Two in five Aussie high school maths teachers aren’t qualified to run classes, review finds

A review into the chronic shortage of high school maths teachers has found an alarming number of teachers are not qualified to teach the subject.

Two in five teachers leading high school maths classes aren’t trained to teach the subject due to a “disastrous undersupply” in qualified mathematics educators in Australia.

A review by a group of institutions has found university graduates with degrees in mathematics are choosing jobs in data science and finance rather than teaching.

This has led to a chronic shortage of maths teachers in high schools.

Consequently, school principals are being forced to ­assign teachers to classes outside their teaching scope.

There is a ‘disastrous undersupply’ in qualified mathematics educators in Australia, the review found.

The review, co-led by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute, estimated that 75 per cent of students in years 7 to 10 were experiencing an “out-of-field” teacher in a maths subject at least once in their high school journey.

The institute’s director Tim Marchant said this jeopardised student learning.

“Qualified maths teachers are better at motivating kids, particularly in the higher level maths subjects (such as methods and specialist maths) where participation rates have been dropping for some time,” he said.

In Victoria, secondary teachers are encouraged to complete up to three years of tertiary study in subject areas in which they hope to specialise, as well as completing their core subjects and placements.

Three quarters of Australian students in years seven to ten have had experience being in a maths class where their teacher wasn’t qualified to teach the subject.

But once they join the workforce, it’s up to principals’ discretion as to whether they can teach specialist subjects they’re not qualified in.

“With a secondary teacher workforce of nearly 150,000 and mathematics making up around 17 per cent of the curriculum, the size of the problem is enormous,” Professor Marchant said.

The state government has teamed up with tertiary institutions to provide existing teachers with the chance to upskill and qualify for subjects such as maths and technology.

However, Professor Marchant said these initiatives as well as the Albanese government’s National Teacher Workforce Action Plan were only Band-Aids that could take a decade to have impact.

“There needs to be a co-ordinated plan from both the federal government and the state governments to have options for teachers in all states and territories to upskill, and that obviously involves resources in terms of time off (to study),” he said.

Institutions are calling on the state and federal governments to launch a co-ordinated plan to upskill teachers and entice more to become qualified maths educators.

As of Monday, there were 76 maths teacher roles advertised on the Victorian Department of Education’s external application job portal.

Schools looking for multiple maths teachers included Sunbury College with five positions, and Narre Warren South P-12 College and Wyndham Central Secondary College both with three vacancies.

“Mathematics is vital to Australia’s future, both for individuals and the economy,” Professor Marchant said.

University of the Sunshine Coast’s Adjunct Professor of Education, Merrilyn Goos, the Mathematics Education ­Research Group of Australasia, the Actuaries Institute, Australian Mathematical Society and Statistical Society of Australia also contributed to the review.

It came three months after the latest OECD Programme for International Student ­Assessment revealed Victorian year 10 students were more than half a year behind in maths learning, while almost one in two students overall did not meet maths standards.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the state government was constantly working on providing opportunities for Victorian teachers to upskill.

“We’re making sure Victoria has the teachers in growing STEM subjects like maths that we need for the future – (by) fast-tracking teachers to complete a postgraduate qualification in maths or science, and giving tertiary-qualified professionals the opportunity to earn and learn their way to a teaching degree in priority subjects,” she said.