The University of Adelaide

Submitter information

Name

The University of Adelaide

Where are you located?

South Australia

What type of area do you live in?

Metropolitan

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

Yes

Which sector do you work in?

Higher Education

What is your occupation?

Higher Education

Elevating the profession

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

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

University of Adelaide Authors: Dr Walter Barbieri; Dr Brendan Bentley; Dr Igusti Darmawan; Dr Robert Matthews; Dr Lynda MacLeod; Dr Amy Robinson; Dr Linda Westphalen; Associate Professor Mathew White and Dr John Willison

The University of Adelaide welcomes the opportunity to provide feedback on the Draft National Teacher Workforce Action Plan (Plan) which will inform discussions of Education Ministers at their meeting in December and further refinement of the Action Plan. Below is an overview of the University of Adelaide’ School of Education context.

The University of Adelaide is ranked #75 for Education by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023 by subject. For over 120 years we have specialised in educating secondary school discipline specialist teachers (years 7-12) and school leaders through our post-graduate offerings. The School of Education is a member of the University of Melbourne's Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT) consortium and has an approved Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) instrument. All our programs have met rigorous Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AISTL) accreditation standards. We do not offer early childhood or primary Teaching.

The University of Adelaide welcomes Actions 1-4 outlined in the Plan to addressing how to elevate the profession. We believe that a targeted national campaign on the profession of teachers and their impact may have a positive impact. Furthermore, strategies to celebrate excellence in learning and teaching are welcomed to provide paragons of excellence in the profession. Greater support is needed to raise the status of the teaching profession if we are to continue to attract high-level candidates and professionals.

We attract a high calibre of preservice teachers into our Teaching programs each year, offering degrees in secondary Teaching, and preparing discipline specialists for Years 7-12. Many of our new preservice teachers for 2022 achieved ATARs in the 90s (particularly in Mathematics), with some achieving ATARs above 99. An ATAR of 80 is a guaranteed entry score for Teaching at the University of Adelaide.

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.

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Actions 5-9 focus on the problem of teacher supply. There is evidence that there is a greater need for teaching places at universities, particularly in discipline-specific specialisations including Sciences and Mathematics. The University of Adelaide specialises in educating secondary and senior secondary teachers who are discipline experts. We are cognisant of the hard-to-staff areas including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

Regarding the action to attract the ‘best and the brightest’ the University of Adelaide’s preservice teachers for 2022 already achieve ATARs in the 90s (particularly in Mathematics), with some achieving ATARs above 99. We propose that there is a need for a targeted campaign around the elevating the profession in these areas [linked to priority 1]. In addition, we support more diverse pathways for the Master of Teaching Degree to support mid-career changers. The proposed action plan for teaching and education bursaries to attract high-achieving preservice teachers to degrees is welcomed.

The proposal to fast-track visas for qualified teachers as part of state and territory strategies may also have a positive impact. Nevertheless, one limitation may be the inadvertent creation of a two-tiered system where successful completion of LANTITE is a requirement for Australian-based preservice teacher graduates, and overseas graduates do not require this as part of their registration.

To attract more mid-career professionals to become teachers, the University of Adelaide supports the action for financial incentives to be considered. For example, more cost-effective degrees or scholarships for disadvantaged groups and income support for preservice teachers who choose to become career change teachers. The government could provide scholarships or other financial incentives and establish a pipeline for priority areas such as STEM or rural placements.

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

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

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

We wait with anticipation for the recommendations for Actions 10-13 from the expert panel on further changes to initial teacher education. We also recognise the expertise of the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Professor Mark Scott AO.

One of the challenges has been over 15 years’ worth of reforms which have not been able to accelerate the number of quality teachers as effectively as these reforms anticipated . We welcome the aim of a codesign action specifically for First Nations teachers to increase representation. Furthermore, we cautiously welcome an approach to recognise previous studies and skills that individuals may have to accelerate degree completion.

The University of Adelaide Bachelor of Teaching double degree preservice teachers complete an evidence-informed degree with a total of 80 days professional practice. The University of Adelaide Master of Teaching preservice teachers complete an evidence-informed degree with 70 days of professional practice. In addition to the discipline specific degrees the University of Adelaide embeds into its programs:

• a unique e-Learning strategy to equip preservice teachers to be classroom ready (first year)
• a ‘Wellbeing, Character and Resilience’ program that enables high-quality candidates to prepare for the depth of emotional intelligence and everyday resilience required to succeed and empathise with preservice teachers in the classroom (second year)
• a focus on the specific needs of rural, regional and remote students ( third year).

We welcome the action to strengthen initial teacher education programs to deliver effective classroom-ready teachers. The action to focus on equipping preservice teachers to be effective in classroom management, cultural responsiveness, teaching preservice teachers with diverse needs and working with families/carers.

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?

Actions 14-18 the University of Adelaide notes the proposal to reduce teacher workload. There is a need for a review of the evidence to support this claim and the type of tasks impeding teachers from teaching. Several in-school factors have a significant impact on teaching beyond the purview of ITE. These include the increasing complexity of schools and schooling, remuneration of teachers, workforce planning, lack of mentoring of early career teachers in school, parental involvement, the changing nature of teachers’ work, increased workload and administration, aging of the profession, and teacher stress and burn-out. One of the issues teachers face is continuous assessment and reporting for parents. This has changed the dynamic of communication with parents and guardians and significantly increased workload for teachers. This also impacts the progress and growth of the preservice teachers. Increased demand for teachers to complete administrative tasks that could be otherwise handled by professional staff should be explored. Teachers bring evidence-informed expertise to be able to differentiate the curriculum and cater for the diversity of the modern classroom. The Review could explore how teaching teams can effectively teach, plan and collaborate for evidence-based practices to improve preservice teachers’ learning outcomes. Indeed, the concept of targeted teaching teams established with practising teachers could alleviate the significant time burden of lesson preparation and assessment as well as be a supportive practice in a challenging classroom. Student engagement in learning is a major concern for Pre-service and practising teachers and a great deal of time and effort is expanded devising “engaging’ and challenging learning opportunities for multiple groups within the one class. Action 18 proposes a consideration for preservice teacher to undertake paid employment. Recently, this has expanded into consideration for the Special Authority to Teach category of the Teacher Registration Board of South Australia. The University of Adelaide has adapted to this and is supportive. But we note that there are potential conflicts in determining placement-based assessm

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?

Moderately effective

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

In response to Actions, 19-23 publications of aggregated demand may help identify the oversupply and undersupply of preservice teachers in areas of need or policy priorities to promote first in family, women in STEM and other areas. The Commonwealth and State and Territory Governments need a to cooperate and establish more robust data collection. Individual ITE providers may graduate 50 secondary Maths teachers but there is no consistency in data collection to determine if these graduates take up employment in a school, the type of employment or the hours employed. Initiatives supporting automatic mutual recognition are welcomed, as we have graduates who move across Australia for work immediately after graduation.

While conditional or provisional registration may increase the supply of teachers in the short term, effective and evidence-informed mentoring is required to support such a change in the first three years after graduation to improve the retention of early career teachers. We argue that there needs to be a stronger education policy strategy to support conditional or provisionally registered preservice teachers early in their careers. This is where teaching teams could be particularly beneficial to both an early career and an experienced teacher.

A cohesive evidence-informed mentoring strategy to retain graduate teachers is very much needed. Here, the profession could learn more from other professions, including medicine, nursing and law, on mentoring early career graduates. We welcome a National Quality Framework to guide Teacher Regulatory Authorities in teacher accreditation to ensure nationally consistent standards for initial teacher education.

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.

Strongly agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

The University of Adelaide notes actions 24 to 28 focus on developing effective career pathways to retain and support teachers. The first three years of any graduate teacher's professional development are critical.

The Schooling systems should nationally introduce a systematic integration of mentoring programs to support early career teachers in the crucial first years of their employment. Furthermore, plans should be more flexible in accelerating highly skilled graduate teachers into leadership and management roles. We note the comments regarding streamlining the accreditation of Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers and suggest establishing these career stages as career advancement pathways with status and increased renumeration.

Linking the HALT career stages to scholarship supported postgraduate studies would provide greater incentive to potential candidates and significantly increase their knowledge and understanding of contemporary evidence-based practices in learning and teaching.

The University of Adelaide welcomes the development of high-quality First Nations’ cultural competency resources and note the University of Adelaide’s contribution to an existing ARC Discovery Project 'Culturally Responsive Schooling' (DP220100651, 2022-24) on 24 December 2021 with co-chief investigators Professor Irabinna-Lester Rigney (UniSA, project lead), Professor Robert Hattam (UniSA), Professor Michalinos Zembylas (Open University of Cyprus), and Dr Nadeem Memon (UniSA - Centre for Islamic Thought and Education, CITE). We welcome a more streamlined registration process for prospective teachers between state and provisional registration.

There is a myriad of factors that contribute to teachers who are considering leaving the profession beyond economic incentives. The University of Adelaide supports the development of micro-credentials and expanding the Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) approach.