00:00Class is in session for the Northern Territory's newest cohort of teachers, including arrivals
00:08from interstate and overseas.
00:10I've wanted to come and really experience what Australia is really like and the diversity
00:16that it has.
00:17A good experience, a good learning experience on just coming out first year and getting
00:21straight into it.
00:22For those returning to the Territory, there's words of wisdom for the first timers.
00:27I think they're unexpected, that's the advice I can give them, expect the unexpected, always
00:34believing that whatever strategy you may come up with, they may not work.
00:41With 146 new teachers and 23 principals, it's one of the biggest intakes in recent years.
00:48But there's still a significant shortfall, 110 vacancies.
00:53Some of those positions will be filled from department staff that do have their teaching
00:58degree.
00:59The shortage having a trickle-on effect.
01:01The flow-on effect of shortages is that it puts a lot of pressure back onto the people
01:06who are already there.
01:09So you do have people backfilling, working two jobs at once, having split classes.
01:15Teachers in the Territory are often required to do more than just educate.
01:19They can find themselves being makeshift social workers, sports coaches, drivers and
01:24family counsellors.
01:25There's only so much we can do to prepare people in those instances, it comes back again
01:31to making sure we have the systems in place once they're there to receive that support
01:35if they need them.
01:36Plenty of learning ahead.
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