By KOREN HARVEY

 Teachers have called for greater stability in school employment after a recent survey found a majority of new teachers in Victoria were employed on short-term contracts.

The Australian Education Union surveyed 1033 public school teachers in their first five years of teaching and found 62.5 per cent were on contracts.

On average, new teachers are submitting 16 applications for positions, with 77 per cent feeling their teaching is negatively affected when needing to reapply for positions, the survey found.

Clare Billson, of Warranwood, sends her two children to a local government primary school and said the survey findings are troubling.

“I would like the teachers that are in charge of my children for so many hours a week to have job security,” Ms Billson said.

“That would mean they are focusing more on their teaching, rather than worrying about whether they have a job for the next year," she said.

Ms Billson said teachers needed to develop strong relationships with families to ensure students achieved good educational outcomes and this could only be achieved over time.

Teachers were more likely to leave their profession if they constantly had to reapply for positions, she said.

“Adding the extra pressure (of contracts) means teachers won’t want to be teachers any more,” she said.

Executive officer of Parents Victoria Gail McHardy said contract employment inhibited relationships within the wider school community.

"We’re entrusting the future of our children to these young professionals and they deserve to know that the community respects what they’re doing and that they have ongoing job security," Ms McHardy said.

"Knowing you’ll be continuing in your position can only enhance partnerships with parents and students," she said.

Teachers responded to the outcomes of the survey on social media, with some saying that a lack of job security had delayed their plans to start a family or caused them to leave the profession altogether.

Teacher Lib Derbyshire has been in the public system for eight years and said the prevalence of short-term contracts could affect the entire staff of a school.

"It can be quite awkward around the school community when people’s contracts are ending,” Ms Derbyshire said.

“(The teacher’s) colleagues have to be on the (interview) panel and if they don’t get rolled over or a new position, they have to continue teaching with those same colleagues for the remainder of the year," she said.

Along with any tension this may cause in the staffroom, having to reapply for positions “causes a lot of stress for people with families and those who want to start families”, she said.

The AEU has called on the State Government to reduce the levels of contract employment, with Victorian branch president Meredith Peace describing the contract system as "broken".

Department of Education and Training spokesman Alex Munro said the decision to employ staff on contracts was made locally by schools in response to workforce needs.

"In the majority of cases, teachers are employed on fixed-term employment to replace permanent staff who are either on parental leave, long service leave and leave without pay (for example, young teachers taking time off to travel and live overseas)," Mr Munro said.

The AEU did not respond to requests for comment.

Koren Harvey’s story was first published on her own blog.