On 15 December 2022, Education Ministers agreed on a National Teacher Workforce Action Plan (Action Plan) which sets out a clear pathway to addressing the national issue of teacher workforce shortages.
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- Date closed
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The Action Plan builds on a range of initiatives already underway in jurisdictions, sectors and individual schools. It is the first step of an ongoing strategy to attract more people to the profession and retain more teachers in the workforce.
The Action Plan includes actions across five priority areas. These priority areas address primary drivers of teacher shortages and include:
- Improving teacher supply – To increase the number of people choosing teaching as a career.
- Strengthening initial teacher education – To ensure initial teacher education supports teacher supply and delivers classroom ready graduates.
- Keeping the teachers we have – To improve retention by increasing support for teachers, enhancing career pathways, reducing unnecessary workload and freeing up teachers to focus on core teaching tasks and collaboration.
- Elevating the profession – To recognise the value teachers bring to students, communities and the economy.
- Better understanding future teacher workforce needs – To improve the information available for teacher workforce planning.
The Australian Government is investing $337 million to implement initiatives contained in the Action Plan. States and territories have contributed $5 million to support a targeted national campaign to raise the status and value the role of the teaching profession. All jurisdictions will work collaboratively to implement the Action Plan.
The Action Plan complements the National Childhood Education and Care Workforce Strategy with work already underway to ensure delivery of actions will be coordinated across early childhood and school settings where appropriate.
The Action Plan is now published and available.
National Teacher Workforce Action Plan
Background
On 12 August 2022, Education Ministers, teachers, principals and other education experts came together for a roundtable to discuss ways to tackle teacher workforce shortages.
It was agreed at the roundtable that a working group led by the Secretary of the Australian Department of Education would develop a National Teacher Workforce Action Plan.
Education Ministers Meeting Communique – 12 August 2022
The working group included Secretaries from all State and Territory Education Departments, representatives from the Australian Education Union and the Independent Education Union of Australia, the Australian Primary Principals Association, the Australian Secondary Principals’ Association, the Australian Special Education Principals’ Association, the National Catholic Education Commission, the Independent Schools Australia, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Principals Association, Universities Australia, the Australasian Teacher Regulatory Authorities and the Australian Council of Deans of Education.
Public consultation
On 3 November 2022, the Hon Jason Clare MP, Minister for Education released a draft a National Teacher Workforce Action Plan for public consultation. The consultation period closed on 1 December 2022.
Date opened
3 November 2022 – 9:00 am
Date closed
1 December 2022 – 11:59 pm
A total of 661 submissions were received and considered. The department thanks all who submitted a response during the consultation period.
All responses are reproduced verbatim. Identifying personal information in submissions has been removed. Some of the submissions are published with parts that are redacted (blacked out). This is to protect the privacy of people who may not want their personal information shared. For further information please read the Department’s Privacy Policy.