Christopher Pyne touts exam for teachers

ASPIRING teachers will sit a national exam under federal government plans to assess proficiency before entering the classroom.

ASPIRING teachers will sit a national exam under federal government plans to assess their proficiency before entering the classroom.

The exam would also allow a shortcut to graduation for high-achieving students.

A policy paper prepared for a meeting of the nation's education ministers next week proposes measures to focus on the quality of graduates rather than the length of their course, questioning the decision to replace the 12-month diploma with a two-year post-graduate degree.

"The Australian government wants to ensure that the focus is on the quality of the skills of the graduate, not the length of the program," says the paper obtained by The Australian.

The plans have raised concerns they will undermine recent reforms to improve the quality of teacher training adopted by the states and territories.

The Australian Education Union is worried by Education Minister Christopher Pyne's description of rigorous registration requirements as "inflexible" and a "restrictive barrier".

The union wrote to Mr Pyne last week calling on him to set minimum entry standards to teaching degrees to ensure prospective teachers were in the top 30 per cent of school-leavers, and to cap places offered by unis.

In the letter, federal president Angelo Gavrielatos suggests the proposal has the potential to wind back national standards for teachers and the accreditation of courses that stipulate minimum levels of knowledge and teaching skills.

"We have a particular concern with your depiction of the current national accreditation standards . . . as 'inflexible' and a restrictive barrier to entering a postgraduate teacher education course without the required discipline-specific knowledge and qualifications," he says.

The paper, to go to Mr Pyne's first meeting with his state and territory counterparts, notes the ministers have already agreed to assess the literacy and numeracy skills of graduating teachers.

It says this exam should assess the broader content of national standards for graduate teachers "recognising potential value in offering the examination earlier to high-achieving candidates".

"Introducing an examination may provide greater assurance that graduates from every program are proficient against the graduate standards and ready for the first stage of registration as teachers," it says.

In questioning the mandating of two-year postgraduate education degrees, the paper says the move assumes it will result in an automatic increase in the quality of teacher preparation programs.

"There are highly qualified graduates entering postgraduate programs who have mastered the content of the subjects they will teach. They may well have the capacity to complete their teacher training programs in a shorter period once they have mastered the pedagogy and practical skills required to achieve success in the classroom," it says.

A spokesman for Mr Pyne said the paper was commissioned to start a conversation with states.