Australia has access to 20,000 migrant teachers, but is not using them. Why not?
- Written by Sun Yee Yip, Lecturer in Teacher Education, Monash University
Vanessa Garcia/ Pexels Australia needs more teachers. It ranks among the worst-performing countries in the OECD for teacher shortages. This is particularly so for public schools.
As of December 2025, there was a reported shortfall of 2,600 teachers in Victoria and New South Wales alone.
A 2024 Australian Education Union survey of 953 primary and...





