A crowd of over 30 teachers from around 15 primary and high schools across the Shoalhaven gathered at Davis Park on Thursday morning to protest their working conditions.

Kyliejean Pearn, Sanctuary Point teacher and Shoalhaven Teachers Association secretary, said she works extra hours every night and knows many teachers are in the same boat.

Pearn said these conditions are unsustainable and if left unaddressed, will cause a burnt out workforce which will end up impacting regional students the most.

"At home I do at least two or three hours work a night," she said.

"On Sundays I start at lunch time and don't finish until about six or seven because I have to individually plan for each of my students with high needs.

"We need change to sustain teachers in the long term so we are able to support children in the future, because they deserve an education.

"And a lot of students don't come from rich places where they can afford private schooling."

In other news:

According to the NSW Teacher's Association, 43 per cent of the schools in the Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands had vacant permanent teaching positions in October and there was 50 unfilled positions in total.

Henry Rajendra, deputy president of the association, said these numbers are "not good enough" and poor work conditions are causing a decrease in the amount of people wanting to study teaching.

"Every school should be guaranteed and assured their full staffing that all their baseline staffing and that's not the case," he said.

"And the reason being is that the profession is not as attractive as it once was. And the fundamental issues are to do with salary."

The teachers are calling for a 5 per cent pay increase over the next two years and two hours less face-to-face teaching each day.

They are also pushing for an additional 2.5 per cent pay rise for experienced and promoted teachers.

The crowd marched to Member for South Coast Shelley Hancock's office and called for her support for these changes.

Mr Rajendra said this was a "chronic situation" that would continue to worsen due to increasing student enrolments.

"Over the next 20 years there will be an increase of 25 per cent to student enrolments, which is a massive growth," he said.

"What we need is to not only address the staffing shortages now but we also need a significant growth in the number of teachers - to do so you need to make the profession attractive."

Mr Rajendra said if the issues were not addressed immediately there would be "many, many years of pain and suffering" for regional public schools.

The rally was part of the NSW Teachers Federation's statewide campaign "More Than Thanks".

Mr Rajendra visited Goulburn and Wagga Wagga earlier in the week and will address teachers in Wollongong tomorrow.

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