State Education Minister Mark McGowan has pledged to make sweeping changes to teacher recruitment practices after a report prepared by recruitment company Gerard Daniels recommended a major shake-up of current procedures.
State Education Minister Mark McGowan has pledged to make sweeping changes to teacher recruitment practices after a report prepared by recruitment company Gerard Daniels recommended a major shake-up of current procedures.
The full text of a company announcement is pasted below
Sweeping changes will be made to teacher recruitment practices at the Department of Education and Training as a result of a report released by the State Government today.
Releasing the 'Review of Teacher Recruitment Practices' prepared by international recruitment company Gerard Daniels, Education and Training Minister Mark McGowan said the report recommended a major shake-up of recruitment procedures.
Mr McGowan said the report, which he commissioned in late January, was highly critical of the current teacher recruitment system.
"The report has found the department's recruitment system is antiquated, impersonal and too complex," he said.
"It also suggested that some of the changes to the workforce could and should have been predicted by the department.
"Put simply, the consultants have been brutally honest about the problems within the recruiting system, which needs to be more sophisticated, flexible and streamlined, in keeping with its role as the State's biggest employer."
The Minister said he would be working through the recommendations individually as part of a considered and thorough response.
In the meantime, the Government was taking urgent steps to prepare for the 2008 school year, including:
- Starting recruitment of teaching graduates in June - six months earlier than previously;
- Working on a package to lure some of the thousands of retired teachers back into the workforce; and
- Continuing with overseas and interstate recruitment efforts.
Further strategies would be announced at a later date.
Mr McGowan said one of the problems facing the department was a decrease in the supply of teachers and an increase in demand.
"Since coming to office in 2001, the State Government has increased the number of positions in the teaching workforce by 1,300, which means more positions need to be filled each year," he said.
"At the same time, there has been a decrease in the number of students studying teaching at our universities and a decline in the number of graduates accepting a position in the public system.
"We are also finding that those who do accept a position are much more selective about where they want to work.
"Fifteen years ago, 80 per cent of graduates were willing to work anywhere in the State. Now, just three per cent of graduates are available for State-wide appointment.
"This creates extreme pressure on our ability to staff schools in country areas."
The Minister said it was estimated that 25 per cent of qualified teachers were likely to be employed elsewhere due to the buoyant economy.
"We want to bring those teachers back into the classroom, which is why we commissioned this report and set up a high level taskforce to look at the problem over the next 10 to 20 years," Mr McGowan said.
"The taskforce, which is chaired by former Vice Chancellor of Curtin University of Technology, Professor Lance Twomey, will begin consulting with the community on a number of the issues raised in the Gerard Daniels report in the near future."
