More teachers 'not the answer to lifting standards', says Geoff Masters

ENROLLING large numbers of students into teaching courses lowers the standard of training, an education policy expert has warned.

ENROLLING large numbers of students into teaching courses lowers the standard of training, with one of the nation's most influential education policy experts warning that attempts to develop better teachers are inadequate.

Geoff Masters, the chief executive of the Australian Council for Educational Research, argues government policy to select teaching students from the top 30 per cent of school leavers is a "blunt approach . . . and falls well short of international best practice".

In a submission to a Senate inquiry, Professor Masters says governments instead should set higher entry standards for teaching courses and reduce the total number being trained; assess teaching graduates to ensure they meet set standards before entering classrooms; and reward and recognise teachers of the highest standard.

"The admission of large numbers of students into a teacher education course not only leads to a situation where many graduates are unable to find employment (the case currently in some Australian states), but also can lower the quality of teacher preparation itself," he says.

"As less able students undertake teacher training, the rigour of the courses themselves sometimes has to be reduced, with more attention being given to remedial teaching."

Professor Masters's comments follow similar calls in NSW to limit the number of teaching students and raise entry standards for education degrees, including by the state Education Minister Adrian Piccoli, who released a discussion paper on the topic at the end of July.

In responding to the paper, schools and teachers called on universities to impose tougher standards on prospective teachers, including higher entry scores, a screening and interview process to assess their suitability, and a limit on the number of places offered each year.

Since the federal government removed the cap on subsidised university places this year, the entry score for teaching courses has fallen, with some universities accepting students with a score below 50, and the number of students has increased.

As reported in The Australian this year, teaching courses have the highest proportion of school leavers with an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) of less than 50, in direct violation of the federal government's commitment to increase the proportion of entrants with an ATAR of more than 70.

With the lifting of the cap, universities increased the number of places offered by 5.5 per cent this year, with 6.5 per cent of teaching students scoring 50 and below and only 5 per cent scoring an ATAR of 90.05 and above.

Growing support for stricter controls over training of teachers comes as the government prepares to introduce legislation for a national school improvement framework, linking quality of teaching and school reforms to extra funding.

On September 11, the Senate asked its standing committee on education, employment and workplace relations to look at teaching and learning in the context of maximising investment in Australian schools, including the effectiveness of classroom practices, school governance, the influence of family on a child's education, and teacher training. A submission by the Melbourne University graduate school of education calls for teaching to be made entirely a graduate profession to help raise its profile, stop universities admitting students unlikely to be competent in the classroom, and ensure students are better prepared in their undergraduate degrees.

Since 2008, Melbourne University has offered teaching only as a graduate masters degree, and has designed a "clinical teaching course" similar to the hospital-immersed training provided to doctors and nurses.

The submission, from dean Field Rickards and professors John Hattie and Stephen Dinham, says there is little evidence that stipulating minimum entry criteria raises standards: "Focusing more on exit standards from teacher education and similarly focusing on registration after one or two years of teaching has been shown to be more effective."

But the university has developed a teacher-selection tool to screen candidates for its Master of Teaching, which will be introduced from 2014, for those who perform well in undergraduate studies and have better profiles in personality, attitudes and other desirable qualities for teaching.

"There is an unfortunate tendency to generalise about all teacher education programs and teacher candidates," the submission says. "We challenge the assumption that teaching is not currently attracting 'great' people. Our experience runs counter to this argument.

"Our experience has been that moving teacher preparation to the graduate level, and lifting the quality of the course, has in turn raised the quality of our candidates both coming into and exiting from our programs."

In his submission, Professor Masters says countries such as Finland and Singapore that score highly in international student tests strictly control entry, and select prospective students for desired attributes such as strong academic records, personal and communication skills, and a passion for teaching.