RSS Feed
March 11th, 2013 
David Schulberg the 3rd Trainee teachers will have to undergo a more comprehensive university admissions process and show passion for the job, under a national plan to increase teacher quality.
The federal government announced the proposal on Monday, saying course applicants will have to pass interviews, aptitude assessments and provide written statements as well as achieve the necessary tertiary admission scores.
Teaching students will also have to pass tests and score in the top 30 per cent of literacy and numeracy benchmarks before they can graduate.
Tertiary Education Minister Chris Bowen said while Year 12 scores were important, there were other factors to be considered when assessing potential teachers.
“Passion, commitment, dedication, emotional intelligence… there are ways these things can be assessed,” Mr Bowen told reporters in Sydney.
“Everything that a person, who wants to be a teacher, can bring to the table must be considered.”
School Education Minister Peter Garrett said principals would be able to have greater confidence in the ability of staff.
“We do have a great group of teachers around Australia,” he said.
“But in order to make sure that our students are getting the best possible education and instruction, that the training teachers do is of a high standard.”
Mr Garrett said increasing support and mentoring for young teachers would help counteract the numbers of junior teachers who leave the profession in the early years of their career.
Universities Australia welcomed the proposed national approach.
“It’s a focus on the quality of the teacher graduate rather than a government-set final school result,” chief executive Belinda Robinson said in a statement.
The Australian Greens said teachers should receive better wages.
“If we are going to create more hoops to jump through we also need to provide more incentives to jump through those hoops,” Greens senator Penny Wright said.
Mr Garrett said the issue of teacher pay was one for state and territory governments.
Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne said the coalition supported the government’s measures.
“For almost a year, the coalition has been calling on the Labor government to improve the quality of education that new teachers receive,” he said in a statement.
- Follow us:
Source Article from http://sbs.feedsportal.com/c/34692/f/637524/s/296aa739/l/0L0Ssbs0N0Bau0Cnews0Carticle0C174540A20CTrainee0Eteachers0Eto0Eface0Etougher0Etesting/story01.htm
Posted in 
