When it comes to our children’s education, nothing can ever substitute for a dedicated teacher in the classroom.

But when Labor came to office in New South Wales, our education system was in a bad way, with essential classroom teachers leaving the profession in huge numbers.

Poor pay and a ballooning administrative workload had led to chronic staff shortages and 10,000 merged or collapsed classes across the state every day.

For the first time in history, teacher resignations were higher than retirements.

As a result, education was suffering, with less one on one attention for our kids.

Labor has made it our mission to turn this trend around – and to get more teachers into our classrooms.

The good news is, it’s working.

The number of teacher vacancies in NSW public schools has just hit its lowest point in three years and about half a million hours of lost learning has been returned to our kids.

We have given teachers a pay rise, so we can improve recruitment and retention and ensure your child sees the same teacher every day.

We have also given more than 16,000 temporary teachers and support staff permanent roles to encourage long term retention and career planning.

And now, because of our reforms, permanent teacher vacancies have fallen by 40%.

Every time we fill a high school teacher role, it’s equivalent to 1000 lessons a year.

This means our children can focus on what is most important, learning in the classroom.

As Premier, I am doing everything I can to ensure that our children get a world-class education and the best possible start in life.

And to do that, we need to attract great teachers, who can see the best in every student, and who can help them learn and grow.