Australia’s education minister Jason Clare will attempt to address the national teachers shortage in the coming meeting on Friday. He says ‘’we need to fix this’’. As universities call for longer school placements, a collaboration between government, unions, and schools in solving the problem. According to statistics, in coming years demand for secondary school teachers will outpace graduates by more than 4000. This shortage could worsen in the coming years.
The federal Minister dedicate the first half of the meeting to addressing the shortage of workforce. The meeting will be attended by national, state, and territory education ministers.
Teachers shortage across the country
Clare said, ‘’we have a teacher shortage right across the country. Fewer young people are enrolling to become teachers and more and more teachers are thinking of leaving.’’
He further added, ‘’ That’s why I am getting ministers, principals, teachers and other education experts together to work on a plan to turn this around.’’
Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic plays an important factor in a ‘’broader and systemic issue. A document issued before the meeting wrote. Other factors include‘’ the status of the profession, workload pressures, and decreasing enrolments in teacher training courses. The paper note, that there are fewer opportunities for teachers.
Factors contributing to the shortage of teachers
Various factors contribute to the shortage of teachers including teacher conditions, flattening salaries, increasing weight and complexity of workload as well as environmental issues. The discussion at Friday’s meeting focuses on discussing strategies for reducing the administrative burden on teachers.
Catriona Jackson, Universities Australia chief executive said, “We must address the barriers to attracting and retaining good teachers – from the status of the teaching profession and their workloads to how much they are paid and are able to progress,”
“Universities alone can’t solve the problem, we need to work together with governments, schools and unions.”
Meanwhile, education minister Clare said,
“There aren’t many jobs more important than being a teacher. And we don’t have enough of them,” All of this is the objective of Friday’s meeting.
