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| Issue No 114 |  |
05 October 2001 |
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NewsPrincipals Warn Of Critical Shortage
The teacher shortage in Australia has worsened to near critical levels, warned a national survey of secondary schools this week. The report, carried out by the Australian Association of Secondary Principals, found that teachers were holding classes in subjects for which they had no specialist qualifications. In August, 10 per cent of the 668 schools surveyed could not find qualified mathematics and science teachers. The association's president, Mr Terry Woolley, said the findings showed the impact of a worldwide teacher shortage on Australia's education system. "This year, in every State and Territory, there have been schools unable to offer some curriculum areas due to the unavailability of qualified teaching staff," he said. "It is getting to the point where teachers are spending hours of their time on lesson preparation because the school couldn't get a properly qualified teacher." Mr Woolley said the problem was worse in country schools, which had the greatest difficulty recruiting teachers and finding replacements. "The Government needs to recognise the importance of this point and accept there needs to be greater Commonwealth funding to encourage more people to take on teaching," he said. "We are all in our mid to late-40s. In four or five years' time there is going to be a huge crisis. Teacher training is not being resourced to the point where they can deliver that." The president of the NSW Secondary Principals Association, Ms Larissa Treskin, said the study showed that, on one day in August this year, at least 400 casual teacher positions were unable to be filled nationally. The association is challenging politicians or any candidate standing in the Federal election to complete a statement of principles on four major areas relating to schooling and the way education funding operates. Ms Treskin said the survey asked political candidates their attitude to an across-the-board increase in education funding. It also asked if they believed the focus of funding needed to shift from the private to the public sector, and whether the Federal Government should accept it had responsibility for both public and private schools. The responses of the candidates would be publicised during the election campaign. "You cannot have a strong public education system unless you have a strong concept of 'the public'," Ms Treskin said. NSW Teachers Federation Deputy President, Jennifer Leete said, "That the national principals survey corresponds with both our own survey work from earlier in the year and what our organisers are relaying from our members in schools. The shortages are apparent every day in the western and south-western metropolitan areas of the city and the western rural areas of the state." "In fact The Principals' national survey probably underestimates the extent of the problem in many of our schools in NSW." "There is no doubt that the education funding policies of all political parties will remain one of the top election issues in the forthcoming federal election", she said.
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   Interview: Thinking SmartWith education a key priority, Labor's spokesman Michael Lee will emerge as a key player in the upcoming campaign. Unions: In the SpotlightThe Public Education Convention placed the spotlight firmly on the performance and prospects of our federal politicians. Campaign Diary: Election Form GuideSo they're off and racing in the 2001 stakes. Right now it's looking more like a handicap, but we're going along for the ride. Education: Applying the BlowtorchVeronica Apap reports on how teachers are planning to elevate education in the upcoming federal campaign. History: Australia�s OrwellStephen Holt argues that the life of Jim Maloney contained echoes of the literary legend's own political journey. International: Brazil Loses Child Labour Warrior The global trade union movement against child labour has lost one of their brightest forces to a brutal assassination. E-Change: 3.4 The New GovernanceIn the last instalment in their series on technological change, Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel look at the challenges politics has yet to meet. Satire: Qantas Denies New $7770 Domestic Fares 'Exploitative'Australia's largest domestic carrier Qantas has rejected suggestions that it's new $7770 fares between Sydney and Melbourne are taking advantage of the airline's recently inherited monopoly. Review: Dark Music for Dark SoulsThe term Industrial Music represents a wide variety and coalition of musical forms, Adam Lincoln explains.
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