An initiative to boost maths teachers across regional, rural and remote public schools has kicked off with the launch of a teacher retraining program.
The program will cover course fees for Masters, Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate for current teachers to retrain as a maths teacher.
Nationals Minister for Education and Early Learning Sarah Mitchell said the Mathematics Teacher Retraining Program will reduce barriers for teachers and boost expertise in regional classrooms.
“To be a maths teacher you need a major or minor in pure or applied mathematics in a bachelor/post-graduate qualification, which can be difficult to obtain while employed fulltime, making it hard for existing teachers to become qualified maths teachers,” Ms Mitchell said.
“The government is making it easier for our teachers in the country to retrain and keep that valuable expertise in their local schools.”
Initial teacher education providers will develop innovative and flexible courses specifically for the program to ensure teachers do not spend unnecessary hours retraining.
“Key to faster retraining is recognising teacher’s existing experience so they can retrain as quickly as possible,” Ms Mitchell said.
The Teacher Retraining Grants for partner providers open for applications on Tuesday 19 May 2022. It is expected the pilot will then kick off in early 2023 with an initial cohort of approximately 40 teachers.
The Mathematics Teacher Retraining Program is part of the $125 million Teacher Supply Strategy, a multi-pronged response to attracting, developing and retaining teachers.
Since the 10-year strategy was launched five months ago, substantial progress has been made, including:
- More than 3,000 expressions of interest for the Beyond NSW Program with 150 applications in the final stages of assessment and approval with the first recruits expected in schools by the end of 2022.
- The first 50 participants in the Mid-Career Transition to Teaching Program have started their studies and will be in schools in the second half of the year, and 25 more to join them in 2023.
- The first 50 FASTstream participants in schools already as part of a program accelerating high quality teachers and graduates to leadership positions in regional schools, and 50 more to join them in 2023.
