Aspiring teachers to get better practical experience in schools
The practical experience of student teachers before they join the
teaching workforce will be enhanced by an Australian Government Budget
initiative to improve the quality of graduate teachers.
An additional $77 million will be available to universities over the next
four years to improve their teacher education programmes so that all three
and four year bachelor degree teacher education students receive a minimum
of 120 days in-school teaching experience, and meet new entry level teaching
standards. These will be developed under Realising Our Potential –
national teacher training and registration standards in consultation
with state and territory teacher registration bodies, deans of education,
representatives of the teaching profession, including Teaching Australia,
and other stakeholders.
The Minister for Education, Science and Training, the Hon Julie Bishop
MP, said the initiative will better prepare teachers to meet the challenges
they face in the classroom.
Universities offering teacher education programmes will also benefit from
an increase in the cluster funding provided for education under the
Realising Our Potential initiative.
"Improving the quality of teaching in our schools is a priority for this
Government and the most important step is experience in the classroom,"
Minister Bishop said.
"I am concerned that student teachers have not had adequate opportunity
to spend quality time in schools before commencing their teaching careers.
"This new measure will build better partnerships between universities and
schools and will help bridge the gap between theory and practice."
Minister Bishop said the initiative is a timely response to the recent
House of Representatives inquiry into teacher education which identified a
need to reform the practical aspect of teacher education.
"This builds on our commitment to increased cluster funding for teacher
training courses at university under our higher education measures in this
year’s Budget," Minister Bishop said.
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Media Contacts |
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| Minister Bishop’s Office: |
Tory Vidler |
0414 228 727 |
| Dept of Education, Science & Training: |
Virginia Cook |
0412 971 323 |
| Non-media queries: |
1300 363 079 |
Supporting Information
Why is this important?
Quality teaching is a critical influence in student outcomes.
The quality of teacher education is vital in establishing and
lifting teacher workforce skills and the Australian Government is
committed to doing this through providing additional funding for teacher
practicum.
This initiative responds directly to the finding from the National
Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy, which indicated that there is a
variance of between 50-160 days across the number of days spent in
practicum placements across teaching institutions. Furthermore, many
submissions to that inquiry argued that the length of practicum should
be increased to 120 days over the period of a normal undergraduate
teaching degree.
The Report on the Inquiry into Teacher Education: Top of the
Class, noted that high-quality placements for school based
professional experiences are a critical component of teacher education
courses.
The Inquiry also found that there is a wide variation in the quality
of student teacher practicum placements. Many new teachers could
graduate without experiencing a placement with a high quality teacher.
This funding will ensure that student teachers have adequate time in
school-based practicum experiences allowing them to go into classrooms
better equipped to teach ultimately benefiting all Australian school
children.
Who will benefit?
Universities will be provided with the additional Australian
Government funding. This funding will allow student teachers increased
practicum time as part of their studies.
Student teachers will have a minimum of 120 days of practical
experience over a three or four year degree and a minimum of 60 days of
practical experience over a one or two year course.
What funding is the Government committing to the initiative?
The additional $77 million over 4 years translates to an extra $450
per full time student place per year to meeting the cost of the
practicum.
What have we done in the past?
As part of the Backing Australia’s Future reforms, the
Australian Government provided additional funding to universities to
further support the practical training component of education courses.
In 2007, this equates to $717 for each equivalent full-time education
unit of study. With this new funding this means that the Australian
Government is directly contributing over $1,000 per equivalent full-time
student teacher for practicum experience.
When will the initiative conclude?
The funding has been provided until 2010-11.
