Australia's initial teacher education reforms should go further, report suggests

The Teacher Education Expert Panel headed by Professor Mark Scott released its Strong Beginnings report last month which recommended all universities include core content on evidence-based practices by 2025.

Centre for Independent Studies education program director Glenn Fahey said it was disappointing to see resistance by some in the profession to including more content on how the brain learns, effective and responsive teaching practices, and classroom management.

"What we want to see is that teacher education becomes increasingly a science-informed profession, not one that's governed by fads and anecdotes. And unfortunately, some bureaucrats and some academics have been resistant to the notion of a more science-informed profession," Mr Fahey said.

"That's in part why we encourage in this report that policymakers don't view the steps from Strong Beginnings as a mission accomplished but more as a mission commenced."

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare has prioritised initial education reforms as Australia grapples with a shortage of teachers, especially in certain regions and subject areas.

The Strong Beginnings report said nearly four in 10 students were leaving their teaching degree within six years of commencing and around one in five beginning teachers leaves within three years of entering the teaching profession.

Mr Fahey said the greater challenge was in boosting the number of course completions and ensuring graduates were prepared for the classroom.

"While there are challenges facing the teacher workforce, overall numbers isn't the biggest issue. Overall, our biggest challenge is that we failed to prepare teachers as effectively as possible," he said.

"Because we see low completion rates at some but not all universities, it suggests that there's differences between how universities... are providing the teacher education offer."

Drop out rates were particularly high at universities that enrol large proportions of students for online and part time study.

The 'starting off on the wrong foot' report by Mr Fahey and Rob Joseph recommended bursaries should be offered to teachers who go into in-demand fields, such as science and maths, but that payments should be delayed to the first few years of service.

It suggested other types of institutions, similar to former teachers colleges, could help boost completion rates by serving students who would otherwise want to enrol online.