Programs including Teach for Australia and La Trobe University’s Nexus program already enable professionals to obtain a teaching qualification in less than two years while working in a school.
Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe, who attended the roundtable meeting, said the union had reservations about giving career changers accelerated entry into the teaching profession.
“We believe that every child deserves a fully qualified teacher,” Haythorpe said. “We don’t think that training someone up for six to eight weeks then putting them in front of the classroom and letting them develop their skills on the job over two years is an appropriate way to go.”
Haythorpe said that to retain teachers, it was important to give them proper pay and better conditions and not pit teachers against each other with performance-based bonuses.
“It’s not the case that one teacher is solely responsible for changing a student’s life; that takes a community of teachers. So if we’re serious about retaining the workforce, we have to have proper pay and conditions for everybody.”
The NSW government said ahead of the meeting that it was looking to introduce new teaching jobs with salaries of up to $130,000 a year to stop an exodus of educators.
NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell said the higher salaries were about “rewarding excellence and making sure that our best teachers don’t feel that they have to leave the classroom … to get a higher salary or to get career progression”.
Federal Education Minister Jason Clare speaking in Canberra, after hosting a teacher workforce conference.Credit:alex ellinghausen
Victorian Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said the Andrews government’s recent workplace agreement with public school teachers had focused more on easing workload than boosting salaries, with a commitment to give teachers 90 minutes less face-to-face teaching time each week from next year.
“That comes at a massive investment of around $700 million, which equates to an investment in 1900 more teachers,” Hutchins said.
Associate Professor Rachel Wilson, of Sydney University’s School of Education and Social Work, said Australia already effectively had a performance-based pay system for teachers – the private school system – in which teachers often attract higher salaries.
loading
“We are currently the only wealthy nation that sends its brightest and most experienced teachers to our most advantaged schools,” Wilson said.
Clare said the Albanese government was keen to prioritize visa applications for international teachers who want to work in Australia.
December’s national action plan will also seek to elevate the teaching profession in response to feedback that teachers feel undervalued.