a recent freedom of information request provided to Hon. John Gardner MP.

The total number of staff is publicly available from the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment. I note the Malinauskas Labor government has dramatically increased the number of staff converted to permanency, with over 1,800 staff converted since coming to government.

In relation to vacancies, South Australia is doing remarkably well compared to the Eastern States, who have previously had thousands of teacher vacancies. In comparison, we have commenced the year with only 57 vacancies, down from 68 in 2024 and 86 in 2022.

In relation to critical incidents, upon coming to government the Malinauskas Labor government was concerned about the rising numbers of incidents schools were experiencing under the former government. That is why the Minister for Education, Training and Skills held a violence in schools round table with students, teachers, parents and experts to develop a response.

The government has since announced a range of actions to reduce violence and bullying in schools, which can be found at https://www.education.sa.gov.au/parents-and-families/safety-and-wellbeing/behaviour-support/violence-prevention-and-response-in-schools.

While reducing incidents in schools takes time, I am pleased to advise that we are seeing some positive signs of improvements, including reduced incidents requiring police attendance in 2024.