The University of Notre Dame Australia

Submitter information

Name

The University of Notre Dame Australia

Where are you located?

Western 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

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?

National campaign and awards: We endorse the actions in objective one for recognising the value and status of teaching through a national campaign and awards process and believe these actions are a step in the right direction. Awards for individuals are important for recognition, but more is required to demonstrate the value of the profession such as a positive media campaign to counteract the all too often negative media reports (see Mockler, 2022, Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and their Work)

Teachers promoting teaching: We wholeheartedly believe that giving teachers more time to focus on their core business of planning, delivering and assessing learning activities will empower teachers to promote their own profession. Improving the working conditions of teachers is an important way to recognise their value. The introduction of a paraprofessional workforce and specialist teachers would support this.

Valuing mentoring of pre-service teachers: The excellent results achieved in UNDA QILT data come in part with thanks to the skilled and inspirational teachers who form part of our mentoring program, supporting our students through their professional experience. In recognition of the time and significant skills required for high quality mentoring we recommend that any such mentoring program is designed to include formal recognition of mentors of pre-service teachers to ensure that such a program is attractive to teachers and focuses on high-quality participation.

NSW has within its professional experience agreement a requirement for teachers to undertake mentoring training to support their supervision of pre-service teachers. This is provided free of charge by some universities. While this is a very positive initiative in support high quality professional experience, it adds to the burdens on teachers. Formal recognition of mentoring training and professional experience supervision as progression towards HALT accreditation and postgraduate awards would better support this quality practice by rewarding teachers for mentoring students.

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.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Bursaries: We welcome the Government’s decision to implement bursaries for high achieving school leavers, mid-career professionals, and under-represented student groups. Entry requirements for the UNDA Bachelor of Education (Secondary) require an ATAR of 80+ and bursaries for those high achievers will incentivise more school leavers to consider a career in teaching.

Demand for ITE: There has been a decline in demand for teaching programs. Improving teachers’ working conditions will help teaching be viewed as a more attractive career to potential ITE candidates, and will increase the likelihood that teachers will promote their own profession to prospective teachers.

VISA processing: We fully support the recommendation for prioritised visa processing especially for international teachers as this is an important way to support the current workforce crisis. Teachers coming from countries such as UK, USA, New Zealand, Republic of Ireland, should have priority processing, especially if they have accepted a teaching position in Australia.

Pathways to teaching: UNDA’s commitment to alternative pathways to entry is a key reason why we established VET courses through our regional campus in Broome where there is considerable demand for Certificates III and IV in Education Support. Pathways from these programs into ITE and recognition of transferrable skills is important moving forward. Introducing paraprofessional roles would also support and broaden pathways and workforce.

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?

Professional Experience: Universities also need to be supported in accessing placements. The current model is labour intensive often with multiple calls made to secure one student place. Departments and systems need to bear some responsibility for providing adequate high-quality places as is done by hospital systems.

Mentoring pre-service teachers needs to be viewed as a professional responsibility for which teachers are appropriately supported, through workload release and remuneration.

LANTITE: Supporting students through LANTITE is a significant cost and administrative burden absorbed by universities. Recognition in funding of the cost of LANTITE to universities in the way teacher education is funded is needed.

Testing windows across the year to increase access and opportunity for students is needed and candidates need more targeted feedback about areas for improvement.

As the intention of LANTITE is to ensure that teachers are in the top 30% of the population in terms of literacy and numeracy, we recommend an Advanced Standing strategy for LANTITE, for students who have demonstrated being in the top 30% through ATAR results, or English and Mathematics results.

ITE supporting a stronger RRR workforce: All jurisdictions have consistently struggled to manage a sustainable pipeline of teachers in rural, regional and remote areas (RRR). We encourage the Government to consider the adoption of the rural clinical school (RCS) model used for teaching medical students and adopt these principles into ITE. Peer-reviewed research shows that students who undertake an RCSWA placement are four times more likely to return to work in the country compared to others.

There has been an increase in UNDA students requesting RRR experiences however the existing model is reliant on employer funding and constrained by availability of accommodation.

Funding packages that enable employers and universities to work in partnership to increase opportunity and supports for RRR experiences are needed. Aligned with additional incentives for ITE students to work in RRR schools upon graduation, these strategies could improve RRR teacher workforce.

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?

Teaching workload: Existing teacher workload models must be adjusted to allow staff more time for collaborative planning during their working week. Currently teachers typically receive 3.5-4 hours per week of non-teaching planning time. In secondary school most teachers teach 4-6 classes of students in different levels and subjects across the week, which means on average less than 30 minutes per class each school day for planning, and often this time is not timetabled to allow collaboration with colleagues.

Further alternative approaches to the structure of primary classrooms and a varied paraprofessional and specialist workforce, discussed previously would also help reduce workload.

Increased non-teaching workload: Much of the non-teaching workload arises from requirements for teachers to generate data about various classroom-based activities (e.g. Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) initiative). There are questions about the extent to which these data are analysed or utilised to inform policy or resourcing. Again, data specialists in schools could help support teachers and reduce non-teaching workload.

Increasing teacher support staff: Increasing time to teach can also be achieved through increasing the number of para-professionals and education assistants in schools.

Employment pathways for ITE students: We support the consideration of a larger scale “earn and learn” model that allows third and fourth year ITE students to be employed during their studies.

This model should be based on designing well-supported paraprofessional roles in schools where students can work while still having sufficient time to focus on their studies. The discussion paper has primarily focused on the objective of filling existing gaps in the teaching workforce, however we need to consider how we can achieve this while supporting the development of the preservice teachers. Greater use of authentic embedded assessment such as an incremental approach to the Teacher Performance Assessment, that better integrated practice with theory and knowledge, would support employment-based models and should be emphasised and rewarded in accreditation standards.

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?

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?

We support the actions to support teacher professional learning across the career span through micro-credentials. Release time for study/professional learning would be welcome, as would opportunities for teachers to take sabbatical, and engage in international exchange.

We would welcome support for academics to work as specialists in schools, improving integration of universities and schools and support academics in maintaining currency. A model like the medical model for education academics to work in both the university context and the profession should be pursued.

The current qualification and employment structures limit options for those who wish to enter the profession or support teachers in classrooms. Two improvements should be considered.

There is currently only one type of teacher qualification. Compared to a medical model it is the equivalent of having the medical workforce constituted entirely of GPs. Rather, the health profession has specialist doctors, allied health professions, support roles etc. In applying this to schools you would introduce paraprofessional qualifications to support teachers in areas such as assessment, data collection and analysis, administration etc. Support roles in classrooms are limited to teacher’s and special education teachers. Associate Degree or Diploma trained students could support fully qualified teachers in specific areas, as well as specialist teachers in pedagogical processes such as assessment and behaviour management. AITSL standards only recognise primary specialisations in curriculum areas, limiting options to have teachers supported by specialists who could reduce their workload. These roles would also provide greater opportunity for part-time and flexible working arrangements, thus increasing attractiveness of working conditions.

The structure of primary schooling with one teacher for all areas limits options for part-time flexible work. Rethinking the structure of primary schools to a home room model with specialist curriculum teachers would not only allow greater recognition and use of primary teacher specialisations, but also allow work flexibility which would attract and retains teachers.