NSW schools call in PE and science teachers to plug maths gaps

Sports and science teachers are being assigned to teach high school mathematics, including some at the highest HSC levels, as principals continue to struggle with staff shortages in core areas, a new study has revealed.

In a major survey led by Sydney University researchers, about one in four maths teachers had no formal qualification to teach the subject, while some high schools had no qualified maths teachers at all.

A study of almost 50 public high schools has shown sport and science teachers are most likely to be teaching maths lessons when a specialist maths teacher is not taking the class.Credit: iStock

The study of almost 50 NSW public schools comes as the state government has quietly axed a program to lure mid-career professionals into education and scrapped its maths teacher retraining scheme.

Another expert teaching team, run by star mathematician Eddie Woo, has also been wound back amid a NSW Education Department restructure that has led to 245 non-school-based teaching roles being abolished.

Sydney University educational psychology professor Helen Watt led a study of 48 public high schools across NSW, surveying 314 teachers and school leaders in 2023.

“Out-of-field maths teachers are not only teaching junior secondary students maths, but a noticeable proportion is teaching HSC maths and some even the highest-level courses,” Watt said.

Most in-field maths teachers had an undergraduate major in the discipline, and the majority working out-of-field had completed a year 12 maths course, the survey showed.

Science and PE teachers were most likely to be assigned to cover maths where a qualified teacher was not taking the class.

“Out-of-area teaching is not a sudden phenomenon and affects many subjects. But it’s very worrying in maths because it impacts so many students and is the gateway to STEM careers.”

Watt said more advantaged schools can attract qualified teachers, which means schools with “fewer resources become residualised, and are less able to compete”.

Of about 100 maths teachers working outside their speciality, more than two-thirds reported needing professional development in maths instruction, and had less confidence than those qualified in the subject in all year 7 and 8 maths topics, the study found.

Linear relationships and ratios and rates were the areas where they had the least confidence.

Teachers said the most common reason for working outside their speciality was they were “willing when asked”, while others reported positive reasons for teaching maths out-of-field, including hoping to improve their skills or wanting the challenge.

Enrolments in HSC maths courses have plunged over the past two decades: about 22 per cent of HSC students opted out of maths last year, compared with 6 per cent in 2000.

Girls are less likely to take advanced and extension courses, while enrolments in more challenging maths subjects have flatlined.

Watt said girls can end up “opting down or out of maths due to lower self-confidence than their achievement warrants”.

The Australian Mathematical Society and other peak maths groups called for a federal-state program to upskill teachers, and for formal data collection on out-of-field teaching.

“Fresh graduate teachers alone cannot defuse the crisis,” their report said, warning the “inequitable situation is severe in outer-suburban, low SES and regional schools”.

The Australian Mathematical Society and other peak maths groups have called for a joint federal-state program to upskill teachers in maths.Credit: James Brickwood

Ensuring students are taught by confident and knowledgeable maths teachers is critical for Australia’s future, economic competitiveness and national security, the report said.

Schools are struggling with teacher shortages nationally, with 2021 department data showing 22 per cent of NSW public maths teachers were not specifically trained to teach the subject. Students taught by unqualified teachers received lower HSC results on average, that data showed.

“With difficulties in attracting new recruits into the profession and sustaining the existing workforce, it appears the situation will likely go from bad to worse,” Watt said.

All 48 schools surveyed by the university researchers had both in- and out-of-field maths teachers working in them last year. Two schools had no teachers who had formal maths qualifications.

Last week the department cancelled its Mathematics Retraining Program, while also removing the Mid-Career Transition to Teaching Program from its website.

University of Newcastle professor Elena Prieto, a project lead on the retraining program, was “heartbroken” about the decision. About 75 teachers have participated in the scheme in the past two years, which covers the cost of a master’s to retrain in maths.

The department promoted the program in mid-July, saying those who had graduated were “flourishing as better secondary school maths teachers”.

“Feedback from the participants indicates they have developed greater capabilities, particularly in senior levels of advanced and extension maths,” the department said.

The education department says the cancelled training programs would be replaced next year with scholarships of between $20,000 and $30,000 and a guaranteed job on completion.

The latest 2022 PISA data shows no major change in Australian students’ maths results since 2015, but the gap between high-scoring students and the weakest has widened.

“In mathematics, low achievers became weaker; high achievers became stronger,” an OECD report on Australia’s results said.

This year’s NAPLAN results show a third of students are failing to meet proficiency in numeracy. A plan to make maths compulsory for years 11 and 12 students in NSW was axed this year.

NSW Secondary Principals’ Council president Denise Lofts said while teacher vacancies had improved slightly in the past year, maths, science and technology subjects are still hard to staff. “For regional schools things are getting harder,” she said.

The survey found 40 per cent of principals said it is “always” hard to find qualified maths teachers, with their preference to bring back retired teachers or to get out-of-field maths teachers to fill vacancies.

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