Teach For Australia

Submitter information

Name

Teach For Australia

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?

Not for Profit Education

What is your occupation?

Other

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?

TFA supports this coordinated approach to raising the status of teachers. TFA has demonstrated success in recruiting high quality individuals to join its flagship Leadership Development Program, due in large part to coordinated and targeted recruitment campaigns that show teaching as meaningful and mission-driven work. TFA recommends the campaign be tailored for each jurisdiction to highlight the work of local teachers, to show the contextual relevance of the work. It will be important for the campaign to highlight the immediate and long term impact teachers make, as well as the challenges inherent in teaching, to attract suitable candidates - driven by a desire to be challenged in their work while contributing meaningfully to society.

While increasing the status of the profession in this way is likely to have the indirect effect of increasing the number of people who want to become teachers, we recommend the campaign also include a clear call to action that will directly assist in increasing supply. For example, at a minimum the campaign could include a URL to each State and Territory Education Department’s website for interested employees. At best, some of the financial investment could be directed towards a single point of inquiry and distribution, which would promote the varied pathways into the workforce and provide tailored support to individuals as they identify and embark on the pathway that is most suited to their circumstances. Such a national clearinghouse is reflective of the vast experience and systems that TFA has in stewarding individuals from their initial interest in teaching to, and through, a pathway that suits them.

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?

Action 5
TFA supports the increased investment in CSPs and recommends that Masters level courses are included. Additionally, all jurisdictions should participate in collecting data to capture nuances in demand.
TFA specialises in the placement of teachers into hard to staff schools in high demand subject areas, and could provide this service at a larger scale.

Action 6
TFA’s experience indicates that a bursary of this size is unlikely to meaningfully reduce the opportunity cost for career changers. While accelerated and employment-based pathways do reduce the opportunity cost, an Applied Masters pathway would reduce the study requirement without losing rigour.

Action 7:
TFA welcomes expansion of the HATP and can share expertise with Government. TFA’s experience has highlighted regulatory barriers to the broad implementation of employment-based pathways, despite the proven success of the LDP.
These include limitations on registration and university eligibility requirements. While these regulations ensure quality, a more balanced view needs to be taken so that highly qualified candidates are not also excluded or required to meet a burdensome requirement to become eligible, such as the need to complete a Bachelor’s degree despite having significant industry experience. Until then, TFA and other providers under the HATP will face structural limitations on meeting the demand.

Action 8
While there is important focus on increasing the candidates entering the pipeline, 20-50% of ITE students do not complete their course, and up to 30% of those who graduate do not enter the workforce. Of those who do not enter the workforce, very few teach in schools that need them the most.
The TFA pipeline is much less leaky: almost 90% of Associates complete their Masters of Teaching and 100% teach in schools in need. TFA has several novel ideas which could address this problem at scale and significantly reduce the loss of potential from the pipeline.

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?

Action 10
TFA welcomes the continued impact of the QITE Review and the increasing support of employment-based pathways. TFA’s flagship program allows Associates to have an active and responsible role teaching from the beginning, supported by a strong and cohesive support structure.
TFA’s flagship program is delivered with a bespoke Masters of Teaching, which allows for crossover between Associates’ classroom practice and coursework. However, there is scope for the re-imagination of the teaching qualification to include more Professional Experience. An Applied Masters of Teaching would place greater focus on teaching practice and reduce the study load (without compromising quality) – and thus the opportunity cost for candidates – and creating teachers that are effective in the classroom earlier.

Action 11
Recognition of prior learning (RPL) and recognition of prior experience (RPE) are part of the regulatory framework discussed in Action 7 that needs to be changed to meaningfully reduce the opportunity cost for career changers.
However, a focus on “recognised credit towards their qualification” may limit the possibilities for such an RPL/RPE framework. By focusing on identifying existing course credits that can align to prior experience, ACDE will face a challenge in capturing and aligning prior experience. How will decades of experience in owning and managing a successful business or as an investment banker be recognised as a course credit? TFA is concerned that the drive to reduce life and work experience down to course credits might result in complex rubrics with unintended consequences of creating a more complicated system that may not achieve its goal of allowing more career changers into the classroom. While TFA recognises the importance of consistency, this should not limit innovative policy design.
Indeed, RPE ought to enable career changers to overcome the barriers to becoming a teacher in their field of expertise.

Maximising the time to teach

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

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

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.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?