Anonymous #253

Submitter information

Name

Anonymous #253

Where are you located?

New South Wales

What type of area do you live in?

Regional or rural

Are you an education professional?
(e.g. teacher, school leader, learning support assistant, teacher’s aide)

Yes

Which sector do you work in?

Secondary

What is your occupation?

Pre-service teacher (Mid-Career Transition to Teaching Program)

Elevating the profession

The actions proposed recognise the value teachers bring to students, communities and the economy.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I believe the general public does not realise how highly qualified teachers are. This causes negative perceptions around the profession, which I see often for example in social media comments. I think the experience and qualifications of teachers needs to be better communicated.

Improving teacher supply

The actions proposed will be effective in increasing the number of students entering ITE, number of students completing ITE and the number of teachers staying in and/or returning to the profession.

Neither agree nor disagree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Programs such as the NSW Mid-Career Transition to Teaching Program are quite well designed to attract qualified STEM teachers, for example dealing with the costs associated with moving from highly paid STEM careers to studying for the MTEACH. However, the underlying issue of poor teacher salaries still exists. It will be difficult to increase supply to meet demand for mathematics and other STEM teachers without addressing this issue. In any other occupation, if there is high demand, then salaries have to increase. It's simple economics. I used to run a large software development organisation, and had to pay salary packages well over $100K for graduate developers, due to lack of available skills/high demand in Sydney. Yet as a secondary mathematics teacher, I will be lucky to earn $100K. In fact, I fully expect that I will have to continue providing ICT consulting services outside of school hours, to top up my income to meet my outgoings. As a senior ICT leader, I typically earned in excess of $250K per year, more than 3 X what I expect to earn as a teacher. I believe that teacher salaries for mathematics should be higher to reflect demand, and qualifications should be recognised in the salary package. Ironically NSW Department of Education commonly advertise administrative roles with limited qualification requirements at salaries significantly higher than teaching salaries.

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The actions proposed will ensure initial teacher education supports teacher supply and quality.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I feel that, overall, the current teacher education is adequate, however I was surprised that the MTEACH placements are not until the end of the course, and only run for a few weeks. As part of the NSW DET 'Mid-Career Transition to Teaching' Program, I am fortunate to have a 3 day/week placement from only 6 months into my MTEACH degree, which will continue for over 12 months. By the time I graduate I will have significant experience of teaching secondary mathematics. I think this model could be extended to more teaching students. Regarding LANTITE, I think this is a big waste of time in it's current format. Having to take a day off work to travel down to Sydney to sit a numeracy test I am obviously going to excel at, having a mathematics degree and 30 years experience working in data science, was a complete waste of my time. Native English speaking mathematics graduates should not have to sit these idiotic LANTITE tests.

Maximising the time to teach

The actions proposed will improve retention and free up teachers to focus on teaching and collaboration.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Firstly, regarding "emphasis on government schools facing systemic disadvantage", this was self-evident during COVID lockdowns where many government school teachers had to spend significant time creating and mailing printed workbooks for students, since they could not guarantee that students (in lower socio-economic areas in particular) would have access to required technologies. ICT is increasing the digital divide in Australia, and with over 50% of students in government schools, this is putting an unacceptable number of students at significant disadvantage. Creating a program such as 'one laptop per child' would allow government school teachers to start leveraging ICT in an equitable way, which has the added benefit of improving teacher productivity by better leveraging ICT-based teaching tools, which would help maximise the actual time available to teach.

Better understanding future teacher workforce needs

How effective are the proposed actions in better understanding future teacher workforce needs, including the number of teachers required?

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Better career pathways to support and retain teachers in the profession

The proposed actions will improve career pathways, including through streamlining the process for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation, and providing better professional support for teachers to retain them in the profession.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

I agree that there need to be better career pathways, particularly in light of initiatives to bring Mid-Career STEM professionals into teaching. For example, with an MBA as well as Directorship/Governance and senior executive experience and qualifications, I would already have much of the required skills to progress to a senior leadership position, however it is not clear what pathways are available. The current teacher accreditation process feels very cumbersome and inefficient.