But they are becoming more critical and more concentrated in schools in working class and impoverished areas, compounding the growing problems in such schools. Almost two years ago, in August 1997, a suburban newspaper, the Mt Druitt-St Marys Standard reported on a teachers' meeting where a teacher from a Mt Druitt school claimed that the school had not been able to provide teachers for 55 percent of senior classes and 61 percent of junior classes. A teacher from the Penrith area, in Sydney's far west, said that of 435 teacher absences in semester one, only 110 had been replaced by a casual teacher. Primary classes of up to 32 children would often have to cope with up to 10 more students, who sat on the floor because there were not enough desks. One factor in this worsening situation is that pay and working conditions for casual or relieving teachers have deteriorated over the past decade.
Casual teachers are usually education graduates waiting for a permanent teaching position.
Changes to school funding over the past decade have also affected working conditions for casual teachers. Individual schools, and not the education department, now pay their salaries. Economic pressures usually dictate that relief teachers are given a full lesson workload and used to cover a range of teacher absences, frequently teaching outside their subject area instead of replacing just the one absent teacher within their own area of expertise. Stretched funding also pressures schools to look for lower-paid teachers. The increase in overall teachers' working hours in NSW, agreed to by the teachers' union, has also increased workloads for casual teachers.