{"id":32236,"date":"2026-09-14T09:41:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T01:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/?post_type=media-release&p=32236"},"modified":"2026-09-14T09:41:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T01:41:59","slug":"inspiration-alone-wont-solve-australias-teacher-shortage-study-reveals","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/inspiration-alone-wont-solve-australias-teacher-shortage-study-reveals\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspiration alone won\u2019t solve Australia\u2019s teacher shortage, study reveals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A $10 million Australian Government campaign celebrating inspirational teachers risked overlooking the workplace conditions driving educators from the profession, according to new research<\/a> led by Curtin University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Be That Teacher<\/em> campaign launched in October 2023 as part of the Federal Government’s National Teacher Workforce Action Plan, aiming to elevate the profession\u2019s status and encourage more Australians to consider teaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To test its effectiveness, researchers analysed materials produced between January 2022 and December 2025, including government policy documents, ministerial speeches, interviews, media releases and material from the campaign\u2019s archived website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lead author Dr Saul Karnovsky<\/a>, from Curtin\u2019s School of Education<\/a>, said celebrating teachers and improving the profession\u2019s public image were worthwhile goals but inspirational messages could not replace action on the conditions affecting recruitment and retention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe problem arises when inspiration starts becoming a policy response to a workforce crisis,\u201d Dr Karnovsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGovernments are telling prospective teachers this is meaningful work, they can change a child\u2019s life and they can be \u2018that teacher\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThose things can absolutely be true, but they don\u2019t remove excessive workloads, occupational stress, administrative demands or the other working conditions research consistently tells us are pushing teachers out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research found the campaign presented teaching as emotionally rewarding and morally meaningful through stories of individual educators inspiring students and transforming their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argued this focus shifted attention away from the material and structural conditions shaping teachers\u2019 work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Karnovsky said relying on the image of an extraordinary teacher could also place responsibility for overcoming difficult conditions on individual educators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe keep returning to the idea of the extraordinary individual teacher who changes lives,\u201d Dr Karnovsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut teaching isn\u2019t sustained by extraordinary individuals continually overcoming difficult conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is sustained by workplaces in which teachers have the time, resources, professional support and conditions required to do their jobs well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper cites previous Australian research linking teacher turnover and retention to workload, workplace conditions, stress and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It notes research in which 46 per cent of Australian teachers reported considering leaving their jobs within 12 months because of workload and stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also cites a survey of more than 22,000 Australian teachers, in which 86 per cent described their work as emotionally demanding and 58 per cent attributed their stress to excessive workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Karnovsky said describing teaching as a calling or vocation could unintentionally reinforce expectations educators should tolerate poor conditions because their work was socially important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we continually describe teaching as an opportunity to make a difference, we need to be careful about what else we\u2019re asking teachers to accept,\u201d Dr Karnovsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMeaningful work should not require people to sacrifice their own wellbeing to prove how committed they are.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Karnovsky said recruitment campaigns could help counter negative perceptions of teaching, but improving the profession\u2019s image should not substitute for improving the profession itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Australia wants more people to become teachers, telling better stories about teaching may help,\u201d Dr Karnovsky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we want those people to remain teachers 10 or 20 years later, workload, resourcing, professional autonomy, safety and working conditions must also be part of the conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paper calls for teacher wellbeing to be understood in the context of institutional and workplace arrangements, rather than treated primarily as an individual educator\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It argues recruitment and retention policies should give greater attention to the material and relational conditions of teachers\u2019 work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The open-access paper, Crafting the inspirational teacher: governing through affect as policy response to teacher recruitment in Australia<\/em>, was published in the Journal of Education Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A $10 million Australian Government campaign celebrating inspirational teachers risked overlooking the workplace conditions driving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4457,"featured_media":32237,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"5678,6333,6217,5646,8247,6621","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":82,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[126,82],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-32236","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-society-and-culture"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":[{"title":"","qualification":"","link":"","description":"","faculty":""}],"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":[22646,24388]},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}},"experts":false},"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/AdobeStock_366537395-1920x500.jpeg","author_meta":{"first_name":"Sam","last_name":"Jeremic","display_name":"Sam Jeremic"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/32236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/32236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32236"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=32236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}