A new report released by the Victorian Government appears to show a marked increased in the number of teachers entering hard-to-staff subjects, such as maths and science.

 

State Minister responsible for the Teaching Profession, Peter Hall, says the 2010-11 Teacher Supply and Demand Report, show’s the State Government’s workplace reforms were having a positive impact on the sector.

 

“This report gives us a valuable insight into our teacher workforce – areas where we have improved, recruitment initiatives that have proven effective and where there may still be some gaps to fill,” Mr Hall said.

 

The report shows:

  • recruitment in hard-to-staff schools has improved;
  • teacher shortages in some hard-to-staff subjects has declined;
  • enrolments in teacher education courses is rising;
  • fixed-term employment has remained stable;
  • difficult-to-fill vacancies have dropped by nearly 30 per cent from 308 in 2010 to 216 in 2011;
  • the number of teachers aged under 35 years in Victorian government schools increased from 20.4 per cent in 2001 to 32.5 per cent in 2011; and
  • in 2011, there were 2,550 graduate teachers employed in government schools (comprising 6.3 per cent of all teachers in government schools).

 

“While this report shows that we are making inroads with these recruitment initiatives, there is still more work to do,” Mr Hall said.

 

“We will continue to focus our efforts on raising standards in our schools and building a system where teachers, principals and support staff are recognised and rewarded for the crucial role they play in making this happen.”

 

The number of teachers employed in Victorian schools was 72,521 in 2010, including 43,290 in the government sector.