Teacher image needs makeover

Angelo Gavrielatos. Pic by: Lindsay Moller

Australia's teacher shortage is reaching dire levels as school-leavers and undergraduates look to move into what they perceive as more lucrative careers.

According to Australian Council for Educational Research chief executive officer, Geoff Masters, part of the problem is top graduates aren't attracted to the profession because it's considered rather low in professional terms.

Speaking at the New Agenda for Prosperity conference late last month, Masters suggested the bar had been set to low for entry into teaching courses.

"Although Australia by many measures had a high-quality education system," he said, "the best-performing international systems attracted teachers who were among the top-ranking graduates."

Professor Masters remarked that the selection criteria for teachers should place greater emphasis on literacy and numeracy levels.

"We don't test teachers in any way at all that I'm aware of, in a systematic way, perhaps because we don't want to know the answers," he said. He acknowledged that higher entry requirements for teaching mightn't sound like the right answer at a time when shortages were starting to bite with many teachers retiring and leaving the profession.

Yet, while it sounds counter-productive, he thinks part of the reason teaching is held in such low-esteem is because it's seen as relatively easy to get in to.

Professor Masters cited South Korea as a country where the education system performed well and the teaching profession is held in high regard.

"They even attract the top graduates," he said.

He also bought into another perennial debate and suggested teachers needed higher pay for meeting high standards.

Also fuelling the national teacher shortgage is the lack of resourcing for public schools according to a recent survey by the Australian Education Union.

Results of the survey of more than 1700 new teachers showed that nearly half (47.9 per cent) do not see themselves teaching in 10 years time, with workload, pay, behaviour management and class sizes ranking as the top four concerns.

AEU Federal President, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the survey underscored the urgent need for the Federal Government to commit funding to tackle the issues driving teachers from the profession.

"The four top concerns for new teachers are all issues directly related to having enough funding to adequately resource schools," Mr Gavrielatos said. "And with little incentive in terms of salary increases to keep them in the classroom, it's no wonder that 47.9 per cent of new teachers don't see themselves still teaching in 10 years time.

"New teachers also have concerns about their training, with nearly 30 per cent rating their pre-service teacher education as preparing them poorly or very poorly for the reality of teaching.

"New teachers are struggling with high workloads and little professional support because of the resource-strapped conditions in Australian public schools."

The survey also found that 28 per cent of new teachers have already been asked to teach outside their area of expertise and around half have never been able to participate in formal mentoring and induction processes.

"This is a national issue and it is the Federal Government's responsibility to commit targeted funding to address the areas of need in Australian public schools," Mr Gavrielatos said.

The Daily Telegraph, April 5, 2008