NSW Libs and Labor pledge teacher boost

The two major parties on Sunday accused each other of copying the policy as both promised to move 10,000 staff into ongoing roles to fix shortages ahead of the March state election.

The government said temporary teachers and support staff in areas of need would be offered permanent positions to bolster classroom numbers.

Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the issue had been raised by both teachers and principals, adding that progress had been hampered by the current agreement with unions.

"The Department of Education has been working to identify teachers and support staff in temporary roles who could be transitioned," she said.

"At least 10,000 roles have been identified and the department will continue to work directly with principals to identify more."

Opposition Leader Chris Minns used a speech at the Labor state conference on Sunday to launch his party's pledge to create 10,000 more permanent teaching roles by shifting temporary positions into ongoing jobs.

He said nearly 40 per cent of the teaching workforce were on temporary or casual contracts, accounting for 26,000 positions.

"Attracting teachers to this profession can first be achieved by showing the existing workforce that we want them to stay, that we need them to stay," he told the conference.

"We won't just tell them they're valued, we will show them."

Labor education spokeswoman Prue Car accused the coalition of replicating the opposition's approach, while Ms Mitchell told the ABC it was a case of Labor "copying our homework".

The government scheme differs in including support staff in its promise of permanent positions.

Recent NSW figures show an increasing number of public school teachers are leaving the workforce, with the number who quit in 2021 outpacing the total who retired.

Ms Mitchell has disputed the relevance of the figures, saying the state's teaching workforce had grown around twice as fast as enrolments in the past 10 years.

Australian Associated Press