Image: NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet. Photo: Facebook/Dom Perrottet.
By ERIN MODARO
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet has announced a “major-shakeup” strategy to address the state wide teaching shortage in NSW schools. The coalition plans to allow teaching students to be able to teach face to face in classrooms after having completed only one year of postgraduate study.
Currently, education students wanting to become teachers are required to fulfil a two-year postgraduate course as a pathway to entering the classroom as a teacher.
Perrottet announced that the new “streamlined approach” would fast track those wanting to enter the teaching profession, and take away a roadblock of one extra year of tertiary education.
“Teaching is a profession to aspire to and I don’t want a single person who is considering starting this fantastic career to be deterred by an unnecessary additional year in their training,” Perrottet said.
Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said the extra year of study can be a “major barrier” for aspiring teachers, and shaving off a year will allow more flexibility for those who have existing qualifications to enter the profession.
Head of the School of Education at UNSW Sydney, Professor Kim Beswick, agrees that the extra year can act as a deterrent for future teachers.
“Shortening the length of time it takes to qualify would relieve a barrier for some people,” Beswick said.
She noted that it’s important not to “undermine the quality and rigour” of education that university students are receiving. Beswick said that students at UNSW already have the opportunity to complete their postgraduate requirements in one year of study.
“So, provided that the programmes are high quality teaching after one year is not a problem.”
Report shows teaching workloads only going up
A review of the National School Reform Agreement recently released by the NSW government revealed that teachers are currently overwhelmed by staffing shortages and an overload of administrative work on top of face-to-face teaching hours.
“Teachers’ workload is high and increasing” the report said. “Surveys suggest that full time teachers work between 44 to 57 hours a week during term time.”
Beswick says that teaching students understand the workload in their final year of study is quite intense.
“It does create stress for students, but they sign up to it with their eyes open,” she said.
However, Beswick says that the streamlined education approach is only a small part of addressing teaching shortages across NSW.
“Ultimately, we’ve got to do more to make teaching a more attractive profession compared to other things.”
