Deakin welcomes Victorian teacher entry plan but fears it falls short

Deakin’s Arts and Education Executive Dean Professor Brenda Cherednichenko said lifting the entry rank requirement to a minimum ATAR of 70 would not automatically lead to higher quality teaching across the profession, as claimed by the Government in its new reforms.

“Less than 25 per cent of teaching students enter universities via the ATAR system and this is just one factor in determining if someone will be a great teacher,” Professor Cherednichenko said.

“We agree that there is a large variance in the cut off limits across universities and we also believe the community needs more confidence in the system, largely because the focus on ATAR confuses the issue. The focus on ATAR is unfortunate as it distracts from the essential need to focus on graduate capability and how well we are preparing teachers for the future.

“Sadly, the Education Minister’s announcement today includes measures which have the potential to make the capacity to serve regional and rural Victoria much more difficult.

“Deakin’s teacher education program at Warrnambool is challenged by a lack of demand for programs in regional communities and these measures will further discourage those from rural areas seeking to study to be teachers in their communities.

“Deakin is ranked five in Australia and 31 globally in the QS World Rankings of Universities for the discipline of Education – and this is because we apply a range of strategies and practices attracting and then preparing the best future teachers possible.”

Professor Cherednichenko said Deakin worked with 100 alliance partnership schools across the state to improve quality in teacher preparation, with stronger placement programs that embed more focus on student learning.

“Deakin is committed to working on whole of state approach, through a partnership with the Government and Deans of Education from all universities,” she said.

“The Government says it will be compulsory for universities to base entry into teaching courses on both academic performance and personal attributes suitable for teaching, however the rigid approach it is taking to ATAR score puts this commitment at serious risk.”

Professor Cherednichenko said the Government needed to consider a range of other solutions, if its goal was to raise teacher quality, including:

• Lifting the remuneration of teachers, which continues to sit well below other sectors such as law, finance, mining and medical fields;
• Improvements to the teachers’ professional learning across their careers and employment conditions; and
• A strategy to ensure classrooms are filled with teachers with a diverse range of backgrounds, including Indigenous, multi-cultural and rural.

“We welcome the Department of Education and Training’s commitment to supporting the induction of new graduates to teaching and look forward to work with the Department on this initiative,” Professor Cherednichenko said.

“Attracting quality teachers is also about treating graduates well once they enter the system, through programs such as induction and mentoring schemes. Too often, graduates are employed on contract basis, where a probation process would be more suitable than one year terms.

“An approach to a sector driven by short term contracts will not encourage the ‘best and brightest’ as the Government hopes.”

Professor Cherednichenko said Deakin sought to attract students from diverse backgrounds and the University’s programs and pathways recognised a range of educational and other life skills and experiences that students brought to their teaching degree.

Deakin University is the provider of the Teach for Australia program which selects highly able university graduates to become teachers across Australia.