Teacher resignations are a contributing factor to positions at schools on the island being unfilled on the first day of the academic year.

Over the past two years, about 90 per cent of school positions have been staffed on the first day of school, the Senate heard on Thursday during consideration of the Appropriation Act 2024 and estimates of revenue and expenditure for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.

Opposition Senate Leader Robin Tucker questioned the reasons behind the lack of teachers.

“It’s not good enough,” she said of the figure. “On the face of it, that is probably great, but I personally don’t think that’s great.

“I recognise that people are coming in from overseas and all those types of things but we know school starts every year at the same time, so I don’t understand why this is not 100 per cent,” she said.

Government Senate Leader Owen Darrell cited a number of reasons for empty posts.

He acknowledged that teachers moving to the island from overseas was among the reasons.

“We cannot predict which teachers are going to be eligible to start on day one or teachers resigning for personal reasons only days before the start of school,” he said.

He added that the Government aimed to ensure all teaching positions were filled at the start of every school year.

Mr Darrell was also asked to provide insight into the arrangement for teachers working outside school hours.

He said the decision was taken in response to a request from school leaders, parents and teachers and the arrangement would not “impact the learning of current students”.

Mr Darrell said it was recognised that “sustainability is an issue”. He said the authorities were working on a “ better balance” to in-school and out-of-school time for teachers during the 2024-25 academic school year.

He was also questioned on the arrangements put in place to monitor school attendance.

He said attendance continued to be monitored on a daily basis and noted that attendance officers worked with school principals, counsellors and outside agencies to ensure that all students went to school.

The issue of specialist training for teachers to deal with children experiencing behaviour issues as well as those experiencing substance abuse problems was raised by Ms Tucker.

Mr Darrell said the Department of Education was embarking on a five-year development programme to address behaviour issues occurring in the classrooms.