Teacher recruitment drive off to a slow start

A $15.9 million federal program designed to encourage high-achievers to become teachers got just 71 applications in its first year.

A $15.9 million federal program designed to encourage high-achievers and mid-career professionals to become teachers received just 71 applications in its first year.

Teach Next was announced with great fanfare in the 2011-12 budget as a way to lift standards, and address a chronic shortage of maths and science teachers.

Successful applicants would have to do just six weeks of teacher training at Victoria's Deakin University before they were placed in a school, and grants of up to $10,000 were available to encourage people to apply.

The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations denied that demand for spots was weak.

"The guidelines state that the $15.9m initiative provides for up to 395 places over four intakes" until 2015, the department said. However, only 15 of the 71 applicants will be accepted in the first round this July.

Damian Blake of the school of teaching at Deakin University said uptake "was pretty good, considering the short lead time we had".

"The program was only advertised for three weeks, plus there was the mid-year start up, which means professionals were being asked to think about a career change in the middle of the year, instead of at the start of the year.

"Imagine what will happen when the program becomes more widely known."

The Australian this week reported that teaching was the least popular subject area for high-achievers, being the choice of just 5 per cent of students with an Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank of more than 90.

And the Productivity Commission reported that the average wage of the most experienced teachers had not risen in real terms for more than 20 years.

The "fast-tracked" Teach Next teachers will start studying in June and go to state and Catholic schools in Western Australia and the ACT in July.