The Federal Government has announced the creation of an expert panel to review how initial teacher education (ITE) is taught at universities across Australia.

The new panel, to be headed by Sydney University vice-chancellor Professor Mark Scott, is part of a national action plan to address the growing teacher shortage in Australia’s schools.

“One of the key issues raised at the Teacher Workforce Shortage Roundtable convened in August was the need to improve initial teacher education to boost graduation rates and ensure graduating teachers are better prepared for the classroom," Education Minister Jason Clare MP said in a media release.

The expert panel will make recommendations on how the education system can strengthen the link between performance and funding and strengthen ITE programs to deliver effective classroom ready graduates.

Recommendations will also include how we can improve the quality of practical experience in teaching and postgraduate initial teacher education for mid-career entrants.

Meanwhile, the latest data from the Australian Teacher Workforce Data (ATWD) initiative shows that the current pace of teacher workforce growth will not keep up with increasing student demand.

The 2020 workforce data is based on the responses of almost 32,000 teachers across all states and territories to the ATWD Teacher Survey.

The survey found that fewer people are entering the teaching profession, with more than a third (38%) of all registered teachers aged 50 years and over at the time of the 2020 survey, a factor that will contribute to future teacher shortages.

The shortage of teachers across the country was also the focus of an expert panel discussion held by the Institute for Learning Sciences and Teacher Education (ILSTE) at the Australian Catholic University last month.

National Catholic Education Commission acting executive director Sally Egan, who sat on the panel, said the ongoing teacher shortages experienced in rural, regional and remote locations were now spreading into metropolitan areas as well.

NCEC is partnering with the country’s two Catholic universities to maximise fourth-year education para-professionals in different ways to address the need.

Sally said great teachers continued to make a positive impact and deserved to be supported and challenged as life-long learners themselves.

Read more via the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership media release and The Catholic Weekly.