More than three quarters of teaching staff will be sacked from NSW prisons under a new education model approved by the NSW government and expected to be rolled out across the state's prisons by early next year.
The decision to slash teaching staff from 152 full time positions to just 20 comes as the NSW prison population skyrocketed to a record 12,390 inmates in March.
Corrective Services NSW currently employs 158 teachers across the state's prison system, all of whom will be affected by the cuts. They will be forced to reapply for the remaining 20 proposed positions under the new model, while the delivery of education and training courses will be outsourced to specialist training organisations.
Deputy Secretary of NSW Teachers Federation Maxine Sharkey said the 158 teachers were advised on Tuesday they would be flown to Sydney on Thursday for a briefing with NSW Corrective Services Assistant Commissioner Dr Anne-Marie Martin to discuss their options, including voluntary redundancies.
"The teachers are shocked. We knew a review was coming but this is worse than we thought. They are going to sack the workforce they've got now and bring in a new one."
The new model also includes 43 assessment and planning clerks and 24 education services co-ordinators, but it is unclear whether they will be required to have teaching degrees, Ms Sharkey said.
Announcing the reform on Tuesday, Minister for Corrections David Elliott said a review into the inmate education found the current system was not sufficiently focused on job skills.
"Corrective Services is a small education provider so inmate programs often reflect the skills of teachers who are available at a centre, not necessarily the needs of inmates. For example, between a quarter and a third of vocational programs are in art and music rather than areas linked to inmate employment."
He said the reform would double the number of inmates completing literacy and numeracy courses and increase the number of vocational education and training activities by 20 per cent.
But Ms Sharkey questioned the rationale, arguing the majority of the 158 teachers currently employed by corrective services were literacy and numeracy teachers.
"I can't see how you can double the literacy and numeracy of inmates by sacking them"
Greens MP David Shoebridge also attacked the proposed outsourcing model as counterintuitive to tackling the NSW's recidivism rate, which remains one of the highest in the country.
Condemning the cuts as "plain madness", he said the government should be investing in teachers in order to reduce reoffending.
"The majority of these teachers are professionals in delivering literacy, numeracy and work skills to prisoners. Losing this experience would be a deep blow for the rehabilitation prospects of inmates in the state's jails.
"It is hard to understand what possible rationale the government has for this plan, other than cutting the quality and coverage of teaching in corrective services to help meet the enormous costs they face from the blowout in prisoner numbers."
