Teachers should not be blamed for problems uncovered at two Canberra public schools amid staff shortages, the teachers union says.
It comes as three ACT public schools are currently rated as having the highest level of staff shortages.
Schools are categorised into three levels according to the proportion of absent teachers.
An Education Directorate spokesman said three schools were at the highest level as at week 9, Term 3, which could lead to collapsed classes, changes to timetables and directorate staff stepping in to fill gaps.
Australian Education Union ACT branch president Angela Burroughs said the union was aware of the understaffing problems at Margaret Hendry School and Kingsford Smith School before the special purpose review reports were published.
Ms Burroughs said it was concerning some students at Margaret Hendry School had gaps in their basic literacy skills but it was not surprising that students at an understaffed school did not have the same learning outcomes as other schools with more staff.
"It can be a concern but I think one of the things that we need to make sure comes out is that this is not teacher-bashing," she said.
"Our teachers are doing the best they possibly can in really challenging circumstances."
The Margaret Hendry School review found some students had low levels of literacy which meant they could not engage properly in the personalised, inquiry-based learning offered by the school.
Ms Burroughs said members had not discussed whether personalised learning and inquiry-based learning were effective approaches to teaching as their focus had been on the enterprise agreement negotiation and workload concerns.
"I'm not sure whether the kids that are coming to the school are necessarily taking advantage of ACT's free preschool provisions, but that would be certainly something worth investigating, whether that's having an impact on the learning experiences on the in terms of how prepared the kids are coming to school," she said.
Ms Burroughs said it was very concerning some staff at Kingsford Smith School had stopped entering safety incident reports into the Riskman system.
"We have always suspected a level of under-reporting. But to hear that people are deliberately not reporting because they don't think that anything happens it's extremely worrying," she said.
The two reviews highlighted a lack of consistency in the rollout of the schools' positive behaviours for learning program and evidence-based teaching practices.
Ms Burroughs said union members were calling for consistency more generally, such as the consistent policy on mobile phone use.
"What our members are saying to us more recently, is just they kind of want a decision to be made and then applied consistently. That's a really interesting one in relation to tensions between school autonomy and things that might be better if they were just done across the system," she said.
ACT Council of Parents and Citizens Associations executive officer Veronica Elliott said the council valued the special purpose reviews, adding Kingsford Smith School had seen some improvements.
"It's always disappointing for P&Cs, parents, carers, students and staff to see a school negatively singled out in the media. Consistent media attention like this causes more damage to a school community, lowers morale and increases tensions," Ms Elliott said.
"We're pleased to see Education Directorate responding to and investing in local school communities, being transparent and engaging in open dialogue."
