Too many teaching degrees are mired in theory, lack practical training and are not equipping new teachers with the skills to teach students maths and science, a federal government review into teacher education has found.
Australian Catholic University Vice-Chancellor Greg Craven, who headed the review, said he was alarmed to discover that some teaching degrees do not guarantee any practical training before graduates enter the workforce.
The review, to be released on Friday, has been welcomed by the federal government but will generate controversy because it rejects calls to introduce minimum university entrance scores for teaching degrees or compulsory postgraduate qualifications for teachers.
In its submission, peak body the Australian College of Educators called for an ATAR cut-off of 70 for teaching degrees.
The review notes that NSW now requires all teaching students to have three Band 5 results (a score over 80 per cent) in their High School Certificate including in English but does not call for this to be rolled out nationally.
Mr Craven said some universities would be stripped of accreditation to offer teaching degrees unless they radically redesign their courses under a more rigorous approvals process recommended by the review.
"We are laying down a huge gauntlet here," Mr Craven said. "There is no doubt that some courses are substandard and will have to improve to survive.
"Some universities may stop offering teaching degrees altogether and that would be a good thing.
"The process for accreditation is much laxer than we would like. We have excellent national standards - the problem is they are not being applied."
The review's recommendations to improve teacher quality include:
- guaranteeing that all teaching degrees include practical training through formalised agreements with placement schools
- requiring new teachers to pass a national test placing them in the top 30 per cent of the country for literacy and numeracy
- equipping all primary school teachers with a subject specialisation, prioritising maths, science and languages
- forcing universities, as part of the accreditation process, to provide detailed evidence that their teaching courses are evidence-based and integrate professional experience with theory
"My strong expectation is that this report can make a great contribution to improving teacher education in this country," Education Minister Christopher Pyne said.
"The report sets high expectations for everyone involved in initial teacher education including universities."
The review identifies concerns that teaching courses are not evidence-based and do not show pre-service teachers how to use assessment data to improve their teaching.
"One of the worst problems we discovered is that there are some teacher education programs where students were not guaranteed a practicum," Mr Craven said.
"Some courses offer what I would call 'dial-a-practicum': you're on your own, here are some numbers to ring up."
The review finds that requiring primary schools teachers to have a specialist subject would help boost students' declining interest and performance in maths and science.
Universities should also be more transparent about their selection criteria for acceptance into teaching degrees – including the use of bonus ATAR scores.
When Mr Craven was appointed to head the review, the Australian Education Union said the fact his university enrols students with an ATAR as low as 50 makes him "part of the problem, not the solution".
Mr Craven responded by saying: "You can't select quality teachers by looking at a mark branded on their forehead when they are 17. What matters is how teachers come out of university, not how they go in."
Australian Education Union federal president Correna Haythorpe said on Friday the review did not go far enough, and should have recommended lifting the ATAR scores of teaching students and making teaching a two-year postgraduate degree.
She said it was concerning that ATAR scores for teaching degrees had dropped dramatically in recent years.
"An ATAR score is not the only thing that makes a good teacher, but we need to recognise that a teacher's academic ability is important, and that we need some minimum requirements."
Ms Haythorpe said the review also failed to address workforce planning issues, which had led to a glut of teaching graduates in some parts of Australia, and also shortages in key subject areas like maths and science.
She welcomed calls for better support for early career teachers and said the report recognised that many graduates were not ready for teaching.
In its response to the review, the federal government said: "The government does not propose any single approach such as an ATAR cut-off for entry to teaching."
The government has accepted most of the report's recommendations and will order the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership to immediately overhaul accreditation standards.
The government rejected a recommendation to create a new national regulator of teaching courses, saying it would instead use existing bodies to improve standards.
