Vic the worst for unqualified science, maths teaching
A number of Victoria’s brightest maths and science teachers are instructing humanities and sport instead — with a shocking report revealing our state has the worst rate of educators not qualified for the subjects they teach.
Education
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Sought-after Victorian teachers trained in maths and science are teaching humanities and sport instead.
A landmark report has raised concern too many secondary educators aren’t qualified for the subjects they teach.
The apparent problem with maths and science teachers is most pronounced in Victoria.
Victoria was the worst in Australia for having qualified high school science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educators wasting their sought-after skills by teaching English and PE.
A Monash University study revealed 16.7 per cent of the nation’s Year 10 teachers trained in maths and sciences don’t take those classes.
Of these, Victoria had the highest rate at 27 per cent.
More than a third of trained STEM teachers took English classes while 29 per cent taught PE and a quarter social studies.
But of the teachers who were instructing science, technology, engineering and mathematics, 15 per cent were not trained in the subjects.
Associate Professor Chandra Shah, who led the study, told the Sunday Herald Sun: “The longer we have teachers teaching out-of-field, the more likely students will have adverse outcomes.”
Victoria had the worst rate of unqualified teachers instructing STEM in Australia at 14.9 per cent, compared with 12.5 per cent in Queensland schools and 10.5 per cent in NSW.
Rates of out-of-field teaching were especially bad for maths and technology with one in five educators nationwide not qualified.
Small and remote schools had especially high rates of unqualified teachers.
Prof Shah said the results, based on data from the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment study, showed the impact of tight school budgets — particularly among public secondary colleges.
Less money meant less ability to run upskill training for staff.
There also often wasn’t the cash to hire enough qualified teachers to cover staff who were sick or on leave.
”Because budgets are so tight (schools are) constantly having to go to external teaching markets, and when you have casual teachers you get whatever is available,” Prof Shah said.
“It’s a false sense of economy when in the end you spend the same amount of money as you would if you gave a generous budget in the first place to hire more teachers than topping them up.”
The research, completed for Queensland’s Education Department, revealed half of teachers trained in science, technology, engineering and mathematics taught just a single subject.
Prof Shah said teachers were now expected to be qualified in more than one subject and that meant “over time there should be less out-of-field teaching”.
A 2019 report from the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute warned of a drought of maths teachers as student numbers surged and specialised educators waned.
Victoria’s Education Department has focused on STEM education in recent years, investing in tech schools and professional learning for teachers.
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