Teacher Federation members from several schools across regional NSW, including ones in Lightning Ridge and Gilgandra, took part in short, statewide protests earlier this month.

According to the Teachers Federation, the 'More than thanks' protests - held on different days for different schools - were over a number of issues, including the state-wide shortage of teachers in NSW public schools, increasing workloads and the government's 2.5 per cent cap on public teacher salaries.

Some schools have since received a response from the government, although it is still yet to be determined if local members feel their demands have been met.

NSW Teachers Federation Deputy President Henry Rajendra said the state government has been aware of the issues impacting the public school system for a long time and were still yet to come up with a solution, leading federation members with little choice but to take action.

"In a quote from the government's own secret briefings, the Department of Education told them 'the demands and expectations on teachers are increasing while the current rewards are not providing enough incentive'," Mr Rajendra said.

"It goes on to say 'the salary ceiling may be impeding choices to become a teacher' and if we don't address supply gaps now, we will run out of teachers in the next five years'."

According to Mr Rajendra, based on government figures, the NSW education system needs at least 11,000 extra teachers over the next 10 years just to keep up with current enrolment across the state.

He also warned if nothing was done, there may be a shortfall of more than 2400 teachers by 2025 due to rising enrolments, an ageing current workforce and decreasing supply of graduates.

One school which took part in the protest was Gilgandra High School with about 95 per cent of the teaching staff being federation members and 17 teachers walking out for 10 minutes shortly before the start of the school day on Thursday 14 October.

English teacher Madde Jewell was one of more than a dozen teachers from Gilgandra High School taking part in the temporary stop-work on 14 October. Image supplied.

Federation rep for Gilgandra High Breanna Patton said the school has been experiencing issues with attracting new staff due to the current incentives system for rural schools.

"We're a two-point school - probably due to our proximity to Dubbo - so we don't benefit from any rental subsidies or anything like that, so there's next to no incentives to come here," Ms Patton said.

"The issue for us isn't a shortage of casuals, it’s more a shortage of permanency positions - we actually reached out to the government in March asking for an increase to our entitlements at our school."

After more than a month of waiting, the government eventually responded to Ms Patton saying the entitlements would not be increased and a general thanks for what they did.

Further failed attempts to communicate with the government earlier this month about whether or not Gilgandra High would be included in new government incentives to attract more teachers to regional schools resulted in the walkout on October 14.

According to Ms Patton, the walkout took place between 8.47am and 8.57am and caused minimal disruption to students, who were supervised the entire time, before lessons resumed immediately afterwards.

Another school participating in the walkout was Lightning Ridge Central School, which saw 32 of its staff members also walk out for 10 minutes at 8.40am on Wednesday 13 October.

Local federation rep Mark Maclean said staff at the school wanted to minimise disruption for the students but still wanted to stand with their colleagues around regional NSW.

"(Our school) is pretty well-staffed but we have a number of schools in our area who are really struggling - we decided to make a symbolic short stop to acknowledge this and stand with our colleagues," Mr Maclean said.

"Staffing issues used to be just problems in the bush but now they're coming home to the cities. I think one thing lockdown and home-schooling has taught us is that you can't just slap a book in front of a child and expect them to learn - we need quality teachers."

The Western Plains App reached out to the Department of Education for comment and did not receive a response. Ms Patton said she had received her own response from the government on Monday 25 October.

"It was sent on behalf of (Minister for Education) Sarah Mitchell which was quite lengthy but quite generic at the same time," she said.

"There were a couple of parts that did recognise the low number of permanent staff. There was really no further clarification given on what we were asking for.

"I have now forwarded that response to our members - it will ultimately be up to them if they think it is adequate."

Ms Patton said she was yet to call a meeting to discuss the local federation's response, but it would likely happen sometime next week.