“If we could just fix initial teacher education,” the argument goes, “we would fix the teacher shortage.” But what if that diagnosis is not only inaccurate, it’s part of the problem?

The real issue driving early career teachers away from rural and regional schools isn’t inadequate preparation. It’s systemic neglect.

A Misdiagnosis

For over a decade, teacher education has been framed as the weak link in addressing workforce shortages. Policymakers suggest that better-prepared graduates would remain in the profession, especially in hard-to-staff schools. It’s a convenient narrative, but it relies on a flawed premise. The premise? That preparation is the primary issue, rather than the conditions graduates face once they enter the profession.

This thinking disregards the lived realities of rural and regional educators, the realities shaped by housing scarcity, limited mentoring, professional isolation, and chronic underfunding.

In interviews with preservice and early career teachers, these barriers were consistent and systemic: housing stress, disconnection, and a lack of support. These are not outliers. They reflect a broader policy failure.

They are not signs of inadequate teacher training. They are evidence of entrenched structural issues that go far beyond what any university curriculum can resolve. Yet the policy focus remains fixated on initial teacher education (ITE), casting it as the scapegoat for problems rooted elsewhere.

This serves a political purpose. When we blame universities, we divert attention away from underfunded schools, burnout, and the deep inequities facing rural and regional education. Real reform is sidestepped.

Teachers Are Ready. The System Isn’t

Australian teacher education is rigorously accredited. It is built on nationally consistent standards. Graduates emerge with strong curriculum expertise, classroom management skills, and substantial in-school experience.

Research consistently shows that effective mentoring, adequate staffing, and supportive induction are key to teacher success. Yet in many rural and regional schools, these supports are lacking due to chronic shortages and underinvestment.

The gap isn’t in teacher readiness. The gap is in the systems they enter. New teachers face fragmented support, housing insecurity, and overwhelming workloads. Even the most capable graduates cannot thrive without structural backing. Responsibility for retention doesn’t end at graduation; it requires a well-resourced and coordinated system, especially in the communities that need teachers most.

Burned by the System, Not Burnt Out

ITE equips teachers with the skills and knowledge to succeed, but their professional momentum often stalls upon entering environments shaped by instability and neglect. Early career stories that begin with enthusiasm often give way to exhaustion and disillusionment. This is not due to personal shortcomings, but due to structural failings.

Rural teaching offers meaningful and rewarding work. It is too often undermined by the realities of insecure housing, limited mentorship, and isolation. National policies intended to support these placements frequently fall short, unable to meet the hyper-local needs of diverse communities.

The burden of structural inequity continues to fall on individuals. Without meaningful investment in the systems new teachers step into, even the best-prepared graduates will leave. They will leave not from lack of readiness, but from lack of support.

From Survival to Sustainability

Graduates aren’t underprepared. They are entering unstable environments marked by workforce volatility and fluctuating policy. As the Independent Review into Regional, Rural and Remote Education makes clear, workforce stability depends not just on recruitment, but on sustained investment in housing, career development, and targeted support.

Until we address these foundational issues, rural and regional teaching will remain difficult to sustain. The solution lies not in another overhaul of teacher education, but in building stable, supported, and secure futures for the educators who choose to teach where they are needed most.

Sarah M James is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead for Professional Experience at Queensland University of Technology. Her research focuses on literacy, mentoring, education policy, and early career teacher support. She has secured multiple grants and currently investigates housing-related challenges faced by preservice teachers, early career teachers, and principals in rural, regional, and remote contexts.