More than 4000 public sector workers across Lutruwita/Tasmania went on strike on March 26 to demand better working conditions.
Green Left spoke to David Genford, President of the Australian Education Union (AEU) Tasmania branch and former public school teacher, to discuss the difficulties faced by teachers and other public sector workers in the state, including unsustainable workloads, a lack of funding and staff shortages.
Genford said the main issues driving teachers to take industrial action were intense workloads and rising violence in Tasmanian schools. He said, pending the result of the Victorian teachers strike, Tasmanian teachers could become the lowest paid in the country.
The impact of these challenges affects not just teachers, but also student performance. Under-resourcing of schools means teachers have no choice but to pick up the slack and do hours of unpaid work to ensure the curriculum is delivered.
“Morale is low in the workforce,” Genford said. “Teachers and support staff do a great job … but when resources are low it impacts what can be done in schools.
“If we see teachers leaving the state, the shortage will only get worse, and this will impact on student’s learning.”
Tasmania has the worst rates of public school under-staffing in the country. As of 2025, 82% of Tasmanian schools face critical staff shortages, according to the AEU. All principals surveyed reported unfilled positions in their schools.
Teachers are reporting high burnout rates, with 34% of teachers planning to quit before retirement in 2024, up from 12.5% in 2020.
Genford said staff-shortages “hit some schools harder than others” because some principals “haven’t been allowed to employ extra teachers out of their budget”.
Regional centres have been hit disproportionately hard. Genford said one teacher left Tasmania to teach in Bendigo. “She worked out that over four years she would be $80,000 better off … When other states offer $50,000 to relocate, it’s hard to compete.”
About 75% of public school funding in Tasmania comes from the state government, with the rest provided by the federal government. The state government also sets teacher salaries and conditions.
Genford said teachers had “no other option” but to strike. “The government only listens when the impact is on them.”
He said teachers would prefer to be in the classroom, and the passionate speeches delivered by teachers at the March 26 rally were a clear indicator of this.
The AEU are demanding enforceable “triggers” in their agreement which would allow for the allocation of additional time or support when workload thresholds are exceeded.
For example, classes with a higher number of individual learning plans — for students with disabilities or learning difficulties — would entitle teachers to additional planning time, while larger class sizes would require additional in-class assistance.
The crumbling public sector in Tasmania reveals the inability of neoliberalism to sustainably deliver public goods, such as education, healthcare and transport, with workers continually forced to absorb the pressures of the failing system.
Genford and AEU members are calling on the Jeremy Rockcliff Liberal state government to recognise the importance of the public sector in Tasmanian society and deliver the urgently needed pay rise and workload reduction that teachers need.