Just 34 teachers were dismissed for poor performance by the NSW Department of Education last year, sparking calls for better oversight of the state's educators to improve outcomes for students.

New data from the department showed the number of teachers dismissed actually increased to hit a 10-year high in 2019, out of an available workforce of 90,000.

Fewer than 600 teachers have been dismissed from the department over the past 11 years, with 179 leaving because they failed an improvement program. The same number were convicted of serious charges, and 171 were sacked for sexual misconduct.

Principals and the union said the data did not reflect the true numbers of teachers leaving because of performance issues, as many quit before the formal process finished.

But the figures come after an auditor-general's report found flaws in the department's monitoring of teacher quality across the state's 2200 public schools, and said it was not doing enough to help teachers improve.

In 2015, just six teachers were dismissed due to "inefficiency", or failing an improvement program, and the following year there were eight. But that increased to more than 30 in each of the past two years, after the length of the program was halved to 10 weeks and the department provided extra support to principals.

Last year, the department also sacked twice as many school leaders for performance issues than it had in the previous decade, dismissing two head teachers, an assistant principal, a deputy principal and a principal.

Other reasons for teacher and principal dismissal included alcohol dependency, breaching boundaries and unlawfully accessing a student's personal information.

Craig Petersen, head of the Secondary Principals Association, said the figures did not reflect the true number of teachers leaving the system because of pressure due to their professional performance, as many quit before formal processes were finalised.

Craig Petersen, head of the Secondary Principals Association.Credit:Janie Barrett

"There's a lot of things that principals and head teachers do at school before we get to a formal improvement program," he said.

"Some teachers pull the pin voluntarily, and the [department's] data is not capturing that. There's also few principals who would take on more than one [improvement] program at a time.

"They are exhausting, emotionally as well as physically, and it really distracts you from a lot of other things that need a priority."

Mr Petersen said empowering principals to select some staff on merit had reduced problems with professional performance.

Angelo Gavrielatos, the president of the NSW Teachers Federation, said there were performance issues in every profession, and the department's procedures which ensured a fair process had been negotiated with the union.

"The figures may not necessarily tell the full story because many people may separate from the service either through retirement or resignation," he said.

David Hope, the president of the Northern Sydney District Council of P&C Associations, said teacher performance was a difficult but important issue to address.

"Historically, the Department of Education has run a system which makes it almost impossible to dismiss any teacher on the grounds of performance an approach which has demonstrably failed to put the student first," he said.

"In recent years, the department has put a lot more effort into leadership training and professional development, and in redesigning the workplace with, for example, modern versions of team teaching."

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The department's data said it employed around 49,000 permanent teachers, and another 45,000 were registered to work on a casual basis.

In 2019, 53 NSW teachers were involved in performance improvement programs, which represented 0.06 per cent of the workforce. The auditor-general's report cited a UK report that assessed the quality of teaching as inadequate at 3 per cent of its schools.

Rachel Wilson, an education academic at the University of Sydney, said the data showed the need for a better understanding of the teacher workforce.

Jordan Baker is Education Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald

Nigel Gladstone is an investigative journalist at The Sydney Morning Herald.

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Calls to ramp up scrutiny of teacher performance - Sydney Morning Herald