Queensland schools say they have very real concerns about the availability of teachers despite the state delaying the start of term 1 to avoid the predicted peak of COVID cases.
For most Queensland students term 1 will begin February 7, after the state government delayed the start of the school year.
Independent Schools Queensland chief executive Chris Mountford said he expected "bumps along the road" during the first term.
"We're expecting to see the same sort of levels of people unable to work as we've seen in other sectors," Mr Mountford said.
Schools scramble to replace unvaccinated staff
Mr Mountford said resources will likely be stretched as schools introduce vaccine mandates and face a potential surge in COVID cases.
"So those things are certainly going to put pressure on the resourcing in some schools.
"It's not like there was a large pool of additional potential staff to draw on."
The Department of Education said more than 98 per cent of school-based staff would be fully vaccinated by the start of the school year.
This equates to about 1,800 staff who remain unvaccinated or are yet to provide their vaccination status.
The department said it had contacted staff who have not confirmed their double vaccination status to ask them to provide a valid reason why they should not be suspended from duty without pay.
Planning for COVID peak
All Saints Anglican School principal Patrick Wallas said he would be employing new staff to replace the "very small minority" of teachers who chose not to be vaccinated.
The school has also considered hiring additional teachers to cover potential COVID absentees.
"It's difficult to plan for that until it happens," Mr Wallas said.
"You can't really bring on 10 extra staff and then everyone turns up. What do you do with them?
"It's so difficult to make really cast-iron decisions when the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet."
Mr Wallas said the use of relief teachers and the possibility of combining classes were other options.
The department said there were approximately 5,000 fully vaccinated relief teachers across Queensland.
"We have a long, long list of staff available for relief teaching, so that would be our first port of call," Mr Wallas said.
"If two classes have a 50-per-cent attendance then we could put them together.
Staffing levels not a new issue
Queensland Teachers Union president Cresta Richardson said teachers were comfortable with the delayed start to the term.
"Some of our schools could have disruptions," Ms Richardson said.
"Principals are scenario planning about what that looks like in their schools and how they can continue the curriculum delivery across the wide range of areas."
Ms Richardson said staffing levels were an issue before the pandemic, especially in rural and remote parts of the state.
She suggested those areas could be better supported with extra relief teachers, but existing concerns such as salaries and working conditions would need to be addressed first.
"We really need to ensure and work towards having enough teachers in our schools consistently," she said.
