This report shares findings of a nationwide Australian study into public and teachers’ perceptions of the teaching profession. The study was commissioned in response to ongoing concerns about recruitment and retention of educators and reports about the wellbeing of teachers and school leaders. It consisted of two large-scale parallel surveys. The first survey was completed by members of the teaching profession, and the second survey was completed by a nationally-representative sample of the public.

The teacher survey asked participants to reflect on their experiences as teachers and their satisfaction with their work, including current challenges and recommendations of how those challenges might be addressed. 2,444 members of the teaching profession completed this survey, contributing their views and experiences towards a large-scale understanding of teachers’ work. Respondents were from all states and territories in Australia, and indicated that they worked across all of Australia’s schooling sectors (early childhood, primary, secondary, and Vocational Education and Training) and were employed in both government and non-government schools.

The public survey was administered to a nationally-representative sample of the Australian public through a contracted market research company and focused on perceptions of teachers and the teaching profession, including the current challenges faced by teachers and schools. The sample of participants is weighted to the profile of the sample definition to provide a representative reporting sample. The profile is normally derived from census data or, if not available from the census, from industry accepted data.

Key findings:

• While just over half of teachers are satisfied with their job (56%), a third of teachers (34%) expressed dissatisfaction with their role as a teacher
• Although the public feels that teachers are respected and trusted, this is not consistently transferring to teachers feeling appreciated for the work that they do
• Teacher workload is an area of serious concern for teachers, and is also recognised as an issue by members of the public. Workload concerns are influencing teachers’ intention to leave the profession, and form part of the reason people would not recommend teaching as a career
• Teachers are concerned about health, safety, and wellbeing, and these concerns have implications for the length of time respondents saw themselves remaining in the profession
• Teaching can be a challenging profession. Teachers’ insights into the challenges they face can inform policy and practice
• Attention to workload and wellbeing factors that are concerning both teachers and the public may have the greatest impact on teacher retention, as well as attracting future teachers to the profession