Australia’s teacher shortage and incentives to fix it will be front of mind when federal, state and territory education ministers meet in the nation’s capital.
Ministers are expected to discuss labour shortages, workloads, retention issues and incentives for people wanting to make a mid-career change to teaching during the meeting on Friday.
Education Minister Jason Clare believes the shortage is not only due to Australia’s widespread labour crisis, but also because teachers are leaving the career early.
“More and more teachers are leaving the profession early, either because they feel burnt out, worn out, or for other reasons,” he told the last sitting of parliament.
Mr Clare also pointed to declining rates of university enrolments for teaching courses, which were down 16 per cent over a decade.
“About 70 per cent of people who start a degree finish it, but only 50 per cent of young people who start a teaching degree finish that,” he told Sky News on Thursday.
“If we could get that (number) to 60 per cent, then already you would go a long way to addressing part of the supply shortage of teachers.”
The minister will work with his state and territory counterparts on a national approach to education workforce shortages.
Incentives to encourage more people to become teachers, programs to improve their education and solutions to address early exits from the career will be discussed, he said.
He also wants community changes to build more respect and recognition of the work teachers do and to encourage more people to enter the profession.
Mr Clare welcomed input from teachers, universities and education experts to share their ideas for reform.
“This is important work, education is the most powerful cause for good in this country,” he said.
“It changes lives … and we want more Australians to help us do that.”
