The Productivity Commission’s School Workforce report identifies some important measures for addressing the shortage of mathematics teachers and is welcomed by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute. The next step is for Australia’s school education authorities to act decisively and in concert.
“Out-of-field mathematics teaching is endemic in Australian schools and I welcome the Productivity Commission’s recognition that improving the content knowledge of these teachers is an immediate means of reducing the shortage of mathematics teachers”, said Institute director Professor Geoff Prince.
The report states, “Around 30 percent of 15-year-old Australian students were enrolled in schools where a lack of qualified mathematics teachers was hindering instruction. The OECD average for mathematics is about 18 percent.”
AMSI also welcomes the recommendation that the length of postgraduate pre-placement training for secondary teachers should not be mandated at 2 years. The Institute believes that two-year teacher training beyond undergraduate degrees will only exacerbate the current shortages of mathematics teachers in secondary schools.
Regarding differentiated salary scales for teachers in hard-to-fill disciplines, Professor Prince believes that “The measure is problematic but probably necessary to alleviate shortages until the profession as a whole is held in higher esteem in Australia”.
The Institute is also heartened by the Commission’s support for “cost-effective measures that will help ensure primary school teachers have sufficient subject knowledge”. AMSI has long been involved in the provision of professional development in mathematics for primary teachers.
“I urge the Commonwealth and the States to hear what the report has to say about the success of government measures to improve the mathematics situation in the United Kingdom”, Professor Prince said.
AMSI’s recent national forum, Maths for the future: Keep Australia competitive, recommended that Australia appoint a national mathematics advisor along UK lines to coordinate many of the measures recommended in this report.
Contact:
Professor Geoff Prince, AMSI Director, (03) 8344 1779, director@amsi.org.au
Emma Bland, Media and Communications, (03) 9035 3683, emma@amsi.org.au
