Victoria’s Catholic education body has called on the Andrews Government to expand its free teaching courses, arguing it will unfairly favour the state system and won’t fix the teacher shortage crisis. Source: Herald Sun.
Secondary teaching degrees will become free under a $229 million plan to scale back crippling staff shortages plaguing the education system.
Students wanting to take up a career as a high school teacher will get $18,000 for a four-year undergraduate program or $9000 for postgraduate study if they commit to working at state schools for at least two years.
But Catholic Education Commission of Victoria executive director Jim Miles said the scholarships should be extended to Catholic schools.
“This shouldn’t be done in ways that favour one sector over others. That doesn’t solve the problem of teacher shortages, it just shifts it between schools,” he said.
“This new scholarship program, which is only available to graduates who teach in government schools, will make this recruitment much harder.”
Professor Mary Ryan, the Dean of Education and Arts at Australian Catholic University, the largest provider of graduate teachers, said the scheme should be widened.
“We know the teacher shortage is not isolated to one part of the country or one sector. It would be ideal to have measures like this one … implemented across all jurisdictions to help boost the pipeline of teachers into our schools,” she said.
The scholarships will be available to all students who enrol in secondary school teaching degrees in 2024 and 2025. It’s anticipated the program will result in 4000 graduates.
FULL STORY
Secondary teaching degrees to become free under $229.8m plan (By Mitch Clarke, Herald Sun)
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