Schools boss calls for right teachers, right skills

MORE than one in four school-leavers studying teaching in NSW scored in the bottom half of Year 12 scores last year.

MORE than one in four school-leavers studying teaching in NSW scored in the bottom half of Year 12 scores last year, a point used by the head of the state Education Department last night to underline the importance of attracting the right people to teaching.

In a speech at the University of NSW, state education director-general Michele Bruniges criticised the quality of training, questioning the relevance of the skills and knowledge taught to student teachers in universities and in professional development courses for more experienced teachers.

Dr Bruniges also questioned the university system that perpetuated "acute imbalances of teacher supply and demand", producing many more new graduates each year than there were jobs.

"We need to make sure . . . we attract the right candidates to the teaching profession in the first place; we prepare these candidates in the right way for their tasks in our schools; we select the right candidates for the positions in our teacher-education institutions; we take particular care in constructing relevant and engaging courses of study," she said.

Dr Bruniges said recently introduced national accreditation standards for teaching courses were a start in ensuring teachers were recruited from the best and brightest students, but NSW data suggested "there may be a way to go to realise this standard" as a quarter of teachers had university entrance scores in the bottom half of the Year 12 Higher School Certificate scores.

Dr Bruniges also pointed to a report in The Australian last month that education was the least popular course for students with the highest university entrance scores, and had the highest proportion of students with an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of less than 50.

At the same time, universities in NSW graduate about 5500 new teachers each year, while the department, the biggest employer of teachers, hires only 140-200 new graduates out of a total of 1800-2000 new jobs a year.

Speaking to The Australian before the speech, Dr Bruniges said the department and universities each had a responsibility in addressing these issues. "We have to make sure the university sector has the relevant curriculum, the relevant policies so we get far better at preparing teachers coming into the workforce," she said.

Dr Bruniges said there should be a stocktake of what was taught in universities, and in professional development courses, and welcomed moves towards a national accreditation system of professional learning courses.