Tackling Australia’s teacher shortage will be high on the agenda when federal and state education ministers meet in the nation’s capital.
Ahead of the meeting in Canberra on Friday, the peak body representing universities has released a list of practical solutions and ideas to attract and retain Australians to the teaching profession.
Some of the barriers facing potential teachers are the status of the profession, workloads and pay rates, Universities Australia says.
Mid-career professionals wanting to retrain as teachers also face financial barriers.
“Australia is facing an acute teachers’ shortage, with declining numbers of people training as a teacher and an increase in those leaving the profession early,” chief executive Catriona Jackson said.
“Universities alone can’t solve the problem, we need to work together with governments, schools and unions.”
The advocacy group proposes a degree apprenticeship system be established where student teachers are able to do more training in schools and have a guaranteed job at the end of it.
It also wants to expand programs that combine learning with work experience to better develop teachers, as well as creating a national recruitment portal to link graduates with vacancies in schools across Australia.
Expanding FEE-HELP support for students enrolling in short courses would help existing teachers interested in professional development, as well as individuals in mid-career who want to transition to teaching.
“Looking after our hardworking teachers and ensuring the best and brightest are educating our kids is a national effort,” Ms Jackson said.
In the last 10 years there has been a 16 per cent drop in Australian university students studying teaching, Education Minister Jason Clare said.
“If we are serious about fixing this, it requires the federal government and state and territory governments to work together,” he told parliament last week.
“We will focus on looking at ways that we can encourage more people to become teachers, how we can improve initial teacher education and how we can tackle some of those reasons that are causing teachers to leave the profession early.”
