Based on the NSW Education Department’s latest data there are about 70,000 full-time teachers. Teachers eligible for the highest salaries will be identified by the department and individual schools, or drawn from a pool of “highly accomplished” or “lead” (HALT) teachers.

Data released late last year shows young teachers in NSW are quitting lucrative permanent positions at the highest rate in 13 years, with one in nine now leaving the profession within five years.

Australian Catholic University’s Jessica Holloway, who has studied teacher pay and evaluation, said the teaching profession is facing a workforce crisis as fewer graduates apply for teaching degrees.

“Rather than focus on a few teachers, we need to think more broadly about the teaching profession and whether current salaries across the board should be increased to have the effects that we want. This is improved retention, conditions for teachers and better student outcomes,” Holloway said.

The first cohort of 200 teachers eligible for higher pay will be drawn from schools across NSW including Temora High, Woollahra Public, Girraween Public and Asquith Girls High.

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The University of Melbourne’s John Hattie, who is leading advice on NSW teacher salary reforms, said the program is starting with 52 schools. It will build up so that about 10 per cent of teachers are eventually eligible for the highest salaries.

“We have a retention crisis and this is the time to make the reforms. This has been trialled before and failed, and this time we want to get this right. Starting this way will allow to program to grow in ways that fits with the purposes and aim,” Hattie said.

NSW has a program that allows public school teachers to be promoted into HALT positions, but just 310 teachers in NSW have been accredited under the specialist system. The highly accomplished teachers will form part of the “talent pool for potential selection” for the higher salary positions.

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President of the NSW Teachers Federation, Angelo Gavrielatos, said while the announcement could result in additional pay for a “small fraction of the teaching service”, it leaves more than 90 per cent of teachers with a wage cut in real terms.

Late last year, the Industrial Relations Commission handed teachers a real wage cut of 6 per cent over two years.

“This performance pay announcement is not located within any industrial agreement, and is nothing more than a distraction by a desperate government responsible for the teacher shortage,” he said.

Education program director at the Grattan Institute, Jordana Hunter, said the roles should be seen as the “pinnacle of the expert teacher career path”.

“It makes sense to start at a smaller number, to make sure we build out the roles over time.”

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