SUBMISSION TO THE REVIEW COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
by
J. D. Butt
Principal
Australian College of Physical Education Ltd.
May 15, 1997
The Committee is going to be inundated with proposals from the major higher education institutions in this country and I do not propose, nor does the College have the resources, to match or duplicate those submissions.
However, this Institution is significant because it is totally financially self supporting and yet is preparing teachers for both state and private schools throughout Australia and other countries. All students are full fee students except for a few to whom the College gives special scholarship assistance.
No outside funding from government or private enterprise is available to the College, although eligible students receive Austudy or Abstudy.
The College deals specifically with the preparation of physical education, dance and sports teachers. It has been successful in preparing these specialists for 76 years. Since 1979 the graduates of the College have been accepted by state education authorities throughout Australia and New Zealand and also in other countries. We can establish that our methods of preparation of teachers are successful through the excellent reports that we get from schools all over the world following their final practice teaching placement.
The essential points that I wish to make to the Committee are:
1. that teacher education should be concurrent with other studies and not provided as a post-graduate diploma or even a masters degree following the completion of the first degree;
2. that practice teaching should be built in and required throughout the preparation of the young teacher in sufficient hours to provide for the student to be confident that he or she can take control of classes in what is now a very difficult teaching environment. I am sure the high resignation rate amongst our young teachers must be directly related to the lack of sufficient practical preparation before graduation.
3 the fact is that practice teaching experience has been reducing over several years now because of the cost required by the teaching unions for accepting student teachers into schools for practice. This is costing the profession of teaching severely, and as I indicated above can be directly responsible for the high resignation rate of young teachers.
We are all aware of the impending shortage of teachers approaching the western world. Along with higher recognition through higher salary, etc., which recommendation I am sure the Committee will be receiving from other institutions, I recommend that serious consideration be given to the whole question of in-service preparation of teachers before being placed in the most demanding role of young professionals in these current times.